I’m often amused when I see a pompous building sporting pillars with the two scrolls of the Ionic style, because those curves were originally just a way for sophisticated Athenians to avoid the ornate goats’ horns beloved of the Greek villages.
But the villagers may have had a point, because pairing off the grand and its opposite can be beautiful. Recently there was a noisy and delightful session of trad jazz as played in New Orleans inside the impressive and sternly classical Athenaeum Club. The jazz was excellent and performed not by hairy teenagers but by serious – well, fairly serious – middle-aged gentlemen: the Nevada Street Four. Would it have sounded even better in a smoky cellar or in New Orleans Preservation Hall? Possibly not.
Sometimes a display, a thought, a presentation benefits not from being in something similar and appropriate, but just the opposite. An imperious statue may be improved when adorned by a foolish hat; stone lions in Trafalgar Square can look great with children trying to get on to them; pretty girls may deliberately choose to go round with plain ones; sombre churches can feature Christmas decorations and three costumed kings; merry office leg-ups seem all the better for mucking up the chairman’s hallowed office.
Like to like may seem sensible, but it’s in the darkness that we see the stars; when it comes to matters of display it may be contrast that wins the day.
What do you think? Have your say below
