Nu doar un francez ci un simbol. Nu doar un pasionat ci un creator. Acesta este Christian Dior. Desi a crescut intr-o familie angrenata in business (producerea de fertilizatori) micul Christian a fost atras de arte si frumos, studiind flori, gradini si decoratiuni. Apropierea de moda s-a facut de timpuriu, inca din copilarie desenand costume pentru carnavalul din orasul natal.

Si-a dorit o cariera in muzica si arte frumoase, si-ar fi dorit sa fie si arhitect, a cedat insa dorintei familiei urmand Scoala de Stiinte Politice. Nu a fost suficient ca sa il deturneze de la drumul sau, in timpul scolii intalnind pictori si muzicieni printre care Jean Cocteau care, mai tarziu avea sa spuna despre Dior “geniul timpurilor noastre, al carui nume magic combina pe Dumnezeu (Dieu) si aurul (Or)”. Prietenia cu acesti artisti l-a facut pe Dior sa deschida o galerie de arta in care a expus lucrarile unor pictori ca Braque, Derain sau Dali.

Intrarea in lumea modei s-a facut in forta avand succes inca de la inceput cu rochiile sale neobisnuit de lungi pentru vremea respectiva si stramte. Revista Harper’s Bazaar a inventat expresia “The New Look” pentru a defini stilul silueta al creatiilor lui Dior si insusi Dior ar fi spus “I have designed flower women”. In doar 10 ani Christian Dior a avut 20 de colectii haute couture transformand numele si afacerea intr-un imperiu al luxului.

Dior a simtit necesitatea unui parfum care sa insoteasca creatiile sale in moda, prima esenta numindu-se “Miss Dior”. In ciuda dificultatilor economice ale vremii Dior a insistat ca parfumurile si ambalajele sale sa contina cele mai bune esente si materiale. Christian Dior spunea la un moment dat “It is difficult to imagine just how much care and trouble goes into finding a new perfume, creating a bottle, or even just the packaging. These activities so absorb me that today I feel as much a perfumer as a fashion designer”. In timpul vietii sale Miss Dior, Diorama, Eau Fraiche si Diorissimo au insotit colectiile de moda. Astazi..

Petite info que je relaie sur ce blog: Adriana Karembeu en déplacement ce soir à Paris pour favoriser une vente au profit de la Croix-Rouge Française!

Mis en vente (notamment):

• “Les Oiseaux Bleus” Hommage à Picasso. La dernière gouache de G. Braque
• “Hermès”, exceptionnelle sculpture cubiste en or massif,
• “Les Oiseaux Bleus” et « Atalante » sculptures en bronze»,
• “Thyria », sculpture céramique,
• “Char de Médée” sculpture en cristal Daum,
• “Alcyone” et “Icarios” colliers or et brillants,
• “Les Oiseaux Bleus” et “Boréade”, tapisseries d’Aubusson et des Gobelins.

Toutes ces toiles sont de Georges Braque, et mise en vente par M. Armand Israël (merci à lui).

Je cite: “Les fonds récoltés lors de cette vente permettront aux équipes de volontaires de la Croix-Rouge française de poursuivre leurs actions de proximité en France, en matière de secours aux personnes comme d’aide sociale destinée aux plus démunis. En cette période de grande crise sociale, la Croix-Rouge française attache une importance particulière à mobiliser le plus possible l’ensemble des acteurs de la société pour lutter contre les précarités”.

Pour les infos:

Mercredi 25 novembre, Drouot Montaigne – 20h00
15, avenue Montaigne – 75008 Paris

Background

Cubism began at a time of great change in our history – the Modern period. The Modern period was influenced and instigated by the industrial revolution. It is recognised as a revolution due to the vast amount and speed at which new technologies and inventions were introduced to the world. For example, within the period ranging from around the 1860s to 1930s saw the introduction of the car and the internal combustion engine as the main mode of transport, electricity was being introduced in cities across Europe and the US, with electricity came the lightbulb replacing oil and gas lamps, developments in production meant that products could be made quicker, in larger quantities and distributed further. So, technology and science was taking a hold and changing our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

At the beginning of the 20th century art, as it so often does, reflected life and with a new, modern world came Modern Art. The beginning of which was Cubism.

Process of seeing

Paul Cezanne, a post-impressionist painter, first introduced the idea of showing the process of seeing in his paintings not just the result. You can see slight changes in positioning of lines and tones in his later paintings. The Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque would take this idea to an extreme in what is now considered Cubism.

Analytical Cubism

The idea of Analytical Cubism was to use the painters whole understanding of the subject (how it is seen from all angles) in one single viewpoint. The subject would be studied, simplified and drafted into a single painting.

Georges Braque – ‘Woman with a guitar’

The analytical paintings produced by Picasso and Braque were often monochromatic in tone and recognisable forms (if any) were simplified making the paintings increasingly abstract. The following painting by Picasso is almost entirely abstract in it’s visual appearance, we are only aware of the fact that it is a painting of a guitarist by it’s title.

Although visually radical the Cubists opted for traditional subject matter focussing on portraits, still life and landscapes. Braque produced many paintings  of areas that Cezanne had painted before him but in the cubist style – simplifying the forms to basic shapes and tones.

Synthetic Cubism

Synthetic Cubism evolved from the analytical style and included elements of collage. Picasso and Braque included various textured elements into their paintings. The synthetic paintings would also include cuttings from newspapers and hand-rendered type inspired by the signs found on their favourite cafes and club houses.

Juan Gris

Gris joined the Cubist movement at a later date as a student of Picasso’s and in doing so developed his own style. Gris paintings from both Analytical and Synthetic styles differ from Picasso and Braque’s in that they have more depth in colour and are visually more recognisable.

Although the movement was short lived (until 1919) it remains today one of the most recognised and respected movements of the 20th century.

Cubism (Taschen Basic Art Series)

Costumes par Serge Férat, 1917

Guillaume Apollinaire
Les Mamelles de Tirésias

Drame surréaliste en deux actes et un prologue

Préface
[Poèmes dédicatoires]
Prologue
Acte premier
Acte II

Fuente l Bibliotheca Augustana

  ”Poesía y creación no son sino una misma cosa y no se debe llamar poeta sino al que inventa, al que crea en la medida en que el hombre puede crear. El poeta es el que descubre alegrías nuevas, aunque sean penosas de soportar”.

