God's Own Junkyard
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Revision as of 14:07, 24 September 2018 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 14:09, 24 September 2018 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
:"Contains many black and white photos of the [[desecration]] of the U.S. landscape in the late 50's/early 60's." | :"Contains many black and white photos of the [[desecration]] of the U.S. landscape in the late 50's/early 60's." | ||
- | 280 BOOK REVIEWS JULY | + | ==Excerpts== |
- | God's Own Junkyard: The planned deterioration of America's landscape. | + | "At present, these should-be leaders are, instead, performing for Mr. Ripley's "[[Believe It or Not]]" circus :architects, painters, and sculptors are outdoing one another in acrobatics, in hot pursuit of novelty ;taste makers are busy watching the box office and the circulation figures, instead of making taste; and the public (which includes the public uglifiers) simply follows the lead of our supposed "intellectual elite." |
- | By Peter Blake. (New York:Holt,Rinehart and Winston, | + | |
- | 1964. $2.95.) | + | "For the truth is that the mess that is man-made America is merely a caricature of the mess that is art in America — and a very mild caricature at that The inscription on Sir Christopher Wren's tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral contains the famous words:"If thou seek his monument, look about thee." God forbid that this should ever become our epitaph." |
- | Anhonest observer of the United States today would,Ithink, | + | |
- | find it hard to avoid seeing what is happening to "God's Own Country," | + | |
- | or tohelp asking himself questions about the mess we are making | + | |
- | of our landscapes and townscapes. Peter Blake indicts those he calls | + | |
- | "America's affluent uglifiers" and presents an accurate picture, using | + | |
- | every device at his disposal, to make his readers aware of the vicious | + | |
- | and systematic "uglification" of America. | + | |
- | The book combines incisive prose with masterful juxtapositions | + | |
- | of photographs which support and substantiate his conviction that ifthe | + | |
- | planned deterioration of the American landscape and townscape continues, | + | |
- | we willsoon have to call this country "God's Own Junkyard." | + | |
- | The book is divided into ten chapters, with such titles as "Townscape," | + | |
- | "Landscape," "Roadscape," "Carscape," and "Skyscape." There are | + | |
- | more than one hundred and fiftyphotographs. | + | |
- | The mess that is man-made America is a disgrace — "a disgrace," | + | |
- | Blake says, "of such vast proportions that only a concerted national | + | |
- | effort can now hope to return physical America to the community of | + | |
- | civilized nations." Inthe opening paragraph of his Preface, he tells his | + | |
- | readers that his book is not written in anger but "in fury." "Itis a | + | |
- | deliberate attack upon all those who have already befouled a large | + | |
- | portion of this country for private gain and are engaged in befouling | + | |
- | the rest." He accuses all Americans without ties to the landscape or | + | |
- | townscape in which they live of being "latter-day vandals" — people | + | |
- | whose eyes have lost the art of seeing. ("How can a child in Gary, | + | |
- | Indiana, say, be taught to use his eyes withdiscrimination, taste, and | + | |
- | intelligence?") | + | |
- | Along withthe spectacular growth inpopulation in the nineteenth | + | |
- | century, our civilization,especially in the East, was changing rapidly, | + | |
- | becoming more an industrial-business civilization and less a ruralagrarian | + | |
- | civilization. The Industrial Revolution in a country rich in | + | |
- | natural resources produced, suddenly, a vast amount of wealth. A | + | |
- | Work — ethic — dating back to the Puritans in the seventeenth century | + | |
- | contributed, in the nineteenth century, to making the accumulation | + | |
- | of money almost apatriotic duty, a virtue inand of itself. Self-reliance | + | |
- | and individualism, the emphasis on the single man, went hand in | + | |
- | hand with this growth and expansion, during the century, in the land | + | |
- | 1964 BOOK REVIEWS 281 | + | |
- | of endless opportunity and limitless progress. Optimism and selfreliance | + | |
- | became a part of the national consciousness. Previously, Americans | + | |
- | had imitated Europe, had imported their art and culture from | + | |
- | Europe. Emerson, as a spokesman for what has been called the | + | |
