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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Moved

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this from the elegant Rose Tarlow, here website is full of things that will move you. Visit here

what Madame Errazuriz knew

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Madame Eugenia Errazuriz in 1929

Picasso drew Madame 24 times. The woman Picasso met was approaching middle age.Eugenia had been married to a wealthy amateur landscape painter, lived in Paris and London, and back to Paris when her husband died. Her life was full, her admirers were numerous. It would be years before Picasso knew and fell for Eugenia- as mentor, muse, patron- There was no affair-but her influence was staggering. She is said to have refined the bohemian Picasso, introduced him to Diaghilev, prepared him for his audience with the Spanish King and polished him for his courtship with Olga Koklova-ballerina. Eugenia also provided the two with their honeymoon spot in Biarritz, where Picasso painted frescoes for a room in La Mimoseraie-her villa. Picasso said of the sketch of Eugenia below, "it's so handsome,I wouldn't even have let my father have it." According to the John Richardson HG article this sketch is identified as Eugenia-though it is debated to be her beautiful great niece Patricia. She does however look rather beautiful still in the first photograph dated 1929.

Picasso 1918

Madame Errazuriz, Picasso, Olga Kolkova

by Man Ray

the following drawings by Picasso

Decorations chez Madame Errazuritz

Biarritz, Summer/1918, Mural paintings

here

designer Chanel had a villa just next door-and Olga loved the 

clinging bathing suits she made, Picasso painting them here.

Much painted, admired, Madame Errazuriz's was painted by the likes of Sargent, Boldini, Blanche,Chartran, Helleu, Madrazo and Conder.. Sargent was one of the first to paint Eugenia when he met her as a young newley wed. A little in love with Eugenia, Sargent first met her in 1880 Venice and encountered her again in London, early 1900. An "A" List of artists were inspired by Eugenia- Augustus Johns, Walter Sickert (whom she collected), Braque, Diaghilev, Artur Rubinstein, Cocteau, Stravinsky, Blaise Cendrars and Le Corbusier. Proust referred to her specifically in his epic Remembrances of Things Past, "touched by art as if by heavenly grace, dwelling "in apartments filled with Cubist paintings, while a Cubist painter lived one for them, and they live only for him." Proust had been present when Eugenia  unpacked Picasso's Cubist canvases and drawings after the war.

... as they saw her, before Picasso

 Sargent

 1880

 Sargent 1883-1884

Jacques Emile Blanche 
1890

Conder
date unknown

Boldini 
1892

Sargent 
1905

Have you ever thought about the inspiration for bringing an inelegant rustic ladder into a soigne room originated? & when? Look no further than the elegant soigne Madame Eugenia Errazuriz. Cecil Beaton, in his Glass of Fashion (1954) wrote: "Eugenia's 'effect on the taste of the last fifty years has been so enormous that the whole aesthetic of modern interior decoration, and many of the concepts of simplicity... generally acknowledged today, can be laid at her remarkable doorstep.'

Perhaps some of Eugenia's design aesthetic preferences were a result of her education as a young girl by English nuns in her home country of Chile. Madame was a Franciscan lay nun and had her habit- a simple black shift-designed by Chanel. Jean Michel Frank wrote about her Paris apartment in Harper's Bazaar, accompanying the article, photographs by Kollar captured the foyer in the 1938 article.

"I love my house as it looks very clean and very poor" EE

the Hallway of Eugenia Errazuriz's Paris home

photographed by Kollar for Harper's Bazaar

Frank wrote "Her influence is indispensable." In his memoirs Stravinsky wrote, "Her friendship touched me deeply. She had a subtle understanding of modern art, which was unparalleled in anyone of her generation." She was comfortable discussing mysticism, astrology, religion and she, like Picasso, was terribly superstitious. Her patronage to the arts, & Her Artists, was in the spirit of alms giving- never financial aid.

Simply furnished with emerald green garden table and chairs, large baskets, and  a gray coatrack decorated with a basket and an umbrella- laundry baskets and hampers stood along side it all. When Eugenia found the garden chairs the shop owner was horrified when she announced the folding garden chairs were for her Salon. Errazuriz used both dining and living spaces in her home as one large space-no room  should be wasted. An old orchard ladder stands beside a modern deal cupboard Madame found in a street market. It must have been a shock to the hangers on of la Belle Epoque and the proponents of Elsie de Wolfe's design aesthetic. Of course- it appeared spontaneous-but to the contrary- it was a much studied. The slipcovers- in plain white or indigo-were ruthlessly tailored by the Balenciaga of upholsterers, chez Leitz. Never one to discriminate against the plainest mattress ticking-Madame would have dresses made from the material. Paul Morand remembers "she looked like a van Dongen in her blue straw hat, her dress of black and white mattress ticking, and a slash of carmine on her lips." 

Jean Michel Frank 

Jean Michel Frank studied Eugenia Errazuriz-absorbing all of the tenets of her modern approach to interiors-Frank would go on to realize many of her ideas in his brief but brilliant design career. Eugenia would never decorate for anyone else. Her choices were her own and belong to know one else. Her design was fearless-No one else was that brave.Certainly Errazuriz influenced these designers and their fast becoming- iconic-rooms. I especially see the Frederic Mechiche rooms as indicative of Errazuriz's.  In the Mechiche rooms, there is a luxury, along with a spareness, that sets each element apart.

Rose Tarlow, 1990's

"Elegance means elimination." EE

Sills and Huniford

"Pas de vivelots."(biblelots) EE

Frederic Mechiche

(from the World of Interiors April 1997)

"A house that doesn't alter is a dead house.

One must change the furniture... rearrange it continually". EE

There was no excess.
Beaton inventories her salon-"an inkwell, blotter, a vase of fresh leaves, a flowering plant in an 18th century jardiniere, a magnificent commode," a Riesener bureau plat. She housed the objects she cherished in two large red lacquer cupboards. She used unlined blue and white stripe curtains with classic French furniture, House plants had to be aromatic- rose geranium, lemon verbena, lavender, jasmine-all in terra cotta pots- another often seen detail in design today. "Everything in Aunt Eugenia's house smelled so good." (EE's great niece Patricia). One 18th century bergere chair purchased by the adoring great niece- that Eugenia wanted desperately disappeared in just a month. Surprised to see the beloved chair gone, her niece inquired as to its whereabouts. Auntie replied, "I couldn't resist a change. I saw something I liked even better so I sold the chair to Emilio Terry."

However, nothing trumped the paintings that hung on whitewashed walls" Man in a Bowler Hat (1915), Seated Man (1915-1916) Her paintings remained fixed-her furniture was likely to move about- or Out

 image from Paris Originals

"A house that does not alter, is a dead house.

 One must change the furniture, 

or at least rearrange it continually.

This perpetual renewing is the beauty

and the strength of fashion.

In a house where nothing budges, the eye,

too long accustomed to the same scene

ends by seeing nothing." 

Eugenia Errazuriz

(the same could be said of people)

Eugenia, who insisted that if the " Kitchen is not as well kept as the salon, if there are masses of old things lying about the bureau drawers, you cannot have a beautiful house-Throw out and keep throwing out." (Cleanliness is next to Godliness?) Living to the old age of 90, she became very frail after a car accident and declared, "I am tired of living, I wish to help God to take me out of this life." She refused food, letting go of her earthly possession- easy for Madame- she had been practicing all of her life.

further reading:
John Richardson's Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters
Cecil Beaton's The Glass of Fashion
House and Garden April 1987, Tastemakers by John Richardson
NY Times.com The Queen of Clean
Jean-Michel Frank 
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