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The Beautiful Necessity / Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture cover

The Beautiful Necessity / Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture

By Claude Fayette Bragdon
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About This Book

A series of seven essays argues that art and architecture are manifestations of a single cosmic life, and that their forms obey recurring aesthetic laws—unity, polarity, trinity, multiplicity, consonance, balance, rhythmic change and radiation. Drawing on theosophical ideas and pre-relativistic notions of space and time, the author examines latent geometry, proportion, ornament and perspective, and shows how those principles produce coherence in buildings, decoration and pictorial composition. Concrete architectural examples and analytic diagrams illustrate how symbolic order and mathematical relations yield visual harmony and spiritual meaning.

About the Author

Bragdon, Claude Fayette portrait

Claude Fayette Bragdon

Claude Fayette Bragdon was an American architect, writer, and theorist known for his innovative ideas on architecture and its relationship to spirituality and democracy. His works often explore the intersection of the physical and metaphysical realms, as seen in his notable book "Architecture and Democracy," where he argues for a more harmonious architectural practice that reflects democratic values. Bragdon also delved into the concept of higher dimensions in his work "Four-Dimensional Vistas," contributing to the discourse on the nature of space and perception. His essays in "The Beautiful Necessity" further illustrate his belief in the aesthetic and philosophical dimensions of architecture, making him a significant figure in early 20th-century architectural thought.

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