Beauty - LGT Bank (Switzerland)

Credo
© Romeo Polcan
LGT Journal on wealth culture
Beauty | XIV 2012
Contents | Credo Xiv
Credits
Publisher
H.S.H. Prince Philipp von und zu Liechtenstein
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of LGT Group
Beauty
Advisory board
Thomas Piske, CEO Private Banking
Norbert Biedermann, CEO LGT Bank in Liechtenstein Ltd.
Hans Roth, CEO LGT Bank (Switzerland) Ltd.
02
Editorial office
Sidi Staub (executive editor)
LGT Marketing & Communications
Layout
LGT Marketing & Communications
02 Portrait | The beauty of life
How the blind music therapist Wolfgang Fasser opens
up the world to disabled children.
Design concept
Thomas von Ah, Zurich
10 Portfolio | The golden ratio
Whoever seeks the key to beauty must know the
number Phi.
Picture editor
Lilo Killer, Zurich
Translation
Syntax Translations Ltd., Zurich
12 Portfolio | Maserati 300S
In sixty years’ time, will we still restore our cars with
so much love?
Printer
BVD Druck+Verlag AG, Schaan
Lithographer
Prepair Druckvorstufen AG, Schaan
Picture credits
Pages 10/11: Die Illustratoren.de/Jürgen Willbarth (adapted from
György Doczi, “The Power of Limits”, Shambala Publications,
Inc., Boston)
Pages 12 /13: Alexander Herold
Pages 14 /15: f.l.t.r. istockphoto / Manuela Krause,
Imagepoint /Elke v. Hohenstein-Jung, Imagepoint/Westend61,
Prisma/FRILET Patrick, Fotosearch, zoonar/ H.D. Falkenstein
Page 17: Christine Strub
Page 18: istockphoto / Damian Kuzdak
Page 20: Imagepoint / Björn Oldsen
Page 30: zoonar/Walter Luger
Page 34 top: Christian Breitler / with kind support from the
Antiquariat im Seefeld, Zurich
Page 34 bottom: Cinetext Bildarchiv
Page 35 left: Allstar Optimum /Optimum Rel. / Cinetext
Page 35 right: Richter /Cinetext
E-mail for correspondence
lgt.credo@lgt.com
Coordination
Chris Gothuey, Zurich
14 Portfolio | What is kitsch?
An explanation why art liberates and kitsch sedates.
16 Interview | We love symmetry and proportion
The surprising findings on the topic of beauty by the
evolutionary biologist Josef H. Reichholf.
22 Report | The ideas factory
What’s dreamt up at Central Saint Martins College
can change the world.
30 Essay | The beautiful game of Barça
At last: a soccer team that plays beautifully, and yet
still wins.
32 Masterpieces | Venus in front of the mirror
A painting that itself observes the beholder.
36
17
34 Literary choice | The loss of beauty
This novel about a wild “amour fou” could only have
been written by a Frenchman.
33
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50319en 0412 1.6T BVD
36 Carte Blanche | Music must be true
You’ve heard it right: smooth and noise-free isn’t
how music’s meant to be.
Editorial
Dear readers,
Beauty is transient. Who could deny it? But beauty is also eternal – at least it
is when you free your perspective from the confines of the superficial. In this
regard, the life story of our cover personality is for me an exemplary case. The
blind music therapist Wolfgang Fasser is a man who touches other people,
heals them, encourages them, and makes them happy. He gives them a new
perspective on the beauty of life – one free of any hindrance, sickness or dis­
ability. In his person and in his work, timeless values become visible: values
such as generosity, tolerance, trust, empathy and humor.
In medieval philosophy, beauty was regarded as “the splendor of truth.” Ar­
tists sought out the beautiful and the true. Those were the days. It has been a
long while since external beauty was a dominant criterion for the quality of
art. On the contrary: the boundaries between the artistic and the artificial, the
inauthentic and even the kitschy have probably never been so slender as they
are today. But the search for truth, in art too, has lost nothing of its topicality.
And there has perhaps been no era in which all aspects of life have been aes­
theticized to such an extreme degree as in our own.
This edition of CREDO sheds light on different realms in which the concept of
beauty plays a role: in the visually perceptible, in the conceptual and intellec­
tual, in society, art, nature, philosophy, science and even in sport. I hope that
you will gain new, perhaps even surprising insights into the multiplicity of
forms in which beauty has been perceived in different cultures and at dif­
ferent times in history.
H.S.H. Prince Philipp von und zu Liechtenstein
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of LGT Group
CREDO | 01
A Portrait of | Wolfgang Fasser
The beauty
of life
Text: Franziska Zydek | Photos: Romeo Polcan
Wolfgang Fasser is blind. He is a music therapist who
opens the doors of life to disabled children. An inspiring
story about hearing and seeing.
There was a key moment in the life of Wolfgang Fasser that
paved the way for everything after it. It happened on a Saturday
one autumn in the little Swiss town of Glarus. The bells began to
peal, so the local children knew that a wedding was taking place
in the church. As at every wedding, they knew they would be
showered with goodies afterwards. They ran to the church
square, where, in keeping with an old custom, the bride and
groom threw candies known locally as “firestones” among the
people who were there. “I could hear the candies pattering down
onto the ground around me and I watched how the other
02 | CREDO
Animal sounds in the natural
world play an important role
in music therapy.
CREDO | 00
A Portrait of | Wolfgang Fasser
children bent down after them. But I couldn’t see the candies as
between them, I have friends both here and there who are im­
they flew through the air,” remembers Wolfgang Fasser. “After
portant to me, and in both places I meet people who touch me
the square had emptied I was still standing there. I wasn’t in a
deeply.”
hurry. With my foot I carefully pushed aside the leaves under­
neath the chestnut tree in front of the church. And there lay the
In Switzerland, Wolfgang Fasser lives in the apartment of a
“firestones” that had remained hidden from the others. In this
friend who is blind like him. He knows his surroundings. He boils
moment I realized with intense clarity that the course of my life
water, makes tea, sets the table. He exudes a deep sense of calm.
would differ from that of my school friends.”
Pot, tea caddy, spoons: everything that he picks up he puts back
carefully in its proper place. If you can’t see, you have to have
Retinitis pigmentosa is a genetic disease that gradually robs
order in your life so you can live independently.
you of your sight. Of the five children born to the teacher Adolf
Fasser and his wife Johanna, three would go blind. Wolfgang lost
his sight at the age of 22, Bernhard at 28 and Christina at 38.
The next day, Wolfgang Fasser will take the train to Florence
and from there will travel another forty miles to the distant
mountain village of Quorle. He has founded a charitable institu­
A wanderer between worlds
tion there too: “il Trillo”, a school for musical improvisation.
“My life is geared not to the visible but to the invisible,” says
Wolfgang Fasser, who is now 57 years old. “It’s not my goal to live
The magic of the moment
like someone who can see. I want to be just how I am.” Early that
“Nel giardino dei suoni”, in the garden of sounds, is the name of
morning, he landed in Zurich after arriving back from Africa,
a prize-winning film that shows how Wolfgang Fasser goes about
where he had spent two months in the highlands of the kingdom
his work. The Italian-Swiss film maker Nicola Bellucci spent
of Lesotho, holding further training courses for physiotherapists
many years filming this sensitive documentary. It shows how
as he does every year. In the village of Thaba-Tseka, at an alti­
children with physical and mental disabilities can acquire a con­
tude of 2500 meters, there is a little hospital where Wolfgang
nection to the world with the help of music therapy. It shows the
Fasser volunteers as a therapist. He often travels for days on end
astonishing variety of acoustic spaces through which Wolfgang
across impassable mountain terrain in order to visit and treat
Fasser guides them. And it shows how their personalities can
the sick.
develop through the interplay of sound and touch. The children
are at first locked up in a body that won’t listen to them, and
Wolfgang Fasser is a physiotherapist and a music therapist.
He commutes between Africa, Switzerland and Italy, between
they have no means of expressing their inner life. But here they
discover their own unique potential and a joy in life.
poverty and prosperity, and between archaic, rural structures
and city life. “I am used to these contrasts and they don’t shock
In one scene of the film, Wolfgang Fasser can be seen on his
me anymore,” he says. “Even though there are huge differences
way through a forest one night with his dog and a tape machine.
With the help of music, sounds and touch…
04 | CREDO
He is going to record animal sounds. You can hear the hoarse
era with bright eyes and says, with great difficulty but a sense of
barking of a fox and the call of a deer – indefinable, mysterious
triumph: “Now I’m also learning to speak!” The beauty of this
sounds. Shortly afterwards, the therapist plays these sounds to
child’s happy face gets right under your skin.
a patient, a girl who can barely move and cannot speak. While
the tape is running, a small miracle happens: the child turns its
“I am trying to retrieve sunken treasure,” says Wolfgang Fas­
head in the direction of the sounds. She opens her eyes and ut­
ser. “It can take a long time, but the moment always comes when
ters a sound herself – a sound raw and archaic, like the cries of
you see the child and not the disability. That is the turning point!
the animals.
After that comes happiness.”
“I am trying to retrieve
sunken treasure.”
The value of simple things
Wolfgang Fasser’s blindness has made him sensitive to every­
thing that is not obvious. Perhaps this explains his empathy
with other people. The absence of his sight is something that he
interprets as a call to use his remaining senses all the more inten­
“In this moment, Jenny felt that she was not alone,” says
sively. “Being blind allows me to perceive the world differently.”
