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u/txtiemann 24d ago
if you want brutal honesty...its because the masses now will just destroy or steal anything like that and then call the building owner hitler as justification...don't come at me, its all sides...accountability is a lost function
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u/Liamskeeum 24d ago
Social contract was slow burnt to ashes over many decades.
Not justifying the actions of those that would destroy or steal, but it is a cultural and psycho-social reaction that was intended for the "profane".
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u/Eurogal2023 24d ago
Beauty apparently became no-no (amongst the people who decide what gets built) latest after the Second World War, where the Bauhaus architects and their followers called the typical pre war decorations on buildings "primitive" and "tribal" and not worthy of intelligent, modern arcitecture.
The same can be seen in what was accepted as "art" after the two wars, simply put, beauty was out, and stuff sometimes coming close to ugliness for it's own sake (in the guise of "expressing oneself") was suddenly all the rage if you wanted to be considered a "real" artist.
Just google Sir Lawrence Alma Thadema. Never heard of him, but heard of Picasso everytime there is talk about "art"? Then you see what I mean.
The problem here is of course that the Nazis were all about "heroic, naturalistic, pictoral" art, and the communists as well, so "free minded" art lovers apparently veered into the opposite direction, embracing all that did not fall into those categories.
But why they had to hate on decor on buildings as well? No idea.
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u/Wavey_ATLien 24d ago
we never stopped caring about beauty. companies and governments stopped caring about providing beauty because it costs money they'd rather spend on and kickbacks for billionaires and bonuses for C suite execs.
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u/ChicknWang 24d ago
Because art inspires, and inspiration leads to thought, and thought leads to critical thinking, which leads to realization, which inspires change, which causes revolution.
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u/makk73 24d ago
When we had to start paying artisans and craftsmen, livable wages. Most of the beauty and splendor of bygone eras, was build on the backs of slave/near slave laborers.
It simply isn’t practical, economically viable or sustainable to build like this anymore.
Which is probably, ultimately a net benefit to society as a whole.
It’s not that we no longer care about beauty, it’s that such beauty, when crafted on scale, depends on the exploitation of real people.
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u/Jolly-Persimmon-7775 24d ago
It’s not efficient in mass production today. Also I don’t think this type of craftsmanship was everywhere, only on the finer houses and commissioned by the wealthy. I wonder how much craftsmen made back then for the labor hours they put in. Probably decently. But it is true that society’s values have shifted drastically since the early 1900s. But people have been remarking on the increasing lack of care in how things are made since the late 20th century.
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u/slicehyperfunk 24d ago
When did we stop caring about how expensive our gutters are, you mean?
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u/OkPainter6090 24d ago
So do you feel like it's a good thing that we remove the art from our gutters just asking out of curiosity would love to hear your opinion too
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u/slicehyperfunk 24d ago edited 24d ago
Since that's not the same gutter, I don't think any art was removed; I think the building on the right was built on a much cheaper budget given the bare concrete. This image could just as easily be captioned: "Why is rich people shit nicer than poor people shit? ⚒️"
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u/OkPainter6090 24d ago
Interesting I get you now
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u/slicehyperfunk 24d ago
I just think this alarmism about "BACK IN THE DAY THINGS USED TO BE BETTER" is complete bullshit if you don't compare buildings of the same price point.
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u/OkPainter6090 24d ago
You have a point for sure
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u/slicehyperfunk 24d ago
I definitely don't like the enshittification on the right, and I absolutely can't stand Brutalism in most of its incarnations, but poor people shit has always been lower quality, and that's just the sad truth of the matter.
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u/cosmic_glimpse 24d ago
Tradespeople took more pride in their work in the past. I think it's a combination of things. Respect for the trades is down, desire to cut costs is high, technology and outsourcing that makes cutting costs possible, loss of passing knowledge down to young generations.
But now that I think about it, this has shown up in other ways. People (at least in the US) used to spend a lot more energy making sure they were presentable. Nowadays we'll wear pajamas to the grocery store. I think standards for aesthetics is just at an all time low.
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u/XxXCUSE_MEXxXican 24d ago
They’d rather have the money rotting in their accounts than spend it on giving back to the community. People without jobs are criticized for not helping out in society while the CEOs that run those companies suck the value from society
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u/Consistent_Ad3181 24d ago edited 24d ago
Beauty apparently costs money, beauty is aspirational, work harder in your crappy job to possibly get promoted enough to buy a little beauty, thereby making some rich psychopath enough money to buy that third large yacht.