E-h-gombrich-the-essential-gombrich.pdf

TOPICS OP OUR ILEY TRIBUTES SE IDEALS Ain> ADDRESS CELE-

OUR TIME THE

RIBUTES NORM BALS AND IDOLS

CELEBRATING

S

INDEPENDENT AND FORM THE NEW LIGHT ON ING THE 150TH 3NT THE IMAGE THE SENSE OF T LIGHT ON OLD 50THANNIVER[MAGE AND THE )F ORDER FOUR MASTERS THE ERSARY OF THE 0 THE EYE THE SR FOUR RADIO THE HERITAGE THE COMPOSER E STORY OF ART ALKS CONGRES 3

I

lGE

THE ESSENTIAL

GOMBRICH

OF APELLES

FRANZ FART ART AND

RffPOSER

ALKS CONGRES HERITAGE OF THE COMPOSER E STORY OF ART ALKS CONGRES ,GE OF APELLES UBERT'S DEATH

CE

SELECTED WRITINGS ON ART AND CULTURE

SION ILLUSION

NAL D'HISTOIRE HOLOGIST, 1965

BCH DELIVERED NATURE AND IN 'ART TOPICS OF MIBOLIC IMAGES RECEIVING THE r RADIO INTERS OF OUR TIME

EDITED

BY

RICHARD WDODFIELD

IBOLIC IMAGES

RECEIVING THE r RADIO INTERS OF OUR TIBO! IBOLIC

IMAGES

RECEIVING THE C RADIO INTEREL' ART TOPICS

MBOLIC IMAGES RECEIVING THE C RADIO INTER1 MEDITATIONS JTIONSON THE

Famous is

internationally as the author

also widely

our

age.

most

known

of The

E

Story of Art,

for his contributions to the ideas

thoughts and arguments on

Gombrich

and debates of

This volume presents an accessible selection of

characteristic writing,

H

his best

and introduces the general reader to

many fundamental

and his

questions, including the

nature of representation, the psychology of perception, the interpretation

?HE PRIZE, 1994

WITH BRIDGET INS ON A HOBBY SISTORY OF ART TOPICS OF OUR r

[LEY TRIBUTES SE IDEALS AND ADDRESS CELE-

of images, problems of theory and method, the idea of progress, and

symbolism and meaning Professor

Gombrich s

OUR TIME THE

The Story of Art, Art and

EUBUTES NORM BALS AND IDOLS

collected essays

CELEBRATING INDEPENDENT AND FORM THE

from

in art.

writings include three major narrative works

Illusion

and The

Sense of

Order

—

—

and ten volumes of

and reviews. This anthology brings together

'

a selection

S :

NEW LIGHT ON ING THE 150TH THE IMAGE THE SENSE OF

all

these

books and

in addition six pieces that have

been published by Phaidon.

It

not previously

thus introduces the reader to the whole

!NT

range of Gombrich's thought. Richard Woodfield writes a general

LIGHT ON OLD SOTHANNIVER-

introduction, and provides notes and guides to further reading.

T

[MAGE AND THE

ORDER FOUR MASTERS THE BRSARY OF THE NT THE IMAGE THE SENSE OF LIGHT ON OLD SOTHANNIVERJVIAGE AND THE )F ORDER FOUR MASTERS THE ERSARY OF THE } THE EYE THE 3R FOUR RADIO THE HERITAGE THE COMPOSER SPENDENT ART ALKS CONGRES

With

)F

his

commitment

a true humanist,

to reason

and

tolerance, Professor

whose abiding concern

our cultural heritage and

its

is

Gombrich

is

to understand and interpret

values. In this rich

and illuminating

collection,

r

GE OP APELLES DECEIVING THE ? RADIO INTERS OP OUR TIME

IMAGES 3PENDENT THE RM THE SENSE V LIGHT ON OLD SOTHANNIVER[BOLIC

MAGE AND THE

ORDER POUR MASTERS THE

)F

BRSARY OP THE ) THE EYE THE SR FOUR RADIO THE HERITAGE

a

wide range of fundamental

issues are presented

with force and

clarity.

THE ESSENTIAL GOMBRICH

THE ESSENTIAL GOMBRICH

SELECTED WRITINGS ON ART AND CULTURE

EDITED BY

RICHARD WOODFIELD

Phaidon Press Limited

Wharf

Regent's

All Saints Street

London Nl 9PA

First published

©

1996

1996 Phaidon

Press

Limited

ISBN 0 7148 3009 7 hb 0 7148 3487 4 pb

A CIP for this

catalogue record

book

from the

is

available

British Library

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication

may

be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system or

transmitted, in any

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of

Phaidon Press Limited.

Printed in

Hong Kong

Contents

Foreword by E. H. Gomhrich

7

Introduction by Richard Woodjield

Part

I

9

H. Gombrich

Principal Works of E.

18

Autobiographical

An

Autobiographical Sketch

Eopics of our

Eime

Old Masters and Other Household Gods

Part

II

Visual Image:

its

On Art and Artists III

Art

Place

m Communication

Ehe Story of Art

iggo

37

Ehe Image and

the

Eye

41

65

and Psychology

Psychology and the Riddle of Style

Truth and the Stereotype Action and Expression Illusion

Part IV

Independent,

The Visual Image

The

Part

21

and Art

Art and

Illusion in

Nature and

its

Radio interview with Bridget

Riley,

The

Illusion

m Western Art

The Use of Colour and

Tradition

Art and

Effect: the

iggi

Illusion

83

89 Ehe Image and

m Art,

Z97J

the

Eye

113

139

How and the Why

161

and Innovation

Necessity of Tradition: an Interpretation of the Poetics

of 1. A. Richards Verbal

Wit

as a

Sigmund Freud Leonardo's

Eributes

169

Paradigm of Art: the Aesthetic Theories of Eributes

Method

for

189

Working out Compositions Norm

and Eorm

211

Part

V

Psychology and the Decorative Arts

The

Force of Habit

The Sense of Order

The Psychology of Styles

Part VI

257

Primltivism and the Primitive

The

Primitive and

Magic,

Myth

Paper delivered

Part VII

zz^

The Sense of Order

Value in Art

its

Tour radio

on

and Metaphor: Reflections

to the

talks,

igyg

295

Pictorial Satire

Congres International d'Histoire de

ig8g

I'Art,

331

On the Nature of Art History

Approaches to the History of Art: Three Points for Discussion Topics of our

The

Time

355

Social History of Art

Meditations on a

In Search of Cultural History

Part VIII

Ideals

and

Hohhy Horse

Idols

Alternatives to the 'Spirit of the Age'

m Giulio Romano's

Architecture and Rhetoric

Palazzo del

From

Te New Tight

on

Old Masters

the Revival of Letters to the

401

Reform of the

Niccolo Niccoli and Filippo Brunelleschi

Part IX

of Art for the Study of Symbols

Aims and Limits of Iconology Raphael's Stanza Symholic Images

The

della

Segnatura

Part XI

411

American

Symholic Images

Psychologist,

igSj

437

457

and the Nature of its Symbolism

485

Subject of Poussin's Onon

Dutch Genre Painting

X

Arts:

The Heritage of Apelles

On the Meanings of Works of Art

The Use

Part

369

381

Symholic Images

515

Reflections on the History of Art

^zi

High Art and Popular Culture

Imagery and Art

m the Romantic Period

The Wit of Saul

Steinberg

Topics of our

Meditations on a

Time

Hohhy Horse

539

Gombrich from Within Tradition

Franz Schubert and the Vienna of his Time Address celehrating

the

IjOth anniversary of

Nature and Art

as

Needs of the Mind:

Ideals

of Lord Leverhulme

Trihutes

the composer's death,

Goethe Prize, igg/f

Notes

591

Index

615

585

547

the Philanthropic

565

Goethe: the Mediator of Classical Values the

igy8

Speech delivered on receiving

529

Foreword by E.H. Goinhrich

When I was invited by my publishers to my

published writings,

Richard Woodfield,

book I

more

impossible of fulfilment.

I

indeed

I

may be

suppose no author

it is, I

Mr

editor,

forgiven if

likes to

be told,

on which he spent

my

This time consider

I

at least

a

good

are inessential, particularly if this also applies to

m his books. As

from

earlier for a selection of

title Reflections on the History of Art.

difficult,

implication, that the majority of his writings,

of thought and labour,

this selection

was glad of the opportunity to thank the

reviews published under the

chapters

foreword to

a

who had earned my gratitude

think his brief was

it

I

add

by

deal

many

have had to console myself remembering the

splendid formulation in George Orwell's Animal Farm: All animals are equal

but some animals are more equal than that

Mr

possible.

Woodfield has done

others.'

Be

his difficult job

this as

much

it

may,

it

seems to

better than

found useful

if I briefly

any case), but what

As explained more history

much

different,

thought

I

He has added to the selection a great deal of information that should

help the reader to 'place me', as the saying goes. Here, however,

in

me

I

add not what

I have

done (which

is

not for

may be me to say

it

have never done.

fully elsewhere

m

this

volume,

I see

the field of art

like Caesar's Gaul, divided into three parts inhabited by three

though not necessarily

and the academic

art historians. I

hostile tribes: the connoisseurs, the critics

should

like to insist

on

this distinction so as

to counter the persisting legend that art history as such was brought to this

country by immigrants from the continent of Europe. This

some

extent,

may

apply, to

to us academic art historians since art history was not a

university subject

m the United Kingdom before

we

arrived,

but

this

cannot

Foreword

be true of the connoisseurs (despite their foreign designation), tor after the great collections of this country could never have been built their

knowledge and

skill in

all,

up without

weeding out copies and forgeries and spotting

important masterpieces abroad and

at

home. As to the

critics,

the mere

John Ruskm or Roger Fry should suffice to establish their English credentials. Not that the nam^es of academic art historians, names such as Hemrich Wolfflm, Aby Warburg or Erwin

mention of names such

as

Panofsky, have not been familiar to art lovers in this country, and

proud

to be associated with them. All the more,

I

should be

have generally followed their

I

example, studiously to avoid trespassing on the territory of our respective neighbours. never aired

While

them

I

have

my

private opinions

on

attributions,

I

have

m public, and I have also felt reluctant to broadcast my views

about contemporary

academic

may

artists

art historians the

or movements. For if the truth

emphasis

lies

on our

is

to be told, for us

task as historians,

and

I

for

one feel that the millennia of the past offer sufficient scope for our activities. I

would never claim

mankind cannot do

much good,

from polluting the

we

8

do.

Foreword

that these activities are as essential to the welfare

as are those

of our colleagues at least

intellectual

we do

little

m

the Medical Faculty, but if

harm,

as long, at least, as

we

of

we

refrain

atmosphere by pretending to know more than

Introduction by Richard llbodfield

It is a fair

guess that the

name of Gombrich

of people than that of any other

is

more

living art historian.

familiar to a large variety

His book, The

Story of Art,

has gone through sixteen editions during the forty-five years of its existence to

and has been translated into some twenty-three languages, including

date,

Turkish, Finnish, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. also

know him as

the author of Art and

seventeen languages so

m

Illusion,

and he has

fascination with the decorative arts, culminating

As

a scholar

he

is

great

with a rational, sceptical cast of

had

m a major work. who

as

is

traditions

m

a necessary part

characteristic writing. Its

aim

one volume is

to

make

a selection

of being

of

a thinker

alive.

Vienna

m

For

The Essential

and most

his ideas readily accessible to a

m

and

civilized.

his best

and to underline the importance of his contribution to

Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich was born

a

and values of

Drawing on the whole range of Gombrich's published work. Gombrich brings together

made

a cultural historian

and with keeping our knowledge of them

Gombrich, an awareness of the past

The Sense of

has

has been constantly preoccupied

commentator he has been deeply concerned with the

public,

will

a lifelong

of Renaissance iconography. As

mind he

with questions of theory and method, and

civilization,

also

an authority on the Renaissance,

particular contribution to the study

our

many people

book, published in

He is one of very few art historians to be interested

far.

the scientific study of visual perception,

Order.

A

a theoretical

wider

cultural debate.

1909, the son

respected lawyer and a pianist of international reputation as a teacher.

of

a

He

studied the History of Art and Classical Archaeology at the University of

Vienna.

The

university

had two

institutes

of art history and he chose to work

Introduction

9

in the second, led ideals

by Julius von Schlosser, who saw himself as inheriting the

of the Vienna School of Art Historians.

m

an interest

of the past should have taken the forms that

art

psychology

members had taken

why

development of naturalism

tried to explain the

the

They turned

did.

it

and Gombrich's venerated

in their search for answers,

Emanuel Loewy, had art

Its earlier

explaining the problem of art-historical development,

to

teacher,

m Greek

by appealing to the growth of visual knowledge and gradual rejection of

Other members of the school, notably

'memory

images'.

proposed

large-scale explanations

making complex associations between

history of culture,

philosophy and social history. In insisted that his students

this respect Schlosser

work with

and that they develop

archives,

Max

Dvorak, also

of artistic development by appealing to the

sceptic: he

museums

original material, in the

a clear sense

literature,

style,

was the

or

of the problems involved.

Romano

Gombrich's doctoral dissertation on the architecture of Giulio shared his teacher's concerns. After leaving university,

Gombrich had

little

chance of full-time academic

employment because of the growth of anti-semitism. Besides

starting to learn

Chinese he became involved in a number of projects: one was working with

museum

Ernst Kris, a

curator and practising psychoanalyst,

commitment was

caricature; another, lesser,

of the world.

Warburg

It

on

the history of

to write a short children's history

was through Kris that Gombrich became employed

m

Institute

London,

a

as

at the

Aby

Research Fellow working on

Warburg's papers; meanwhile, the success of his book on world history had already

prompted

his publisher to urge

history, a suggestion that

Gombrich moved

moved

to

German

to

Gombrich

London

scholars interested

Institute's at the

to write a similar

in January 1936.

