1001 Arabian Nights: 2019

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars in Quimper

Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars in Quimper was built in 1891-1892, at a time when the city of Quimper was experiencing economic growth and expansion. The growth of Quimper resulted in the rejuvenation of many of the small churches and chapels in the countryside. It also provided the impetus for the construction of new churches such as Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars.

Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars - photo by me, 2/2019

In addition to his private practice Architect Joseph Bigot (1807-1894) worked for the city of Quimper as well as the Diocese. Among his works were the Château de Kériolet, and most notably, the completion of the Cathédrale Saint‑Corentin in Quimper, which had been left unfinished after 600 years of work.

Bigot worked in an idiom that is often called Neo-Gothic, or Gothic Revival. But a case could be made that it was not a "revival" in the sense that the main elements of the style, the overall massing, the structural organization, the materials, and the technology of construction had little changed since the Middle Ages and that there had been a practical continuity of all these elements, at least within the region of Finistère.

Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars - photo by me, 2/2019

Granite being abundant in this part of France, it has always served as the primary construction material and Bigot used it in its traditional format. Extraordinarily durable, its stands up well to the vicissitudes of the coastal Atlantic climate. However it is not a material that permits delicate detailing in carving. So the decorative elements of buildings in the region tend to be simple and robust, without a lot of fine detail. Towers and spires rely on contrasts between solid and void. Carved elements such as column capitals use only a few geometric or floral forms.

Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars - photo by me, 2/2019

Whereas most of the smaller and older chapels the region of Finistère have wooden roofs, curved to suggest vaulting but clearly of more modest construction, Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars has a plastered, vaulted ceiling throughout.

Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars - photo by me, 2/2019

Although the pews, being carved in wood, could have shown much greater detail than the simple granite forms of the church, they were treated simply as well, maintaining a consistent aesthetic approach of dependency on essential geometric forms and minimal fine detail, applied only to complement the geometry. Incidentally, these pews were surprisingly comfortable.

Église Sainte-Claire de Penhars - photo by me, 2/2019

A brief note: About half of the columns in the church (see photo above) are cluttered up with heat lamps, lights and speakers. These columns are the primary decorative element of the interior, the element which congregants most closely approach, and consequently play an important part in the aesthetic experience of the building. These appendages attached to the columns could easily have been sited elsewhere and still served their functions well. People in charge of maintaining buildings like this lovely church should keep in mind that it is very rarely necessary to compromise the beauty of these buildings in attempts to make them more useful and comfortable.

Lastly, here are a few drawings of other works by Paul Bigot. Thank you for reading.

Quimper diocese archives

Monday, January 28, 2019

St. James Garlickhythe Church, London

Yet more London churches!

This is a continuation on my previous posts, exploring London's amazing collection of beautiful churches, with a particular emphasis on the works of Sir Christopher Wren.

I took these photos in March, 2018.

There has been a church on this site since at least the 12th century, at which time it would have been nearly on the banks of the Thames. But now a blocky, modern office building stands between it and the river.

The church gets its peculiar name because it was near the landing place (hythe) where garlic was sold in medieval times.

The old church was destroyed in the fire of 1666. Christopher Wren was responsible for the new church, one of 51 he built across London after the fire.

During the Blitz in 1941 the church suffered much damage to its exterior.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Beauty - Subjective or Objective?

For a start, don't expect to find the definitive answer here. Also, I apologize for the lack of pretty pictures. I hope some of you will enjoy reading it regardless.

Today an acquaintance on Facebook posted a link to an article, on the subject of Beauty being ... or not being ... "in the eye of the beholder". My few thoughts that follow were in response to that.

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I have a Master's Degree in Architecture, so this article touches particular interests of mine. The comparison of the rubbish heap to the canal houses reveals the limits of the author's argument.

Unquestionably there is a line between them. But where the notion of an objective measure of beauty fails is on one side of that line, what type of canal houses? Should they be ultra-modern minimalist white boxes? Should they be recreations of 19th century traditional Dutch architecture? ect. We see from this that once we have set aside that which our ENTIRE society has mutually agreed upon as ugly (the rubbish heap) we then come face to face with the subjective discussion of relative merits of different approaches to "beauty".

My architectural training subjected me to 2 very different ideas about the "right" kind of architecture. I studied with "modernists" but disliked their iconoclastic "throw the baby out with the bath water" approach. I also had the great good fortune to study with Christoper Alexander, one of the great thinkers of our time, who challenged the modernists at their very core and who, like them, believed that beauty was NOT subjective.

I came to the conclusion this dilemma cannot be resolved. There are those who would try to put beauty into a straight jacket. In much of western cultural history of the last 300 years this could be characterized as the "Akademie", the governing authority of an institution that decides what is and isn't acceptable in creative art.

But science and the trajectory of our modern society has been to open more and more possibilities for creative endeavors of all kinds and the constraints of an "Akademie" will inevitably be challenged, confronted, and toppled.

So now, when a developer proposes a stark modern tower on the edge of a historic district, it is really a political issue and no longer an aesthetic one. All we can do is try to get those who favor our aesthetic approach into positions of political power... OR ... press towards a more 'socialist' society in which the needs and desires of the larger group outweigh the freedoms of the individual.