Wolfgang Fasser. “She found an echo of her own voice in the
voices of the animals.” This sound experiment opened the door
His little house in Italy is small. The kitchen has a wooden
to the world just a little for this child. The therapist is convinced
table, a stone sink, a large fireplace and an oven – all objects of a
that “if you observe things very carefully, you can find a common
world that is in easy reach. Next to the kitchen is the study, and
language even under the most difficult circumstances. It might be
you reach the bedroom via steep wooden steps. “I am content
a note, a touch, a laugh or a concert of birdsong. In that brief sec­
when I have little,” says Wolfgang Fasser. “I recognize the things
ond when the contact takes place, something mutual happens.
around me by touching them. I know their use and their value
Like a little light that suddenly flares up and brightens the dark­
for my everyday life. If I only possess a few things, I can love ev­
ness. Achieving this spark is to me a moment of great beauty.”
ery one of them. That makes them beautiful to me. A relation­
ship develops with them when I use them. And this personal
The chronological structure of the film lets us see how this
first moment of contact is followed by others. It shows how Wolf­
connection to them creates harmony. That’s how I can love
these things.”
gang Fasser is unendingly calm and imaginative as he engages
with his patient, over and again, by means of sounds and games.
It’s not just practical objects that Wolfgang Fasser has grown
The sum of these encounters results in trust: a relationship is
to love. He offers examples of things of beauty that surround
founded. Jenny blossoms. She learns to walk and to use her
him, and smiles as he does so: a root, a stone, a little bronze
hands. In an unforgettable sequence, the girl looks into the cam­
statue, a horn that contains “medicine” against hailstorms – a
… the children find their way back into life.
CREDO | 05
A Portrait of | Wolfgang Fasser
So what was he to do? He could still see, and blindness was
as yet the stuff of bad dreams at night. After leaving school he
trained first as a laboratory assistant and then as a baker. But
each time, his impending disability set a limit to his career ambi­
tions. “The turning point comes when you understand that it’s
not a defeat if you can’t do something,” says Wolfgang Fasser.
“You are not defined by your limitations. If you can accept that,
you’ve taken the first step on the right path.”
He decided to do a four-year training course as a physiother­
apist. He wrote his thesis just before he lost his sight. A few
days later he was blind. But this young therapist was highly sen­
sitive and talented, and his career took off. Soon he had built up
a physiotherapy department at a renowned Swiss clinic and hel­
ped to pave the way for new therapeutic techniques. He lived on
his own in his apartment, he was earning well and had a lovely
guide dog. “I was where I wanted to be, but I didn’t know any
more where to go because I had already arrived,” he recalls. At
the age of 30 he asked himself the question: “What am I really
here for?” Not long after, Wolfgang Fasser with backpack and his
dog were on a plane with a one-way ticket to Lesotho in south­
ern Africa. He had made a clear arrangement with the doctors’
organization for which he was to work. He wanted to be paid
enough for basic insurance, board and lodging, but he was ada­
mant that he shouldn’t be given a salary.
Wolfgang Fasser landed in the midst of nothing in the harsh,
windswept highlands of Lesotho. It was the poorest region of a
poverty-stricken country. And there, on the veranda of the hos­
pital of Thaba-Tseka, which was waiting room, transit camp and
Wolfgang Fasser makes contact with his patients by means of touch.
meeting place all in one, he set up his therapist’s couch and star­
ted to work.
gift from an African shaman. None of these things have any
The beauty of hearing
practical use, but they are important to the soul, he says. Yet
Wolfgang Fasser moves through life with astonishing speed. As
even when it comes to things of beauty, it’s still important to
soon as he knows where he wants to go, he seems to find his way
Wolfgang Fasser that they are a manageable quantity: “I can’t
with unerring accuracy. This is true not just in an ideal, spiritual
perceive beauty in a multitude.”
sense, but also in thoroughly practical terms. He has learnt to
navigate the streets of Zurich, he wanders across the Lesotho
The search for his own path
highlands and he will soon do the same through the forests of
Wolfgang Fasser’s childhood in the Swiss Canton of Glarus left a
the Toscana. “I never had the impression that I couldn’t see
deep impression on him. There the Alps surge straight up to­
anything, because – after all – I can hear”; this is his credo.
wards the sky. Ten mountains, each of them over 3000 meters
high, surround the narrow valley and cast their mighty shadows
over it. Avalanches thunder down in the winter, and fast-flowing
streams rush by in summer. Young Wolfgang’s childhood dream
was to become a forest ranger in this wilderness. “It’s impossible
with your diagnosis,” said his implacable father. “He said no out
of love,” recalls Wolfgang Fasser. “But it still hurt.”
06 | CREDO
“But I didn’t
know any more
where to go.”
Anna smiles: they find a common language without words.
His love of nature helps him to find his bearings. “Just like
acoustic signals. “The world of sound has its own landscapes,”
when I was a child in the mountains, I pay attention to all the
says Wolfgang Fasser with a smile. “In the same moment that the
sounds that surround me,” he explains. “I make a noise with my
eye loses its dominance, you can begin to listen. Over time, aural
stick and its echo is cast back to me by stones and house walls. I
pictures of incredible beauty are formed inside you.”
register the sound of the wind whistling round a corner. I notice
that blackbirds are singing in a particular tree. This is how I save
Following the call of life
a map of my surroundings in my memory, and it is made up of
The years in Africa have left their mark on Wolfgang Fasser. He
the most varied noises and sounds.”
was touched deeply by his many encounters with people who
were for the most part incurably ill, yet still exuded so much
If you take up Wolfgang Fasser’s invitation to close your eyes
cheerfulness and a lust for life. He also changed as a physiother­
for a moment and concentrate in complete stillness on the acou­
apist. In the little hospital of Thaba-Tseka, which lacked every­
stic markers of your environment, you will be surprised. There
thing that constitutes modern medicine in Switzerland, Wolf­
are sounds that swell up and die away again, traces of noise,
gang Fasser realized that the most important aspect of his work
scraps of conversations, fragments of music, the sounds of bells,
is his proximity to the patient. He acquired a new perspective
and birdcalls answered far in the distance. All these sounds are
from all that he experienced: “Healing is not the same as repair­
on the move and form a confusing multiplicity of the most varied
ing. It’s an act of unfolding human possibilities.”
CREDO | 07
A Portrait of | Wolfgang Fasser
Armed with this new knowledge, he returned to Switzerland.
region, to Quorle in the mountains of the Toscana. He felt at
But nothing would be the same again. After his deeply felt con­
home in this out-of-the-way area and worked here as a physio­
tact with the simple life and the poverty of Lesotho, his everyday
therapist for a minimum wage.
life in Zurich seemed unbearable to him. “What’s most important
in the Western world are your salary, getting recognition and
Music at last!
your social position. What you earn determines the value of your
In Africa he once had a dream. In one hand he was carrying a
work,” he says. “In Africa it’s different. All that counts there is
black case in which there was a saxophone, and in the other he
that a patient suffers less.” Again Wolfgang Fasser asked himself
held the leash of his dog. He had the dream a second time, but
the question: “What am I here for?”
this time the saxophone lay shining in a poorly lit rehearsal
room. Wolfgang Fasser finally learnt to play the instrument
“All that counts
there is that a patient
suffers less.”
when he was in Italy. He now felt that the time was ripe to ex­
pand his career into music. So he signed himself up for a fouryear part-time course in music therapy at the Pro Civitate Chris­
tiana in Assisi.
As if of their own accord, all the pieces in the jigsaw puzzle
of Wolfgang Fasser’s life came together to form a unified picture:
A letter from an Italian friend brought him the answer. “I’m
his experiences as a physiotherapist, his inner images from the
expecting you, and soon!” he wrote, short and sweet. To Wolf­
cosmos of sounds, his love of nature, his desire to give warmth
gang Fasser, these few words seemed like the call of life. He
and love, his belief in the potential of human possibilities. Wolf­
packed his things, took his dog and moved to his friend’s home
gang Fasser founded his workshop for musical improvisation,
With help from his secretary, Wolfgang Fasser corrects tests by his students in Africa.
08 | CREDO
“il Trillo”, in 1999. Today he works with disabled children at the
school alongside two other experienced music therapists. “We
don’t ask for any wages, just a small contribution to our costs.
The therapy can often last for several years, and this means that
truly all parents can afford it,” says Wolfgang Fasser. Sponsors in
a support association pay the rent and heating costs.
Another dream has come true for Wolfgang Fasser: he is
mak­ing music! Together with the Shalom Klezmer Quartet he
plays Jewish folk songs everywhere that people come together:
in theaters, in children’s homes, at weddings and at fairs. There
you’ll see Wolfgang Fasser with his saxophone, his red beret on
his head, standing among a crowd of happy people, playing to
raise the roof. And it’s a picture of great beauty. Franziska Zydek lives by the lake of Zurich and in the mountains of the Gri­
sons. She likes most of all to write about people and their path through life. Giving something back to society
Wolfgang Fasser has founded two charitable institutions that are de­
signed to help other people free of charge. The association “il Trillo”
provides music therapy to disabled children in the mountain region of
the Toscana, and the “Lesotho Project” offers advanced training for
physiotherapists. For information on both projects, Wolfgang Fasser’s
books and other activities, see: www.wolfgangfasser.ch
Fraternità di Romena
Wolfgang Fasser is the co-founder of a lay Christian movement whose
goals include offering individuals and families a place of quiet, away
from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Wolfgang Fasser is respon­
sible for the movement’s “house of quietness”: www.romena.it
“Nel giardino dei suoni”
This film by Nicola Bellucci can be ordered on DVD at: info@wolfgang­
fasser.ch
Shalom Klezmer
This quartet plays music that makes you want to tap your feet and that
warms your heart: www.shalom@klezmer.ch
Hearing, seeing, feeling: getting to know the world through sensory impressions.