- | American Renaissance, encouraged Americans to evolve a culture of | + | |
- | their own— distinct, unique, indigenous ;at the same time, he fought | + | |
- | against conformity and uniformity. Ironically, the emphasis on the | + | |
- | single man has, in the twentieth century, led to the decline of a national, | + | |
- | characteristically American, culture. If anything is true about our | + | |
- | architecture, art, towns, landscape, it is that they have become uniformly | + | |
- | ugly. We have shifted away from the individual, creative | + | |
- | artist, architect, town planner, craftsman, toward mass vulgarity and | + | |
- | the novelty of a garish commercialism. ("The frantic search for | + | |
- | novelty, for the sake of novelty, is encouraged by all the pressures | + | |
- | that surround us/') Blake insists that the intellectual elite inAmerica | + | |
- | has failed to accept its responsibilities or to set an example of selfimposed | + | |
- | restraint, of quality rather than novelty, for the rest of the | + | |
- | country to follow. He writes : | + | |
- | At present, these should-be leaders are, instead, performing for Mr. Ripley's | + | |
- | "Believe Itor Not" circus :architects, painters, and sculptors are outdoing one | + | |
- | another in acrobatics, inhot pursuit of novelty ;taste makers are busy watching | + | |
- | the box office and the circulation figures, instead of making taste; and the | + | |
- | public (which includes the public uglifiers) simply follows the lead of our | + | |
- | supposed "intellectual elite." | + | |
- | Who, today, can say that American taste in general reflects much | + | |
- | inspiration or nobility ? What is reflected is a widespread shallowness | + | |
- | and commercialism. Blake feels, for example, that in destroying our | + | |
- | landscape, we are actually destroying the future of civilization in | + | |
- | America ! | + | |
- | Those who have commented on the disease of ugliness spreading | + | |
- | across the country and have tried to diagnose the problem are often | + | |
- | accused of jeopardizing free enterprise, the American Way of Life, | + | |
- | and the principles of democracy. But let us admit the truth. While we | + | |
- | need not become alarmists, we cannot afford to close our eyes and | + | |
- | pretend to be blind. Those who care, who voice their concern, who | + | |
- | plead for conservation and a historical sense in the face of mutilation | + | |
- | and vulgarization, are repeatedly forced to justify beauty as worthwhile: | + | |
- | that is, as an enterprise that "pays off." Beauty is suspect. | + | |
- | How else explain higher taxes levied on "beautiful" or "prestige" | + | |
- | buildings or the destruction of historical buildings and landmarks | + | |
- | when they cease to be "money-makers"? How else explain the | + | |
- | 282 BOOK REVIEWS JULY | + | |
- | acquiescence of so many who now live out their lives in "the massive, | + | |
- | monotonous ugliness of most of our Suburbia" ? | + | |
- | For the truth is that the mess that is man-made America is merely a | + | |
- | caricature of the mess that is art in America — and a very mild caricature at | + | |
- | that The inscription on Sir Christopher Wren's tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral | + | |
- | contains the famous words:"Ifthou seek his monument, look about thee." God | + | |
- | forbid that this should ever become our epitaph. | + | |
- | Carnegie Institute of Technology A. C. Willers | + | |
Revision as of 14:09, 24 September 2018
Related e |
Featured: |
God's Own Junkyard: The Planned Deterioration of America's Landscape (1964) is a book by German-American architect Peter Blake.
Blurb:
- "Contains many black and white photos of the desecration of the U.S. landscape in the late 50's/early 60's."
Excerpts
"At present, these should-be leaders are, instead, performing for Mr. Ripley's "Believe It or Not" circus :architects, painters, and sculptors are outdoing one another in acrobatics, in hot pursuit of novelty ;taste makers are busy watching the box office and the circulation figures, instead of making taste; and the public (which includes the public uglifiers) simply follows the lead of our supposed "intellectual elite."
"For the truth is that the mess that is man-made America is merely a caricature of the mess that is art in America — and a very mild caricature at that The inscription on Sir Christopher Wren's tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral contains the famous words:"If thou seek his monument, look about thee." God forbid that this should ever become our epitaph."
See also