Guillaume Apollinaire

Fuente l  Color de Francia. La femme Assise. Ensayos Selectos. José María González de Mendoza

“La frente aparece dividida a menudo – decía Golding comentando los retratos de Picasso en “Cubismo. Historia y análisis 1907-1914” - por un realce en medio o por una hendidura; dos planos simplificados unen las cuencas de los ojos a la frente, mientras las zonas entre mandíbula, nariz y boca quedan claramente distinguidas. Las cabezas están vistas desde un nivel sólo levemente superior, o sea normal; pero las zonas inferiores de la nariz y las mandíbulas resultan claramente visibles. La parte del cuello que puede verse está realizada conforme a un gran plano curvo, en general origen de la descomposición plástica del cuello y de la garganta“.

Cuando se mira y se deja uno mirar por este “Busto masculino” ( El Atleta), de 1909, que ahora puede contemplarse en la exposición madrileña de la Fundación Mapfre, parece que viéramos a Picasso acodado en el bar del circo Medrano, tal como cuenta Fernanda Olivier en “Picasso y sus amigos” (Taurus): ” Entre el cálido y un tanto repugnnante olor que subía de la cuadra, se quedaba allí, lo mismo que Braque, y pasaba la velada entera hablando con los clowns. (…) El boxeo le gustaba por una causa distinta. La fuerza física le dejaba estupefacto y forzaba su admiración. La belleza de un combate le interesaba lo mismo casi que una obra de arte. Le gustaban los boxeadores tanto como los clowns, pero de otra manera. Aunque le intimidaban, al parecer, hubiera estado muy orgulloso de tener amigos entre ellos“.

El Atleta pasa ante los ojos de Picasso. Mira y es mirado por él. Como ocurre también en esta exposición cuando a la vez miramos y nos miran los retratos de Modigliani.

También “Leopoldo Zborowski sentado“(1919) nos mira mientras atravesamos el espacio ante él. Jean Paris escribió un bellísimo libro sobre la mirada y el espacio (“L´espace et le regard“) (Seuil) y allí recuerda que mientras el impresionismo se mantenía inmóvil ante las cosas en movimiento, el cubismo va a moverse idealmente ante las cosas inmóviles. Nosotros nos movemos en el espacio ante estos ojos de Leopoldo Zborowski que nos observan. Dale dejó dicho en su “Modigliani” que “muchos de esos retratos nos miran desde los lienzos, pensativamente conscientes de su vida frágil, angosta, malsana, con su terror, su propia miseria o su mórbida sensibilidad claramente desvelada. Cada personaje  se impone a la imagen y cada imagen es una síntesis que a  menudo se manifiesta despiadada y brutal. Modigliani no amó las almas ni los cuerpos, y pintó a estos últimos con tal intensidad que sus almas, más o menos infelices, atraen al contemplador aun cuando pueda aborrrecerlas”.

Mirar siempre y a la vez ser visto por el mundo. Somos vistos instantáneamente también por este hombre que cruza con sus manos en los bolsillos, el banquero Henri Fourcade, pintado por  Toulouse-Lautrec en 1889. Parece que no nos mira, contempla entre las máscaras cómo discurre este año en que Toulouse-Lautrec pinta la sala del Moulin-de-la-Galette,  el año en que expone en el Círculo Artístico y Literario y en el “Salón des Arts Incohérentes“. El pintor se le queda mirando al pasar y el señor Fourcade parece que no mirara al pintor: sabe que le están pintando, sabe que nosotros le miramos. Estos rostros sucesivos de las exposiciones, el retrato frontal o el retrato de perfil son los que vemos continuamente por las calles. Las calles de nuestras ciudades son exposiciones móviles, rostros zigzagueantes entre semáforos, estelas de vida. Las gentes han salido a las calles con sus afeites para ser miradas y la edad se advierte en cuanto a uno ya le dejan de mirar. Miran las gentes y son vistas en los teatros, en los vestíbulos, en la sociedad hecha vestíbulo de teatro, escenario de parlamentos y de abrazos. Ha salido uno a la calle para ser visto – para estar vivo – y también para mirar a los que están vivos – a los que quieren ser vistos – y que en este momento acaban de salir.

(Imágenes:-1-Picasso:”Busto de hombre” (El atleta).-1909/2.-Modigliani: “Retrato de Leopoldo Zborowski”.-1916-1919/3.-Toulouse-Lautrec:” Retrato del señor Fourcade”.-1889) (Retratos de la exposición “Mirar y ser visto” (De Tiziano a Picasso, el retrato en la colección del MASP) en la Fundación Mapfre de Madrid, hasta el 20 de diciembre de 2009)

Voor reserveringen op 11 november of de dagen er na, kun je mailen naar: info@caferestaurantbraque.com of bellen naar: 020-6707357.

Café restaurant Braque gaat eindelijk open!

Om dit te vieren willen we jullie uitnodigen voor het openingsfeest op zaterdag 7 november. Vanaf 22:00 uur zijn jullie meer dan welkom om samen met ons een drankje te drinken in onze nieuwe zaak. Het feest duurt tot 03:00 uur, natuurlijk met hapjes, drankjes en muziek.

We hopen dat jullie erbij zijn om deze eerste avond in te luiden!

Woensdag 11 november gaan de deuren definitief open.

So I think I’m going to look into this disney thing more. Alan made an interesting point about both the age of the Fountain and the age of mickey mouse being quite similar. It will be interesting to see the comparisons. However, the are slightly different ages, fountain was made in 1917 and mickey mouse was created in 1928 as my brooch does indeed say.

I may look into other art at the time of 1928 in order to draw direct comparisons.

An artist who was born the day before steamboat willie, mickey’s debut (18th November, 1928), was Armand Pierre Arman. Arman tended to deal in multiples of the same object as so:

He was also very interested in the deconstruction of objects such as this case in his violin. This kind of reminds me of Braque and the cubists but it may be completely irrelevant.

I believe maybe he was referencing Braque’s work? He liked to reference artists, even the way he signed was reminiscent of Van Gogh’s signature.

Arman signed with his first name as an ode to Vincent Van Gogh who also signed as his first name.

Mickey Mouse’s first appearance was actually in Plane Crazy, but this was a silent film with a soundtrack added in Decmber of that year. It aired on May 15th, 1928 almost six months after Steamboat Willie. Wladyslaw Hasior was born a day before. Supposedly he was a famous Polish sculptor but there isn’t much information on him on the web.

I would maybe research him more, but I really feel he is irrelevant to this project, and I also amn’t intregued by his works.

OH OH OH!! The treachery of images was made by Magritte in this time!! EXCITED

Its a series of paintings depicting several things, the most famous being “ceci n’est pas une pipe” One of Magritte’s most famous paintings:

Beautiful.

