sandr037

There are times when genius comes out of left field. Eliel Saarinen is an example of this. Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was born, the second of seven children, to a middle class couple in the insignificant village of Rantasalmi, in the Grand Duchy of Finland, a small part of the Russian Empire. His father was a clergyman, and his mother was from a good middling family. There had been no artists on either side of the family up until then, but they were an intelligent, musical family, known for skill with languages (a useful trait in such a polyglot region). His parents were also known to be orderly, quick witted and cheerful. None of this naturally leads to artistic talent, but young Eliel had drive, and was given opportunities which he ran with. His family moved to a town near Saint Petersburg, which gave him the chance to experience the architecture of the Russian capital as well as the masterpieces in the Hermitage museum. This inspired him to sketch and paint whatever he saw, especially...

Being an architect, and having spent an inordinate amount of time being a professional purveyor of 3 dimensional illusions, the following post might seem odd… I just stumbled across the drawing above in my files. It is from a July 2012 Wall Street Journal review of a Gustav Klimt exhibit at the Getty Center. It fascinated me then, and does now; but why? It is simple to the point of being crude. The face is nearly invisible, and the black clothing dominates without informing. It isn’t particularly beautiful, or balanced, or even entertaining. But it still speaks to me. The answer, on reflection, is the creative tension between the flat surface and the three dimensional illusion. Yes, there isn’t much 3 dimension to go with here, but between the shape of the black dress and hat, and the suggested face, it is a complete likeness. Klimt was quite capable of creating a three dimensional illusion on paper or canvas, but he was fascinated by the flat, graphic qualities of church icons. The c...