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The Greeks were men of sense; if they used the system they did so for a purpose, as artists rather than mathematicians and imperceptible irregularities could not affect that purpose.
Ernest Flagg
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Variety.... Movement, contrast, and accent all contribute to variety... the spice of life... Monotony and dryness are lurking enemies which may be vanquished by variety.
Ernest Flagg
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Simplicity and Dignity are so nearly related that they may be considered together.... A quiet air of reserved power is characteristic of dignity, and that is best obtained by simple means and the absence of apparent effort. Simplicity is the mark of genius. The giant in art does his work easily, without straining and without affectation; his ways are direct and to the point.
Ernest Flagg
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Disadvantages... can be entirely removed by... the ridge-dormer. By its use space in the roof, otherwise of little value, becomes the most desirable. Instead of being gloomy, stuffy and hot, the dormers render it perfectly ventilated, light at all times, and cool in hot weather. In frame buildings, it is not so easy, because there must be tie beams... to withstand the thrust of the roof.... Where low stone walls are used... the strength of the walls is sufficient to withstand the thrust...
Ernest Flagg
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In the human figure as it approaches perfection... is contained the sure guide for the determination of all true principles of design.... it was because the ancient Greeks... realized this truth that they excelled all others in art.
Ernest Flagg
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When one understands the principles of design, his taste will have something more solid as a basis than mere whim or fancy, which in the untutored is more likely to be bad than good. Acquainted with the rules of good design he will not accept articles made in defiance of them.
Ernest Flagg
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Savings in labor: (a) By the lowness of the walls... (b) in the use of unskilled labor in building walls, by backing the face stones with concrete, and placing the face stones in the forms dry without the use of mortar, except for pointing... (c) in the simplification of woodwork, especially in the hanging of windows and doors, and in the setting of trim... (d) in the application of hardware, chiefly on account of the kind of hinges used... (e) in the standardization of parts and the use of similar members... (f) by cutting about one-half the labor in the installation of plumbing drainage... and (g) by the greater use of machine and shop work, which the exposed structural members permit of.
Ernest Flagg
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We here have... an architectural discovery which may prove of inestimable value to future art.... Like fire, it is a good servant but a bad master. The danger is that it may lead to a cramped and mechanical design. One may easily become a slave to the module, and do things because of it which his taste or reason would not otherwise commend.... How can the danger be avoided and the benefits secured?
Ernest Flagg
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When the true principles of design are forgotten; when, in art, the bizarre and novel is the aim rather than the beautiful; when complication and mystery take the place of what should be as simple and clear as the atmosphere, design runs amuck, and becomes so helplessly involved in difficulties that such manifestations as cubism, impressionism, futurism, and art nouveau shoe their ugly heads and pose as art.
Ernest Flagg
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Many women do not like to sleep on the ground floor, being afraid to leave their windows open at night. With ridge-dormers standing open, the lower windows may be kept closed and locked, while the room will be perfectly ventilated without them.
Ernest Flagg
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If the chief rules of good design were understood by the masses as they might be, nothing would do more to promote beauty, improve workmanship, add to the value of manufactures, and in many other ways further the general welfare and prosperity of the country. They are simple, easy to acquire, and should be taught with the alphabet.
Ernest Flagg
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Imagination... implies originality. It results in a reflection... of the working mind of the designer.... Imagination may be called the dynamic force in art.... It is the quality which distinguishes the artistic from the photographic representation of nature.
Ernest Flagg
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Unless he is prepared to try his new theories and processes on himself, as has been done here, there is little likelihood that he will ever see them applied, for he will find that, of all people, builders are most set in their ways and hardest to move from their accustomed ruts.
Ernest Flagg
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Economy in building consists in the aggregate of a great number of savings, which when considered separately may seem trivial, but when combined are important.
Ernest Flagg
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One of the most ancient and inexpensive ways of obtaining shelter, was to utilize the space under sloping roof rafters. Indian wigwams have no other kind. Where civilization is slightly more advanced, low stone walls are built upon which the feet of the rafters rest.
Ernest Flagg
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Reason... to suppose any production, worthy to be called a work of art, can be made without its use is foolish.... By the use of reason many mistakes in design may be avoided and many counterfeits of art readily detected.... Beauty alone is an excellent reason for many things, but when a design is in direct conflict with common sense it cannot be a work of art.
Ernest Flagg
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Why can there not be a new art founded on the only principle which can produce great art—the principle that art is the interpretation or extraction of the essence of beauty in nature, and all else is secondary?
Ernest Flagg
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A master in art need not go into the highways and byways for affects; he knows the straight course and follows it.
Ernest Flagg
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For more than two thousand years architectural design by the use of a modulus, except in the case of the classic orders, had been a lost art.
Ernest Flagg
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When the necessity for shelter is great and the means for obtaining it scant, flimsy and makeshift methods of building find ready acceptance; and once introduced are hard to eradicate. Such habits, formed here in early times, still influence construction; as abundantly proved by our inordinate fire loss...
Ernest Flagg
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Greek art was extremely simple and direct; both in design and construction the Greek mind abhorred complicaton.
Ernest Flagg
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Style... the very hall-mark of great art... there is little use in trying to define style.
Ernest Flagg
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Dormers may easily lose, in winter, the credit they gained in summer.... If, however, they are properly made and securely closed in cold weather, this will not happen.
Ernest Flagg
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In the human form, as nature tries to make it, every feature is useful and every feature is beautiful. Each member is perfectly adapted to the function it has to perform; nothing is superfluous, yet the whole and every part is supremely decorative.
Ernest Flagg
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The Parthenon stands as a reproach to the rest of the world. May not this be because the rest of the world has forgotten, or never knew, the principles which made the Parthenon possible and of which harmony of proportion... was one?
Ernest Flagg
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Quote of the day
Destiny is the invention of the cowardly, and the resigned.
Ignazio Silone
Ernest Flagg
Creative Commons
Born:
February 6, 1857
Died:
April 10, 1947
(aged 90)
Bio:
Ernest Flagg was a noted American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. He was also an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility.
Known for:
Singer Building
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Scribner Building
Dark Island Castle
Charles Scribner's Sons Building
Most used words:
design
art
building
harmony
air
beauty
ridge
dormers
walls
construction
greek
work
methods
ways
human
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