So this piece of work was being made around the time of Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy.

Its also the same time as Salvador Dali. Maybe trip down to waxwork museum is necessary.

Yeah thats a nice picture too and it was done in the same time as well.

But what is the relation to money and art? What is the value?

If i take a trip to the modern art gallery and get a picture of me beside a piece of work done in 1928 then I can directly compare it to disney.

Steamboat Willie (notice the bit where mickey plays with the pigs nipples, that was cut out in disneyland.

Plane Crazy

Also my favourite disney cartoon

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature.In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth. The background and object planes interpenetrate one another to create the shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism’s distinct characteristics. View & buy Cubist artworks!

Hace ya más de treinta años que estuve charlando con el compositor español Luis de Pablo en su casa, en las afueras de Madrid,  y ahora, que en los próximos días va a recibir el Premio Tomás Luis de Victoria, me llegan aún los ecos de aquella grata conversación.

“Un creador – me dijo entonces Luis de Pablo – es una persona que ante todo aquello que contempla lo puede traducir fácilmente en su especialidad: sabiéndolo o sin saberlo, porque el ser humano va almacenando cosas, y un buen día, cosas por las que aparentemente has pasado sin percibir, salen; esto quiere decir que, en realidad, no hay casi experiencias desaprovechables, como no sean espantosamente negativas.

Creo que la naturaleza a mí me estimula más que la creación de otras cosas, lo cual no quiere decir que yo no disfrute con la creación de otros; por ejemplo, puedo citar concretamente obras que han venido directamente de experiencias naturales (…) Igualmente, para mí, una aportación ha sido las “pinturas negras” de Goya, y, como las conozco desde muy crío, porque están en el Prado, es fácil ir; eso es una cosa que me marcó, como me marcó mi primer descubrimiento de las primeras pinturas del periodo cubista, no solamente las de Picasso, sino las de Gris y de Braque; como una exposición itinerante de pintura americana en 1958. Tampoco olvidaré la primera vez que oí música de Bartok, cuando yo tendría 16 o 17 años; la primera audición de la escuela de Viena, o cuando me dediqué a frecuentar las músicas no europeas, como el increíble descubrimiento a los 16 años del último Falla, del “Retablo” “concreto”. Estos grandes descubrimientos son definitivos en la formación de una persona y te marcan de por vida”.

Estábamos sentados, recuerdo – era mayo de 1977 – en la casa de Luis de Pablo probando los dos, mientras charlábamos, varias clases de té. Conversábamos sobre la relación entre el tiempo y la música, la relación entre el tiempo y la vida.

“Éste es un tema muy fascinante – me dijo el compositor – porque va a depender del concepto que del tiempo se tenga, para que la música sea de una u otra manera. El tiempo en Occidente siempre intenta ser causal; al ser causal se produce un fenómeno muy curioso: estamos viviendo en un tiempo que es habitable racionalmente, puesto que lo que está sucediendo ahora es un momento conocible, por lo que se había oído antes: basta con que el material a modificar sea claro al principio; después no hay problema ninguno: estamos en terreno conocido.

A partir de cierto punto de la música de Occidente este concepto hace crisis: vivimos en un mundo situado en el universo de lo impredecible. Esto ya empieza en Debussy; por eso fue tan atacado, diciendo que esa música no nos llevaba a ninguna parte y que no estaba construida. Ha sido la generación posterior la que ha aceptado el terrible hecho de preguntarse: “¿es posible una forma de tiempo irrepetible?”; es decir, una forma en un tiempo que no transcurre como un ciclo cerrado, sino como un agua que se derrama sobre una superficie lisa. Entonces descubrimos que hay gran cantidad de músicas, no occidentales, que han partido de que la música es un entorno sonoro, que dura lo que tiene que durar, dura una noche entera a lo mejor, o dos horas, un minuto o unos segundos; y que, en el fondo, esa música está hecha para que uno se pierda en su tiempo (y que no es un tiempo que se posee, sino que es el tiempo el que le posee a uno)”.

“Es un pedazo de tu vida – siguió diciéndome Luis de Pablo – al que rodeas de un acontecimiento sonoro: esto es clarísimo en las músicas rituales tibetanas, por ejemplo, o en ciertas músicas ambientales africanas, en las que la música es estrictamente una improvisación muy medida, porque todo el mundo conoce la base de aquello, y que dura lo que la gente quiere que dure. No hay un canon establecido, entonces, en ese momento; el tiempo transcurre de otra forma, no para medirlo o dominarlo, sino para dialogar con él; con esto llegamos a un punto muy similar en Occidente. Son fenómenos que se producen por las distintas maneras de habitar el tiempo; ya hay atisbos de ello en Parsifal; allí hay momentos de un total estatismo de la música; ¿de dónde sacó esto Wagner? Me inclino a pensar que lo intuyó de la extraña idea de hacer al mismo tiempo una música profana y sagrada, una música que pudiera producir en el oyente una sensación de eternidad”. (“Diálogos con la cultura“.-páginas 181-194)

Y así seguimos charlando Luis De Pablo y yo, música y tiempo sobre el té de aquella tarde, música y  té en aquel mayo de 1977.

 Han pasado ya más de treinta años.

(Imágenes:-1.-”The Piano Player” (Movie Still 1).- 2002 -por David Claerbout.–Galleri K. -artnet/2.- Robert Doisneau.- Staley Wisse Gallery-/3.-”Embedded Red Violins” (Empreintes Rouges).-2004.-por Arman.–Le Violon Bleu.-Sidi Bou Said.-Tunez.-artnet)

Se passate da Rimini in questa stagione NON PERDETEVI LA MOSTRA “DA REMBRANDT A GAUGUIN A PICASSO” presso la Rocca Malatestiana, detta anche Castel Sismondo.

E’ una mostra molto ben fatta (finirà il 14 marzo prossimo) e vi spiego il perchè.

Pochi ma ottimi i dipinti (circa una cinquantina) e ordinati in modo originale (almeno per me, che non sono uno specialista): in una sala ci sono i soggetti religiosi (il Veronese, il Bassano, Murillo, El Greco, Zurbaran), in un’altra i ritratti (Tintoretto, Velasquez, Van Dick, Rembrandt, Degas, Picasso), e poi i paesaggi (Constable, Corot, ancora Degas, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Gauguin), le nature morte (Braque, Gris, Matisse), gli interni, ecc.

