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| Truman Balcony at the White House Washington D.C. dwell.com |
Welcome to the first impeachment-free week on the blog. After a sort of nice restful weekend, Blogger is ready to go and, it seems, not a moment too soon. Since last Thursday, Blogger's social media pages was buzzing with the latest edict from the White House. Now that impeachment process is finally over, Mr. Donald Trump is not wasting his time making sure the presidency is forever re-fashioned in his image. Part of that Trump-branded presidency is a draft executive order declaring the Neo-Classical the official style of all new federal buildings. Allow Yours Truly to explain.
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| San Francisco Federal Building Morphosis San Francisco, California dezeen.com |
A draft proposal of an executive order, "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" would establish the Neo-Classical the default style for all federal buildings in Washington and throughout the country, discouraging modern architecture, like the San Francisco Federal Building (left) by Morphosis.
The draft executive order is being championed by the non-profit group National Civic Art Society argues that contemporary architecture has
...created a built that is degrading and dehumanizing (nytimes.com; Feb. 5, 2020; date accessed Feb. 10, 2020).
If signed, the executive order "would rewrite the current rules that govern the design of office buildings, headquarters, and courthouses, or any federal building project contracted through the General Service Administration that costs over $50 million." (Ibid) The non-profit's chairperson, Marion Smith, wrote in a text message to The New York Times,
For too long architectural elites and bureaucrats have derided the idea of beauty, blatantly ignored public opinions on style, and have quietly spent taxpayer money constructing ugly expensive, and inefficient buildings,... This executive order gives voice to the 99 percent--the ordinary American people who do not like what our government has been building" (Ibid)
This is just one person's opinion, albeit, one person with the president's ear. Perhaps it would be useful to take a step back and define what the Neo-Classical is and why it is so attractive to governmental institution.
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| slideserve.com |
The Neo-Classical was a period style revival of the Graeco-Roman period that began in the mid-17th century and lasted through the end of the 18th-century, coinciding with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The key points are:
- Neoclassical art arose in opposition to the overly decorative and gaudy styles of Rocco and Baroque there were infusing society wit a vanity art culture based on personal conceits and whimsy. It brought about a general revival in classical thought that mirrored what was going on in political and social arenas of the time, leading to the French Revolution
- The primary Neoclassical belief was that art should express the ideal virtues in life could improve the viewer by imparting a moralizing message. It had the power to civilize, reform, and transform society, as society itself was being transformed by new approaches to government and the rising forces the Industrial Revolution, driven by scientific discovery and invention.
- Neoclassical architecture was based on the principles of simplicity, symmetry, and mathematics, which were seen as virtues of the arts in Ancient Greece and Rome. It also evolved the more recent influences of the equally antiquity-informed 16th century.
- Neoclassicism's rise was large part due to the popularity of the Grand Tour, in which art students and the general aristocracy were given access to recently unearthed ruins in Italy and as a result became enamored with the aesthetics and philosophies of ancient art. (theartstory.org; Nov. 9, 2018; date accessed Feb. 10, 2020)
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| United States Capitol Building Washington D.C. neoclassicism.us |
By the late eighteenth century, in the fledgling United States and newly reconstituted Europe, classicism was the final word in the letters, design, and politics. However less than a hundred years later, classicism was no longer emblematic of the cultivated and elite. In high culture and popular mythology, the classics were touchstones of authority and common reference points. Stories from the Graeco-Roman period spoke of Neo-Classicism's aspirations and offered insight into the thoughts of the Founding Fathers (mmfacdocents.com; date accessed Feb. 10, 2020). Historian Caroline Winterer's 2002 book, The Culture of Classicism observes that American Neo-Classicism found expression in a myriad of ways. Ms. Winterer wrote, "Classical allusions and authorities,..., helped defined America's ethical, political, oratorical, artistic and educational ideals" (Ibid). She concludes,
Given our devotion to more modern concerns today, it is difficult to grasp how dazzled Americans were by the ancient Greeks and Romans, how enthusiastically they quarried the classical past (Ibid).
The classical forms of government heavily inspired the formation of the American republic, "...a radical and novel form of self-government modeled on antiquity" (Ibid). Essentially, the Founding Fathers borrowed and re-fashioned the Roman government and civics to fit their political self-interest, in the process establishing a modern republic. The Founding Fathers considered the Graeco-Roman past a successful model and a source of emotional inspiration. "The Greeks and Romans debated and developed the principles of justice, the rule of law, liberty, and due process. For the Founders, ancient opponents of tyranny, monarchy, and aristocracy provided illustrations of heroism, as did classical advocates of the philosophical life" (Ibid). Which makes the reason the for "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" all the more ironic.
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| The United States Supreme Court Building Washington D.C. washingtonpost.com |
The draft executive order says,
...Classical and traditional architectural styles have proven their ability to inspire such respect for our system of self-government.... This preference does not exclude experiment with new, alternative styles. However, care must be taken to fully ensure that such alternative design command respect by the public for their beauty and visual embodiment of America's ideal... (chicago.suntimes.com; Feb. 5, 2020; date accessed Feb. 10, 2020).
In essence, the draft executive is looking to (re)-instill respect for our system of government through the use of architecture. Would not it be better to re-instill respect of the American system of government through legislative policies that benefit Americans and make America a respected world leader? Allow Blogger to think out loud for a minute, if signed, "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" would make an architectural historic period style that embodies the very opposite of what the current administration stands for: justice, rule of law, due process, and liberty.
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| Wilkie D. Ferguson Courthouse Miami, Florida Arquitectonica arquitectonica.com |
According to this order, new federal buildings would be required to use the Neo-Classical design vocabulary, instead of the Brutalist or Deconstructivist one, like the Wilkie D. Ferguson Courthouse in Miami, Florida. Writing The Federalist, Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee declares,
The proposed rule "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again," would finally drain the Swamp of its embarrassing fetish for eyesores (thefederalist.com; Feb. 7, 2020; date accessed Feb. 10, 2020).
One person's eyesore is another's masterpiece. In his article, Senator Lee goes equates Americans' collapse in confidence in governmental institutions with the abandonment of classical principles. He writes,
Is it any wonder that American's confidence in government has collapsed--the government itself has grown hopelessly dysfunctional--in the decades since Washington abandoned classical design principles in favor of elite modernist fads and the ugly buildings they produce?...(Ibid)
Senator Lee considers the old federal buildings lovely, humane, and welcoming (Ibid), ironically the very opposite of the current administration.
The point Yours Truly is trying to make with this post the Trump administration's intention to make Neo-Classicism the default style of federal building demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what this style is truly about. While the Founding Fathers hoped to inspire lawmakers to tap into their better angels with lessons from the ancient past, the current administration's attempt to convey authority and confidence in government is without context.
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