NATURE AND DESIGN:The Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory
ISSN 2189-7166

No. 3
2019

The Third Asian Conference of Design History and Theory
ACDHT 2019 FUKUOKA / 31 August – 1 September 2019
Kyushu Sangyo University, Fukuoka, Japan

The Third Asian Conference of Design History and Theory―Nature and Design―
ACDHT 2019 FUKUOKA / 31 August – 1 September 2019
Kyushu Sangyo University, Fukuoka, JapanFirst published in March 2020 as an electronic journal
Related Organizations- Kyushu Sangyo University- Japan Society of Design- Design History Workshop Japan- Design History Group, Japanese Society for the Science of Design- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(A) 20152019 “International Comparative Study of Art and Design Education” (Principal Investigator:
Haruhiko Fujita, Osaka University)
Edited by Keiko Hashimoto and Ariyuki Kondo
Published by The ACDHT 2019 FUKUOKA Executive Committee©The ACDHT 2019 FUKUOKA Executive Committee
ISSN 2189-7166
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

ACDHT 2019 FUKUOKA Scientific Committee Members
Helena Barbosa
Haruhiko Fujita
Keiko Hashimoto
Toshino Iguchi
Ariyuki Kondo
Yasuko Suga
Keisuke Takayasu
Hideo Tomita
Georgia Traganou
Ngo Thi Thu Trang
Noriko Yoshimura
Wendy Wong

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Third ACDHT 2019 FUKUOKA “Nature and Designp. 5

Theme INATURE AND DESIGN
Universal Design Fonts: Functional and Aesthetic Aspects
Ning Yang

p. 8

Designing Post Nature: Speculating on How Things Could Be
Christof Breidenich

p. 16

Fashioning Death: Victorian Market of Mourning
Yurie Nakanep. 26

Lake and Modern Architecture: Drought in Switzerland,
Pile Dwellings, and Pilotis
Hideo Tomita

p. 36

Environmental Control and Information Design:
Development of the Flow Concept by Knud Lönberg-Holmin Collaboration with Ladislav Sutnar
Hisayasu Ihara

p. 44

The 20th Century Restoration of the Alhambra Patio
in Relation to Landscape Design
Sara Satohp. 54

Visualisation of Japanese Nature in Josiah Conder’s Works
Yuki Shimizu

p. 62

Theme II

DESIGN PHILOSOPHYThe Design Philosophy of Yabu Meizan:
Landscapes of Western Japan in Copperplate
Yoshie Itanip. 72

A Study of “The Tea Ceremony as a Time and Space for
the Appreciation of Artworks and Their Design” for College Students
Miwa Tsujita (Hasegawa)

p. 80

３

Tracing the Philosophy of Design in the Midst of the Cold War:
Cases in the Sinophone Region
Wendy S Wongp. 88

Design and Social Conscience: Nikolaus Pevsner’s Ethics of Designin the 1930s
Ariyuki Kondo

p. 98

Theme IIIDESIGN EDUCATIONJohn Ruskin and the Two Cultures Debate: Victorian Art Educationin the University Extension Movement
Chiaki Yokoyamap. 110Comparative Study of Architecture Education in France and Japan in
the 2010s
Keiko Hashimoto４

p. 118

The Third Asian Conference of Design History and Theory
ACDHT 2019 FUKUOKA“Nature and Design”
The Asian Conference of Design History and Theory (ACDHT), established in 2015, is a smallscale international conference dealing with various design-related topics and is held every otheryear. With the cooperation of a number of related associations and academic bodies, theconference is held in tandem with each group’s regular meetings and annual general meetings. A
specific theme is established for each conference, and the event is notable for its small scale andits open and lively discussions.
The theme of the third ACDHT, held at Kyushu Sangyo University, Fukuoka, Japan in 2019, was“Nature and Design”. Relationships between people and nature vary according to era and region,
but people continuously create a variety of designs and design philosophies. As nature rapidlychanges due to global climate changes, it is important to reconsider such relationships between
nature and design.
In addition to the main theme of “Nature and Design”, the third ACDHT also welcomed proposals
related to the “history of design education” and “design philosophy” in a broad sense. This issueof The Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory, therefore, contains avariety of papers presented at the conference on one of the following three themes:― Nature and Design― Design Philosophy― Design Education
We hope the ACDHT and its journal will provide continuing inspiration in the field of design
history and theory from global perspectives in the future.
March 2020, Fukuoka
The ACDHT 2019 FUKUOKA Organizers

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ThemeI

NATURE AND DESIGNUniversal Design Fonts:
Functional and Aesthetic Aspects
Ning Yang
Kyushu University, JAPAN

Abstract
This study aimed to investigate common problems and future directions of Japanese universal
design (UD) fonts. We share examples of UD fonts from 2006 to the present time. In Japan,
awareness of UD is broad and far-reaching in every field of design, including product design,architectural design, and typography. In the area of UD, the concept of inclusive typeface design
has attracted much attention with regards to making fonts legible for as many people as possible,
especially for people with impaired vision. A notable example of UD based on scientific evidence
was developed by Iwata Corporation in association with Panasonic Corporation. Morisawa Inc.
and Fontworks Inc. also produced a series of Japanese UD fonts. However, a frequently discussed
problem is that enhancing functional factors, such as legibility and readability, may reduce
aesthetic attributes through their unnatural form. UD font is an artificial design object thatemphasizes functional factors. However, it is acknowledged that natural form is also an importantevaluation factor. By drawing on both scientific findings, and designers’ experiences, this paper
focuses on UD fonts, considering associated challenges and future directions related to functional
and aesthetic aspects of the fonts.
Keywords: Universal design font; functional aspects; aesthetic aspects; design features

1. Introduction
In Japan, awareness of Universal Design (UD) is broad and reaches into every field of design,
such as product design, architectural design, and also typography. In the area of UD, the concepts
of inclusive typeface design have attracted attention through attempts to make an easy-to-read
font for as many people as possible, especially for those with low vision.
Japanese UD fonts were initiated by Iwata Corporation in association with Panasonic
Corporation based on scientific evidence, and provide excellent examples of UD. Morisawa Inc.
also produced a series of Japanese UD fonts, which were shown to have high performance withregards to blur tolerance.1 NEC Corporation designed ‘FA UD Gothic’ Font and tested its
readability, visibility, legibility, and display adequacy. These are examples of a new context inwhich typeface legibility is investigated through cooperation between designers and researchers.
Typefaces are used as test material and experiments are conducted that evaluate them using themethods of psychophysical scientists.
In these evaluation reports, readability, visibility, and legibility have been treated in almost
the same way, but aesthetics have not been treated as a positive evaluation item. One of the
problems often pointed out with UD fonts is that when trying to improve legibility, aesthetics
may be reduced. To address this problem, it would be important to consider the relationship offunction with the feature of the character design. By drawing on scientific findings and designers’
experiences, this paper will focus on UD fonts, considering associated problems and future

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directions by looking into functional and aesthetic aspects.
2. Japanese Universal Design fonts
Table 1 summarizes previous research which focused on both design and test capability of UD
fonts. These studies demonstrate that for optimally improved functionality characters benefit
from relatively large character area, open counters, large dakuten and handakuten, and stroke
width. Research also indicates that eliminating the decoration at the start of strokes could
improve visibility of UD fonts (Figure 1).

Table 1: Summary of previous studies. For (2)-(7), see Notes 2-7.

(a) Iwata Gothic typeface(b) Iwata UD Gothic typeface
Figure 1: Matters to consider when designing UD font: the character areas,
the size of dakuten and handakuten, the design of the decoration of strokes,
the stroke width, the counters, and the size of the hiragana and katakana
character height.

9Universal Design Fonts: Functional and Aesthetic Aspects

1) Legibility
Legibility refers to the ability to distinguish single typographic characters. During thedevelopment process of UD fonts, several font vendors investigated character design, such as
dakuten, handakuten, the angle of stroke, and counter. They reexamined the design concept ofthese elements to avoid misreading and improve legibility.
Iwata Corporation noted that the gap between the dakuten and the strokes aid legibility.
Most font vendors such as Typebank and Morisawa Corporation insist on this design concept, andapply this brief to their UD font design. A similar solution was applied in LIM Uni-Type.
Designers consider that large dakuten assist legibility. They changed the characters’ form of the
new UD font aiming to create a larger space for the dakuten and handakuten, including the gap
between the dakuten or handakuten and stroke. Then, researchers investigated the legibility of the
hiragana and katakana characters to check the validity of this design concept. The results verified
the high legibility of this new UD font.
To avoid misreading, Iwata Corporation considered commonly misread character groups
such as ‘6’ and ‘9’. They changed the angle of the stroke of some kana and alphanumericcharacters to avoiding misreading. Similarly, Typebank and NEC Corporation also emphasized
the need to distinguish between similar character pairs to improve legibility.
Counters have frequently been overlooked in UD font studies. A concept of UD font designis that the larger the counters, the larger the font is perceived to be. Hence large counters improve
legibility within the limited horizontal width. During the development process of Iwata UD
Gothic, designers looked into kana and alphanumeric characters. They emphasized theimportance of clear and open counters, avoiding clogged counters and therefore, more ambiguous
letter shapes.
2) Visibility
Iwata and NEC Corporation focused on font visibility in the process of font design. In the design
guide for the Iwata UD Gothic, researchers described visibility as how easy the individual
character itself can be seen. Visibility is greatly affected by the counters, character areas, andstroke thickness. Character areas and counters generally improve font visibility and legibility. It
may seem logical to assume that the larger the character area, the easier it is to see. Based on the
results of evaluation tests, Iwata Corporation proposed and implemented design principles intheir UD font, including an enlarged character area. A similar solution was applied in FAUD
Gothic by NEC Corporation. They noted that large designed character areas, including counters,
make characters easy to see, thereby improving visibility.
Stroke thickness has also been considered as one of the font features that may affectvisibility. During the development process of Iwata UD Gothic, the researcher compared threeweights (medium, regular, and light) of this font with this method. The result showed that themedium weight is more visible than the other weights.
3) Readability
The meaning of readability is how easy the font is to read in a single paragraph of text. Lim-Typeconsidered current use of font in our daily life. Their results led to establishment of the designprinciple of enlarging the kana area approximating kanji characters to improve readability.
Verification experiments have been conducted to evaluate this design concept. Researchers
made a psychological impression evaluation by using short Japanese sentences composed of kanaand kanji characters as the stimuli. The results confirmed the high readability of the UD font,especially in small-sized characters.
N.Yang et al.8 studied the effect of font visual attributes on readability. An analysis of thecorrelation between the readability test results and visual attributes showed that stroke density is

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a significant character attribute affecting the readability evaluation of UD fonts. Results showedthat the high stroke density improves the readability for senior participants.
4) Aesthetics
As noted, the development progress of UD fonts has focused on functional aspects, like legibility,
visibility, and readability rather than on aesthetic parts. These aspects are not necessarily
compatible, a point raised by A. Mizuno in a report on the development history of Iwata UD
font.9 “Better visibility can be obtained by designing a relatively large character area, but it willlead to a problem that the space between two specific characters becomes narrow. Based on yearsof experience, this interference could make the character harder to read.”This phenomenon is most evident in the aesthetic evaluation study.10 An analysis of thecorrelation between the aesthetic evaluation test results and visual attributes showed thatcharacter areas, especially kana character areas and counters were significant factors that affected
the aesthetic evaluation for the Gothic typeface used in the body text. The fonts with small
character areas and counters were highly acclaimed. This result conflicted with the designconcept of a legible and visible font.
The impression of aesthetics may be related to the familiarity of the participants, and thereason for the low evaluation could be that participants are unaccustomed to the UD font shape.
In another investigation, the researcher conducted the psychological favorable impression
experiment to look into LIM Uni-Type. Findings showed that the favorable impression
evaluation of LIM Uni-Type was lower than regular fonts. However, by repeating presentation of
LIM Uni-Type, the favorability tended to increase.
The design aspect analysis of UD fonts shows that their design is reasonable and follows its
functional aims. However, it can be seen that the main design points of various functions are not
the same. For example, larger character area can improve the visibility of the font, but will reducereadability and aesthetics. It is challenging to meet all functional requirements through one kindof design. UD font cannot satisfy all functional requirements at the same time, although it is a
specialized typeface that can meet some specific functions.
By comparing the design features of UD fonts, it can be seen that designers and researchersemphasized improvement of functional aspects of the fonts by changing the font design only.
They did not clarify the design standards, so it remains difficult to choose an approach todesigning these UD fonts. For example, the size of the character area affects the visibility, butthere is no research offering a specific range of character area. There are no clear design criteria
given for such problems.
3. Empirical studies of Japanese typography‘Universal’ is the natural feature that typography should have and which attracts great attention
now. When a typeface designer pursues the beauty of shape, it is natural to consider readability at
the same time. This is not a novel concern of the 21st century. However, compared to westerncountries, there is limited empirical data on readability or legibility in Japan. Experimental
research has been conducted in this area since the 1960s. Nagano et al.11 defined readability interms of font that could be read quickly, was easy to understand, resulted in less fatigue, and had
a beautiful appearance. They studied the influence of character form on the readability ofprinting, and clarified that the form of printing-type most easy to read is printed horizontally, inoblong, square or rectangular forms.
In another investigation, I. Yoroizawa12 made a psychological impression evaluation ofreadability using the semantic differential method. Twenty-seven types of stimuli varying in font
type, character shape, and line width were used. Findings demonstrated that human emotions are11

Universal Design Fonts: Functional and Aesthetic Aspects

influenced by the relationship between the different character forms.
Since the 1990s, awareness of readability and visibility has moved towards the elderly andpeople with low vision. There is a focus on the needs of these populations in terms of reading
cognition and improvement processes. M. Funakawa and K. Oda13 used a low-pass filtering
method for evaluating visibility. The results showed that for people with unimpaired vision, fontswith clear open counters have high visibility. Stroke width was also found to influence visibility
evaluation. When the font has thicker strokes, it becomes more difficult to see. This phenomenon
was further evident in the data of the test study carried out by Funakawa.14 He regarded minimum
visual acuity and minimum time to read character images as indicators of visibility. The characterareas, stroke width, stroke contrast, and background brightness effect on legibility were measured
and shown quantitatively.
4. Empirical studies of western typography
Compared with Japanese, western typography has been the subject of much objective evaluation
and research on readability and legibility. This work has been supported by the contributions ofinterdisciplinary experts such as psychologists and cognitive scientists dating back many years.
The question of how to design a font that is easy to read has been addressed for over ahundred years. In the first half of the twentieth century, many experimental studies of readability
and legibility were conducted. From the late ‘60s, attention to these issues moved towards
interest in the cognitive process of reading to improve reading problems.
Comprehensive research using behavioral science methods was carried out by Tinker.15 He
evaluated visibility, legibility, and readability using more than ten types of fonts varying incharacter size, character spacing, line length, and line spacing. The results showed that standard
Roman is more readable than Italics. Moreover, lowercase letters are easier to read thanuppercase ones. In terms of stroke, sans serif fonts with certain stroke thickness, and thick stroke
fonts are more comfortable to read. He also noted that open counters might aid font readability.
The ultimate pursuit of easy-to-read font design was the study by Arditi.16 He adjusted thestroke width, serif, x-height, and inter-letter spacing of the test font, then measured the criticalprint size and reading speed of the test font. He found the inter-letter space was the significant
character attribute which affects readability. However, compared with Times New Roman, thereadability of this new font was low.
Only a small component of Japanese and western typography has been presented here. The
history of functional aspects and evaluation of font performance by scientists and psychologists
has been considered for many years and the results of functional investigations have steadily
accumulated. Although changing over the years in terms of display situations, findings fromquantitative research reveal many commonalities in terms of readability, visibility, and legibility.
From the past to the present, designers have always searched for functional fonts, and many
attempts have been made to design such fonts.
‘Frutiger’ is a typical example of a functional font. In 1968, Adrian Frutiger developed ahighly visible font for the signage at Charles de Gaulle Airport. This font could not be misread
even from a distance. The ascending and descending lines were emphasized for easy recognition,and the difference in thickness between the horizontal and vertical strokes was reduced. The
thickness and size of the characters were determined based on a legibility experiment. The
typeface was later reworked and extended to be released under the name ‘Frutiger’. After that, aseries of typefaces were produced with reference to Frutiger. As a derived font, MetaDesign
released the font ‘FF Transit’ based on ‘Frutiger’ in 1997. Another notable example is ‘Myriad’
produced by Adobe Systems.
This review of empirical studies of typography shows that functional aspects are not a new

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concern regarding UD fonts in the 21st century. Type designers and researchers have posed thesequestions for a long time. Western typography has many specialized functional fonts, however,unlike Japanese typography unique names have not been assigned to the fonts to emphasizefunctionality.
5. Summary
In recent years, ‘Universal’ fonts have become an important topic. Until now, a range of UD fonts
have been produced including UD gothic font, UD rounded-gothic font, and UD Mincho font,
together ensuring UD fonts have become established as a category. These fonts focus on being
easy to see and read. The concept of UD, a product plan that can be used by as many people aspossible, is incorporated into the typeface design, making it accessible for all people, including
those with visual disabilities such as amblyopia and the elderly. The design features of the UD
fonts have been verified in evaluation experiments of the functional aspects of the fonts. WhileUD fonts are highly valued, the focus on improved legibility has resulted in reduced aesthetics.
Our review showed that design features that satisfy each functional aspect of the UD fonts are notalways the same.
The Japanese UD font was initially designed for documentation on machines, and more
specifically for short sentences in horizontal typesetting. This indicates how UD fonts weredeveloped for functional purposes rather than aesthetic needs. However, the name UD has led tomisunderstandings that this kind of font can be used anywhere. For example, using it in a longarticle, where readers would feel that the font has poor aesthetics and is not easy to read.
As the scope of use expands and demand for new categories of Japanese typography
increases in future, there are likely to be many more UD fonts specialized for various
applications. These fonts will need to be considered in terms of functional performance and inbalance with aesthetic aspects. These issues are challenging but essential for consideration.
Notes
1. Y. Nakano, ‘UD Font Research Report’, retrieved fromhttps://www.morisawa.co.jp/fonts/udfont/data/UDFontResearchReport_1306.pdf[Accessed 10 Aug. 2019]
2. T. Washinosu, ‘Universal Design of Characters: Development of Japanese Character
Fonts from the Viewpoint of Universal Design’, Journal of printing science andtechnology, vol. 46, no. 3, 2009, pp. 131-136.
3. Y. Nakano, R. Yamamoto, T. Arai, S. Inoue, K. Hayashi, Y. Takata, A. Handa,‘Development of a “universal design” font with blur tolerance (1): A comparison of thereadability of Ming, Gothic, and “universal design” typefaces’, in the 3rd international
Conference for Universal Design 2010 proceedings, Hamamatsu.
4. T. Arai, Y. Nakano, R. Yamamoto, K. Hayashi, Y. Takata, A. Handa, S. Inoue,‘Development of a “universal design”font with blur tolerance (2): A comparison of thelegibility of Ming, Gothic, and “universal design”typefaces’, in the 3rd international
Conference for Universal Design 2010 proceedings, Hamamatsu.
5. R. Yamamoto, Y. Nakano, T. Arai, Y. Takata, A. Handa, K. Hayashi, S. Inoue,‘Development of a “universal design”font with blur tolerance (3): A Comparison of theLegibility of Gothic Typeface and a UD Font’, the 3rd international Conference for
Universal Design 2010 proceedings, Hamamatsu.

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Universal Design Fonts: Functional and Aesthetic Aspects

6. M. Miyazaki, H. Hibino, S. Koyama, M. Mabuchi, ‘Developing the Universal Design Font
“LIM Uni-Type” for Digital Devices’, Annual Design Review of Japanese Society for the
Science of Design, vol. 16, no. 16, 2010, pp. 58-61.
7. H. Hakamada, M. Ohya, M.Sakai, A. Sakurada, O.Tomomi, K. Okajima, ‘Approach to UD
Font (Universal Design Font) Development’. NEC Technical Journal, vol.64, no.2, 2011, pp.
51-56.
8. N. Yang, S. Sunaga, K. Toh, H. Ihara, ‘Readability of Japanese Universal Design Fonts: A
Study on Evaluations of Universal Design Fonts-2’, Bulletin of Japanese Society for the
Science of Design, vol.65, issue.4, 2018, pp.1-8.
9. A. Mizuno, ‘Development History of IWATA UD FONT’, Journal of printing science andtechnology, vol. 53, no. 3, 2016, pp. 6-14.
10. N. Yang, S. Sunaga, K. Toh, H. Ihara, ‘Evaluations of Universal Design Fonts-1: Aesthetic
Evaluation and the Visual Attributes of Typefaces that Affect It as Factors’, Bulletin ofJapanese Society for the Science of Design, vol.65, issue.1, 2018, pp.51-60.
11. M. Nagano, T. Takahashi, T. Watanabe, ‘Research on letter styles in horizontal printing ofJapanese texts’, The National Language Research Institute Research Report, no.24, 1964.
12. I. Yoroizawa, ‘Semantic Differential Analysis on Different character shapes andArrangements in Japanese Sentences’, The Institute of Image Information and Television
Engineers, vol. 5, no. 18, 1981, pp. 15-20.
13. M. Funakawa, K. Oda, ‘Estimation of Shape Visibility by Using a Low-pass Filtering
Method’, Journal of Science and Technology in Lighting, vol. 81, no. 5, 1997, pp. 438-445.
14. M. Funakawa, ‘Psychophysical Experiments on the Legibility of Letters’, Journal of theIlluminating Engineering Institute of Japan, vol. 84, no. 11, 2000, pp. 785-792.
15. M.A.Tinker, Legibility of Print, Iowa State University Press, 1963.
16. A.Arditi, ‘Adjustable typography：an approach to enhancing low vision text accessibility’,
Ergonomics, vol. 47, 2004, pp. 469-482.
Author Biography
Ning Yang
Ning Yang is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Kyushu University, Japan. She received her
Ph.D. in Design at Kyushu University in 2015, focusing broadly on bilingual visualcommunication, with a particular interest in balancing Japanese-Chinese bilingual typography toachieve harmonization. Her current research focuses on legibility testing for Japanese universal
design fonts.

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Designing Post Nature:
Speculating on How Things Could Be
Christof Breidenich
Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, GERMANY

Abstract
At least since the industrialization and its influential consequences in the twentieth century, it has
become difficult or even impossible to perceive nature as untouched without perceiving andcontemplating the influence of man. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to maintain the
dichotomy nature and/culture, which makes it necessary for designers to expand their self-image.
Throughout history, the relationship between man and nature has become evident in theefforts of the humanism in the 14th and 15th century and ecology movement since the 1970s. In
the term of social design, since the end of the twentieth century, people have been trying toconceive of human beings and their natural, social, political, technical, and economic
environment as unified which can only be optimized if all human needs are taken into account in
the design. The trajectory of the artificiality from Klaus Krippendorff describes different
dimensions of these semantics of design.
With mankind’s growing dominance of its environment, the question now arises to what
extent elements of a former autonomous nature such as animals, plants or landscapes have longsince become cultural products that follow human design intentions through design interventions.
Currently, these tendencies of new dimensions and configurations are reflected in the terms
speculative design, critical design, or next nature design. The tasks go far beyond the classic
design functions such as need fulfillment and problem solving. The requirements of the definition
for a new nature shift from a philosophical to a creative question that becomes effective andmeaningful through the use of intuition, interactive experiments, and collaborative encounters bymeans of a design discourse.
This paper refers to a current self-image of historically evolved perceptions of mankind /nature relationships to broaden design as a fictional speculation about nature and culture.
Keywords: Cultural History; Design Theory; Speculative Design; Next Nature; Social Design

Introduction
The Greek term Agricultura denotes a combination of soil as a cultivation of the field with theterm culture. Thus, the distinction between nature and culture can be justified as the act ofintervention in nature. The design of nature for the benefit of humans can be clearly understoodby an intention to optimize living conditions in the sense of a modern design concept. In thefollowing, historical understanding of the concept of nature since the early Renaissance are
addressed and discussed here. These serve as prerequisites for the current design discourse,
represented in a model by Klaus Krippendorff, who sets out the extension of the concept ofdesign from objects to projects and discourses under the term semantic turn. Krippendorff’s
argument that the essence of design lies not in the objectivity of things but in their embedding
in language results in a completely new understanding of concepts. Assuming that a traditional

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concept of nature is defined by its difference to culture (artificially made by man), its relevanceto design should be integrated into Krippendorff's model. This is supported by contemporarymodels such as those of Next Nature or Speculative Design, in order to understand thehistorically developed concept of nature as a component of the man-made present.
The Semantic Turn
Krippendorff's linguistic approach and model the trajectory of the artificiality makes it clearthat things are not autonomous or natural, but that people attach value to things or identities
such as brands or goods (Figure 1). These values are neither intrinsically contained in theobjects, nor are they statically constant. Rather, values are always renegotiated, constantly
reinterpreted, simulated, and varied through visual communication in order to be discussed,
accepted or rejected by the public. The constitution of a fact in the form of an object, a service,an interface, a network or a platform, a project, and finally a discourse is socially determinedthrough language and discussion. The highest level of trajectory depicts this core of the modelas the supreme discipline of discourse. “The trajectory shows the move from the production offunctional mechanisms to the constructive use of language. In the course of this trajectory, thecausal models of a universe – a single version of what is – are replaced by linguistic models of
how multi-verses come to be and are maintained.”1

Figure 1: The trajectory of the artificiality by Klaus Krippendorff (Graphic by the author).
The self-concept of design is translated by Krippendorff from an objective condition intoa linguistic negotiability. In an age when Man has gained access to all domains of nature in boththe territorial and physical sense, you no longer have an objectively provided nature as opposed
to artificial creation. In the sense of interpretation by means of language and the associatedassessment and identity creation of facts, this model should be examined as a guideline for an
expanded understanding of design taking into account a current concept of nature.
Historical Context
The report by Francesco Petrarca on his ascent of Mont Ventoux in southern France in 1336
constitutes a major innovation in the understanding of Mankind’s relationship to nature. By

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Designing Post Nature: Speculating on How Things Could Be

describing the landscape he sees from the top of the mountain, Petrarca creates a purely
aesthetic theme detached from work in the field or in the garden for the first time. Nature isaddressed and experienced and, as a landscape concept, finds its way into European intellectual
history. Despite all the advice of contemporary shepherds and peasants in the area whosuspected evil on the summit or could not understand why such exertion was worth it, Petrarca
resisted and subsequently wrote a report in which he clearly attributes his motivation to ancientmodels. In it he refers to a mountain ascended by the King of Macedonia and thus forms aliterary testimony as a link between the Middle Ages and the burgeoning Renaissance. As earlyas 1860, the Swiss cultural historian Jakob Burckhardt described the significance of the newaesthetics introduced by Petrarch. “But the same Petrarca already knows the beauty of rockformations and knows how to separate the pictorial meaning of a landscape from usability.2
In addition, Petrarca describes the efforts of the ascent and the resulting physical agony as
an intensification of self-awareness associated with fear and risk. He goes beyond the ancientmodel, for here he discovers his own inner being as the discoverer of the world and thus as theself-realization of the individual. “For Petrarca, his practical activity is transformed into atheoretical observation and contemplation of the world context brought into being by its creator.
Theoria – observation and contemplation – is the means to experience oneself as part of thatworld context. Where that succeeds, as Petrarca has said of Augustin, observation andcontemplation becomes enjoyable. The self-realization of man is confirmed by his ability totake the world for what it is.”3 The fact derived from this, that observation can result in
cognition, can be used here as early proof of cognition through contemplation and theoreticalreflection, which is stressed in the design and design theories of the 20th century and especiallyin the semantic model of Krippendorff.
With landscape painting from the 16th century, the spiritually transformed andexperienced landscape is clearly differentiated from nature. Landscape is no longer just theplace of events as a backdrop to, for example, biblical places, secular life or ancient narratives.
Another exaggeration is the translation of the art of painting into a walkable andexperienceable environment such as in the form of English landscape gardens from the 17th
century. By moving and walking in a nature environment equipped with cultural topoi, such as
ruins, waterfalls, grottos or artificial islands, it is artificially charged and thus appears to thecontemporaries as a painting you can walk through, by which perception is combined withphysical activity. On the one hand, the English gardens refer to the Agricultura in the original
sense as processed nature, on the other hand, they go far beyond that, culminating in thelandscape as a design of sensation and a process of gaining knowledge.
Current Concepts: Next Nature
Mensvoort and Grievink and the Next Nature Network initiated by them represent a significant
position in the current nature / culture discourse. They propose a classification with regard todecisive developments by means of four concepts:
1. Nature – beyond our control (planets, weather, original organisms such as viruses)
2. Cultivated Nature – in our control (cultivated plants, polished gemstones, geneticallymodified animals)
3. Culture – made and in control (robots, electric light, telephone)
4. Next Nature – made and beyond our control (internet, computer virus, traffic jam,financial system
This makes it clear that artificially created goods, techniques and systems are largely

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independent. If you follow the statement of Herbert Simon: “To design is to devise courses ofaction aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones,” then it is obvious to classify
innovations in technology, gene manipulation or brand communication as a principle for thetasks of design or designers. “Our natural environment is replaced by a world of design.”4 Suchstatements transform design into an all-encompassing meta-theory and practice. Whether it island reclamation in the Netherlands or the artificial islands in Dubai, plant and animal breeding
for the optimization of yields, 3D printed organs, textiles and foodstuffs or the enhancement of
the body by means of prostheses and digital devices - all the phenomena that were originallydesignated as nature, thus become domains of the artificial.

Figure 2: The pyramid of technology by the Next Nature Network (Graphic by the author).
Focusing on the evolution of technology, the Next Nature Network provides a matrix inthe form of a seven-step pyramid, the pyramid of technology (Figure 2). The lower four levels
are differentiated as development stages: design, vision, application, social acceptance throughuse, up to the vital indispensable technology (level 5), the invisible imperceptible (level 6), andnaturalized technology (level 7). Whereas the use of smartphones at the beginning of theirintroduction was still a luxury activity, they would now be considered one of the vitaltechnologies (Level 5). In addition, technologies such as reading and writing have long become
so obvious that they are no longer perceived as such (level 6). As technology fused with nature,
the Next Nature Network cites this example: “Naturalized technologies have moved beyond
being a vital tool or habit within our society: they are so integrated in our lives we consider
them part of our human nature. Perhaps the best example of a technology that is entirely
naturalized is cooking.”5 Through technologies such as cooking, or even clothing andagriculture, people have entered into symbioses with nature that currently need to be
re-discussed. But now the question arises as to whether naturalized technologies, which havedeveloped historically, have reached a point where symbiotic cooperation is out of balance.
Cooking requires the cultivation of the soil or breeding of animals as a prerequisite for thenature/culture co-operation. But if these are undermined by globalized free economic interests
in terms of ruthless profit maximization, then this symbiosis must be re-evaluated differently or

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Designing Post Nature: Speculating on How Things Could Be

newly.
Three Levels of the Concept of Nature
American design historian and theorist Clive Dilnot offers a model that brings together theconcepts of nature, artificiality, and human life.6 It is shown how these three concepts and theirrelations in the cultural and technical history have changed in three development steps (Figure3). Until 1800, anything artificially made by man was limited. Hand-made things and thetreatment of nature were quantitatively and spatially limited. Nature and artificiality were bothpart of human life. The second scenario relates to industrial culture. In this, Dilnot chooses aspiral as a form of representation for the steady increase of technology as a method in the senseof the exploitation of fossil fuels and global production increase. Finally, it shown that thecontemporary culture elevates the artificial to the former position of nature. Although it
contains an interface whereby human life can still be distinguished from nature, both arecaptured by the artificial. Genetically modified plants are thus both artificial and natural.

Figure 3: The artificial in human history by Dilnot (Graphic by the author).
Speculative Design
The London designers Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby have tried to broaden the concept ofdesign in recent years with their writings and activities with regard to Speculative Design. They
explain that the future is not something that inevitably evolves, but that the future has apotential to inspire designers to create visions and speculations. Design is always concernedwith the future (see quoted statement from Simon above), whereby the optimization of contexts
are the declared goal of designer’s activities. Dunne and Raby think further. They understanddesign theoretically and practically as a method for speculation, criticism, and visions of how
future interfaces of society, politics, economics, technology, and culture can be shaped. They
use the model of Stuart Candy, which differentiates the view of the future with the terms
probable, plausible, and possible. In addition, there is a field between probable and plausible inthis model, which is referred to as preferable(Figure 4). “Of course the idea of preferable is not
so straightforward; what does preferable mean, for whom, and who decides? Currently, it isdetermined by government and industry, and although we play a role as consumers and voters,

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it is a limited one. (…) But, assuming it is possible to create more socially constructive
imaginary futures, could design help people participate more actively as citizen-consumers?”7
By this it is meant that a branch of design is completely detached from the requirements of themarket or of companies. The potential of design is extended to speculation on the premise of:
How things could be.

