Grecian and Chinese Architecture
Melbourne: Green Press, 1937.
Signed Limited Edition.
Edition limited to 100 numbered copies: Sir Ernest Scott's copy with signature on front endpaper.
"Even today, when professional interest in undertaking work in Asia is stronger than ever, Hardy Wilson's up-front appreciation of the importance of Chinese architecture stands without parallel." Stanislaus Fung & Mark Jackson, Architectural Theory Review
(Issue 1: Volume 1, 1996)
Building upon an already established relationship with the National Library, Wilson's orginal drawings for the fifty plates in "Grecian and Chinese Architecture" joined their collection in 1935.
"It was while contemplating the roofline of Purulia that Wilson made a discovery that would change the direction of his work. He became dissatisfied with the way the straight, Western line of the roof appeared to fall unchecked towards the ground, with nothing to ‘hold the eye’ on its downward journey. Only Oriental, and particularly Chinese architecture avoided this fault, with the upward turning hips appearing to ‘smile’ at the corners. Wilson discerned a Chinese influence in the circular forms and strongly horizontal lines of many Colonial buildings, an influence derived from the soil, an ‘instinctive osmosis’ due to geographic proximity rather than any direct contact with Chinese culture. It became Wilson ’s mission to create a synthesis between East and West, not just in architecture, but in art and philosophy too." [Michelle Hetherington, National Library of Australia: https://www.nla.gov.au/pictures/wilson-hardy].
Folio, 50 tipped-in plates, bound in original gilt-printed papered boards with vellum spine, printed on goatskin paper. A very good copy.
Price (AUD): $3,200.00 other currencies