Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition
by Kimberly Elam.
Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2001.
108 pp., illus. Paper, $14.95.
ISBN 1-56898-249-6
Reviewed by Roy R. Behrens
2022 X Avenue, Dysart, Iowa
USA.
ballast@netins.net
One of the oldest, most lasting ideas in art is that artists, designers
and architects use (often unknowingly) repetitions of the same proportion
(called "proportional harmony" or "proportional rhyme"),
and that, throughout history, certain proportions have been used far
more frequently than others. As confirmed by scientific tests that began
with Gustav Fechner in 1876, the proportion that seems to be favored
is around 5 by 8, or what is historically, commonly known as the "golden
section." This same proportion occurs throughout nature: in the
chambered nautilus and other shells, in sunflowers, daisies, pine cones,
pineapples, and in the pattern of the eyespots on a peacock‚s tail
feathers; as well as among a limitless range of man-made constructions:
in the Great Pyramid of Cheops, Stonehenge, the Parthenon, the Athena
Temple at Priene, the Triumphal Arch of Constantine, the Notre Dame
Cathedral, and various buildings by Le Corbusier. This latest book about
proportional rhymes, which was both written and designed by a graphic
design professor at the Ringling School of Art and Design, is probably
the best introduction to the subject. It is beautifully organized, admirably
thorough, and, while technical to some extent, not overly so. Especially
helpful are its translucent vellum overlays, in which red line diagrams
can be superimposed on (or removed from, as needed) the subjects discussed
in the writing. Its other major innovation is the persuasive use of
so many familiar examples from Modern-era design history (posters, furniture,
a Braun coffee maker, even the 1997 Volkswagen Beetle), including quite
a few not shown in earlier books on the subject. It‚s a great little
book, one that all teachers and students should see
.
(Reprinted by permission from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol. 18, No.
2, Winter 2002-03.)