London from Hamburg

antiquity. Its central focus

him

book on

art

initially rejected as impractical.

The Warburg

Institute

slightly earlier, providing a

had

haven for

m research into the Nachlehen (afterlife) of classical

was cultural history,

assignment to offer instruction

Warburg, Gombrich gave some

as

opposed to the Courtauld

m art history.

classes at the

Besides his research

Courtauld and was

invited,

with his colleague Otto Kurz, to prepare a student introduction to iconology,

on the meaning of images. The war broke out and, again through

Gombrich became employed by

intervention, this left

him with

During the war he continued to maintain was invited by that

book on

incidentally,

Introduction

BBC

as a

Radio Monitor:

problems of perception.

his interest in

academic research and

Horovitz, the founder of Phaidon Press, after

art

history,

albeit

for

a

different

audience.

was also Viennese, Phaidon having been founded

subsequently

10

Dr

the

a life-long interest in the real

moved

to

London.

Kris's

all

to write

Horovitz,

m Vienna and

when the war was concluded, Gombrich returned to work at the Warburg Institute. He re-immersed himself m the study of the Italian Renaissance and published two outstanding

articles,

one on

Botticelli's

mythological paintings

and the other on Renaissance theories of artistic symbolism.' But he

honour

to

promise to write

his

On

Story of Art (1950).

book

a

completing the

Dr

for

also

had

Horovitz: this emerged as The

initial draft

he contemplated writing

another book, on 'The Realm and Range of the Image', which ultimately

turned into Art and careers: the publicly

of the

Illusion

(i960).

Thus

started, effectively, three separate

acclaimed author of The

Italian Renaissance,

Story of Art, the

recondite scholar

and the famous commentator on the psychology of

pictorial representation.

The

success of The Story of Art led to

Gombrich appointment

as the

's

Slade

m turn, to

Professor of the History of Art at Oxford University. This led,

a

succession of invitations across the world to talk to the general, and nonspecialist, public

on

issues raised

about the history of art. Conceived partly

m

The Story of Art, Art and

Illusion

applied

new

as a

commentary

discoveries

m the

psychology of perception, linguistics and information theory to the study of naturalistic imagery. Its

mamlv

m papers and lectures presented

themes were pursued

to scholarly audiences.

And

m

specialist art-historical circles,

he

published articles and gave lectures on the art and culture of the Italian Renaissance. Three different audiences for one speaker, and although those

audiences were separate the issues were not.

With his in 1959

reputation as a scholar, teacher and guest lecturer fully established,

he was appointed

as

Director of the Warburg Institute and Professor

of the History of the Classical Tradition positions he retained until his retirement

became of

a scholarly

research. It

Meditations on a

amongst

and

in the University

m

1976. Art and

scientific classic, cited across

an enormous spectrum

with Art and

Illusion,

led to his recognition as

on patronage and questions of taste, was the

outstanding books on Italian Renaissance art and culture. Symbolic

art,

Hohhy Horse (1963). This caused a certain amount of controversy

art critics and, together

essays focusing

were

rapidly

was followed by a volume of studies on the theory of

one of the century's leading theorists of art. Norm and Tor m (1966),

of

of London,

Illusion

Images

(1972), which

satisfied

the

earlier

The

a collection first

of four

three others

request

for

an

introduction to iconology. The Heritage of Apelles (1976), which pulled together

Renaissance interests

m art and science and considered the role of criticism m

the growth of art, and

New Tight on Old Masters (1986), which

theme of innovation. In

1970, he published Ahy Warburg: an

before retiring from the

Warburg

again dwells

on the

Intellectual Biography,

Institute in 1976. In 1979, he published The

Sense of Order: a Study in the Psychology of Decorative Art,

which complemented

his

Introduction

work on

earlier

In

imagery.

naturalistic

continuing to develop ideas from Art and

meanwhile, he had been

the

Illusion,

and some of his

papers were collected together and published as The Image and

the

Eye in 1982.

connected with the relations between

art

and culture

Papers on broader

same

issues

m Ideals and Idols m 1979, and a volume of

appeared

but focused on the work of

issues

Hegel and Freud

the

works of

abstract

art,

Gombrich

collection

1987.

which

the Primitive,

is

We

Time (1991).

wanted to write

a

it

actually

happened

as representation in the centre

hand and decoration on the

things and say something

intricate

One

other.

can

in the

reflect

about

Greek

Renaissance.

development of the visual

artists left a legacy

reached

It

photography,

its

arts

and,

most

artists

Goethe:

it

A

genuine work of

infinite to

cannot be

essence and

While

fully

its

our reason:

it

virtual

no

less

of

These

which stand

less

than

felt, it

but

affects us,

possible to express

it is

its

m words.'' it

draws the

of what

artists

Michelangelo, least of

comment

hoped to

achieve

line at explaining those achievements. all

by reducing

to suggest that the greatness

for example, 'helped to crystallize the ideals

gentlemanly ease which enrich our vision of robust and sturdy figures of over-brimmmg

The problem addressed by Art and Illusion

Introduction

reality.

than a work of nature, will always

his

diagrams or by discussing Italian politics or economics. illuminating

Italian

As Gombrich quoted

can be contemplated and

The Story of Art vividly conveys a sense

explain

of the

create artistic masterpieces,

comprehended, even

merits

through their works,

one can

art,

European

the recent developments

recently,

to those discoveries as literature stands to language.

remain

Story of Art is

m the Western

by the

m

culmination

of themselves,

discoveries did not,

these

of visual discoveries never quite forgotten

fully resurrected

television

film,

all

m more general terms.'" The notion of an extended

Middle Ages, and

the

*I

development

with symbolism on

'commentary' does indeed provide a unifying thread. Behind The a theory about the

of linking

series

m his autobiographical sketch he says,

commentary on what

sometimes see

tradition.

now

are

theme which

will consider a

woven together by an

problems. In an illuminating remark

the one

Topics of our

of unpublished and uncollected material.

Gombrich's work

in

of key

Contemporary

has been thinking and writing about since he left university. There

a wealth

art. I

m

were discussed

waiting for The Preference for

of

m

from

such as the debate over relativism, and practices such as the titling of

issues,

IS still

A

in 1984.

was published

History of Art,

dealing with those

Tributes,

particular thinkers, ranging

and Boas, emerged

to Kris

reviews, Rejections on

12

and

articles

It

work is,

No

to formal

however, an

of Van Dyck s

portraits,

of blue-blooded nobility and

man no

less

than do Rubens's

life'.^

is

what makes the achievements of

Image-makers across the world have been concerned

naturalistic art possible.

make phantom

to

demons and

beings, substitute gods,

ambition to create figures of *over-brimming preoccupation of Western

art,

life'

people. But the

has been primarily a

that constitutes a living chain of tradition that

links the art of our own days with that of the Pyramid age'.' The concern with *over-brimming life' offers a clue to Gombrich's

still

for scientists. It

simulate

every computer scientist's

is

human

behaviour:

At the end of

springs to mind.

American psychologist

The

J. ].

The

one which

to create

of Art and

his review

of painters have been

discoveries

dream

will

Stanley Kubrick's computer from looi,

famous

the

Illusion,

Gibson wrote:

psychologists, if less rational, investigable.

HAL,

interest

more

far

elaborate than the discoveries of

and Gombrich shows that they

student of perception

is

tempted to

are at least potentially

limit his research to

what he

can experimentally control by the methods he has been taught. This book will

widen

horizon and stimulate his ambition."

his

Gibson was

m

right

saying that the Western tradition of image

making

embodies an enormous stock of implicit knowledge which remains to be rediscovered. offers

The

to simulate the appearance

artist's ability

important insights into the

understand

how

the

human

of

perceptual process.

visual reality

We

mmd works before we can make any progress

need to

at all

m

its

simulation.

In a sense The Story of Art and Art and

books, can be said to have

of

'a

of

living chain

workings of the

set the

tradition'

human

mmd

Gombrich's two most famous

Illusion,

agenda for

and the

all

ceaseless effort to

are constant features

volume

is

it

Gombrich's autobiography (Part his

problems.

takes

of

Warburg

It

these

many

who wish

to dip into the

volume rather

I) offers

more than anecdotal

interest:

it

concerns emerged from a particular culture of values and

activity

him out

the history of art history and places

and human

Institute. Cecil

brought up

some of

through, the division will provide points of orientation.

shows how

fields

understand the

divided into eleven parts, which taken together explore a

sequence of linked themes. For those than read

sense

of Gombrich's many-

faceted investigations of art and culture. In presenting facets, this

The

the rest of his work.

m England

,

relationships: university, the

Gould once contrasted Kenneth

m various

him

BBC

Clark,

'a

and the

Scotsman

with Gombrich, a product of 'the heady intellectual

atmosphere of Vienna of the

1920s'.'

we know without his experience

But Gombrich would not be the person

at the

BBC, and one of the reasons

advancement of Gombrich's career was

his

own

involvement

for Clark's

m

German

Introduccion

traditions

of art-historical

was the

scholarship;"^ Nevertheless, The Story of Art

product of a particular European tradition, one which Lord Clark shared and discussed in his television series that

Independent

complements

The

Civilisation.

short piece from the

interesting suggestion that The Story of Art s roots in this tradition

explain

its

phenomenal

makes

sketch

autobiographical

the

may

Gombrich's concern with the mechanics of the visual image (Part

him

masterpiece, uniquely identifies Reflections on

Story of Art

of the

as

it is

not

section

Illusion

as familiar as

much about imagery

aesthetics involved

The and

is

is it

should be.

it is

about

The

art, as

as natural; familiar.'

introduction to The

the

homely example

the

'Illusion

draws on material from Art

III)

from an

Tye (1982), supplemented by an extract

m

and completed by an interview with

Art'

uses a wide range of psychological material

cannot be neatly pigeon-holed into one dominant theory.

Popper has

'The

that:

m the choice of a tie demonstrates.

and The Image and

Gombrich

remarked

only gradually becoming

on Art and Psychology' (Part

important essay on Bridget Riley.

as

from

an art historian. In an early review,

as

and language has always been accepted

distinction between poetry

II),

and Renaissance

illustration

History of Art (1987),- he

the

the distinction between art and imagery

Perhaps, even now,

help to

success.

comic book and advertisement to medieval

reprinted in

the

He

of perception. Expectation

called the 'searchlight theory'

and

employs what is

a

key

element in our experience both of life and of pictures, and prior 'knowledge'

may be

corrected by subsequent experience; this

The psychology of perception

matching'. 'linguistics'

of the image: the

similarities

images parcel out experience.

The

is

his theory

of 'making and

can consequently be linked to the

between the ways

artifice

m which words and

involved in seemingly natural

representations of action and expression belies the idea that the image offers a 'slice

of life'. Even abstract

of perceptual processes,

The

art offers

scope for

real insights into the

with Bridget Riley demonstrates.

as the interview

next section, 'Tradition and Innovation' (Part

poet works with an inherited language, shaping traditions

of the

craft

of visual imagery

often thought to be the turns out to have available

m

it

IV) shows

into

to

that as the

new forms,

so the

offer similar resources. Innovation,

work of an inwardly looking

much more

working

creative imagination,

do with the exploitation of resources already

the public domain. In this context

Gombrich has

a

new

use for

Freud and new things to say on the subject of the relation between tradition

and innovation. Two

essays

from

Tributes

(1984) examine the ideas and an essay

on Leonardo from Norm and Torm (1966) shows the theory in practice. 'Psychology and the Decorative Arts' (Part V), comprising two consecutive chapters

14

Introduction

from

The Sense of Order (1979),

shows how certain ornamental forms

have been so persistent throughout history that thev seem to have taken on a life

of their own. If art and culture were simply

Age,

IS

hard to understand

how

and understanding the driving

of the

a reflection

Spirit

could happen. Explanation

this

is

of the

called for

of ornamental patterns should help us

forces

to appreciate their appeal.

'Primitivism and the Primitive' (Part

of modernism was both

VI) has

a

double

face.

An

intrinsic part

of sophisticated ornamentation,

a rejection

in the

International Style, and a drive towards the primitive, in such styles as Fauvism,

Expressionism and Neo-Expressionism. primitive

is,

itself,

a

The paradox

is

that a taste for the

product of hypersophistication. Pictorial

satire,

on the

other hand, walks on a tightrope between visual sophistication and forms of

The two articles published here are new to Phaidons The first anticipates The Preference for the Primitive; the

psychological regression.

'Gombrich Collection

.

second returns to Gombrich's early work with Kris on caricature and cartoons,

and

IS

a

The

major statement of his

thoughts on the subject.

latest

question of primitivism raises the issue of the reasons for

artistic

change, which in turn raises the central problem of explanation in art history, dealt with in the section

'On

question of change

emerged

classical to

medieval

been explained

first

in

through the

art,

as a loss

the result of a change

the Nature of Art History' (Part VII).

The

connection with the transition from

styles

of late

antiquity. It

had

originally

of skill; Gombrich's predecessor Riegl described

it

as

m 'artistic will', which he linked to the Spirit of the Age.

But Gombrich turned to social psychology and the pressures generated by culture as a social institution. In the course

idea of the 'ecology of the image': the

and

art

withm

way

of speculation he developed the

which the functions of imagery

in

from being

a culture affect their nature. Far

explanation of artistic

hostile to the social

change, Gombrich has developed working ideas which

have yet to be explored by sociologists, concerning particularly symptoms,

syndromes and movements. The theory can be found VII, drawn from Ideals

and

Idols

Topics of our

(1979).