CREDO | 09
Portfolio
The golden
ratio
M
any people find sunflowers beautiful, and ancient temples
too. Scientific studies have shown that volunteers from dif­
ferent cultural backgrounds find the same faces attractive. Why
should that be? The quest for a formula for beauty is probably as
old as mankind itself. However, among the numerous attempts
at an explanation, one phenomenon keeps recurring: the golden
ratio. For the ancient Greeks, the geometric relationship called
the “divine proportion” – “proportio divina” – denoted the epit­
ome of aesthetics and harmony. The golden ratio occurs when a
line is divided into two parts in such a way that the smaller part
(a) is in the same proportion to the larger part (b) as the larger
is to the whole line (a+b), that is to say: a:b = b:(a+b).
a
b
This proportion, also described using the character Phi (Ф),
is to be found in the architecture of numerous temples from an­
cient times. The most well-known is the Parthenon temple on
the Acropolis in Athens. To this day we do not know whether the
proportions were selected intentionally or through an uncon­
scious perception of beauty. Certainly in later eras, there are
countless examples of the deliberate use of the golden ratio, in­
cluding the cathedrals of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence and
Notre Dame in Paris. Many artists have also used these propor­
tions as the basis for the composition of their paintings. This is
that the proportions of the golden ratio can be found in the ana­
the case, for example, in the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and
tomy of the average person right down to the smallest details.
Albrecht Dürer. Even in photography, it is still used today as a
Since at least the 1990s, digital animations have repeatedly
way of composing a pleasing picture.
proved that a face is perceived as more beautiful if it more close­
ly resembles the average face. Modern cosmetic surgery makes
It was recognized centuries ago that the golden ratio not
use of this knowledge about the ideal proportions when recon­
only forms the basis of artifacts created by man but is also a kind
structing certain parts of the body. Furthermore, since 1991, the
of template for development in nature. At the beginning of the
scientist Jean-Claude Perez has set himself the task of proving
13th century, an Italian mathematician proved, for example, that
that Fibonacci numbers are a structural element in man’s gene­
the arrangement of petals on a flower follows a mathematical
tic code.
pattern. Only later was it discovered that the Fibonacci numbers
that were named after him are strictly based on the principle of
The golden ratio in its purest form can be found in numerous
the number Phi. Since then, the importance of the golden ratio
geometric shapes. Among polygons, the pentagram in particular
in other natural processes has been demonstrated. About 160
– the regular five-pointed star – has all its proportions based
years ago, the scholar and writer Adolf Zeising devoted himself
directly on the golden ratio. This is one of the oldest symbols
to studying the proportions of the human body. He established
used by man, whether for the drude’s (witch’s) cross in Goethe’s
10 | CREDO
“Faust” or as a symbol on the flags of many countries. One of the
numbers and not ideals – is to obscure your vision of the whole
best-known formulas for representing the number Phi is quite
truth. This is because it is not the specific dimensions that are
impressive even for non-mathematicians:
special about the proportion once described as divine. Rather, it
Ф = �1+ �1+ �1+ �1+ �1+ ...
is the underlying principle that states that each section is in the
same ratio to the next largest section. So it is the consistent ar­
rangement of all the parts to make the whole that is the ideal ex­
pressed by the golden ratio in its purest form. Consideration of
the bigger picture as a law of nature: now that’s just beautiful! It is clear that the special role played by the golden ratio in
art, culture and science is absolutely fascinating. Nevertheless,
the golden ratio has never been recognized by modern scientists
as the formula for beauty. The reason is quite simple: the golden
ratio is not a universal formula and certainly not a guarantee of
Dr. Dr. Ruben Stelzner is a legal expert and dental practitioner. From an early
beauty. From a strictly scientific point of view, that may well
stage, he dedicated himself to researching beauty. When working for his
make sense. At the same time, thinking about things in this way,
doctorate at the University of Witten/Herdecke, he studied the golden ratio
which is so typical of our times – always looking for concrete
in great depth. For more information, see: www.golden-section.eu
CREDO | 11
Portfolio
Maserati
300s
Beautiful and fast: ready to race again, thanks to passion and precision.
O
nly 26 of them left the Maserati factory in Modena (Italy)
ponsible for the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, and he gave it erotic
between 1955 and 1956. Four meters fifteen centimeters
curves just like those of Sophia Loren in the movies of the day.
long, some 780 kg light and with a top speed of 180 mph. Legend­
Right down to our own time, the Maserati 300S remains one of
ary drivers such as Juan Manuel Fangio, Sterling Moss, Carroll
the most beautiful racing cars ever made.
Shelby, Luigi Musso and Jean Behra drove to triumph in this car
at the Mille Miglia, at the Targa Florio and in Le Mans. Even to­
Of those 26 that were built, only a few have survived in their
day its asymmetrical, aluminum body is breathtaking. It was de­
original state. One of these – the one that used to belong to
signed and constructed by Medardo Fantuzzi, who was also res­
Count Carlo Pottino from Palermo – has now been restored in
12 | CREDO
Cologne, in a former engine house not far from the Deutz harbor.
This is why the owner of the repair workshop is completely un­
And it’s all been done by a small workshop that has specialized
compromising when it’s a matter of authenticity and quality: as
in restoring racing cars from the 1950s and ’60s. Here, cars are
uncompromising as people only can be when they are driven by
not just “pimped up” but are allowed to remain authentic wit­
passion. nesses of the pioneering days of the automobile. They should
not just land in a museum or in the exhibition hall of some pri­
vate collector. They should continue to write history and they
should race again – that would be their ultimate endurance test.
Sidi Staub is the executive editor of CREDO.
CREDO | 13
Portfolio
What is
Childish, homely, natural kitsch
Sentimental, cute kitsch
SCHMALTZY KITSCH
kitsch?
Feelings of comfort
K
itsch is even more difficult to define than art. This is be­
Elements typical of kitsch emerge in art only in the modern pe­
cause it is a concept that describes not just aesthetic phe­
riod. Whereas Raphael’s Madonnas and his angels are generally
nomena but also emotions and modes of behavior that really be­
still regarded as possessing authenticity, Guido Reni’s female
long in the realm of ethics. Typical characteristics of kitsch are a
martyrs, casting their languishing gaze towards the heavens, al­
treacly sentimentality, a tendency to sugarcoating, infantilism
ready possess for the critical observer a hint of kitschy senti­
and a false pathos. All these have one thing in common: people
mentality. The Rococo then brought the kitsch of the cute, while
sensitive to kitsch find them fake. If we place the false childlike­
the Romantics let loose the kitsch of nature. In the 19th century,
ness of the garden gnome at one end of a sliding scale and the
the whole of culture became in the end so swamped with kitsch
hollow pathos of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s public monuments at the
that the great works of art stand out like islands amongst it.
other, we can easily situate commonplace kitsch between these
two poles. Kitsch ranges from the cutely sentimental to the child­
The sentimental kitsch of the child, the home and of nature
ish, the homely and the nature-loving and thence to an aestheti­
endeavors to convey a sense of comfort and security, whereas
cized pseudo-beauty; from there in turn we move into erotic,
bombastic, pseudo-sublime kitsch satisfies a longing for unques­
religious and patriotic kitsch, and finally to a kitsch of the sub­
tioned authority. Both types appeal to those who have lost what
lime that urges us to bow down in reverence before it. The left
that kitsch purports to represent. Until the Middle Ages, man
hand of the scale, to put it in crude terms, could be called
was bound within a vertical societal order that was so firmly en­
schmaltzy kitsch, whereas the right-hand side displays a rising
trenched that greater comfort and a yet higher authority could
tendency towards the bombastic. A glance at cultural history
be anticipated only in the beyond: in the Garden of Eden, to
shows that kitsch has by no means always existed. We find
which one hoped to return by submitting to the authority of
nothing comparable in either Antiquity or in the Middle Ages.
God. The rise of the bourgeoisie from the end of the Middle
14 | CREDO
BOMBAST
Awe-inspiring, pseudo-sublime kitsch
Erotic and religious kitsch
Aestheticizing, “beautiful” kitsch
Yearning for authority
Ages onwards, coupled with an increasing trend towards secu­
Art is liberating: kitsch, however, sedates and acts like a
larization, brought about a greater leveling off in society. In its
drug. We see it in a crass form in National Socialism, in which the
wake there emerged a sense of rootlessness and of alienation
nationalistic cult of blood-and-soil offered a pretense of comfort
from the here-and-now that has become an integral aspect of
and security, and in which the Nuremberg Rallies with the bom­
modern existence.
bastic, kitschy, pseudo-sublimity of their “cathedrals of light”
and massed marches served to satisfy a yearning for authority.
Kitsch satisfies our increasing desire for surrogates of what
The great mass of kitsch might be harmless, but man’s wide­
we have lost. This is its fundamental difference to art. Art also
spread receptivity to the promises of a false Eden still makes it
satisfies a general human yearning, namely a yearning for plea­
a latent danger. sure in perception and sensation. But unlike kitsch, art remains
within the realm of the aesthetic. It does not “satiate” us but
makes its impact through formal design, by stilling the pleasure
of expectation (in the visual arts) and by ritualizing the plea­
sure of satisfaction (in music and poetry). A beautifully painted
still life attracts us without our wanting to eat its fruit; and an
Hans-Dieter Gelfert was professor for English literature and culture at the
aria laden with emotion or a furious finale satisfies without
Free University of Berlin until his retirement in 2000. Besides books on Eng­
satiating – otherwise the enthusiastic listeners would not cry
lish and American literature, on the English, American and German mentality
“Encore!” Immanuel Kant once described this separation of the
and humor, he has written the books “Was ist Kitsch?” (What is Kitsch?)
physiological pleasure of desire from purely aesthetic delight as
(2000) and “Im Garten der Kunst. Versuch einer empirischen Ästhetik” (In
“disinterested pleasure.”
the Garden of Art. An essay on empirical aesthetics) (1998).
