patrick.net

Patrick says

https://sukwan.substack.com/p/what-do-you-dream-about

This marble statue is named the Release from Deception, or Il Disinganno. It was painstakingly carved by Genoese sculptor Francesco Queirolo and was produced over a period of 7 years from 1752-1759

That truly is amazing.

https://barsoom.substack.com/p/the-reenchantment-of-the-world

It wasn’t even that long ago that we lived in a more beautiful world. The aesthetic disconnect between the architecture of the pre- and post-WWII eras is so shockingly total that it is as if one civilization had wiped out another entirely. Walk down the street in any old European city, and one sees the fossilized remnants of that lost civilization, that alien people who held certain things sacred. Forget about the cathedrals, those jewels of architectural wonder. Even the ordinary buildings erected by our recent forebears, the apartment blocks, pumping stations, post offices, train stations, and so on, were built with an eye to beauty, embellished with carvings, porticoes, ironwork, sculptures, friezes, and other decorative flourishes, their proportions pleasing to the eye, their forms organically integrated with the wider aesthetic of both natural and urban environs. This was the architecture of a people for whom beauty was not a mere afterthought, but a central concern, for beauty glorified the soul, and the soul’s purpose was to glorify God.

Even the churches we build now – stark boxes marked out as religious merely by affixing a rectilinear cross to the unadorned wall facing the broad parking lot – do not evoke a sense of quiet awe, transportation into dumbstruck wonder, or deep and reverent peace. They are not meant to evoke anything. They are simply cheap to build, maximizing seating space and volume for a given quantity of material.

Patrick says

Even the ordinary buildings erected by our recent forebears, the apartment blocks, pumping stations, post offices, train stations, and so on, were built with an eye to beauty, embellished with carvings, porticoes, ironwork, sculptures, friezes, and other decorative flourishes, their proportions pleasing to the eye, their forms organically integrated with the wider aesthetic of both natural and urban environs.

Yes, back when labor was cheap.

I think we use to have a lot more master craftsmen. We don't build anything to last the ages.

Amazing, a fountain created in 2022 which is actually pleasant to look at:

In March 2022 the construction of the fountain in St. Peter's square was completed.[40] In the base of the marble fountain there are four lions. Above the visitor can see four members of the Danaids.[41] The fountain has a width of 7 meters and a height of 5 meters, while the fountain was designed in collaboration with the Supreme School of Fine Arts in Athens.[42]

Maybe there is hope that not everything modern will always be utter shit.

I like simple. Ornate structures are annoying and ugly to me. It's not about the skill either. People can still make this stuff. It's the upkeep of it.

I'm an MCM guy at heart, but there's still details that you can add that are artistic. Shit like that fountain annoys me and reminds me of Europe which I have no interest in. You have to go in annually, likely on taxpayer $$$$ and clean it and maintain it.

I don't like all glass structures or vanilla cladded buildings in high rises. In houses I like using this https://vintageplywood.com/collections/weldtex Accent walls and exterior in certain spots. I'd post photos of my house but don't want to dox myself with a reverse image search.

https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/eyesore-of-the-month-is-back-nov

Eyesore of the Month is Back (Nov. '24)

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.



Behold, the new Rose des Vents student apartments at the Technopôle Angus, Montreal, Canada! Zut alors ! ! ! Our neighbor to the north, laboring harshly under the regime of Justin Trudeau, has developed an extreme penchant for self-punishment. Hence, its student housing draws inspiration from the great 1954 movie by director Don Siegel, Riot in Cell Block 11. Yes, Looks exactly like the municipal lockup in a small-to-medium city. The two top floors just scream “Exercise Yard” with all that chain-link fencing. The ground floor has even less character than the building above, signifying nothing. Since that’s where the building meets the street, it will serve as a people-repellant. (People like to know what they’re walking into.) Designed by the Montreal architecture firm ADHOC. Now, imagine it in January of a Montreal winter: windswept, with giant piles of filthy snow all around.

DOGEWontAmountToShit says

See this?

It was TITTIES that saved Perseus!

Yeah, I'm not super ornate. I like Federal Architecture. Tudor style houses, clean lines, etc.

However when it comes to statuary, paintings, etc. anything before beats the living shit out of modern art.