Figure 4: The PPPP model by Dunne and Raby (Graphic by the author).
An Update and Extension of the Semantic Turn ModelIf you wanted to further develop the Krippendorff matrix, then you would have to consider themodels and definitions presented above and the possibility of their inclusion in the Semantic
Turn model. First on the list would be nature/culture cooperation, the pyramid of technologies(Next Nature), and the disappearance of clear boundaries of distinction (Dilnot). According toDunne and Raby (Speculative Design) speculation, an extended concept of design should be
included.
1. Can the dimensions of the classical self-concept of design be thought of or enriched by
the discourses on the concept of nature presented here?
2. Is the ecological compatibility of the conception, creation, dissemination, andconsumption of human artifacts an indispensable constant, replacing the traditional
concept of nature?
Level 1: Within the meaning of the Krippendorff Matrix, objects and products are all at
the lowest level. Genetically modified organisms would be added to this. The production as
well as the introduction into the disposal chain or the recyclability represent the decisive
challenge in the design of objects. Nature manifests itself as an environment to be preserved in
the sense of material resources and waste prevention. But this also means that the manipulationof genetic and biological organisms must be reversable or replaceable by natural organisms intheir original state at any time.
Level 2: In addition, the design of services and identities in terms of digital

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Designing Post Nature: Speculating on How Things Could Be

transformation and brand building would also be virulent for the consideration of a nature
concept. The digitization and networking with future even faster connections and the expected
blockchain technology transform the economy of logistics, energy, housing, education,
consumption, travel and entertainment, which is traditionally oriented towards industrial
production, at the core of their structures. This transformation goes far beyond the technicalconditions. The actual design, according Krippendorff, takes place in the interpersonal, or insocial conventions. The value of goods does not need to be identical to their material value. A
disruption that is already taking place and predictably will continue is increasingly destroying
the classic industries and the social conventions enshrined therein, such as jobs and leadership
structures. Values, services, and identities must comply with both ethical responsibility and an
intensity of appropriation and influence appropriate to the living and working environment.
Nature emerges in these immaterial dimensions as a measure of the compatibility of humanbeings with the influence of intentions of economic interests.
Level 3: In Krippendorff's matrix, the third level addresses the interfaces as the basis ofsocial communication. The current supremacy and virulence of social media and the expected
fast Internet will fundamentally change the economy and society through artificial intelligence,
the internet of things, and 3D printing. It can be assumed that in the future augmented reality
will increasingly ensure that the environment (and thus nature) is enriched with information bymeans of screen- or projection-based interfaces. Our environment is outwitted, in that theconcept of the static natural environment must be reconsidered through digital enrichment.
However, this maximum capture of people through alternative environments must remain
selectable on a voluntary and self-determined basis. Even today, it is becoming increasingly
clear that the consumption of virtual and digital worlds, both in the private and in theprofessional environment, poses problems of overstraining and dependency beyond all natural
existence. Alternatives and models for abstaining must be designed and offered. Access tooriginal environments should not only be enabled and maintained, but it must take on the greatchallenge of augmented reality as a chance and an improvement, without experiencing theirabsence as a lack.
Levels 4 and 5: The cultivation of vegetables and fruits in urban areas and their sale,urban gardening, co-working spaces and short-term leasing of housing, maker and sharing
cultures, repair cafes, and countless other collaborative working, living and learning platforms
offer new ways of living together through digital networking. Commercial as well as political
networks and projects constitute the basis of interpersonal relationships in the micro- andmacroeconomics, as well as in the state-supporting organs such as administration, party politics,
diplomacy, journalism, and justice. Formation of opinion through constantly possible liberalstatements creates new dynamics in local and global politics. Design and creative achievement
is not just about the logic and traceability of communities and their information. It is more
important that people trust the facts and narrative to use it for self-determined consumption or
the formation and statement of democratic opinions. According to the principles of social
design, problems are not simply fulfilled as singular needs (like in step 1 above), but questions
are asked about the catalysts and social dimensions. At the core of these social values is always
the collaboration of stakeholders and their different structures which form a complex network
for the problem as well as the possibilities and abilities to solve it through needs, expectations,and empathy. Thus, a problem space must be transformed into a possibilities space which shifts
from needs to the abilities of active subjects.8 As a result, designers no longer produce
exclusively finished products or services, but rather that more or less intensive social ties are
increasingly designed to integrate heterogeneous participant fields as infrastructures.
Level 6: According to Krippendorff, discourse forms the way in which facts are stated,
written, and how they are dealt with. Regardless of their thematic potential, discourses are not

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necessarily bound to specific people, media, techniques or objects. Language, metaphors, andnarratives are discussed, opened, linked or shifted based on different understandings andattitudes of groups and communities. All previous levels were more or less embodied byphysical, digital, or institutional constitutions. The discourse, on the other hand, constitutes amental achievement that is expressed in terms of needs, shortcomings, problems or expectations
due to various semantics. The constructive use of language opens a linguistic model to many
possible realities, and thus a departure from singular truths. In the course of a natural discourse,
stage 6 opens a design of the concepts and arguments of nature/culture difference from thederivation of historical views and current debates.
Conclusion
European art and cultural history offers many views of the concept of nature. The focus here ison the aesthetic difference between what man has created and what exists naturally. This
manifests itself in literary texts, fine arts, and different landscape and garden concepts. Since
the second half of the 20th century, the concept of design, defined since the Bauhaus period by
the design of two- and three-dimensional artefacts, has expanded to include political,
sociological, technical, media and digital aspects. At the heart of this extension is the statement
by Herbert Simon that design should turn existing situations into desired situations, regardlessof whether they are objects or invisible things. Our society does not stop at the design of nature
with this intention and in this sense. In this way, nature becomes an object that can be improved,
but as a result, we often realize that it can cause greater and new problems. The complete cureof diseases, genetically modified plants, the depletion of primeval forests and global warming
do not seem to be interventions optimized by humans. Although the problems can be limited,
they then spread in modified form elsewhere.
The models presented here all have in common that they not only address theself-concept of contemporary design, but that they also prove to be suitable to reconcile it withan adequate concept of nature. With the focus on the assimilation of these models with thewell-established Trajectory of the Artificiality, a discourse is illustrated that brings together theclassical concept of nature with the definitions, ways of thinking, and practices in design.
Consequently, nature is defined by the need to preserve it alongside all sorts of artificial
alternatives. It is no longer about the differentiation of nature and the artificial, but rather a plea
for the parallel existence of both. Although the degree of designer intervention in nature canneither be stopped nor regulated, the preservation of irretrievability of natural origin must be
guaranteed under all circumstances. Thus, all stages of the semantic turn can be mapped withaspects of Next Nature or Speculative Nature. This shows impressively the necessary
responsibility and forethought of design for a future of an artificial nature.
Notes
1. K. Krippendorff, The Semantic Turn: A New Foundation for Design. Boca Raton: Taylor &Francis, 2006, p.12.
2. J. Burckhardt, Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien. Ein Versuch. Frankfurt: Reclam, 2014,
pp. 324-329.
3. Bazon Brock, Ästhetik gegen erzwungene Unmittelbarkeit. Kapitel: Petrarca-Preis
1975-1979, Köln: DuMont, 1986, p.198.
4. K.M. Mensvoort and H.J. Grievink, Next Nature. Barcelona/NewYork: Actar, p.24.
5. Retrieved: June, 21st, 2019 from https://www.nextnature.be/booking/pyramid-of-technology

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Designing Post Nature: Speculating on How Things Could Be

6. C. Dilnot: ‘Reasons to be Chearfull, 1, 2, 3... (or why the Artificial may yet save us)’ in: S.
Yelavich and B. Adams (eds.), Design as Future-Making, London/New York: Bloomsbury
Academic, 2014, p.185.
7. A. Dunne and F. Raby, Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming.
Boston: MIT Press, 2013, p.4.
8. E. Manzini and R. Coad, Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design forSocial Innovation. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2015.
Author Biography
Christof Breidenich
Prof. Dr. Christof Breidenich is Head of Study Program Design at the Macromedia University
for Applied Sciences, Campus Cologne. He studied visual communication, media design andaesthetics. Since 1992, he has worked as a self-employed media and communication designer,
researcher, book author, coach and founder of Pixel Painting Company Communication(pixel-painting.de).

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Fashioning Death:
Victorian Market of Mourning
Yurie Nakane
Tsuda University, JAPAN

Abstract
The Victorian era was marked by great prosperity and the consuming culture of death. As acommon rite of passage or a natural conclusion of human life, death at that time and underthose economic circumstances became ‘popular’. It allowed commercial ventures to attract
people’s attention by preying on their human nature and loss of the loved one. Against thatbackground, there was rapid social growth and urbanization. Overpopulation and pollution led
to infectious diseases, such as smallpox and cholera, which posed a great healththreat—especially for infants living in London. Thus, in those times, the physical proximity
between the dead and the living was very close in urban areas.
The Victorian culture of death involved designing merchandise to support people in their
deep mourning and depression. Accordingly, this paper argues that the Victorian merchandizingof death focused on three main mourning goods: cemeteries, funerals, and mourning dress. This
study reveals how Victorian’s attitude towards mourning underwent change. To improve thesanitation in cities, the need grew for private cemeteries to bury the deceased. These cemeteries
developed into ‘garden cemeteries’ to attract more customers and consequently came to acquirecommercial aspects. This wave of commercialization affected funerals and mourning dress; it
was entwined with Victorians’ wish for a ‘good death’, which is related to exhibitionism inVictorian mourning.
The commercialization of death appears to have occurred based on respect andbereavement for the loved one. However, Victorians came to find such values in their consumer
activities related to mourning. From an examination of the three mourning customs, it ispossible to identify a shift in Victorian mourning customs towards commercialization.
Keywords: Victorian mourning; commercialisation; cemetery; funeral; mourning dress

Introduction
As a natural conclusion of human life, death produced distinct commercial opportunities for thepeople living in Victorian England as a ‘popular’ subject. To understand why Victorians
obsessed about death, we cannot ignore two significant factors: overly rapid social development
and the subsequent urbanization. Environmental pollution (mainly caused by overpopulationand such consequent infectious diseases as smallpox and cholera) was a major cause of death,especially for infants living in London.
Against that background, Victorian society developed broad cultural phenomena related
to death—and they extended into the area of merchandising. Elaborate funerals, mourning
clothes, coffins, and tombstones were all common Victorian products that were nurtured in adeath-centred society.
This study examines three major areas towards determining the commodification of26

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Victorian death: cemeteries, funerals, and mourning dress. The paper investigates why and how
death became a popular commodity. By examining those three aspects of the material culture
related to death, I aim to identify the distinguishing characteristics among Victorians withrespect to death.
Victorian London and the Spectacle of DeathAs noted in many studies, an accurate understanding of the Victorian era demands a proper
appreciation of the very close proximity to death that British people generally felt at that time.
The distance between the living and the dead became considerably closer in Victorian times.
Victorians lived their lives in the vicinity of death—both figuratively and literally.
The cause of this development was the great discrepancy between social and population
growth on the one hand and the reactions to the sanitary conditions in Britain’s large cities on
the other. In this regard, Catharine Arnold perfectly describes the unhygienic situation ofVictorian London, pointing out the disparity with respect to social status:
In shocking reality, London was more necropolis than metropolis, her bustling thoroughfares
and sophisticated highways paved with gold for the fortunate few, her side-streets reeking of
decay. By 1842, the life expectancy of a professional man was thirty. For a labourer, it was
just seventeen. The burgeoning population, drawn to the city for employment, was rocked bya series of epidemics. The high infant death-rate and constant epidemics of cholera, typhoid,
measles and smallpox meant that death was always present.1

1838
1850
1860

Deaths in England and Wales(in thousand)male
female
175
168
186
183
215
207

1870

266

250

1880

273

255

1890
1900

290
304

272
284

Table 1: Statistics of Death in 19th century England and Wales2
Owing to the high death rate and physical proximity to the dead, awareness of the end of life
was widespread among people of all social classes. This point has great bearing when
discussing the merchandizing of death at that time: the Victorian death market unquestionably
capitalized on the growing demand for relieving such anxiety. Ordinary people struggled withthe financial problems related to themselves as mourners and—ultimately—as the deceased.
Accordingly, the Victorian death market expanded to meet people’s demands to alleviate mortal
concerns. ‘Spectacle appears at once as society itself, as a part of society and as a means of
unification.’3 Given this definition by Guy Debord, Victorian England was so awash withdeath-related goods that the society were surely the spectacle of death.

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Fashioning Death: Victorian Market of Mourning

Entomb as You Like: Garden Cemeteries
In terms of public health, Victorian London was in a downward spiral: insanitation led to a highdeath rate, which in turn exacerbated biotic contamination. A major reason for this situation
would appear to be a shortage of cemeteries for burials. Concerning the serious shortage ofgraveyards in London at that time, Rev. Dr. Joynes of the Gravesend Cemetery Company
delivered the following speech at the opening ceremony of the Gravesend and Milton
Cemetery:Owing to the increase of population, the soil of some of our church yard is almost putrid;
and you cannot perform an office to the death without the risk of infection to the living. (…)
To remedy this inconvenience, to preserve the due solemnity of funeral rites, to keep up thehonours of the grave, cemeteries have been invented- for the commencement of one ofwhich we are now here assembled.4
From the 1830s to 1850s, a ‘cemetery movement’ took place in London as part of efforts topromote public health. Starting with Kensal Green Cemetery (1833), a series of private
cemeteries opened in central London: West Norwood Cemetery (1837), Highgate Cemetery(1839 and 1854), Abney Park Cemetery (1840), Brompton Cemetery (1840), Nunhead
Cemetery (1840), and Tower Hamlet Cemetery (1841). Those cemeteries, collectively referred
to as the ‘magnificent seven’, were authorized by Parliament under expectations that theywould accommodate for the deficiency and serve as alternatives to the insanitary burial
grounds.
It should be noted that they are all private cemeteries of the type termed ‘garden
cemeteries’, supposedly inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, i.e. commercially run
graveyards for the upper and upper-middle classes. To eradicate the common images of
unsanitary burial grounds and attract new clientele, the administrators of these new cemeteries
prepared elaborately landscaped burial grounds with walkways, pavilions, and mausoleums.
Over a couple of decades, their image strategy succeeded in overturning wealthy people’s ideas
about metropolitan cemeteries. The Illustrated Weekly News on 5 October 1867 introduced
Highgate Cemetery using an attracting caption, which emphasized its positive image: ‘Highgate
is one of the most charming spots in the neighbourhood of London. (…) The cemetery here
contains an immense number of beautiful monuments- many of them to well-known celebrities
in all classes of life (Figure 1).’5 Accordingly, a sense of improvement in public health cameabout through the rise of commercial landscaped cemeteries, though that did not actually
produce any fundamental solutions.

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Figure 1: The View of Highgate Cemetery

Figure 2: Entrance Gateway for a New Cemetery by Augustus Pugin
With respect to the Victorian merchandising of death, the garden cemeteries can be
identified as an early intersection of commercialism and mourning. The character of such places
was frequently criticized by contemporary architects or cemetery designers. Augustus Pugin, apioneer of the Gothic Revival, was one such opponent. A satirical sketch drawn by Pugin
clearly depicts those cemeteries’ shrewd attitude for business, as indicated by the notice stating‘OBSERVE THE PRICES!!! FOR READY MONEY ONLY’ on the right-hand column at theentrance gate (Figure 2).6 However, despite the feelings of Pugin and other critics, the Victorianmarket for death expanded, and increasing numbers of companies became involved inmerchandising activities. That activity is clearly reflected in publications devoted to the subject.
By the end of the nineteenth century, publications on the topic included Funeral Trade’s Gazette(1882), Undertaker’s Journal (1885), and The Undertakers’ and Funeral Directors’ Journal and29

Fashioning Death: Victorian Market of Mourning

Monumental Masons’ Review (1886). Advertisements for tombstones as well as cremation andembalming services appeared in Harrods catalogues, from which it was evident that
metropolitan undertakers and cemeteries had business collaborations (Figure 3 and 4). Thosepublications clearly show that the mourning industry enjoyed consistent growth and reached apeak in the late Victorian era.

Figure 3: Advertisement for funerals combining a cremation and embalming service

Figure 4: Monumental tombstones on Harrods’ Catalogue

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Various options for burials in those publications indicate the commercialistic attitudes inwanting to gain more clients. According to Cassell’s Household Guide, there were various
packages for people of all social status for interment and burial at Highgate and Nunhead
cemeteries: interment in a brick vault, from £49 7s. 6d.; in a vault that could contain six coffins,from £39 2s. 6d.; in a public vault, from £8 8s.; and in catacombs, from £17 10s.7 Those
detailed plans allowed people from the middle classes to better-off working-class individuals to
obtain appropriate funeral services for the deceased. Eventually, such schemes came to coverpoor people, who originally lacked the money for a proper burial.8
Commerciality of Funerals and Mourning Dress
Described as ‘celebration of the death’ by James Stevens Curl, a leading architectural historian,
Victorian funerals were characterized by parade-like opulence. Surrounded by onlookers in abustling street, the neatly furnished coffin containing the deceased was conveyed to thegraveyard by an elegantly decorated mourning hearse with horses, coachmen, and otherattendants in velvet attire. Luxurious funeral parades going through the city were a typicalscene in Victorian times—even though the undertaking business had existed since Hanoverian
times.9 A sketch of the funeral of a pioneer trade unionist, George Odger, in 1877 depicts theVictorian preference for holding grand public funerals (Figure 5).10

Figure 5: Funeral of the Late Mr. George Odger: the Scene in Broad-street, St. Giles’s.
A spectacular funeral was considered the best way for rewarding the deceased. However, such
funerals were of course possible only for the wealthy upper and upper-middle classes. As aconsequence, undertakers recognized that there were still sales opportunities elsewhere: thepeople of other social classes accounted for more than 75% of the population.11 To acquire morecustomers, Victorian undertakers produced a range of plans for funerals, just as they had done
for cemeteries. Cassell’s Household Guide lists general packages for funerals. The two services
detailed below help indicate how Victorian undertakers designed funeral plans to accommodate
mourners of all social status:
Funeral costing £3 5s. - Patent carriage, with one a horse ; smooth elm coffin, neatly

31Fashioning Death: Victorian Market of Mourning

finished, lined inside, with pillow, &c. ; use of pall, mourners' fittings, coachman with
hat-band; bearers; attendant with hat-band, &c.
Funeral costing £53 - Hearse and four horses, two mourning coaches with fours,
twenty-three plumes of rich ostrich-feathers, complete velvet covering for carriages andhorses, and an esquire's plume of best feathers; strong elm shell, with tufted mattress, lined
and ruffled with superfine cambric, and pillow; full worked glazed cambric winding-sheet,stout outside lead coffin, with inscription plate and solder complete; one and a half inch oakcase, covered with black or crimson velvet, set with three rows round, and lid panelled withbest brass nails ; stout brass plate of inscription, richly engraved four pairs of best brass
handles and grips, lid ornaments to correspond ; use of silk velvet pall ; two mutes withgowns, silk hat-bands and gloves; fourteen men as pages, feathermen, and coachmen, withtruncheons and wands, silk hat-bands, &c.; use of mourners' fittings; and attendant with silk
hat-band, &c.12
The reason for the splendour of funerals assuming a sense of rewarding the dead can to someextent be explained by the religious concept of ‘the good death’. According to Catharine Arnold,
the good death for Victorians meant ‘dying peacefully in your own bed, surrounded by family
and friends, with a clergyman on hand to administer the Last Rites and your children brought in
to kiss you goodbye.’13 Arnold believes that meant that Victorians wished their loved ones toundergo a natural, quiet passing into the sleep of death. However, the concept of a good death
was also indicative of the need to be viewed by others as a person completed the final processof a life without regrets. From that perspective, it is possible to observe a kind of exhibitionism
present with Victorian mourning manners, which was greatly accelerated by the excessive
mourning attitude of Queen Victoria for her husband Prince Albert (Figure 6). In other words,
Victorians were trying to avoid ‘bad death,’ caused by less attention to the deceased, by
exhibiting the loss of their families of friends through exhibiting their grief.

Figure 6: Queen Victoria and the Portrait of Her Loved Husband

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This mourning exhibitionism is evident with the mourners themselves. As part of the spectacleof death, mourning dress also played a considerable role as part of the sumptuous funeral.
Unlike in previous centuries, the custom of wearing mourning dress ‘continued to slide gently
down the social ladder- now permeating the ranks of the middle classes until by the earlytwentieth century it had finally reached the very poorest levels of society.’14 There were strict,complex rules on what people should wear in mourning. Colours, materials, and fabrics all had
to be properly considered in light of the relationship to the deceased, the time since death, orsex and age of mourners.15 Following the complex rules was financially and mentally
formidable, with the preparation of ‘[c]aps, hats, coats, dresses, stockings, veils, mantles, gloves,and blouses” made of “black crape muslin, gauze, cotton and wool.’16
Surprisingly, this situation with mourning dress became a burden for dressmakers. Thatwas because very extended mourning period made huge demands on the dress:
The preparation of mourning to be worn at the funeral is a task which often becomes a causeof anxiety or even distress to everyone concerned. Of the country tailor, who, perhaps,
employs but two journeymen, possibly six suits of black-cloth are ordered to be ready in fiveor six days’ time. Of the dressmaker, who, it may be, usually employs no more than four
seamstresses, perhaps twenty black dresses are ordered, which must all be home by the timeof the funeral. The same message is brought from both tailor and dressmaker: The work can’t
be done in any time.17
Death was certainly ‘just another excuse for merchandizing and black crape made the fortune of
Courtaulds’ to some extent.18 New traditions were created and disseminated to society, and they
constituted an immense promotion for the sales of mourning garb. However, overly elaborate
mourning customs eventually became an encumbrance for all mourners.

Figure 7: La Mantelet Sultanne, de Madame Popelin

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Fashioning Death: Victorian Market of Mourning

Figure 8: La Mantelet Antoinette, de Madame Alexandrine
Victorians became wrapped up in inflated ideas about mourning. They possibly considered thelavishness conferred upon death to be a kind of reward for the deceased’s ante-mortem
achievement. Efforts to change that situation were fruitless: in 1875, the Burial, Funeral andMourning Reform Association encouraged people to reduce expenditure on mourning
merchandise, but that move came to nothing.19 People followed strict rules for mourning;
eventually, they came to be obsessed with wearing mourning dress—or perhaps with theconsumption of death itself. In that society, people in mourning dress were presented as fashion
models: they figured as a spectacular exhibition for death—as evident with the captions formourning dress bearing the models’ names (Figures 7 and 8).
Conclusions
Victorians lived within the spectacle of the death. Cemeteries, funerals, and mourning dress
were all part of that spectacle. However, in the context of social reform, those features alsostrongly reflect a commercial shift in mourning customs. Owing to poor urban sanitation,
cemeteries became profit-making enterprises under company backing. That trend stimulated
and accelerated the commercialization of the entire mourning process, and the other twocorrespondingly held strong commercialism as winning products.
Victorian London was no doubt a consumer society for death. It is important here toconsider Jean Baudrillard’s definition of a consumer society in La Société de Consommation: aconsumer society is one in which people appreciate not the value of the goods themselves but
the symbolic value of those goods. Based on that definition, it may be concluded that thepayment for mourning—buying goods to show the mourners’ respect for the deceased—ended
up as the direct way of mourning in Victorian society.

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Notes
1. Catharine Arnold, Necropolis: London and Its Dead, London: Simon &Schuster, 2006, p. 94.
2. B. R. Mitchell, British Historical Statistics, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988, pp.54-55.
3. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith, New York: Zone
Books, 1995, p.15.
4. ‘Gravesend Cemetery Company’, West Kent Guardian, 29th September, 1838.
5. ‘View of Highgate Church and Cemetery’ in Illustrated Weekly News. 5th October, 1867, p.
557.
6. Augustus Pugin, An Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England, Edinburgh:John Grant, 1895, n. p.
7. Cassell’s Household Guide, Volume III, London: Peter Cassell and Galpin,1869, p. 314.
8. According to Liza Picard, a weekly income of the working-class Londoners was 20 and 30
shillings in average. Liza Picard, ‘The Working Classes and the Poor’, in The British
Library,
retrievedfromhttps://www.bl.uk/victorian-britain/articles/the-working-classes-and-the-poor.
9. Julian Litten. ‘The funeral Trade in Hanoverian England 1714-1760’, p.58, in Peter C. Juppand Glennys Howarth (eds.), The Changing Face of Death: Historical Accounts of Deathand Disposal, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997, pp. 48- 61.
10. ‘Funeral of the Late Mr. George Odger: the Scene in Broad-street, St. Giles’s’, Illustrated
London News, 17th March, 1877.
11. Sally Michel, Daily Life in Victorian England, 2nd edition, Connecticut: Greenwood Press,
2009, p.18.
12. Cassell’s Household Guide, Volume III, p. 292.
13. Arnold, Necropolis, p. 181.
14. Lou Taylor, Mourning Dress: A Costume and Social History. London: George Allen and
Unwin, 1983, p. 120.
15. Taylor, Mourning Dress, pp. 302-304.
16. W. H, Sewell, Practical Papers on Funeral Reform, Mourning Dress, and Obituary
Memorials, n. p., 1883, p. 1.
17. Sewell, Practical Papers, p. 5.
18. Sewell, Practical Papers, p. 5.
19. Judith Flanders, The Victorian House: Domestic Life from Childbirth to Deathbed, London:
Harper Collins, 2004, Kindle File.
Author Biography
Yurie Nakane
Yurie Nakane is a Ph. D student in the English Language and Literature Department at Tsuda
University. She is studying the Victorian culture, especially the contemporary material cultureof the death in the context of consuming culture. Her research interests include mourning
custom of the Victorian era and post-mortem/ spirit/ trick photography. Her paper titled“Phantasmagoria: Ghostly Entertainment of the Victorian Britain” is on the proceedings of 10th
ICDHS conference 2016.

35

Lake and Modern Architecture:
Drought in Switzerland, Pile Dwellings, andPilotisHideo Tomita
Kyushu Sangyo University, JAPAN

Abstract
In 1854, Switzerland suffered from severe drought. Lake Zurich’s water level was extremely low,
and the lakebed, which is normally hidden under the water, was visible. These circumstances
enabled the discovery of countless piles situated at the bottom of Lake Zurich. A study revealed
that in the prehistoric Alps, there were pile dwelling settlements on the lake. Towards the end of
the 19th century, when the modern architects were mere children, estimated restoration drawingsof the pile dwellings could be found in Swiss elementary school textbooks. Therefore, this study
clarifies the influence of the discovery of prehistoric pile dwellings on the architectural works ofthe modern Swiss architects Le Corbusier (1887–1965) and Hannes Meyer (1889–1954). This
study used published documents as research material, and it revealed the following. First, Le
Corbusier and Hannes Meyer designed piloti-style buildings on the shores of Lake Zurich for the
League of Nations competition project (1927). Second, the term ‘modern pile dwellings’ appears
in the design concept of Hannes Meyer’s ADGB Trade Union School (1928–1930). In theexecution plan (May 1930), the buildings maintained a certain level against the lake’s water
surface; hence, the term ‘pile dwellings’ was used in the concept. Third, the area around Lake
Garda is particularly important with regard to pile dwellings in Italy. Since the Bauhaus student
Pius Pahl (1909–2003) voluntarily selected Lake Garda for his diploma project (1932–33) anddesigned a house with pilotis on the lakeside, it is not a stretch to think that Pahl knew of the piledwellings when designing the house. This study clearly reveals that the drought and thesubsequent discovery of the pile dwellings influenced the use of lakeside pilotis in the designs of
the two modern Swiss architects in the 1920s.
Keywords: Modern Swiss Architect; Pile Dwelling; Piloti; Le Corbusier; Hannes Meyer

1. Introduction
1-1. Background, Aim, Method, and Materials
It is widely known that modern architecture built on lakesides emphasizes the view (e.g., Villa‘Le Lac’: 1923 by Le Corbusier; Lemke House: 1932–33 by Mies van der Rohe). However, it is
not widely known that a more essential change occurred slowly from the middle of the 19th
century to the first half of the 20th century in considering the relationship between lakes andmodern architecture in Europe. At that time, the key words were ‘pile’ or ‘piloti.’
The climate of 1854 triggered this change. In 1854, Switzerland suffered from severe
drought. Lake Zurich’s water level was extremely low, and the lakebed, which is normally hidden
under the water, was visible. This enabled the discovery of countless piles situated at the bottomof Lake Zurich. A study revealed that in the prehistoric Alps, there were pile dwelling settlementson the lake. The discovery became a symbol of the roots of Switzerland, whose constitution and
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democracy were established in 1848, and federal power was strengthened. Towards the end of
the 19th century, when the modern architects were still children, estimated restoration drawingsof the pile dwellings could be found in Swiss elementary school textbooks. Moreover, from thefall of 1920 to the spring of 1921, the weather in Central Europe was remarkably dry. In Central
Switzerland, there had been little rain for six months, and the water levels of the lakes had fallen
significantly.1 This phenomenon led to a new discovery in the study of pile dwellings. Because
the water level of the lake changed significantly in a short period, the possibility that the piledwellings were not on the lake but on the lakeside was suggested.
Adolf Max Vogt (1996), an architectural historian at ETH Zurich, discussed the influenceof Swiss vernacular architecture on Le Corbusier, an architect from the mountainous town of La
Chaux-de-Fonds by Lake Zurich.2 Vogt specifically discussed the influence of pile dwellings on
one of the five points of modern architecture, pilotis. Tomita (2018) also discussed the influenceof pile dwellings in a representative work on the architect Hannes Meyer from Basel, Switzerland,
who also served as the second principal of the Bauhaus school.3
Therefore, based on previous studies, this study clarifies the influence of the discovery ofprehistoric pile dwellings on the architectural works of the modern Swiss architects Le Corbusier(1887–1965), Hannes Meyer (1889–1954), and Bauhaus student Pius Pahl (1909–2003). In termsof methodology, in Section 2, we analyze the piloti style found in the ‘League of Nations’competition plans (1927) by Corbusier and Meyer. In Section 3, we clarify the concrete influenceof pile dwellings during the design process of Meyer's ADGB Trade Union School (1928–1930),
and in Section 4, we focus on the ‘House on Lake Garda’ project (1932–33) by Bauhaus student
Pius Pahl, who was influenced by Le Corbusier and Meyer. This study used published documents
as research material.
1-2. Outline of the Theoretical History of Pile Dwellings in Archeology
Before proceeding to the discussion, we would like to summarize the outline of the theoretical
history of pile dwellings in archeology based on the thesis by Francesco Menotti.4 The main issue
in research on pile dwellings is regarding their location. Three primary theories can be found in
this regard: (a) in relatively deeper parts of a lake, (b) shallow beaches where there was water
when the water level was high and land when the water level was low, and (c) on the shores of alake. The first was Ferdinand Keller’s theory in 1854, the second, Hans Reinerth’s in 1921, andthe third was Oscar Paret’s theory, proposed in 1942.
Based on the results of academic considerations, pile dwellings were reconstructed inmuseums. Immediately after the 1854 survey, a two-dimensional picture was presented as areconstruction by Keller (Figure 1).5 These images were inspired by pile dwellings in the pacificregion. Full-scale reconstructions then began in various places: from 1888–1890 at Schönenwerd
in Switzerland, in 1909 at Kammer am Attersee in Austria, in 1919 at Riedschachen in Germany,in 1921 at Unteruhldingen in Germany, and so forth.6 Thus, the increased research on piledwellings approximately coincided with the development of modern architecture in Europe.

