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low us up, but may also, provided they are experienced with
aesthetic distance, convey feelings of > sublimity.
Within Western culture, acutely differentiated percep-
tions of such phenomena are reflected in paintings of Dutch
interiors dating from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centu-
ries. In painting in general, chiaroscuro effects are in many in-
stances not attributable to polar contrasts between light and
dark, but instead to a fundamentally dark atmosphere that
exploits highly differentiated light/dark values.
The meaning of darkness and of highly differentiated dis-
tribution of brightness is emphasized strongly by Jun’ichirō
Tanizaki with reference to traditional Japanese architecture.
In Japanese culture, darkness and blackness are phenomena
that – differently than in the West – are cultivated with sub-
tlety and invested with a rich range of meanings. There, clar-
ity is not aimed for by means of brilliancy; instead, the dif-
ferentiated play of shadow and half-light, of matt and gently
shimmering dark materials allows an intuition of the genuine
qualities of things. Darkness is generated in Japanese inte-
riors by means of overhanging, low roofs and deep rooms.
The light, variously filtered, that falls through paper windows
(shoji) seems to have been atomized into tiny particles and
dispersed uniformly throughout the space. Such factors con-
front users of interiors with very soft and finely differentiated
transitions of illumination. Only through reduced or minimal
illumination does the subtle grading of brightness become a
finely tuned instrument that allows the articulation of space
even in the absence of divisions by screening elements. On
the other hand, darkness seems strongly to contain and unify
the atmosphere of the situation as a whole. Against a dark
ground, > materials, > surfaces and > colours acquire a sin-
gular and highly differentiated spectrum of effects. Reflective
highlights consisting of gold, luminous colours, and brilliant-
ly lacquered surfaces provide conspicuous accents within the
framework of a dark basic atmosphere.
Literature: Janson 2003; Tanizaki 1933/1977