The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things is a short book by George Kubler, published in 1962 by Yale University Press. It presents an approach to historical change which challenges the notion of style by placing the history of objects and images in a larger continuum. Kubler proposes new forms of historical sequencing where objects and images provide solutions to evolving problems. Kubler lays out a perspective where processes of innovation, replication, and mutation are in continuous conversation through time.
Summary Chapter 1: The History of Things Kubler begins the chapter by discussing "The Limitations of Biography" where he lays out the problems encountered when thinking about objects through the histories of their makers.Giulio Angioni, Miseria e nobiltà della tecnica, in Fare, dire, sentire: l'identico e il diverso nelle culture, Il Maestrale 2011, pp. 71-76 Within this section he discusses the importance of the point of entrance of the individual maker into the ongoing history of their objects, the role of biological and physical metaphors, and the relation between scientists and artists.
When looking back at the history of things, the historian using biological metaphors is not useful. "Purpose has no place in biology, but history has no meaning without it" (8). Kubler chose the phrase the "history of things" with the intention of rejoining objects with their ideas. The pursuit of the historian is to "identify and reconstruct" problems, actions, and solutions. "We always may be sure that every man-made thing arises from a problem as a purposeful solution" (8). In The Shape of Time, Kubler considers all man-made objects with the idea that everything is invented because of human desire and need.
While both scientists and artists are inventors, one creates solutions to solve physical problems while the other spiritual. Their histories share traits of invention, change and obsolescence (10). Although, at the same time has its extreme differences. The mechanics of a tool may be complicated but is always "intrinsically simple" (11). while a work of art may appear simple yet hold the most complex set of thoughts.
Kubler also discusses the role of the historian, the nature of actuality, and lays out his idea of self-signals and adherent signals.
Talent and Genius
The comparisons between talent and genius are explored in regard to time and degree. Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael are provided as examples; to debate between who is more talented is a moot point. Both were extremely talented artists but the other artists of the time "came late when the feast was over through no fault of their own" (7). The ideas of 'nature vs. nurture' in regard to the inheritable traits of genius; Kubler concludes that genius is indeed a result of 'nurture' as learning is not a biological concern.
Chapter 2: The Classing of Things This chapter begins with Kubler's thoughts about the way objects become sequences. He discusses the difference between the existence of objects created from short term fashionable durations versus objects that provide solutions to concrete or conceptual problems.
Prime Object and Replications
A Prime Object is an original - whether that be an actual object or an idea. Replications are the reproductions of the Prime Object. It is often difficult to trace or track the origin of a prime occurrence as we typically see the offspring and relatives to the prime through replications and mutations. Frequently a perceived Prime Object is the result of subtle changes to a true Prime Object through: social, economic or political influences. The person copying the prime object will never have the same circumstances or feelings as the original maker. Investigating the history of an object or idea can give clues as to how authentic is the Prime Object. It is equally difficult to generate a prime occurrence, which is why replicating one is a more prevalent practice. For example, today's hammer is generally various permutations of a T-shaped object with a metal head placed on a wooden handle - if the entire object itself is not metal. The Prime Object of that hammer may have been a rock used to pound something into the ground.
The problem with classifying a Prime Object is knowing when we are in the presence of a prime object, especially since most (if not all) objects that we come across are really replications of a previous concept. Quite often, Primes are not evident without a significant amount of replications, over a significant period of time, to observe that something influential and indivisible of its parts has presented itself: "When we consider the class of these great moments, we are usually confronted with dead stars. Even their light has ceased to reach us. We know of their existence only indirectly, by their perturbations, and by the immense detritus of derivative stuff left in their paths."
Mutants
Mutations of a Prime Object occur when a replication of the original concept becomes better, or different, than the original. The rock might have been the earliest form of a hammer, but it was improved when someone tied a handle onto the rock so it would swing harder and faster. Another example is a family recipe that is handed down from generation to generation. Each new generation working with that family recipe may make small changes improving the taste or look of the food. The later manifestations of that original recipe tend to be even better than the Prime Source.