Si resta a bocca aperta. Credetemi. Prima che la sindrome di Stendhal vi faccia del male, sedetevi in uno dei tanti divani.

Per trovare la Rocca (che già di per sé è uno spettacolo), chiedete al navigatore di portarvi in Piazza Malatesta. In mancanza del navigatore, vi consiglio di puntare sulla parte nord del centro storico.

Dite pure che vi ho mandato io.

Para comenzar.

Salpicado de marisco sobre espuma lila. Aromas de tormenta y brisa marina. (“Anochecer en Grandcamp” de Seurat, 1885)

Gajos de higos, limas y naranjas sobre fondo de sémola caramelizada y queso a las finas hierbas. (“Paisaje de Collioure” de Matisse, 1905)

Las verduras.

Profusión de brotes tiernos sobre lecho de compota de castañas, con repollo y coles de Bruselas. (“El parque” de Klimt,1910)

Revuelto de espárragos en aceite de oliva virgen extra aromatizado con romero y hierbas del bosque. (“L’Estaque” de Braque, 1908)

La pasta.

Lunas y estrellas de pasta en salsa de naranja y pimientos rojos aderezada con ciruelas y pasas. (“Contrastes simultáneos” de R. Delauny, 1913)

Raviolis cocidos en agua de rosas con un toque de basílico sobre pluma de ave del paraíso. Homenaje a las fuentes de Picasso. (“Composición oval con colores planos” de Piet Mondrian. 1914).

Los postres.

Manzanas al vino blanco rebajado con agua de roca. Aromas de corolas y sombras. (“Bodegón con frutero” de Cèzanne. 1880)

Tableta de chocolate puro montada en yema de avestruz sobre pan de oro. Ralladura de tomate. (“Círculo amarillo” de Moholy-Nagy, 1921)

Permanezco en la silla de The Modern enfrentada al patio ajardinado tras los cristales. Mis manos trasladan pedazos de verdura y pasta a la garganta que se abre y cierra mecánicamente. Al alcanzar el paladar las texturas se transforman en líneas, círculos y pinceladas que inundan mi mente desde la mañana. La planta quinta del MoMA. Un universo de obras perfectas. Imágenes que me acompañan en la vigilia y el sueño.

“Contrastes simultáneos: sol y luna” de R. Delauny, 1913

MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art. Nueva York. Exposición permanente de pintura y escultura. Plantas 4 y 5.

Week 3 of Visual Language we learned about  Point, Line,  Pattern and Texture.  We began with a recap on previous weeks including the difference between ‘art’ and ‘language’, Cubism as a visual language. Then we moved onto Form, Shape & Space. We then talked about Point, Line, Pattern and Texture. We learned how the human mind loves to connect up the dots in point and interpret them as shapes, connecting dots like this is called grouping/gestalt. We learned how lines can convey alot of emotions  such as angry or gentle and can show a feeling of movement or direction. We discussed pattern how a sense of flow can be achieved thru different backgrounds, branching designs, spiral designs etc. Texture is a 3 Dimensional design and contains visual as well as physical properties through which alot of emotions can be expressed.

We then continued working on our projects in the Visual Language Lab. I have now finished my 60 designs and admit it was tough going to get 60 designs completed within the 2 weeks timeframe. Below is a few examples, I choose the sun.

di Simona Maggiorelli

Gabriella Belli, direttore del Mart

Mentre la gran parte delle istituzioni culturali  è in grande sofferenza  per i massicci tagli ai finanziamenti pubblici decisi dal governo Berlusconi, la direttrice del Mart di Rovereto, Gabriella Belli, segnala un dato in controtendenza, del tutto inaspettato: «L’interesse per l’arte contemporanea nel nostro Paese è in crescita». E in veste di presidente dell’Amaci (la rete nata dal “basso” che riunisce ventisette spazi museali) spiega: «Dalla lettura dei dati dell’ultimo anno risulta che gli spazi del contemporaneo hanno tenuto bene alla crisi che ha colpito tutti i musei, non solo in Italia».
L’arte contemporanea in Italia è sempre stata la Cenerentola. Non lo è più?
Sta crescendo anche da noi un mondo dell’arte composto di artisti, pubblico di appassionati e moltissimi giovani. Ma, quest’anno, ha inciso anche la Biennale di Venezia che attrae sempre pubblico straniero.
Mettersi in rete, unire le forze in progetti come l’Amaci quanto conta?
Il progetto è nato per far circolare le conoscenze e il sapere che ognuno di noi ha maturato negli anni. Anche se la rete dell’Amaci riunisce realtà diverse: musei, fondazioni, realtà piccole e grandi nate in contesti territoriali lontani fra loro. Ma c’è un dato che ci unisce sul piano gestionale: il trenta per cento delle nostre risorse viene dal privato. E la fisionomia degli sponsor va maturando. Negli anni Novanta le banche o le imprese che investivano in questo settore non esprimevano competenze specifiche. Oggi i partner privati, senza interferire nelle scelte di direzione culturale, orientano il marketing. E sono spariti gli sponsor che investono per un vantaggio politico immediato.
Defiscalizzare le donazioni potrebbe essere d’incentivo agli investimenti?
Avere un vebti per cento in meno di Iva  sulle spalle per un museo significa, per esempio, poter investire di più sulla collezione permanente. I maggiori musei in Europa e nel mondo aggiornano le collezioni. Da noi è raro. Invece è importante fare investimenti lungimiranti, non effimeri, anche se daranno risultati culturali solo sul lungo periodo. Il più importante investimento, comunque, riguarda la formazione. Se fin da bambini si è “esposti” a stimoli culturali, cresce l’esigenza di arte, di cinema, di musica. La maggioranza di quei giovani diventeranno, da grandi, visitatori attenti, partecipi.
Il Mart di Rovereto è un’eccellenza riconosciuta anche all’estero. Come si diventa un modello?
Il Mart ha una bella storia alle spalle. La nostra forza è stata la continuità nel lavoro e la coerenza del progetto culturale. Favorita anche dal fatto che, casualmente, non ci siano stati cambi di direzione.
Dopo il Puskin e l’Ermitage, il Gropius-Bau di Berlino ospita fino a gennaio la sua mostra I linguaggi del futurismo. Il Mart ormai esporta progetti?
Sì, ma richiede molto sacrificio. Esportare progetti culturali è un superlavoro che non produce risultati immediati e che richiede un team di lavoro davvero motivato. I miei collaboratori, per capirci, vanno a cento all’ora. Ma occorre anche il sostegno della politica, in senso alto. Le amministrazioni locali tentine ci sostengono, capiscono l’importante di istituzioni in crescita come la nostra la nostra. Ma Rovereto fa 30mila abitanti e tutta la regione 450mila. Il Mart non può vivere solo di pubblico locale, per quanto ci segua con grande attenzione.
Come si riesce allora ad attrarre pubblico da fuori regione e dall’estero?
Con progetti culturali organici, come accennavo. Il Mart si è costruito l’ identità  su progetti trasversali dedicati ad arte e scienza, arte e teatro, arte e musica. E così via. Ma anche attraverso una forte politica di investimenti nella collezione permanente. Negli anni Ottanta non avevamo da prestare. Oggi tra depositi e collezioni contiamo su 13mila opere, fra cui molti capolavori.
Al Mart è conservato un nucleo importante di opere futuriste. E a Marinetti e compagni lei dedicò una grossa mostra a Parigi.
Come valuta gli eventi del centenario 2009?