The

the "Spirit of the Age'", Heritage

of

architecture

Apelles is

Tune (1991), Meditations on

practice

is

to be

found

drawn from New

The

(1976).

best sought

m

the essays of Part

Hohhy Horse (1963) and

m Part VIII, 'Alternatives to

Light on

Old Masters (1986) and The

quality

distinctive tastes

a

m

shaped out of

of Giulio

Romano's

literary theory.

The

transformations of Brunelleschi's architecture can be understood as emerging

out of a particular Florentine humanist culture. is

inherently vacuous

m

its

The

'Spirit

of the Age', which

explanatory power, can be replaced by studying the

formation of movements, which consist of

real

people engaging

m

real

activities.

Aby Warburg,

the founder of the

Warburg

Institute,

was interested in

real

Introduction

he collected everything that could contribute to the reconstruction

history:

and explanation of the

His primary concern with images was for

milieu'.'"

their use in understanding history,

Gpmbrich has

been rather

how images

Warburg s

value.

subjects (Part IX), but

of

different, basically because

work and have worked. This

actually

symptomatic

for their

is

naturally involved himself in

his results have

m

that

deep

his

interest

involves pursuing the

question of how works of art could and would have been understood at the

time of their creation and the conventions that their

His major work

followed. his this

in this area has

been

would have

artists

though

Symbolic Images (1972),

warnings of the dangers of over-interpretation have been supported, for volume, by one essay from

Meanings of Works of Art'

Art (1987).

Reflections on the History of

show

m

explained

way

the

in

terms of

a

The

The

'case

scheme of Renaissance paintings could be

and how

a pictorial tradition

poetically evokes a text. pitfalls

which

the

of symbolism and

offers insights into the nature

the ways in which historians can decipher Renaissance paintings. studies'

*On

essay

a painting

by Poussin

on Dutch genre painting warns of the

of over-interpretation.

Warburg was daily thought.

interested in popular culture

Gombrich worked with

consequently became interested culture' (Part

X)

and Freud

on

Kris

in the

caricatures

mechanics of

and cartoons and

m vernacular imagery. 'High art and popular

explores the intermediate zones.

One of Goya's most famous

compositions was shown to depend on a popular propaganda print and Steinberg

is

more

the inheritor of Picasso's involvement with space than

Pollock, and just as witty as Klee.

'Gombrich from within Tradition' (Part XI) concludes by returning circle to his roots

m

documented

in

Viennese culture and to the values that have informed

and foremost, perhaps, to

his life-work. First

drawn from

author's

own

on Schubert (new

essay

his

Gombrich), but also to lecture

his faith in 'Nature

Tributes.

Goethe

as the great

and values of

sampler.

What

it

also will

standards of argument

important

Introduction

role.

The

honour

m

time

a

the

Goethe Prize of the

that

prompted him

has given

him

to

access to the

revolution.

had to be

make

m

Needs of the Mmd',

receiving the

ceuvre

music

Phaidon collected

the as

classical

conceptions of art that had been largely eclipsed

this selection introduces

many

on

1994, a signal

moderns by the Romantic

While

16

m

for us

be said that

to

and Art

mediator whose

ideals

earlier

of

his love

Finally, here printed for the first

translation, his response

City of Frankfurt-am-Main celebrate

full

many

aspects of Gombrich's

left out.

This

plain, however,

is

Essential

his

work

Gombrich

is

commitment

it

has to

really a

to high

which both logic and evidence play an equally

range and depth of his interests

make him, without

doubt, one of the most fascinating thinkers of the twentieth century.

Most valuable of all, however, is his commitment to truth and to moral and intellectual integrity. The events of the twentieth century have shown that become

ideas can

deeds: shallow thought

The

thought unacceptable. resulted in

some of

I

of relativism and the

of totalitarian

hope that

this

book

of the Age'

make Gombrich's work more

Richard Firmin,

volume and

point to

towards studies

hand

a free

owe

a particular debt

on

this

life.

I

would

in

Nottingham and

Mr

like to dedicate this

book

to the medical

longa, vita hrevis.

Institute

in the University

made Director of

and Professor of the History of the

Classical Tradition

He

when he was made

of London

Professor Emeritus.

He

in 1959.

retired in 1976,

was awarded the C.B.E.

awarded the Order of Merit

in 1988.

Cross of Honour

m 1966, knighted in 1972 and

He holds numerous honorary doctorates

and has been awarded many prestigious 1975; Austrian

many of my

occasion to

the Nuffield Hospital in

Professor Sir Ernst Gombrich, O.M., C.B.E., F.B.A., was

Warburg

m making the

my surgeon, Dr Keith Morris, my cardiologist, and the staffs

my

Leicester for

profession: Ars

me

for his kindness in responding to so

I

of the Queen's Medical Centre

Preis,

accessible to the

own work and outwards

thank Sir Ernst for allowing

like to

questions across the years.

1983;

a response

familiar to specialists.

would

selection for this

the

is

ideas, or, in the jargon, 'totality'.

will

connections, within Gombrich's

I

'Spirit

My notes at the end of each selection are intended to

general reader.

more

of Marxism and Nazism have

the greatest crimes against humanity. Gombrich's deep

hostility to the doctrines

to advocates

and fraudulent

irresponsible

is

false ideologies

prizes, including the

ist class, 1975;

Erasmus

Prize,

Osterreichisches Ehrenzeichen,

Balzan Prize, 1985; Preis der Stadt Wien, 1986; Ludwig Wittgenstein 1988;

Brittamca Award,

d'onore, Faenza, 1991; the

Goethe Prize

1989;

Goethe Medaille,

1989;

Gold Medal of the City of Vienna,

Pergameno

1994,

and the

in 1994.

Introduction

(London: Phaidon,

The Story of Art

Art and

Illusion: a

Study

in the

1950; i6th edition, 1995)

Psychology of Pictorial Representation

(London: Phaidon, i960; 5th

edition, 1977, latest reprint 1995)

Hohhy Horse and Other Essays

Meditations on a

(London: Phaidon,

Norm and Torm:

1963;

4th edition,

Ahy Warburg: an

the

Theory of Art

Art of the Renaissance I

Studies in the

(London: Phaidon,

on

1985, reprinted 1994)

1966; 4th edition 1985, reprinted 1993)

Intellectual Biography

(London: Warburg

Institute, 1970;

Symbolic Images: Studies

in the

znd

edition, Oxford: Phaidon, 1986)

Art of the Renaissance II

(London: Phaidon, 1972; 3rd

The Heritage of Apelles: Studies

edition, 1985, reprinted 1993)

in the

Art of the Renaissance III

(Oxford, Phaidon: 1976; reprinted 1993)

Ideals

and

Idols:

Essays on Values in History and in Art

(Oxford: Phaidon, 1979; reprinted 1994)

The Sense of Order: a Study

in the Psychology of Decorative

Art

(Oxford: Phaidon, 1979; znd edition, 1984, reprinted 1994)

The Image and

the

Eye: Turther Studies in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation

(Oxford: Phaidon, 1982; reprinted 1994)

Tributes: Interpreters of our Cultural Tradition

New Light on Old Masters:

Studies in the

(Oxford: Phaidon, 1984)

Art of the Renaissance

TV

(Oxford: Phaidon, 1986; reprinted 1993)

Reflections on the History of Art: Views

Topics of our Time: Twentieth

(London: Phaidon,

The set

and Reviews (Oxford: Phaidon, 1987)

Century Issues

in

Art and

in

Culture

1991; reprinted 1994)

four volumes of Studies

under the general

title

in the

Art of the Renaissance were reissued as a boxed

Gomhrich on

the

Renaissance

(London: Phaidon, 1993)

Principal

Works of E. H. Gombrich

An

Autobiographical Sketch

Transcribed from the tape-recording of an

informal talk given at

Rutgers Universm'. NewJersey, in

March

published in

1987;

Topics of our

Time (1991), pp. 11-24

Thank vou

for vour kind invitation to talk about that particular subject

never discussed

m public m mv life, that

disappointed when

no

scandals, life is

intrigues.

scholar.

I

The

managed by and

was born

life

mvself.

is,

must warn vou not

I

to be

my

long

of dangers, of horrors which were grim

full

large to lead

have

because there are no sensations, no

only strange and astonishing fact about

could not have written so

I

others had to be I

mv

about

which was so

that in a period

indeed,

talk

I

I

what

much

is

known

as the life

of a cloistered

had been on the run,

if I

as

many

m those dreadful vears we are talking about.

in 1909.

There

are

people

who

are always against teaching dates,

but dates are the most important pegs on which to hang the knowledge of history. If

that

I

was

you hear 1909

when

five

the First

my

you

will

immediately realize

World War broke out and

that, therefore, that

as the year of

birth,

much

I

Vienna of the fi?i

of the turn of the century, was

don't

history.

I

X^ienna,

was a

me

de

Steele,

remember any of it. The X^ienna

strife-torn, sad city

exhibition at the Centre

York,

is

other large

was not a monolithic or psychoanaK^sis. cliches,

in

Pompidou

It

city,

m

m

Paris

as hearsa\\

become when

consisted of

societ)^

m

so

which

for I

discussed, the

me

a matter

of

grew up, post-war

with a great deal of economic misery. So, for

only hearsay. Even

simplified, as history tends to like every

is

of the Golden Age of Vienna, which

this idea

New

was born), which

now

period of X^ienna (where

mam'

I

1986, it

is

saw represented

and which

also

m

an

went to

slightly stereotyped

and

turned into myth. X^ienna,

it is

people,

many

different circles. It

which everybody talked about modern music

was intellectually very

which you should take with

a

lively

but very different from the

gram of salt.

An

Aucobiographical Sketch

On

the other hand, the fact that

I

was born in 1909 does not

you that

tell

I

home where I could hear a lot about that famous period of My mother, who was a pianist, was born in 1873. That is to say,

was born into a Viennese

life.

young musician she was

as a

able to hear

Brahms

himself. In the

Vienna

Conservatoire, she was a pupil of Anton Bruckner,

who

She knew Gustav Mahler extremely well and

remembered Hugo Wolf

My

father was

one year younger, born

von Hofmannsthal

my

But

child.

family

memory

1874.

He

taught her harmony.

was a classmate of Hugo

Akademische Gymnasium and knew him very

in the

My grandfather

m

also

goes even further back, because

was 60 when she was born.

generation as Richard Wagner.

It is

He

my mother

was a

m

the

was,

fact,

never

I

knew my

grandfather,

many

things

who was born

happened

late

same

strange to contemplate that history

so

is

They only

short. All these things are not as distant as people tend to think.

appear to be so long ago because so

well.

in between.

in 1813, but, again,

have some

I

idea of the changes that occurred

m

mother remembered vividly the

exhibition of the uses of electricity, where

for the first time she

we today

saw

a

first

lamp which plugged into the wall and

take for granted was a miracle at the time.

World War,

very young during the First riding in his carriage

on

his

way

went to school,

I

Gymnasium, where

like I

you

And though,

My

parents.

lit

What

up.

as I say, I

was

saw the Emperor Franz Josef

of Schonbrunn.

we watched from

will see that

many

I still

to the castle

very well his funeral cortege, which Ringstrasse. So, by now,

my

and that of

his life

I

also

remember

window on

a

the

Tm really a historical monument.

middle-class children, at the Humanistisches

learned Latin and Greek. Times were grim, as

but there was a great deal of intellectual

and

of music,

have

I

as

one

expects of Vienna, even though the economic situation was not easy.

My

said,

father was a lawyer,

very successful I

think that

a lot

and much respected, but he was not one of those who

are

m making money.

my development was

home of my

the

life,

at least as

much

parents as by any other influence.

terms with a great musician whose name you

influenced by the music in

We

were on very intimate

may no

longer know, Adolf

Busch, the leader of the Busch Quartet, a musician dedicated to the classical tradition of Bach, Beethoven,

modern movement.'

modern movement,

the life.

My

Mozart and Schubert, and very

If people have accused it

may be

me of being

good

of the

from

that this early imprinting played a part

m my

mother knew Schoenberg quite well when she went to the

Conservatoire, but she didn't like playing with very

critical

rather distant

at

keeping time.

And my

sister,

him because,

who

is still

alive

she said, he wasn't

and

is

a violinist,

knew Anton von Webern and Alban Berg extremely well ~ Berg even entrusted her with the

22

Part

1:

first

Autobiographical

performance of one of his works. Even

so, at this

distance of

time, she

about the dodecaphonic music which Schoenberg

a little sceptical

is

tried to launch.

This

IS

background of a person who became an

the

a musician.

art historian rather than

did learn to play the cello very badly and never practised enough,

I

but the visual arts played

less

part

m my parental home. Of course, my father

used to take us children to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which was very close to I

where we

lived.

was a small child

museum with the

I

On

a

ramy Sunday we used

stuffed animals. But later

Kunsthistorisches

Museum, and my

formative influences of my

life.

but they had volumes of the

Knackfuss

— monographs on

I,

though when

to go there,

would take us

always wished he

to the natural history

too, enjoyed the paintings in the

parents' library was certainly one

Not

that they

had

Klassiker der Kunst.

of the

a particularly large library,

And

the series edited by

the leading masters of the Italian Renaissance

and of the Dutch seventeenth century — were

a matter

m our house."

of course

We looked at these and talked about them. So that while I was at school at the Gymnasium,

I

acquired an increasing interest

and things which classical art.

soon

fifteen or sixteen, as

Max

m

me

subjects that interested

about

boys

interest small

As happens

I

— and

first

in pre-history

mv

I

would

get

read books on Greek art and on medieval

Dvorak's book came out, with the

—

title

as a

present and devoured

It

it.'

