Architectural style
An architectural style is a classification of
Architectural styles are frequently associated with a historical epoch (
The 21st century construction uses a multitude of styles that are sometimes lumped together as a "contemporary architecture" based on the common trait of extreme reliance on computer-aided architectural design (cf. Parametricism).[citation needed]
Styles in the history of architecture
The concept of architectural style is studied in the
Style has been subject of an extensive debate since at least the 19th century.
Works of architecture are unlikely to be preserved for their aesthetic value alone; with practical re-purposing, the original intent of the original architect, sometimes his very identity, can be forgotten, and the building style becomes "an indispensable historical tool".[11]
Evolution of style
Styles emerge from the history of a society. At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. The new style is sometimes only a rebellion against an existing style, such as postmodern architecture (meaning "after modernism"), which in 21st century has found its own language and split into a number of styles which have acquired other names.[citation needed]
Architectural styles often spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. For instance, Renaissance ideas emerged in Italy around 1425 and spread to all of Europe over the next 200 years, with the French, German, English, and Spanish Renaissances showing recognisably the same style, but with unique characteristics. An architectural style may also spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. One example is the Spanish missions in California, brought by Spanish priests in the late 18th century and built in a unique style.[citation needed]
After an architectural style has gone out of fashion,
History of the concept of architectural style
Early writing on the subjects of architectural history, since the works of Vitruvius in the 1st century B.C., treated architecture as a patrimony that was passed on to the next generation of architects by their forefathers.[12] Giorgio Vasari in the 16th century shifted the narrative to biographies of the great artists in his "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects".[13]
Constructing schemes of the period styles of historic art and architecture was a major concern of 19th century scholars in the new and initially mostly German-speaking field of
Semper, Wölfflin, and Frankl, and later Ackerman, had backgrounds in the history of architecture, and like many other terms for period styles, "Romanesque" and "Gothic" were initially coined to describe architectural styles, where major changes between styles can be clearer and more easy to define, not least because style in architecture is easier to replicate by following a set of rules than style in figurative art such as painting. Terms originated to describe architectural periods were often subsequently applied to other areas of the visual arts, and then more widely still to music, literature and the general culture.
Although style was well-established as a central component of art historical analysis, seeing it as the over-riding factor in art history had fallen out of fashion by World War II, as other ways of looking at art were developing,[18] and a reaction against the emphasis on style developing; for Svetlana Alpers, "the normal invocation of style in art history is a depressing affair indeed".[19] According to James Elkins "In the later 20th century criticisms of style were aimed at further reducing the Hegelian elements of the concept while retaining it in a form that could be more easily controlled".[20]
Practical issues
Multiple aesthetic and social factors forced architects in the middle of the 19th century to design the new buildings using a selection of styles patterned after the historical ones (working "in every style or none"), style definition became a practical matter. The choice of an appropriate style was subject of elaborate discussions; for example, the
See also
- Historicism (architecture)
- History of architecture
- List of architectural styles
- Revivalism (architecture)
Notes
- ^ a b Harris 1998, p. 12.
- ^ Leach 2013, p. 35.
- ^ Alcock 2003.
- ^ J. Philip Gruen, "Vernacular Architecture", in Encyclopedia of Local History, 3d edition, ed. Amy H. Wilson (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017): 697-98.
- ^ Leach 2013, p. 44.
- ^ Leach 2013, p. 47.
- ^ Herrmann 1996, p. 2.
- ^ Barnstone 2018, p. 1.
- ^ Leach 2013, p. 11.
- ^ Leach 2013, p. 41.
- ^ Leach 2013, p. 45.
- ^ Leach 2013, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Leach 2013, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Elkins, s. 2, 3
- ^ Leach 2013, p. 23.
- ^ Gombrich, 129; Elsner, 104
- ^ Gombrich, 131-136; Elkins, s. 2
- ^ Kubler in Lang, 163
- ^ Alpers in Lang, 137
- ^ Elkins, s. 2 (quoted); see also Gombrich, 135-136
- ^ Leach 2013, pp. 41–42.
References
- Alcock, N. W. (2003), "Vernacular architecture", ISBN 978-1-884446-05-4
- "Alpers in Lang": ISBN 0801494397
- Barnstone, Deborah Ascher (2018). "Style Debates in Early 20th-Century German Architectural Discourse". Architectural Histories. 6 (1). Open Library of the Humanities. ISSN 2050-5833.
- Elkins, James, "Style" in Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press, accessed March 6, 2013, subscriber link
- ISBN 0226571696, 9780226571690, google books
- Gombrich, E. "Style" (1968), orig. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. D. L. Sills, xv (New York, 1968), reprinted in Preziosi, D. (ed.) The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology (see below), whose page numbers are used.
- Harris, Cyril M. (1998). "architectural style". American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. W.W. Norton. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0-393-73103-3. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- Herrmann, Wolfgang (1996). "Introduction". In What Style Should We Build?: The German Debate on Architectural Style. Texts & Documents. Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities. pp. 1–60. ISBN 978-0-89236-199-1. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- "Kubler in Lang": Kubler, George, Towards a Reductive Theory of Style, in Lang
- Lang, Berel (ed.), The Concept of Style, 1987, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, ISBN 0801494397, 9780801494390, google books; includes essays by Alpers and Kubler
- Leach, Andrew (2013). What is Architectural History? (PDF). What is History?. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-7456-7377-6. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- Preziosi, D. (ed.) The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, ISBN 9780714829913