La compresenza di molte mostre ne ha penalizzate alcune. Non si può fare una mostra sul Futurismo senza opere di Boccioni. Ma la sua produzione, come è noto, non fu amplissima (morì a 37 anni). Così, alcune esposizioni del centenario risultano acefale. Senza contare che le sue opere più interessanti erano in mostra a Parigi e Londra. Parlo di quelle conservate in America perché l’Italia degli anni Cinquanta, curiosamente, le rigettò. Detto questo, ho trovato l’operazione di ricostruzione storica fatta dal Pompidou piuttosto strana: se si selezionano opere fino al 1916 o il 1918, non si vede il senso complessivo del Futurismo, anche nelle sue derive. In più esporre opere cubiste di Braque e Picasso accanto a quelle futuriste segnala uno scarto innegabile. E non a vantaggio di Severini e sodali. La grande mostra del 1986 a palazzo Grassi aveva segnato un avanzamento negli studi: l’importanza del futurismo risiede nel suo sperimentare ad ampio raggio, fra arte, cinema, teatro, moda. Nella ricerca dell’opera totale. Mostre come quella di Parigi ci fanno tornare indietro.

LA GIORNATA NAZIONALE DELL’ARTE CONTEMPORANEA
Leone d’oro alla Biennale di Venezia 2009, Tobias Rehberger il 3 ottobre, per la quinta giornata nazionale del contemporaneo organizzata dall’Amaci (Associazione musei d’arte contemporanea italiani), presenta il suo ultimo lavoro al MAXXI di Roma. All’esterno del museo progettato da Zaha Hadid  e che sarà inaugurato ufficialmente nel 2010 l’artista tedesco ha realizzato un’installazione con giochi di luci che prosegue la ricerca sviluppata in videoinstallazioni concepite come stranianti riletture di capolavori del cinema, da Welles a Kubrick. L’intervento di Rehberger nella capitale si inserisce in un calendario fittissimo di mostre ed eventi che il 3 ottobre s’inaugurano in contemporanea. Dal Museon di Bolzano in giù.  In Lombardia, per esempio, parte il progetto Twister che dissemina nuovi lavori di artisti come Loris Cecchini, Massimo Bartolini, Marzia Migliora e altri nell’hinterland milanse. A Firenze, invece, la notte tra il 2 e il 3 ottobre apre i battenti EX3, il nuovo Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea di Firenze che sarà inaugurato il 29 ottobre con la personale di Rosefeldt e Tweedy.
left-avvenimenti–

Week 2 of Visual Language began with a lecture on Cubism. Cubism in an avant-garde style of modern art that changed European painting and sculpture which also imspired movements in music and literature. Cubism was invented in Paris by Paplo Picasso and Georges Braque. Cubism was influenced by art from different cultures particularly African Masks. There are two distinct Cubist Styles: Analytical Cubism and Synthetic Cubism.

At the end of the lecture we were asked to draw our hands without looking at the paper while we draw. We were asked to do this twice showing different angles of our hands. For me this proved a very difficult exercise as I am crap at drawing! But I hope to get better over time.

Visual Language Lab Week 2
We were given an assignment to create 60 different representations of an object using mixed media. We had various objects to choose from and I choose the Sun. We have 3 weeks to finish this assignment and can use a variety of styles to create this such as crayons, markers, pencils, paint, photoshop, photography, glitter, cloth etc. We created the first few representations in this weeks lab and continue our work at home and during Visual Language Lab Week 3.

Yes, you’re right, I am too generous. I have decided to upload my Art Studies resources so that you may use them, change them, be influenced by them or laugh at them… your choice. I will upload one resource a day for the next week.

Today’s resource is for Intermediate Art though I’m sure it could quite easily be used for any class (age 13-18). A double page study of Braque’s life and technique, the resource should be used for Historical Expressive study. I have found it to be very successful due to it’s easy to learn time-line, it’s heavily worded, though easily explained word banks and its appealing layout.

Braque is an extremely interesting character, much more interesting than Picasso. It feels like Braque was the Picasso that could have been, the unlucky Picasso. It also amazes me that when it comes to Cubism, Picasso is the first artist who comes to mind, though Braque plays just as important a role in its creation.

The full two page PDF file can be downloaded from the Box section on the right and can be printed in colour or black and white, though colour would benefit the study of the painting; ‘Violin & Palette’.

A note: When teaching with this resource, I find it very helpful to get pupils to draw out the painting in their books, replicating each line and shape as closely as possible, them ask the class to identify what each item is. It’s strange how pupils fail to notice objects on first impression though after copying the painting, they start to notice the musical score, the curtain, the nail and the bow.

The term collage derives from the French “coller” meaning “glue”. This term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.A collage may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, portions of other artwork, photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas. The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but this technique made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th century as anart form of novelty. It can be included in that kind of art named Mixed Media Art.

"All Star Generation" mixed media collage by Emanuel Ologeano

Abends kam ich aus dem Kunstmuseum in der Hodlerstraße, noch ganz benommen vom Schock der Moderne, vor allem Braques umbrüchigen Bildern, die mir die Zeitenwende am lautesten zu künden schienen. Die Straße, satt von der Restfeuchte eines Regengusses, spiegelte die Aufruhr der Zeichen und in mir arrangierten sich die Fragmente der erlebten Zeit auf neue Weise. Ich wollte keine Reime mehr, bestenfalls Anklänge. Reime erinnerten mich an Barlachs perfekt gerundete Bettlerin, die solch eine Traurigkeit ausstrahlt …

Edmund Husserl & Phenomenology

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) was the founder of the philosophical movement called “phenomenology”, which was a method and philosophical outlook both rejected and embraced by his contemporaries and predecessors. The phenomenological method is at the heart of his philosophical legacy, having excercised an enormous influence on the development of continental philosophy, Husserl quickly became very renowned for his thoughts within movements such as existentialism, hermeneutics and deconstruction. Husserl also had a career in logic and mathematics, and his phenomenological method and outlook connect with analytical philosophy on many levels.