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Lake and Modern Architecture: Drought in Switzerland, Pile Dwellings, and Pilotis

Figure 1: Ancient Lake-Dwellers’ Village in Switzerland
2. Le Corbusier and Hannes Meyer’s Piloti style in the ‘League of Nations’Competition Project (1927)
Le Corbusier and Hannes Meyer designed piloti-style buildings on the shores of Lake Zurich forthe ‘League of Nations’ competition project (1927). Pilotis are one of the most important featuresof modern architecture. The concept of the piloti was famously originally presented by Le
Corbusier as one of the ‘five points of modern architecture’ (1927). The design itself, however,which lifts up the building and opens up the ground as a garden, can already be seen in Le
Corbusier's ‘Maisons Citrohan’ project (1920–1922).7
It is interesting that two modern Swiss architects who proposed using pilotis for trafficroutes won the ‘League of Nations’ competition, a competition that received many proposals. Le
Corbusier and Meyer's proposals for the use of pilotis in the competition were as follows: Le
Corbusier opened the ground floor of the parliament building and the secretariat building to thetraffic using pilotis, while Meyer lifted the entire parliament building with pilotis and opened up
the entire ground floor as a traffic lane. The site of the ‘League of Nations’ competition gently
sloped toward the lake, facing Lake Zurich. Therefore, the two architects opened up the groundfloor using pilotis in order to handle the slope.
Architectural historian Kenneth Frampton (2002) focused on the commonality of the useof pilotis in Le Corbusier and Meyer's proposals: ‘Both projects are partially lifted off the site ona system of pilotis, accommodating cars under their elevated sections in much the same manneras pile dwellings accommodate boats.’8 Frampton's theory later evolved to recognize thedifference between the two transport systems, and the pile dwellings metaphor was not used again.
However, it is worth noting that Frampton took up the proposals of the two Swiss architects andexplained the common proposed use of pilotis using the metaphor of pile dwellings. This is likely
due to the Le Corbusier theory by Vogt (1996), introduced in Section 1, and an attempt to expand
it to the Meyer proposal. Therefore, Section 3 focuses on Meyer's ADGB Trade Union School.
3. Hannes Meyer’s ‘Modern Pile Dwellings’ in the ADGB Trade Union School (1928–
1930)
In the design concept for the execution plan of the ADGB Trade Union School (1928–1930),
Meyer described the teachers' houses, built using pilotis and facing a small lake in a pine forest,as ‘modern pile dwellings.’ In fact, in the design process of the ADGB Trade Union School, there

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were three proposals, and the design of the teachers' houses changed.9 Therefore, focusing on the‘pile dwelling’ concept, we analyzed all three stages of the design process of the teachers' houses
and the three different kinds of design concepts.
As mentioned, there were three plans: a competition plan (drawn up on August 16, 1928),
an architectural application plan (drawn up on August 16, 1928), and an execution plan (drawn
up on May 31, 1930). In the design process, the design of the teachers' houses changed
significantly. In the competition plan, the buildings were arranged along the slope of the site andno pilotis were used. In the architectural application, however, pilotis appeared on the lakeside.
As such, pilotis were adopted for the first time in architectural applications. Finally, in theexecution plan, the buildings were changed to the same level horizontally as the prehistoric piledwellings.
Regarding the design concept, there were also three versions of the text: the competition
version (1928), the draft of the explanatory manuscript for the execution plan (no date), and the
explanatory manuscript for the execution plan (1930).
Astonishingly, there were no descriptions of the teachers' houses in the concept of thecompetition plan. This is proof that the design of the teachers' houses was not emphasized in thecompetition plan. In the draft of the explanatory manuscript for the execution plan, the teachers'
houses were described using the words ‘pile dwelling’: ‘In contrast, the small pile dwellings ofthe teachers' houses, in their different forms, fulfill the special requirements of the teacherfamilies living in it.’ (Die kleinen Pfahlbauten der Lehrerwohnhäuser erfüllen dagegen in ihrer
andersartigen Gestalt die besonderen Anforderungen der in ihr ständig hausenden
Lehrerfamilien.)10 However, the phrase occurs only here, and there is no concrete explanation forit.
In the explanatory manuscript for the execution plan (1930), the relationship between thepilotis and the landscape as well as life on the site was finally explained concretely: ‘The
landscape came right under the teachers' zigzagged houses and these modern pile dwellers could
step down from inside the house and into their covered portion of the garden.’ (Ja, beim
Zickzackbau der Lehrerhäuser dehnt sich die Landschaft bis unter die Häuser, und der moderne
Pfahlbauer steigt abwärts im Hausinnern in seinen überdeckten Gartenteil.)11
As mentioned above, in Hannes Meyer’s ADGB Trade Union School (1928–1930), theterm ‘modern pile dwellings’ clearly appeared in the design concept. However, in the competition
plan (April 1928), the phrase was not used, since the levels of the buildings varied based on slopeand elevation. In the execution plan (May 1930) however, it was changed so that the buildings
maintained a certain level against the lake's surface; hence, the term ‘pile dwellings’ was used in
the concept.
4. Bauhaus Student Pius Pahl’s ‘House on Lake Garda’ Project (1932–33)
Pius Pahl was at the Bauhaus from 1930 to 1933. At the Bauhaus, Pahl designed various types ofarchitecture. In particular, we can confirm his excellent design in the work of the courthouse inMies’s class, and a detached house in Hilberseimer’s class. However, Pahl suddenly designed ahouse with pilotis on a site next to Lake Garda in northern Italy for his diploma project, namely,the ‘House on Lake Garda’ project (1932–33, Figure 2).1239

Lake and Modern Architecture: Drought in Switzerland, Pile Dwellings, and Pilotis

Figure 2: Pius Pahl’s ‘House on Lake Garda’ project (1932–33). Aerial view from the Northwest
Architectural historian Norbert Korrek (1995) pointed out that the project was influenced
by Le Corbusier and Mies.13 For the living space, a space without a partition wall, like that ofMies, was proposed. On the site located on the shores of Lake Garda, the residential space wascompletely lifted by pilotis. Residents accessed the building from the roof, which was at the samelevel as the road. Korrek, however, does not consider the relationship between this residence andpile dwellings. Thus, we considered its relationship to pile dwellings based on drawings.
The area around Lake Garda is particularly important with regard to pile dwellings in Italy,
since it has many remains of pile dwellings. Moving a little from the northern end of Lake Garda,
there is Lake Tenno, where there are still piles. Since Pahl voluntarily selected this area for his
diploma project and designed a house with pilotis on the lakeside, Pahl knew of the pile dwellings
when designing the house. In addition to the relationship between the site and the piloti-style
house, the influence of the pile dwellings through Meyer's ADGB Trade Union School, as
mentioned in Section 3, cannot be denied. Pahl studied at the Bauhaus from the winter semesterof 1930, when Mies became the president, and did not receive Meyer's architectural education.
However, he likely knew of the design of the ADGB Trade Union School, which was completed
in May 1930.
5. Conclusion
This study reveals that the drought of 1854 and the subsequent discovery of pile dwellings
influenced the designs with lakeside pilotis of two modern Swiss architects in the 1920s and a
Bauhaus student in the 1930s. In addition, some works by the ABC group (a Swiss and Dutch
architects’ group from the 1920s to which Meyer belonged) show piloti-style architecture nearrivers and lakes. Some descriptions of pile dwellings can be found in urban planning and urban
history research after World War II. Ludwig Hilberseimer, who was in charge of the urban
planning classes at the Bauhaus, published ‘The Nature of Cities’ (1955) and described piledwellings as one of the origins of European settlements.14
Such a mention is not limited to Europe. Bernard Rudofsky (1965) described a picture ofpile dwellings in China and New Guinea as follows: ‘Pile dwellings held a special fascination for
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the founding fathers of modern architecture, who adopted them as architecture á pilotis’.15 Swissarchitectural historian Siegfried Giedion, in the introduction of ‘Space, Time, and Architecture’(5th ed., 1967), referred to pile dwellings to explain the innovative maritime city designed by
Kanzo Tange in the 1960s.16
The discovery of pre-historic pile dwellings in the mid-19th century was enthusiasticallyreceived by Swiss citizens and was introduced to European peoples at the 1867 and 1889 world
expositions in Paris. Thus, it became common knowledge that existed as a major premise for thepeople of 20th century Europe. In addition, as pointed out in section 1-2, Keller's image of piledwellings around the Alps was inspired by that of the Pacific area, which means that the image
demonstrated global proliferation from the beginning. Therefore, from the 1960s, architectural
historians began to use the term ‘pile dwellings’ in connection with modern architecture in a
global context.
It is difficult to find concrete references to pile dwellings by modern architects, with the
exception of the examples mentioned in this paper. However, it is thought that Europeans'common understanding of prehistoric pile dwellings at the start of the 20th century became thefoundation for using pilotis in modern architecture on a global scale.

Notes
1. Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte GSK, Die Pfahlbauten der Schweiz, Bern:
Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte GSK, 2017.
2. A. M. Vogt, Le Corbusier, Der edle Wilde, Zur Archäologie der Moderne, Braunschweig /Wiesbaden: Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn. (English Ed.) Le Corbusier, the Noble Savage: Toward
an Archaeology of Modernism, Cambridge, London: The MIT Press, 1998.
3. H. Tomita, ‘The Influence of the Discovery of Prehistoric Pile Dwellings Around the Alps
on Architect Hannes Meyer’, ICGG 2018 - Proceedings of the 18th International
Conference on Geometry and Graphics, pp. 2120–2126.
4. F. Menotti, ‘The Pfahlbauproblem and the History of Lakedwelling Research in the Alps’,
Oxford Journal of Archaeology 20(4), pp. 319–328.
5. J. W. Buel, The Story of Man: A History of the Human Race, Philadelphia: Historical
Publishing Co., 1889.
6. H. Schlichtherle (ed.), Pfahlbauten rund um die Alpen, Stuttgart: Konrad Theiss, 1997.
7. Vogt, op. cit.
8. K. Frampton, Labor, Work and Architecture, London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2002.
9. H. Tomita, H, ‘Hannes Meyer's Biological Concept and its Loosening Influence on Form’,Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 7(2), 2008, pp. 179–185.
10. H. Meyer, ‘Die Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes in Bernau
bei Berlin,’ Manuskript, undated, IV4(2)-82|1-445. This manuscript belongs to Deutsches
Architekturmuseum.
11. H. Meyer, ‘Federal School of the General German Trade Unions Federation, Bernau near
Berlin, 1928-30’, in: C. Schnaidt (ed.) Hannes Meyer, Bauten, Projekte und Schriften,
Teufen AR/Schweiz: Verlag Arthur Niggli AG, 1965, pp. 40–53.
12. R. Achilles, et al. (eds.), Mies van der Rohe: Architects as Educator, Chicago: The Universityof Chicago Press, 1986.
13. N. Korrek, Pius E. Pahl: Architekt (ausstellungskatalog), Weimar: Hochschule fürArchitektur und Bauwesen Weimar-Universität, 1995.
14. L. Hilberseimer, The Nature of Cities: Origin, Growth, and Decline Pattern and Form,
Planning Problems, Chicago: Paul Theobald and Co., 1955.

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15. B. Rudofsky, Architecture Without Architects, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1965.
16. S. Giedion, Space, Time, and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, (5th ed.), 1967 (now: Paperback ed., 2008).
Author Biography
Hideo Tomita
Hideo Tomita (Dr. of Engineering), born in 1974, is currently an Associate Professor at theFaculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Kyushu Sangyo University, JAPAN. For his
research on Walter Gropius and Hannes Meyer, Tomita received his doctorate in March 2002
from Hiroshima University. From 2005 to 2006, he was a guest researcher at the Faculty ofArchitecture, Bauhaus University, Weimar. In 2015, he won the JAABE Best Paper Award 2014
from the Architectural Institute of Japan, the Architectural Institute of Korea, and theArchitectural Society of China for his essay on Meyer’s work in Moscow. From 2016 to 2017, he
was a guest researcher at the Institute of Architecture, Technical Institute of Berlin.

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Environmental Control and Information Design:
Development of the Flow Concept by
Knud Lönberg-Holm in Collaboration with
Ladislav Sutnar
Hisayasu Ihara
Kyushu University, JAPAN

Abstract
Sweet’s Catalogue of Building Construction, by architect Knud Lönberg-Holm and graphic
designer Ladislav Sutnar, is well known as a pioneering work in information design. However,what is less known but essential in understanding Lönberg-Holm’s work was his theoretical workin relation to environmental control. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationshipbetween Lönberg-Holm’s activities from the 1930s onwards by dealing with both his theoreticalwork in collaboration with his colleague Theodore Larson and his catalogue design practices incollaboration with Sutnar. For this purpose, this study focuses on the use of the term ‘flow’.
During a design research project focused on environmental control, the ‘production cycle’and ‘production index’ were developed as a means of transforming and combining‘environmental forth’ into usable forms. In these studies, the term ‘flow’ was used in relation tovarious things, including energy, production, and information. However, the term first played afully active role in relation to catalogue design when Lönberg-Holm joined Sweet’s Catalog
Service.
The ‘mental flow pattern’ representing the purpose transition of the user, the ‘information
flow pattern’ representing the logical structure of information, and ‘the visual flow pattern’representing the visual structure were all formulated by Sutnar, and design goals were determined
for the establishment of balance in each. Since then, the content of the flow has been expanded
and its role has been further enhanced to align ‘function’ and ‘form’.
In Lönberg-Holm’s final book, Development Index, the goal of productivity improvement
via the production cycle was neutralized, while a harmonious system involving nature, humanbeings and culture was emphasized.
Although Lönberg-Holm contributed little to the environmental movement, his uniquedesign concept focusing on the flow of information is still worth considering in terms of theharmony between nature, humans and culture that he espoused.
Keywords: Knud Lönberg-Holm; Ladislav Sutnar; Information Design; Environmental Control

Introduction
Buckminster Fuller (1895−1983), in his essay ‘The Age of Astro-Architecture’, stated that his
long-time friend, the fellow architect Knud Lönberg-Holm (1895−1972), had talked with him
about ‘ultimately invisible architecture’ in 1929, and Fuller honoured him as a forerunner in thisregard:44

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The really greatest architect in history would be the one who finally developed thecapability to give humanity completely effective environmental control without any visual
structure and machinery.1
Among the works of Lönberg-Holm,2 the best known is his design of a catalogue of architectural
products for Sweet’s Catalog Service, developed in close collaboration with graphic designer
Ladislav Sutnar, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia.3 However, Fuller’s essay suggests that it isnecessary to pay attention not only to his role in the design of this catalogue, but also to the factthat he explored a methodology for total environmental control.
Another reason why his concept of environmental control should be noted is that it waspossibly conceived against the background of American environmentalism in the 1930s.
According to S. Strum, this environmentalism, ‘which was suggested by the resource andproductivity auditing of the 1930s, distinguished itself from conservationism by contemplating
the confluence and interaction of industrial, technological, and ecological systems and their life
cycles’.4 Fuller’s ‘World Energy Map’ published in Fortune magazine early in 1940 was a productof such environmental research. In addition to Fuller, others who related to this‘environmentalism’ included engineer Howard Scott (1890−1970), who promoted a uniqueeconomic system based on energy theory, critic and historian Lewis Mumford (1895–1990),
economist Thorstein Veblen (1857−1929), and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Frederick Soddy(1877–1956), who later turned his academic attention to economics. Among them, Soddy’s
energy-economics stood out, as he identified solar energy as a source of social wealth, arguingthat life always relies on the continuous flow of energy, and thus wealth has the character of flow,
quoting from Unto This Last by John Ruskin (1819−1900). Lönberg-Holm’s concept ofenvironmental control was formed within this background of environmentalism, and he publishedseveral articles and books outlining his design theory.
So, what relationship was there between the development of the concept of environmental
control and the pioneering work of the catalogue design? This study explores this relationship,
focusing on the term ‘flow’ because it was frequently used in both tasks in referring to a wide
range of elements including information, energy, production, the production process,transportation, communication, the design process, eye movement, and sequencing in relation tocatalogue design.
1. From time zoning to design for environmental control
Lönberg-Holm migrated to the United States in 1923. After teaching at the Michigan State
University School of Architecture for one year, going through working as an architect, he joined
the research department of F.W. Dodge Corporation in 1929 as a researcher and was placed incharge of editing the technical news department of Architectural Record magazine from 1931.
From 1936 onwards, he was exclusively assigned to the research department of Sweet’s Catalog
Service, a sister company of F. W. Dodge Corporation, where he was engaged in catalogue
research and production.
During this time, he was a member of Structural Study Associates (SSA), founded in 1932
by Fuller, and Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM). In an issue of themagazine Shelter published by SSA in 1932, he contributed an article titled ‘Monuments andInstruments’ that criticized the winner of the competition to design the Soviet pavilion.5 He
analysed the general nature of the award-winning works of one American and two Soviet
architects and found that both the communist and capitalist architecture tended to ‘mass-weightdead load-permanence-immobility-impressiveness-monumentality’. As opposed to these ‘Isms’
he placed ‘Industrial Communism’ and defined its fundamental nature as ‘performance, mobility,
flexibility, physical decentralization, diffusion of economic activity, and the elimination of waste
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Environmental Control and Information Design:
Development of the Flow Concept by Knud Lönberg-Holm in collaboration with Ladislav Sutnar

in terms of time, labour and materials’. ‘Industrial Communism’ was a term that Fuller had
proposed to represent an industrial society in which workers were freed from monotonous workby mechanization, and thus able to engage in more creative activities. SSA was an organization
linked to the technocracy movement, of which Scott was one of the representatives, and, like
Scott, was influenced by the concept of a ‘Soviet of Technicians’ proposed by Veblen.
Lönberg-Holm, like Fuller, was concerned by the loose connection between architecture
and contemporary technological industry, as well as the huge time lag. However, unlike Fuller,
who pursued architectural innovation through ‘dymaxion’, coined as the term for symbolizing
his technological thought, Lönberg-Holm sought the transformation of the production process inarchitecture and design, rather than the construction itself. The first concept he proposed was‘time zoning’. This was an idea initially conceived as a means of preventing the spread of blighted
areas following reflection on the causes of the generation of slums. According to Lönberg-Holm,‘space-time zoning is more effective than current space zoning’, and ‘it is necessary to eliminate
obsolescence quickly’. His reasoning was as follows:
Change and obsolescence are inherent factors of industrial progression. Obsolescence,with the possible exception of that caused by crowding and physical deterioration, is anindex of human progress. The problem is therefore not to find ways of reducing or avoiding
potential obsolescence (staticizing (sic) rate of change), but to harmonize the growth
process through effective liquidation of obsolete conditions by moving or scrapping
obsolete equipment.6
Behind this promotion of the liquidation of obsolete conditions was the unemployment of theGreat Depression era, when architects had very few opportunities to design new works. Following
discussions with colleague Theodore Larson (1948−1973), who specialized in prefabrication, thisidea developed into a proposal for a ‘production cycle’ that included design activities in the cyclethat began with research and ended with elimination (or liquidation). This production cycle
consisted of six phases: research, design, fabrication, distribution, use, and liquidation. They
argued that to facilitate the realization of new and productive designs, ‘liquidation’ of oldtechnology and forms was essential.7
Based on the idea of this production cycle, between 1936 and 1938, Lönberg-Holm,
together with Larson, researched the building industry and formed an ‘environmental control’
design theory.8 As a result of their studies, they regarded design as environmental control aimed
at improving human life, arguing that the purpose of environmental control was ‘the increase oflife for the human organism – the elimination of waste in metabolism’, and that ‘this is expressedin an increasing surplus of human energy which is released from drudgery and destructive forcesof an uncontrolled environment and becomes available for the promotion of human culture’.
Clearly, the aim of the abovementioned ‘Industrial Communism’ is reflected in this passage.
According to Lönberg-Holm and Larson, the object of environmental control was ‘theenvironmental forces’, which at first were roughly divided into two categories: ‘human activities− biological and social forces’ and ‘matter − solids, liquids, gases, electromagnetism, andradiation’. Later they were divided into three categories: ‘physical’ (e.g., the geosphere,
atmosphere, and atomic sphere), ‘biological’ (e.g., bacteria, plants, animals, and man), and ‘socioeconomic’ (e.g., products, organizations, and concepts). These forces were also referred to as‘variable and changeable forms of energy representing factors that are involved in all phases andall fields of production’, and they concluded that ‘industrially, the problem is the most effective
transformation of such forces into flow patterns (productive forms) that will best conform to thecontinually changing requirements of use’.9

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A further development of this idea was the ‘production index’, which was embodied as atool that applied not only to the building industry but also to the entire range of industrial activity.
In 1940, Lönberg-Holm and Larson published a booklet titled ‘Planning for Productivity’, which
included a production index that was designed to ‘correlate various environmental forces andvarious phases in the cycle of production’.10 The production index consisted of six categories,‘production fields, control forms, man, animals, matter, and the cosmos’, in addition to the
production cycle. They explained that this index was a product of ‘the effort to envisage essential
relationships and thereby to develop a check list of all items of information…’, and that ‘itbecame possible to abstract the terms of reference which are applicable in any branch of
production, technical, industrial, or cultural’.11 However, because the booklet was published justbefore Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Netherlands, it had little impact.
2. Development of catalogue design and variety in the concept of flow
In 1936, when Lönberg-Holm wrote ‘Design for Environmental Control’, he was transferred fromthe editorial section of Architectural Record magazine to Sweet’s Catalog Service, a division ofF. W. Dodge Corporation. The catalogue comprised 5,423 pages presenting products from morethan 1,100 vendors, and 14,500 copies were printed in 1938.12
Therefore, a system enabling the efficient use of vast amounts of information was urgently
needed. After his transfer, Lönberg-Holm immediately began research on basic standards that
could be applied to the content and format of the catalogue.
A report titled Catalog Design Standards, dated June 1936, was the first outcome of thisresearch. The report defined the objective of catalogue design as ‘the control of the catalogue’s
function for precision in use’, and stated that ‘such control achieves the elimination of waste interms of human and mechanical energy. Waste is eliminated through specialization,
standardization, and integration.’ It described the design of catalogues using the term ‘flow’ asfollows:
The catalog user’s point of departure is a specific need. He approaches the catalog in searchof specific information. His attitude, or mental flow pattern, is expressed in the questions:“WHAT? WHERE? HOW?” The objective of catalog design is the control of suchinformation through design flow patterns which will facilitate the desired mental flow
patterns. The criterion is to maximize the efficiency in catalog use.13
In this way, the ‘flow’ concept plays a vital role in the functional analysis that is presented in thereport. Lönberg-Holm saw the user’s cognitive behaviour as ‘mental flow’, and the design of theinformation in the catalogue as a means of facilitating desirable mental flow patterns. The
relationship between the two was suggested by demonstrating the correlation between the locusof eye movement and the logical order of information, citing an experiment using a device tomeasure eye movement.

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Environmental Control and Information Design:
Development of the Flow Concept by Knud Lönberg-Holm in collaboration with Ladislav Sutnar

Figure 1. An example of the use of visual flow patterns in catalogue design.
Catalogue design based on the flow concept was introduced in 1941, when Sutnar was
hired by Sweet’s Catalog Service as an art director. Lönberg-Holm was exploring the control of
information flow, and identified the three elements he considered essential to good catalogue
design: the cover, the index, and the visual unit.14 Sutnar provided the ‘visual flow’ that enabled
the user’s eye to access the desired information by navigating from the cover through the index
to the visual unit (Figure 1). In 1943, Sutnar published a booklet titled ‘Control of Visual Flow’
in which he summarized the main principle underlying the process:Good design implies control of visual flow. Such control may be accomplished bysimplification and coordination of design factors for the most efficient and continuoustransmission of information.15
Sutnar provided examples of design patterns that ‘lead the reader’s eye into the desired path for
greater speed and efficiency in reading’, referring to signs and signals on the road that ‘regulate
traffic for greater speed and safety in driving’.
In 1947, Lönberg-Holm and Sutnar co-authored Designing Information, which was
published as three articles in Interiors magazine and attempted to enhance the process ofcatalogue design by providing a more general visual design principle. The function of a visual
pattern combining visual elements is summarized in the two concepts of ‘visual selectivity’ and‘visual continuity’. While ‘visual selectivity’ is promoted by emphasizing, indicating, separating
and combining information by controlling blank space, colour, line, shape, and texture, ‘visualcontinuity’ is realized as a harmonized pattern in various media such as booklets, books, posters,
and exhibits. Therefore, ‘visual continuity’ can be regarded as an extended version of ‘visualflow’.16
Later, the concept of ‘flow’ was revisited in the final book co-authored by Sutnar and
Lönberg-Holm, Catalog Design Progress: Advancing Standards in Visual Communication. In thisbook, a new slogan, ‘Form, Flow, Function’ was introduced, and thus the term ‘flow’ wasincluded as a key principle alongside the fundamental design concepts of ‘form’ and ‘function’.
Moreover, the flow pattern was expanded so that it could include other elements as follows:48

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The flow pattern of any sequence adopts its form, reflecting function, and its variety offorms may be observed not only in information flow, but in man (the nervous, digestive,
reproductive systems), in industry (production flow), and elsewhere.17
By way of background to the expansion of the flow theory, it is noted that it overlaps withthe time when information theory and cybernetics first appeared.
3. Towards a correlation among the cosmos, humans and culture through theflow of information
As described above, Lönberg-Holm and Sutnar had consistently put forward a design theory of
information with ‘flow’ as the key concept, along with the practice of catalogue design.
In 1953, Lönberg-Holm and Larson published Development Index, based on Planning for
Productivity, which was ‘a proposed pattern for organizing and facilitating the flow of
information needed by man in furthering his own development’.18 Comparing the two
publications, it is clear that the central idea of the production index had been ‘revised andreformed’. The explanation of the production cycle that was part of the production index in
Planning for Productivity was nuanced in the following way:
In order to achieve rhythmic and balanced continuity in development, it is necessary tocontinuously erase the old one with the appearance of the new one. Such continuity
requires close coordination of the research and elimination stages of the development cycle.
These definitions of development do not imply that the old thing is deliberately destroyed
simply because it is old by something new just because of the novelty or the change as“fashion”. It has never been possible to create. It should be used clearly and continuously,
as long as the old ones follow the needs. The purpose of the new forms and patterns is toserve the emerging needs of humans who cannot cope properly with the existing forms andpatterns.19
As for the index in Development Index, the seven categories that had been proposed in Planningfor Productivity were grouped into three categories: ‘cosmos’, ‘man’, and ‘culture’. Thesechanges suggest that the social and economic conditions underlying the initial idea ofenvironmental control put forward by Lönberg-Holm had changed. In the Depression era of the
1930s, there was an urgent need to address both unemployment and productivity. Thus, theproduction cycle and the production index were developed for this purpose. After the Second
World War, the context in which the production index was used changed, and as a result the focus
was no longer on ‘productivity’, but on ‘development’. The three main categories were definedas ‘the environmental resources which man has available for development purposes’, and therelationships among them were explained as follows:
Each category is a distinct system…. Yet all three must be considered as having an essential
unity. Culture cannot exist without man, and man clearly is a part of the cosmic system;
culture grows out of man just as man has grown from the cosmos20 (see Figure 2).

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Environmental Control and Information Design:
Development of the Flow Concept by Knud Lönberg-Holm in collaboration with Ladislav Sutnar

Figure 2. A diagram in Development Index showing the relationships among the cosmos,man, and culture.
In summary, in Development Index, the importance of the production cycle was reduced, andinstead a harmonious system involving nature, human beings and culture was emphasized. The
booklet was sent to several stakeholders, including Sigfried Giedion (1888−1968), who wrote thefollowing comment on the human-centric diagrams in Development Index:
I am also so glad that the emphazis [sic] is now given to the flow of information on needand that the poor man is placed not just between the cycle of production but between
cosmos and culture. Maybe we are coming much closer by this kind of hierarchy ofvalues.21

Conclusion
The notion of a ‘flow of information’ has long existed in the domain of information design for
catalogues and in theoretical work related to design for environmental control, which developed
from an idea of time zoning into the Development Index. The gap between architecture andindustrial technology was the main problem in Lönbeg-Holm’s eyes, and enhanced catalogue
design was seen as a way to overcome this problem. The production cycle and indexes, whichwere conceived as thought tools for exploring environmental research, were also based on theconcept of ‘flow of information’.
The expansion of the meaning of the term ‘flow’ to include various applications reflects
the dynamic relationships among various elements of life. Initially, ‘flow’ was used to refer to
fluidity, mobility, in reaction to unchanged, monumentality. Later, it was also applied to visualdesign and was embodied as an aesthetic construction principle that largely characterized Sutnar’s
design work.
Unlike Buckminster Fuller, who was one of the most prominent architects in the rise ofenvironmentalism that started in the 1960s, Lönberg-Holm barely contributed to theenvironmental movement. However, his unique design philosophy is still worth looking at
because of its emphasis on the importance of harmony between nature, human beings and culture.

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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP 16K00711.
Notes
1. B. Fuller, ‘The Age of Astro-Architecture,’ Saturday Review, July 13, 1968, p. 42.
2. The overall scope of Lönberg-Holm’s work has recently come to light through an
exhibition held from 6 May until 1 August 2014 at the Ubu Gallery in New York anda book published in 2018 titled ‘Knud Lonberg-Holm: The Invisible Architect’. S.
Sturm, The Ideal of Total Environmental Control: Knud Lönberg-Holm, Buckminster
Fuller, and the SSA, Routledge, 2018.
3. The two men’s collaborative work is discussed in the following articles: S. Heller, and
P. Makovsky, ‘Historical Critique: Sutnar & Lönberg-Holm’, Critique, Summer,
1999, pp. 38-47; P. Makovsky, ‘The space of information: Collaboration between
Theodore Larson, Knud Lönberg-Holm, and Ladislav Sutnar at Sweet’s Catalog
Service, in Ladislav Sutnar-Prague-New York-Design in Action, Museum of
Decorative Arts in Prague & Argo Publishers, 2003, pp. 338-48.
4. S. Strum, The Ideal of Total Environmental Control, p. 127.
5. K. Lönberg-Holm, ‘Monuments and Instruments’ Shelter, May 1932, p. 5.
6. K. Lönberg-Holm, ‘The time-zoning as a preventive of blighted areas’ Record andGuide June 24, 1932, p. 6.
7. Mary van Kleeck, Mary L. Fleddérus, On economic planning: Papers delivered at theregional study conference of the international industrial relations institute (IRI), New
York, November 23-27 1934, 1935, pp. 254-256.
8. K. Lönberg-Holm and C. T. Larson, Design for environmental control, The
Architectural Records, August 1936, pp. 157-159.
9. K. Lönberg-Holm and C. T. Larson, Industrialization of housing, Technical America,
March 1938, p. 10.
10. K. Lönberg-Holm and C. T. Larson, Planning for productivity, International Industrial
Relations Institute, 1940.
11. K. Lönberg-Holm and C. T. Larson, Planning for productivity, International Industrial
Relations Institute, 1940, p. 3.
12. ‘New Information for the building field’, The Architectural Record, October, 1937, p.
52.
13. K. Lönberg-Holm, Catalog design standards, June, 1936, n.p.
14. K. Lönberg-Holm, ‘New Technique for catalog design to facilitate buying,’ Industrial
Marketing, February 1942, p. 25.
15. L. Sutnar, ‘Controlled visual flow,’ design and paper, 1943, n.p.
16. K. Lönberg-Holm and L. Sutnar, ‘Designing information,’ Interiors, February, March,
April, 1947.
17. K. Lönberg-Holm and L. Sutnar, Catalog design progress: advancing standards invisual communication, Sweet’s catalog service, 1950, n.p.

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Environmental Control and Information Design:
Development of the Flow Concept by Knud Lönberg-Holm in collaboration with Ladislav Sutnar

18. K. Lönberg-Holm and C. T. Larson, Development index, University of Michigan,
1953. n.p.
19. K. Lönberg-Holm and C. T. Larson, Development index.
20. K. Lönberg-Holm and C. T. Larson, Development index.
21. Letter S. Giedion to K. Lönberg-Holm, and T. Larson, March 18, 1953, C. Theodore
Larson Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

Author Biography
Hisayasu Ihara
Hisayasu Ihara is a Professor at the Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, Japan. His research
field is the history of information graphics in the 20th century, including isotype, and thedevelopment of international graphical symbols in the 1960s. He co-authored Isotype: Design
and Contexts 1925-1971 (London: Hyphen Press, 2013). His most recent research project,conducted with a typeface designer and a psychologist, focuses on legibility and readability tests
for the design of Japanese universal fonts.