I

found

it

As

was given

one of the most impressive books

I

— it

had

On Greek art I read a book by Hans Schrader on Phidias.^

was a convention

be what one might

in Austrian schools that for the final

call

an extended

exam

when

I

there should

few months of

essay, written over the last

the academic year. In the year 1927—8,

was eighteen,

selected as a

I

m art appreciation from Wmckelmann to the present age.

subject the changes I

was

I

art.

not by him

Kunstgeschichte als Geistesgeschichte (^Art History as the History of the Spirit^ I

ever read.

books on

When

birthday or for Christmas.

axes

Egypt and

later also in ancient

middle-class families,

for

— stone

have sometimes thought that this

interest in this particular subject

have ever done

all I

is

— and

—

pursued

have often asked myself

I

my

why

I

selected this subject. I

selected

it

partly because

Deutsche Kimsthistoriker, interesting.'

But

remember, these

and of our

I

I

had read

book by Wilhelm Waetzoldt,

a

on the development of art history — which

also selected

it

are the late 1920s

friends, the

because

—

approach to

tradition going back to

was puzzled.

I

I

found very

I

was puzzled

—

because in the generation of my parents art

was very traditional indeed.

Goethe and the eighteenth century,

m

It

was a

which the

subject-matter of art was very relevant and the classics were of great

importance. People

who had travelled to

of art they had seen and admired

there.

Italy

But

I

came back

talking about works

was already touched

at that

time

An Autobiographical

Sketch

by the new wave, which reached,

me

through books.

Expressionism, of the discovery of late medieval

I

am

of

art,

speaking of Gothic, of

late

Griinewald, of the woodcuts of the late fifteenth century and such things. was, therefore, confronted with a

with what

I

knew from

selected this topic

new approach

the older generation.

I

which did not chime

to art

thmk

this

Positivists to the later periods in which,

this idea in

mind, that

art

of course.

own

Positivists,

Max Dvorak

time.

was a marvellous key to the past

had learned from Dvorak —

which

I

art at

Vienna University. There were two

I

decided

I

— an

holder of a chair was Josef Strzygowski.

of the

art

idea

wanted to read the history of

of

chairs

art history in

Vienna

One

because there had been a quarrel between Dvorak and a fellow professor.

rabble-rouser

I

of how the appreciation of art had changed from the time

figured largely, together with other writers of my

With

m

was the reason why

of Winckelmann to the Romantics, and from the Romantics to the

and from the

I

He was an interesting figure,

a

kind of

m his lectures, a man emphasizing the importance of global art,

of the steppes of the migrant

populations.^' It was, in a way, an early

Expressionist version of anti-art, because he hated what he called Machtkunst, *the art

of the powers', and he wanted

a

complete re-evaluation of

Not

art.

stone architecture, but timber architecture was what mattered, and such crafts as tent-making. I

conceited,

The

and

I

went to

his lectures,

but

I

found him very

holder of the

rival chair, Julius

von Schlosser, was

was the author of that famous standard work. Die

most admirable survey of writings about

the

egotistic, very

was rather repelled by his approach.

eighteenth century.^

He

lecturer.

His

in front

of his audience,

he was,

at the

was steeped

lectures were

m

same time,

art

which

from antiquity

He

is still

to the

these texts, but he was not a

more or less monologues.

in so far as the

a quiet scholar.

Kunstliteratur,

good

He reflected on problems

audience managed to keep awake. But

a towering scholar.

He

was

at the

Vienna

Museum

before he took the chair at the university after Dvorak's death. Everybody

knew

that his erudition was formidable,

despite his aloofness filled

and therefore one respected him

and oddity. Thinking back to how he taught, I'm

with admiration

at the

way he conceived

his task

of introducing

still

his

students to the history of art.

Apart from

his lectures which, as

I

Schlosser gave three types of seminars. Vasari's Lives of

according to the sources and Italian. It

and not be able to read

Part

I:

Autobiographical

all

lives

him was on

and analysed

it

related aspects. It was taken for granted that

was inconceivable that you should go to Schlosser

Vasari.

seminars. Every fortnight he

24

that was natural for

His students took one of the

the Painters.

everybody knew

have said, were not very successful,

One

had

But there were two other more interesting a

meeting

m the museum m the department

He

of which he had been the keeper, the Department of Applied Arts. selected for his students objects which he still

had found puzzling while he was

m charge — an ivory here, a little bronze there — and he asked the student,

'What can you make of it? What do you think

One had ample

it is?'

time to

prepare these reports, because they were given out at the beginning of the year

and they usually dragged on much longer than he intended. One had time therefore to find one's

example,

I

had

way into the problem

representing St Gregory writing, and try to

The

following year, Schlosser gave

a little puzzling

both

Late Antique but that

it

I

me

this

m

seriously.

I

my

I

it

was

i). It

wasn't Late Antique,

ivory. Schlosser said, 'Don't

a colleague, as

think that was a great education.

publish something about this ivory that time

that

and graduate. One was treated

you entered the seminar you were

you were taken

ivory, a pyxis (Fig.

our yearbook?' In those days, there was no

distinction between undergraduate as

interested him. For

m iconography and m other respects. It was considered

was a Carolmgian copy of a Late Antique

As soon

had

of the Carolingian period,

into the period.

fit it

another

came up with the suggestion

you want to publish

tried

that

to talk about an ivory book-cover

had started being

m

1933.* It

was

a medievalist, as they

best to survey the whole

field. I

my

was struck by

call it

its

an adult.

were,

and

m

fact,

did,

At

publication.

first

would

I

as

it

real

nowadays.

arbitrariness

I

and

by the many blank patches on the map of seventh-, eighth- and nmth-century art history.

I

became

when and where

a little sceptical

this

about the possibility of finding exactly

particular ivory carving was

made.

An

And

this

was

Autobiographical Sketch

one of the reasons why

The

I

gradually turned away from medieval studies.

other type of semmar which Schlosser gave was on problems. Although

he was very aloof and one never thought that he had read a contemporary

book,

all

had

the time he

asked the students and

I

on the

his finger

volunteered

book by Alois Riegl (1858— 1905), on

—

pulse.

He

asked

to talk about

me one

Stilfragen,

the

day

first

—

he

great

the history of ornamental decoration.^

He used to talk about him with admiration, but also with slight distance. He always mentioned that Riegl had

Schlosser had

known

Riegl very well.

been very hard of hearing and was a rather asked to

tell

Schlosser and his seminar what

the lapse of many years several times.

Riegl, but

lonely, self-centred scholar. I

I

— and this

I

I

thought about the book

Much later,

did.

I

was

after

returned to the subject

have been accused of not being particularly respectful about

m fact

I

admire him very

much and my

acquaintance with his work

goes back to those earlv student days.

Another problem which Schlosser his seminars,

was the

Sachsenspiegel,

which dealt with various

when you swear

a legal

legal rituals

von Amira had written about the

of medieval

I

also discussed in

manuscript of the fourteenth century

and similar

formalities.

subjects

that

Thus

I

and Schlosser was interested

became

legal practice (Fig. 2).

Standards were high.

Part

1:

Autobiographical

were

set,

These

m this manuscript. A historian called Karl

therefore,

And

were

The number of students

in

interested in the gestures this

is

another subject

which has continued to fascinate me: communication through

The

one of

and the gestures appropriate to them:

Sachsenspiegel,

fitting this into a general subject.'"

rituals

one which

the oath to your feudal lord

were the hand gestures represented

and

set,

certainly

gesture."

adult

subjects.

m Schlosser's seminar was not

large; all

we were

so.

They gave one

tips.

One

about each other's subjects.

also learned a great deal

we studied

community. One talked about

a very close-knit

dav. with one's colleagues.

were not

art history. Lectures

It

one's subjects

them

gave

was

tips.

in this

form

And. of course, Schlosser wasn't the only one who gave seminars.

m

some seminars

We

museum.

the

that

much more

important. Seminars

as

And we

We had

had seminars under Karl Maria

also

Swoboda. under Hans R. Hahnloser and under Hans Tietze. At that time Tietze was writing about the Cathedral of St Stephen, so we had a seminar in front of the Cathedral

much

was

a student

particular ground.

the

name

of

I

on the various

In the Continental universities

whatever

it

own

attend lectures onlv in \'our

very often. But

was

was.

late Latin,

history,

You went and sampled

did so quite frequentlv, as did

all

my colleagues.

subject for a thesis to submit to vour teacher

written \'Our

end of the

didn't take

X^ienna to look at del

m

Tc

fifth vear

more than

and

is

4).

Now

this

about

Mannerism

I

on

to the history subjects,

and

much less

end to

at the

I

of

select a

m my case Schlosser. Because

It

its

was considered very important, yet

it

I

went there

the

fairly

often

a verv puzzling building indeed, with

all

its

Romano (Figs. the intellectual

deal about the significance of Mannerism, and

problem of whether there was Mannerism m m painting. Here was a building, the Palazzo del Te,

same man who did the paintings, Giulio Romano, and

a very

good

object for discussing the question of whether

existed in architecture.

idea,

it

On one of these trips I saw the Palazzo

even stranger fresco cycle by Giulio

good

mv dissertation on

good

Usually you were expected to do this

was a time when Mannerism was

built b\' the

thought that was

a verv

—

and

was, therefore,

geographicallv close enough to Italy and

architecture as there was

to write

thesis.

of studv.

Mantua and found

particularlv

which was

PhD

museums and works of art.

fashion. People talked a

I

you went

lectures

a lecture

a little over a year to write.

strange architecture and 3

into

no division between undergraduate and graduate, the course ended

when vou had at the

It

vou went to

vou were expected

a prescribed svUabus, except that

there was

heard

went to any lecture that

subjects, but

if you wanted to hear about it

I

we were introduced

matter of course that vou didn't

a

wanted to hear about

interested vou. If vou

lecture, or

The formation of

were not expected to cover a

methods and such matters.

dealing with problems and

And

We

am not sure that during all the years of mv studies

Rembrandt mentioned

late Latin.

aspects of its history.

rigorous then.

less

Giulio

I

suggested to Schlosser that

Romano

and so off I went and did

went to Mantua and worked

documents, but mainly

I tried

as

an architect.

I

would

like

He thought it was

it.

in the archives a

little. I

tried to find

new

to interpret the strange shift in architecture

An

Autobiographical Skecch

3

Detail of the doorway of the west facade of the

courtyard of the Palazzo

Mantua,

del Te,

Giulio

c.i^zS

Romano and

assistants,

Polyphemus,

with Acis and Galatea

m

the background, f.1528.

Fresco. Sala di Psiche,

Palazzo del Te,

Mantua

which had happened

Romano was dissertation.

m

the next generation after Raphael. After

Raphael's favourite pupil.

But throughout

this time, I

I

all,

Giulio

discussed these matters

m my

was becoming

a little sceptical

about

the current interpretation of Mannerism as an expression of a great spiritual crisis

of the Renaissance. If you

sit

down m an

archive

and read one

letter after

another by the family of the Gonzaga, the children and the hangers-on and so on,

you become gradually much more aware that these were human beings and

not

'ages'

or 'periods' or anything of that kind.

undergoing such a tremendous spiritual

of Giulio Romano, was

m

I

wondered about these people

Federigo Gonzaga, the patron

m fact a very sensuous prince, particularly interested

his horses, his mistress,

spiritual leader. Yet,

crisis.

and

his falcons.

Mannerism was

outside the town, the Palazzo del

He

was certainly not

the style in which he

Te

had

a great

built his castle

(see below, pp. 401—10). Therefore, I

started asking myself whether this idea about art being the expression

28

Pare

I:

Autobiographical

of the

\

\

An

Autobiographical Sketch

of revision, and whether there were other

age wasn't a cliche that was in need

forces operating within society. In this case

what was expected of court

it

seemed pretty

Romano

such as Giulio

artists

and

bizarre, something to surprise, something to entertain,

confirmed, in a way, while investigating this

My development,

moved away from

would never have

spoke about these matters.

At

history.

my

He

had absolutely no chance of

felt in

I

had no

My

a job.

job.

way he

the

condemning them.

But

I

my

course in art

Vienna was economically very

before, but he never protested against I

the approach

against a former

dissertation in 1933," and thus completed

that time, the situation in

having graduated,

found

was really steeped in the past and disliked any

stereotypes of this kind, without specifically in

word

said a

and aloofness were very much

colleague. Yet his scepticism

handed

was something all this I

Dvorak. This move was certainly encouraged by

Schlosser, although he

I

that

artist.

therefore, intellectually

Max

had learned from

me

clear to

had

I

had warned me of that long

father

my

serious.

studying art history. So, indeed,

friends

of the friends who had a great influence on

me

and

later

I

went on working.

on was Ernst

Kris,

One who

was keeper of what had been Schlosser's department before: the department

of Applied Art Kris

m the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

had meanwhile

belonged to the

also

important pieces of

as

become very

it

were, orthodox art history

applied to art history. Freud had written a it

would be very

application of wit to the visual arts.

on

caricature with him.

never published, but

We

on goldsmith work and

how much of this new approach could

engraved gems,'' he hoped to see

had the idea that

He

interested in psychoanalysis.

of Sigmund Freud. Having written some very

circle

book on

wit,

on

interesting to write

He

invited

me

the joke,

on

be

and Kris

caricature as an

to be his assistant, to write

manuscript, which was

jointly

wrote

a lengthy

we wrote small

essays

which were published.'^

I

learned

my graduation, working practically every day with He was a man of unbelievable industry. He was at that

an enormous amount after Kris

on

this project.

time both keeper of the department and a practising analyst, and in the evening

I

would come round

about psychology. project

I

after

supper and he would explain to

count him among

my

was aborted because of political events.

unpublished manuscript

at

me

things

teachers, despite the fact that the I

still

have

the

vast

home.

