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The Dying Art of Artistry

As Americans we’ve lost any artistry we once had, and you see that in the above photo. It’s a shot of Loew’s Grande Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1925. I went to that theatre when I was growing up in Cincy in the 70s, and it was torn down while I still lived there. It was an impressive building, with its cornices, arched window wells, and columned 3rd and 6th stories, but it was by no means unique. Most buildings erected in the early part of the 20th century, even those destined for the most prosaic of uses, looked just as... well, grand as the Grand Theatre. But not anymore.

You see this architectural decline everywhere you look, and you have to wonder what happened to us. Sure, there are still artful projects, but they are celebrated precisely because of their very strangeness, as if raising a ruckus over the odd structural gem somehow makes up for the fact that our urban spaces are losing their souls. Is this happening because the devil of capitalism has made builders beholden solely to profits? Ornamentation costs money, so for the sake of cash it’s gotta go. But why did citizens allow this to happen? We no longer expect beauty from our edifices. It’s enough these days to have convenience and perhaps safety. Inspirational design? Forget it.

The problem is most severe in the States, but isn’t confined there. Here in Europe I can see the same process altering the low skylines of the Basque country. Like a mouth losing a tooth, a perfectly integrated old block will lose a building, which is then replaced by some blank pale structure of cast concrete and polished marble. Only the French seem resistant to this process—not immune, but resistant, somewhat. Their urban spaces remain the most carefully crafted in the world. The hundreds of square miles that make up the vast center of Paris retain their character even as they evolve. And because of that, the city remains a living museum.

Anyway, the shot of the Grand Theatre came from a website called Shorpy that shows my birth city of Cincinnati, Ohio—and many other cities—around the 1920s and 1930s. The photos I've posted below aren't about architectural wonders, but the shape of the past. It was only the Grand shot that got me wondering why our civilization has reached the point where it expects so little nourishment for the brain, and respects nothing save the quest for capital. It seems a prefect encapsulation of a future that is to be dreaded. As for the other images, I think my father will get a kick out of them, since he may recognize some of the spots. And maybe, after he sees them, he can explain why we’ve changed so much, and the art in our souls has withered and died.

Labels: art, Cincinnati, Paris

posted by Egan Ehlers @ 12:11 PM