CREDO | 15
In conversation with | Josef H. Reichholf
We love symmetry
and proportion
Interview: Manfred Schiefer
Being beautiful is important, for both man and animals.
in itself, trivial, we can see from quite a distance if someone is
In his book “The Origin of Beauty”, the zoologist and
limping. We automatically observe whether the proportions are
evolutionary biologist Josef H. Reichholf explains why
right, and instinctively reject that which is out of proportion. If a
this is so.
tulip flower has two longer petals, we notice that immediately,
regardless of whether it serves any purpose or not. This judg­
CREDO: Why has an evolutionary biologist written a book
ment takes place entirely subconsciously, enabling us to distin­
about beauty?
guish in an instant, and without thinking about it, between the
Josef H. Reichholf: Thinking about beauty is an important part
normal – which generally equates to the beautiful and the good
of my professional work as a biologist. Questions inevitably arise
– and the aberrant or deviant.
about where beauty comes from, what purposes it fulfills and
whether or not this comes into conflict with the Darwinian the­
ory of functional advantage in nature. I have been interested in
this for years, if not decades. The result is this book.
What makes us as humans think that something is beautiful?
The basis on which we assess beauty is the predominance of
symmetry and proportion, which may or may not be immediate­
ly apparent. As humans, we note, for every animal, every human
we encounter, whether the proportions – size of the head and
body, length of the arms and legs – are well balanced. If
someone’s arms are far too long, which only happens in a very
few people, we notice it immediately. If the legs are not exactly
in proportion, the person concerned is obliged to limp. Even
though a difference of one centimeter in the length of the legs is,
16 | CREDO
Josef H. Reichholf’s book investigates
beauty in evolution.
CREDO | 00
In conversation with | Josef H. Reichholf
The different perceptions of man and animals
A magnificent, symmetrical set of antlers impresses female deer as much as it does humans. However, contrary to a common misconception, the antlers are
not the most important criterion when a doe is selecting a mate. Far more critical is the sound of the stag roaring. If that is deep and powerful enough, the
doe will select a partner even if he has smaller or less regular antlers. Hunters, on the other hand, decide for quite different reasons: for them the antlers are
definitely the main selection criterion.
18 | CREDO
Can symmetry also be a criterion for assessing beauty
puppies are perfectly equipped for survival. These examples
beyond the animal and plant kingdom?
show, firstly, that some species have far less scope for making
Symmetry and proportion provide a simple but very reliable ref­
the best of their external appearance than man or birds. Second­
erence system. Whether you look at classical statues, buildings
ly, they also teach us that we are very prone to considering other
such as the Taj Mahal and Cologne Cathedral, or even modern
forms of life from our own point of view and judging them accor­
edifices, you will find symmetry and harmony everywhere – in
dingly.
complex or more simple form. Even the Leaning Tower of Pisa
is, as a tower, symmetrical in construction. The simpler a struc­
Even in the animal kingdom, beauty, in the sense of symme­
ture is, the easier we find it to understand. The appearance of a
try and proportionality, is not the only criterion for select­
pyramid is immediately impressive because it is the perfect ex­-
ing a mate. Shouldn’t we talk about attractiveness rather
pression of pure symmetry. And diamonds, for us the most de­sir­
than beauty?
­able gemstone of all, have one of the simplest crystal structures.
Beauty can be measured relatively objectively. The plumage of
birds is a good example of how we, as impartial observers, can
What is the function of beauty in animals?
see how such a gorgeous appearance would be effective. Nowa­
Beauty generally indicates that the animal’s development – from
days we can use the methods of molecular genetics to analyze in
the egg to the way it is now – however long that may have taken,
detail how particular females make their selections, how often
has proceeded normally. If every peacock’s feather has an eye
infidelities occur and so on. So we know how urgent or compel­
and the feathers are all the same length, then when the male
ling the effect of the male’s external appearance is for the fe­
spreads his tail, the hen can see straightaway that this is a
male, or how it may be only a contributing factor. To that extent,
healthy bird. The female decides at a glance whether the male is
beauty is a concept that is easy to define objectively, so it lends
a suitable mating partner. If the answer is yes, she tests him
itself more to scientific analysis. Attractiveness, on the other
further. The peacock, for example, will then demonstrate his fit­
hand, is a far more personal matter. Something that is really at­
ness by displaying his splendid plumage for as long as possible,
tractive to one person may be very off-putting for another.
rattling his feathers forcefully – the longer he can do this for, the
stronger he is, and so the more interesting he is to the female.
To take an easy example from the animal world: it is hard to get
excited about slugs. However, if you study their lives in depth,
What other forms of beauty are important in the animal
they can be very attractive from a scientific point of view. But I
world?
doubt if even the most committed slug researcher would expect
In those birds that do not have the fine plumage of ducks or
the average man on the street to find these creatures attractive.
birds of paradise, it is usually the song that is the selection crite­
rion. But here again, it is not only the beauty of the performance
With human beings, things are even more complicated than
that counts. The females are interested in how long the male can
most people realize – because our nose and ears also play a part.
sing for. That shows how strong he will be when it comes to the
Once again, it is useful to compare birds with humans. If voices
tireless work of finding food for their young. So it is not only the
are at the same pitch, we find the one that is speaking our lan­
beauty of the song that is judged but also the stamina associated
guage more attractive. When it comes to smells, we find things
with it. The females only use beauty to make their initial, rough
rather difficult. Modern odor research shows that we follow a
selection.
principle that is summed up well by the colloquial expression
“He just gets up my nose.” It is something that we are not con­
But there are some animals that we consider to have irregu­
scious of, but it contributes to the complex picture of attractive­
lar proportions and that, in our eyes, are not at all beautiful.
ness. So, attractiveness is far more multilayered and dependent
Yes, there are. In deep sea fish, for example, the head is far too
on an individual’s point of view, hearing and sense of smell.
large in proportion to the rest of the body. There is a functional
Beauty, on the other hand, can be assessed visually, or acousti­
reason for that: because it’s always dark down there and there
cally in terms of consonance and dissonance.
isn’t much food, they have to have huge feelers for catching the
occasional prey that comes along. Sand puppies too, the hair­
Unlike with many animals, where the male is the more mag­
less, mole-like creatures that live underground, seem ugly to us.
nificent, in humans it is women who are regarded as “the
In their own habitat, however, external beauty counts for
fair sex.” Why is that?
nothing, since nobody sees them, not even members of their
In evolution, it is always a question of the relationship between
own species. In functional terms, though, deep sea fish and sand
the genders. Among mammals, the females always seek out the
CREDO | 19
In conversation with | Josef H. Reichholf
Beauty and evolution
The British naturalist Charles Darwin regarded beauty in the animal kingdom as an unsolved problem: it contradicted his understanding of the pure function­
ality of natural processes intended to ensure survival. Later scientists explained away beauty as a handicap for animals. If the magnificent plumage makes
life more difficult for birds, because it makes them more obvious to predators or – as in the case of the peacock – even puts them at a disadvantage, then
that was supposed to be a signal to the female: if they can survive in spite of these disadvantages, then they must be strong and healthy. Josef H. Reichholf
was the first to recognize the function of beauty in the animal world. In his book “The Origin of Beauty,” he shows how the peacock’s splendid plumage
also provides protection against predators, for example, that spreading the tail deters attackers from behind. They are unable to see the bird’s body and so
would miss it if they attacked. And even when it is not raised, the peacock’s long tail protects him: if he is attacked, he can drop his feathers in a “fright
molt” and fly off without the troublesome burden – and the enemy is left with a heap of beautiful but useless feathers.
20 | CREDO
fittest males, because that increases the chances of survival for
perfect beauty. In the late Middle Ages or early modern age, a
their young. In primitive human societies, such as among the
plumper body was a kind of insurance against infection and bas­
Pap­uan tribes of New Guinea, it was just the same. In societies
ic illnesses that quickly wiped out the undernourished. A fuller
where there is an uneven distribution of rich and poor people,
body shape indicated to the potential marriage candidate that
this relationship has been reversed. There are relatively few
you were healthy with reserves of strength. The Greek ideal of
men in attractive jobs or with considerable assets – formerly no­
beauty – the youthful athlete – is also widespread in Africa, the
blemen owning land, or rich merchants, nowadays company ow­
jungles of South America and in South-East Asia. Universally,
ners and senior executives – and lots of women seeking the best
proportionality is the key factor in assessing beauty. Variations
conditions for their children. This means that, in the complex
are permitted, but they depend on the time and the situation.
world of humans, the women compete for the men. This compe­
tition is subtle yet purposeful. It happens on a far wider scale
Has your own attitude to beauty changed as a result of your
than may normally appear to be the case. If a woman seeks to
work on the book?
dress herself as distinctively as possible, in biological terms that
I have become aware of a great deal through it. Because I now
is a reflection of the keen competition between women.
know the background reasons, I am able to explain certain reac­
tions in myself and others: for example, if I spontaneously like
If beauty is also one of the criteria in selecting a partner for
something, or if it takes an effort for me to behave normally with
humans, why haven’t we, in the course of evolution, come to
disabled people. We do not warm to them simply through “good
resemble a common ideal of beauty – like birds of paradise
will” but as a result of active humanity.
or peacocks?
