Description

Hambidge, Jay, 1867-1924.

Dynamic Symmetry in Composition as used by the Artists
Coward-McCann, Inc. New York, 1922. 83 pages.

In 1918-19 Hambidge gave a lecture(s) in Boston and created a lot of interest among the academics, including Denman Ross. Perhaps the best introduction to Dynamic Symmetry is in Marie Frank’s book Denman Ross and American Design Theory, University Press of New England, 2011, chapter 4, page 135 and following. (Very inexpensive copies of this book can be found online.) While I am not a “gridder”, I do believe that elements in a design should clearly hit or miss otherwise a sense of being sloppy emerges. Hambidge didn’t believe there was a “set method” for design, rather each artist/designer “will work out for himself the scheme of area subdivision or area manipulation which, in his opinion, is best suited for his needs (preface).”
(Cat 9.15)