Ernst Boerschmann: The Road of Spirits seen from the Bridge, Siling, from Picturesque China (New York 1923)

Now known as the Sacred Way, Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing.

What did Lúcio Costa think of China?

It is beneficial, from time to time, to go back to what architects themselves thought was on their minds when they were working on a project. This often has to be taken with a pinch of salt, as architects will invariably use this as an opportunity for self-aggrandisement. It also serves as a counterpoint to self-aggrandisement by academic historians. There is no reason to suppose that Lúcio Costa had any interest in self-aggrandisement, however, despite his achievement, as he was notoriously modest. He was possibly the first living architect to have his work recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO - not one but three - the urban plan for the new city of Brasília (1956-60), the restoration of the ruined 18th century Jesuit churches and new museum at São Miguel das Missões, Rio Grande do Sul, and the restoration of the 18th century town of Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais. He beat his friends Oscar Niemeyer and Roberto Burle Marx to the list (both came later), although he should share Brasília with both.

One curious and overlooked source claimed by Costa in his later reflections on his design for Brasília - “Ingredientes” da concepção urbanística de Brasília was:

O fato de ter então tomado conhecimento das fabulosas fotografias da China de começo de século (1904±) - terraplenos, arrimos, pavilhões com desenhos de implantação - contidas em dois volumes de um alemão cujo nome esqueci.[1]

which could be translated as:

The fact that I then became aware of the fabulous photographs of China at the beginning of the century (1904±) - embankments, retaining walls, pavilions with site plans - contained in two volumes by a German whose name I have forgotten.

It does not take much investigation to find that these two volumes of Chinese architecture and landscapes were almost certainly Chinesische Architektur by Ernst Boerschmann.[2]

Boerschmann was a German architect and diplomat who made a pioneering study of Chinese art, architecture, religion and customs between 1906 and 1909 on a research trip sponsored by German Imperial government. The usual charge of colonialism cannot be laid at Boerschmann's door. He was passionately interested in his subject and explored extensively, combining the aesthetic sensibilities of an architect with meticulous surveys.

When Boerschmann explored these abandoned and forgotten sites, there was official indifference to ancient architecture and Chinese architects seem to have been unaware of them.[3] China was in the grip of a major political and social upheaval at the time: the Qing dynasty (commonly known as Manchu) had emerged in 1644 from a period of intense civil war and ws soon to end with the abdication of the last Emperor in 1912. The political achievements of the Qing dynasty are subject to some debate among academics, but it is obvious that the Qing Emperors did not develop the political and civil institutions that had enabled dynamic societies to flourish in Western Europe. As the influence of the previous Ming dynasty faded, Qing art and architecture began to appear derivative in comparison. Painting in Laurence Sickman's and Alexander Soper's The Art and Architecture of China ends at the end of the 17th century. This is the context for Boerschmann's study tour: an impoverished and artistically depleted country that could only come to terms with the wider world through a violent revolution and civil war.

Zhang Zeduan: Scenes Along the River During the Qingming Festival (early 12th century)

This detail from the scroll painting Scenes Along the River During the Qingming Festival by the artist Zhang Zeduan represents not only the artistic accomplishment of the Song dynasty but also the vitality of life in Chinese cities in this period.

It was fortunate for China that Boerschmann made his study at that time. So much architecture was lost in the turmoil of the Republic, the Japanese occupation, the civil war and the communist dictatorship (all of which Boerschmann lived through) that Chinesische Architektur came to be a valuable source of information. Almost all the illustrations of extant buildings in Laurence Sickman's and Alexander Soper's The Art and Architecture of China were actually in Japan, and Soper seemed to be more interested in timber pagoda construction than in the 'embankments, retaining walls, pavilions with site plans' that Boerschmann illustrated.[4]

Lúcio Costa was in fact pondering the same loss of vernacular culture in the face of Modernity in Brazil as was China. Despite his persona as a hard-line Modernist - he was project leader on the Ministry of Education Building in Rio de Janeiro (1936-42, although Oscar Niemeyer was the more important designer) - he continued to work on many projects in a vernacular mode or mixing vernacular and Modern elements, such as at São Miguel das Missões.

Lucio Costa: Apartment in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro (c. 1936-c.1960)
© Thomas Deckker 1989

Lucio Costa built this block of apartments in Leblon following his appointment as architect for the Ministry of Education Building, Rio de Janeiro (1936-42), and took the rooftop for his own family. It reflects his wide range of interests as not only a successful architect and urban planner but also Director of the Serviço do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional [National Historic and Artistic Heritage Service].

Boerschmann's Chinesische Architektur was published in many editions besides the deluxe 2 volumes by Wasmuth in Berlin in 1925. The rare Wasmuth edition (of which there is a copy in the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum) was in a large format with very high quality printing. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate a scan of this edition. However scans of the more popular Picturesque China are easily found, as is the book itself. I am not sure if Boerschmann would have approved of his study being valued for being 'picturesque', but any survival is good thing.

Ernst Boerschmann: The Road of Spirits in front of the Tomb Temple, the Western Imperial Tombs of the Manchu Dynasty, Siling, from Picturesque China (New York 1923)

Now known as the Western Qing Tombs, Hebei Province.

Ernst Boerschmann: The Road of Spirits at the Thirteen Imperial Tombs of the Ming Dynasty, near Nankou, from Picturesque China (New York 1923)

Now known as the Sacred Way, Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing.

Ernst Boerschmann: Town Wall, Peking, from Picturesque China (New York 1923)

Destroyed, Beijing.

Its easy to see what Lúcio Costa appreciated in these photographs, and for the avoidance of doubt he tells us: "embankments, retaining walls, pavilions with site plans". As an architect Boerschmann was interested in the formal and abstract, rather than the picturesque, and particularly the relationship of building to landscape. There is a sense of abandonment, of melancholy, which suits the Brazilian mood of saudades.

Footnotes

1. [“Ingredients” of the urban concept for Brasília] in Lúcio Costa: registro de uma vivência [Lúcio Costa: record of a lifetime] (São Paulo: Empresa das Artes 1995) ↩

2. Ernst Boerschmann: Chinesische Architektur (Berlin: Wasmuth 1925) ↩

3. See the review by Nancy S. Steinhardt of The Grand Documentation: Ernst Boerschmann and Chinese Religious Architecture (1906-1931) By Eduard Kögel (Berlin and Boston, Walter de Gruyter 2015) in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 2018;28(1):200-203. Nancy S. Steinhardt is Professor of East Asian Art and Curator of Chinese Art at the University of Pennsylvania. ↩

4. Laurence Sickman and Alexander Soper: The Art and Architecture of China (Pelican History of Art 1971; 1st publ. 1956) ↩

Wasmuth

Wasmuth was a famous publisher on architecture: two of the most famous and influential works were Das Englische Haus (1904) by Hermann Muthesius and Ausgefuhrte Bauten und Entwurfe (1911), the first publication ever on Frank Lloyd Wright. Both of these were of course on Arts and Crafts architecture, the period claimed by Modern architects as the transition to Modernism, a claim equally vehemently denied by the Arts and Crafts architects themselves.

Chinesische Architektur was part of a series on world architecture published by Wasmuth, Orbis Terrarum, which included a volume on Britain (1926) by the distinguished photographer Emil Otto Hoppé. The Britain depicted there is as remote as Boerschmann's China.

Thomas Deckker
London 2024