Husserl did not concive phenomenology right away, but gradually evolved it in various stages. In his early work Logical Investigations, Husserl coined the term descriptive psychology, which was the initial step towards a philosophical underlying unity. Husserls main concern with the term was that it described psychic experiences, which were characterized for their intentionality, thus enabling descriptive psychology to describe essential “moments” of intentional experiences.

The descriptive psychology found its area of study through abstracting the psychological or psychic region from the world, in a similar manner as the natural sciences abstract the region of material nature from the world. Husserl could now describe experiences in relation to the contents noetic moments (their real contents), as well as also connecting his descriptions to the noematic (ir-real) moments of experience, in other words to their intentional content (objective content). Husserl thus needed a methodology to include these intentional moments of experience in the area of importance for the phenomenological investigation. Husserl’s solution became the transcendental-phenomenological reduction.

The transcendental-phenomenological reduction aims at directing the phenomenologist’s attention to the intentional relation between consciousness and its object, a correlation also concerning subjectivity and the phenomenon of the world. The phenomenologist sees phenomenology as a descriptive science, which seeks to pinpoint and correlate the essential moments and structures of the transcendental consciousness and its intentional experiences. It is of great importance that the phenomenologist [bracket] the world with the aid of the phenomenological reduction, because existence is not important when analysing phenomena during the early stages of the phenomenological method.

Phenomenology describes and categorises essential structures of intentionality and the required correlations between different experiences to the extent that these structures can be known through intuition. The analyses themselves are static and genetic; static meaning that a phenomenological abstraction is aimed at the temporality of experience. This means that static phenomenology identifies moments and structures belonging to a sort of nucleus of intentional experience and object. While the static phenomenology ‘leaves out time’, the genetic phenomenology return to the experiences in their complex temporality and tries to unfold the very origins of experiences in the temporal stream of consciousness.

The phenomenological method itself includes these main components:

1. The phenomenological reduction already mentioned above

2. The limitation, which is connected to a presupposition not to fall back on causal explanations, in order to describe the intentionality in given experiences

3. The eidetic reduction, which through eidetic variation reveals the essence, essential structures and experience

4. The eidetic intuition, in which the phenomenologist is given structures that the eidetic reduction revealed in an earlier stage of the phenomenological method

Husserl’s Letter to Hofmannstahl About Phenomenology and Art

In SITE Magazine 26-27.09 ISSN 1650-7894, Sven-Olov Wallenstein has translated a letter from Edmund Husserl to Hugo von Hofmannstahl, dated January 12th, 1907, Göttingen. The original letter is taken from Husserliana Dokumente, Briefwechsel, vol. VII, Wissenschaftlerkorrespondenz, (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1994), 133-36, and concerns both phenomenology and art. The editors of SITE acknowledges that – even though Husserl has been on a quest seeking the phenomenological origins of the sciences, the experiences and the world – phenomenology in its developed forms from Heidegger and Habermas, has had a certain fondness of aesthetic experiences which might have been lacking in Husserl’s outlook.

In the letter to Hofmannstahl 1907 – where Husserl had just discovered the main components and outlines for his phenomenological method – he acknowledges a similarity between the intuitive and pure phenomenology and pure art. Husserl has extensively covered concepts such as phantasy, image, consciousness and memory, however, these concepts also constitute links between phenomenology and developments in modern art.

Husserl starts off with thanking Hofmannstahl for a gift that he recived during an earlier visit to Husserl on December 6, 1906, and goes on to discuss phenomenology and art, thus revealing some aesthetic connections between a pure phenomenology and pure art.

Husserl recognizes that Hofmannstahl’s art pictures “inner states” as purely aesthetic. in a sphere not of “pictures” but of “aesthetic beauty”. The aesthetic states are important for the phenomenologist because of the obectification. Husserl draws a parallell between his work of reaching a lucid sense of the basic problems of philosophy, and moving onwards towards a method for the solution of these basic problems.

The phenomenological method and attitude is for the phenomenologists to be concerned with all forms of objectivity that departs from what is “natural” in a fundamental way. This Husserl says is “closely related to the attitude and stance in which your art, as something purely aesthetic, places us with respect to the presented objects and the whole of the surrounding world”.

Similar to the phenomenological attitude, the intuition of a pure aesthetic object of art is ‘represented’ in an perspective devoid of existential influences of the intellect, because the presuppositions attached with emotions and the will are connected with the existential outlook. When standing near a work of art, the work places the phenomenologist in a state of aesthetic intuition, leaving the inuition empty of the existential attitudes. Husserl pinpoints the aesthetic pureness of a work of art in the following description: the more the existential world comes to attention, and the more a work of art brings out an existential attitude, then the work of art is less aestetically pure, Husserl concludes.

For the phenomenologists the mind has a natural and existential stance – actual life and things we stand before, are actual in sensous ways and realities as such. Our acts of mind and will are caught up in these existing actualities, which are included in the existential attitude of the mind. Husserl claims that the opposite side of this stance – the pure aesthetic intuition with its corresponding emotional situation – is also the opposite counterpart of the phenomenological attitude of the mind. Husserl writes that the only way in which the phenomenologist can solve philosophical problems, is through the phenomenological attitude and the phenomenological method. The only way in which the phenomenologist can examine the basic problems of phenomenology, is to suspend the existential attitudes, especially in the critique of knowledge.

As soon as our attitudes towards pre-given knowledge and pre-given being (towards the assumed reality and the sciences) have changed, we know that the fundamental question of knowledge has changed, and made it possible for the phenomenologist to conceive a knowledge through subjective experiences, which at the same time contain an in-itself existing objectivity. The phenomenologist can only solve basic problems of philosophy if being in the very same sphere as the philosophical problems and question all knowledge. No existence should be accepted as pre-given. All reality and all science thus become phenomena, and what remains is a pure intuition – with its abstractions and analyses – and meaning immanent in the phenomena. The phenomenologists do not have to go beyond phenomena, and they don’t pressupose transcendent existences intended in phenomena. The phenomenologist does not have to clarify what knowledge as such and objectivity means according to their own immanent essence.

