The Performative Character of Style. Issue 1 (7th December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bressani, Martin
• Is Part Of: Architectural histories. Volume 6:Issue 1(2018)
• Publication Date: 2018-12-07
• Subjects: Architecture -- History -- Periodicals; Architecture -- Historiography -- Periodicals; Architecture -- Research -- Periodicals; 720.9
• DOI: 10.5334/ah.322
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-5833

Abstract

Abstract : The redefinition of the concept of style in the 19th century — a broad theoretical and 'foundationalist' inquiry central to the era's architectural preoccupations — reflected the desire to understand the cultural and material mechanism through which 'authentic' architectures were born. It focused upon the artistic unity within a given historical period, not as some abstract speculation on ideal form, but as a reflection on the constitutive formation of artistic cultures: not what makes an architecture beautiful, but what makes it authentic and living. Focusing, amongst many authors, upon the theoretical work of French architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879) as a case study, I will explore how 'style-theory' was a search to understand the profound nature of the creative act itself, how it sought to grapple with humanity's very 'shaping power'.