thinking Shibui

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A return to  ancient Japanese aesthetics  in our modern lives is an honorable path for any Aesthete-the practiced or the novice- to pursue. Thanks to Philip Bewley of  THERIEN & COMPANY,  right now I am looking at images from the August 1960 House Beautiful -" Discover Shibui: The Word for the Highest Level in Beauty. " I was privileged to  add some comments to Philip's recent essay and have persuaded him to share its content with my readers.

DISCOVER SHIBUI-Philip Bewley

“One of the most influential issues ever by a design magazine” is how the August 1960 issue by House Beautiful magazine titled, “ Discover Shibui: The Word for the Highest Level in Beauty” is described in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution (The Elizabeth Gordon Papers. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives). The August “Shibui” issue was followed by the September 1960 issue “How to be Shibui with American Things”. These two landmark magazine issues introduced the American public to Japanese aesthetic of shibui (or shibusa). Elizabeth Gordon, House Beautiful editor (1941-1964) wrote in the August issue “Shibui describes a profound, unassuming, quiet feeling. It is unobtrusive and unostentatious. It may have hidden attainments, but they are not paraded or displayed. The form is simple and must have been arrived at with an economy of means. Shibui is never complicated or contrived.”

photograph by Philip Bewley

THE SEVEN QUALIFIERS

Shibui has seven qualifiers: simplicity, implicitness, modesty, silence, naturalness, everydayness, and imperfection.

Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Ishimoto Yasuhiro

 

AN EDITOR'S RESEARCH

When she covered a topic, she did it in staggering depth,” said Louis Oliver Gropp (Editor House Beautiful magazine, 1991-2000). In Postwar America of the 1950’s, Elizabeth Gordon began noticing Japanese objects being displayed in the homes of Americans who had spent time in Japan during the Occupation. As Editor in Chief of House Beautiful magazine, Gordon read everything she could on Japan before making a visit to that country with a few members of her staff in the spring of 1959. Her extensive library on Japanese history, social mores, art history is now in the collection of the University of Maryland. It was in Kyoto where she became introduced to the aesthetic concept of shibui. In the course of discussions on Japanese aesthetics the theme for a “shibui” issue took hold. Returning home to the U.S., Gordon found virtually nothing written in English on the concept. Two more trips to Japan were taken in preparation, research and photography for the shibui issues. Gordon was in Japan in Mid-August 1960 as the "shibui issue" was causing a sensation. Altogether she spent sixteen months in Japan.

Photograph: Ishimoto Yasuhiro

EAST MEETS WEST

While Western art had certainly been influenced by the decorative arts of Japan before these issues, nothing in English had been written on the Japanese aesthetic of shibui before Elizabeth Gordon introduced shibui to the American public. “These issues were published just as I was finishing high school and preparing to go into design so they were incredibly timely in my development,” Says Bob Garcia (Therien & Co.). “Fortunately I went to The Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design soon thereafter and given the Asian bent to the school's curriculum. The colors and compositions of Shibui were engrained in my own aesthetic.”

“It seems quite obvious that the intensely close relationship between the Japanese culture and nature should manifest itself in Shibui. 

The colors and combination of tones and textures are so reflective of those one sees in landscapes and forests; 

so different from our western concepts of man's "mastery" over nature with our brilliant colors and sharp contrasts.

Somehow it all seems related to the different concepts in gardens.... 

the European "taming" of elements and the Japanese "abstract re-interpretation" of them.” 

Robert Roy Garcia, Therien & Co.