Given that all knowledge is questionable, we are only left with the phenomena ‘knowledge’ and if the phenomenologist is to accept any other form of knowledge, then she has to return to the phenomenological attitude. What does validity mean? Phenomenology is concerned with the “intuiting”, the “evident” and “insightful” forms of knowing, and this symbolic thought in relation to evident knowing, requires a phenomenological analysis of essences.

Aesthetic intuition in pure art is closely connected to the phenomenological intuiting, however, this should not be associated with any sort of aesthetic pleasure, due to the fact that phenomenology only considers the investigations and cognitive phenomena. The phenomenologist is not concerned with the sphere of art, but of the sphere of philosophy. The artist observes the world and gains knowledge of man and nature in a way which slightly relates to how the phenomenologist observes the world. The world is not observed through the natural attitude, nor through the practical observing of man. For the phenomenologists the world becomes but a phenomena, rendering all existence unimportant. The artist on the other hand, doesn’t try to find the ‘meaning’ of the phenomenon of the world and grasp its concepts, but intuitively appropriates when gathering matter, in order to create the aesthetic shapes and forms.

Husserl returns to a more informal and non lecturing way of writing by referring to himself as a “hopeless and typical professor! He cannot even open his mouth, without giving a lecture”. Husserl means that both the philosophical essence of a lecture and academic freedom is that there is an absence of a demand for an answer, and hopes that Hofmannstahl doesn’t feel the need to respond in relation to Husserl’s “lecture”. Husserl wishes Hofmannstahl his best, hoping that the world will find interest in his inner development and growth. Perhaps this was needed due to the fact that Husserl admits being reluctant to comment Hofmannstahl’s work: that Husserl’s praise and comments would be uninteresting for Hofmannstahl.

In the end of the letter Husserl describes the three golden rules for an artist: 1. “He shall have genius”, otherwise “he is not an artist”. 2. “He shall follow, purely and solely, his daimonion, which, from within, drives him to an intuitingblind production”. 3. “Everyone else knows better, thus he observes them all-in a purely aesthetic and phenomenological fashion”.

Phenomenology and the Possibility of a Pure Art – Sven-Olov Wallenstein Comments Husserl’s Letter to Hofmannstahl

Now what is the significance of art and aesthetics for philosophy, and in this case for phenomenology? From a german idealistic outlook, is art even an object of study with its own investigative sphere, that can be restricted in its own autonomy, or is the object of art in a dimension that goes beyond the philosophical sphere, something external to philosophy, and more intimate, “close” and connected with the foundations of thought?

The first outlook is the one attached to a Husserlian sphere, focusing on the aesthetic object and its a priori conditions. The second outlook is linked with Heidegger’s dismissal of the concept of aesthetics, where he acknowledges that the work of art as an “event”, requires that thought reconsiders its concepts and is directed back at the transformation of the entire concept of philosophy per se. This outlook also meant that it became of historical importance to return to the greeks, and especially Plato, since poetry was considered superior to philosophy.

The question of art in general and as an object of investigation within the phenomenological tradition, developed mainly in the hermeneutic and deconstructive branches of the continental branch of philosopy, however, Husserl himself has not written a lot about the same phenomenon in his own oeuvre, so to trace the concept of art in Heidegger, Sartre, Ricoeur, Merleau-Ponty and Gadamer back to Husserl’s thought, is a quite burdensome project.

Husserl did suggest that the phenomenological reduction – with its [bracketing] of existential matters – was favoured over the investigation of the aesthetic attitude and the sense of existential postulates. Sven-Olov Wallenstein writes that Husserl never considered the primacy of the theoretical attitude, however, the transcendental turn of phenomenology saw some attempts at to create a phenomenology of art, which lead Werner Ziegenfuss to write Die phänomenologische Ästhetik (1927), which is a phenomenological survey where he analysed artworks from a phenomenological point of view. Roman Ingarden also wrote an investigation named Das literarische Kunstwerk (1931), looking into the layers of signification in work of art within the lirerary genre. Finally, Mikel Dufrenne analysed the aesthetic experiences in Phénoménologie de l’expérience esthétique (1953). All in all, the phenomenological outlook seems to be fruitful when it comes to investigations connected with art.

The different forms of inquiry have not entirely been developed without each other, influences have been flowing through different traditions and outlooks, which has produced some hybrid forms of investigating aesthetics from a phenomenological perspective. Although phenomenological aesthetics is yet to be developed, it might have had a better chance of developing if hadn’t been inferior to the movement of contemporary art, which favours a more canonical approach rather than an analytical perspective. Is there a possibility of a phenomenological aesthetics?

Husserl’s own aesthetic points and ponderings are scattered within his oeuvre, however, he did discuss it extensivey in Phantasie, Bildbewusstsein, Erinnerung, attempting to examine phantasy with the phenomenological attitude.  Husserl brings up the possibility of a demarcation between the phenomenological reduction and the reduction of art, and the volume ends with the letter to Hofmannstahl, which in its interity is rather brief, however, philosophically dense and important.

At the time of Husserl’s letter to Hofmannstahl, Husserl himself was busy at work in the development of the phenomenological reduction, which occupies a fundamental place in the evolution of his phenomenological method. Wallenstein sees Husserl’s unintrest in the aesthetic questions as a consequence of his general interest in Frege, mathematics and the philosophy of arithmetic. Husserl’s main concern in his early writings is to move away from psychologism and naturalism, attempting to secure the foundations of mathematics and logical principles. This meant that the study of the human and social sciences never interested Husserl in a major way.

Husserl later returns to the concepts phantasy and time, however, this work – like most projects in Husserls oeuvre – wasn’t finished during his lifetime. Aesthetic matter flow in the phenomenological sphere, though subordinated to image consciousness and phantasy. Husserl defines modes of representation (Vergegenwärtigung) which is opposite of the direct perception (presentation), and so Husserls examines those experiences of consciousness attached to art phenomena.

What is phantasy then? Is phantasy is a world of its own or is it a neutralisation of existential matters at hand? Phantasy is very important in phenomenology because phantasy is what opens up the field of essences. Compared with perception, memory and expectation, phantasy is an inventitive act rather than a positing one. The object of phanatasy is not lucidly given, yet it still right there close to the phenomenologist.

