An Analysis of the Plainness of the Quaker Aesthetic: The Artistic Resolution of the Inward Light and the Material World
The major focus of the Quaker aesthetic will be defined through the conflicting expression of art as a form of “plainness” in the spiritual building of the material world. The spiritual process of artistic expression in the Quaker community was based on the conflict of spiritual principles, which sought to minimize the corruption and debasement of the material world. This religious foundation defines how the Quakers sought to find a simple and plain expression of architecture or art, which diminished the influence of the material world on their spiritual purpose under God. Quaker spirituality demanded that the tension between …show more content…
Of course, The Quakers had to deal in commerce and trade, which forced them to promote their products in the method that Hicks expresses in his own artistic style. This is why Quaker painters, such as Hicks, sought to produce art through the professional aspects of sign-painting as a plain or practical means of expression in the community. In the world of painting, Hicks defines a reflection of sign-painting, which inevitably defined the plainness of Quaker art, yet it formed an outward expression of the practicality of the Quakers that define an aesthetic quality through commercial …show more content…
In this manner, the spiritual principles of equality, uniformity, and unembellished architecture became the Quaker aesthetic, especially in regards to the focus of space in the room: “From the late 1760s onward, a new meeting house idiom inspirited symmetry, uniformity, and equality in its plan” (Herman 153). Much like the individual in the Quaker community, it became obvious that the minimalism of design in the Quaker meting house reveals the plainness of architectural expression that made all members of the community equal to each other. Therefore, an effort to create an egalitarian and open meeting place helps to force the individual into an architectural version of the interior spiritual process of the Inward Light. Quaker architecture, however, does possess its own set of structural principles, which appear plain, yet they reveal the specific focus on the necessity of resolving the tension between the spiritual and material worlds. A focus on the Inward Light defines the minimalistic plainness of the Quaker meeting houses as an example of why meting house architecture was made to be simplified and without embellishments so that it would deter the spiritual meaning of the Quaker community in a public
The major focus of the Quaker aesthetic will be defined through the conflicting expression of art as a form of “plainness” in the spiritual building of the material world. The spiritual process of artistic expression in the Quaker community was based on the conflict of spiritual principles, which sought to minimize the corruption and debasement of the material world. This religious foundation defines how the Quakers sought to find a simple and plain expression of architecture or art, which diminished the influence of the material world on their spiritual purpose under God. Quaker spirituality demanded that the tension between …show more content…
Of course, The Quakers had to deal in commerce and trade, which forced them to promote their products in the method that Hicks expresses in his own artistic style. This is why Quaker painters, such as Hicks, sought to produce art through the professional aspects of sign-painting as a plain or practical means of expression in the community. In the world of painting, Hicks defines a reflection of sign-painting, which inevitably defined the plainness of Quaker art, yet it formed an outward expression of the practicality of the Quakers that define an aesthetic quality through commercial …show more content…
In this manner, the spiritual principles of equality, uniformity, and unembellished architecture became the Quaker aesthetic, especially in regards to the focus of space in the room: “From the late 1760s onward, a new meeting house idiom inspirited symmetry, uniformity, and equality in its plan” (Herman 153). Much like the individual in the Quaker community, it became obvious that the minimalism of design in the Quaker meting house reveals the plainness of architectural expression that made all members of the community equal to each other. Therefore, an effort to create an egalitarian and open meeting place helps to force the individual into an architectural version of the interior spiritual process of the Inward Light. Quaker architecture, however, does possess its own set of structural principles, which appear plain, yet they reveal the specific focus on the necessity of resolving the tension between the spiritual and material worlds. A focus on the Inward Light defines the minimalistic plainness of the Quaker meeting houses as an example of why meting house architecture was made to be simplified and without embellishments so that it would deter the spiritual meaning of the Quaker community in a public