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The 20th Century Restoration of the Alhambra
Patio in Relation to Landscape Design
Sara SatohJapan Society for the Promotion of Science and the University of Tokyo, JAPAN

Abstract
The Alhambra of Granada, Spain, is a palatine city and palace constructed by the Nasrid Dynasty(the last Moorish dynasty, 1230-1492) from the 13th century. Once it was self-contained,
embedded on a hill between richly irrigated gardens and plantations. The restorer therefore
required the combined knowledge of urban and landscape planning. Formerly the Alhambra wasrestored based on restorers’ personal-restoration criteria. Leopold Torres Balbás (1888-1960), an
architect responsible for the restoration in the early 20th century and a pioneer of “scientificrestoration” in Spain, dealt with the greater part of restoration of the Alhambra in modern times.
He considered the buildings’ past alterations instead of focusing solely on authenticity. He
intervened not only in the architectural space but also in the landscape space like gardens andother forms of greenery.
Torres Balbás researched gardens in Granada and Islamic spatial features, and intended torecover or make the individual character images of the patio. He used plants as a tool forintervention, especially cypress, and made it possible to distinguish between the original andrestoration sections in modern times. To choose plants for completing a ruined patio was a new
solution of scientific restoration in these patios in the Alhambra. This approach can be consideredreasonable, as he did not destroy the ruins or reconstructed buildings whose original shape was
unknown. By this he preserved its state. Also, he utilized plants not only for partition, but also
for ornaments. He considered “durability of buildings”, “archeological interest” and “artistic
aspect” for the restoration works and applied it to his garden-design.
In previous research, there have been few references to his landscape views. This
presentation attempts to present these aspects with his works and his related publications from
1923 to 1936 while he was working with the Alhambra. Also its aim is as well to clarify theconnection between Torres Balbás’ restoration and comprehension of landscape from theperspective of his works in the Alhambra’s patios and his design theory, and suggests its effecton the Alhambra’s recent design.
Keywords: Leopold Torres Balbás; Alhambra; Garden restoration; LandscapeIntroduction
The Alhambra of Granada, Spain, is a palatine city and palace constructed by the Nasrid Dynasty(the last Moorish dynasty, 1230-1492) from the 13th century. The Alhambra is a complex ofgardens and architectures of various ages, and after being ruled by the Catholic monarchy in 1492,
many buildings still have remained intact. However, the structure of the pre-Reconquista state,especially the structure of the 13th century, is very difficult to identify due to many years ofrenovation and restoration, and the addition of components and decorations. The gardens madeof organic substance and surrounding landscapes were damaged and changed faster than the54

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buildings, and their previous appearance almost disappeared. That is why the restoration work of
the garden is more restricted than that of architecture.
The theme of “gardening” is important for the Alhambra, since many such gardens andpatios exist (in this paper they are generally referred to as "gardens"). A patio is mainly arectangular courtyard surrounded by buildings or corridors. Here, a closed garden space is calleda “patio” and an open garden space is called a “garden”. Leopold Torres Balbás (1888-1960), a
restorer or more strictly “architectural conservator (arquitecto conservador)” of the Alhambra in
the early 20th century, was a pioneer of the “scientific restoration” in Spain. Most of the spacecomposition of the current Alhambra's gardens are attributed by Torres Balbás, and we can see a
glimpse of his restoration. Also, he intervened not only in gardens and patios but also in thelandscape spaces like cultivated areas or streets, so it could be assumed that he was working on
restoration from a city-planning perspective. The Alhambra is a royal city built on a hill as afortress and is a complex of various buildings. For that reason, the study of urban planning andlandscape was essential for the Alhambra restorers, but in earlier research, there is little reference
about the connection of Torres Balbás’ landscape views and his garden restoration.
In this paper, first, the features of the restoration of Torres Balbás are clarified from his
description. Then, based on the research of J. Tito Rojo, research which is the nucleus of theinvestigations on the Alhambra's garden history, what kind of restoration theory Torres Balbás
tried to apply to garden space and how it was actually restored will be considered using theexamples of three patios. Furthermore, focusing on the fact that J. E. Chapapría, who has studied
Torres Balbás in detail, divided his restoration period into multiple stages, a comparison of thesefindings with the aforementioned three examples is conducted. Also, from Torres Balbás’ records
and works from 1923 to 1936, when he was engaged in the restoration works in the Alhambra,
the changes of his landscape view can be seen comparing the stages of his restoration. In thisway, by following his restoration stages and descriptions along the time series, the relationshipbetween his landscape perspective and garden restoration that has not been much analyzed can
now be explored.
1. The way to use plants
Torres Balbás intervened in more than 20 patios in the Alhambra.1 In addition, he was also
involved through research or restoration in cultivated areas and gardens, tree-lined roads, andcemeteries; his restorated areas outside of buildings were extensive. Here we will first review
Torres Balbás’ restoration criteria and analyze his restoration attitude in line with three steps that
Tito Rojo defined. Tito Rojo showed how Torres Balbás defined in his works how to treat plants
in the process of restoration.2
In describing his restoration criteria, Torres Balbás mentions the terms “eclecticism” and“elasticity” and states that he sets the following general criteria for the Alhambra; that is:(I) to respect, in the most absolute manner, the ancient work;(II) to avoid the additions as much as possible;(III) to make it possible to always distinguish the new addition from the old parts if it is judgedthat the addition is indispensable;(IV) the adjunct must not interfere in the artistic effect of the monument.3
And stated below,
Eclecticism and elasticity – this was our motto in the restoration works, always remaining
faithful to the rigorous criterion of conservation, without losing sight of the solidity of thebuildings, archaeological interest and their artistic aspects.4

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The 20th Century Restoration of the Alhambra Patio in Relation to Landscape Design

The following points can be extracted by summarizing his restoration criteria from a large numberof his writings:(a) to respect historical buildings and put effort into preservation without intervention as muchas possible;(b) to reflect a unified structure from a distance but at the same time make it possible todistinguish new parts from old (the parts after restoration from before) from near by5;(c) to embrace a suitable attitude and method of intervention for the location and damage of theplace, respecting the solidity of the buildings, archaeological interest and artistic aspects.6
Such a flexible or vague attitude also affects garden restoration. While referring to thesecriteria, in the following it is shown how Torres Balbás’ treated the plants in the garden space.
(1) Plants as alternatives to buildings (Patio de Machuca)
The first method is to use a plant instead of a wall. The Patio de Machuca is located at the westernend of the Nasrid Palace, a palace that has become the center of the Nasrid period. Torres Balbás’
restoration works using plants on this patio can be broadly divided into two phases. The first wasin about 1924, when two rows of cypress trees were planted in the center of the patio with flowers
around them, and the second was a restoration that made partitions with cypresses in 1927.7
Among these, the second work will be focused on. Originally the Patio de Machuca was supposed
to be surrounded by walls and two porticoes on both sides, but when Torres Balbás began to work,
there was only one portico and one border wall. That is, in the first restoration, this patio was not
yet in the form of a patio but an open space. The question was how to restore the lost walls andporticos here. He thought that it would return to a closed form and adopted a method of planting
cypress like walls and a portico. In addition, as Topiary, he cut the cypresses to evoke a portico.
The method of making partitions with cypresses has meaning in two ways. One is that people canidentify the new and old of the restoration space. The other is not considered to be an imitationof the Nasrid period. Since there have been no cypresses in the Nasrid period, it is thought thathe tried to prove that this restoration was not just a historical nostalgia but an invention of a new
method. Since it did not add new constructions that would harm existing historic material, his useof plants is easily reversible and is an excellent way to maintain the building stock. In fact, in thesecond restoration, Torres Balbás replanted orange trees instead of the cypresses planted in 1924.
In such a way, the use of plants as an architectural element was created. Torres Balbás had createda new solution in the restoration in Alhambra gardens.
(2) Plants as decoration (Jardines del Partal)
There are occasions when Torres Balbás used plants purely as a decoration too. For example, thePartal's garden was excavated by Torres Balbás' predecessor, Modest Cendoya (1907-1923), whofound fountains and stairs but at the cost of destroying a row of poplars.8 The Partal is located at
the eastern end of Nasrid Palace, and is a large area that includes a patio, chapel, and cemetery.
In addition to the destruction by the predecessor, the remnants of such residences remainedcomplicated, so that the way of restoration was limited. Eventually Torres Balbás fundamentally
rebuilt the site, and designed the garden with the ancient structurals as if it were a flowerbed withcypresses, box fence, ivy pergola, cobblestone pavement, and so on. It can be said that it
represents the difference between the new and the old in that it differs from the Nasrid era.
(3) “Restoring” of plants (Patio de los Leones, Figure)
Torres Balbás analyzed past documents and testimonies and also made restorations to remove theadditions that did not clearly exist regionally and historically before, and restored them to theirassumed past condition. It is noticeable in the Patio de los Leones. This is a royal private patio in
the Nasrid Palace. Here he referred to the oldest and most convincing testimony. It was a 1502

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description of Antonio de Lalaing, in which the patio was vegetated with six orange trees to block
the sun.9 According to the testimony, Torres Balbás planted three orange trees in 1928.10 He did
not explain about the meaning behind the numbre, but it may also have shown that it is not a
reproduction or imitation of the past form. However, in summary, he brought out a new garden
that was not in the past.
Torres Balbás’ way of using plants from the above three points allows the assumption that
he emphasized "durability of buildings, archaeological interest, and the artistic side" also in thegardens. Naturally, the direction to such restoration in general flows into garden restoration. It
could be said that he was conscious of artistic aspects and archeological interest in (1), artistic
aspects in (2) and archeological background in (3).

Figure: Patio de los Leones in the present day, 2014, photographed by the author
2. Restoration attitude
Chapapria is a researcher who closely followed Torres Balbás’ life, and divides his attitude ofrestoration into three stages mainly along his restoration of buildings.11 The first stage was from1923, his official designation as an architectural curator, to 1925, the next from 1925 to 1931,
and the last stage is from 1931 to 1936. Among them, it is considered that the important point
1925, the separation of the first and second stages. The first stage is about a two-year restorationof parts of the Alhambra that needed urgent intervention. This work was strictly in accordancewith the plan of Ricardo Velázques Bosco (1843-1923), a plan which provided the basis for thewhole restoration plan of the Alhambra. The second is the term when he started working on his
own idea. Since the second and third stages are divided according to the place of restoration andthe scale of works, the focus of this paper is limited to the first stage and the second stage.
Bosco, a member of the San Fernando Academy, a professor of the School of Architectureof Madrid and a teacher in the architectural history of Torres Balbas, defended the monument’s
conservation position and publicly opposed Cendoya.12 Cendoya is a restorer who has a 19th
century attitude for restoration and employed it on the Alhambra for the recovery of the imagesof a past melancholic Alhambra palace. It was enthusiastically accepted in Spain at that time, but
was finally rejected by the conservative tidal currents of France, the United Kingdom, and soon. Torres Balbás had replaced Bosco as the principal conservator and removed the "alhambralikeness from the perspective of the 19th century”. This Bosco-plan was compiled between 1915
and 1917, and “aimed only at the conservation of the ruins”.13

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The 20th Century Restoration of the Alhambra Patio in Relation to Landscape Design

Applying the previous Torres Balbás garden restoration examples to the stage of thisarchitectural restoration, it turns out that it matches well to the separation of 1925: The partitionof the Patio de Machuca in (1) is 1927, and the decoration in (2) in the Partal is mainly in the
1930s, the plant restoration in the Patio de los Leones in (3) is 1928. Moreover, many of those
types of his restorations were made in the late 1920s and 1930s. However, the restoration of thesethree gardens was started before 1925, and plantations had already begun in the Patio de Machuca
and the Jardines del Partal. Excavation works were mainly conducted in these gardens, whereas
already in 1924 pavement had been installed in the Jardines del Partal.14 So, as far as the threegardens are concerned, it is assumed that the turning point of his application to plant restoration
is in 1924, which is different from that of the building.
3. Landscape perspective
Although Torres Balbás put emphasis on restoration with vegetation, how he thought about therelation between surrounding environments or scenery and restoration has not been analyzed. Inorder to consider his view of landscape and urban planning, the important parts of his writingfrom 1923 to 1936, which refer to landscape, have been extracted and summarized: Heemphasized many times the importance of continuous remodeling of the city, and of therelationship between people’s lives and landscape or city and landscape.
At first, in a 1923 article,15 he mentions urban planning and the expansion of cities, andafter 1925, his references to urban planning increased. For example, a paper in 1925 on therebuilding of the Toledo bridge also mentioned urban growth, urban planning, and modern
improvements to the city.16 Secondly, he also mentions people – their social life and theirarchitectural expressions – and landscapes in texts on urban planning. In 1923, Torres Balbás
described the national spirit and its relation to history, architecture and landscape. He also statedthat the concepts of architects themselves would focus on landscapes,17 so he thought thatbuildings would blend into the environment and become landscape. In 1929, mentioning the
Galician region as an example, Torres Balbás briefly discussed the beauty of the countryside, as
well as the urban and natural aspects linked to the history of the countryside. Here, he also
recommended the maintenance of monuments linked to life and art.18 In 1930, he investigated
Spanish residential houses, and judged that architecture was developed in contact with nature19
without being separated from geographical conditions and human life.20 Third, he used the word
“nuclear” when considering urban planning, and the preservation of old cities and theirmonumental characteristics were described. In 1925 he mentioned that in Morocco, some modern
cities spread out of the old wall but the old core parts are respected and preserved. He said that it
is an act of “killing” if we abandon our ancient city as a museum. He emphasized the importanceof spreading the city outside without breaking the old nucleus while responding to the current
needs.21 Finally, Torres Balbás touched on the larger impacts of nature. In 1933, he mentioned
Murcia, and described the influence of natural conditions such as terrain and weather onarchitecture.22 In 1932, he stated that in Castilla, because the natural climate was linked to thearchitectural style, architectural heritage was about to be lost, so there was a need for its
preservation.23
The Spanish word corresponding to landscape is “paisaje”, but Torres Balbás hardly used
it except when mentioning a concrete landscape. He began using this word in 1923 and rarely
touched it after 1933, but consistently referred to architectural aspects and materials from culturaland historical analyses. However, his conclusion is basically about urban planning and itsmonumental character, and the idea persisted that urbanization and modernization should be donefor enhancing people's lives while preserving a monumental city. In addition, the word
“monument” and “picturesque” have emerged well in pairs, reflecting the importance of artistic

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and archeological aspects. He also mentioned the connection between the “national spirit” andarchitecture. Very simply speaking, it could be said that Torres Balbás thought the landscape isa kind of monumental city that encompassed peoples’ lives and national spirit from the featuresof that land.
It cannot be said clearly that his restoration attitude was different before and after 1924,
but as described above, all the elements extracted from his description lead to his restoration
criteria. In other words, his view of landscapes became a restoration scale, and it carried on into
garden restoration.
Conclusion
Today, the landscape in the Alhambra occupies an important position, and the protection of its
tourist resources and sustainable management are advocated as one of the priorities of theAlhambra Patronage.24 This is because the landscape is a "monument" that represents theenvironment, culture and nature of that land, and it greatly affects collective memories andcurrent citizen life. That is, for the Alhambra, the landscape itself is also a major element of its
identity, which also represents the national spirit, as Torres Balbás put it. He was the first
Alhambra restorer or architectural conservator that focused on that ideal and created anenormous work. He used the plants in the garden according to his restoration criteria and worked
flexibly. And it is suspected that he started work on the vegetation since 1924, hence before
restoring the buildings in the Alhambra according to his idea. This leads to the conclusion that
he was aware at an early stage of the importance of landscape. He also thought that the buildings
would blend into the environment and become part of the landscape. His writings suggest that
history, city, nature, architecture, people’s lives, and national spirit are interconnected to produce
a “monument”. For him, the “monument” is a whole city or a landscape itself and a heritage
which has to be protected. Finally, Torres Balbás’ approach to preservation while interacting with
the Alhambra’s open spaces and missing building parts by adding botanical elements, formed themodern image of the Alhambra, and thus resonates in contemporary approach as well.
Notes
1. C. Vílchez Vílchez, La Alhambra de Leopoldo Torres Balbás (obras de restauración yconservación. 1923-1936), Granada: Comares, 1988.
2. J. Tito Rojo, ‘Leopoldo Torres Balbás, jardinero’, el fingidor, no. 21, 2004, pp. 5-7. The three
ways and main examples mentioned in the 1st chapter of the article on hand refer to Tito
Rojo’s cited article.
3. L. Torres Balbás, ‘La restauration des monuments dans l’Espagne d’aujourd’hui’, Mouseion,
vol. 17-18, 1932, pp. 23-25.
4. L. Torres Balbás, ‘La restauration des monuments dans l’Espagne d’aujourd’hui’,p. 25.
5. L. Torres Balbás, ‘La restauration des monuments dans l’Espagne d’aujourd’hui’,p. 25
6. L. Torres Balbás, ‘La Alhambra y su conservación’, Arte Español, vol. 8, 1927, pp. 251-252.
7. J. Tito Rojo and M. Casares Porcel, et al, El Jardin Hispanomusulman: Los Jardines de alAndalus y su Herencia, Granada: Universidad de Granada, 2011, p. 411.
8. L. Torres Balbás, ‘Diario de obras en la Alhambra: 1924’, Cuadernos de La Alhambra, no. 2,
pp. 89-111, 1966, p. 96.
9. L. Torres Balbás, ‘El patio de los Leones’, Arquitectura, vol. 11, pp. 221-234, 1929, p. 224

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The 20th Century Restoration of the Alhambra Patio in Relation to Landscape Design

10. L. Torres Balbás, ‘Diario de obras en la Alhambra: 1927-1929’, Cuadernos de La Alhambra,
vol. 4, pp. 99-128, 1968, p. 114. It is possible, however, that other orange trees wereplanted before 1928.
11. J. Esteban Chapapría, Leopoldo Torres Balbas: Un largo Viaje con la Alhambra en el
Corazón, Valencia: Pentagraf Editorial, 2012, p. 95.
12. J. Esteban Chapapría, p. 82.
13. C. Vílchez Vílchez, La Alhambra de Leopoldo Torres Balbás, p. 37.
14. L. Torres Balbás, ‘Diario de obras en la Alhambra: 1924’, p. 97.
15. L. Torres Balbás, ‘La arquitectura española en Marruecos’, Arquitectura, vol. 5, no. 49, 1923,
pp. 139-142.
16. L. Torres Balbás, ‘El nuevo puente de Toledo’, Arquitectura, vol. 7, 1925, pp. 153-159.
17. L. Torres Balbás, ‘Lo que representa El Escorial en nuestra historia arquitectónica’,
Arquitectura, vol. 5, 1923, pp.151-156.
18. L. Torres Balbás, ‘Ruinas de España. Monumentos bernardos de Galicia’, Arquitectura, vol.
11, 1929, pp. 235-242.
19. L. Torres Balbás, La vivienda popular en España, 1930, p. 156, retrived from Archivo Digital
UPM, http://oa.upm.es/34265/
20. L. Torres Balbás, La vivienda popular en España, pp. 142-143.
21. L. Torres Balbás, ‘El nuevo puente de Toledo’, pp. 153-159.
22. L. Torres Balbás, ‘Paseos arqueológicos por la España musulmana. Murcia’, Boletín de laJunta del Patronato del Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes de Murcia, no. 11-12, 1933,
retrieved from Archivo Dital UPM,
http://oa.upm.es/33390/1/1933_paseos_murcia.pdf
23. L. Torres Balbás, ‘Las villas castellanas’, Arquitectura, vol. 14, 1932, pp. 261-268.
24. Patronato de la Alhambra y el Generalife, “Bosques, Jardines y Huertas”, 29 Sep 2019,
retrieved fromhttp://alhambra-patronato.es/index.php/Bosques-Jardines-y-Huertas/1347/0/
Author Biography
Sara SatohSara Satoh received a PhD (Letters) from Osaka University, Japan. After working as a Specially
Appointed Assistant Professor in the Cross-Boundary Innovation Program at Osaka University(2017-2018), she receives a Research Fellowship by the JSPS - Japan Society for the Promotionof Science, Tokyo University.
Her research field is the restoration of the Islamic garden and the Islamic architecture, focusing
currently on the theory and practice of the garden / landscape restoration. Her recent works
include “Enfoque técnico de restauraciones de la Alhambra en la era moderna”, in Actas del III
Coloquio Internacional La Edad Media vista desde otros horizontes y Seminario especial sobre“mudejarismo” y “mozarabismo”（e-books）Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2019, pp.105119.

60

Visualisation of Japanese Nature in
Josiah Conder’s Works
Yuki Shimizu
Showagakuin College, JAPAN

Abstract
Since Japan had opened her ports to the world, the country aggressively assembled Westerner tointroduce systems, techniques, and cultures from the West, and those who came Japan studies theunknown country in the Far East and published books. A British architect Josiah Conder (18521920) is one of them who tried to reveal Japanese culture. He wrote books about Japanese flowers
and flower arrangement in The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement (1891) and
The Floral Art of Japan (1899). In addition, he published Landscape Gardening in Japan (1893)
with its companion book Supplement to Landscape Gardening in Japan (1893). This paper isgoing to focus illustrations and photographs in those books to illuminate Conder’s attempt todiscuss Japanese beauty with Western point of view and Japanese artistic sense.
His first book about flowers in Japan The Flowers of Japan and The Art of Floral
Arrangement adopted Japanese style while its content was written in Western scientific point ofview that based on a paper for Asiatic Society of Japan in 1889. The cover of the book was drawn
by a popular Japanese woodcut painter and has some coloured Japanese woodcuts by native artists.
In Contrast to the first book, Landscape Gardening in Japan contains Western style expressions.
He cited pictures by a Japanese Western-style painter instead of woodcuts. He also adopted
photographs in Supplement to Landscape Gardening in Japan as he explains them “the mostscientific means”. However, these Western style expressions could not be seen in his third bookthough the contents become more scientific. These shifts of illustrations reflects Conder’s attempt
to illuminate possibility of Japanese art and ‘universally accepted art truths’.
Keywords: Josiah Conder; The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement; Landscape
Gardening in Japan; The Floral Art of Japan; Botanical Illustration

Introduction
Josiah Conder (1852-1920) was a British architect who was a Yatoi, the term used for a foreigner
employed as a specialised consultant by the Japanese administration of the Meiji period tomodernise the country. He is known as the father of modern Japanese architecture because hecontributed to the Japanese government, delivered lectures in architecture to Japanese architectsthat enabled his influence on Japanese architecture to continue even after his death, and designed
and built many famous buildings of Meiji era Japan, both for official and for private clients[Checkland 208]. Conder studied Japanese culture as he introduced Western culture to Japan. He
became very interested in the Japanese associations with nature, and several wrote books about
Japanese flowers and flower arrangement.
Many previous researchers have revealed the influence of these texts on Japan. Nicolas
Fiévé, elucidates that Conder introduced illustrations from original Japanese materials but that hedid so without carefully reading the source materials. Also, he never drew his own illustrations

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for his books [Fiévé 67]. Viewed from a different perspective, this act could be taken to imply
that Conder valued his sources for their illustrations rather than for the texts.
This paper will focus on the illustrations and photographs in Conder’s books to illuminate
his attitude toward Japan at a time of great vicissitude.
1. The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement and Japanese Prints
Conder’s first book, The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement, adopted a Japanesestyle. The front and back covers of the book were drawn by a Japanese woodcut painter named
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年, 1839-92).One reason for this treatment of the cover could be
Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎, 1831-89), who was Tsukioka’s colleague when they both trained
under Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳, 1797-1861) [Sugawara 97-98]. Kyosai was Conder’smaster in Japanese art, and it may be that Kyosai connected Tsukioka and Conder. Thisconnection developed over the course of their collaboration on the book. Conder also inserted 14
nishikie, coloured Japanese woodcuts, and he also used Kawanabe Kyosui (河鍋暁翠, 18681935), one of Kyosai’s daughters, as a painter. In addition, the signature of a person called
Yamamoto Shinji (山本信司, year of birth and death unknown), whose art name was Yamamoto
Katana (山本刀), is found on some plates. Shinji/Katana was an active engraver of woodcuts
who carved wooden blocks for Tsukioka and learned painting from him [Iwakiri 101]. This
association suggests that Tsukioka created the plates with his disciple and that they were notmerely illustrations for the book, but art pieces in their own right.
Conder appears to have used his connections with Japanese artists to ensure that his bookbecome more than just an illustrated volume of text about Japan; he also intended his book to bea work of Japanese art with accompanying text that described Japanese flowers. In spite of the
reduced durability of the method, Conder adopted Japanese style bookbinding with silk threads
and Japanese art, decisions that suggest his strong insistence on maintaining a traditional Japanesestyle for his book.
Conder mentions that he attempted to discuss Japanese flower arrangement ‘in a fuller andmore attractive manner’ [Conder, 1891, vii]. The colourful printings by native artists could be an
aspect of what he meant by the words ‘attractive manner’ but more, he tried to depict the aesthetic
core of Japanese art through the woodcuts.
Conder dedicated the book ‘To the old folks at home’ [Conder, 1891, v]. Thus, though his
book was published in Japan, it was actually intended for ‘folks’ in Britain. He suggests that aJapanese flower is ’worthy of imitation in the West’ [Conder, 1891, vii]. In other words, he tries
to explain Japanese culture to the Western point of view. The book was based on a paper Conder
wrote for the Asiatic Society of Japan in 1889, a fact that speaks to the academic nature of thework. In the eight chapters of the book, Conder describes typical seasonal flowers, combinations,tools, methods, theories, history and examples of good and bad flower arrangements with inputs
from professors of Tokyo Imperial University. He lists the popular English names, the Japanesenames and also the botanical names of the flowers he describes; and his discussion is academic
and scientific. In fact, the book written in such a manner that English speaking Westerners caneasily grasp its content.
On the other hand, he adheres completely to the Japanese style when it comes to theillustrations. He provides plates of Japanese flowers that depict whole or parts of flowers like a
Western picture dictionary. However, if the black and white diagrams are scrutinised closely, it istheir clear lines and lack of shading may be observed. This style is more characteristic of theJapanese style of painting than the Western. In addition, many of the illustrations are accorded a
black frame, which is a clear reminder of Japanese textbooks of the Edo period.

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Conder’s comparison of Japanese and the Western flower arrangement may provide a clue
to his adoption of the Japanese style of drawing:
An analysis of Japanese flower arrangements shows that the lines or directions takenby the different stems or branches form the basis of all compositions. While European
floral decorations are merely combinations of masses of colour, in which blossoms
and leaves alone play a part, those of Japan are synthetic designs in line, in which
every individual stem, flower and leaf stands out distinctly silhouetted [Conder, 1891,
45].
Conder believes that one of the important characteristics of Japanese flower arrangements is thetreatment of line and shape. as According to his description, they ‘form the basis of allcompositions’ while the Western style considers mainly the colour. If shading may be considereda ’colour’, it could be more pertinent to describe Japanese flower decoration as having clear lines
than being shaded. In other words, the Japanese style of painting is more suitable to Conder’s text
in his opinion.
In fact, he discovers a clear commonality between the Japanese way of drawing and thestyle of flower arrangement:
The flower charm which exists in Japan is not, mainly one of pastoral associations,but is closely connected with the national customs and the national art. The artistic
character of the Japanese people is most strikingly displayed in their methods ofinterpreting the simpler of natural beauties. [Conder, 1891, 2]
He insists that the beauty of Japanese flowers is related to the Japanese people’s customs and art.
Both Japanese flower arrangement and Japanese drawings use ’their methods of interpreting thesimpler of natural beauties’. Conder finds a connection between Japanese flower arrangement
and Japanese art, and makes use of Japanese art to explain the aesthetic of the flower arrangement.
In summary, Conder actively used his relationships with Japanese artists to include theirworks of art in his book. The addition of these illustrations makes the book not merely a textual
descriptor of an academic nature but also an assemblage of Japanese beauty that presents thebook in a ‘more attractive manner’. In addition, considering Conder’s belief about thecharacteristics of the subject matter of the book, Japanese painting is more relevant and evocativeof his intent. For these reasons, Conder’s first book about Japanese flowers and flower
arrangements adhered to the traditional Japanese style despite the Western academic perspectiveof the text.
2. Landscape Gardening in Japan and Western Style Expression
Conder’s first book acquired respectable reputation, and two years later, he published anotherbook about ‘the more comprehensive but kindred art’ of gardening [Conder, 1893, v]. In thisvolume, Conder again displayed the value he placed on native Japanese sources and listed
Japanese works that he had cited [Conder, 1893, vi]. He especially mentioned the work of Honda
Kinkichiro (本多錦吉郎, 1851-1921), referring primarily to Zukai NiwatsukuriHou (『図解庭造法』, 1890). This Japanese volume by Kinkichiro was published three years before Conder’sgardening book was written, and added aspects such as a list of flowers with Latin names, and a
description of the gardens of Japanese feudal lords. In Zukai NiwatsukuriHou, Honda described
the illustrations to his text in the following manner:

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Conventionally, many gardening constructions start their planning with pictures. Old
books on the subject also have illustrations and help us understand. However, manyof them are lacklustre, and are different from the actual sight in perspective and senseof distance. The illustrations in this work are drawn correctly and in an artistic way. I
have tried to maintain the perspective, high-low, light and dark, backward andforward clearly so that they become not so different from the actual landscapes. Thisis a characteristic of this work when it is compared with books on gardening publishedin the past [Honda, 1890, i].
Honda insisted that the illustrations of older books are different from the real sites because of
their difference in perspectives and he believed that drawing ‘perspective’ and conveying ‘lightand dark’ clearly is the ‘right way’ to depict the actual scenes. Considering that perspective andshading are aspects that Western paintings consider important, his opinion was that the Western
style of illustration was more accurate than the traditional Japanese manner. Conder mentioned
Honda’s work in his book in addition to listing his work as a reference.
In the preface to his book on gardening, Conder explained that Honda’s lithography in
Zukai NiwatsukuriHou emanated from Akisato Rito’s ( 秋 里 離 島 , year of birth and death
unknown) Tsukiyama Teizo Den (『築山庭造伝』, 1828) a famous gardening book of the Edo
period. Conder declared that Honda’s work was a reproduction of this Edo period work ’in amodern style’ [Conder, 1893, vi]. If he had adhered to the traditional Japanese style, as in his
book on flowers, he could have used Akisato’s work directly. His adaptation of Honda’s work
instead suggests that Conder agreed, at least partly, with Honda’s opinion that the characteristics
of Honda’s work, and its literary quality, and its modern Western style of illustration were morepersuasive and were, as Honda commented, the ‘right way’.
This experiment of introducing a more Western style of artistic expression can be seen in
Conder’s 1893 Supplement to Landscape Gardening in Japan, a complementary addition to his
book on gardening. This work described some actual gardens in Japan to exemplify the accountprovided in Conder’s book. Conder did not add any drawings to illustrate the text of this
supplement. Instead, he inserted photographs of gardens. Conder explained his rationale for sodoing as: ‘the illustration in a separate form of some of the best compositions remaining, by themost scientific means available, presented itself as a fitting and desirable addition to the analytical
work’ [Conder, Supplement to Landscape Gardening in Japan iii]. He added photographs toanalyse the subject thorugh ‘scientific meaning’, and he expounded each photograph to make his
point. In his primary volume on gardening, Landscape Gardening in Japan, Conder described
the history of Korakuen garden and its full characteristics; in the supplement, he focused only on
what could be seen in the picture, and explained the manner in which each depicted feature suchas the waterfall, the bushes and the bridges comprise the scenery. It was photography, which did
not deviate from the actual site as Honda had asserted, that enabled Condor to accurately analyse
the garden scenes. In this way, the photographs supported the scientific aspects of his book on
gardening.
Adopting the Western style exerted another effect. Honda commented that he wrote hisbook to provide superior material for armatures to plan gardens [Honda, 1890, i]. His ‘right way’assisted in this aim because illustrated that were likenesses of what readers could actually see
were especially useful for those who were actually planning their gardens. In other words, theWestern style made Honda’s book more practical. In the preface to Landscape Gardening inJapan (1893), Conder declared that readers ‘may even supply suggestions for a modified form ofWestern gardening’ [Conder, Landscape Gardening in Japan vi]. Conder also assumed that hisreaders would use the information he provided when they were considering the construction of
their gardens. Exemplifying such information with Western art that was more familiar to his65Visualisation of Japanese Nature in Josiah Conder’s Worksreaders would help them to understand his instructions more easily.
Thus, Conder introduced a more Western style in his book about gardening. Instead ofreferencing his text with pictures from traditional illustrative works, he cited Honda’s pictures,
which actually reproduced old paintings in the Western style. He also borrowed photographs, aWestern technique, for the supplement to his book. These Western style illustrations brought theideas he expressed closer to what his readers could witness in reality and made them morepracticable. Although Conder referred to many native texts written in a previous period, he placed
contemporary work as his copy and used photography, a contemporary mode of expression sothat his work become more than just a description of old techniques. Instead, through suchchanges in his techniques, his ensured that his ideas became more directly accessible to his
modern readers.
3. Balancing the Western Scientific Aspect and the Japanese Artistic Aspect
In his first book on Japanese flowers and flower arrangements, Conder inserted many native style
art pieces as illustrations of and insisted on the Japanese way of expressing the beauty of nature.
In his second work, he added the Western style of expression and used Western painting
techniques or photographs to make his text more scientific and practical. However, even when headopted the Western style of expression for accuracy, the Japanese artistic aspect did notdisappear from his sensibility.
For instance, the first photograph of the book depicted Lotus Lake in Ueno. It was takenfrom the back of a pine tree, and the lotus lake could be seen under the tree. The tree occupied
more than half the space of the photograph. The composition of the picture is more like a Japanese
woodcut than a diagram to explain an ordinance of a garden. Considering that the main text starts
with this picture, which exerts a strong impression on readers, it may be deduced that Conder
utilised photographs not only for scientific purposes but also to express their artistic qualities.
The photographer Ogawa Kazumasa (小川一眞, 1860-1929) took the photographs inConder’s book on gardening. He was selected as a photographer by the government in 1888 topreserve Japan’s cultural heritage. Okatsuka Akiko commented that Ogawa’s method ofphotography, like lightning, sometimes made details appear, it also created shades or patterns that
rendered the object unclear. Thus, Ogawa’s works were less suitable as materials for study. His
photographs exert a stereoscopic effect that relay the charm of the object [Okatsuka 46]. Although
his technique was reliable as he shouldered the task offered to him by the government, hesometimes tended to place the vividness or the artistic effect of his work above its quality as
scientific material. This prioritisation can also be observed in Conder’s selection of the first
photograph of his book, an image that is more akin to Japanese art than to a scientific diagramthat visualises a garden. In fact, Conder called Ogawa a ‘well-known Japanese photographic artist’[Conder, Supplement to Landscape Gardening in Japan iii] instead of using the term
‘photographer’. Thus, Ogawa could prioritise his artistic sense over journalistic accuracy.
Six years after he published his book on gardening, Conder returned to his exploration ofJapanese flower arrangement in his third book (1899). The very title of the book revealed that it
was a revised version of his first work. He added another chapter explaining practical techniquessuch as the manner of cutting or bending stems and how to use moss. He also described thecharacteristics of the styles of the Ikenobo school in the appendix. The number of illustrations
was increased and all the coloured nishikie of Tsukioka and Kyosui that found place in theprevious work were substituted by illustrations created by Ogata Gekko (尾形月耕, 1859-1920).
In the preface to the third book, Conder described Japanese flower arrangement from anarchitectural viewpoint. He described the similarities between the Japanese form of flower
arrangement and architecture: both required an understanding of the intrinsic nature of the66