It is not the most beautiful people who have the most children.
The fact that I have been interested in all kinds of life forms
The highest number of surviving children is more likely to be
since my earliest childhood has, of course, helped me in my
found near the middle of the spectrum of variation. Biologically
work as a zoologist. This is because if you don’t only study beau­
speaking, reproduction always results in a deviation away from
tiful birds, but also the generally unloved creepy-crawlies and
the ideal form. Unlike with animals, it is not possible to breed
creatures like sand puppies and warthogs, it automatically broad­
the ideal form of human being. That is a good thing, because
ens your assessment criteria. Also, looking at them through the
otherwise the immune system would become standardized,
microscope often reveals really beautiful shapes that you simply
which would lower resistance to disease and lead to genetic de­
can’t see with the naked eye. This shows that there is far more
ficiencies. Variation keeps the immune system healthy. That is
of the basic structures of symmetry and proportion, that is to
why striving toward the common idea of beauty is a good thing,
say beauty, in life forms than we realize. When you study animals
but at the same time it is important to keep a certain distance
and plants, you learn that you should not be too one-sided in
away from what might be regarded as perfection. The more the
only looking at them with human eyes. gene pool is mixed up, the less the vulnerability to disease.
So why does evolution require beauty if it’s all about genetic
diversity?
We humans also use beauty in our preselection. That’s why we
decide quite spontaneously whether we like someone’s hair or
skin or not. And red lips, for example, indicate that the body has
developed normally. Beauty is, really, the yardstick for every
living being.
So is there a biological reason why the ideal of beauty should
change over time?
Prof. Dr. Josef H. Reichholf is an evolutionary biologist, zoologist and ecol­
The ideal of beauty has not changed so very much. The differen­
ogist. He was Head of the Vertebrates Department of the Bavarian State
ces in body shape and proportions between past times and our
Collection of Zoology in Munich, and has taught at both Munich universities.
own are relatively slight. In modern times, when plenty of food
In 2007, he was awarded the “Sigmund Freud Prize for Scientific Prose” by
is guaranteed, the ideal of thinness may be particularly prized.
the German Academy for Language and Poetry for his accessible writings on
That dates back to our origins as hunter-gatherers. The nomadic
ecology. According to the 2009 Cicero rankings, Josef H. Reichholf is one of
lifestyle demanded proportions similar to today’s concept of
the forty leading natural scientists in Germany.
CREDO | 21
Report | Central Saint Martins College
The ideas factory
Text: Sacha Batthyany | Photos: Mischa Haller
standing at the imposing entrance of this world-famous college
that has brought forth artists such as Lucian Freud, singers such
In the world-famous Central Saint Martins College of Art
as Sade and actors such as Colin Firth. It has trained fashion de­
and Design in London, the focus is not just on beauty but
signers including Alexander McQueen, Phoebe Philo and Stella
above all on our lives, our fears, dreams and instincts.
McCartney and inventors such as the vacuum-cleaner manufac­
turer and billionaire James Dyson. “What is dreamt up here,”
It isn’t difficult to find the new home of Central Saint Martins
says the lecturer Nick Rhodes a few hours later, “changes the
College in London. You need neither a map nor a GPS, you don’t
world.” And he is not exaggerating.
have to ask for directions from passers-by and you don’t even
need the address. You just have to wait in front of King’s Cross
Station until you see the students with the craziest hairstyles,
and then follow them discreetly. There are the Asian girls with
their canary-yellow leggings and their coats in fir-tree green,
“What is dreamt up here
changes the world.”
then the Indians wrapped up in gaudy scarves carrying artwork
portfolios as big as windscreens. They are your guides. And five
Everything is still a little unfamiliar. The place smells of
minutes later, after having passed cranes and excavators, you’re
paint and a few technicians are laying a cable. It was only last
22 | CREDO
Light, glass and transparence in abundance – the imposing entrance hall of Central Saint Martins. A perfect blend of old brick walls and the most modern
industrial architecture.
October that this 40 000 m2 building was inaugurated. Here,
te “yet more innovation, yet more provocation, new collabora­
old brick walls from the 19 century are combined with the
tions, new paradigms, new paths.” It’s not just the college
most modern industrial architecture, built by the London ar­
building that is new, for the whole area around King’s Cross is
chitects Stanton Williams. Before, the different departments
changing. Just a few months ago it was a wasteland the size of
were dotted across the whole city, but now they are united un­
thirty soccer fields. The rain was dripping through the roofs of
der a single roof. Here, 4500 students from sixty countries stu­
run-down factory buildings and there were illegal clubs where
dy fashion, architecture, drama, industrial design, graphic de­
a few insatiable techno freaks would meet in secret. Otherwise
sign and much more besides. From ashtrays to evening dresses,
there was nothing except for a third-rate go-cart track. But
from the design of a new cell phone to experimental film
now there are cranes everywhere. New office buildings are
scripts: new things are being created here every day – sket­
springing up, as are new dormitories for students and a new
ches, drafts, projects. Some things are just pipe dreams, other
square right in front of Central Saint Martins. “This should all
things land straight in the trash. But time and again, one or
be finished in the summer, right on time for the Olympics,”
another student succeeds in awakening the interest of an out­
says Ricky, one of the construction workers who every morning
side company. Central Saint Martins is a factory of new ideas.
watches the students pass by on their way to college, all
And by bringing together all its fields of study in a single build­
dressed up. “Are they really the same as they look?” he asks.
ing, the Head of College, Jane Rapley, hopes that it will genera­
“Or are they quite normal?”
th
CREDO | 23
Report | Central Saint Martins College
A place of creative cooperation
of Apple, Walter Isaacson writes that Jobs had his company build­
Jonathan Barratt, Dean of the School of Graphics and Indus­
ings constructed so that his employees would meet by chance as
trial Design, shows us through the four-story building. We pass
much as possible in order to exchange ideas. Steve Jobs would
the beautiful library where not just art books and all editions of
have loved the new building of Central Saint Martins.
Vogue are on display but also different kinds of materials: rub­
ber, aluminum, plastic – because the students also have to know
There’s a smell of glue and wood just like in a workshop, yet
their way around the materials they work with. “We didn’t want
there are books everywhere. It is this combination of handicraft
a skyscraper,” says Barratt, “because studies have shown that
and intellect, of manual abilities and analytical capability that
people interact less in high-rise buildings than they do in low-
makes this college so unique. Barratt says: “We place a lot of
rise structures. People don’t like walking up and down.” Every­
val­ue on research. Before our students attempt a new object,
thing in this new building is open: there’s plenty of light, plenty
wheth­er it’s a handbag or a chair, we tell them that they have to
of space, plenty of glass; and in-between, time and again, there
go out and be inquisitive, observe people, see how they live, how
are the rust-brown brick walls of the former granary. Their
they eat, how they move. They should act like explorers and
patina shines back into the rooms and lends them a quite singu­
make sketches and photos. They should note down their rituals
lar sense of warmth. Wherever you go, students are standing in
and ask questions.”
little groups and discussing their next creations. That reminds
one of Steve Jobs’s mantra that the best ideas aren’t born in
Indeed, regardless of their chosen subject, all the students
classrooms or at lonely office desks, but in the cafeteria, in the
have tales to tell of their research out in the field. Most of them
elevator or in the car park. In his biography of the late co-found­er
here are very self-confident and you notice quickly that they are
Top: The Stella McCartneys and James Dysons of tomorrow study here today.
Right: The canteen offers global cuisine: sushi, curry, vegetable soup.
24 | CREDO
used to expressing themselves. Their heads are full of plans and
Barratt drinks coffee from a cardboard cup, sitting at one of
they have their lives ahead of them. One of them has spent days
the long wooden tables in the canteen. Central Saint Martins has
in the subway, observing everything that people do with their
a different motto from other colleges, he says: “Every student
cell phones in places where there is no reception (women use
has to specialize. They have to become an expert in a particular
them as a mirror, while some men use them to scratch their
field. Only then do they have to acquire knowledge in other ar­
backs). Another spent some time living like an ethnologist with
eas.” For that is precisely what is in demand today: specialists
a Swiss alpine farmer. He wanted to learn about the lonely, rough
who think laterally and connect subjects with one another. “We
life in the Alps in order to transfer his knowledge to the urban
have a project in Seoul. We have been given the task of opening
context of London. All these research travels are based on an
up the city to tourists. We have to tell new stories, we have to
endeavor to study human behavior, “how people interact with
rethink a city that has in large part been formed by industry. For
one another and with objects.” “Because human beings,” says
this we need an international team of creative architects, city
Barratt, a tall man with a high forehead, “are always at the heart
planners, filmmakers, graphic designers. You’ll never find all of
of what we do. A good designer is someone who understands
them as easily as you will at our college.”
people.”
Beauty as a social category
“We place a lot
of value on research.”
This multiplicity of cultures is for Simon Fraser also one of
the secrets of the success of Central Saint Martins. Fraser
teaches furniture and jewelry design. “When I stood before the
students for the first time,” he says, “I saw people from thirty
Chinese wine cup
heritage, hence the rather classical Chinese design. Furthermore, I have
“I come from China, a country that is currently undergoing massive social
de­signed the cup so that you drink less quickly from it – and you can’t
transformation. In the last forty years, an incredible amount of things have
pour yourself as much. My cup is also meant to improve the health of
Chinese men.”