The project was aborted because this was the time when National Socialism advanced m Germany and threatened the independence and the well-being of Austria. Kris was

one of the few

Europe: he always read the

who

were aware of what was happening in

Vdlkischer Beohachter,

the

what these people were about, what was awaiting

P.iri

I:

Autobiographical

Nazi

us,

daily,

and he knew

and what was coming

if

the international front, which very feebly tried to maintain the independence

He

of Austria, broke down. where

me

me

urged

to look for a job not within Austria,

wouldn't have found one in any case, but outside.

I

of the Warburg

to Fritz Saxl, the director

Warburg

Institute

London. Saxl engaged me

to

come

to

committed himself to publishing the

Aby Warburg. Obviously

Institute,

Institute.

had emigrated from Hamburg England

At

that time, the

Nazi Germany

in 1936 because he

and

drafts

amanuensis, as

were, to help sort these notes

it

first

Anschluss. I

accepted his

week of

1936, I

received a grant

the staff of the

I

before the

did not have to witness the

Anschluss. I

a job for me.

and on that grant

my

sum we had when we

very, very small

—

m

fact

had so strongly urged me to

Warburg

Not that

wife and

settled

it

was a very lucrative

decided to marry.

I

job.

was a

It

m London and I became part of

Institute.

Aby Warburg, who founded the Institute tradition

Austria to England

actually happened, because Kris

it

do so and because he found

was

and write about them, because

offer.

moved from

was immensely lucky that

escaped before

I

He needed an

Gertrud Bmg, was too busy with other things and could not

really find the time. I

In the

had

of Warburg could be

handled only by somebody whose mother tongue was German.

his assistant,

to

remains of the founder of the

literary

the notes

m

He recommended

as his private library in

an art historian very interested

He

of Jakob Burckhardt.''

m

cultural history,

called his

Hamburg, and

in the

or library, the

institute,

Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg, the library for cultural history.

What

concerned him was what he described

most important thing is

but what

it is

to

not. It

remember about

scholars

Institute

worked

Warburg: the

So

I

many

'after-life', as

found myself in an

including to the

m England was

there in

Warburg

Institute

not an art-historical institute and

is

history as an academic subject was quite

Warburg

the

as 'cultural psychology'.

new

in

England

privately supported.

A

entirely

it,

of classical

not what

it

never was. Art

it

at that time.

The

number of refugee

different fields connected with

he called

is

The

what interested

antiquity.

new milieu"' among rather eminent scholars,

my former friend and fellow student Otto Kurz, who had also come

Warburg

Institute

through Kris. These were the 'overshadowed'

before the outbreak of the war,

when everybody

felt

years,

that things couldn't last

very long because Hitler was rising in power and was claiming one country after another. finally

felt

that

came, the Institute

the library was

of the

One

I

spent the

broadcasts.

it

was going to end

m

war.

When

war

was evacuated. Because of the danger of bombing,

removed to

Institute.

German

one day

a country estate. six years

From

1939

But

of the war

till

1945, I

I

did not stay

among

the staff

listening to broadcasts, mainly

was what was called a radio

An

Autobiographical Sketch

Not an easy job — hard work,

monitor.'^ in

one

from German

And

of course.

into English.

So

I

to scholarship.

Warburg

the

Botticelli's

it

hours a day

at least eight

became

when we were not

six years

was not until

interested in perception,

which were concerns

London was under bombardment — were wasted wasted only in the sense that

was,

learned the language reasonably well,

in other matters

wouldn't claim that these

I

I

also learned other thmgs.

I

problem of hearing, and

in the

time.

Imagine being forced for

respect, very lucky.

to translate

much pressure. But I

long hours,

after the

war that

London —

in

years for me.

at that

They were

could go back

I

My first paper was very much m the tradition of the interest of

Institute at that time:

Neo-Platonic symbolism.

mythologies and on emblematics.'''

also

I

resumed

I

wrote about

my work on

the

papers of Warburg and taught at the Institute, but not the history of art.

The

institute

Institute

of the history of

London

and

was,

is,

the Courtauld

of Art. The Warburg Institute had meanwhile been taken over by the

University of London, though quite

art in

was a rather odd body and nobody knew

it

what we were doing and why we were doing

There was

it.

a

circulating that we were an institute for iconography, an idea that

wrong and

quite misleading, but

indeed in iconography, but had.

I

it

still

widely believed.

became

who

were studying Renaissance

a university teacher, taught classes

which

are

on the patronage of

connoisseurship,

because

these

not directly connected with the history of art

as the

much concerned with

I

usually called mainstream art history

is

attributions — is

my work took me

Perhaps

very

it,

the fringe of my formation.

much on

— I

not entirely through a lack of interest, but

into very different directions.

should mention that while

underemployed

—

all

history of styles. Thus, what

was never

quite

One of our interests was

the Medici, the survival of Neo-Platonism, Vasari, astrology cultural subj ects

is

was not by any means the only interest that we

taught not art historians, but historians

civilization. I

rumour

in 1934—5, 1

in

still

Vienna and being rather

had the opportunity given to me by

write a world history for children. This book, which

I

a publisher to

wrote very quickly in a

few weeks' time, was a commission which simply required the help of an encyclopaedia,

born and

I

more or

wrote

it

less.

For example,

into the book,

contemporary source describing at least

I

looked up when Charlemagne was

and then

his personality

I

quoted or paraphrased a

and

his habits. I tried to find

one such source for every chapter to lend authentic local colour to the

narrative.

This book was an unexpected success.

number of languages and

it

was even revived

in

It

was translated into a

Germany

after fifty years.'*'

Before the Anschluss put an end to everything, the Viennese publishers next

asked I

5i

me whether I would like to write a history of art for children — to which

replied, history

Part

I:

Autobiographical

of

art isn't for children

and

I can't

write

it

for children.

So

they offered a

more money. Their

little

m need of money and really the origin

the

Phaidon

ended,

decided

I

to research.

I

a piece

of luck.

been translated by now,

So

at this

point

author of The

book, and

in that

of the

had two

I

I

outsiders this

used

is

To

reference books,

I

just

the distance of time in

its

I

narrative form,

as a

me

me, and

I

told

and why

m

anything of that kind.

of course, to

it

after the

was the

I

had promised to

nevertheless it

wrote

and yet

were,

for

many

think, because

it, I

it's

had

I

This

I

almost without consulting

it

how

is

the

after

book developed

called The Story of Art. at

home. Thanks

to

my

we had the

wife,

picked out illustrations which seemed

improvised the various chapters. If the book

because

I

never thought of

had to write

it,

and so

it

wrote

I

as a

it.

textbook or

interested me,

It

of the whole development from

a certain

wasn't intended as a teaching aid of any kind.

part in

my

war when the book came out.

appeared in the Times

Tom

I

I

interested

the director

fact, Saxl,

was able to write

so. The Story of Art plays a certain

London

I

to write such a popular book,

quiet, as

as a story.

library. I

way

just

it

see the conspectus

vantage point, but

Even

I

on the

for. I

it is

I

our

in this

has a certain freshness,

it

In

it.

nobody was

down what I remembered of the history of art

put

and

Propylden Kunstgeschichte

did

kind of filter.

used illustrations which

suitable to

I

am known

I

and, once again,

the outside world,

Institute

ever read

he did not want

But

I did.

what

it

Many editions were published. It has

were.

lives, as it

dont think anyone

my own memory

had

wanted to go back

I

publisher printed

but to return to research and do proper work.

book — so

was then written for

It

dictated three times a week. In this

I

Within the Warburg

Institute, said that

write the

is

think, into at least eighteen languages.

I

Story of Art.

it.

book because

this

was a great success.

It

was

could do. This, of course,

I

slavery at the monitoring service

The

finished.

I

started writing at the suggestion of

I

whom

engaged a typist to

way the book was soon had

my

as

must quickly write

I

were very meagre, but

m the end did not take

As soon

Press."'

which

Story of Art,

— who

an English publisher

of what

tried to think

I

of The

first offers

which,

Titerary Supplement

I

biography.

A

was back

I

now know, was

Boase, the director of the Courtauld Institute.

in

very favourable review

When

it

written by

came

to the

election of a Slade Professor of Fine Arts for Oxford, which was a guest

professorship for a period of three years, he proposed

Professor in Oxford.

Not

that this

meant

only a matter of twelve lectures or so prestige

m

me and I became

Warburg

kind of standing. For three years

and lectured on many

topics. Later I

also invited to Harvard.

Institute;

I

sufficient to give

was Slade Professor

was made Slade Professor

And

so

Slade it

was

the academic year. However, the

of the position which Ruskin had once held was

a different

and was

leaving the

it

in

m Oxford

Cambridge

went on and on. Thus, by

An

me

this

Autobiographical Sketch

concatenation of circumstances,

point of view of my career

The

position at the

I

in

Warburg

writings,

Washington, for which interest

staked

my

m

but

m

I

I

m

told you,

art historian there,

psychology.'" This

That

different."

m

the

is

m

first

the history

difference

it is

but a reader

how do you

book

of art

as

an interest in

is

explain an event?

m

of the development of representation

had discussed

I

was invited to give the Mellon Lectures in

I

Explanations are scientific matters:

which

was not an

claim to be interested not only

certain aspects

my job would be.

was not so simple because, as

chose the subject of art and illusion because of my

I

perception and

something

so that from the

Through the mediation of Kenneth Clark, who had

Renaissance studies.

some of my

known

sufficiently

did not have to worry what

not an art-historical institute and

liked

became

I

I

in

which

explanations.

thought that

the history of art,

The Story oj Art in the traditional terms

of 'seeing and

knowing', deserved to be investigated in terms of contemporary psychology. spent a good deal of time in psychology sake of explanation

little,

is

actually going

psychology,

When I

phenomenon of

style as

it

had been seen

style

simply the expression of an age seemed to

on when somebody draws

I

and

I

me

not only to say

wanted to know what

a tree in a particular way, in a

By looking into books on

in a particular style.

was invited to give the Wrightsman Lectures

decoration.'

it

were.

So

now I

thought, 'Well,

I

should

I

like

in

New York,

words,

Illusion,

chose the

I

have tried to explain something about

I

something about form or

to explain

gave a series of lectures which turned into the

of Order." In other

my ambition — and

it

book

The Sense

was rather a lofty ambition

was to be a kind of commentator on the history of

art. I

commentary on what

development of

sometimes

see

it

say something in

happened

actually

as representation

hand and decoration on the

more

other.

m

a connoisseur. I

I

in

One

can

reflect

say,

is

or

I:

Autobiographical

In history

we

a I

all

to

these things

do

and

precisely this.

that

not by Raphael, but

I

I

never

had no

it isn't

my

My main interest has always been in

more general types of explanation, which meant

Part

about

my ambition

is

art.

—

symbolism on the one

when people asked me,

interest to practise connoisseurship.

tries to explain.

wanted to write

never became a proper art historian.

wouldn't

opinions about whether this painting

Science

the

the centre with

general terms. It was

This, of course, meant that

became

is

learned the importance of formulae.

representation,

main

—

traditionally did not

another opportunity arose after the publication of Art and

other side, as

34

studied the subject for the

but to be rather vacuous in every respect.

particular tradition

and

libraries. I

explanation of the

is,

I

me. Style became one of my worries, one of my problems, because the

idea that style

very

that

phenomenon of

because the satisfy

—

I

taught,

it is

a certain kinship with science.

record, but

m science we try to explain

single events

by referring them to

mention another friend who had science, Sir Karl Popper,

and of

who was

a general regularity. Here,

think

should

I

on me, the philosopher of

always interested

m the problem of research

scientific explanation. I learned very

matters, both

I

a great influence

much from him about

these

m perceptual psychology and m the more general problems

of

science.

So you

see that I

moved

By the 'charmed

history.

come up

picture will

I

who

do

real connoisseurs,

But

this

which I

is

so.

then

Some of my I

tries to explain. I

ask,

respect

m

from an

I

will fetch?'

it

look

went on

to this question

I

it

have

so.

On

down on people

approach altogether from the one

m dealing with explanations,

What

m

is

their influence?

architecture.

An

You

all

know

element of that

is

poster has a different type of formal treatment

social developments,

must

interest

on the

as I like to call

of an image

role

anybody who looks

development and asks the uncomfortable question, 'But why? actually

this

think

the changing functions of the visual image. Also,

The

particular society. All this

know

really

unable to do

Here, the history of image-making,

sometimes impinges on

'You

you

of art

them very much.

traditions change?

altar painting.

still

circle

best friends are connoisseurs. If they are

the slogan that 'form follows function' true for the image-maker.

say,

Do

think

you the idea that

should add briefly that

interested

how do

who

weeks' time.

a different matter, a different

became very

one can

the people

m these conversations, and I'm

don't want to give

the other hand, are able to

mean

And if it is, how much do you

by Luca Giordano?

IS

circle' I

at Christie's in three

never been able to join

charmed

in a certain sense outside the

at that time?' I don't

at the

this

in a

whole

Why? What

claim that one can ever give a

of why, but one can always speculate — and

it,

is

full

answer

not always

fruitless.

My

current

work

m

important

Art

deals with another approach to a question

and

My

Illusion.

discussion

naturalism and that naturalistic,

interested

IS,

IS

see the history

of art

as

is,

I

am

an advocate of

an unbroken progress towards

of course, nonsense.

I

am now

m the reaction against certain movements m representation due to

the tides of taste. long,

I

photographic images, which

development of

of the

representation has led to the interpretation that

which was

on what

One

I call

of

my

projects,

upon which

the preference for the primitive

I

have been working too

among lovers of art:

that

the rejection of things which are considered decadent, corrupt, too sweet,

too insinuating, the reaction against the ideal of beauty. All these reactions have interested

me

for a long time.

but the movement

really started

am still hoping to

write,

is

There

are parallels

m

classical antiquity,

m the eighteenth century. This book, which I 'The Preference for the Primitive', m which

called

An

Autobiographical Sketch

psychological explanations inevitably figure, as do other things as well. So here, again, it

it is

which has

its

m one form,

it's

in lectures several times,

Once

a subject has gelled

to dissolve

to

it

am trying to

a rather large-scale topic I

make

it

tackle. I have discussed

advantages and

disadvantages.

its

not so easy to boil

up again and

it

of chapter. But I'm doing

into a different kind

my

best.''