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materials to treat them effectively. Thus, over the years, Conder’s perspective became more
specific: that of a Westerner who found the Japanese style of flower arrangement interesting as
an architect who understood the subject. Western readers interested in flower arrangement had
increased and to distinguish himself from such readers, he emphasised his position as aprofessional architect. This shift also highlighted the scientific aspects of the work.
The new parts of the book generally enhanced its scientific and practical aspects. For
example, updating the data to reflect the time, Conder described the Ikenobo school as ‘of lateyears become somewhat popular among armatures in Japan’ [Conder, 1899, viii]. Being popularmeant that people were afforded more opportunities to see or experience this method, so it could
also be taken to mean that the methods had become more practical. Also, some additional
illustrations explained the structures with symbols or short descriptions to make readers follow
them more easily. Consequently, the 1899 version was more scientific and more practical thanthe book Conder wrote in 1891.
On the other hand, unlike his previous work on gardens, Conder did not introduce any
Western style artwork in the form of images with perspectives or shading, or photographs. Instead,he added illustrations in the traditional native style, and in some cases, he directly inserted
explanations on them. While the content of the 1899 version became more scientific, he reverted
to the adoption of traditional Japanese styles of illustration. In the 1899 book, Conder mentions
the purpose of his previous book on flowers as:
I felt assured that the aesthetic rules governing this Floral Art, though novel to us in theirapplication to flower decorations, would, nevertheless, appeal to European taste as true art
principles derived from a close study of natural laws, and not merely as the outcome of a quaintand capricious fancy from the Far East [Conder, 1899, v].
Conder believed that Japanese flower art was worth studying for Westerners because it contained‘true art principles’ that resulted from the ‘natural laws’. It connected to the mission of Conder’s1893 book on gardening in the sense ‘that beneath the quaint and unfamiliar aspect of these
Eastern compositions, there lie universally accepted Art truths [Conder, 1893, v]’. Conder thussought ‘art truths’ that could be accepted by both the East and the West through his series ofJapanese arrangements of natural phenomena. Therefore, his three volumes encompassed both
the Japanese artistic aspect and the Western scientific and practical facet. Together, they led to anunderstanding of the third feature of an universal ‘art truth’. Consequently, while the first two
aspects seem to contain conflicting elements, in his work they serve to support and balance eachother.
Conder’s introduction of the Western style of artistic expression in his book on gardening(1893) represented an attempt on his part to articulate the ‘art truth’. ‘Universally accepted’, it
could be expressed in the Western style. From this point of view, his experiment to draw from‘the quaint and unfamiliar aspects of these Eastern compositions’ and to reveal ‘true art principles’in his first book may not have been evaluated by him as totally successful. His 1899 publication
did not include Western style imaging could be one of the results of the 1893 experiment. Unlike
this experiment that combined modern and traditional pictures that may have proved‘inappropriate and misleading’, the 1899 volume unified the style and even harmonised theartistry of the coloured woodcuts.
It may also be pertinent that one year after Conder published his book of gardening Japan
initiated the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). Victory in this war encouraged Japan to rush
toward modernisation. This quest relegated many Japanese traditions to the position of ‘a quaintand capricious fancy’. Seeking ‘universally accepted art truths’ could have been Conder’s attempt
to find fixed value in what could be lost in the near future.

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Conclusion
Conder’s first book on flowers and flower arrangement (1891) utilised the Japanese style ofillustration to make the volume more attractive for Western readers. In addition, he believed thatthe beauty of Japanese flowers was connected to the customs and art of the Japanese people.
Hence, it was more suitable for Japanese art to express the beauty of Japanese flowers and theirtraditional arrangement style in Japan. His second book (1893) included Japanese drawings alongwith Western style lithographs and photography for more practical reasons. They helped Conder
analyse the gardens he described more precisely so that his Western readers would understandthe ideas he presented more easily and apply them to gardens in the West.
In fact, this volume may be viewed as Condor’s experiment in search of the expression ofuniversally acceptable beauty. Even when he adopted the Western technique of photography, theartistic images he selected did not completely contribute to his scientific purpose. Conder’s
attitude toward Japanese and Western expression can be seen most clearly in this second work.
With his third book (1899), he returned to the Japanese style illustrations of his first book (1891)
even though the contents of his 1899 work were more scientific. His choice of styles may haveresulted from the experimental techniques he attempted in his second book (1893) and his fearthat the clash of styles may cause the disappearance of the beauty Conder was seeking to describe.
References
1. Checkland, O., Britain's Encounter with Meiji Japan, 1868-1912, London: Macmillan, 1989.
2. Conder, J., The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement, Tokyo: Hakubunsha,
1892.
3. Conder, J., Landscape Gardening in Japan, Tokyo: Kelly and Walsh, 1893.
4. Conder, J., Supplement to Landscape Gardening in Japan, Tokyo: Kelly and Walsh, 1893.
5. Conder, J., The Floral Art of Japan: Being a Second and Revised Edition of the Flowers ofJapan and the Art of Floral Arrangement, Tokyo: Kelly and Walsh, 1899.
6. Fiévé, N., 'Three Major Western Publications on the Japanese Gardens edited before the Second
World War: Josian Conder, Landscape Gardening in Japan (1893); Harada Jirô, The Gardensof Japan (1928); Tamura Tsuyoshi, The Art of the Landscape Gardens in Japan (1935)',
Center for Comparative Japanese Studies Annual Bulletin, Tokyo: The Center for
Comparative Japanese Studies, Ochanomizu University, 2011, pp. 65-78.
7. Honda, K., Zukai Niwatsukuri Hou, Tokyo: Dandansha, 1890.
8. Iwakiri, S., 'Meijikimokuhanhorishiko: Shoki kara Chuki, Kimura Tokutaro wo Chusinni',
Kindai Gasetsu, 2004, pp. 86-103.
9. Okatsuka, A., 'A Photographic Study of the Fine Arts of Kinki Region, 1888 and 1889 by
Kazumasa Ogawa', Bulletin of the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo: Tokyo
Photographic Art Museum, 2000, pp. 37-55.
10. Sugawara, Mayumi. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Den; Bakumatsu Meiji no Hazamani, Tokyo: Chuo
Koron Bijitsu Shuppan, 2018.
Author Biography
Yuki Shimizu
Yuki Shimizu is an Assistant Professor at Showagakuin College. She studied at Kochi University
and Okayama University, before taking MA from the University of Leicester on the subject ofVictorian perception of Japan in literature, plays and arts, with the postgraduate thesis entitled“Victorian Imaginary Perspective on Japan.” While teaching English at Showagakuin College,

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she has been reading British perspective on Japan from the 19th to the early 20th century at Tsuda
University. In 2018 she published a chapter in Travel and Culture in English and American
Literature, entitled “Visual Images of Japan in Victorian Period.”

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ThemeII

DESIGN PHILOSOPHYThe Design Philosophy of Yabu Meizan:
Landscapes of Western Japan in Copperplate
Yoshie Itani
Tokyo University of the Arts, JAPAN

Abstract
Yabu Meizan(1853-1934) was a craftsman and entrepreneur of his day who made and soldSatsuma ware pottery in Osaka, Japan. That Meizan was considered “uniquely skilled with
Satsuma ware” and “a supporter of public works projects” were hardly exaggerations, even if
such articles tended to glorify him in light of his public donation efforts. Born fifteen years
before Japan’s Meiji Restoration, Yabu Meizan lived through a period in which the Japanese
export porcelain industry was transitioning from traditional to modern designs, and on to its
present form.
Meizan’s work featured four distinguishing characteristics: Meizan made use of copperplate
print etching to recreate these same motifs more as repetitive patterns, an approach that imbued
them with a broader overall harmony similar to that of stenciled or dyed textiles.
The foundations of his design work lay in Western Japan, mainly Osaka.Looking at the
breakdown of the present collection, aside from Mt. Fuji-related themes, we see that many of
the works depict subjects like the Gion Festival, the Kasuga Grand Shrine, Lake Biwa, andItsukushima Shrine. We can also see an unmistakable similarity to the many landscapecopperplate prints that were being produced in the Kyoto-Osaka region at the time.The
popularity in the West of Yabu Meizan’s works, on which the same motifs are often repeated,
may have something to do with their inherent visual continuity. Even after winning numerous
awards at international exhibitions, in the end Yabu Meizan did not seek the honor and prestigeof becoming an Imperial Household Artist, but rather dedicated himself to making a business ofcreating porcelains.
Keywords: Yabu Meizan; Meiji; Pottery Export Porcelain in Modern Era; Japan-British
Exhibition 1910

Introduction
Yabu Meizan (given name Masashichi) was born in Osaka’s Nagahori district on January 20,
1853, the second son of print artist Yabu Chōsui (1814 – 1867).1 Yabu Chosui was the eldest
child of scholar Yabu Kakudō (1773 – 1849), and was well known for having painted a portraitof the scholar Ogata Kōan.2 In 1860, Meizan moved to Miharacho Fukura on Awaji Island, nowpart of Hyogo Prefecture, to become heir to Yabu Sukezaemon, and by 1868 he had moved
again, this time to Osaka.3
As for the roots of the Yabu family, thus far no clear connection has been found between
this family and the Mimpei ware established by Kashū Mimpei (1796 – 1871) in Awaji Island.
However, it is likely that Meizan, having established his own studio, hired pottery painters fromthe Awaji region where he spent his childhood, and which at the time had its own prosperous
pottery industry. Noguchi Sanae (an expert adviser to the Awajishima Museum at the time)stated in the pictorial record issued for the “Grace of Modern Exhibitions ― Yabu Meizan”

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Exhibition (1995, Awajishima Museum), “It seems that Meizan involved himself in the Mimpei
Ware kiln in his youth …. I’d like to think that the start of Yabu Meizan’s career as a porcelain
picture painter originated in Awaji Island.” Of Kashū Mimpei it is said, “Although he did not
directly involve himself in the manufacturing of pottery, as other potters did, he invited many
expert artisans to his studio to gather together their excellent and unique skills in one place. In
this approach he was outstanding”.4 Mimpei’s success in managing and nurturing a pottery
business was exactly the goal that Yabu Meizan was hoping to achieve. That said, Mimpei’skiln was constantly finding itself in a difficult financial situation, and debts were piling up
because he tried to take on new glazes and shapes one after another through trial and error. In
addition, the Kashū family that once boasted of its great wealth had poured most of its assets
into the ceramics business over a period of nearly 30 years, although Mimpei aimed to expand
his sales after having established his sales shop in Osaka, and even dreamed of eventuallyexporting his products around the world. Mimpei’s enthusiasm for the ceramics business seems
to have been acquired by Yabu Meizan, but this also revealed the management difficulties that
Mimpei, Yabu Meizan and other artisans were encountering while trying to advance theemerging ceramics business, as opposed to the established families in Arita and Seto that havecontinued from generation to generation.
Yabu Meizan (1853 – 1934) was a craftsman and entrepreneur representing the modernityof his day who made and sold Satsuma ware pottery in Osaka. The May 1897 issue of Ceramics
Business News (Tōki Shōhō),5 published by Mino potter Katō Sukesaburō, says of Yabu Meizan:“Working at Dōjima-Naka 2-chome, Kita-ku in Osaka, he is a well-known artist who hasbrought his unique skills to Satsuma ware. He is also especially enthusiastic about public works
projects.”6 This was written in response to Meizan’s donations to said projects. Similar praise
was also directed at other Meizan contemporaries. For example, the Kyō ware potter andimperial household artist Itō Tōzan I (1846 – 1920), whom an article lauded as “a ceramicist
highly regarded for his application of fine arts.”7 Putting all this together, evaluations that
Meizan “possessed unique skill with Satsuma ware” and “was enthusiastic about public works
projects” were not necessarily exaggerations, even if they may have been written somewhat
favorably in light of his public donation efforts. He was clearly as highly regarded then as he istoday.
I would like to discuss some of the more general trends that were occurring in Japan’s
modern export porcelain industry during Yabu Meizan’s time, as well as the activities of someof his contemporaries.
Painting Training
In 1871, Miyagawa Kōzan the First opened a kiln in the Otamura district of Yokohama. Someyears later, Watano Kichiji of Kutani, opened a branch office in Yokohama with an eye topursuing exports. In 1872, Kinkozan the Sixth began manufacturing export porcelains. And in
1876, Morimura Ichizaemon and his half-brother, Toyo, founded the Morimura-gumi trading
company—now the Noritake Company—in Tokyo’s Ginza district. A decade later, in 1877,
Chin Jukan the Twelfth, from whom Meizan is said to have obtained much of his porcelain clay,
set up his Gyokkozan porcelain works in Kagoshima. From these and other developments wecan see that Japan’s modern ceramics industry was experiencing remarkable growth during thisperiod. However, what sort of training was available at the time to the porcelain painting
craftsmen of this expanding business? It would be hard to imagine that Meizan never studied
pottery painting. So, if we assume that he studied it somewhere, where might that have been?
Meizan, however, established his own ceramics painting studio only half-a-year after he began
to study painting techniques. His goal seemed to not just be to cultivate his own pottery

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painting skills; rather, he took a broader view which also included making moves toward
operating and even expanding his business.
In Tokyo, where Meizan was living, there was an artisan from Gifu named Naruse Seishi,
who also worked in the Satsuma style. Naruse was born in the Nasubigawa section of Gifu’s
Nakatsugawa City, and at the age of thirteen he began apprenticing at a local kiln that produced
Nasubigawa ware. In 1871, Naruse moved to Tokyo to work as a pottery painter in the thenrapidly growing export porcelain business. The following year he built his own kiln to produce
Tokyo Satsuma ware on the grounds of Zōjō-ji temple. He also immersed himself in the studyof drawing miniatures. Among the many potters associated with the various kilns of Tokyo and
Yokohama, Naruse Seishi is currently most often considered to be the closest in working style
to Yabu Meizan. This suggests that Meizan may have had some contact with Naruse, especiallyas his stay in Tokyo coincides with the period during which Naruse was also living in Tokyo.
Photo 3 shows one of Naruse’s works. It is decorated with an elaborate, finely detailed designthat is acutely analogous to the styles seen in Meizan’s works. Naruse is currently being studied
by a group of researchers—including Takagi Noritoshi, a potter from Tajimi in Gifu Prefectureand foremost authority on Meiji era Japanese ceramics history—and it would prove highly
significant if some relationship can be uncovered between Naruse and Meizan. Naruse iscurrently being researched by Takagi Noritoshi and others at the Museum of Modern Ceramic
Art in Tajimi, Gifu, and it would prove highly significant if some relationship could be foundbetween him and Meizan.
Compared to the takaukibori high-relief styles of Miyagawa Kōzan and Sumida ware, orthe works of Naruse, Yabu Meizan’s work tended to be relatively flat and two-dimensional. Thiswas undoubtedly influenced by his use of copperplate printing as a finishing technique. In the
Kansai region of Kyoto and Nara, copperplate prints of famous locales made unique tourist
souvenirs and were eagerly sought after. Even now, there remain many books of delicate
landscape prints from the time. One example, Illustrations of Itsukushima Shrine by Yamaguchi
Otojiro, was printed in 1878 using copperplate. We can see from these and other illustrations
that quite a lot of copperplate printing was produced in the environs of Kyoto and Osaka, where
Meizan lived, and that he was especially interested in subjects related to the Kansai region.
Looking at the breakdown of the present collection, aside from Mt. Fuji-related themes, we seethat many of the works depict subjects like the Gion Festival, the Kasuga Grand Taisha Shrine(Figure. 1), Lake Biwa, and Itsukushima Shrine. We can also see an unmistakable similarity to
the many landscape copperplate prints that were being produced in the Kyoto-Osaka region at
the time.

Figure. 1 “Vase with landscape Kasuga Taisha Shurine”, End of Meiji Era, Private Collection

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Yabu Meizan’s Exhibition Years and Japan-British Exhibition 1910
Having won his first award at the 14th Kyoto Exhibition in 1885, Meizan began actively
submitting works to other exhibitions in Japan, and especially abroad. He also worked inadministrative capacities for some of these exhibitions, such as a business counselor on behalfof the city of Osaka, and representing Japan as a trustee on various counselor boards.
At the Paris Exhibition of 1900, although Meizan did not win a grand prize himself, he
did receive a silver medal in the category of Ceramic Flower Vases, etc. Meizan and others,
such as Watano Kichiji, who had relocated his operation from Kutani to Yokohama, and Takito
Manjiro of Nagoya, all exhibited pieces that attracted considerable interest among theexhibition visitors. The main question, though, was how to win the most orders from European
customers. Naturally, winning a grand prize was a good way to attract attention, which could
lead to the development of sales channels. However, the ultimate goal had less to do withelevating one’s name recognition as an artisan, and much more to do with expanding overseas
sales.
Although Yabu Meizan took an active role in numerous international expositions, among
these stood out one of his most remarkable achievements, that being at the Japan-British
Exhibition of 1910. This international exposition played an integral role in prompting theJapanese ceramic industry to change its initial production style from large flower vases anddishes to such pieces as tableware that were more in step with the ongoing evolution of Japan’s
export ceramics industry. We have chosen to focus on this exposition because of its importancefor these reasons. The 1910 Japan-British Exhibition was held from May 14th to October 29th
in London’s Shepherds Bush. Along with Ando Jubei, Fukagawa Chuji, and Kinkōzan Sōbei theSeventh, Meizan was appointed an exhibition counselor, and was also named a trustee on theboard of the Osaka Exhibitors Alliance. According to a report from the Japan-British Exhibition
Association8: “Tea utensils, coffee cups, candy dishes, fruit bowls and other items suited toeveryday use were the biggest sellers… but when it came to items like vases, incense burners,
shelves and so on, only the smaller versions of these sold well….” Table 1 shows main pottery
exhibitors and their selling prices in Japan-British Exhibition.

Exhibitor

Place

Price of
Selling Price
Exhibited Work（￡）（￡）

Selling pricerelative toexhibited price（%）

Kato Tomotaro

Tokyo

331

3

9

Miyagawa Kozan

Kanagawa

382

101

26

Watano Kichiji

Kanagawa

229

87

37

Wataya Heibei

Kanagawa

84

55

65

Union of Potter in Nomi

Ishikawa

191

100

52

Matsumoto Sahei

Ishikawa

22

9

40

Terasawa Tomeshiro

Aichi

151

95

62

Morimura-gumi

Aichi

73

61

83

Shimizu Rokunosuke

Aichi

25

6

24

Tashiro Ichiroji Shop

Aichi

11

7

63

Kato Shubei

Aichi

8

2

25

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The Design Philosophy of Yabu Meizan: Landscapes of Western Japan in Copperplate

Kato Mon'emon

Aichi

7

2

28

Nishiura Enji

Gifu

18

6

33

Kinkozan Sobei

Kyoto

1483

328

22

Ito Tozan

Kyoto

178

41

23

Shofu Pottery Company Kyoto

69

28

40

Suwa Sozan

Kyoto

54

12

22

Kawahara Noritatsu（Kyoto）

Kyoto

15

15

100

Yabu Meizan

Osaka

254

83

32

Danto.Co.Osaka Branch Osaka

5

3

60

Tsuji Shigenosuke

Saga

427

212

49

Tominaga Genroku

Saga

335

19

5

Koransha

Saga

305

212

70

Fukagawa Chuji

Saga

215

52

24

Imaizumi Tota
Saga
46
2
4
Table 1: Main pottery exhibitors and their selling prices in Japan-British Exhibition 1910
Among the larger vases, the report noted: “visitors to the exhibit gave much praise to
those with shapes or visual patterns featuring more purely Japanese designs.” In terms of
production regions, it said: “the relatively inexpensive yet highly decorative Kutani ware werethe most popular… followed by the brocade Nishikide ware of Arita. Finally, the Satsuma-styleceramics from Kyoto and Osaka exhibited very fine designs, and the artistic stylings of the
Makuzu ware from Kanagawa seemed to have great commercial promise.” It seems almost
certain that Meizan’s works were among the more highly valued pieces at this exhibition.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Meizan was working on the upcoming 1915
Panama Pacific World Exposition to be held in San Francisco, as a counselor for the Osaka
Exhibition Association. In regards to the Exposition, a report filed by one Kitamura, anengineer with the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, recounts that “Japan should be very
happy that Morimura-gumi and other Nagoya makers began producing practical drinking anddining utensils. Miyagawa Kōzan’s products are certainly excellent in terms of design art, butthere are no unique new designs among them.”
Kitamura’s report also hinted at the direction that Japan’s export ceramics were taking at
the time. Craftsmen like Miyagawa Kōzan, who had by then risen to the status of Imperial
Household Artist, were supported by government pensions and had their production costs forgovernment-ordered items paid for in full. They were thus freed from concerns about
generating income. On the other hand, individual craftsmen not in this class of artisans had atougher time making a living, and the costs involved in exhibiting at world expositions madethem far too expensive, even if encouraged by government recommendation.
Meizan’s Sunset Years
The year 1916 saw the passing of Miyagawa Kōzan and Kato Tomotaro, and the following year
both Suwa Sozan and Ito Tozan became Imperial Household Artists. Around the same time,
Okura Magobei and his son Kazuchika were making plans to found Okura Tōen Art China to76

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produce high-end porcelains. The establishment of such companies as Nippon Tōki and Tōyō
Tōki all pointed to a prosperous future for the modern porcelain business.
Meizan passed away on May 2nd, 1934, and his funeral was held at the Naniwa Church
in Osaka. Yabu Tsuneo, who had worked alongside Meizan to promote the Workshop’s businessinterests, died seven years later, on February 19th, 1941. As can be clearly seen, what Yabu
Meizan really wished for was “not to remain an independent artisan, but rather build up aworkshop around himself, recognizing his role as an art producer.” Setting aside any desire for
personal fame, he instead wished to be known as an artist and creator named Yabu Meizan.
Conclusion
Born fifteen years before Japan’s Meiji Restoration, Yabu Meizan lived through a period inwhich the Japanese export porcelain industry was transitioning from traditional to modern
designs, and on to its present form. Meizan’s work featured four distinguishing characteristics:(1) The foundations of his design work lay in Western Japan, mainly Osaka.
(2) He did not remain an independent artisan, but rather built up a workshop around himself,
recognizing his role as an art producer.
(3) He had his eyes firmly focused on markets abroad.
(4) Even after winning numerous awards at international exhibitions, in the end he did notseek the honor and prestige of becoming an Imperial Household Artist, but rather
dedicated himself to making a business of creating porcelains.
In particular, his work on various boards and committees was associated with the international
exhibitions and expositions of the day. And while this certainly helped promote thedevelopment of his own ceramics business, it also demonstrated his equal dedication to thepromotion of Japanese art and culture.
While Meizan produced many works with large floral patterns early in his career, he latertransitioned to more detailed landscapes and genre paintings made possible by copperplate
etching (Figure 2). Over time, his subject matter evolved toward more finely rendered classic
motifs, such as autumn leaves, butterflies and chrysanthemums.

Figure 2. “Round Vase with Landscape painting and swirling millefleur and butterflies design”
Early Taisho period, Private collection
While his contemporaries as Imperial Household Artists—notably Suwa Sōzan and
Miyagawa Kōzan, and later Itaya Hazan and Inoue Ryōsai—concentrated on artistic renderingsof flower-and-bird and landscape subjects, Meizan made use of copperplate print etching torecreate these same motifs more as repetitive patterns, an approach that imbued them with abroader overall harmony similar to that of stenciled or dyed textiles. The popularity in the Westof Yabu Meizan’s works, on which the same motifs are often repeated, may have something to77

The Design Philosophy of Yabu Meizan: Landscapes of Western Japan in Copperplate

do with their inherent visual continuity. Following Meizan’s passing, the designs of Japanese
export porcelains, especially for table ware and vases, gradually moved away from traditional
Japanese themes toward more Western flower-and-bird and landscape motifs done in repetitive
patterns, much like Western wallpaper. The origins of this fundamental change in can be seen in
Yabu Meizan’s kikuzume chrysanthemums and hanazume blossom millefleur designs.
Notes
1. Yamazaki Tsuyoshi, The Life of Yabu Meizan in The Grace of Modern Ceramics Exhibitions― Yabu Meizan, Awajishima Museum, 1995, p. 24.
2. Yamazaki Tsuyoshi, p. 24.
3. Yamazaki Tsuyoshi, p. 24.
4. “The Essence of the Awaji Ceramic Industry-About Kashu Mimpei,” Osaka Mainichi
Shimbun, December 27, 1927.
5. Ceramics Business News was Japan’s first monthly ceramic trade journal, published by theceramics wholesale trader Marusu Shokai for about 15 years starting in 1894. Katō
Sukesaburō, a businessman in Mino (now Tajimi City, Gifu Prefecture) who contributed tothe development of Mino ware, played a leading role in its publication.
6. From a front-page column entitled Yabu Meizan’s Voluntary Contributions that appeared in
Ceramics Business News No. 47, May, 1897, in appreciation of Yabu Meizan’s donation of
400 ceramic motif stamps.
7. Ceramics Business News, August, 1895 issue.
8. Inoue Gennojo (in charge of dealing with remaining works for the Japan-British Exhibition
Exhibit Association), Administrative Reports of the Japan-British Exhibition Exhibit
Association, 1911, p. 182.
Author Biography
YOSHIE ITANI
Yoshie Itani D.Phil born in Itami, Hyogo, Japan in 1954, read history of art at the University of
Oxford, U.K. where she completed her Doctor of Philosophy in 2006. After taking up several
academic posts in Japan, she has, since 2015, been Project Professor of Global Support Centerat Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan. Her publications on the subject of the history ofart include Yabu Meizan no Sekai (Inaho Shobo, 2019).

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A Study of “The Tea Ceremony as a Time andSpace for the Appreciation of Artworks andTheir Design” for College Students
Miwa Tsujita (Hasegawa)
Kobe Women’s Junior College, JAPAN

Abstract
This study examines the tea ceremony (tea gathering) as an experience for teaching college
students how to appreciate artwork. Expression and appreciation are the pillars of art education;
however, there should be various avenues of approaching artworks instead of simply observing
them in a museum or at other similar venues. With this in mind, I have tried to incorporate theexperience of the tea ceremony into my class as a time and space for discovering art and to havestudents appreciate their artwork in the time and space of the tea ceremony.
Once one enters a tea room, one finds calligraphy or paintings hanging in the alcove, which
can be appreciated as two-dimensional art pieces. The utensils of the tea ceremony include tea
containers (chawan) that are ceramics, tea caddies are lacquer ware (uryshi), and the fukusa(wiping cloth) that is a textile. The architecture of the tea room may be in the sukiya-zukuri style,and the surrounding environment is also a space of art, including the tea garden and environs.
The time and space of the tea ceremony is not about simply drinking tea with others but isa private museum for the host’s guests. For the approximately four hours of the ceremony, thevarious artworks that have been removed from storage are displayed for the guests while tea isserved.
During class, the students experienced the world of the tea ceremony and reflected on the
artwork and its design. In addition, since the utensils used are also works of art, the aim of theclass was that the students would learn the meaning of the “beauty of use.” This study seeks away of understanding the nature of art and design appreciation through the spirit of the tea
ceremony.
Keywords: Appreciation of artwork and design; Japanese beauty in Chanoyu (Tea ceremony);
Integrated art space80

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Introduction
This study aims to raise awareness of everyday beauty and design among university students
enrolled in the departments of Childhood Education, Food and Nutrition, and Integrated Career
Studies. This is to be accomplished through the experience of traditional Japanese culture in thetea ceremony as an encompassing art space where one may appreciate artworks and their design.
The tea ceremony is a form of Japanese aesthetics that is expressed through both compassion
and hospitality; it focuses not merely on artwork and design but requires commitment to the spiritof making delightful tea so that the host and the guests may find enjoyment and inner connection
while appreciating art. It is not a special event but a sustainable habit of daily life.

From consciousness to appreciation and the design of artworks“Expression” and “appreciation” act mutually in art education, but state that most of university
students attending a class said, currently, there are few opportunities to participate in art
appreciation experiences. In addition, it is difficult to fit art appreciation into a busy university
student’s schedule and does not seem to be connected only then to the interval in sustainableappreciation space-time to have an opportunity to go to the art museum by oneself, and toappreciate a work even if a research theme is suggested in class.
Ask the early childhood education students the questions, “What is the design?” or “Whatis the difference between drawing a picture and designing one?” and not a few of their answers
would be something like that “a picture cannot release a limit to obey the instructions of theteacher who should draw it well at most, but can release the design as oneself likes it.” So, I claimthat it must be the influence of primary and secondary school art education that colors theaesthetic experiences of university students.

The world of the tea ceremony as an integrated art space
In the world of the tea ceremony, one finds an integrated art space where encounters with diverseof artworks are made possible. First, the flooring of the tearoom is always furnished with tatami
mats, the aroma of which complements the feeling of entering wa, or Japanese space. A scroll of
calligraphy or painting always hangs in the alcove to be appreciated as a two-dimensional artwork.
In terms of tea ceremony utensils, ceramic art can be found in the form of incense holders, tea
containers, and tea bowls for thick matcha, with lacquering on tea caddies for thin tea or the
shiho-bon (square tray) for dry sweets. The details of bamboo work are displayed on tea scoops
and tea whisks; metal-carving is shown on tea kettles or waste-water containers; andcraftsmanship in dyes and weaving can be seen in the cloths used to wipe the utensils as well as
in the silk pouch used to hold the tea caddy.
Another pleasurable part of the tea ceremony is the rearrangement and preparation of theseutensils according to the taste or circumstances of the guests and the theme or the season of theceremony. This is the role of the host. The tearoom itself is an architectural work such as a shoin-81

A Study of “The Tea Ceremony as a Time and Space for the Appreciationof Artworks and Their Design” for College Students

zukuri or a sukiya-zukuri, which along with its garden and outdoor area, creates a space forenvironmental art.
The beauty of gestures, techniques, and mannerisms in the tea ceremony is not only
expressed through spirituality and physical movements but also through the relationships between
the host and the guests, between the guests themselves, and the “performer” (host) and the“stagehand” (the host’s assistant), allow who seek an appropriate ma (distance) from one anotheror a delicate sense of space between them. Beauty is also found in the yearning to cherish “oncein-a-lifetime meeting” or the perpetuation of the idea that “every day is a good day.”Sen-no-Rikyu (1522–1591), the founder of wabi-cha, incorporated various crafts andartworks from foreign countries and regions into tea utensils. For example, celadon porcelain
from Sangkhalok Kiln (situated near the city of Si Satchanalai), Thailand, was imported andprized as a sunkoroku (incense holder). Annam, a type of pottery from Vietnam, and ceramics
from the Delft kilns in the Netherlands were used as water pitchers and dishes, and felt from
central Asia was used as rugs or carpeting in the waiting room, completing a encompassing art
space, enriched by artworks from around the world.
The tea ceremony is not only a space used for the people to gather and drink tea but, in away, it is also a private museum where various artifacts are chosen from a collector’s warehouseto meet the specific needs of the guests during the four-hour period of the ceremony in whichthese artifacts are actually utilized.1
However, unlike museum pieces, which are viewed behind a barrier of glass, the tea
ceremony offers a more enriching experience in terms of art appreciation because the artifacts
can be held in one’s hands or touched with one’s lips. In this way, the “viewing” of these tea
utensils or the “appreciation” of these artworks constitutes one of the key elements of the tea
ceremony, so much so that even the signatures on the box that holds the utensils have become adisplay item shown to guests. The scope of this type of art appreciation is then further extended
through tearoom conversations, which focus on the lineage and origin of these artifacts or utensils
and, in particular, the identification of previous owners.