Jerry Chai combines the old with the new. “I want to strengthen our
Chinese heritage.”
happened there. When measured against their parents, many people have
achieved a state of relative prosperity. An upper middle class has evolved.
For the first time in the history of this country, a large number of people
have a lot of choice and can determine their own lives. But precisely be­
cause this development has come so quickly, people copy the Western life­
style today. Everything that comes from the West is admired, while Chinese
traditions get left behind. My project tries to make people aware of this im­
balance and to point in a new direction by combining the old with the new.
In China, it’s part of the new zeitgeist to drink wine – that’s also something
that we have learnt by watching the Europeans. Most people use wine glas­
ses such as we know in the West. They fill them to the brim, often with
Chinese schnapps, and this frequently leads to binge drinking, especially
among men. With my wine cups, I am reacting against this bad habit by
returning to traditional Chinese forms. I want to strengthen our Chinese
CREDO | 25
Report | Central Saint Martins College
such questions are acute. In my analyses and research, I quickly found out
that many people are concerned about the wellbeing of homeless people
and want to do good, but they don’t know how. Giving money is something
that many find unpleasant or pointless. They are often of the opinion that
homeless people would use it for alcohol or drugs. I have designed a ven­
ding machine that addresses this discomfort and these prejudices. On the
outside it reminds you of one of those snack machines that normally stand
at airports and in railway stations. But it is more than a product. It is a kind
of design intervention, a tool that in a very urbane manner engages with
one of the important questions of our time. I am negotiating with a certain
restaurant chain. The idea is that its loyal customers will be given a voucher
after eating there several times.
This then allows them to support
homeless people. With such a
voucher, a homeless person can
choose from various products in
one of my machines: from a tooth­
brush to a blanket or socks, there
is much to be found here that can
Sam Rowe, the inventor of a vending machine for the homeless: “Here
you can find everything from a toothbrush to a blanket.”
make life on the streets a little
more bearable. My machines com­
bat the aid fatigue of the public
and help those on the edges of
A vending machine for those tired of giving
society to reintegrate into it. I
“My object revolves around the topic of homelessness and the question of
call that killing two birds with
how we deal with the homeless themselves. Right now, during the crisis,
one stone.”
26 | CREDO
different countries. This intense concentration of knowledge is
“when it’s right in itself,” does it become beautiful. He shows a
incredible.” To this day he is still amazed at how many ideas are
model by one of his students. The task was to develop a tele­
created in these rooms every year. “Whoever thinks that all we
phone for a luxury company. “The basic idea of this model is that
do is design a few nice chairs and clothes has no idea about de­
true luxury is about omission, limitation, simplicity. If someone
sign and no idea about this college.” The concept of “beauty” is
has everything in life, then he won’t need twenty buttons and
hardly mentioned in his teaching, because that’s not what it is
hundreds of apps, but the opposite.” He shows us a cell phone
about, at least not in the sense of beauty as an aesthetic cate­
that comprises only a frame. There is no firm block to hold, but
gory. “After all, what is beautiful? What is ugly? A man from
just a tiny battery and hardly any buttons. Good design, he says,
China would answer that quite differently from an Indian
respects the needs of a society that is in a constant state of flux.
woman.” It existed in the past, he says, this notion of universal
beauty to which everything had to be subjugated. “But this view
is completely outdated, totally one-sided, and in the end it’s also
boring.” And yet, Fraser says, there is such a thing as beautiful
furniture, beautiful earrings, beautiful bags. Only this beauty is
created from different factors, from the material to its scent and
the way it’s used. “Something is beautiful if we feel comfortable
with it. Yes, that’s how you could express it: Good design makes
you happy.”
“Because
human beings are
always at the heart
of what we do.”
It is not about beauty, or at least not exclusively, says Nick
Nor does Rhodes tire of insisting how much he is always con­
Rhodes. “It’s about our lives, our fears, dreams and instincts.”
cerned about the interaction between the object and the human
Rhodes is the Course Leader in Industrial Design. A bicycle does
being, and how this applies to all objects. Marco Monterzino, an
not interest him, for example, if it just looks good. “It’s about the
Italian student of his, had the task of producing a cigarette light­
story behind it.” And it’s about who it is meant for. “Am I making
er for a highly exclusive company. “I searched for ideas for a
a bicycle for fathers of families in Copenhagen? Or for tattooed
long time, I played with forms and tried out luxury materials.
ghetto kids in L.A.?” Only when something fulfills its purpose,
Then one day I saw how a man gave a light to a woman he did
Whether it’s designs for tableware or jewelry: it’s the combination of craftsmanship and intellect that makes this college unique.
CREDO | 27
Report | Central Saint Martins College
not know. There was a gust of wind, they came closer for a mo­
ment and her hands touched his. That’s when I had my inspira­
Sacha Batthyany is the editor of DAS MAGAZIN, the weekend supplement of
tion.” He recognized that the beauty lay in the act of giving fire,
the newspaper Zürcher Tagesanzeiger, the Basler Zeitung, the Berner
so he conceived a model that stressed this interplay between
Zeitung and Der Bund.
two strangers. “I realized,” says Monterzino, “that giving the
light was at the core of it all, not the lighter itself.” Rhodes nods.
It’s stories like these that the teachers of Central Saint Martins
want to hear from their students. Here, seemingly small things
are created – like lighters, new glasses, or new lamps. But they
have the potential to change our lives. Bottom: Besides the most varied materials, from rubber to plastic and aluminum, the library also holds a complete series of English Vogue.
Right: This is no skyscraper, but four floors of innovation, provocation, new paradigms and new paths.
28 | CREDO
Daisy May Collingridge, fashion design student: “I don’t like going shopping. I seek
my inspiration elsewhere.”
Fashion from quilts
“When I tell strangers that I am studying fashion design at Central Saint Martins,
most of them probably think I’m a fashion freak who likes to go shopping and browse
for hours in Vogue. But the opposite is the case. All of us who study here work hard.
In the weeks before a presentation, we even work round the clock. Hunting through
clothes shops bores me. I seek my inspiration elsewhere; I read a lot, observe people,
travel to foreign countries. Because that is what it’s all about at this college: you have
to have ideas and find your own, very personal way of putting them into practice.
Research is essential, not the look. We worked with an initiative called Racing for
Change, which is responsible for promoting the sport of horseracing, and had to
design elegant clothes, like those worn at Ascot.
I went around stud farms, making photos of the
stables, talking with horse owners, and at some
point these typical quilts caught my attention
that are jammed under the saddle of horses. And
I knew: this is how my dress should be. I like this
material, its robustness. There is something
craftsmanlike about it – that suits me. I could
imagine working as a costume designer at an
opera house when I’ve finished college. We’ll
see. It often happens that we have to design
clothes for companies. Then there are little competitions among the students to see
whose sketch comes out on top. The next project is with Louis Vuitton to design a
handbag and the winner may get a placing as an intern. Of course we’re all excited.
I mean, Louis Vuitton: naturally, everyone wants that.”
CREDO | 29
Essay | FC Barcelona
The beautiful game of Barça
T
he Camp Nou is an austere concrete bowl situated in the
west of Barcelona, on the Avinguda Diagonal, a thorough­
fare that joins the city highway shortly after passing the stadium.
Access to the stands is via drafty gray walkways and winding
staircases. Unless the plans of British architect Sir Norman Fos­
ter to completely remodel the stadium, incorporating an outer
skin made of carbon and glass in the colors of Catalonia and a
new roof to cover all of the seats, are actually realized at some
stage, visitors to the Camp Nou will have to forego the comfort
and convenience of more contemporary stadiums.
Yet for Barcelona fans, the fact that the spectator area fails
to match up to the quality of the performances on the stage
below, is immaterial. Here, they stream into the ground with a
sense of anticipation more akin to a visit to the opera than to a
soccer stadium. The fans are not loud, only breaking into song
when the club’s anthem rings out of the loudspeakers. Nor is it
their manner to scream their team on to victory. Only that which
this particular team’s fan base would contemplate excites the
Quick passes: What counts is winning, not aesthetics.
Barça culés: can Lionel Messi and Xavi, Cesc Fàbregas and And­
rés Iniesta recreate the beauty that will leave us amazed and ex­
extravagance on the ball is a thing of the past; instead, every
ulted? Will they manage to pull off a move that will stun even the
player shines for just a brief moment before making the next
most experienced of opponents?
pass. The beauty of individual skill is complemented by that of
highly sophisticated tactics.