Adherent and Self-signals
The self-signal, as Kubler contends, is the obvious purpose of objects—artwork or tool. The self-signal of a hammer, for example, is its "mute declaration" that its intended use is to be grasped by the handle, thus extending the individual's fist through the peen for driving a nail into a plank(24). The adherent signal of the hammer is the patent and protected trademark of a specific manufacturing address stamped on the handle. Using the example of fine art, Kubler explains that the self-signal of a painting is its colors and their arrangement on the two-dimensional surface that alerts the viewer to concede to a visual language that will produce enjoyment. "Part of the self-signal," writes Kubler, "is that thousands of years of painting still have not exhausted the possibilities of such an apparent simple category of sensation" (24, 25). The adherent signal of the painting is, for example, the culturally recognized depiction of a well-known myth or historical scene.
Kubler points out that neither adherent signals, which speak only of meaning, nor self-signals, which prove only existence, are enough to assign value to a tool or artwork. The combination of the two is key. As Kubler explains, "...existence without meaning seems terrible in the same degree as meaning without existence seems trivial" (25).
Serial Appreciation
Kubler declares that nearly everything is based from an original object. Whether the copy, manipulated or not, is better or worse than the original ultimately does not matter; The object is still a copy. However, it is up to the maker to decide how to mutate the original as well as to create another domain for the object. The maker is the one who subconsciously creates boundaries on the object thus limiting its full potential.
Kubler notes that art has "an unmistakable erosion" (46) that wears down any work of art. This 'erosion' is particularly caused from the artist's failing to describe the process that was needed to obtain the finished piece as well as "the steps in the artist's elaboration of his conceptions." Some of these descriptions may be trivial but what lies between the trivial and the factual is the work.
Solitary and Gregarious Artist
Kubler says that "Today the artist is neither a rebel nor an entertainer."(53) he explains how art is affected by different personalities. He explains how more social personalities work well in music and theatre while introverted personalities are more common in visual art. However, even within visual art a certain amount of sociability allows for artists to be more in tune with their clients and rivals. The social artist has even been used as a kind of entertainment in royal houses. He has also used social characteristics to rebel. However, Kubler ends the section saying that the artist no longer functions as an entertainer or rebel. "More lonely than ever, the artist today is like Dedalus, the strange artificer of wonderful and frightening surprises for his immediate circle."(53)
The revelation of the prime is often revealed in hindsight when history presents itself distant and more easily observed. The momentary actions of our everyday lives are herald by a much greater force of previous history. Therefore, each action is a compression and replication of the past. The unique personality reforms the replica as prime by an erosion of its former manifestation understanding of its conceptual replication and places it within contemporary language.
Chapter 3: The Propagation of Things This chapter is concerned with the use of things and examines the point when they become less viable and gradually discarded. There are several topics that Kubler addresses in this chapter: invention and variation, replication, discard and retention. Society is hurt by both too much replication and too much invention. Stagnation occurs when ideas and objects are perpetually replicated, and chaos ensues when society is bombarded with numerous inventions. In discussing artistic invention, Kubler makes an important distinction between artistic invention and useful invention. Kubler states, "In rough terms, artistic invention is one among many ways of altering the set of the mind, while useful invention marks out the scope of the knowledge the instrument was previously designed to encompass"(66). Kubler shows that there is a certain complicated logic to the propagation of things, and it is important to follow the different patterns of change in ideas and things.
Kubler considers several ideas surrounding the development of things in the world. He examines the ways in which our conceptions of time and our attitudes toward change affect the invention, replication, discard, and retention of objects and discusses useful and artistic invention. These concepts are differentiated in their effect upon humans; thus, artistic inventions change perceptions of our reality and our situation within it, while useful inventions hew more to an alteration of our quotidian needs and concerns based in our physical concrete experiences. Kubler asserts that society dislikes change to a degree that militates against invention, resulting in a circumstance where it is only those few who escape the bonds of "convention" who produce true inventions.
He posits two manners of this production. The first has to do with the meeting of previously divergent information whose conflux results in a new awareness of solutions or the coming together of "practice" and "principle." The second way in which things develop is more resonant of pure invention, in that the inventor creates solely by means of his own engagement with his milieu: the invention. In this case, the invention is experientially and theoretically untied to earlier thinking. Kubler states that an artistic invention does not relate to previous solutions in a formal sequence as readily as a useful invention will.