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Béton Brut : André Bloc and the architecture-sculpture debate

(2022)
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Abstract
In the 1950s, artists, sculptors and architects began to use the mass availability of concrete to create a previously impossible fusion of architecture and sculpture. This dissertation engages this understudied moment in the history of modern art, focusing on the mutual influences between sculpture and architecture as they engaged with concrete. It pays particular attention to those works that left the concrete “brut”—that is, “raw” or unfinished—and thus produced a rough aesthetic that has become an icon of post-war art. This roughness also signified the abandonment of art as a pristine object for private viewing, as these artists used the flexibility and cheapness of the material to create large-scale public projects. This research traces this movement from its conceptual and material roots in the 1930s into its height from the mid-50s to early-70s. In so doing, it shows how fundamental the use of concrete was to the development of a new architectural-sculptural form, and, in turn, how their interdisciplinary and socially-focused practices form an overlooked genealogy of the arts in the present. The roots of this period lay in what can be called the architecture-sculpture debate, and are connected to André Bloc, who served as an instrumental and intermediary figure through the magazines he founded: L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui (Architecture of Today; 1930–present) and its spin offs, Art d’Aujourd’hui (Art of Today; 1949–1954) and Aujourd’hui Art et Architecture (Today Art and Architecture; 1955–1967). These magazines became a way to distribute images of these new overlaps between architecture and sculpture. In these journals, readers came into contact with the basic concepts of the debate—especially the idea of the “synthesis of the arts” and the social role of aesthetics—as well as examples of architectural sculpture and sculptural architecture. Bloc's initial interpretation of the synthesis of the arts was to create a new monumental form of art by combining painting and sculpture with architecture. His ideas can largely be traced back to Sigfried Giedion's theories on monumentality and how artists and architects could work together. The study then moves on to discuss key figures in this debate including Groupe Espace, Joop Beljon, Jacques Gillet, Mathias Goeritz, Claude Parent, Jacques Moeschal, Pierre Székely, and Bloc himself. These figures worked on an international scale, creating both works and networks. The dissertation traces how concrete spread through magazines, conferences, and the exchange of ideas, and explores in detail some of their major creations. It thus brings to life this largely forgotten debate that formed around the nexus of concrete, public projects, the combining of art and architecture, and the broader goal of a synthesis of the arts. Through this, we come to see the uniqueness of the architectural-sculptural debat in the shaping of post-war art.
Keywords
Architecture, Sculpture, Arts, Public sculpture, Sculptural concrete, Béton brut, Interactions between sculpture and architecture, integration of sculpture in public space

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MLA
Campens, Angelique. Béton Brut : André Bloc and the Architecture-Sculpture Debate. Ghent University. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, 2022.
APA
Campens, A. (2022). Béton Brut : André Bloc and the architecture-sculpture debate. Ghent University. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent, Belgium.
Chicago author-date
Campens, Angelique. 2022. “Béton Brut : André Bloc and the Architecture-Sculpture Debate.” Ghent, Belgium: Ghent University. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Campens, Angelique. 2022. “Béton Brut : André Bloc and the Architecture-Sculpture Debate.” Ghent, Belgium: Ghent University. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture.
Vancouver
1.
Campens A. Béton Brut : André Bloc and the architecture-sculpture debate. [Ghent, Belgium]: Ghent University. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture; 2022.
IEEE
[1]
A. Campens, “Béton Brut : André Bloc and the architecture-sculpture debate,” Ghent University. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent, Belgium, 2022.
@phdthesis{8755696,
  abstract     = {{In the 1950s, artists, sculptors and architects began to use the mass availability of concrete to create a previously impossible fusion of architecture and sculpture. This dissertation engages this understudied moment in the history of modern art, focusing on the mutual influences between sculpture and architecture as they engaged with concrete. It pays particular attention to those works that left the concrete “brut”—that is, “raw” or unfinished—and thus produced a rough aesthetic that has become an icon of post-war art. This roughness also signified the abandonment of art as a pristine object for private viewing, as these artists used the flexibility and cheapness of the material to create large-scale public projects. This research traces this movement from its conceptual and material roots in the 1930s into its height from the mid-50s to early-70s. In so doing, it shows how fundamental the use of concrete was to the development of a new architectural-sculptural form, and, in turn, how their interdisciplinary and socially-focused practices form an overlooked genealogy of the arts in the present.

The roots of this period lay in what can be called the architecture-sculpture debate, and are connected to André Bloc, who served as an instrumental and intermediary figure through the magazines he founded: L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui (Architecture of Today; 1930–present) and its spin offs, Art d’Aujourd’hui (Art of Today; 1949–1954) and Aujourd’hui Art et Architecture (Today Art and Architecture; 1955–1967). These magazines became a way to distribute images of these new overlaps between architecture and sculpture. In these journals, readers came into contact with the basic concepts of the debate—especially the idea of the “synthesis of the arts” and the social role of aesthetics—as well as examples of architectural sculpture and sculptural architecture.  Bloc's initial interpretation of the synthesis of the arts was to create a new monumental form of art by combining painting and sculpture with architecture. His ideas can largely be traced back to Sigfried Giedion's theories on monumentality and how artists and architects could work together.

The study then moves on to discuss key figures in this debate including Groupe Espace, Joop Beljon, Jacques Gillet, Mathias Goeritz, Claude Parent, Jacques Moeschal, Pierre Székely, and Bloc himself. These figures worked on an international scale, creating both works and networks. The dissertation traces how concrete spread through magazines, conferences, and the exchange of ideas, and explores in detail some of their major creations. It thus brings to life this largely forgotten debate that formed around the nexus of concrete, public projects, the combining of art and architecture, and the broader goal of a synthesis of the arts. Through this, we come to see the uniqueness of the architectural-sculptural debat in the shaping of post-war art.}},
  author       = {{Campens, Angelique}},
  keywords     = {{Architecture,Sculpture,Arts,Public sculpture,Sculptural concrete,Béton brut,Interactions between sculpture and architecture,integration of sculpture in public space}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{495}},
  publisher    = {{Ghent University. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture}},
  school       = {{Ghent University}},
  title        = {{Béton Brut : André Bloc and the architecture-sculpture debate}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}