The poetic nature of artistry with the ball
With the aim of the game being victory and not aesthetics, beau­
A cascade of sound
ty in this sport counts for nothing. In soccer, playing beautifully
In the Camp Nou, this style has a sound all of its own as the play­
and not winning amounts to dying a beautiful death. Beauty,
ers on the pitch string together their short passing movements
however, runs right through FC Barcelona. Since 2006, the club
in a systematic attempt to search for a gap in the opponent’s de­
has won three Champions League titles, three FIFA World Club
fense. If the players sprinkle their tiki-taka with an unexpected
Cup titles, two UEFA Super Cup titles, four Spanish national
trick or two, the spectators applaud with the generosity of expe­
league championships, one Spanish Cup and four Spanish Super
rienced connoisseurs. They are all too aware that nothing in soc­
Cup titles. In 2009, the club won all six of the competitions in
cer is as hard as passing the ball quickly and accurately. And
which it participated, an unprecedented achievement in the his­
they also realize that less talented teams prefer a quicker ap­
tory of the game.
proach to getting the ball forward and exerting pressure, one
that is more physical. If the almost one hundred thousand fans
No side has ever played such beautiful soccer either. The
packed into the stadium detect that their team is about to pene­
manner in which coach “Pep” Guardiola’s team plays the game
trate a gap in the defense of the opposing team, a rumble of ex­
combines the poetic nature of artistry on the ball with the athlet­
citement stirs. And if the Azulgrana conjure up a move out of
icism of high-tempo soccer. The players’ breathtaking mastery
nothing to bamboozle their adversaries, a collective shout of
of the ball is on a par with that of Brazil’s soccer virtuosos who
“Uiiii!” goes up. This is what creates sound at a Barcelona game.
captivated anyone who watched the World Cups in 1958 and
1970. The only difference today is that the game is played at
However, this can also be illustrated using hard and fast fig­
twice the speed. This also explains why, at Barcelona, solo
ures and statistics. In last season’s Champions League, which
30 | CREDO
ended in Barcelona defeating Manchester United 3-1 in the final,
Although Barça’s beauty may come at a price, with the club
the team racked up a total of 10 715 passes over twelve games;
creaking from all of the win bonuses paid to its stars, it cannot
their opponents in the final came second in the passing stakes,
be bought. The team that won the Champions League final in
with just 7456. Even more important than the sheer quantity of
2011 featured seven players who were the product of the club’s
passes though was the fact that these were actually made suc­
own La Masia youth academy.
cessfully to a teammate. This equaled an average of 732 success­
ful passes completed per game, ahead of the second best placed
team in this respect, FC Bayern Munich, with a mere 553.
For more than two decades now, training at La Masia has
been carried out with the ball and has never involved just run­
ning. Most sessions take place on scaled-down pitches, in an at­
This style of play is not to the liking of all soccer fans. There
tempt to encourage the development of young talent in the
are some who find that the patient passing game is not direct or
game’s finer details. Focusing first and foremost on playing with
physical enough, preferring instead to see crunching challenges,
the ball favors small players such as Messi, Iniesta or Xavi, who
an approach that FC Barcelona consciously avoids. Often, the
at other clubs are often discarded while playing for youth teams
team leaves its opponents chasing shadows – much like a mata­
due to their inability to impose themselves immediately in phy­
dor does with a bull. “You can’t defend against direct play,” says
sical terms. And speed is always of the essence. “In soccer, be­
team captain Xavi. “You can mark me but if the ball is played to
sides having the physical speed to execute a move – like Messi,
my feet and I’ve already passed it on, how do you defend against
who does everything super fast – there is also mental speed,”
that?” It is a question to which no team in the world has found a
explains Xavi. “Above all, this means always knowing exactly
convincing answer in recent years.
where you are on the pitch. Knowing what you’re going to do
with the ball before receiving it: at Barça, we learn this from an
Despite looking easy, playing soccer the Barcelona way is
early age.”
difficult, only to be achieved by professionals who are perfectly
attuned to one another. It has the effect of an elegant dance, but
this is merely of secondary importance. Barcelona adheres to its
cast-iron principles and a detailed plan. Whenever the team is
awarded a corner, it virtually never hits a long cross into the pen­
alty area. Most of the time, the players on one side of the pitch
will move to ensure that the move finishes on the opposing flank.
“FC Barcelona’s game
looks easy, but in fact
it’s difficult.”
In attack is Lionel Messi, a player who in actual fact is much too
short for this position. But that does not matter for a team that
This was how the building blocks of a new type of soccer,
barely crosses the ball and plays mostly on the floor. And be­
combining technical brilliance, speed and perfect organization
cause this team so often enraptures crowds with its outstanding
on the pitch, were put together. And with many clubs following
creativity, it is easy to overlook the power and finesse of its de­
its blueprint for success, this is also the reason why Barcelona
fensive game, which squeezes the life out of any attacking move
has helped to enhance the beauty of soccer as a whole. No team
by the opponent even before the ball has left the latter’s half.
has yet caught up, which means that even the biggest rivals are
This is yet another example of the team’s organization: only
always in danger of succumbing in the Camp Nou to the sound­
teams who are perfectly set up are able to press their opponents
track of Barça’s triumphs, hopelessly chasing the ball as the
into conceding possession of the ball so quickly.
cries of “Olé” ring down from the stands. The beautiful game above all else
Knowing this is all well and good – indeed, many opposing coa­
Christoph Biermann is a member of the editorial team on the German soccer
ching teams have analyzed the way Barcelona plays the game
magazine 11 Freunde (11 Friends) and author of a number of soccer books.
right down to the very finest detail. However, breaking up this
“Die Fußball-Matrix” (The Soccer Matrix), his most recent book, was voted
flow of passing is virtually impossible, as is replicating it.
Germany’s soccer book of the year in 2010.
CREDO | 31
The masterpieces | Peter Paul Rubens
Venus
in front
of the
mirror
W
The artist conveys sensuousness particularly in the way he
reproduces materials: the skin, with its many different shadings,
the dark red velvet, and the white cloth that Venus holds cov­
ering her modesty, and which highlights the physical distance
between her and Cupid. There is a marked contrast between the
accuracy with which the artist’s main subject is depicted and the
mere suggestion of the background to the picture, with its trees
and leaves. This indicates that the scenario is taking place out­
doors, which only becomes apparent at a second glance.
Rubens was adding to a long tradition of representations of
Venus showing the goddess at her toilette after bathing. One in­
direct precursor was the painting “Venus with a mirror” (1555)
by Titian, which is now hanging in the National Gallery of Art in
Washington. This shows Venus from the front, seated and seminude, her lap covered by a fur-trimmed velvet gown. Her face in
three-quarter profile is looking toward a mirror in which we see
only part of it reflected. Deep in self-absorption, she makes no
eye contact with the observer. The same applies to “Venus and
Cupid” (1606–1611), a painting in which Rubens drew directly
on Titian’s masterpiece for his own first creative attempt.
hether it is used for vain narcissism or for inner reflection
on the transience of purely external beauty, a mirror can
However, just a few years after completing that painting, Ru­
serve many purposes. There is also a diverse tradition of depic­
bens produced his own reinterpretation of the theme, by por­
ting a mirror as an attribute of Venus who, following her mythi­
traying “Venus in front of the mirror” from behind and also as a
cal birth from the foam in the sea, suddenly became aware of her
reflected image. This further increases the eroticism of the
nakedness and beauty. Here in the imagination of Peter Paul Ru­
scene. A great deal is still left to the imagination of the observer,
bens (1577–1640), “Venus in front of the mirror” tries to ex­
which is at the same time stimulated by the sensuality of the
change glances with the observer, in whose eyes, as we all know,
naked back. With his trick with the mirror, Rubens gives us not
beauty lies.
just one view of her face, with its expression of inner beauty, but
more: in the reflected image we see it in half-profile, showing the
Where does your eye fall first? On the naked back of Venus?
goddess’s right cheek, while in the “real” depiction we see the
On her winged son Cupid, with his cheeky face, who is holding
left cheek in “profil perdu” with the wide, beautiful and seduc­
the mirror for the goddess? Or on the face of the black maidser­
tive eyes and the long, straight nose, almost exactly correspon­
vant? Or on that of Venus, reflected in the precious mirror? In
ding to the ancient concept of perfection.
any case, the focus of her gaze brings a fourth person into the
scene: the observer, with whom Venus is trying to make eye con­
Rubens was not only entering into dialogue with the older
tact through the mirror. And this gives life to the network of re­
masters whom he so much respected. He was also interested in
lationships centered on the body of Venus, appearing like a vast
the “paragone,” namely the conflict between the arts and the de­
monolith descended from the heavens.
bate about whether sculpture or painting could better depict
reality. In his diverse and dynamic portrayal “Venus in front of
In this work, which he painted in about 1614/15, Peter Paul
Rubens reveals himself as a master of sensuality. He portrays the
the mirror”, Rubens has succeeded in asserting the supremacy
of painting. body of the goddess in minute detail, applying layer upon layer
of glaze to make her skin appear as lifelike as possible. And with
the same intensity he paints her long golden hair and her clear
Dr. Johann Kräftner is the director of the Princely Collections and from 2002
complexion – both the “real” one shown in profile and the “virtu­
to 2011 was director of the LIECHTENSTEIN MUSEUM, Vienna. He is the au­
al” one looking out from the mirror.
thor of numerous monographs on the history and theory of architecture.
32 | CREDO
CREDO | 00
© LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna
Literary choice | Guy de Maupassant
The loss of beauty
O
scar Wilde once said: “Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful
things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect.”
Olivier Bertin is certainly one of that elect. The most charming ladies and the
richest men of Parisian society come to him to have their portraits painted.
Beauty is Bertin’s profession, one might say, and his paintings preserve it from
the ravages of natural decay.
Olivier Bertin is the central figure of Guy de Maupassant’s novel “Fort comme
la Mort” (Strong as death), written in 1888 during the writer’s most productive
period. This novel has a special place in Maupassant’s oeuvre, and not just be­
cause it is longer than the circa 300 short stories that he committed to paper
between 1880 and 1892. Of more significance is the fact that its author here
offers us a view of beauty and ageing, of artistry and youthful élan that is far
removed from all moralizing and pathos and is for him unusually free of irony.
Bertin has arrived in what we would today regard as the prime of life and
has done so without any notable struggles along the way. He is successful as
an artist, he moves in the finest circles, and for many years this bachelor has
been the object of tender affection and admiration on the part of Countess
Anne de Guilleroy. Their relationship has almost nothing left in common with
what one might term an “affair” in its usual sense, and the painter has long
since become a close friend of her husband, the Count, who in turn sees
nothing immoral in his wife’s close relationship with the elegant artist. Their
Several works by Guy de Maupassant have been filmed:
Catherine Erard in “Trois femmes” by André Michel (1952).
