Aesthetics and Truth in Architecture: perspectives of Brazilian writings in XXth century
Architectural aesthetics; truth and aesthetics; architectural criticism; Brazilian architecture
Relations between beauty and truth can be found in aesthetic writings since Classical Antiquity. As at least since the 18th Century prevails an understanding that aesthetic experience is a subjective phenomenon, it is assumed the apprehension of truth develops in many fashions concerning the arts, including architecture; therefore, the fact that there is not an only notion of truth for architectural aesthetics opens possibilities to regard it from the concept of matter, opposing form. This thesis project’s objective is analyzing how the notion of truth in architectural aesthetics, from a material perspective, was thought and articulated in cultural practices of two Brazilian critics from the 20th Century. We hypothesize this truth is based on thoughts already unfolded throughout history, maintained in higher or lower degrees in different cultural or temporal contexts. We propose categorizing and analyzing writings by José Marianno Filho and Teixeira Coelho, from decades apart, parting from methodological processes based on Content Analysis and Discourse Analysis, which enables organizing permanencies and recurrences of truth in architectural aesthetics from a material perspective.