Form Over Detail

"I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree."
--Joyce Kilmer



Why are trees so lovely?

I happen to love their silhouettes against the sky. My favorite are the trees with bright leaves in fall and black bark, such a vivid contrast against a deep blue sky.



I love the shimmer of leaves as their silvery undersides are flipped in the wind. I love the shapes of the branches, always reaching upward but never able to straighten out in a perfect line. I love how leaves are at their most beautiful (in my opinion) when they are dying.

But what defines the beauty of a tree, really? The shape? The details of the bark? The colors? The fact that each tree provides life-giving oxygen? The shade?

Well, years ago a couple of artists challenged the nature of aesthetic beauty. They looked at trees, bridges, buildings, even coastlines and said "Where does beauty lie?" They decided to blur out the details of each of their projects, allowing the basic form to express itself and impress itself on the viewer. It was beauty without the answer key, so to speak. Beauty without a heavy-handed exhibition of features. I am fascinated by their work.

The husband and wife team, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, included in their "portfolio" a project of wrapped trees. The beauty of the artwork, for them, was to be found in the shape, movement and light of the tree coverings. But when I show these pictures to students in the ESL classes I teach, they usually fail to see the beauty. "Why cover something as lovely as a tree?" they ask.

I get it. The wrapped trees look a bit awkward and bulky, and you miss seeing the individual leaves and branches. But I can't take my eyes away from the photos. I wonder what they would have been like to see close up. Here, what do you think?







It's an interesting idea, where you cover something in order to get at its true beauty. Or at least to see beauty in the form without getting distracted by the details.

So naturally I have been thinking about my own beauty. Before I lost my hair I never wore makeup, I hardly wore jewelry, and I bought clothes from thrift stores, keeping me perpetually at least two decades behind the current fashion trends.

After I developed alopecia universalis, I suddenly had a need to accessorize! I wear makeup almost 24/7, I never leave the house (or walk around in my house, for that matter) without noticeable earrings, and while I still buy my clothes from thrift stores, I at least coordinate outfits to look fashionable. I think.

Details, details.

What if I were to go out one day with no head covering, no jewelry, no makeup--just me and the shapes on my face? I guess for me I would be totally uncovered, very un-Christo-and-Jeanne-Claude-esque. But I think the effect would be the same. Beauty in form, not detail. Beauty in shape, movement, and inner light rather than color, design and definition.

I doubt I will ever get the nerve to do that. But it's an interesting way to think about beauty, isn't it?