34 | CREDO
initial passion has given way to a deep sense of trust and a loving friendship.
The novel lingers for a long time on the happy couple and their rituals, told
alternately from his perspective and from hers. It is only with the graceful fig­
ure of Annette, the Countess’s 18-year-old daughter, that discord enters their
long-established harmony. This pretty girl reminds the painter powerfully of
her mother when she was a young woman. Without taking into account the
consequences, he now falls head over heels in love with her, surrendering
himself to a crazy “amour fou.” The Countess sees the danger long before he
does. She senses the impending loss of her lover, while the unsuspecting An­
nette does not even notice the emotional chaos that she is leaving in her wake.
Bertin, incapable of reflection or self-analysis, is propelled into an existential
crisis that is only made more acute when he receives the first-ever damning
reviews of his work. He gradually and inexorably loses control of his life. Driv­
en to despair by Annette’s forthcoming nuptials, he wanders aimlessly through
the city, is run over by an omnibus, and dies.
Maupassant offers us an incisive depiction of Bertin’s misery at his loss of
attractiveness and success. Yet the author’s portrait of the astute Countess
Anne is far more penetrating. Suffering deeply in her inability to keep the man
she loves, she nevertheless feels more empathy for his suffering than she does
bitterness. She, too, experiences before the mirror the tragedy of ageing, day
after day, yet no one gives her comfort. The idea that beauty first blesses not
those who possess it, but rather those who love and admire it, is a privilege of
Guy de Maupassant
youth. By demonstrating this to us in such a grandiose manner, Maupassant’s
Henry-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant, born in 1850 at
novel remains timeless and topical. Chateau Miromesnil in Normandy, is regarded as one of the
most significant French writers of the 19th century alongside
Felicitas von Lovenberg, born in 1974, is head of the literature section at the Frankfurter
Stendhal, Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert and Émile
Allgemeine Zeitung and hosts the TV program “Literatur im Foyer” for SWR in Germany
Zola. He made his first contacts with members of the liter­
(Southwest Broadcasting Company).
ary world – including Flaubert – while still at high school in
Rouen. At the age of 18 he saved the English poet Algernon
Charles Swinburne from drowning. The Franco-Prussian War
of 1870–71 put an end to his studies of law in Paris. After
finishing his military service, Maupassant worked as a civil
servant in various ministries, though only unwillingly. He
wrote poems and plays on the side, albeit without success.
He achieved his breakthrough only with the short story “Boule
de suif” (Ball of fat), and this allowed him at last to give up
the life of a civil servant that he hated so much. He wrote
ceaselessly throughout the next twelve years. Altogether,
Maupassant published some 300 short stories and six no­
vels, including “Une vie” (A Woman’s Life) and “Bel-Ami”
(Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel), his best-known
work to this day. He was also a lively political commentator
Robert Pattinson as the ruthless seducer Georges Duroy in the film “Bel Ami” by Declan
Donnellan and Nick Ormerod (2012).
whom the journals of Paris held in high regard. Guy de Mau­
passant died in 1893 in a psychiatric clinic in Passy near Paris.
CREDO | 35
Carte Blanche | Andrea Marcon
to tarnish it. It was taboo to let you hear the attack of the violin
bow when it met the strings. Violinists practiced long hours to
produce a smooth tone that was free of any disturbance. But it
sounded unnatural because it was as if the bow was a hundred
meters long. People looked down on the organ because the pipes
make a slight noise before their sound reaches full volume and
envelops the surrounding space. Music had to be as clean as the
smooth, lifeless formica tops that graced our kitchens in the
1960s. And yet it is precisely the irregularity of the grain that
gives wood its distinct aura. Unlike in painting, people tried to
eradicate the “brush strokes” in music. They wanted the “paint”
to be applied equally thick everywhere, and yet it is just such ir­
© Harald Hoffmann/Deutsche Grammophon
regularities that lay bare the artist’s own temperament. It is how
the light reflects off the different thicknesses of paint on the can­
vas that makes a work unique and individual.
The soul of a work of art can’t be found on its surface. In or­
der to discover its beauty you have to go deep down. Beauty is
allied to truth. A face is not beautiful when it is symmetrical, but
when it expresses the personality of the human being behind it.
It’s only then that a person is authentic – and in this authenticity
Music must
be true
Recorded by: Manfred Schiefer
lies beauty. The same is true of music. Only when music is true is
it beautiful. For me, as a conductor and interpreter, bringing out
this beauty is a long and arduous process.
A composer only has musical notes on a page to express his
feelings – nothing more. They are a relatively inadequate means
of expressing the expansive world of emotions, yet they have to
express exuberant vitality as subtly as they depict painful tor­
ment. That is why I find working on a new piece raises many
questions. I seek long and hard for answers. Together with the
At the age of ten, Andrea Marcon discovered that music
musicians of La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel, we carry out
is only really beautiful when it offers more than just
scholarly research into instruments, performance practice and
the perfect sound.
the historical context of the works we play. Only when you feel
the true meaning of a work within you can you interpret it au­
When I was still a child I was given the opportunity to play on
thentically and in the spirit of the composer. I am convinced that
old organs. I always loved it. It excited me, and I’m sure that it
a musician has to share the composer’s emotions: he must feel
inspired more than just my fondness for old music. Playing on
the same joy that a composer felt when he was jubilant, and the
organs that were hundreds of years old, with all their peculiari­
same pain that threatened to drive him to despair. Only when we
ties, might have influenced how I hear more than did all those
succeed in this can we realize that beauty is always more than
performers who seemed so wonderful and so exemplary when I
technical perfection, far more than just perfect intonation – and
was learning the piano. They used to treat the composers’ music
this is just as true for you the listener as it is for us the perfor­
very freely. They took all possible liberties, such as ignoring tem­
mers on the podium. Beauty always bears truth within it. po instructions. They didn’t have to know the difference bet­
ween a chaconne – which is fast – and a passacaglia, which is
Andrea Marcon, the Italian organist, harpsichordist and conductor, was born
considerably slower. The historical context in which the work
in Treviso/Veneto and is one of the leading specialists and performers of old
was composed, or knowing what the composer actually wanted
music. He directs La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel and is also in worldwide
to express in it, were usually of merely marginal interest to them.
demand as an opera conductor. In October 2012 he will give his conducting
What counted was the sound. No extraneous noise was allowed
debut with the Berlin Philharmonic.
36 | CREDO
Contents | Credo Xiv
Credits
Publisher
H.S.H. Prince Philipp von und zu Liechtenstein
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of LGT Group
Beauty
Advisory board
Thomas Piske, CEO Private Banking
Norbert Biedermann, CEO LGT Bank in Liechtenstein Ltd.
Hans Roth, CEO LGT Bank (Switzerland) Ltd.
02
Editorial office
Sidi Staub (executive editor)
LGT Marketing & Communications
Layout
LGT Marketing & Communications
02 Portrait | The beauty of life
How the blind music therapist Wolfgang Fasser opens
up the world to disabled children.
Design concept
Thomas von Ah, Zurich
10 Portfolio | The golden ratio
Whoever seeks the key to beauty must know the
number Phi.
Picture editor
Lilo Killer, Zurich
Translation
Syntax Translations Ltd., Zurich
12 Portfolio | Maserati 300S
In sixty years’ time, will we still restore our cars with
so much love?
Printer
BVD Druck+Verlag AG, Schaan
Lithographer
Prepair Druckvorstufen AG, Schaan
Picture credits
Pages 10/11: Die Illustratoren.de/Jürgen Willbarth (adapted from
György Doczi, “The Power of Limits”, Shambala Publications,
Inc., Boston)
Pages 12 /13: Alexander Herold
Pages 14 /15: f.l.t.r. istockphoto / Manuela Krause,
Imagepoint /Elke v. Hohenstein-Jung, Imagepoint/Westend61,
Prisma/FRILET Patrick, Fotosearch, zoonar/ H.D. Falkenstein
Page 17: Christine Strub
Page 18: istockphoto / Damian Kuzdak
Page 20: Imagepoint / Björn Oldsen
Page 30: zoonar/Walter Luger
Page 34 top: Christian Breitler / with kind support from the
Antiquariat im Seefeld, Zurich
Page 34 bottom: Cinetext Bildarchiv
Page 35 left: Allstar Optimum /Optimum Rel. / Cinetext
Page 35 right: Richter /Cinetext
E-mail for correspondence
lgt.credo@lgt.com
Coordination
Chris Gothuey, Zurich
14 Portfolio | What is kitsch?
An explanation why art liberates and kitsch sedates.
16 Interview | We love symmetry and proportion
The surprising findings on the topic of beauty by the
evolutionary biologist Josef H. Reichholf.
22 Report | The ideas factory
What’s dreamt up at Central Saint Martins College
can change the world.
30 Essay | The beautiful game of Barça
At last: a soccer team that plays beautifully, and yet
still wins.
32 Masterpieces | Venus in front of the mirror
A painting that itself observes the beholder.
36
17
34 Literary choice | The loss of beauty
This novel about a wild “amour fou” could only have
been written by a Frenchman.
33
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50319en 0412 1.6T BVD
36 Carte Blanche | Music must be true
You’ve heard it right: smooth and noise-free isn’t
how music’s meant to be.
Credo
© Romeo Polcan
LGT Journal on wealth culture
Beauty | XIV 2012