Class summary of “Traditional culture of Japan – To discover the Japanese
beauty in Chanoyu –”I opened a course in this class as the general studies that the student of all departments can takelectures to search an artwork from the world of Chanoyu. And I aimed at learning lively andvoluntarily by being active as well as the lecture in the classroom in a tea ceremony room andlibrary commons room.
Lecture report in 2019
1. Search of the traditional culture in Japan
2. Flow of the history and way of Chanoyu
3. Spirit of Chanoyu and mind of Omotenashi (1) Guest in tea ceremony
4. Spirit of Chanoyu and mind of Omotenashi (2) Thick tea and thin tea

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5. Spirit of Chanoyu and mind of Omotenahsi (3) Tea ceremony”Asacha”
6. Tea gathering experience workshop (1) Experience of the tea ceremony
7. Chanoyu as the composite art and modern tea ceremony
8. Appreciation of the tea utensils
9. Aesthetic kimono (1) Kimono, what we wore
10. Aesthetic kimono (2) Kimono for Chanoyu
11. Kaiseki meal and Kashi sweets (1) Main sweet and dry sweet
12. Kaiseki meal and Kashi sweets (2) Four seasons and kaiseki
13. Preparations for tea ceremony
14. Tea gathering experience workshop (2) Practice to whisk thin tea
15. "Japanese aesthetic things" in the daily life

About a student in attendance
Two people in the attendance student live in the house without the Japanese-style rooms, where
it was spread the tatami mat in the houses such as the parents’ houses too. Nearly half of studentsof this class had never drunk matcha before. I understand this to mean that there are few
opportunities to experience traditional culture in Japan in everyday life, even if the students areinterested.
Therefore, approximately half of the students could not sit straight on the tatami mats atthe tea ceremony workshop and were puzzled. Below is an overview of the students' answers to
the questions I asked in class. (There are 30 students. 22 July, 2019)
Question

Answer1) Is there a Japanese-style room (room with a

Yes→25 persons

tatami mat and tokonoma ) where you are

The rooming house does not have either, but my parents’ houseliving now?

does. →4
Both the rooming house and my parents’ house have them. →3My (parents’ house) has them.→12-Every room in the house is Japanese-style (other than the
kitchen).
Both my parents’ house and my grandparents’ house hasthem.→3-In my parents’ house there is a Japanese-style room of the
four-and-a-half-mats type.
-One room in my parents’ house and four rooms in mygrandparents’ house.
My parents’ house does not have them, but my grandparents’house does.
-There are two such rooms in my grandparents’ house.
No→2 persons

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A Study of “The Tea Ceremony as a Time and Space for the Appreciationof Artworks and Their Design” for College Students

2) Have you drunk thin powdered tea before?

Yes→15 persons, No→13 persons

3) Have you drunk thick powdered tea before?

Yes→7 persons, No→23 persons

4) Have you participated in a tea ceremony

Yes→10 persons, No→17 persons

during school festivals (in high school or atuniversity) and so on?
5) Have you participated in a formal tea

Yes→1 persons, No→26 persons

ceremony?
6) Is there the experience of tea-serving

Yes→8 persons

manners?

I was a member of a tea ceremony club previously and am
currently a member as well.
As a high school student, tea ceremony training was part of the“home foundations” class.
I learned about it in primary school in a tea ceremony class.
I experienced it in kindergarten, but I have forgotten it.
I learned “calligraphy” from primary school through to highschool, and there was an annual tea ceremony.
No→18 persons7) Does anyone in your family host or
participate in tea ceremonies (sadou)?

Yes→4 persons
Mother, elder sister, grandmotherNo→14 persons

Course practice 1: Tea ceremony experience workshop
This experience workshop was held twice to allow students to participate in a tea ceremony in areal tearoom. Three applicants were selected as guests to enjoy thin tea in the first workshop.
They were able to deepen their understanding of the significance of the greeting and of turning
the tea bowl in front of other students who were there to experience their very first tea ceremony
as observers. The second workshop was held in the second half of the course to give students theopportunity to practice what they learned in the course. All students got to participate as both
guests and hosts, who make and serve thin tea from the preparation room (mizuya), so that theymight experience the importance of spiritual connection in the ceremony.

Course practice 2: Appreciation of the tea bowl from a document and preparations
for the tea ceremony – a handwritten letterIn the library commons area are a variety of the tea service sets, the design characteristics foundin many documents, and the pictorial record; each student had to sketch these items and record
them on a worksheet. In preparation for a tea ceremony, a notice was sent out by the student hosts,
who, when they received my reply, did not believe that I had written my reply freehand with abrush-pencil and challenged me on it. In this time of texting, few people experience what it islike to write calligraphy freehand with a brush-pencil, and doing so seems to embarrassing and

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straining for students. However, the impression I had after having finished writing the reply wasa longing for the calligraphy that I learned and enjoyed so much in primary school. At that age I
was able to gain a valuable experience, and the feeling that was all forward was expressed. It wasan activity that resulted in my continued major interest in Japan’s traditional culture.
Consideration of a student’s description from the worksheet1) About “a Japanese design”“It is important to feel the thought and the sense of the seasons of the person who makes akimono, tool, garden, or a tea-ceremony room, a Japanese sweet put from a design. I understoodthat the thought of the person who chose it was important.” (MM)“I thought that there was pleasure because I matched it with a visitor from various designs
and was chosen. I thought that the sense of the seasons and the four seasons of the 12 months
could take in anything from the design and color by a totally different design. I thought that it led
to Japanese beauty.” (SR)“A bowl to have tea had each pattern, and there was a design. There were various designs tothe cake and was entirely different by a season. I thought that it was the design of the quality ofJapan.” (HM)“Things handed down to a partner by design characteristics, including the pattern of tubotubo are different.” (MY)“I think that the heart of hospitality is included in Japanese design.” (KM)
“What is called design consists is not only of the form and color of a thing. ‘It was a procedure
to make tea’ and was able to learn to the place ‘that I handed to a visitor after making it’ when it
was a design.” (IY)
2) About “Japanese beauty”“I thought that the hospitality of Japan was the heart, not only the oneself but also partner
became comfortable. I remember the word ‘not to let a partner mind’ very much.” (FI)“I think that all actions are beautiful. When I appreciated a particular tool in particular, I felt
the beauty of the heart of that person. When posture to respect the world partner of the tea
ceremony was the Japanese beauty, I learned.” (MS)“It may be said that such manners as moving the lip of the bowl from the front are Japanese
beauty. I thought that “Japanese beauty” was born of “person” concerned. I thought that aninvisible part, including courtesy and hospitality for the other person, was what was beautiful.”(SR)“I think that the humility and courtesy of the Japanese are Japanese beauty.” (MA)“The beauty of a tasteful tea-ceremony room is quiet and modest, which is different from thegorgeous beauty of the West being felt in a beautiful kimono to enjoy a tea break in the spacewith the article while being simple. Internal beauty.” (MY)“It is the commute of the heart.” (ON)“Think that valuing what a heart to be anxious about towards the other party and an old person
valued, the heart is Japanese beauty.” (YS)85

A Study of “The Tea Ceremony as a Time and Space for the Appreciationof Artworks and Their Design” for College Students“I thought that Japanese beauty was being anxious about one’s partner, and hear the voice ofthe heart.” (MY)“I wondered whether the tea was connected to “beauty,” but thought that manners and themanner of speaking were beautiful first. I thought that it was cool.” (AH)
“Including an environment appropriate for tea such as a tokonoma, shoji, the hanging scroll,I think that it may be said that it is splendid Japanese beauty.” (IY)
I understood from the students’ descriptions that students they experienced Japanese beauty in avariety of levels of sensitivity. It has been said, “Things handed down to a partner with a senseof the seasons and design characteristics are different,” “A heart of hospitality is included indesign,” and “Hearts to think about to be able to spend all comfortably are designs.” Additionally,
it is said they want to follow all the time in posture to respect a partner, internal beauty, thecommute of the heart, now and the future. They also thought it was “cool.”

Conclusion
The implementation of these courses has allowed students from Arts and Design departments aswell as from Childhood Education, Food and Nutrition, and Integrated Career Studies toexperience the world of the tea ceremony as a time and a space to appreciate artwork and design.
Furthermore, students were able to explore the meaning of what constitutes the viewing orappreciation of an artwork according to their own individual experience.
Because some of the works of art were used as utensils, students had the opportunity toexperience aesthetic design in daily life. By experiencing the spirit of the tea ceremony personally,
students learned that the appreciation of art is not a special event but something that may beincorporated into every facet of life. Further improvement will be made to the implementation ofthese courses in order to better make the experience of the tea ceremony an integrated art spaceor a time and space for art appreciation in daily life.

Notes
1. Miwa Hasegawa (Tsujita), ‘A study on “The Tea Ceremony” as a Time and Space For
Discovering Artwork’, THE RONKO Bulletin of Kobe Women’s Junior College, vol. 64,
2019, p. 27.

Author Biography
Miwa Tsujita (Hasegawa)Miwa Tsujita (Hasegawa) PhD, studied at the Department of Fine Arts (Nihonga Course), Kyoto
City University of Arts, and then completed her doctorate in 2007 at Osaka University of Arts.
She has been a member of the Japan Society of Design since 1994 and the chairperson of86

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Chromatology at Kobe Women’s Junior College since 1995. She has been Professor of Childhood
Education at Kobe Women’s Junior College, Japan, since 2019.

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Tracing the Philosophy of Design in the Midst of
the Cold War: Cases in the Sinophone Region
Wendy S WongYork University, Canada

Abstract
George Orwell, the English author of Animal Farm (1945), coined the term “cold war” in the
post-Second World War period to describe the foreseeable condition of the two main geopolitical
ideological divisions—the capitalists’ world and communists’ world. In the geographical context
of the Sinophone region, four locales were on the frontier of the new political ideological contests
in the East: the newly established communist regime of the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
the British capitalist crown colony of Hong Kong, the former Japanese colony of Taiwan under
the rule of the retreated dictatorial mainland government, the Republic of China (ROC), andMacao, the centuries-old Portuguese colony. In this paper, I argue that related forms of design
activity taking place during the 1950s and the 1960s means that it is the best historical period inwhich to investigate the emergence of four new and different cultural identities splitting from acommon shared heritage in the region. These divergences led to the PRC’s imposition of the “OneChina” identity over Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao and the current uncompromising resistance
to authoritarianism by the latter locales.
In tracing the variances in the philosophy of design in the midst of the Cold War (1947–91), I refer to design as a variety of creative works ranging from arts and crafts to mass machine
manufacturing for quotidian consumption. The study’s focus is the foundational concerns ofdesign through a discussion of geopolitical design ideologies. The paper is organized into fourmain analytical sections representing the four locales—the PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Macao—and disentangles the emergence of the four national design identities. In each section, I
will examine the different conditions of design trends and artifacts produced at a time when
design was often embedded with political goals and missions.
Keywords: Cold War, Design ideologies, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao

Introduction
The current United States-China tariff battle that unfolded around early 2018 has triggered theinterest of scholars and the general public in a faded term—the Cold War. George Orwell (1903–
50) introduced this term in 1945 in his essay, entitled “You and the Atomic Bomb.” The phrase
was quickly adapted globally to describe the political tensions between the US and the Soviet
Union (USSR) that endured from the mid-1940s to early 1991. These two nations represented themain global geopolitical ideological divisions during that period—the capitalists’ world andcommunists’ world (Orwell, 1945).
In this paper, I argue that two key decades of the Cold War period—1950s and the 1960s—
are the best historical period in which to investigate the emergence of four new and different
design identities amidst the geopolitical context in the Sinophone region: People’s Republic ofChina (PRC), Hong Kong, Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) and Macao. These identities

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contribute to our understanding of the current underlying political tensions between these four
locales as ongoing battlegrounds between the PRC’s authoritarianism that fuels the imposition of
the “One China” identity versus the democratic liberal front of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao
in the current United States-China tariff battle—the “new Cold War” (Fong, 2019). By tracing
the variances in the philosophy of design during this period, this paper deconstructs geopoliticaldesign ideologies to disentangle the four national design identities in the Sinophone region
through a variety of creative works ranging from arts and crafts to mass machine manufacturingfor quotidian consumption.
A brief background of the emergence of four new Sinophone design ideologies in
the 1950s and the 1960s
Within the historiographical discourse of Chinese civilization and heritages, scholar Fei-ling
Wang (2017) views the concept of “China Order” or tianxia (天下 all under heaven) as giving
the mandate of political unification as the highest rule in Chinese political history. Thus, theconcept of tianxia explains why both the PRC and the ROC governments clasped onto theideological value of a “unified” nation, or the One China concept, after the end of the second
phase of the Chinese Civil War (1927–37 and 1946–49). This concept was also the backbone of
the PRC government’s push to resume its sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macao in 1997 and1999 respectively as well as its determination to push on with its “unification” with Taiwan.
Here, I argue that the PRC is exercising authoritarian power and disrespecting the realitythat the three other locales in question existed separately under colonial rule from the communist
regime for over a century. These four places were ruled under four different and distinct
governments with different political ideologies, economic systems and social development
experiences. To trace the formation of these individualities, the following sections will investigate
the emergence of four new Sinophone design philosophies in light of the Cold War ideology usedin the 1950s and the 1960s. I will use various design artifacts to reveal the confrontations between
the two political ideologies of the period—capitalism and communism. In defining ideology, I
use the Oxford Dictionary, which classifies it as “a system of ideas and ideals” (Oxford Dictionary,n.d.), but I also consider Gary Bowden’s (2004) interpretation of the term as a system of values
and beliefs reflecting and governing the society where it is situated.
Design under the Communist Regime of the People’s Republic of China
The communist regime of the People’s Republic of China came to power on 1 October 1949,
after it defeated the Kuomintang (KMT)—the Nationalist Party of China—in the Chinese Civil
War. The communist regime ruled mainland China as a one-party state under the Communist
Party of China (CCP), which was formed in 1921. The USSR and the CCP had close diplomaticand political relations before and after its establishment until the Sino-Soviet Split (1956–66).
Since its formation, the Party was never short of political campaigns to build up MarxismLeninism and Mao Zedong Thought as the CCP’s guiding political ideologies, such as Yan’an
Rectification Movement (1941–45), the Three-Anti/Five-Anti Campaigns (1951–52), AntiRightist Movement (1957–59), Great Leap Forward (1958–60), and the Create Proletarian
Cultural Revolution (1966–76). In this environment, all societal activities—from economicplanning to education—were designed to serve politics and the working class as well as topromote the advancement of CCP-approved ideologies. The arts and crafts sector were notexempt from this agenda. Artistic talent was not valued, and artists could only produce approved
items.
Mao’s famous May 1942 speech, The Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art (在89Tracing the Philosophy of Design in the Midst of the Cold War: Cases in the Sinophone Region

延安文藝座談會上的講話), advocated for “reforming old art and innovating new art,” andadapting new Chinese socialist identities in all creative fields. The 1930s Shanghai style, which
had capitalist mandates that were recognized by historians internationally, was deemed as evil forthe masses and its use was forbidden. Instead of using sheji or Design, the term that is commonlyused in contemporary PRC and in the region, gongyi meishu (工藝美術), tuan ke (圖案科),qinggong ye (輕工業), zhuanghuang (裝潢) and shiyong meishu (實用美術) were CCP-approved
equivalents (Tsui, 2016). Under the new national political ideology, for example, famous
yuefenpai (calendar posters or advertisement posters) artists and CCP regime supporters,
including Jin Meisheng (1902–89), Li Mubai (1913–91) and Xin Liliang (1913–?), took thechange in stride and adjusted themselves and their artistic outputs to serve the new country after
the PRC’s formation in 1945.
Talented artists with experience earned from working in the ‘old’ mediums of yuefenpai
and nianhua (年畫 New Year prints) began creating xuanchuan hua (宣傳畫 propaganda
posters) (Zhou, 2012) to promote the country’s new politics ideals. Shortly after the PRC’s
creation, the CCP constructed new nationwide infrastructure to control all creative fields.
Xuanchuan hua artists, for example, were no longer allowed to draw beautiful young Westernized
women as they used to do in the 1930s. Rather, their high-level realistic painting skills could only
be used to depict plain women attired in Soviet-style working class outfits. The background ofworks in this medium also shifted from commercial consumption scenes that showcased a wide
range of products to various types of farming and heavy industrial scenes (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Works by Jin Meisheng. (Left) Calendar poster, Shanghai, 1930s ; (Right)
The vegetables are green, the cucumbers plumb, the yield is abundant, 1959.

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During the 1950s and the 1960s, the PRC became a collectivist society of planned markets
where individuals were assigned to a work unit. We can see this change in propaganda posters
from the 1960s when artists’ names were removed from production credits and replaced by anartist’s work unit or revolutionary committee. In doing so, the creative philosophy of individual
artists was eliminated, replaced by the political ideology of the nation. Zhongxuabu (中宣部) or
the Publicity Department took over the publishing sector as a whole, and publishing houses,
bookstores, printing mills and distribution agents were now under the CCP’s absolute political
ideological control (Gu, 2012).
Another important design equivalent sector—handicrafts and crafts—was also now statecontrolled and was integrated more fully into the planned market economy. For example, theprivate kilns of Jingdezhen, which had been producing porcelain for over a millennium, wereconverted into state-owned manufacturing units. Their outputs also changed. Instead of producing
upmarket porcelain products like tea sets and flower vases, experienced artists were tasked tomake basic quotidian objects like bathroom ceramic wares and building materials.
Branded consumer products did exist, but choices were very limited. Bicycles were the keymode of transport in this period and there were several brands available; the top three were Feigepai (飛鴿牌 Flying Pigeon), Fenghuang pai (鳳凰牌 Phoenix) and Yongjiu pai (永久 Forever).
During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), the CCP deemed the brand mark design of Youngjiu
pai as “reactionary.” The revolutionary theme and visual style of these products are witnesses to
how political ideologies shaped the national design identity of communist China. All of theseproducts are in clear contrast to those produced in KMT-controlled ROC and the British crowncolony of Hong Kong during the same period.
Taiwan during the era of the Nationalist Party of China’s dictatorial rule
When the CCP defeated the KMT in the Chinese Civil War, the latter retreated to the Taiwan
islands, territory formerly occupied by Imperial Japan between 1895 and 1945. Under theauthoritarian rule of KMT Director-General Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), for whom a key
aspiration was retaking sovereign control over the mainland from the CCP, both newcomers andinhabitants whose families had lived in the islands for generations suffered from overt politicaland cultural suppression in support of Chiang’s anti-communist ideology. Martial law was
imposed on 19 May 1949 to control the intense political atmosphere that the KMT had created;
the law lasted for almost 40 years until 15 July 1987. With economic pressures connected to asignificant population increase—individuals who escaped from the mainland after 1945—thegovernment accepted financial aid (mei yuan 美緩) from the United States between 1951 and1965. It came in the form of daily necessities like cotton and flour as well as raw materials for
manufacturing needs. During the Cold War period, the ROC was at the forefront with Western
allies in resisting communism’s expansion.
In the 1950s, the government used mei yuan to launch an economic and industrialization
plan based on existing craft and related business establishments that were developed during theJapanese colonial era. For example, the Taiwanese handicrafts industry provided a solid
foundation for industrial manufacturing development. In the 1950s, with the rich bamboo andnatural wicker materials available in the islands, together with skillful Japanese-trained craftsmen
and artists, the government successfully launched Taiwan into the wicker furniture export market.
Yanagi Soetsu (1889–1961), the founder of mingei, the Japanese folk-art movement popular in
the late 1920s and 1930s, mentored the key figure in this industry, locally-born artist Yen Shuilong (1903–97) (Figure 2). He made a significant contribution to the establishment of the Taiwan
handicrafts industry in the 1950s and the 1960s (Kikuchi, 2007).

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Figure 2: Yen Shui-long in handicraft workshop, 1952.
(Source: https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20161230001372-260115?chdtv)
During this period, foreign craft designers and design experts were also part of the UnitedStates’ assistance strategy for Taiwan. Industrial designer Russel Wright, craft designer Ramy
Alexander and costume designer Joset Walker visited Taiwan in 1955 to offer their advice to thegovernment and to industry on how to develop handicrafts for export. The Committee ofHandicrafts Production and Promotion (1947), the National Handicraft Promotion Center (1957),
and the Nantou County Craft Research Class (1954), now known as the National Taiwan Craft
Research & Development Institute, were formed in the post-war era (Yang, 2010). Manufacturingmethods and technologies improved and the handicraft industry evolved until it reached a peak
between 1972 and 1987. Taiwan had an international reputation as the “gift and premium
kingdom” in the late 1980s when it produced a wide range of wicker-based items for both local
and international markets.
Compared to the “design” philosophy that existed in the PRC during the 1950s and the1960s, Taiwan situation was much more pragmatic—negotiating political ideologies, between
authoritarianism and free capitalist practices, for a middle ground that provided steady economic
growth for the islands. Chiang Ching-kuo (1910–88), the son and the successor of DirectorGeneral Chiang, is credited with transforming the country in the 1970s through industrialization
opportunities that advanced the economy and improved the livelihood opportunities of theaverage Taiwanese. These circumstances climaxed in democratic political reform in the late1980s. Today, Taiwan is considered to be a self-ruled, fully democratic state with de facto
independence, despite PRC reunification desires for a united China.
The Frontier of the Free World in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong
Soon after Imperial Japan announced its surrender to end the Second World War on 15 August
1945, Britain resumed its rule over Hong Kong. The population of the crown colony was about
750,000, but drastically increased to 2,013,000 by 1951 (Hong Kong Population History, 2001).
Hong Kong used to be a place of sojourn; people could travel freely between the colony andmainland China until 15 May 1951 (Tong, 2016). A significant proportion of the population was
refugees from mainland China, which created urgent social and economic pressures on thecolonial government. The outbreak of the Korean War (1950–53), coupled with the Cold War,92

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meant that Hong Kong became the frontier of the free world with its neighbour, Red China.
Despite increasing population pressures in the early 1950s and in the following decades,
the colonial government continued to nurture a laissez-faire economic system and entrepôtcoupled with trade policies that allowed capitalism and individual freedoms to flourish. With little
control over the political ideology and limited democratic rights, residents focused on securing
their livelihoods—securing stable shelter, work opportunities, education for children and medical
support. Among the newcomers, entrepreneurs and skilled and unskilled labour forces were key
in providing the conditions for the first wave of industrialization in Hong Kong. Taking theexample of the traditional crafts sector, the rattan industry was one of the first to modernize tomeet the export demands of American buyers.
Similar to the development occurring in Taiwan, the traditional handicraft industry
provided a fundamental base for mass production manufacturing in Hong Kong in the first two
decades after 1945. Rattan products such as furniture and laundry baskets were two popular
categories for export during this period. The Kowloon Rattan Ware Co. (est. 1925) was theleading company to produce iconic products (Figure 3) such as the Canton Chair (or Hong Kong
Chair), the Hong Kong Club Chair, Peacock Chair, Mushroom Table and western wine glassinspired tableware series for the American market. Inspired by American cartoon characters, a
popular animal-shaped laundry basket series was made possible thanks to Guangdong Foshan
Shiwan’s ceramic figurine (佛山西灣陶瓷公仔) artisans’ traditional making methods. The rattan
industry comprised between 10 to 15 per cent of Hong Kong’s total exports by 1954 (Turner,
1993).

Figure 3: Rattan Chair Attributed to Kowloon Rattan Ware Co., 1950s.
(Source: https://stories.mplus.org.hk/en/blog/from-the-collection-rattan-chair-by-kowloonrattan-ware-co/)Parallel to the rattan industry, the foundation for the colony’s plastics manufacturingindustry was established in the 1950s, built on low-end miscellaneous plastic housewares,
decorative items and toys. For example, plastic flowers became one of the largest export itemsby the late 1950s until the demand from overseas buyers faded out a few years later. Iconic
products included the high-quality plastic flowers manufactured by Cheung Kong Plastics
Company, which was owned by Li Ka-Shing; the “King of the Plastic Flowers” later became a93

Tracing the Philosophy of Design in the Midst of the Cold War: Cases in the Sinophone Region

Hong Kong tycoon and was the 28th richest person in the world in 2019. Hong Kong design
historian Matthew Turner (1993) acknowledges Li as the designer who came up with the idea toproduce realistic vinyl flowers in Hong Kong. Design work that appeared throughout thedevelopment of the rattan and plastics industries in the 1950s and the 1960s reflected
Hongkongers’ focus on meeting quotidian livelihood needs as a strategy to combat communism,
similar to the Taiwanese situation, rather than engaging communist political ideologies as was
happening in the PRC at the time. Although the 1967 leftist riots in Hong Kong between the
CCP’s pro-Communists supporters and the colonial government challenged the social order for ashort period of time, the development of design and its role in Hong Kong’s industrialization
were at the forefront against communist ideology after 1949 in the post-war period.
Portuguese Macao under Red China’s Influence
Macao was the first locale in the Greater China region where Europeans settled. Ming China
formally agreed in 1573 to land leases that permitted the Portuguese to live and trade here, andMacao officially became a colony of Portugal in 1887. It enjoyed its prime time as a European
and Chinese business hub before Hong Kong became a British crown colony in the 1840s. Since
then, Macao has remained a small player in a small area; 172,000 people called the approximately
30 square kilometres home in 1945. Similar to Hong Kong, Macao received an influx of refugees
from mainland China in the post-war period that provided the working force for the colony’s
industrial development. However, the economy did not mature in the 1950s and the 1960s in thesame way it had in Hong Kong, due primarily to a weak colonial government and poor
foundations for a modern manufacturing industry.
In the 1930s and 1940s, match and firecracker making as well as incense production were
the top three traditional handicraft industries in Macao (Figure 4). Their packaging, designed withtraditional Chinese themes, contributed to Macao’s design history. Among these industries, thelargest was match making, employing 4,900 workers or 30 percent of the work force in 1931.
This industry also played a key role in world exports. Mainland China was one of the biggest
markets for matches produced in Macao before 1951. With the outbreak of the Korean War andthe US trade embargo on the PRC in the 1950s, Macao’s matchmakers failed to secure newmarkets and the industry was never able to recover.

Figure 4: Package design of Safety Match, Macao, 1928.
Macao’s population remained small, making it difficult to compete with Hong Kong inindustrialization development (Choi, 2011). The Portuguese colonial government was also muchless efficient than the British next door in Hong Kong. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Portugal
also suffered from its own political instability at home and was not able to pay full attention to
governing its colonies, including Macao. Inspired by the Cultural Revolution that started on the
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mainland in 1966, local pro-Communist Chinese in Macao confronted the colonial government.
The so-called 12-3 incident, a riot that occurred on 3 December 1966, resulted in deaths andcausalities from battles with police. To end the incident, the Portuguese Governor agreed to sign
statements of apology for the loss to the local Chinese community and the PRC government. This
incident is one of the most obvious hostilities between holders of capitalist and communist
ideologies during the Cold War in Macao.
Overall, design and industrial development in Macao was almost non-existent during theperiod under examination. In general, professional design practices were limited as clients
preferred to commission Hong Kong-based designers, who had a reputation for quality work. The
three traditional handicraft industries—match and firework making and incense production—
finally vanished in the 1980s, and tourism and gambling are all that remain. I would like to notethat it was not until 1993 that Macao Polytechnic Institute launched the first post-secondary
design education program in Macao.
Closing remarks
In this paper, I reviewed the related forms of design activity that took place during the 1950s andthe 1960s in the Sinophone region. I showcased the four different types of practices andphilosophies in place and their roles under different governments. In my examination, I hope that
I have demonstrated the key developments of the four new and different design and cultural
identities that emerged during the Cold War period. It was during this time that we see theconstitution of different political ideologies, which lay the foundations for resistance against the
CCP’s imposition of its “One China” identity on non-PRC citizens; Hong Kong is a strong casefor this. The legacy can be seen in recent civil movements, such as the 2014 Sunflower Movement
in Taiwan and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement as well as the ongoing protests that began inearly June 2019 related to Hong Kong’s anti-extradition law. Now, in the midst of the so-called“new Cold War” between the United States and the PRC alongside the anti-extradition fightlaunched by Hongkongers, it is important to document and articulate the significant culturaldifferences between citizens of non-PRC locales and the PRC within the Sinophone region in thebattle between liberalism and authoritarianism. These two different political ideologies are on
opposing sides in this latest form of a Cold War. This is also a confrontation between the liberal
world and Red China over different ideology values, including democracy and human rights.
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8. ‘Macau Population’, 2019, retrieved fromhttp://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/macau/
9. Orwell, George, ‘You and the Atomic Bomb’, in George Orwell’s Library, 1945, retrieved
from http://orwell.ru/library/articles/ABomb/english/e_abomb
10. Tong, Clement T. M., ‘The Hong Kong Week of 1967 and the Emergence of Hong Kong
Identity through Contradistinction’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Hong Kong
Branch, Vol. 56, 2016, pp. 40–66.
11. Tsui, Christine, ‘The Evolution of the Concept of “Design in PRC Chinese Academic
Discourse: A Case of Fashion Design’, Journal of Design History, Vol. 29 (4), 2016, pp. 405–
426, doi: 10.1093/jdh/epw007
12. Turner, Matthew, Ersatz Design: Interactions Between Chinese and Western Design in Hong
Kong 1950s–1960s, unpublished doctoral dissertation, London, UK: Royal College of Art,
1993.
13. Wang, Fei-Ling, The China Order: Centralia, World Empire, and the Nature of ChinesePower. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2017.
14. Yang, Ching, ‘A Study of the Program for Promoting Handcraft Export to America
Conducted by Russel Wright Associates during 1955–60’, Bulletin of Japanese Society for
the Science of Design, Vol. 57 (3), 2010, pp. 97–106.
15. Zhou, Bo, ‘The Schema and Discourse of Xuanchuan Hua in China’, in Chen Xiang Bo, and
Pin Tan (Eds.), A Documentary: Chinese Graphic Design in the 20th Century, Guangxi,
China: Guangxi Fine Arts Publishing House, 2012, pp. 198–230[In Chinese].

Author Biography
Wendy Siuyi Wong
Dr. Wendy Wong is full professor in the Department of Design at York University, Toronto,
Canada.
She has established an international reputation as an expert in Chinese graphic design history andChinese comic art history. She is the author of Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua,
published by Princeton Architectural Press. In 2009 and 2010, she was a visiting research fellow
at the Department of Design History, Royal College of Art, and she served as a scholar-inresidence at the Kyoto International Manga Museum. She is a contributor to the Bloomsbury
Encyclopedia of Design, and acts as a regional editor of the Greater China region for Bloomsbury
Publishing’s Encyclopedia of East Asian Design. Her latest book, The Disappearance of Hong
Kong in Comics, Advertising and Graphic Design, was published by Palgrave Macmillan (2018).

