Ernest Flagg: Trending quotes (page 2)

“Beauty alone is an excellent reason for many things, but when a design is in direct conflict with common sense it cannot be a work of art.”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: Reason... to suppose any production, worthy to be called a work of art, can be made without its use is foolish.... By the use of reason many mistakes in design may be avoided and many counterfeits of art readily detected.... Beauty alone is an excellent reason for many things, but when a design is in direct conflict with common sense it cannot be a work of art.

Beauty , Art , Sense

“One of the best ways to economize in building is to economize on ugliness.... Nothing can be greater service in avoiding ugliness than a knowledge of the principles of design.”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922), Ch. XI

Way

“Imagination may be called the dynamic force in art.”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: Imagination... implies originality. It results in a reflection... of the working mind of the designer.... Imagination may be called the dynamic force in art.... It is the quality which distinguishes the artistic from the photographic representation of nature.

Art , Imagination

“The best art, and the only art which will ever lead to great results, must have for its basis the interpretation of beauty in nature.”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922), Introduction

Beauty , Art , Nature

“Economy in building consists in the aggregate of a great number of savings, which when considered separately may seem trivial, but when combined are important. The list of those here provided for… may be divided into classes as follows:”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: Economy in building consists in the aggregate of a great number of savings, which when considered separately may seem trivial, but when combined are important. The list of those here provided for... may be divided into classes as follows:<!-- Introduction

“The Greeks designed by a modulus of fixed measure”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: The Greeks designed by a modulus of fixed measure, and that modulus, for the Doric order, was the distance between centers of the triglyphs.... The triglyphs stand in the frieze, at the corners of the building and at regular intervals at all sides of it; between then are panels, called metopæ, which are always square. The distance between the triglyphs, therefore, determines the height of the frieze. The height of the frieze determines that of the architrave, which is the same. The distance between the triglyphs also determines the spacing of the columns, for except at the corners of the building the center of each column coincides with that of every second triglyph. Upon the spacing of the triglyphs, therefore, depend absolutely the proportions of plan and order. That spacing constitutes a fixed modulus for the entire design which never varies in its application and is, in fact, the harmonic scale of the monument.<!--Ch. II

“Clarity or Decision. …without it there is uncertainty, hesitation, obscurity, instability… incomparable with good art. The meaning and object of the design should be clear… it should be frank, as the French say.”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: Clarity or Decision.... without it there is uncertainty, hesitation, obscurity, instability... incomparable with good art. The meaning and object of the design should be clear... it should be frank, as the French say.

Art , Decision

“Simplicity and Dignity are so nearly related that they may be considered together.”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: Simplicity and Dignity are so nearly related that they may be considered together.... A quiet air of reserved power is characteristic of dignity, and that is best obtained by simple means and the absence of apparent effort. Simplicity is the mark of genius. The giant in art does his work easily, without straining and without affectation; his ways are direct and to the point.

“In the human form, as nature tries to make it, every feature is useful and every feature is beautiful. Each member is perfectly adapted to the function it has to perform; nothing is superfluous”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: In the human form, as nature tries to make it, every feature is useful and every feature is beautiful. Each member is perfectly adapted to the function it has to perform; nothing is superfluous, yet the whole and every part is supremely decorative.<!-- Introduction

Beauty , Nature

“Monotony and dryness are lurking enemies which may be vanquished by variety.”

Ernest Flagg

Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: Variety.... Movement, contrast, and accent all contribute to variety... the spice of life... Monotony and dryness are lurking enemies which may be vanquished by variety.