Edito/s Postscript

Gombrich has

recently puhlisheci

more autobiographical material

in

A

Lifelong Interest:

Conversations on Art and Science with Didier Eribon (London^ ^995) also available in

an American

and Science (Nevo

A good

edition as

to

the general intellectual

to

in

A

on Art

(London,

himself

de jean Clair (Paris,

Viennese culture

is

Ilsa Barea's

is

more personal picture

Vienna

contributed

la direction

background

Intellectual

Waltz

Gombrich

which

L' Apocalypse joyeuse^ sous

Mind: An

informed by personal memories,

and Reality (London, igg^).

George Clarets autobiography, Last book,

for Answers. Conversations

w/?'^^

York, iggj).

historical introduction to Vienna,

Vienna: Legend

illustrated

Looking

i

igSz).

offered by

A

gloriously

Vienne

is

ig86f

A

(Berkeley

1880-1938:

handy volumefor

William M.Johnston,

and Social History 1848— 1938

is

The Austrian and Los

Angeles,

igyi).

Of the books

mentioned

in the autobiography, readers

might

like to

know of some

translations.

Max Dvorak's Kunstgeschichte als Geistesgeschichte is now available, in parts, as The History of Art as the History of Ideas^ trans. John Liardy (London, igS/fJ and Idealism and Naturalism in Gothic Art^ ig6y). The French edition of Schlosser's

trans.

Litterature Artistique preface dAndre Chastel has been translated by Evelyn

a

Kain

History of Ornament

Kunstindustrie

has also been

as:

Randolph J Klawiter (Notre Dame,

Die Kunstliteratur

Alois Riegl,

(Princeton,

36

Part

I:

Autobiographical

Julius von Schlosser,

(Paris, igS/f). Alois RiegFs

La

Stilfragen

Problems of Style: Foundations for

iggi).

Alois

translated: Alois Riegl,

translatedfrom the original Viennese edition with foreword

(Rome, igSj).

is

RiegVs

Late

Die spatromische

Roman

Art Industry^

and annotations by Rolf Winckes

old Masters and Other Household Gods Published in the Independent, 6

January 1990,

on the 40th anniversary of the

first

pubhcation of The

Ston of Art

When

I

was invited to offer

just

'second thoughts' about the

would have to be

replied that they

book had

my

been published

m

called

thoughts are meant to imply distance,

much

as

brainchild.

have done context

from the book

distance

Maybe

earlier:

IS still

I

can

now

as

place

my

I

it

more

that

its

Baroque churches and palaces, would be

by the monumental

broad avenue of the

of Parliament Gothic, the

is

m

Ringstrasse

likely to stimulate

my

first

But

contained its

I

could

cannot

its

sumptuous

an interest in the interest

was

of the nineteenth century that

encircles the old city.

Town

The House

Hall in a version of

less,

a

modern

when this

style. I

variety

cannot have been

prompted me

to plan

book, a primer of styles based on Vienna's buildings.

if architectural history I

than

his

the University were built in a Renaissance idiom

of age, possibly

art-historical

of painting.

have

in English, the

remember my own

the Greek style, the mighty

museums and

12 years

I

edifices

which

and the Postal Savings Bank pioneered

more than

England and

Gothic Cathedral and

history of art in any alert child, but as far as also sparked off

in

I

from

of the Vienna of my youth.

Like any fine old city Vienna, with

line the

ever likely to gain

is

easily into its context

though the book was written

1

however, second

If,

can truly say after 40 years that

any author

Art

fifteenth thoughts, since that

fifteenth edition.

its

Story of

tell

thus became a natural interest, so did the history

now which came

many books about old

first,

my

parent's library

which

masters, or the Kunsthistorisches Museum with

glorious collections brought together by the Habsburgs.

Good

taste

had

not yet outlawed the display of photographic reproductions on the walls of our apartment, and

it

was taken for granted that one knew and respected the

Old Masters and Other Household Gods

in art,

much

Mozart or Beethoven did m music; Raphael and Michelangelo,

Diirer

works of the masters who belonged to the 'canon of excellence' as Bach,

and Rembrandt, but

also Fra Angelico

Memlmg

and

known

the divmities of that middle-class religion that was

term

literally

furniture'.

were household gods, as Bildung.

means 'formation but can perhaps best be translated

This being

art history for

so, it

as

was natural that adolescents were given books on

Christmas or for birthdays, and in the absence of television and

videos they were even read.

I

especially

remember an unpretentious survey by

Julius Leisching called Die Wege der Kvinst (The Paths oj Art, Leipzig, 1911)

read with gratitude and profit for the

may

all

without the

it

That added we

orientation

first

be somewhat more sophisticated, but

to undertake

it

memory of this

— previously

medieval and tribal art

vicissitudes

I

offered. The Story of Art

slim volume which

I still

own.

sophistication can be traced back to the revolution in taste that

witnessed in the immediate post-war period.

me

which

might never have had the courage

I

The narrow

the canon were challenged by the wave of Expressionism with

interested

The

'mental

neglected

— and

its

confines of

exaltation

of

these shifts in preference

an extended essay on the

sufficiently to volunteer writing

of art appreciation since the eighteenth century (a topic that

still

concerns me). Having decided to read the History of Art and Classical

Archaeology

the University of Vienna

at

influences: the so-called 'Vienna School'

I

became subject

of art history prided

to

itself

further

m having

overcome the obsolete notions of 'decline' or 'decadence'. Late

Roman art was

m no way inferior to the

of Mannerism

art

of classical Greece and the

and Baroque merited the same attention

The new key

to the history

as

those of the

believe,

I

is

also the underlying

indeed to do justice to every age on I

had

make

to

choices in

my

its

theme of

own

terms.

styles.

As

which

tries

a trained art historian,

specialized research, but the awareness of

upon on journeys

m museums.

One more graduate series

I

of

deadline as

Renaissance.

The Story of Art,

continuity remained background knowledge to be drawn

and

High

of art was the notion of continuity, the endurance

of traditions behind the changing facades of period This,

styles

biographical fact must perhaps be mentioned: as an unemployed

was given the task of contributing a volume on world history to a

children's books, I

and

had no choice except

remained from

my

since

schooldays.

and has been reprinted

I

had to meet an almost impossible

to use such

To my

background knowledge of history

surprise the

book was widely read

m Germany after 50 years, but being written from the

vantage point of the capital of Austria

it

could not be

easily

adapted for

English children. Evidently the same does not apply to The Story of Art; not only, perhaps, because

58

Part

I:

Autobiographical

it

was written

m England, but because the history of art

of more universal relevance than the wars and

is

which had to come into the

of central Europe

book.

earlier

must not detain the reader with the concentration of circumstances

I

made me embark on

a

second such

was commissioned by the

late

effort.

After an abortive attempt the

Dr Horovitz of

young daughter had approved of a sample war when

I

away from

BBC

was a member of the active research

may

attempted to convey when,

up examples of

me

Service,

my

book

after his

and being so

far

again to see the whole

continuous outline.

books

that

This happened during the

chapter.

wife and

in 1949, this text still reflects the

I

was

It

after the war, I dictated the text,

illustrations in the

Though completed

as a

Phaidon Press

the

Monitoring

have helped

mountain range of the history of art I

politics

this vision

merely looking

happened

outlook

to own.

had acquired

I

on the Continent. It is

true that

m

subsequent years

story 'up to-date', and lies

I

I

a

good many pages

to keep the

am not sorry I did so. But maybe the value of the book

elsewhere. It crystallizes the attitude of a vanished epoch for which art was

not a subject of specialized knowledge, but

added

still

let

alone of sensational auction prices,

men and women.

part of the mental furniture of civilized

Journalists

sometimes describe an old country house which has preserved

contents untouched for several generations as a 'time capsule'. If The Story of

its

Art

is

such a time capsule,

its

unexpected popularity seems to prove that even

today readers want to keep contact with the past

— their

own, and that of art.

Editor's Postscript

For Gomhrich's published by

World History

Dumont

Leser. Bildung

for Children^

(Cologne) under

the title

child, see

insight into

how

art couldform part of the mentalfurniture of a

growing

pp.

and Art

in

my

as

Needs of

the

j6j—go.

Elias Canetti's autobiography, the volumes

andThe Torch

was

^Goethe:

The Mediator of Classical Values^ below, For a fascinating

revised edition J2. The

Mind' and

discussedfurther in ^Nature

is

see above, p.

Eine kurze Weltgeschichte fur junge

Ear (London, iggo),

The Tongue Set Free

especially

(London, l^Sg),

'Samsons Blinding , pp. llz—18.

Old Masters and Other Household Gods

Part

40]

II

The Visual Imagi

The Visual Image:

Place in

its

Communication Onginallv published

in

Scimtifk Atncnian. Special

Issue vol.

on Communication,

i-z

repnnted thcExc

ig-z

m

igSi

.

pp. 82-96;

The Imaoc and .

pp. i;--6i

Ours

IS

a visual age.

We are bombarded with pictures from morning till night.

Opening our newspaper

m the news,

and

The

see

photographs of men and

women

from the paper, we encounter the picture on

raising our eves

the cereal package.

we

at breakfast,

mail arrives and one envelope after the other discloses

glossv folders with pictures of alluring landscapes and sunbathing girls to entice us to take a holida\' cruise, or a suit

made

to measure. Leaving our house,

that trv to catch our eve It

IS

of elegant menswear to tempt us to have

more than

and

on our

pla\'

likelv that

we have

we pass

desire to

billboards along the road

smoke, drink or

to deal with

some kind

information: photographs, sketches, catalogues, blueprints, graphs. Relaxing

window on bv.

m

we

the evening,

the world, and watch

Even the images created

sit

m

moving

of pictorial

maps or

front of the television ima2;es

it

IS

all

the

new flit

m times gone bv or m distant lands are more easily

souvenirs of travel, as do the private

wonder

the

set,

which they were

Picture books, picture postcards and colour slides accumulate in our

No

at least

of pleasures and horrors

accessible to us than the\' ever were to the public for

which the ima2;e

At work

eat.

more important

communication, to ask what

homes

we

are entering a historical

epoch

from the written word. In view of this claim clariR' the potentialities of the image

to it

as

mementos of our family snapshots.

has been asserted that will take over

created.

can and what

it

m it

m

cannot do better than spoken

or written languaee. In comparison with the importance of the question the

amount

of attention devoted to

it is

Students of language have been

at

disappointingly small.

work

for a long time analvsing the various

functions of the prime instrument of human communication.

The

\'isual Image:

its

Without going

Place in

Communication

we can accept

into details

by Karl

who

Biihler,

for our

purpose the divisions of language proposed

distinguished between the functions of expression,

arousal and description. (We may

of

them symptom,

call

mmd.

alternatively

Its

it

very tone

may

may be designed

mmd

of

to arouse a state

distinguish the expression of an emotion the signal, particularly since

common

of the 'communication of feeling.

from

me, but they may also cause

me

contrive in cold blood to

communication

down

on

are shared

It is

symptomatic of emotive

symptom from when speaking

this

two functions can be

may

anger

s

in

arouse anger

On the other hand, someone

to anger.

Animal

scale.

states or they

Human

certain reactions.

person

important to

do

to

a speaker

to be amused.

in the

is

arousal, the

fails

true that the

move me

It

These two functions of

by human beings with their fellow creatures lower

evolutionary

the

its

parlance

unison and that the audible symptoms of in

and

be symptomatic of anger or amusement;

addressed, as a signal triggering anger or amusement.

may

signal

We describe a speech act as expressive if it informs us of the speaker s

symbol.) state

also

descriptive function (which

may

function as signals to release

language can do more: is

may be

communications

it

has developed the

only rudimentary in animal signals).

A speaker

can inform his partner of a state of affairs past, present or future, observable or distant, actual or conditional.

may

rain,

or If it

function largely through such 'air

and

the

'some',

He

can say

rains, I shall stay here'. little

it

rained,

'when

particles as *if

which have been called

,

will rain,

it

it

miraculous

this

'not', 'therefore',

logical words because they account for

of language to formulate

ability

rains,

it

Language performs

logical

known

inferences (also

as

syllogisms).

Looking ask

first

at

communication from the vantage point of language, we must

which of these functions the visual image can perform.

that the visual image expressive purposes possibility

The

is

is

supreme

in

its

We

capacity for arousal, that

problematic, and that unaided

it

shall see

its

use for

altogether lacks the

of matching the statement function of language.

assertion that statements cannot be translated into images often meets

with incredulity, but the simplest demonstration of

its

the doubters to illustrate the proposition they doubt. picture of the concept

truth

You cannot make

of statement any more than you can

impossibility of translation.

It

is

to challenge

is

a

illustrate the

not only the degree of abstraction of

language that eludes the visual medium; the sentence from the primer 'The cat sits

on the mat'

picture

of

picture

IS

is

a cat sitting

Part

II:

The

on

a mat, a

moment's

not the equivalent of the statement.

whether we mean

42

certainly not abstract, but although the primer

Visual Image

'the' cat

(an individual) or

reflection will

We

may show

show

a

that the

cannot express pictorially

'a cat'

(a

member of

a class);

moreover, although the sentence

may

be one possible description of the

picture, there are an infinite

number of other

could make such

a cat seen

is

'There

as

no elephant on the

mat'.

the mat', 'The cat will

on the mat

cat sits

.

is

sit

When

on the

you

that matter 'There

the primer continues with 'The cat sat

mat', 'The cat

and so on ad

.

true descriptive statements

from behind', or for

infinitum,

we

on

sits rarely

on

the mat', 'If the

word soaring away and

see the

leaving the picture behind.

