Re: [Origami] Froebel - Seventh Gift - origami and ratios

[Matthew Gardiner]

On 4 Mar. 2017, at 1:11 am, Laura R  wrote:
> 
>> I came across something quite wonderful in my PhD research today.
>> 
>> I picked up a book on Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect with a 
>> considerable global reputation, at the University library, therein I 
>> discovered that he was inspired for a series of window-frame designs, and I 
>> suspect for the use of proportion in his career, by the seventh gift of 
>> Froebel as his insight into proportion.
> 
> You should get the book Inventing Kindergarten by Norman Brosterman. There is 
> a whole chapter about the influence of kindergarten ideas (and behind that, 
> Froebel’s) on Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as other modern artists. Quoting 
> from its cover: “Using examples from the work of important artists who 
> attended kindergarten —including Georges Braque, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, 
> Wassily Kandinsky, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier, among others —he 
> demonstrates that the design ideas of kindergarten prefigured modern 
> conceptions for the aesthetic power of geometric abstraction.” Norman 
> Brosterman’s amazing collection of Froebelian crafts was part of a MoMa 
> exhibition, Century of the Child, in 2011: 
> http://www.brosterman.com/kindergarten.shtml. 
> But get the book, you’ll love it. 
> 
> Laura Rozenberg

Thanks so much Laura and Patsy for chiming in here, I’m going to get that book!

I happened to also borrow a book on the Bauhaus teaching methodology - 
following a research trail left by Erik Demaine on Curved Folding, and from the 
list of artist you mention Klee and, Kandinsky were teachers at the Bauhaus. 
Made me wonder if they are connected - being German - the time periods 
bookending… after a little more research, and I find the connection is already 
documented. 

"The Bauhaus ... including the way in which it was set up by Walter Gropius and 
Johannes Itten, its roots in the work of Friedrich Froebel” 
- Lerner, Fern. "Foundations for design education: continuing the Bauhaus 
Vorkurs vision." Studies in Art Education 46.3 (2005): 211-226.

Without reading Inventing Kindergarten, I can see the same visual and 
sculptural language in Froebel and Bauhaus. The visual and sculptural language 
- including origami - was being influenced by more than a casual connection of 
Froebelian methods, Froebel was in the roots of the course design. 

The transfer from Froebel origami to Bauhaus paper folding is a very 
interesting connection. 

This is a plausible reason as to why Albers was teaching paper folding in the 
preliminary course in the first place. Paper as a medium has an intrinsic 
property: it can be folded. Folding is geometry; is mathematics; is a 
structural language. 

This point in particular would be of interest to origami to know more about. 

Matthew Gardiner

Re: [Origami] Froebel - Seventh Gift - origami and ratios

[Laura R]

On Mar 3, 2017, at 10:37 AM, Matthew Gardiner  wrote:

> Dear o’listers,
> 
> I came across something quite wonderful in my PhD research today.
> 
> I picked up a book on Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect with a 
> considerable global reputation, at the University library, therein I 
> discovered that he was inspired for a series of window-frame designs, and I 
> suspect for the use of proportion in his career, by the seventh gift of 
> Froebel as his insight into proportion.

> 
> Curious if anyone knows anything more about this topic?
> 
> best, Matthew
> 

Matthew, 
You should get the book Inventing Kindergarten by Norman Brosterman. There is a 
whole chapter about the influence of kindergarten ideas (and behind that, 
Froebel’s) on Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as other modern artists. Quoting from 
its cover: “Using examples from the work of important artists who attended 
kindergarten —including Georges Braque, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Wassily 
Kandinsky, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier, among others —he demonstrates 
that the design ideas of kindergarten prefigured modern conceptions for the 
aesthetic power of geometric abstraction.” Norman Brosterman’s amazing 
collection of Froebelian crafts was part of a MoMa exhibition, Century of the 
Child, in 2011: http://www.brosterman.com/kindergarten.shtml. 
But get the book, you’ll love it. 

Laura Rozenberg

[Origami] Froebel - Seventh Gift - origami and ratios

[Matthew Gardiner]

Dear o’listers,

I came across something quite wonderful in my PhD research today.

I picked up a book on Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect with a 
considerable global reputation, at the University library, therein I discovered 
that he was inspired for a series of window-frame designs, and I suspect for 
the use of proportion in his career, by the seventh gift of Froebel as his 
insight into proportion.

It’s a set of 5 tiles, square, equilateral triangle, isosceles triangle, and 
scalar triangle, I made an illustration you can see for a short time here: 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/36p4hixaiqmwu8y/froebel-seventh-gift.png?dl=0

Its a magical set of tiles that each fit onto each other, similar to Tangram, 
but my favourite idea here is the √1 √2 √3 √4 √5 ascendence. As soon as I saw 
them, I thought, ahah! they are origami ratios, and sure enough the following 
page states the same:

http://www.froebelweb.org/gifts/seventh.html

I did not know that was one of primary reasonings behind Froebel’s love of 
origami, the beautiful ratios, and their relationships. It all reminds me of 
talking to Jun Maekawa in Tokyo, he said he loves these ratios in origami, and 
now, finally, some 10 years later, I get it. 

I guess that’s why we study, to actually learn things through our questions… 
asking what is the relationship between art and concepts, led me to 
architecture theory, back to geometry, to kindergarten education, and then to 
origami. 

Curious if anyone knows anything more about this topic?

best, Matthew