Wallenstein claims that Husserl returns to Kant for certain terminological reasons, and a few concepts that can be traced back to Kant are disinterestedness, purposelessness and play, which all are within the phantasy sphere. Another tricky concept that is attached to phantasy is freedom, as well as a kind of indeterminatedness. It has a subjective capacity as well as distinctiveness seperated from the external world. Is the object of phantasy possible? Or does phantasy constitute an object of its own? Husserl believes in the latter, thus phenomenology and the study of phantasy points towards the phenomenology of art, however, “pure art” was never an object undergoing investigation for Husserl, as I understand it.

Coming from the image consciousness-side of the phenomenological perspective, Husserl tries to analyse the phenomena of the material art object, with its substratum and peculiarness. The phenomenologist ought to seperate the thing of art from the aesthetic object of art, where the aesthetic object has its special intentionality etc. So which object should the phenomenologist study?

The reciprocal relationship between ideality and materiality, is mediated by the image object, in this way the object becomes public given its materiality and private in terms of phantasy. Now, the point Husserl wants to make here is that there is the canvas which is the real existing object and physical image, the image subject that can be fictional, and the image object that which is perceived, even though it has no existence at all.

Cubism and Suprematism (Picasso, Braque, Malevich etc.)  are mainly concerned with the analytical: to break up, re-arrange, displace, re-assemble and to experiment with geometrical forms. The phenomenological outlook becomes a tool for creation, strenghtening the artist’s activity almost as an analytic philosopher. Husserl’s own development of the phenomenological epoqué coincides with the syntheses found in Hofmannstahl’s art. Does the syntheses in Hofmannstahl point towards the same phenomena as the phenomenological reduction with its abstraction tends to uncover?

Cubism and Suprematism departed from the natural and the existential and focused on geomterical forms and more analytic concepts. These movements are linked to a similar counterpart which phenomenology also links to. Art has to be unattached from all influences of the mind and the will and in relation to this perspective, and Wallenstein brings up Husserl’s concern with the aesthetic purity of a work. According to Wallenstein, Husserl claims that the more of the existential matters that seep into the consciousness upon experiencing a work of art, the less aesthetically pure it is:

“whereas the world opened up by phenomenology and the epoche is a field of pure intuiting, a conversion that lays bare a new foundation for our epistemic, ethical, and aesthetic stances.”

If everything is questionable (Descartes) and incomprehensible, the phenomenologist has to place herself in the very same sphere as this foundation of uncertainty. Aesthetic intuiting is then close to phenomenological intuiting, and the aesthetic intuiting: the suspension of positings of value and existential matters, gives the phenomenologist certain clues about the phenomenological intuiting and what it means.

Husserl’s thoughts about the artist as genius (echo of Kant), that art doesn’t have to present its steps and procedures toward becoming art, brings forth the notion of the artist that doesn’t follow the world so to speak, but from a phenomenological point of view observes the world. The production of the artist can then be seen as a resemblance to the phenomenological attitude and intuiting, creating a possibility for the intertwining of pure art and phenomenology. Wallenstein concludes that other philosophers came to critique the modernist understanding of the pureness in art, however, they returned to other concepts in the development towards a phenomenology of art, such as temporality and kinaesthesia.

The development of a phenomenology of art is the very potential of a development of the concept of art per se, of the concept of pureness as well as of the intuitive artist. This is an enormous area of potential development within a movement, which after so many years still has a legitimate placement in the history of philosophy and of mankind.

I hope that you’ve been enjoying this article, although it might be filled with misinterpretations (be sure to let me know about them), I still hope that I have been able to introduce two of my favourite fields: the philosophical movement phenomenology and conceptual art. Please do not hesitate to comment this post.

]]> http://simonamaggiorelli.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/la-seduzione-dellin-finitum/ Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:36:08 +0000 Simona Maggiorelli http://simonamaggiorelli.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/la-seduzione-dellin-finitum/

di Simona Maggiorelli

«Quanto “tempo” è passato tra un simbolo cicladico di fertilità e uno specchio di Anish Kapoor?» si domandava lo studioso Axel Vervoordt indagando con la mostra Artempo come lo scorrere del tempo – di generazione in generazione – agisca, formi e trasfiguri il modo di rappresentare.

Nel tempo tutto umano dell’arte, raccontava Vervoordt, con quella indimenticabile rassegna veneziana del 2007, generi e stili invecchiano, diventano desueti, superati, mentre grazie alla genialità di artisti capaci di inventare immagini nuove la storia dell’arte, nei secoli, si rinnova e cambia direzione.

Basta pensare alla rivoluzione del colore di Vincent Van Gogh che, d’un tratto, rivelò l’anemia della maniera impressionista. O alla rivoluzione cubista di Picasso e Braque che mandò definitivamente in cantina un modo di dipingere che valorizzava la perizia nel riprodurre la realtà in tutti i suoi dettagli. E se Picasso sosteneva che la parola evoluzione in arte non ha nessun senso («Per me non c’è passato o futuro in arte» nella rivista The Arts 1923), è pur vero che il descrittivismo analitico “alla fiamminga” tramontò del tutto quando le avanguardie storiche aprirono la ricerca a immagini “irrazionali”, inattese, capaci di esprimere significati latenti.

E proprio questo streben verso l’ancora sconosciuto, questa tensione verso una spazialità nuova e sconfinata che ha attratto gli artisti nei secoli, è il tema che Vervoodt esplora in questa nuova tappa della sua indagine sui rapporti fra arte e tempo. Un tema sfaccettato difficile, alto, che rischia di cadere nell’astratto, ma che il critico belga affronta per interessanti suggestioni, in modo rapsodico, nella mostra In-finitum senza imporre una tesi. Lungo i quattro piani di palazzo Fortuny, a Venezia, oltre trecento opere, distribuite per sezioni.

Contro le pareti arse dal salmastro e nella penombra di sale e corridoi, opere che vanno da antichi reperti archeologi egizi alle ultime frontiere della videoarte, passando per opere di Canova, Delacroix, Rodin, Cézanne, Picasso, Rothko, Fontana e molti altri maestri.

Fra i temi indagati, la prospettiva rinascimentale letta come inizio di una spazialità nuova, il “non finito” con cui artisti come Michelangelo esprimevano la tensione verso una forma nuova. Ma anche il cosmo e il nuovo cronotopo scientifico di Einstein e l’influenza che ha avuto sull’arte del Novecento. Senza dimenticare il naufragio misticheggiante a cui andò incontro l’action painting indagando un’idea di spazio tempo derivata dallo zen alla” luce” di atemporali, quanto sinistre,  mitologie junghiane che pretendevano di condannare ognuno a un primitismo violento  e ancestrale, soccombente o in camicia bruna.

dal settimnale lefl avvenimenti  10 luglio 2009