3 Review(s)

More and more science is coming to recognize, what theosophy affirms, that the spiral vortex... both in its time and its space aspects is the universal archetype...-from "Changeless Change"First published in 1910 and updated in 1922-this is a reproduction of that second edition-this is architect and theosophist Claude Bragdon's exploration of art as an "expression of the cosmic life." And what a glorious exploration is it. The essay titles hint at the lyricism of Bragdon's prose:· "The Art of Architecture"· "Unity and Polarity"· "Changeless Change"· "The Bodily Temple"· "Latent Geometry"· "The Arithmetic of Beauty"· "Frozen Music"Accompanied by lovely and informative line drawings, these essays constitute a master class in the philosophy of art, beauty, science, and the intersection of all three.Other works by Bragdon available from Cosimo Classics: More Lives Than One, Architecture and Democracy, Episodes from An Unwritten History, and A Primer of Higher Space (The Fourth Dimension).American architect, stage designer, and writer CLAUDE FAYETTE BRAGDON (1866-1946) helped found the Rochester Architectural Club, in the city where he made his greatest mark as a building designer with structures including Rochester Central Station, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the First Universalist Church; he also designed Peterborough Bridge in Ontario. In later life, Bragdon worked on Broadway as scenic designer for 1930s productions of Cyrano de Bergerac and Hamlet, among others.