top of page

Architectural Digesting- Not the Brutalist

Writer's picture: bkeelerbkeeler

Updated: Feb 6

A review of the Movie- The Brutalist, and further musings on all things architectural- Brian Keeler

 


Above-A plein air painting of Gloucester, MA by the author- depicting a view on Prospect Street with a stately Vicorian with a mansard roof. To view a video of this work being created on an October afternoon, go to this link: https://youtu.be/XHSueikt7n0?si=90lfKOd7jo5RxfGN

 

Musings on Architecture-


I have been thinking about and enjoying architecture for sometime, from recent reading, travel, observing traditions and most recently, the new movie starring Adrian Brody and Felicity Jones; The Brutalist.  I just viewed it last night at Ithaca's art theatre, Cinemapolis.

 

First off, I think the movie would be better represented by a more fitting title. The Brutalist makes one think the protagonist would be either a brute, a mean-spirited, ham-handed ogre who tromps on tradition. Or perhaps we might expect the movie to be a booster of Brutalist architecture around the world.   It is none of these.  A better title would be The Transcendentalist, as there is truly a spiritual and altruistic aesthetic that is expressed in the architect’s vision. The architect is a fictional character of Hungarian descent, named Laszlo Toth.


Although Toth and the movie have a certain versimilitude, we want to believe this is a biopic and want to rush off to Doylestown to view the building. But neither exists. They were created from whole cloth and this makes the entire movie, screenplay, characters and settings that show construction and creative concepts even more impressive. The directors and authors of the screenplay had to conceive of this visionary building without actually seeing it. The focus of the film, this architectural project, is only a virtual masterpiece that never really materializes in brick and mortar. There are hints of the building emerging and parts of the construction shown that make us believe that it is materializing. The director, Brady Corbet co-wrote the film with his wife and filmaker Mona Fastvold. The creator of the convincing architectural assemblages is Judy Becker. Her creations give us the heft and expression to this truly visionary film.

 

The term brutalist in architecture has been receiving its share of bad press as of late, and deservedly so. We see these horrendous modern buildings plopped into lovely historic neighborhoods with little thought of context or honoring history or their environment.  On the Commons here in Ithaca there are examples and elsewhere in town as well.

 

The film is truly a masterpiece in itself, and it represents the period after World War II – centered in Doylestown, PA of all places.  I am amazed at the historical accuracy of attire, automobilies, hair styles and so much more in today's films. The recent film of Bob Dylan's early years, The Complete Unknown is also impressive in the is regard.  It is easy to see why The Brutalist is being considered for academy awards. We can relate to the suffering of those portrayed having escaped the death camps of Fascist Germany to the freedom of America.   But we can also relate to how an artist is thwarted and cajoled in a conservative Pennsylvania town by a power-wielding magnate. 


 The triumph of this remarkable builiding being built on a hilltop in Doylestown is that Toth amazingly expresses a unique vision of Christianity, even though he is Jewish.  The project’s advisors and steering committee request that this community center have a Christian theme. He rises to the occasion creating a truly modernist work that incorporates geocentric light phenomena similar to those at Stonehenge or Chichen-Itz and Uxmal in the Yucatan.  The sun coincides with the architecture in those ancient structures as it does in Laszlo’s work- when it shines through a cross in the ceiling. This recalls an architectural row in Texas where the cast shadow of one high-rise was interfering with an adjacent building.  How many architects consider the way light interacts with their creation or those nearby?

 

The film is not just ivory tower aesthetics as it has steamy sex scenes in brothels, tender intimacy, love and lots of great characters.  The best character, perhaps, is the antagonist, an overbearing wealthy magnate, but with a vast library and with some genuine interest in higher learning and art. He collects first editions of classics.  He is, however, also an epitome of a fat cat full of offensive stereotypes and demeaning humor and attitudes. He is a good foil to the lead character as he is a materialist to the core looking for glory and fortune as contrasted to the aspiring genius of Laszlo.

 

There are many memorable scenes. One episode takes place in the Apuan Alps at Carrara in Italy. The view on a wonderful atmospheric and foggy day portrays a spot that looks like the location I took students to while traveling back from a painting day at Vernazza to Barga in Tuscany.  The beauty of marble is shown as also having a spiritual quality.  But we also pause at the immense environmental onslaught to the mountains there. 


