from Erica Harth:
Ideology and Culture in Seventeenth-Century France
‘Preliminary Considerations’

Art as the ‘expression’, no matter how distorted, of ideology or of social reality is merely a variation on the theme of reflection, and, like that theme, implies the dualism of superstructure and base. Interestingly enough, Marxist reflection theory, with its separation of art and ‘reality’, has not departed significantly from the seventeenth-century version of Aristotelian mimesis. The step from mirroring nature to reflecting society is not a very large one. Marxist reflectionism has not strayed far from Aristotle.

Art produces but does not necessarily reproduce ideology; it reshapes it. Frederic Jameson, following Claude Lévi-Strauss, has defined the function of art as the provision of imaginary resolutions to contradictions unreconcilable in social reality. [see Political Unconscious] This notion can be broadened. Art also refashions as objects of aesthetic contemplation the contradictions that it resolves. Poiesis is a remaking but not a repetition. Art reworks ideology for pleasure.

Critics in capitalist society have tended to view art more as product than as production. Because art has become a commodity under capitalism, the product has been severed from the process of its production, and works nominated as masterpieces have been relegated to the hallowed niche of the museum or the library. The artistic product, like any other product of human labor, is mediated by the process of its production. This process forms an individual social and economic history of the product. Provided with such a history, the inert aesthetic object springs to life and we understand our distance from or proximity to it. Marx retrieved the living social relations of capital by analyzing its mediating conditions of production. If mediation is understood as the relationship between base and superstructure, the concept is of arguable theoretical value. [see Raymond Williams Marxism and Literature and Jameson Political Unconscious] The concept of mediation should more properly be applied to the relations between product and conditions of production. This theoretical shift marks the distance between a Cartesian type of dualism and a materialist dialectic. The distinctiveness of art resides in the meditations between process and product resulting in an ideologically valued and valuable pleasure.

In addition to its unique collection, St. Louis Art Museum’s library serves a wider range of patrons than I was expecting. Its core materials support the museum’s specific pieces and areas of specialization, but the library is broad enough to serve the needs of local college students whose institutional libraries do not have a well-developed art collection. Even colleges that have an art library may require their students to visit SLAM in order to familiarize themselves with its resources. I also was surprised to hear that many art dealers and other professionals rely on the auction databases that SLAM provides.

Our visit also taught me about the role of the different departments within a museum and how a library might support them. I was impressed with the level of research that the curators require, as well as their linguistic knowledge;  30 to 40% of the library’s collection is in German, French, or other foreign languages. The museum has undergone several reorganizations, and the library has done a good job of taking on new roles as they adapt to a changing environment, such as helping with permissions work. They have also taken steps towards uploading SLAM images into ARTSTOR, which will help the museum’s exposure and provide quality images for others.

I think we all appreciated learning about the challenges that library managers can face and what a department can do to evolve in tough times. The SLAM library is actively looking for ways to adapt and support its host institution through different avenues.

EH

From Matthew Simms Cézanne’s Watercolors: Between Drawing and Painting (Yale University press New Haven London 2008):
(the books argument is richly detailed, with high quality reproductions, and highly recommended)

‘Cézanne’s late attitude towards contour as reported by Riviere and Schnerb: Cézanne did not seek to represent forms by line. The contour only existed for him as the place where one form ended and another began. In principle there is no line, a form only exists in relation to the forms next to it.’ Another way of saying this is that line… is nothing other than the air that envelopes forms and dissolves them in optical perception.’’ (p140-142)

In Simms of course this is part of a larger argument, but I’ve my own beginning-student reasons for crassly reducing it down; this ‘envelope’ can also be understood as the concept of negative space revisited.

Negative space exercises usually involve colouring in the air in black charcoal, so you have the white paper/positive space silhouette on the page; or colouring in the figure as a solid silhouette. The ‘positive space’ becomes either the surrounding air or the figure itself. If instead we see, simultaneously, both the ‘negative space’ as positive space and the drawn object as positive space (or as the teacher says: find the negative space inside the figure), we approach Tao. (“Pots are formed by clay but the empty space between is the essence of the pot” Lao Tse.) (The contour only existed for him [Cézanne] as the place where one form ended and another began. In principle there is no line, a form only exists in relation to the forms next to it.)
(ok ok, I know, referring to Taoism makes me a wanker. But it is important. It is in itself deliberately difficult, to force the student/reader to understand that we must grapple with this, the meaning refuses to make itself obvious. And for an introductory lesson in negative-space-Taoism, see this Nintendo DS homebrew game)

On page 160 Simms refers to a watercolor study of clouds by Delacroix ‘which gives a clear sense of the way in which washes of color outline areas of reserve negatively, using the unpainted paper as the positive form of the cloud.’ What fascinates me is the clear example of positive space on positive space (shaped by reserved paper or not).

