The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

HUMANIST

VALUES

237

axialplanning mustresult.

Symmetryand

Balance

are

forms

of Order; but they

are beautiful, not

because they are orderly,

but because they carry

with

them

amovement and stabiUtywhichare

our

naturaldelight. Then,since

architectureisamonu-

mentalart,surrounding

us with an influencenever

relaxed andnottobeescaped,

calmandunthwarted

movement will here

most often be desired. Thus

Order, thoughitcannot ensure

beauty, mayfollow

initswake.

r.

YetCoherenceinarchitecture,distinctthoughitis

frombeauty,has

a

function

ofitsown./Humanised

mass, space,and line are the basis of beauty, but

coherence

is the

basis of styl^j Mass,space, and

line afford the

material of individual aesthetic

pleasures, of beauty isolated and detached. But

architecture aims at

more than isolated pleasures.

Itisaboveallelseanart ofsynthesis. Itcontrols

anddisciplinesthebeauty

ofpainting,sculpture,and

,

the minorarts;it austerelyorderseven thebeauty

which is itsown. It

seeks,throughstyle,togiveit

clarity and scope, and that

coherence which the

beauty of.Nature

lacks. Nature, it is true, is for

sciencean

intelligiblesystem. But

thegroupswhich

theeye,atanyone

glance,discoversinNatureare

not

intelligible. Theyare

understood onlybysuccessive

acts ofattention

and elimination

;

and,even

then,

wehaveto

supplementwhat

ourvisiongivesusby