Try

to say the sentence to a child

and then show him the picture and your

respect for the image will soon be restored.

unmoved; the image may delight him almost the picture for a toy cat and the child to bed.

The

The sentence will leave the child as much as the real cat. Exchange

may be

ready to hug the toy and take

toy cat arouses the same reactions as a real cat

stronger ones, since

it is

more

docile

and

—

easier to cuddle.

This power of dummies or substitutes to

trigger behaviour has

explored by students of animal behaviour, and there

The

been much

no doubt

is

crudest models of a predator or a mate need only

exhibit certain distinctive features to elicit the appropriate pattern

and

if these features are intensified, the

dummy

than the natural stimulus. Caution

effective

that

m a way that

organisms are 'programmed' to respond to certain visual signals facilitates survival.

it

possibly even

is

may

(like the toy)

needed

m

of action, be more

comparing these

automatisms to human reactions, but Konrad Z. Lorenz, the pioneer of ethology, has surmised that certain preferred forms of nursery art that are

described as

'cute'

or 'sweet' (including

many of Walt

Disney's creations)

generate parental feelings by their structural similarity to babies (Fig.

Be that

as

it

been observed since ancient times. 'The than bv the

eve,'

said

Horace

advertisers in the

affect us,

mmd

more slowly

is

m his Art of Poetry

of the stage with that of the verbal

modern

5).

may, the power of visual impressions to arouse our emotions has

narrative. Preachers

knowledge of the ways

whether we want

it

to or not.

stirred

The

in

and teachers preceded

which the

succulent

Nor

visual

image can

the seductive

fruit,

nude, the repellent caricature, the hair-raising horror can

emotions and engage our attention.

by the ear

when he compared the impact

all

play on our

this arousal function of sights

is

confined to definite images. Configurations of lines and colours have the potential to influence our emotions.

how

We need only keep

these potentialities of the visual

media

are

used

red danger signal to the way the decor of a restaurant create a certain 'atmosphere'.'

is

usually described as

around

may be

These very examples show

arousal of visual impressions extends far

What

our eyes open to see

all

us,

calculated to

that the

beyond the scope of

communication

is

from the

power of

this article.

concerned with matter rather

than with mood.

The

Visual Image:

its

Place in

Communication

43

5

Baby and Adult Features: Sequence

From

after Lorenz.

Tinbergen, The Study

of Instinct

(Oxford, 1943)

6

Cave Canem, mosaic of a

dog from Pompeii. Museo Nazionale, Naples

A

mosaic found

at the entrance

of a house in Pompeii shows

chain with the inscription Cave Canem (Beware of the

hard to see the link between such a picture and react to the picture as

we might

effectively reinforces the

he

running.

is

communication;

It

dog

its

a

arousal function.

that barks at us.

dog on

(Fig. 6). It

Thus

a

not

is

We are to

the picture

caption that warns the potential intruder of the risk

Would would,

and conventions. Why,

to a real

Dog)

image

the if we

came

if not as a

perform

alone

to

it

of

function

this

with a knowledge of social customs

communication to those who may be unable

to read, should there be this picture at the entrance hall? But if we could forget

what we know and imagine a member of an image,

alien culture

we could think of many other possible

Could not

the

man

coming on such an

interpretations of the mosaic.

have wanted to advertise a dog he wished to

Or

perhaps a veterinarian?

could the mosaic have functioned

The purpose of

public house called 'The Black Dog'?

all,

message.

when we

It

always depends

see the

conclude that there

a

fright,

book on

and

I

in the

museum

dog chained somewhere.

function of the image. Even in the

of a

is

to

at a picture for

on our prior knowledge of possibilities. After

Pompeiian mosaic

is

he

as a sign for a

this exercise

remind ourselves how much we take for granted when we look its

Was

sell?

m Naples

It is different

museum the image might give

recently heard a child

we do not

with the arousal us a

shadow

of five say when turning the pages of a

natural history that she did not want to touch the pictures of nasty

creatures.

Naturally we cannot adequately respond to the message of the mosaic unless

we have read

the image correctly.

suited to formulate the

modern

44

Pare

II:

The

equivalent

Visual Image

problem

in

The medium of the mosaic

is

well

terms of the theory of information.

Its

would be an advertising display composed of an array of

light bulbs

m which each bulb can be turned either on or off to form an image.

A mosaic might consist of standardized cubes The amount of

light.

depend on the

of the cubes

size

case the cubes are small

the

dog s

legs

and

tail,

enough

that are either dark or

(tesserae)

visual information such a

medium

in relation to the scale

can transmit will

of the image. In our

for the artist to indicate the tufts

and the individual

of the chain. The

links

of hair on

artist

might

confine himself to a code in which black signifies a solid form seen against a easily

be endowed with sufficiently

distinctive features to be recognized as a dog.

But the Pompeiian master was

ground. Such a silhouette could

light

m

trained

a tradition that

had gone beyond the conceptual method of

m the image information about the effects of

representation and he included light

on form.

He

conveys the white and the glint of the eye and the muzzle,

shows us the teeth and outlines the forelegs

ears;

he also indicates the shadows of the

on the patterned background." The meaning so

far

easy to decode,

is

but the white patches on the body and, most of all, the outline of the

was the convention

set us a puzzle. It

m

model the shape of an

his time to

animal's

body by

indicating the sheen of the fur, and this

of these

features.

Whether

their actual shape

is

hmd leg

must be the

origin

due to clumsy execution or to

inept restoration could only be decided by viewing the original.

The

difficulty

because

it

of interpreting the meaning of the dog mosaic

too can be expressed

messages, images are vulnerable to the 'noise'.

They need

is

instructive

m terms of communication theory. Like verbal random

interference engineers call

the device of redundancy to overcome this hazard. It

is

this

built-m safeguard of the verbal code that enables us to read the inscription Cave Canem without hesitation even though the

image recognition the information.

were missing.

is

concerned

We

The

outline are relatively

could not guess the length of the

more redundant, but those

we now

a feature that

first

legs.

is

tail if

most of

the black cubes

ground and mside the

indicating the sheen occupy a

elusive even in reality, although

response to an image

actual reading can never be a passive affair.

hmd

incomplete. As far as

see could never occur.

However automatic our

possibilities

e is

individual cubes of the patterned

middle position; they stand for the configuration

it is

first

the enclosing contour that carries

we could not even guess

Although we have

this

Without

may

be, therefore,

a prior

at the relative position

its

knowledge of

of the dog's two

knowledge, other possibilities are

likely to

escape us. Perhaps the picture was intended to represent a particular breed

Romans would recognize as being vicious. We cannot tell by the picture. The chance of a correct reading of the image is governed by three variables:

that

the code, the caption and the context.

alone

It

might be thought that the caption

would make the other two redundant, but our

The

cultural conventions are

Visual Image:

its

Place in

Communication

too

In an art

flexible for that.

Landseer

understood to

is

book

the picture of a

refer to the

represented. In the context of a primer,

maker of the image, not

would be expected to support each

so that

we could only read

suffice to indicate

Even

other.

the fragment

whether the missing

to the species

on the other hand, the caption and the

picture

'og',

dog with the caption E.

pages were torn

of the drawing above would

was

letter

if the

or an

a

h.

media

Jointly the

of word and image increase the probability of a correct reconstruction.

We

The

memorizing. ease

mutual support of language and image

shall see that this

use of two independent channels, as

of reconstruction. This explored in a

(brilliantly

is

remember

the

to yourself a hog practising his art association, but

There

you may find

it

'art

of memory'

Yates') that advises the practitioner

more

to translate any verbal message into visual form, the

the better. If you want to

were, guarantees the

it

the basis of the ancient

book by Frances

facilitates

name of the

by painting an

hard to get rid

bizarre

and unlikely

painter Hogarth, picture h.

You may

dislike the

of.

where the context alone can make the visual message

are cases

unambiguous even without the use of words.

It is a possibility

that has

much

attracted organizers of international events where the Babylonian confusion

of tongues

Olympic Games

in

Mexico

choice that

is

of images designed for the

in 1968 appears to be self-explanatory,"^ indeed

exemplified best by the

how

can observe

set

number of expected messages and

given the limited

is,

of language. The

rules out the use

the purpose

by concentrating on

a

two

first

and context

signs

of the array

(Fig. 7).

dictate a simplification

few distinctive features.

The

it

the restriction of the

principle

We

of the code

is

brilliantly

exemplified by the pictorial signs for the various sports and games designed for the

We

Winter Olympics

at

Grenoble the same year

should never be 'tempted to

(Fig. 8).

forget, however, that even in

context must be supported by prior expectations based these links break,

the papers

story in

a

communication to

the

also breaks effect

that

label.

The rumour was

Here

it

of

a

Where

human

flesh

in

an

was being sold

on the

was the switch of context that caused the confusion. As a rule

meat on

a

we do not draw the conclusion

human

from the

had broken out

riots

traced to food cans with a grinning boy

the picture of fruit, vegetable or

contents; if

tradition.

down. Some years ago there was

underdeveloped country because of rumours that in a store.

on

such usages

being on the container,

it is

food container does indicate

that the

same applies to

its

a picture

because we rule out the possibility

start.

In the above examples the image was expected to

work

m conjunction with

other factors to convey a clear-cut message that could be translated into

words.

46

Part

II:

The

The

real

Visual Image

value

of the image, however,

is

its

capacity to convey

7

Signs for the 1968

Olympic Games Mexico City

m

mtormation that cannot be coded Prints and

Couiniiiucatioif

J isital

and the Romans

any other way. In his important book

Wilham M.

make progress

failed to

images

multiplying

ot

idea

m

Ivms,

m

argued that the Greeks

Jr.,

science because thev lacked the

by some form of printing. Some of

multiplication of imacjes throu2;h the

Ice-skatuii; s\TnboI for the

196S Winter OKinpics

Grenoble

m

printed

that

true

certainly

seal,

the coinage, and the cast), but

costume

herbals,

books,

his

knew of the

philosophical points can hardly be sustained (the ancient world

news-sheets

it is

and

topog;raphical yiews were a yital source of yisual information about plants,

and foreign

fashions, topical eyents

brings

most

home

But study of

lands.

to us that printed information

life-like portrait

being somebody

else,

woodcuts showing

a

and publishers of

m part

depends

of a king will mislead us if

early broadsheets

you haye seen them

all.'

Eyen today

certam informants or institutions that

allays

really

it is

if

our doubts that a picture in

scientist

it

publisher

who was

human and

animal

a pig's foetus as that of a

human

m fact fatally easy to mix up pictures and captions, as almost any

knows

to his cost.

The information intention of

a

photograph of

a

purports to show.

Ernst Haeckel,

accused of haying tried to proye the parallelism of

development by labelling

you haye seen one

only our confidence in

shows what

There was the notorious case of the German

It is

sometimes reused

deyastated by a flood to illustrate an earthquake or

cit\-

book, a newspaper or on the screen

embryo.

on words. The

incorrectly labelled as

it is

another disaster (Figs. 9 and 10) on the principle that catastrophe,

this material also

its

extracted

maker.

A

from an image can be quite independent of the

holiday snapshot of a group on a beach

scrutmized by an intelligence

officer

may

be

preparing a landing, and the Pompeiian

mosaic might provide new information to a historian of dog breeding. It

may be

convenient here to range the information value of such images

according to the amount of information about the prototype that they can encode.

Where

the information

or replica. These fraudulently

m

glass eve or

an

book

IS

is

virtually

may be produced

complete we speak of a facsimile

for deception rather than information,

the case of a forged banknote, benevolently artificial

m

the case of a

tooth. But the facsimile of a banknote

intended for instruction, and so

is

m

a history

the cast or copy of an organ

m

medical teaching.

A facsimile duplication would not be classed as an image if it shared with its all characteristics including the material of which it is made. A

prototype

flower sample used in a botany class

is

not an image, but an

used for demonstration purposes must be described the borderline

is

somewhat

image, but the taxidermist

fluid. is

A

stuffed animal

Kkely to have

made

as

m

artificial

flower

an image. Even here a

showcase

is

not an

his personal contribution

The Visual Image:

its

Place in

Communication

47

The 1570.

«cmbctr/b!^ 7o»

Woodcut

Jnte / (o Qc(
feet viter^<5tfcii/ritb 0rrtu)nm
A

i^rbbibcm/ wclhcl)e mil rnfil>rtuff«:b<»Ibbcr ©tattj^crwr/ tm TPdrct>lrtnb po gcUgcti/

the Voigtland, 1573.

m

^olr8/:c»

•Sotei tref« itt

/

Icirr*

5tf t

|clt

tt^t^

p*dn OPoW ctfe.Sm t6tr tass

»n6 pt|W
/

3Ju4 WtrtCB /*t
©ctrucftjasrirgfptirg/ttircl

7

5-

I

a

through selecting and modifying the serves to convey visual information

carcass.

may

However

faithful an

image that

of selection

be, the process

always reveal the maker's interpretation of what he considers relevant. the

wax

effigy of a celebrity

role; the

must show the

sitter

photographer of people or events

will

Even

m one particular attitude and

will carefully sift his material to

find the 'tell-tale' picture.

on the part of the image maker must always be matched by

Interpretation

the interpretation of the viewer.

an exhibition

m

m

museum

a

No

image

tells its

own

remember

story. I

Lincoln, Nebraska, showing skeletons and

reconstructions of the ancestor of the horse. By present equine standards these creatures were diminutive, but they resembled our horse in everything

but the

we

scale. It

was

this

encounter that brought

interpret even a didactic

scale

when

I

at

It

it

to

me how

is

to discard certain

inevitably

works of sculpture, including small

had slipped into the mental habit of discounting

interpreting the code. In other words,

normal horse.

home

model and how hard

assumptions. Being used to looking

bronze statuettes of horses,

I

'saw' the scale

model of a

was the verbal description and information that corrected my

reading of the code.