Photograph by Ezra Stoller; schemes assembled by John Hill; 1960, for House Beautiful magazine, Elizabeth Gordon, Editor

Ginkaku-ji by Kiichi Asano/Elizabeth Gordon Assoc.Kiichi Asano (1914-1993) - Japanese photographer,

by way of the estate of Elizabeth Gordon (Norcross), editor-in-chief of House Beautiful Magazine from 1941 to 1964.

 photograph by Philip Bewley

BORN IN A TRUNK

I first discovered the House Beautiful shibui issues in a trunk of old magazines when I was a boy. It must have been about 1973 or so. The declaration on the cover that “The Highest level of Beauty” was to be found within must have caught my eye, but I think it was the combination with the second issue, “How to be Shibui with American Things” that opened my mind to the notion that there were considerations behind beauty, and that these ideas were not necessarily Japanese, but were in fact all around me.

 photograph by Philip Bewley

Ryoan-ji Temple Garden /Kiichi Asano/Elizabeth Gordon. Kiichi Asano (1914-1993) - Japanese photographer, 

by way of the estate of Elizabeth Gordon (Norcross), editor-in-chief of House Beautiful Magazine from 1941 to 1964.

SHIBUI SENSATION

Elizabeth Gordon’s August 1960 "Shibui" issue sold out quickly. Copies of the magazine, which originally sold for fifty cents, were being sold privately by 1961 for ten dollars. Immediately following the publication, House Beautiful offices received an unprecedented avalanche of fan mail. Writing in with praise for the issue were department heads in colleges and universities, including the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, even a letter from the famed couturier, Mainbocher.

Photograph by Ezra Stoller; schemes assembled by John Hill; 1960, for House Beautiful magazine, Elizabeth Gordon, Editor

THE SHIBUI ROADSHOW

After the wild success of the two “shibui issues”, House Beautiful staff prepared a traveling exhibition to eleven museums across the United States to introduce the concept of "shibui" through a series of vignettes, mixing fabrics and objects, colors and textures. Japan Air Lines underwrote shipping costs. Commencing the tour in 1961, the Shibui exhibition arrived in San Francisco in April 1962. Elizabeth Gordon presented a lecture accompanied by lanternslides on "shibui" at each of the museum installations.

Photograph by Ezra Stoller; schemes assembled by John Hill; 1960, for House Beautiful magazine, Elizabeth Gordon, Editor

HONORS

In appreciation of Elizabeth Gordon’s work in introducing Americans to the concept of shibui, the city of Kyoto presented to her a bolt of "shibui" kimono fabric executed by a Living National Treasure textile artist.
In 1987 Elizabeth Gordon (Norcross) was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, with her introduction of the concept of "shibui" to the United States and her promotion of an understanding of other cultures cited as a major contribution to American architecture.

(all text, quotes are from Philip Bewley, with permission) 

As for me while looking at these 1960 photographs, I thought of looking at them as if the last 50 years of interior design had not existed. Impossible? 
Yes, somewhat. 
After looking at shibui, I think designers should consider rethinking some “off the rails” ideas considered of the moment, at the moment and return to this Japanese aesthetic in order to cleanse the palate- as it were.

Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Gift of the artist in memory of Ishimoto Shigeru, 2009.265 © Ishimoto Yasuhiro

What struck me most about the concepts of SHIBUI was this one-

SHIBUI

simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

"It may have hidden attainments, but they are not paraded or displayed."

Elizabeth Gordon

 Pauline de Rothschild's Dining Room

 image from NEST magazine winter 98/99

Though Pauline de Rothschild was always seeking perfection in the her very private world -this Dining room is the very essence of Shibui.  Moving beyond the concept in the Japanese interior, de Rothschild's studied imperfections were mastery in shibui.  A great reader- de Rothschild was intrigued by the work of Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima  and in her singular book- The Irrational Journey she writes with the tools of a Shibui Master:

simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

This concept of hidden attainments - connects seamlessly with the Pauline de Rothschild aesthetic.

Shibui beauty, as in the beauty of Tea Ceremony, is beauty that makes an artist of the viewer."

Elizabeth Gordon

Pauline de Rothschild- Bedroom

image from NEST magazine, Winter 98/99

It seems to me photographers are the most qualified observers of  SHIBUI, whether photographing fashion, architecture or documenting the world around them.