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Design and Social Conscience:
Nikolaus Pevsner’s Ethics of Design in the 1930s
Ariyuki Kondo
Ferris University, JAPAN

Abstract
Partly due to his early political naïvete, which later often led to him being mistakenly accused ofbeing pro-Nazi, Nikolaus Pevsner, a German-born Russian Jew, expressed on multiple occasions, as
far back as the early 1930s, a positive view of National Socialism, as he had initially been caught upby the idea that National Socialists could effect positive changes in design enterprises in post-WorldWar I Germany that would ultimately solve problems such as shortage of housing, improved living
conditions for ordinary people, etc.
At the same time that Pevsner was stating his overly optimistic view he began to concern
himself with the importance of the ethics of design in contributing to the task of improving living
conditions and fulfilling practical, everyday needs.
Through an examination of Pevsner’s lecture ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’,delivered at the Royal Society of Arts in London in December 1935 and published the following
month in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, this paper intends to explore the ways in which
Pevsner’s concern for 1) ‘sound’ art and design capable of serving the community and 2) art/design
education, ‘constructive and representative of the contemporary age’, was to germinate in the mid1930s and subsequently develop into his principle of the ethics of design.
Keywords: Nikolaus Pevsner; Royal Society of Arts; William Morris; Bauhaus; Art/Design
Education

1. Pevsner’s life in the 1930s
For Nikolaus Pevsner, the 1930s were crucially eventful years.1 Pevsner was forced to leave hispost at the University of Göttingen in 1933 as a result of the enactment of the Nürnberg Race Laws,2and subsequently moved to England, where he had to struggle to find an academic position. In
1934, he published a controversial article, ‘Kunst und Staat’, in Der Türmer, an anti-Weimar
Republic, pro-Nazi German periodical.3 He next published his first monumental work Pioneers of
the Modern Movement in 1936. It was then that his interest in the industrial art of England deepened.
In pursuit of this interest Pevsner wrote a series of articles for The Architectural Review from April
to November 1936 on the theme of ‘The Designer in Industry’.4 This was soon followed by adetailed analytical study of contemporary English industrial design, An Enquiry into Industrial Art
in England.5 It was also during the 1930s that Pevsner made friendships with members of ‘theprogressive design establishment and its supporters’.6 Pevsner was disturbed by the ongoing98

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political developments in Germany, yet was so active in writing, editing, and lecturing that it seems
fair to describe these early days of his career as more than merely formative. It was also during the
1930s when Pevsner’s Modernist-Functionalist convictions gradually found expression in his
writings and talks.
2. Pevsner’s RSA lecture: A thread from Morris to Gropius
On the 17th of December, 1935, Nikolaus Pevsner was invited by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA)
to its seventh ordinary meeting of that year to deliver a lecture on ‘Post-War Tendencies in German
Art Schools’ (Figure).7
By that time Pevsner had been preparing for some years a book on the pioneers of the Modern
Movement,8 as some of the members of the RSA knew. Thus Percy H. Jowett,9 Principal of theRoyal College of Art at that time, introduced Pevsner to the audience with these words: ‘Many ofyou have no doubt heard a good deal about him and what he has done in his research into the questionof industrial art in England.’10

Figure: Nikolaus Pevsner’s lecture at the Royal Society of Arts, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German
Art Schools’, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts (January 1936).
(Title page and 1st page)99

Design and Social Conscience: Nikolaus Pevsner’s Ethics of Design in the 1930s

Pevsner began his lecture by stressing the important contribution of William Morris to the riseof the Modern Movement:
There has never been an artist in Great Britain to whom the English nation owes so much gratitude
as William Morris. Thanks to his theories and his work, and thanks to his influence on young
artists, England became the leader of European art at the end of the nineteenth century.11
For Pevsner, the historical significance of Morris’s Arts and Crafts movement was its challenge tonineteenth-century artists to concern themselves with the needs and problems of society rather thanmerely express their own sense of aesthetics and their private preoccupations. He declared that ‘Art
had become fatally divorced from craft, and the artist from the public’, in ‘the era of liberalism andindustrial growth’:
Painting, the art least limited by considerations of material and purpose, is the most significant
expression of the nineteenth century spirit. Painters like Monet, Renoir and Cèzanne are its
greatest geniuses. The art of such masters did not find any response in the contemporary public,
and we understand why. What Monet painted was what he personally saw and felt, theexpression of his individual pleasures and emotions, which were by no means concerned with theneeds and problems of the society surrounding him.12
Pevsner further pointed out that the same was true for nineteenth-century architecture:
Architecture had also become a matter of surface adornment, the shaping of all the hundreds of
new objects of everyday use in a changing civilisation being left to nobody in particular.
Most architects of renown were neither interested in the spacial requirements of new typesof building, such as schools, hospitals, railway stations, etc., nor were they willing to takeadvantage of the new materials and processes which industry offered them.13‘This was the situation when Morris started’, said Pevsner, yet Morris himself was ‘intensely
distrustful of the personal and, so to speak, uncontrollable art of individual genius’.14 Morris feltthat art should be a means for ‘modest fulfilment of given tasks’15 and emphasized the importanceof Applied Art in handicraft designed to solve social problems and fulfil public needs over the
primary concern of Fine Art with aesthetics. For Pevsner, the crucial aspect of Morris’s
contribution to European art and to the Modern Movement was in Morris’s attempt to turn awayfrom ‘art for art’s sake’ to art for the sake of people and society.
Although Pevsner was a great admirer of Morris as a craftsman and Morris’s emphasis on art
with a social conscience, he was well aware of the danger of excessive devotion to handicraft. Asmuch as Pevsner admired the handicraft movement, he believed that art needed to concern itself withthe changing needs and problems of the twentieth century and could not detach itself from modernmeans of production. Pevsner emphasized in his RSA lecture that Morris’s theories should be
updated and modernized in response to the effects of mechanical production on society.
Pevsner did not pioneer this view: it had already been expressed in the Bauhaus manifesto.
Pevsner noted in his lecture the significance of Bauhaus methods of education, which emphasized
the importance of study of materials and the means of production. While pre-1920s art education‘left the young artist without any contact with the realities of materials, technique and economy’,16100

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the Bauhaus curriculum included instructions in the uses and qualities of materials and construction,
amongst many other practical subjects.
At Bauhaus, Pevsner said, Gropius had also admirably succeeded ‘in combining the principlesof handicraft with those of machine-production’17:
His [Gropius’s] conviction is that the creative designer for mass-production must be trained tocarry out a model of any article that concerns him, completely by himself. Experimenting must
be done by means of handicraft in a studio which is half a workshop and half a laboratory.
Proceeding from the useful and well-balanced shape of an article worked out in the studio, thedesigner can later on develop a satisfactory model for mass-production. The lamps, chairs, potsand cups, and wallpapers created by the Bauhaus, and put on the market by German factories,
prove that all this was not mere theory.18
Bauhaus aimed to forge ‘a constructive unity between creative art and industry’ and, in doing so,
foster ‘the creative designer for mass-production’.19 In the quest for an ideal system of art education
for twentieth-century industrial society, Bauhaus was not alone: ‘a new reunion of Fine Art withhandicraft and industrial art’ were, according to Pevsner, ‘the general tendency’ of German art
education between 1919 and 1933.20
3. ‘The National Revolution of 1933’
It is worth noting here that Pevsner regarded the years between 1919 and 1933 as significant. In
design history this period is commonly referred to as the age of Bauhaus, bracketed by revolutionarychanges and influenced both by the establishment of the Weimar Republic and the subsequent,democratic rise of National Socialism, described by Pevsner in his RSA lecture as ‘The National
Revolution of 1933’.21
As for the nature of this revolution, which took place a few years before the RSA lecture,
Pevsner seemed to fail to realize at the time the brutal nature of this revolution, which soon became
evident to the world at large. The only reference to National Socialism Pevsner made in the RSA
lecture was its influence on German art and art education. Pevsner asserted that ‘the National
Revolution of 1933’ brought ‘a new change of direction’ in the field of art and design in its promotionof a retrospective appreciation of handicraft and an emphasis on Volk art rather than post-World War
I German acknowledgment of the vital importance of mass production and mechanical industry anddesign.
Pevsner also seemed unaware of the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Germany, or at least notsensitized to it, since the only thing he said about the departure of Gropius from Bauhaus and thesubsequent Nazi suppression of Bauhaus was that… in 1928, Gropius left the Bauhaus, which, under his successor, went Communist for awhile, so
that, in spite of the efforts of its last Director Mies van der Rohe, it was dissolved after the politicalchange of 1933.22
Although intellectuals such as theologian Ernst Troeltsch had foreseen the rise of anti-Semitism inGermany and its subsequent consequences long before 1933, Pevsner seemed almost totally unawareof what was about to happen to his family in Germany as he gave his RSA lecture. In this, however,101Design and Social Conscience: Nikolaus Pevsner’s Ethics of Design in the 1930s

he was not alone, as many other German-born Jewish elites of that time also failed to see what lay
ahead, incredible as that might seem to us today, in hindsight.23
It is ironic that, at the same time that Pevsner was stating his view of the rise of National
Socialism, his own name was included, along with 2,820 other names, in Hitler’s Black Book, the‘Special Search List G.B.’, a blacklist that neither Pevsner nor many others even knew existed.24
It was not until after 1938 that Pevsner became aware of the ultimate consequences of the 1933
German revolution.25 Pevsner’s correspondence with his relatives and friends in Germany, now
held by the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, reveal to us the extent of Pevsner’s initial lackof awareness and his belated realization of the danger his family in Germany was facing.
After he had settled in London in 1933 and until the outbreak of World War II, Pevsner returned
to Germany on several occasions.26 Moreover, in the summer of 1938, he and his wife Lola, who
had joined him in London by mid-1937 with their three children, sent their children to Leipzig for ‘ashort holiday’.27 They undoubtedly made these arrangements because they were unaware of theterrible changes latently occurring in Germany at the time. Historians have, as a matter of fact,
noted that in 1937 ‘violence against Jews was not endemic, but remained confined to Nazi gangs’,‘few were able to imagine the extremes to which it might go this time’, and ‘most Jews still had faith
in the legal process as a means of defending themselves’.28
Even when the political situation became critical after September 1939, Pevsner managed tocontact his relatives and friends in Germany ‘fairly regularly’. But in the spring of 1941 Pevsner
suddenly lost contact with his mother, Annie Pevsner, in Leipzig. Susie Harries, the author of
Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life, writes:… by January 1942 Pevsner had not had a word directly from her for nine months, and he was
becoming desperately anxious.29
By that time, it was obvious that the situation of Jewish people not only in Leipzig, but everywhere
under the control of the Nazis, was becoming increasingly dire: Hedwig Kaufmann, a friend of the
Pevsners, wrote to Nikolaus on September 23, 1941, just after he arrived in London from theContinent,
As to your mother, I have been in the very best terms with her during the last two years and I am
really proud to be her friend. You easily will understand, that it is her most intense wish to change
her residence and if you see the slightest chance to get her out, please let me know it, perhaps youruncle in the Middle East could find a way out.
Amongst all people I had to leave in Europe, it is the fate of your mother, which concerns me
mostly and for her sake I should be glad to get in touch with you.30
Pevsner’s correspondence with people in Germany at that time was made possible by means of the
British Red Cross and Comité International de la Croix Rouge Genève. These letters and messages
reveal how desperately Pevsner sought information about his mother. Pevsner confessed to his son
Thomas Pevsner on 1 February 1942 thatOma [Grandmother] especially worries me a lot. She could write, and we write regularly. Why
does she not? … It is a crying shame, the amount of misery Adolf has brought over everybody.31

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Nine days after Pevsner said this, his mother committed suicide in Leipzig on the night of February
10th, rather than be deported to a concentration camp. She was sixty-five years old. The terrible
news reached Pevsner on 13 May 1942 in a message sent to him on 10 April 1942 by a neighbor ofhis mother, G. Nathansen:
PEVSNER NICHOLASJHRE MUTTER ISTLEIDER AM 11 FEBRUAR
1942 VER SCHIEDEN
NACHBAR G. NATHANSEN.32
4. Pevsner’s Narrow Focus on Design in 1935 and the Derivation of His Principlesof the Ethics of Design
Our knowing in hindsight what was to happen to Pevsner and his family makes the following
comment in his RSA lecture seem woefully optimistic and somehow shortsighted:
The National Revolution of 1933 brought a new change of direction. It would be rash and unfair
to take new departures started within the last two years as definite, but one fact seems conspicuous
enough to be mentioned. While the chief interest between the first and the second revolution was
industry and design, the enthusiasm of the new leaders is directed towards handicraft.33
This lack of awareness stems from Pevsner’s narrow focus on design and on William Morris’s‘passionate social conscience’.34 It was this social conscience which made Pevsner a great admirerof Morris and led Pevsner to his belief that ‘no sound art can exist unless it serves the whole of thecommunity’.35
Since the direction of ‘the new leaders’ of the National Revolution of 1933 was drawn ‘towards
handicraft’, these leaders seemed to Pevsner to be similar in vision to Morris. Like Morris, National
Socialism had ‘little sympathy with mass-production, but much with the honest craft of the small
workshop in town and village’:Thus Germany seems to be nearer to William Morris now than it was fifteen years ago, and farther
away from Gropius than parliamentary England and Fascist Italy are to-day.36
Pevsner did not approve of this ‘Morrisian’ tendency of the leaders of the National Revolution of1933 to be passive towards, if not critical of, the introduction of modern means of production: in hisview they rowed against the stream and denied the progressive ‘general tendency’ of German art
education during the period of 1919-1933, which Pevsner thought should have been praised. Art
schools in post-World War I Germany had been more progressive than those of Britain in
acknowledging the necessity of introducing modern means of mass production in the field ofindustrial art, and this was something that Pevsner felt post-World War I German art schools shouldhave boasted about to the world:… the German art school after the war was more progressive in acknowledging the vital
importance of mass-production for modern industrial art. As early as in 1914, Muthesius had
pleaded before the Werkbund for standardisation. There cannot be any doubt that industry to-103

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day badly wants the trained designer who is not an artist-craftsman only, but also an expert inmodern materials and modern processes. English art schools have so far not done much for this.
The spirit in German art education since 1919, above all in some of the splendid Monotechnics
such as those at Munich, certainly tended more in that direction.37
The enthusiasm of the leaders of National Socialism for handicraft appeared to Pevsner to beanachronistic and sentimental. For Pevsner, the teaching of Morris, according to Pevsner’s own
ethics of design, had to be modified, altered, and renewed to fit current times. Pevsner thus felt thatthe lack of support the leading National Socialists showed for mechanical mass production was a
problem: he could not see how ordinary people could reject substandard living conditions and live
culturally progressive and modern Western lives without the use of modern materials and means of
production.38
In 1935, Pevsner still had faith in the ability of the National Revolution of 1933 to build anation where modern needs and problems would be solved with modern solutions. He rather
optimistically hoped that the new regime’s art policy would turn to a more progressive vision of the
future. Not until July 1937 did Pevsner come to realize that the National Socialists were, instead,‘violently anti-modern’. Hitler’s speech, delivered on July 18, 1937 at the inauguration ceremonyof the Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich,39 is said to have made Pevsner realize that National
Socialism would renounce modernism.
5. Towards Art Constructive and Representative of the Twentieth Century
At the very end of his RSA lecture, Pevsner referred to the subject of ‘reforms in art education’ inEngland, earnestly addressed by the British Government at that time, and expressed his expectationthat ‘the land of William Morris’40 and ‘the land where the Modern Movement started in
the ’nineties’41 would find her own new ‘course’ in art and art education, constructive andrepresentative of England in the 1930s.
Pevsner believed that, if art education is not ‘constructive and representative’ of the age, theproductions of its artists cannot serve the whole community. Those who stubbornly persisted inhandicraft with little support of mass production and who opposed modern means of production
would not be able to foster reasonable and sound architecture and industrial art products capable offulfilling needs and solving problems.
Pevsner seems to have considered the defeat of Germany in World War I as a golden
opportunity for German art education to liberate itself from traditional curricula and teaching
methods and to begin a new era which acknowledged the vital importance of modern means of mass
production and sought a new way of teaching and creating constructive industrial art representativeof the twentieth-century. Thus Pevsner praised the post-World War I German spirit:… the spirit after 1919 was so revolutionary in Germany that slums, damp and dark schools,
hospitals or art schools seemed intolerable, and an amount of money was spent on improvements
for the common good which appeared excessive to less adventurous countries.42
He then alleged that
Stronger even than in the buildings, this revolutionary spirit expressed itself in the style of theworks produced by teachers and students. No compromise with tradition seemed to be conceded.

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Back to fundamentals in art and architecture was the motto, to straight lines and unrefracted
colours, to simple answers for simple questions.
This is above all what has given to the German art schools after the war their particularcharacters. And this is at the same time so inseparably linked up with the German national
mentality…43
Being overly optimistic about recent political developments in Germany in the 1930s, Pevsner
initially had faith in the progressive post-World War I German mentality, in which ‘the vital
importance of mass-production for modern industrial art’44 and ‘for the common good’ was fully
acknowledged. It is from this stance that Pevsner ultimately derived his Modernist-Functionalist
convictions, i.e., his ethics of design, that: 1) ‘sound’ art and design serve the whole community; 2)
in order to serve the community in the twentieth century, one cannot ignore modern means of
production; 3) in order to produce ‘sound’ art and design which can serve the whole community,
art/design education which is constructive and representative of its time is vital.
Notes
1. See Ariyuki Kondo, ‘To Design Well is a “Moral Duty”: Nikolaus Pevsner’s ModernMedievalist Appeal’, Aesthetics (The Japanese Society for Aesthetics), No. 20 (2016), pp. 7576.
2. Since the winter of 1929-1930, Pevsner had been a ‘Privatdozent’ at Göttingen University.
3. Nikolaus Pevsner, »Kunst und Staat«, Der Türmer, No. 36, 1934, pp. 514–17.
4. See Ariyuki Kondo, ‘Nikolaus Pevsner on the Dignity of “Anonymity”: An Artistic Challenge in
the Age of Mass Production’, Ferris Studies, No. 50 (2015), pp. 24-26.
5. An Enquiry into Industrial Art in England was published by Cambridge University Press in1937.
6. Susie Harries writes: ‘… Pevsner seemed able to relax and enjoy himself at the farewell dinnerfor Gropius, who was leaving for America. Held at the Trocadero on Piccadilly on 9 March
1937, the dinner represented a roll call of the progressive design establishment and its
supporters. Pevsner found himself sitting with Julian Huxley, Henry Moore, H. G. Wells, Ove
Arup, Sigfried Giedion and Gordon Russell, studying a menu whose cover had been designed
by Laszló Moholy-Nagy.’ Susie Harries, Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life, London: Chatto &Windus, p. 232.
7. The lecture took place at the Royal Society of Arts on 18 January, 1935. It was published in
the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts in January 1936. Nikolaus Pevsner, ‘Post-War
Tendencies in German Art Schools’, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 84, No. 4339,
1936, pp. 248-262.
8. Pevsner published Pioneers of the Modern Movement: From William Morris to Walter Gropius
from Faber & Faber in September, 1936.
9. Percy H. Jowett, a well-known watercolorist and teacher, born in Halifax in 1882, had been
appointed as Principle of the Royal College of Arts earlier that year.
10. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 247.

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11. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 248.
12. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 248.
13. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 248.
14. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 248.
15. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 248.
16. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 252.
17. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 253.
18. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 253.
19. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 253.
20. Pevsner observes that the unity between the training of painters and craftsmen was ‘certainly
stronger at the German schools’ compared to that in Britain, for ‘the idea was new inGermany, while it was old-established’ in Britain. See Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies inGerman Art Schools’, p. 255.
21. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 254.
22. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 251.
23. See, for instance, Ariyuki Kondo, ‘Quiet, Humane and “Anonymous”: Pevsner’s art-historicalresponse to wartime’, Ferris Studies, No. 51 (2016), pp. 60-62.
24. The ‘Special Search List G.B.’, prepared by the SS. in 1940, is the list of people whom theNazi intended to arrest immediately upon their future invasion of Britain.
25. At the end of 1941, Pevsner published a critical note on Nazi architecture in The Architectural
Review. See Kondo, ‘Quiet, Humane and “Anonymous”’, pp. 58-59.
26. For instance, Pevsner went back to Leipzig in August 1938 with his wife Lola to see her father
who was in critical condition at that time, suffering from cirrhosis of the liver. Harries
records that this visit was, ‘though he could not have guessed it, the last time that Pevsner was
to see his parents’. See Harries, Nikolaus Pevsner, p. 237.
27. Harries writes: ‘That summer [1938] Uta, Tom and Dieter went to Leipzig for a short holiday
with their Pevsner grandparents. In hindsight, it is hard to understand why Pevsner and Lolafelt so little sense of danger. Restrictions on Jew were tightening all the time — identification
cards would be introduced in August 1938, making it impossible for Jews to pass undetected inany sphere of life — and it was already becoming necessary for some to take shelter …’(Harries, Nikolaus Pevsner, p. 237.)
28. Harries, Nikolaus Pevsner, pp. 235-236.
29. Harries, Nikolaus Pevsner, p. 312.
30. Letter from Hedwig Kaufmann to Nikolaus Pevsner, dated September 23, 1941. The letter is
now held in the special collections (Pevsner Papers) at the Getty Research Institute, Los
Angeles, CA, USA.
31. Harries, Nikolaus Pevsner, p. 312.

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32. ‘Nicholas’ Pevsner’s enquiry regarding his mother (Frau Annie Pevsner), which was madethrough the British Red Cross and Comité International de la Croix Rouge Genève (Theenquiry was first made on February 2, 1942 and the answer was received on May 13, 1942).
The enquiry sheet is now held in the special collections at the Getty Research Institute, Los
Angeles, CA, USA. (Nikolaus Pevsner Papers, Series VI, Box 135.)
33. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 254.
34. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 248.
35. This was how Pevsner summarized William Morris’s conviction in art, which became
Pevsner’s own conviction. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 248.
36. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 255.
37. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 255.
38. The attainment of high standards of living for ordinary people and how creative art and design
can contribute to this task were Pevsner’s life-long concerns and academic themes.
39. What Hitler insisted on in this speech is summarized by Harries as:… this was a Jewish notion. Art was the expression of the Volk or People, and could neverdate. The art of today must be the art of the German people, not modern art. The
German Volk did not understand modern painting, with its green skies and blue grass.
(Harries, Nikolaus Pevsner, pp. 232-233.)
40. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 256.
41. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 256.
42. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 256.
43. Pevsner, ‘Post-War Tendencies in German Art Schools’, p. 256.
44. See note 37.

Author Biography
Ariyuki Kondo
Ariyuki Kondo PhD (Edin.), born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971, read architectural design at the Schoolof Art and Design of the University of Tsukuba, Japan, then pursued postgraduate study inarchitectural history at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he completed his Doctor ofPhilosophy in 2001. After taking up several academic posts in Japan, he has, since 2012, been
Professor of History of British Art and Architecture at Ferris University, Yokohama, Japan. He hastranslated Sir Kenneth Clark’s The Gothic Revival: An Essay in the History of Taste into Japanese,and his publications on the subject of the history of eighteenth- to twentieth-century British art,architecture and design include Robert and James Adam, Architects of the Age of Enlightenment(Pickering & Chatto: 2012 & Routledge: 2016).

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ThemeIII

DESIGN EDUCATIONJohn Ruskin and the Two Cultures Debate:
Victorian Art Education in the University
Extension Movement
Chiaki Yokoyama
Keio University, JAPAN

Abstract
The idea of ‘University Extension’ had first been proposed in 1850 by William Sewell, a seniortutor of Exeter College, who wrote to the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and suggested
the establishment of local institutions directly associated with the universities. Sewell maintainedthat the universities accordingly could not only educate the masses but also could be ‘the great
centres and springs of education throughout the country.’ Although this proposal was rejected on
financial and personnel grounds, the discussion on opening the intellectual door of the oldinstitutions to those who could not afford higher education subsequently continued until thecomprehensive scheme of University Extension started in Cambridge, under the leadership ofJames Stuart, in 1873. The successes of the Working Men’s College, which was established in
1854, and the Elementary Education Act in 1870 enabled the University Extension Movement totake this first step forward.
Both educational schemes, the Working Men’s College and University Extension, werebased on ‘liberal education.’ The College announced that ‘human studies’ should form theprimary part of its education. University Extension also emphasised humanistic teaching tonurture citizenship endowed with intellectual and moral excellence. The government’s education
policy, however, inclined more to technical education. The implementation of the Technical
Instruction Act in 1889 impinged on the endeavour to promote the humanities. The debate over‘useless humanities vs profitable science,’ or the Two Cultures Debate, also kindled discussion
on the meaning of art education in the University Extension Movement and other adult education
schemes. There were active discussions in the Movement trying to maintain the position of art in
the humanistic curriculum for workers, and John Ruskin’s educational philosophy was often
referred to in support of such arguments.
This paper will focus on John Ruskin’s legacy at the time of this educational shift in thelate Victorian era.
Keywords: University Extension Movement; John Ruskin; Art education; The Technical
Instruction Act; the humanities in adult education

The University Extension Movement: The Idea of Opening Up the Universities
On November 26, 1850, William Sewell, a senior tutor of Exeter College, wrote a letter to theVice-Chancellor of Oxford University on matters concerning the extension of the University, or‘subjects on which I am convinced there is among us one common feeling of interest, and desire
to do right’.1 Attached was a paper transmitted to the senior tutors of the university by thecommissioners appointed by the Queen enquiring into the state of the University of Oxford. The
paper expressed the ‘Desire to Extend the Privileges and Advantages of the University System of110

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Education as widely as possible’ (Sewell, pp. 6-7). This idea was not solely based on thephilosophy of Noblesse Oblige. Rather, bringing the University to the masses would also give
employment opportunities to many fellows of the Colleges who were not engaged in tuition andwere being forced to leave the University in search of other occupations. The idea was to open
‘Academical Institutions’ throughout the country, by establishing ‘Professorships, Lectures andExaminations leading to Academical honours’ (Sewell, p. 8; emphasis in the original). These
Institutions were expected to be strictly analogous to the already established Universities. The
paper concluded that ‘the Universities would become, as they ought to be, the great centres andsprings of education throughout the country, and would command the sympathy and affection of
the nation at large […] ’(Sewell, p. 11).
Although this suggestion was rejected on financial and personnel grounds, the discussionof opening the intellectual doors of old educational establishments would continue. In 1855, Lord
Arthur Hervey suggested that universities should tie up with Mechanics’ Institutes, Athenaeums
and similar literary institutions which were offering lectures and intellectual pleasure to theworking classes. Indeed, already by the middle of the century there were quite a few educational
institutions throughout the country catering to the intellectual desire of the working classes. The
lectures offered by those institutions were, however, of ‘desultory and unconnected character’and suffered from having defective materials and unfit lecturers.2 Thus Universities had thepotential to offer a systematic course of lectures taught by capable professors. Hervey, like Sewell,emphasised ‘[t]he importance to the Universities, considered as centres of learning and sciencein combination with Revealed Truth, of embracing an opportunity of so greatly extending theirsphere of action, and increasing their hold upon the affections of the people at large’.3
In 1854, the first liberal-arts college for working men, the Working Men’s College, wasopened in London. It had constantly increased the number of its students and developed its
educational scheme with the support of faculty members such as John Ruskin and his PreRaphaelite protégés. Despite this, the University Extension scheme had to wait more than 10
years to follow this precursor in opening the doors of universities to those outside of their walls.
In the early summer of 1867, James Stuart (1843-1913), an assistant tutor at Trinity College,
Cambridge, who would be the first Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics in the
University in 1875, was asked by the North of England Council for Promoting the Higher
Education of Women to give a series of lectures that autumn to ladies in Manchester, Liverpool,
Sheffield, and Leeds. The initial objective of the Council was to improve the education of women,
especially those who wished to be governesses and school-mistresses. The request was made thathe should give a set of lectures in each of these cities on the theory and methods of education.
Accordingly, Stuart gave a set of weekly lectures for eight weeks on the history of astronomy ineach of those cities. This teaching experience enabled Stuart to establish the pedagogy of adulteducation, such as planning syllabi to help students prepare for the course, advising students tomake notes after each lecture, and making them write papers. In addition, he distributed a book
list before the course started and provided the audience with an opportunity to pose questions
after the lecture. He was overwhelmed by the ‘considerable amount of excitement [that] prevailedon the impropriety of a number of young ladies asking question of, or being questioned by, ayoung man […].’ Faced with this problem, he resolved it by preparing three or four questions inprint with the statement that if answers were sent to him by post, he would return them correctedin the next lecture. The response was, once again, overwhelming; from four centres consisting ofapproximately 600 students, he received about 300 answers.4 Another important aspect of his
lectures was his chosen theme: in his biography, Stuart mentioned that he chose astronomy
because it was ‘the only really complete science’.5 Regrettably, no detailed account of thecontents of his lectures has survived. In contrast, his lectures in the summer 1868 to an audience
composed chiefly of artisans working on the London and North-Western Railway at Crewe were111

John Ruskin and the Two Cultures Debate: Victorian Art Education in the University Extension Movement

later published in 1883 under the title, A Chapter of Science: or, What is a Law of Nature?: Six
Lectures to Working Men (Fig.1). In those six lectures, first he defined their purpose: ‘[t]he true
object of all education is to help people to think for themselves. To think well we must think
clearly’.6 Thus, he emphasised the importance of observation, forming a theory, carrying out
analysis, and conducting experiments. Furthermore, he explained the historical background of
the theme, and the relation of the natural science to religion and ‘God’. In other words, he taught
science from the perspective of liberal arts education. We may reasonably assume that the lectures
for the North of England Council given a year before would have been delivered with the sameeducational conviction.

