www.quondam.com/32/3207l.htm

behind the scenes

multiple vision
not an easy book

1 b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

In painting, duality has had a continuous tradition-for example, in compositions of the Madonna and Child and of the Annunciation; in enigmatic Mannerist compositions such as Piero della Francesca's Flagellation; and in the recent work of Ellsworth Kelly (209), Morris Louis, and others.
Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), p.90.

Sullivan's Farmers' and Merchants' Union Bank in Columbus, Wisconsin, is exceptional in our recent architecture. The difficult duality is prominent. The plan reflects the bisected inside space which accommodates the public and the clerks on different sides of the counter running perpendicular to the facade. On the outside the door and the window at grade reflect this duality: they are themselves bisected by the shafts above. But the shafts, in turn, divide the lintel into a unity of three with a dominant central panel. The arch above the lintel tends to reinforce duality because it springs from the center of a panel below, yet by its oneness and its dominant size it also resolves the duality made by the window and the door. The facade is composed of the play of diverse numbers of parts--single elements as well as those divided into two or three are almost equally prominent--but the facade as a whole makes a unity.
Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), pp.90-1.

4507w

««««

»»»»