 Henry Clarke captured it in this 1965 photograph of  Veruschka for Vogue.

 simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

Fellow blogger, Bruce Barone has mastered the Art-this everydayness.
His keen abilities to see the Beauty around him everywhere have struck me as I've followed his blog here.

East Hampton Mass, photograph by Bruce Barone

This is one of Bruce's photograph that interprets the idea of Shibui and seems artistically to be- Shibui perfection. The simplicity of the landscape, the hay field-patched in places & in other places conforming along the line of man's labor. Amidst the field- a cart stands as testament to that labor -yet its design stand in perfect companionship there with nature.

Photo credit: Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Gift of the artist in memory of Ishimoto Shigeru, 2009.265 © Ishimoto Yasuhiro

In today's saturated design field there are pictures, photographs, images, mood boards-especially those where we see heap upon heap of fillers piled on tables- in order to finish a room, photograph a room, sell a product. It's unavoidable really.  
Am I too hard on my chosen field, and its inhabitants of the blogosphere? 
Maybe- but I don't think I'll be changing my mind any time soon, especially with this new idea- SHIBUI- permeating. 
More than ever it seems having an eye that can interpret the past and make it a part of today's world-whether it be Art, Design, Fashion- is key.


My thoughts on the subject led me right to the of the work of Rose Tarlow:

photographs from her book-  The Private House

Here are a few excerpts from her interview with ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST,  it is obvious she is a Master of the ART.


Who or what has influenced my style...Everything I see! I’m influenced especially by nature. A tree influences me. I once said that a tropical fish influences me. I’m influenced by anything that’s natural. There’s a certain cleanliness, an order in the universe, that I try to emulate if I can. 

There are many rules designers and architects should bear in mind. one is...Study. Learn the rules before you break them. I always think that a good artist who does abstract work must also know how to paint in the classical way. In design, learn the classics, study the past, study the great architecture and design of the world, and then draw from all of that your own perspective. 

The mistake most people make when doing their own designing is...Taking themselves too seriously. They get too intense and allow themselves to second-guess. They should take their time and enjoy the process and the end product. Do it slowly.



One of my fellow bloggers- a stylist Thea Beasley has kept faith with this Japanese concept of beauty-elegantly, beautifully, in a most unassuming way-meaning she is a Master:

at  home

simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

(photographs by Thea Beasley)

 & in her work.

Thea- for her client Lacefield Designs

 photographs used with permission

I am going to continue to keep the ideas of  SHIBUI as an ongoing path.

Meditation at Mittineague Park, photograph by Bruce Barone

simplicity, 

implicitness, 

modesty,

silence, 

naturalness, 

everydayness, 

and

imperfection.

SHIBUI is "…beauty with inner implications."

Kiichi Asano/Elizabeth Gordon. Kiichi Asano (1914-1993) - Japanese photographer,

by way of the estate of Elizabeth Gordon (Norcross), editor-in-chief of House Beautiful Magazine from 1941 to 1964.

"It is not a beauty displayed before the viewer by its creator; 

creation here means making a piece that will lead the viewer to draw beauty out of it for oneself.  

Shibui beauty, as in the beauty of Tea Ceremony, 

is beauty that makes an artist of the viewer." 

-Elizabeth Gordon

A Note from Philip Bewley-

The tagline on the cover of the August 1960 House Beautiful issue “Discover Shibui” is not quite correct. Shibui is an adjective, while the noun form is Shibusa. Like the aesthetic concept itself, the translation of shibusa from Japanese to English is nuanced. Perhaps a more satisfactory translation would be:
Beauty = Shibusa (noun)
Beautiful = Shibui (adjective)
Beauty is to Beautiful as Shibusa is to Shibui.

( for the purposes of my thoughts I have held to Elizabeth Gordon's use of the word-she was a Master.) 

House Beautiful.com linked here and in bold type  within the text of the post

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