Figure 1: A Chapter of Science: or, What is a Law of Nature? by James Stuart

These experiences of teaching impressed upon Stuart the need for better education for
adults from all classes and helped to initiate the University Extension Movement.
On November 23rd, 1871, Stuart wrote a letter addressed to the resident members of the
University of Cambridge promoting University Extension. In this letter, he delineated theteaching schemes he had already experimented with in 1867, consisting of syllabi, essays andquestion sessions. Stuart also proposed adding conversation sessions before and after each class.
He believed that the universities should open up both their education and their endowments to all112

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women. To support this idea, he specifically made reference to those women attending the classesof the North of England Council by quoting the testimony of the Council:“Our classes are attended on the one hand by ladies who have left school, and on the other handby governesses, schoolmistresses, and those engaged in, or intending to engage in teaching,
who are enabled thereby to acquire a higher kind of instruction than has been hitherto open tothem. A higher standard of what is to be aimed at in teaching is thus diffused, and we haveevidence of the good effect in schools of the continuance of the system, which thus no lessindirectly than directly raises the standard of education in our district.”7
As with Hervey, so too Stuart pointed to the fellows who were supported by the University
without teaching any classes. Obviously they had become a burden on the University’s finances.
The University Extension lectures at local towns would offer a way to make the best of existing
intellectual human resources. Moreover, at the end of the letter, he noted the fact that many of thevarious schoolboards throughout the country had had no connection with the University andsuggested that some steps should be taken for the University as a body to make the Universities‘truly national institutions, and to be no less beneficial to them than to the country’.8
Stuart’s letter was well-timed considering the Elementary Education Act had been
implemented only the previous year (1870). The interest in national education that was thencirculating clearly paved a way for the Universities to take the first step in joining the movement.
Responding to this letter, Cambridge appointed a Syndicate on February 23rd, 1873, toinvestigate the question that Stuart had posed. It subsequently reported in the Easter Term that it
would support tentative lectures and classes. This project eventually developed into a joint-action
undertaking by Oxford, Cambridge and London Universities in the Metropolis. Thus started the
University Extension Movement.
John Ruskin as a Symbol of the University Extension Movement
Stuart drew inspiration for the Movement not only from the lecture series for the North of EnglandCouncil in 1867, but also from a particular meeting with John Ruskin. He had met Ruskin manytimes but it was also in 1867 that he came to know him familiarly for the first time. On one
occasion, he visited Ruskin at the museum which he had given to the city of Sheffield. There
Ruskin showed Stuart beautiful items that he had donated. Ruskin confessed that it was notwithout feeling some pain and grief that he had parted with those things, but added ‘[t]here is
only one giver who is a real giver and that is the man who gives his best.’ Quoting this remark of
Ruskin’s, Stuart asserted as follows: ‘Now not only has this movement [that is the University
Extension Movement] been inspired with this idea but it has been its raison d’être’.9 Thisparticular incident was reproduced in his memoir, Reminiscences, published in 1911.
John Ruskin, an established art critic, had turned out to be an inspiring educator by the time
Stuart put the Movement into action. After having taught drawing classes at the Working Men’s
College, he was to be appointed as the first Slade Professor at Oxford in 1869, and later would
found the Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford in 1871.
Just as Ruskin was a source of inspiration for the University Extension, so too he became
a symbol of the Movement in the 1890s. In April 1896, an essay from the Westminster Gazette
was published in The University Extension Journal. It tells the story of four passengers seated in
the same railway carriage starting out from Oxford. Strangers to each other, they tried to kill thetime by guessing each other’s occupation. One was a commercial traveler while the narrator of
the story was an Oxford undergraduate, both of whom were easily identified by their belongings
and mannerisms. Another was a philanthropist, as was accurately guessed by the narrator,

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working for the League for Promoting Charity Among University Men in the East End. However,nobody guessed the occupation of the fourth man who was sitting in the far corner:
There was nothing obviously to mark him. His luggage was considerable. A bag, an umbrella,a fur coat, an air-cushion, a rug, a flask, a packet of sandwiches, a Bradshaw, a wooden caselabelled “glass,” a book of Ruskin’s, and a volume of Stubbs, lay round him on the seat. The
labels on his bag bore many names—Carlisle and Canterbury, Durham and Penzance.10
Before joining the conversation, he kept his silence and studied the papers on his knees.
And he gave the other passengers some clues by answering certain questions: he travelled athousand miles a week; he was engaged in public work day and night; he was a Don in lucidintervals; he addressed meetings for at least four hours every day; and he spoke to all classes ofpeople about almost everything. He alighted at Leamington. While everybody was shouting out
this gentleman’s possible occupations from the window of the moving train, an inspiration seized
the narrator and he thrusted his head out of the window and hollered: ‘You’re a University
Extension Lecturer.’ He saw the gentlemen faintly nod.11
The readers should focus on the properties of this man. He had a book of Ruskin’s and a
volume of Stubbs. The latter is William Stubbs (1825-1901) who was appointed as the Regius
Professor of Modern History at Oxford in 1866 and remained in the position until 1884. The
aforementioned volume of Stubbs must have been one of the three volumes of the Constitutional
History of England (1874-1878), which established his name as an authority on history, but weare not sure what the ‘book of Ruskin’s’ was. It could be one of his works of art criticism
published in the 1840s and 1850s, such as The Modern Painters, The Seven Lamps of Architecture,or The Stones of Venice, or of social criticism, such as Unto this Last, which was published inbook form in 1862. At least, these two belongings, one pertaining to art and the other to history,
became the strong core identity of the University Extension Lecturers.
The Two Cultures Debate and John Ruskin
This short story brings us to the debate that started in the early 1890s. In 1889, the Technical
Instruction Act was passed and the following year saw the enactment of the Local Taxation Act.
With the introduction of these two acts, funds flowed into the County Councils for educational
purposes and gave a tremendous impetus to educational schemes. As the name of the act suggests,
the Technical Instruction Act focused on the promotion of technical and scientific subjects that
could be applicable to industry, thereby leading to employment. This legislation precipitated theestablishment of Technical Instruction Committees resulting in the rapid development oftechnical institutions across the country. This in turn affected the University Extension Courses
as a system of adult education in its curriculum and its subsidy.
Both educational schemes, the Working Men’s College and University Extension, werebased on a liberal education. The Working Men’s College, as the precursor, announced that‘human studies’ should constitute the primary element in the education that it offered.12
University Extension also emphasised humanistic teaching to nurture citizenship endowed withintellectual and moral excellence. The Acts of 1889 and 1890 brought about active discussions
concerning the identity of the University Extension scheme as a liberal arts institution.
Here again, to support the humanities in adult education, Ruskin’s definition of art and his
educational tenets from his drawing class in the Working Men’s College were relevant. While
teaching at the College, he repeatedly defined his class as ‘the most useless of any in the College.’
He asserted, however, that it was meant to teach students how to observe their surroundings
correctly, and to refine and increase the ‘pleasure we take in looking at common things’.13 This

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power to observe correctly should be developed through drawing, and the skill of design should
follow based on this firm foundation. It is well known that, on account of being strongly against
the South Kensington System, the government art education scheme that focused on utilitarianskills in manufacture design, Ruskin took up his drawing class at the College on a voluntary, nonpaid, basis.
By the time that the Technical Instruction Act had been passed, Ruskin’s health was alreadyseriously deteriorating, making him unable to lead the discussion in support of art education aspart of liberal arts study. Still, his aesthetical arguments regarding art and architecture were taken
up by his followers and shed new light on the humanities. For example, in the annual address tostudents of the London Society on April 3rd, 1897, the Bishop of London called on his audience
to learn the history of the country by looking at their surroundings more minutely, specificallyreferring to Ruskin in doing so:
There is a certain difficulty in studying a thing which is too near us, and we probably lose theimpressions of the particular place in which we live, because habit has rendered us soaccustomed to the sights with which we are surrounded that we cease to ask ourselves anyquestions about their meaning. I remember a saying of Mr. Ruskin, that he supposed there was
not one out of every thousand of the people who passed by the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall
who saw that the style of that building was different from that of the buildings that surrounded
it. And I presume that in London this is absolutely true, because of the masses of people who
pass along the streets very few are susceptible to what is about them […]. (my emphasis)14
This remark by Ruskin was quoted from one of his lectures delivered at Oxford on November
1870 and later included in Aratra Pentelici (1872) as ‘Of the Division of Arts’. Ruskin maintainedthat ‘I suppose, there are very few now even of our best trained Londoners who know thedifference between the design of Whitehall and that of any modern club-house in Pall Mall,’ andhe argued that nothing but ‘time and education’ can develop the aesthetic faculty to appreciatearchitecture as a physical thing.15
While the Technical Instruction Act focused on art applicable to industries, the supportersof the humanities articulated art as being part of the liberal arts. In the article ‘University
Extension and the Study of Art,’ G. Percival Gaskell criticised the training offered in most Art
Schools, with their essentially practical bent, for depriving students of the opportunity to reflect
on the wider and more ‘humane’ side of art in its relation to life and thought. While the importanceof literature and history was often emphasised in the Two Cultures Debate, Gaskell tried to appeal
this ‘humane’ side of art:
Now, if we have no perception of the beauty and significance of nature and the things aroundus, we can have none for art, and if we make no attempt to cultivate our faculty of receiving
fine and accurate impressions through the sense of sight, we are in great danger of dulling thatfaculty, if not of actually allowing it to become atrophied.16
Asserting that ‘fine art does not appeal to the senses alone, but to the intellect through the senses,’
Gaskell quoted Ruskin as follows: ‘Ruskin has said—“Indeed I know many persons who havethe purest taste in literature, and yet false taste in art, and it is a phenomenon which puzzles me
not a little; but I have never known anyone with false taste in books, and true taste in pictures”’.17
With this in mind, Gaskell praised the teaching of art in the University Extension, which
made no attempt to teach art practically but instead focused on principles and the history of art,
because the art of a nation can yield its history better than its written records can. At the sametime, the history of art and the study of the art of past masters themselves provoke great interest

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and highlight the importance of the legacy of civilization and culture. Thus, Gaskell concluded
that the methodical and organic courses of the University Extension system ‘may be made a greatmeans of public enlightenment on matters relating to art’ by cultivating the perception of beauty,
and the appreciation of the craftsmanship of great artists together with the study of their works inrelation to history.18
Just as with the great masters of art who Gaskell believed connected perception, skills, andhistory, John Ruskin, through his writings and action covering a wide-range of perspectives, kept
offering a variety of defenses and counters to aesthetical, social, and economical arguments.
Furthermore, all through the Victorian Age and well into our own time, he has been turned into adiversely symbolic figure that represents many convictions and credos. At the end of thenineteenth century, Ruskin was certainly a figure who stood against the trend toward practicaland utilitarian education, as exemplified by a University Extension lecturer in the carriage of a
train from Oxford who could be identified by his books. Ruskin’s book (Art) and Stubbs’ volume(History) stood as symbols of the Humanities.
Notes
1. William Sewell, Suggestions for the Extension of Universities; submitted to the Rev.
the Vice-Chancellor, Oxford: Baxter, Printer 1850, p. 3. Hereafter cited in the text.
2. Lord Arthur Hervey, A Suggestion for Supplying the Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics’
Institutes of Great Britain and Ireland with Lecturers from the Universities, Cambridge:
Macmillan & Co., 1855, pp. 7-8.
3. Hervey, A Suggestion, p. 19.
4. James Stuart, Reminiscences, London: Printed for Private Circulation at the Chiswick Press,
1911, p. 162.
5. Stuart, Reminiscences, p. 158.
6. James Stuart, A Chapter of Science: or, What is a Law of Nature?: Six Lectures to Working
Men, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, [1883], p. 5.
7. James Stuart, A Letter on University Extension. Addressed to the Resident Members of the
University of Cambridge, Cambridge: Printed by C. J. Clay at the University Press, [1871],
p. 6.
8. Stuart, A Letter on University Extension, p. 8.
9. James Stuart, An Inaugural Address Delivered at the Opening of the Third Series of Vacation
Courses of Study at Cambridge, July 26, 1892, Cambridge: University Press, [1892], p. 6
(emphasis in the original).
10. ‘A Dialogue of the Day: In a Railway Carriage [From the Westminster Gazette]’, The
University Extension Journal, vol. 1, no. 7, April 1896, p. 106.
11. ‘A Dialogue of the Day’, p. 106.
12. F. J. Furnivall, ‘History of the London Working Men’s College’, The Working Men’s College
Magazine, vol. 2, no. 21, September 1, 1860, p. 146 (emphasis in the original).
13. ‘News’, The Working Men’s College Magazine, vol. 2, no. 23, November 1, 1860, pp. 177178 (emphasis in the original).
14. ‘Annual Address to London Students. The Bishop of London on “The Study of a Country”’,
The University Extension Journal, vol. 2, no. 17, May 1897, p. 115.
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15. John Ruskin, ‘Of the Division of Arts’, Aratra Pentelici in E. T. Cook and A. Wedderburn(eds.), The Works of John Ruskin, vol. 20, London: George Allen; New York: Longmans,
Green and Co., 1905, pp. 217-218.
16. G. Percival Gaskell, ‘University Extension and the Study of Art’, The University Extension
Journal, vol. 2, no. 17, May 1897, p. 124.
17. Gaskell, ‘University Extension and the Study of Art’, p. 124 (His quotation of Ruskin is fromThe Elements of Drawing in The Works of John Ruskin, vol. 15, 1904, p. 226).
18. Gaskell, ‘University Extension and the Study of Art’, p. 125.

Author Biography
Chiaki Yokoyama
Chiaki Yokoyama is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, Keio University (Japan). Her researchinterest lies in Victorian England, especially in its social thoughts. She currently researches into
the education of the Victorian working class and the inter-relationship between art and community
starting in the Victorian era. Her publications include ‘Sons in Whitechapel: East End and Modern
Art’ in Haruhiko Fujita (ed.) Geijyutsu to Fukushi [Art and Welfare] (2009), ‘Anatomical
Drawings as Gender Representation’ in Aeka Ishihara (ed.) Umu Shin’tai o Egaku: Doitsu, Igirisu
no Kindai-San’kai to Kaibōzu [Drawing Impregnated Bodies: Modern Gynaecology andAnatomical Drawings in Germany, England and Scotland] (2010) and John Ruskin no Rōdōsha
Kyōiku [John Ruskin and the Working-class Education] (2018). She has also published Japanesetranslations of A Dream of John Ball by William Morris and Ruskin by George P. Landow.

117Comparative Study of Architecture Education in
France and Japan in the 2010s
Keiko Hashimoto
Kindai University, JAPAN

Abstract
This paper explores some features of architecture education in France in the 2010s bycomparing the curriculum and teaching method of institutions of higher education in France andJapan.
Until 1968, architecture education in France was virtually monopolized by l’École desBeaux-Arts in Paris and its three annexes in Lille, Bordeaux and Marseille. Following the
tradition of the department of painting and sculpture, the department of architecture at l’École
des Beaux-Arts maintained a studio system which was seen as being outdated.
After the May 1968 protests, André Malraux, the then minister of culture in France,
detached the architecture department from l’École des Beaux-Arts and re-organized it into
twelve branch schools of architecture, or unités pédagogique d’architecture (UPA). The
establishment of UPA made a switchover from a studio system to a school education system inwhich social sciences and historical research were considered as important as vocational
training. UPAs finally became écoles nationales supérieures d’architecture (ENSA) in 2005.
Each of twenty ENSAs now offers the curriculum corresponding to European Credit Transfer
System (ECTS).
Experiencing the reforms as above, what could be called the characteristics ofarchitecture education in France now in the 2010s? Although answering this general question is
impossible, this paper attempts to show some aspects of it by comparing the curriculum andteaching method of architectural in France and Japan. The comparative analysis is made on thebases of interviewing Japanese students who enrolled in l’École nationale supérieured’architecture Paris-la Villette from 2016 to 2018. The interviews particularly reveal how
architecture schools in France respect a student’s autonomy, and thus encourage art-oriented
approaches toward designing architecture, which makes a sharp contrast to
engineering-centered education offered by most universities in Japan.
Keywords: Architecture Education, Architecture School

Introduction
This paper explores some features of architecture education in France in the 2010s bycomparing the curriculum and teaching method of institutions of higher education in France andJapan.
As of 2019, the institutions providing official architecture education in France include 20
national architecture schools called écoles nationales supérieures d’architecture (ENSA), one
private school called l’École spéciale d’architecture, and one national engineering school calledl’Institut national des sciences appliquées, Strasbourg. The origin of the ENSA goes back tol’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and its three annexes in Lille, Bordeaux, and Marseille, all of118

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which virtually monopolized architecture education in France for more than two centuries until
1968.
Starting as a school run by two academies in the 17th century, 1’Académies royales depeinture et de sculpture and 1’Académie d’architecture, the architecture education provided byl’École des Beaux-Arts was similar to their teaching of painting and sculpture since both werecharacterized by a studio system and a competition for the Prix de Rome. It is therefore said
that the school trained its architecture students like fine art pupils. Naturally, architecture major
courses such as mathematics, structural study, and architectural history were taught there fromthe start. Nevertheless, it was studio education that l’École emphasized most in their curriculum,
as clearly stated by Kishiro Ida (b.1924), a Japanese architectural historian who studied at theschool in Paris in the 1950s:
Architecture design education in studio–this is the core of the architecture education ofl’École des Beaux-Arts and, for each student, the architect of the studio the student
belongs to become his teacher. Theoretical education or subjects taught in lecture rooms
are just for supplying the students with fundamental knowledge to understand theirarchitects’ teaching in studio1.
Although a studio system and the Prix de Rome competition were undoubtedly the features thatl’École des Beaux-Arts was highly proud of for centuries, they were also the major causes ofthe separation of the architecture department from l’École in 1968. The tradition ofemphasizing studio education and therefore giving the Prix de Rome the utmost importance wasseen as outdated by both the students and the architects in the 1960s when there was an urgent
demand for new town planning to address the postwar housing shortage in France.
The May 1968 protests in Sorbonne spread over to l’École des Beaux-Arts and thestudents and the reform architects claimed a new architecture education system and l’École’s
compatibility with a university system. André Malraux, the then French culture minister
detached the architecture department from the school and reorganized it into 12 branch schoolsof architecture, or the unités pédagogique d’architecture (UPA). After these reforms, the Prix deRome was finally abolished. The establishment of the UPAs triggered a switchover from astudio system to a school education system in which the social sciences and historical researchwere considered as important as vocational training. The UPAs finally became the ÉNSAs in
2005. Each of the 20 ÉNSAs now offers a curriculum in accordance with the European Credit
Transfer System (ECTS).
Although it is impossible to describe French architectural education in the 2010s
comprehensively, this paper attempts to highlight some aspects of it by comparing its
curriculum and teaching methods with that of Japanese architectural education. For this, I
interviewed four Japanese students who enrolled at l’École nationale supérieure d’architecturede Paris-la Villette (ENSAPLV) between 2016 and 2018. The interviews reveal how Frencharchitecture schools respect a student’s autonomy, and thus encourage art-oriented approaches
toward designing architecture, in sharp contrast to the engineering-centered education in
Japanese universities.
I shall first describe briefly the differences between the French and Japanese architectural
education system. Next, I will use the interviews to analyze the ENSAPLV’s liberal arts andproject courses and attempt to clarify the school’s educational policies. Naturally, the analysis
shall be made by comparison with courses in Japanese universities. Finally, I shall attempt toshow the characteristics of architecture education in France in the 21st century.

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1. Architectural School System in France and Japan
After the establishment of the unités pédagogique d’architecture (UPA) in 1968, the Frencharchitectural school system went through four major reforms in 1978, 1984, 1997–1998, and2005.2 Besides, the state-run architecture school, the UPA, changed its name twice: to école
d’architecture in 1984, then to école nationale supérieure d’architecture (ENSA) in 2005. TheENSA is a grande école, that is, a training school, not an academic institution like a university.
As of 2009, nearly 20,000 students are enrolled at the 20 ENSAs.3 Thus, we shall look at thesystem of the ENSA to understand the general architectural school system in France.
The ENSA basically offers the three cycles of License, Master, and Doctorat, a scheme
established by the Ministry of Culture in 2005 so that the country’s architectural school system
conforms to European standards. Under this scheme, architectural studies last for a minimum of
five years, divided into ten semesters. Students must complete a first three-year cycle ofLicense, which is equivalent to the undergraduate degree in other countries including Japan, andthen a second two-year cycle of Master, which is equivalent to the postgraduate degree in othercountries, to acquire the diplôme d'Etat d'architecte (DEA).
With the DEA, one can work as a state-accredited architect in the form of a civil servant,employee in an agency, actor in local authorities, or consultant (for the State, local authorities,
or individuals).4 To open one’s own practice, one has to acquire a qualification called thehabilitation à exercer la maîtrise d’oeuvre en son nom propre (HMONP). The ENSA offers the
one-year HMONP course, which includes a minimum of six months of professional practiceand a 150-hour theoretical training.
The Doctorat cycle was established at the ENSA after the 2005 reform. However, the1984 reform allowed the école d’architecture to offer the diplôme d' études approfondies (DEA),
which sanctioned the first year of doctoral studies but not a PhD degree, since the école
d’architecture is also a grande école. In 2017, this inconvenience was addressed and now each
ENSA offers a PhD in architecture.
Now, we shall briefly look at the Japanese architectural school system. While about 20
state schools offer architecture education in France, various types of schools in Japan, including
universities, junior colleges, vocational schools, and high schools, provide it. Among them, atleast 165 universities offered architecture courses in 2001. The reason so many Japanese
universities offer architecture courses is that one has to pass an official qualification
examination as well as graduate from university to work as an architect in the country. As of
2019, to obtaining a first-class Kenchikushi (architect) license, one must graduate fromuniversity, practice professionally for two years, and then move on to the qualification
examination.5 Under this system, students have to attend university to be eligible for thequalification examination. Therefore, many universities have set up courses to attract aspiringarchitects. However, very few graduates actually appear for the qualification exam. At Kindai
University, which boasts the highest percentage of first-class Kenchikushi among its alumni
among all west Japan universities, 77 graduates were qualified as first-class Kenchikushi in
2018,6 whereas approximately 410 architecture majors graduate from its Osaka, Hiroshima, andFukuoka campuses every year.7 I therefore assume that less than 18 percent of architecture
graduates become a first-class Kenchikushi.
As we have seen, French and Japanese architectural school systems differ in the way aschool’s degree is related to one’s qualification as an architect. There is a direct relationshipbetween the degree and the qualification in France since the ENSA is not a university but a
training school, at which nearly all subjects of the License and the Master courses are related toarchitectural study. In contrast, Japanese universities include many liberal arts subjects in theircurriculum. At Kindai University, even architecture students must acquire 28 credits in liberalarts subjects, including sports, sociology, law, and foreign language. It makes up 22 percent of120

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the 144 credits required for graduation.
Another big difference is that the curriculum of Japanese universities has moreconstruction-related subjects than that of the ENSA. For an architectural design major at Kindai
University, the required number of class hours for construction study is about 270, whereas it isabout 174, including 27 hours of tutorials, for the License course of the ENSAPLV.8 This isbecause the ENSA’s origins lie in l’École des Beaux-Arts. Currently, most ENSAs run a joint
educational program with partner engineering schools for students who wish to take a Master
degree in engineering. The percentage of students enrolling in the joint program is considerably
high; in 2018, 452 out of 861 Master students at the ENSAPLV took the joint program.9
To summarize this section, French and Japanese architectural school education differedespecially in terms of curriculum; nearly all subjects of the License and Master courses at the
ENSA are related to architectural studies, whereas the curriculum of Japanese universities
includes many liberal arts subjects. Moreover, the curriculum of the latter includes moreconstruction-related subjects than that of the ENSA. I argue that this is due to the differences in
the history of architectural school education and the architect-accreditation system in the twocountries. In the next section, we shall look at how architecture is taught differently in France
and Japan by analyzing some subjects offered by the ENSAPLV.
2. Architecture Education in France
2.1. l’École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Paris-la Villette (ENSAPLV)l’École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Paris-la Villette (ENSAPLV) was founded in1968 as Unité pédagogique d’architecture 6 (UP6). UP6 was seen as the most avant-gardeamong all UPAs in Paris as it was set up by the architects and students who had actively
supported the May 1968 protests. This spirit is still visible in the school’s objective, which is to“resist elitism and social selection while ensuring a high academic level.”10 Since it wasestablished in 1968, the enrolment at the ENSAPLV has always been the highest amongst all
ENSAs. As of 2018, the number of students enrolled at the ENSAPLV is 2,038, including 847
License students, 861 Master students, and 256 HMONP students.11
2.2. Education at the ENSAPLV
I shall analyze the teaching methodology at the ENSAPLV by interviewing four Japanese
students who enrolled at the school between 2016 and 2018. I conducted the interviews fromFebruary 2019 to March 2019. I have listed the academic information of the four students below.
Each of them studied at different universities in Japan.
- Student A: Master’s student in Japan in 2016; enrolled as a Master student at the ENSAPLVin 2016.
- Student B: Undergraduate student in Japan in 2017; enrolled as a License student at the
ENSAPLV in 2017.
- Student C: Completed master’s course in Japan before 2017; enrolled as a Master student at
the ENSAPLV in 2017.
- Student D: Master’s student in Japan in 2015; enrolled as a Master student at the ENSAPLVin 2016.
When asked about the difference between French and Japanese architectural education, all four
students pointed out the uniqueness of the art subjects taught in France, wherein fine art andmusic are taught in relation to architecture. Emphasis on art subjects at the ENSA is

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undoubtedly a continuation of the tradition of l’École des Beaux-Arts. Therefore, I shall first
analyze these subjects.
The students also noted that the teaching of architecture design at the ENSAPLV iscompletely different from how it is taught at Japanese universities. Therefore, I shall also lookat the architecture project seminar classes at the ENSAPLV.
2.3. Art subjects at the ENSAPLV
Below are some examples of the art subjects taught at the ENSAPLV:Example 1: Subject Title: Art, Music and Architecture (License, 1.5 hours per week, 14 weeks)
According to Student B, the objective of this seminar class, which was conducted by a musician,was to consider the structure of music from an architectural framework.12 The subject’s contents
were based on the idea that architecture and modern music are similar in that both havecomposition and rhythm. The class consisted of seven students. In the first class, the tutor
showed a documentary film featuring modern music and gave the students an assignment tocollect sounds or noises during the Easter holidays and use them to make music.
Example 2: Subject Title: Urban Sound Workshop (Master, 1.5 hours per week, 14 weeks, 29
hours of individual work)
The tutor of this seminar class was the same as that of Example 1. The assignment was also thesame: to make music with sounds or noises of the city. The students were taught how to use thesound-editing software, Audacity. Student A recorded the noise of her apartment building andpeople’s conversations, and mixed them to make a piece of music using Audacity.13 BothStudents A and B were inspired by Examples 1 and 2 because Japanese universities rarely
undertake exercises where students are taught to analyze a city through its sounds or noises.
Example 3: Subject Title: Plastic Approaches (License, 7 hours per week, 14 weeks, 77 hours
of individual work)
This subject was taught by seven tutors and each tutor had his or her own student group. The
theme of Student B’s group was “What is a sculpture?” There were three assignments in one
semester: the first assignment was to make a sculpture of one’s choice; the second one was tomake a sculpture on the theme of “body”; the third one was to again make a sculpture of one’s
choice. Each assignment took two to three weeks to complete. On the first day of the firstassignment, the students saw documentary films of sculptors in the morning and went to thecity to look for materials for sculpture-making in the afternoon. The students could choose
anything including meat or old clothes, as materials. On the first day of the third assignment,
they saw an exhibition of the sculptor, Taro Izumi, at Palais de Tokyo. On the presentation day,the students started installing their sculptures in the classroom from 9 a.m. The presentations
began at 11 a.m. Student B noted that this subject taught her to see sculptures from anarchitectural perspective.
Student A also took Plastic Approaches, but with a different tutor. The theme of Student
A’s group was “Repair.” This group also had three assignments. The themes of the assignments
were “repair of an object,” “repair of a human body,” and “repair of a city,” respectively. The
instruction for the first assignment was to make an object with trash, such as broken chairsfound in the city. The finished works presented by the students include a piece made withchains of cigarette ends. According to Student A, the third assignment, “repair of a city,” wasthe most difficult task for Japanese students, mainly because there was no specific instruction
for this assignment. The students, therefore, had to start from scratch, which was completely
opposite from the way they tackled projects at Japanese universities where each assignment was
accompanied by detailed conditions and instructions. After some speculation, Student A decided

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to approach the assignment by reconsidering the relationship between herself and the city. She
walked in the city and tried to express the forms of unusual buildings using her body parts.
Such an approach had never occurred to her while she was studying in Japan. She reckoned thatthe strong relationship between art and architecture in the art subjects at the ENSAPLV
unconsciously affected her view of architectural planning.
2.4. Architecture Project Subjects at the ENSAPLVThe descriptions of the art subjects at the ENSAPLV make it clear that the idea of regardingarchitecture as an art characterizes the school’s teaching method. Most Japanese universities do
not follow a similar method in their liberal arts subjects. They also rarely let students tackle aproject from scratch. Japanese tutors normally give detailed instructions, which include
specifying the site and listing other requirements.
The teaching of the art subjects at the ENSAPLV focuses on students’ freedom to develop
their own ideas. Nevertheless, this is not always the case when in architecture project subjects
are taught in the studio at the ENSAPLV. The following examples of their project subjects
reveal that the relationship between art and architecture is far more complicated in the studioclass than in the art subject class.
Example 4: Subject Title: Architectural and Urban Project—From Idea to Project (Master, 8.5
hours per week, 16 weeks, 204 hours of individual work)
Student C recalled that the class was conducted by three tutors and started with reading anddiscussing the poems of R. M. Rilke in the classroom. The first assignment was to make amodel of artwork inspired by a poem of Rilke chosen by a student. One impressive commentthat Student C remembers is that the tutors often said, “This model of artwork is not good
because it almost becomes architecture. What we want you to make now is something not yetarchitecture.”14 It appears that the tutor’s intention was to encourage the students to concentrateon the artistic aspects of architecture in the first stage of the project planning.
Example 5: Subject Title: Architectural and Urban Project---Design of a Mixed Building
Complex for Activities and Housing (Master, 8.5 hours per week, 16 weeks, personal work 204
hours)
This was another group of Architectural and Urban Project subject, also conducted by threetutors. However, the teaching policies of the two groups seem very different. While the tutors of
Example 4 encouraged the students to conceive architecture as an artwork, the tutors of
Example 5 gave detailed conditions for the project assignment (planning a leather factory, ahospital, and dwellings in the same site). Moreover, the tutors of Example 5 demanded thatstudents drew precise plans. Student A was surprised at the tutors’ expectation of advanced
drawing skills that are not required for students in Japan.
Another notable feature of the project subjects at ENSAPLV was, unlike in universities in Japan,
the tutors did not show sample projects. At Japanese universities, tutors always show examples
by well-known architects in an effort to enhance students’ understanding of a project. This
always happens at Japanese universities on the first day of assignment. Whereas, at ENSAPLV,
the project class normally started with going to the actual site with classmates, making
observations, and doing sketches. Moreover, students were instructed to conduct a historicalresearch on the site. According to Hiroyuki Kakita, architect and Associate Professor at Kindai
University, who studied at ENSAPLV in 1992-1993, researching the geological and cultural
histories of the site and getting the idea of design from it is a typical French way of planningarchitecture and cities, which goes back to the tradition of l’École des Beaux-Arts.15

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Conclusion
We can conclude that architecture school education is different in France and Japan in terms ofthe type of school, degree system, and curriculum. ENSA is a grande école and students
completing their Master courses at ENSA automatically become qualified architects. In Japan,
universities offer bachelor courses in architecture but the degree does not endow them with thequalification of being an architect. One must pass the required exam to obtain the qualification.
As for the curriculum, ENSA is art-oriented, whereas universities in Japan emphasize theengineering aspects of architectural study. The art-oriented teaching policy is the inheritance ofl’École des Beaux-Arts.
Therefore, it is tempting to say that architecture education in France, as compared toJapan, is focused on fostering creative and imaginative architects. In a way, this is true asshown in the analysis of the curriculum of ENSAPLV. However, we should not forget that theanalysis in this paper also shows that the students of ENSAPLV are instructed to design anddraw precise plans.
The Japanese students consider such instruction to unfortunately lead to thestandardization of the students’ designing techniques. According to them, at the beginning of
the project course, each student tried to propose something unique. However, at the end, all thefinished plans seemed similar, like a cubic design, as the result of following a series of
instructions. This reminds us that it was the complaints to the studio system of l’École desBeaux-Arts together with the Prix de Rome competitions that motivated the students to join the
May 1968 protest. Considering the fact that the studio system required precise and beautiful
architectural designs more than anything else, the instruction of precise drawings at ENSAPLV
certainly follows the tradition of l’École des Beaux-Arts. Therefore, architecture education in
France in the 21st century still retains the teaching approach or the attitude of l’École desBeaux-Arts to a great extent.
Notes
1. Kishiro Ida, ‘3 Bijutsu gakko [Art School]’ in Shoichi Kawai ed., Kakkoku no kenchiku
kyoiku: Europe [ Architecture Education: Europe], Tokyo: Shokokusha, 1958, p. 71.
2. See followings: Yoshiyuki Yamana, ‘France ni okeru konnichi no kenchiku kyoiku[Architecture Education Today in France], Nikkan Kogyo Gijutsu, No. 47, 2001, pp.
74-75.; ‘Décret no 97-1096 du 27 novembre 1997 relatif aux études d'architecture’
retrieved fromhttps://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000752651&dateTexte=&categorieLien=id ; ‘Décret no 2005-734 du 30 juin 2005 relatif auxétudes d'architecture’ retrieved fromhttps://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000258877&dateTexte=&categorieLien=id3. P. M. Desmet and P. Hekkert, ‘Framework of
product experience’, International Journal of Design, vol. 1, no. 1, 2002, pp. 57-66.
3. Wikipedia entry of ‘Études d’architecture en France’ retrieved fromhttps://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tudes_d%27architecture_en_France
4. The information cited in the homepage of Prépa Architekton retrieved fromhttps://www.prepa-architecture.fr/le-diplome-detat-darchitecte-dea/
5. For the information of the exam for Kenchikushi, see the following home page of The
Japan Architectural Education and Information Center,
https://www.jaeic.or.jp/english/k-pamphlet_e20181226.pdf

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6. The data cited in the home page of The Japan Architectural Education and Information
Center retrieved from https://www.jaeic.or.jp/shiken/1k/1k-data.html
7. The data cited in the home page of Kindai University retrieved fromhttps://www.kindai.ac.jp/about-kindai/overview/students/
8. The main construction-related subjects of the License course at ENSAPLV are as follows:
Licence 1 Construction Générale 1 (1.5 hours x 14 weeks plus 9-hour tutorial), Construction
Générale 2 – 1.5 hours x 14 weeks plus 9-hour tutorial; Licence 2 Structures 1 – 1.5 hours x
14 weeks plus 9-hour tutorial, Structures 2 – 1.5 hours x 14 weeks plus 9-hour tutorial;
Licence 3 Construction Générale 3 – 1.5 hours x 28 weeks, Analyse Constructive (tutorial)– 1.5 hours x 14 weeks. See the home page of ENSAPLV,
http://www.paris-lavillette.archi.fr/index.php?page=LUE
http://www.paris-lavillette.archi.fr/index.php?page=UES7S8
http://www.paris-lavillette.archi.fr/index.php?page=s1
9. See the home page of ENSAPL
http://www.paris-lavillette.archi.fr/index.php?page=presentation
10. “School Objectives” in the ENSAPL’s brochure in English published in January, 2014.
11. See the home page of ENSAPLV,
http://www.paris-lavillette.archi.fr/index.php?page=presentation
12. Interview by the presenter to Student B, February 23, 2019.
13. Interview by the presenter to Student A, March 7, 2019.
14. Interview by the presenter to Student C, March 6, 2019.
15. E-mail from Hiroyuki Kakita to the presenter, March 25, 2019.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP 15H01760.
Author Biography
Keiko Hashimoto
Keiko Hashimoto received BA (English Literature) from Keio University, Tokyo,
MA (Art History) from University of East Anglia, UK, and PhD (Design History)
from Kobe University, Japan. After working as a Curator at the Museum ofContemporary Art, Tokyo, and the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, she becamean Assistant Professor at Kobe Gakuin University, Kobe (2011-2106) and
Associate Professor at Kindai University, Osaka (2016 to date). Her field of
research is History of the 20th Century Art and Design, and she is currently
working on commercial interior and furniture design by Shiro Kuramata andother avant-garde interior designers in the late 20th century Japan. She recenly
wrote; 'Book 2: Catalogue of Works' in Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata, London:
Phaidon Press, 2013; ‘Kuramata, Shiro (1934-91)’ (book chapter) in Clive
Edwards ed., The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Design, 3 vols., London:
Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, Volume 2, and Kuramata entries of Atlas ofFurniture Design, Weil am Rhein: Vitra Design Museum, 2019.

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