Edwin Smith was an English photographer who did most of the pictures he's famous for in the 1950s. I don't think any of his photos are well-known. He's renowned instead for the consistency of his work. Almost every major picture he took was thought provoking in some way. You won't get a sense of what I'm talking about if you look at the small versions. Be sure to click to enlarge.Seen large the wrought iron gazebo above is awe inspiring. Imagine a building that large which serves no purpose except to enclose an area and make us aware of the space inside. Our senses are so adjusted that we find space itself beautiful when it's presented to us in the right way. The builder added swirling vine shapes to remind us how profound the simplest things in nature are.
Here's (above) a back room in a country church. The irregular slate floors and white, chalky walls enclose the space perfectly. The window admits diffused light into the room. It's a great window because its design elements of mathematical, intellectual purity co-exist with the primitive, textured, irregular walls that surround it. People are like that -- intellectually sophisticated and primitive at the same time. Even the furniture speaks about this dual nature of ours. Without using words or arguments the room forces us to think about who we are and how we fit into the world.
Here (above) are Roman-type sculptures and buildings in a garden setting. It's a Utopian vision of high human ideals co-existing with nature. A book trying to make the same point would risk skepticism by the reader. Art makes the point wordlessly and it sticks. Visual art is like music. It bypasses intellectual barriers and carries its argument directly to the viewer's mind. Artists have it in their power to change the world every bit as much as novelists and philosophers.