Cézanne takes this struggle one step further into color. Simm’s section titled: ‘Brilliance, Blindness, and the ‘Reserve’’ begins with Bernard’s description of watching Cézanne paint a watercolor view of Montagne Sainte-Victoire seen from Les Lauves. (Simms gives as a possible candidate the one in the Oskar Reinhart Coollection, Am Römerholz, Winterthur, Switzerland.)

‘His method was unique, excessively complicated, and totally different from usual techniques. He began on the shadows with a single patch, which he then over-lapped with a second, larger one; and then with a third one, until these patches, which produced screens, modeled the object by way of coloring it.’ (Bernard, ‘Souvenirs sur Paul Cézanne,’ in Conversations Avec Cézanne, pp59, cited pp157)

Simms, picking up where Bernard drops off, also points out Cézanne’s use of the shape of the brush stroke, in some instances the shape of the brush itself (‘the conical forms of cypress trees, a fortuitous analogy between the tapered shape of the brush and the shape of the trees’) and the skilled use of saturation of pigment.

A type of stained glass effect, by which the overlapping shapes and colors build form – and build form through colors interrelations. There is no blue, ‘blue only exists in relation to the greens next to it.’

Recognised world-wide by its skyline, Edinburgh is a city of breathtaking visual contrasts and challenges. The Castle, church spires, the Usher and McEwan Halls, not to mention that architectural contrast of the Old and New Towns; Edinburgh is rightly celebrated as an inspiring city of art and design.  

There’s so much to discover so why not let Central’s Art Library support your search for inspiration and information?  Our knowledgeable staff will happily provide free advice and access to books, magazines, comics and DVDs  related to architecture, fashion, printmaking, photography.  

There’s also monthly exhibitions of works by local artists and photographers and opportunities to participate in craft sessions.  And as if that wasn’t enough, you’ll see our unrivalled view of St Giles’ Cathedral from our vantage point at the corner of  Victoria Street and George IV Bridge.

So make Central’s Art Library your first port of call next time you’re visiting Edinburgh; for business or pleasure! We’re located close to the Royal Mile in the heart of the Old Town World Heritage Site.

Multilingual Glossary for Art Librarians

Languages: Multilingual, English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish

No. of entries: 586, either main terms or cross-references.

Description: “The Glossary has been conceived and produced as a modest working tool which, we hope, will assist communication between art librarians, at least by helping to prevent misunderstandings. It can also be seen as a symbol – a symbol of our ideals and aspirations, but also as a symbol of the ways in which ideals have to be modified in practice.”

Beside the old fashion format of the website (either use “search and find” or navigate by links from the word list) this glossary is a very laudable initiative of the IFLA [International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions] and its Section of Art Libraries. It is a good example of an international cooperation and how a group of professionals are building their own jargon.

The glossary offers both, a definition of the term in English and translation of the terms into the above mentioned languages.

As a work in progress you are strongly urged to send comments, corrections and suggestions or to contribute your language skills to the further development of the glossary (Please see form and email at the end of the glossary’s website)

Example term: PHASE CONSERVATION – Planned sequential stages in conservation treatment when the entire prescribed treatment cannot be completed in the short term.
DU - gefaseerde conservatie (f)
FR - programme de conservation (m)
GR - schrittweise Konservierung (f)
IT - programma di restauro a fasi (m)
SP - restauración en fase (f)
SW - etappkonservering

Keywords: art librarians, art library, jargon, technical terms

Status/Quote as:Multilingual Glossary for Art Librarians. Copyright © 1995-2000, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

Note: Latest Revision: April 12, 1999

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Spending time in the art room at school has been such a joy for me.  For so many years I thought about what my own art room would look like.  There are many things about the room I am currently working in that I like and would want in a room of my own.  However, there are somethings that I would like to change.  First, I’d like to have an area where I can “collect up” kids.  A place on the floor where kids can gather around and look at art or just be out from behind a desk for a few moments.  The other thing I would like is a large art library where children can explore art in books.  I think this would be particularly helpful for when some students finish before others, as some always do.