Historical Architectrue

 

But on to related interests of all things architectural. I think about buildings of our area and the wonderful historic architecture of the Victorian age.  These come into play as motifs in my paintings quite a bit.  I have a soft spot for mansards, and I love to include these wonderful and distinctive rooflines as did Edward Hopper.



Above- One of the author's plein air paintings of historic architecture on Clinton Street in Ithaca, NY. To view a video of this oil being started on location on a November afternoon, go to this link: https://youtu.be/6NeovKPpMFg?si=f0CRSgdAxQ-hKJWl

 

A couple of books that I’ve recently read have supplemented this interest nicely.  James Hankins has two recent books about the Renaissance that are far reaching but they also include important passages about how Renaissance architecture fostered virtue and informed the outlook of the citizens of Siena, Florence and other places in Italy.  And a great compendium for Renaissance architecture that I picked up at a used bookstore in Charlottesville, VA is Peter Murray’s Renaissance Architecture.  His overview of how painters, authors and planners all interfaced with architecture is fascinating.  Who would have thought there would be an architectural equivalent of Mannerism in buildings.  We think of the Italian painter, Parmigianino’s Madonna of the Long Neck and expect to see such distortions in buildings.  But the Mannerist credo was to flaunt the rules of the high Renaissance, so I suspect there are more subtle expressions of this iconoclasm in their designs.


One of the many fascinating correlations in Renaissance art brought out in Murray's book is how the painting of Piero Della Francesca and architecture of Alberti and Bramante coincided and related with each other and came together in Urbino under the warlord Montefeltro. And with the buildings of painters and sculptors like Michelangelo, Raphael or Giotto - it is astounding that they could create mastrepieces of Renaissance architecture like Saint Peters or the Campanile in Florence.


Above- One of the churches in Tuscany mentioned in Murray's book. This pastel by the author depicts Santa Maria Nuovo in Cortona. It was designed by the Vasari, the author, architect and painter.


Above- This plein air oil painting by the author depicts a famous church in Todi, in Umbria. It is also referenced in Murray's book mentioned above. It was designed by Bramante the architect from Urbino.



We could reasonably wonder if there is a modern equivalent to Urbino's artists of the 15th century. For example, do I.M. Pei's slab-like buildings or the intersecting geometries of Frank Lloyd Wright or the wildly undulating forms of Frank Gehry's Bilboa Museum have any influences in contemporary painters.

 

But seeing how the general aesthetics of proportion, harmony, light, rhythm and balance equally inform both painting and architecture is fascinating.  And the spiritual and deeply human aspects of these disciplines can be seen in the fictional character’s work in the Brutalist. Brutalist architecture using cement and unfinished steel etc., seems cold and without feeling but we can see these exposed structures as the skeletal essence of higher expressions. They also reveal the process, and this is akin to Michelangelo’s idea of the ‘”non-finito” which is semi-finished sculptures of his late career that show the process of chiseling. 

 

I have come to appreciate the Brutalist’s aesthetic in some instances, such as museums like the East Wing of The NGA in DC or at the new addition of the Clark Institute at Williamstown, or the Johnson Museum here in Ithaca.  We think of these modernists buildings as compared to grand old palace museums like the MET, patterned after the grandiose baths of Caracalla.  Or better yet, for my contrasting purpose, it would be stately mansion museums like the Frick, The Biltmore Mansion or even the Arnot Museum in Elmira.  There is, however, a certain simplicity and Zen-like austerity to the Brutalist structures that fosters contemplation.  We might also think of the Pietra Serena – the grey stone used throughout Florence’s Renaissance churches. It imparts an inner peace and quietude.

 

Here in the states as I drive about, I notice so many new buildings jammed into lots, or on beautiful acres in odd always slanted angles (not parallel to the road).  What's the deal with these contractors defaulting to putting modular homes at angles to the roads?  There used to be guidelines. Now we see road signs proliferating for no zoning here in these parts.  Odd how current controversies and hotbutton issues and architecture can dovetail.

 


Above- "September Afternoon Light- Ithaca" is a plein air study of a Victorian house in Ithaca, NY.

 

 

72 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


© 2020 Brian Keeler

bottom of page