Here

as always

we need

a jolt to

'beholder's share', the contribution

remind us of what

we make

stock of images stored in our mind.

I

have called the

to any representation

Once more

it is

only

when

from the

this process

cannot take place because we lack memories that we become aware of their role.

Part

II:

Looking

The

at a picture

Visual Image

catastrophic flood in

Woodcut

vnb g^wcbit btf aufjrbcit z u abbof

48

Ferrara earthquake

of a house, we do not normally

fret

about the many

Opera House, Sydney, Australia

things the picture does not

show us

we

unless

aspect that was hidden from the camera.

We

looking for a particular

are

have seen

many

similar houses

and can supplement the information from our memory, or we think we is

when we

only

we

m

Svdnev, Australia,

sees only a

photograph of it

is

a structure

will feel

the photograph cannot answer (Fig.

Which

can. It

confronted with a totally unfamiliar kind of structure that

The new opera

aware of the puzzle element in any representation.

are

house

are

of

and

a novel kind,

person

a

who

compelled to ask a number of questions ii).

What

parts go inward, which outward?

the inclination of the roof?

is

What,

indeed,

the scale of the

is

entire structure?

The hidden assumptions with which we are

most

flat

images.

IS

falling

easily

generally approach a

photograph

demonstrated by the limited information value of shadows on

They only

yield the correct impression if we

from above and generally from the

was concave looks convex and vice versa (Fig.

left;

12).

may be

a

trivialit)^,

light

and what

That we read the code of

black-and-white photograph without assuming that colourless world

assume that the

reverse the picture

but behind

it

is

a rendering

this trivialitv^

the

of

a

lurk other

What colours or tones could be represented by certain greys m the photograph? What difference will it make to, say, the American flag whether problems.

It is

photographed with an orthochromatic or

Interpreting photographs

is

an important

a

panchromatic film?

skill that

The

must be learned by

Visual Image:

its

Place in

all

Communication

49

who have to

deal with this

medium of communication: the mteUigence who studies aerial photographs, the

officer,

sports

the surveyor or archaeologist

who

photographer physician

who

wishes to record and to judge athletic events and the

reads X-ray films.

Each of these must know the

the limitations of his instruments.

down

the photographic plate

events

it

is

meant

the rapid

to capture, or the grain

demand

movement of a

may be too slow to show the

register the desired detail in a

Spiegler that the

Thus

photograph.

of

It

capacities

a film

may be too late

Needless to

13).

retouching a photographic record All these intervening variables

say,

coarse to

Gottfried

X-ray image may conflict with

informative function.^ Strong contrast and definite outlines

its

valuable clues (Fig.

shutter

correct sequence of

was shown by the

for an easily legible

slit

and

there

is

may obscure

the further possibility of

m the interest of either truth or falsehood.

make

their appearance again

on

the

way from

the negative to the print,

from the print to the photo-engraving and then to

the printed illustration.

The most

halftone screen.

normal

the

As

familiar

of these

is

the density of the

m the case of the mosaic, the information transmitted by

illustration

process

is

smooth

granular,

transitions

are

transformed into discrete steps and these steps can either be so few that they are obtrusively visible or so small that they

unaided

can hardly be detected by the

eye.

Paradoxically

it

is

power of vision that has made

the limited

possible: the changing intensities

screen build

up the image

conceived the French

artist

in

television

of one luminous dot sweeping across the

our

eye.

Long

before this technique was

Claude Mellan displayed

his

virtuosity by

engraving the face of Christ with one spiralling line swelling and contracting to indicate shape

The

50

Part

II:

The

and shading

(Fig. 14).

very eccentricity of this caprice shows

Visual Image

how

readily

we

learn to

fall in

^^lth the

code and to accept

its

conventions.

We

that the artist imagined Christ's tace to have been to the

for a

moment Contrary

a spiral

famous slogan, we easdv distinguish the medium from the message.

From vital

do not think

hned with

the point ot view ot information this ease of distinction can be

than fidehtv of reproduction.

Mam"

students of art regret the increased

use of colour reproductions for that reason. seen to be an incomplete coding.

some uncertamtA' about

its

A

more

A black-and-white photograph

is

colour photograph alwavs leaves us with

information value.

We

cannot separate the code

from the content.

The

easier

it is

on the image code that

is

to

to separate the code

communicate

understood to be

from the content, the more we can

a particular a

kind of information.

A

relv

selective

code enables the maker of the image to

filter

out certain kinds of information and to encode onlv those features that are of interest to the recipient. F^ence a selective representation that indicates

own

principles

of selection

Anatomical drawings

will

are a case

be more

its

informative than the replica.

m point. A realistic picture of a dissection not

onlv \^•ould arouse aversion but also might easih'

fail

to

show the

aspects that

are to

be demonstrated. Even todav surgeons sometimes emplov 'medical

artists

to record selective information that colour

photographs might

communicate. Leonardo da \ mci's anatomical studies

are earlv

fail

to

examples of

deliberate suppression of certain features for the sake of conceptual claritv.

Many

of

of the

artist's

\\'ater

them

are

not so

much

portravals as functional models, illustrations

views about the structure of the bodv. Leonardo's drawings of

and whirlpools

are likewise

intended

as visualizations of the forces at

work."

Such

a

rendering

diagrammatic

mav be

mapping,

described as a transition from a representation to

and the value of the

latter

process

The \'istial Image:

its

Place in

for

the

Communicadon

communication of information needs no emphasis. the

map

is

is

shade of green stands for visible features,

fields

by the contour

or forests.

standardized for the sake of

on the map other kinds of

clarity,

feature,

there

such

as

no

is

difficulty in

political frontiers,

The

genuine representation (also called iconicity) in such a case features,

which

these are examples of

population density or any other desired information.

of the geographical

are told

of

and what particular

lines

Whereas

characteristic

We

the addition of a key to the standardized code.

particular heights are represented

entering

What

only element of

is

the actual shape

although even these are normalized according to

given rules of transformation to allow a part of the globe to be

shown on

a flat

map. It is

only a small step from the abstraction of the

showing relations that

are originally

the oldest of these relational

often

shown

maps

in medieval treatises

II:

The

Visual Image

to a chart or

is

the family tree.

The

diagram

logical.

One of

kinship table was

of canon law because the legitimacy of

marriages and the laws of inheritance were

Part

map

not visual but temporal or

m

part based

on the degree of

kinship (Fig.

15).

Genealogists also seized on this convenient means of visual

demonstration. Indeed, the family tree demonstrates the advantages of the visual

m

diagram to perfection.

A relationship that would take so long to explain

words we might lose the thread ('She

is

the wife of a second

stepmother') could be seen on a family tree connection, whether

it

is

a

chain of

at a glance.

command,

cousm of mv

Whatever the type of

the organization of a

corporation, a classification system for a library or a network of logical

dependencies, the diagram will always spread out before our eyes what a verbal description could only present

Moreover, diagrams can charts to

show

pictures

m a string of statements.

easily

be combined with other pictorial devices in

of things

in logical rather than spatial relationships.

Attempts have also been made to standardize the codes of such charts for the purpose of visual education (particularly by Otto and Marie Neurath of

who sought to vivify statistics by such a visual code).' Whether the developed practice of such visual aids is as yet matched by an

Vienna,

adequate theory

is

another matter. According to press

The

releases, the

Visual Image:

its

Place in

National

Communicarion

53

Aeronautics and Space Administration has equipped a deep-space probe with a pictorial message 'on the off chance that

somewhere on the way

intercepted by intelligent scientifically educated beings' (Fig, that their effort was

meant to be taken quite

These beings would

first

their sense organs that

of

all

seriously,

i6). It is

but what

have to be equipped with

it

is

unlikely

if

'receivers'

we

try?

among

respond to the same band of electromagnetic waves

as

our eyes do. Even in that unlikely case they could not possibly get the message.

We have is

seen that reading an image, like the reception of any other message,

dependent on prior knowledge of possibilities; we can only recognize what

we know. Even

awkward naked figures m the illustration m our mmd from our knowledge. We know that feet are

the sight of the

cannot be separated for standing

and eyes

configurations,

information.

are for

looking and we project this knowledge onto these

which would look like nothing on

It is this

see

which

conventional modelling.

intended

as

without

this prior

information alone that enables us to separate the code

from the message; we are

earth'

which of the

lines are

intended

Our

as

contours and

'scientifically

educated'

fellow creatures in space might be forgiven if they saw the figures as wire

constructs with loose bits and pieces hovering weightlessly in between. Even if

they deciphered this aspect of the code, what would they

woman's right arm that tapers off

like a flamingo's

creatures are 'drawn to scale against the outline recipients are

54

Part

II:

The

of the

make of

neck and beak? spacecraft',

but

the

The if the

supposed to understand foreshortening, they might also expect

Visual Image

and conceive the

to see perspective

make right

craft as being farther back,

the scale of the manikins minute.

hand

As

raised in greeting' (the female

which would

for the fact that 'the

man

has his

of the species presumably being

less

outgoing), not even an earthly Chinese or Indian would be able to interpret

from

correctly this gesture

The

his

own

representation of humans

is

repertory.

accompanied by

a chart: a pattern

of lines

beside the figures standing for the fourteen pulsars of the Milky Way, the

A

whole being designed to locate the sun of our universe.

(how

are they to

know

not part of the same chart?) 'shows the earth and

it is

the other planets in relation to the sun

swinging past

Jupiter'.

The

directional arrowhead;

and the path of Pioneer from earth and

trajectory,

it

will be noticed,

endowed with

is

seems to have escaped the designers that

it

unknown

conventional symbol

second drawing

this

is

a a

had the equivalent of bows

to a race that never

and arrows.

The arrow

is

one of a

large

group of graphic symbols that occupy the zone

between the visual image and the written

Any comic

sign.

examples of these conventions, the history of which

They

is still

strip

offers

largely unexplored.

range from the pseudo-naturalistic streaking lines indicating speed to

the conventional dotted track indicating the direction of the gaze, the hallucinatory

medley of stars before the eyes

the 'balloon' that contains a picture of

after a

and from

blow to the head to

m

what the person has

mind, or

perhaps just a question mark to suggest puzzlement. This transition from

image to symbol reminds us of the pictograph, although the fleeting spoken well

It IS

known

fact that writing itself evolved

became writing only when

word that a

both the resources of

homophones

it

into a

illustration

scripts

drew

facilitate

reading by classifying

Thus

name of the god

the

for this purpose

and the principle of the

of abstract words. Both

them according

rebus: the use

signify

and

of an eye

which was adjoined

of a throne

of the divine sceptre to indicate the name of a god

all

sounds and

to conceptual categories.

a picture

'usr)

of

Osiris was written in hieroglyphics as a rebus with

a picture

(

on

m ancient Egypt and

China these methods were ingeniously combined to

in

from the

was used to transform

permanent record.

number of ancient

for the rendering

it

a picture

(

7n')

to

(Fig. 17).

But

in

ancient civilizations writing represents only one of several forms of

conventional symbolism, the meaning of which has to be learned

if the sign is

to be understood.

Not

that this learning need be an intellectual exercise.

conditioned to respond to signs

as

we respond

religion such as the cross or the lotus, the signs

the horseshoe or the skull

We

to sights.

can easily be

The symbols

of good luck or danger such

and crossbones, the national

The

flags

Visual Image:

of as

or heraldic signs

its

Place in

Communication

55

such as the stars and stripes and the eagle, the party badges such as the red flag

—

or the swastika for arousing loyalty or hostility

show

that tlie conventional sign can

all

these and

many more

absorb the arousal potential of the visual

\]))Aoy.

may

h

be an open cjuestion

how

far the are:)usal potential

of symbols taps

the unconscious signidcance of certain configurations that Freud explored

and |ung was to hnk with the esoteric traditions of symbolism and

the

What

alchc nu'.

is

open

to the observation of the historian

symbol has so often appealed to seekers

visual

symbol

ratic:)nal

felt

is

discourse.

both to convey and

One

and yang

become

more

effectively than a string

illustrates this potential

the focus of meditation

mystery, and

known

m

ability to

its

the

seekers

meciium of

convey relations more

and also suggests how such Moreover,

A

to be ancient,

a

symbol can

familiarity breeds

if

symbol suggests

strange

a

hidcTn

embody some esoteric lore The awe surrounding the ancient

it is felt to

too sacred to be revealed to the multitudes.

Egyptian hieroglyphs

way the

the

of words. The ancient symbol of yin

(I'lg.

contempt, unfamiliarity breeds awe. if it is

more than

ce:)nceal

is

To such

of the reasons for this persistent feeling was no doubt

the diagrammatic aspect of the symbol,

quickK' and

after revelation.

mysticism

in

later centuries exemplifies this iTaction.'

'

Most of the

meanings of the hieroglyphs had been forgotten, but the method of writing the

name

now

of the god Osiris was

believed to have symbolic rather than

phonetic significance anci the eye and sceptre were interpreted to the

god was

The

mean

that

how

this

manifestation of the sun.

a

reader need not look further than

a

US

dollar bill to see

association was tapped by the founding fathers in the design of the Great Seal (Fig. 19).

Following the advice of the English antiquarian Sir John Prestwich,

the design expresses in words

World

for the

dawn of

and image the hopes and aspirations of the

new

a

era.

Novus

ordo secloruni alludes

prophecy of

a return

Annuit

'He [God] favoured the beginning.' But

cocptis,

New

to Virgils

of the Golden Age, and so does the other Latin tag, it

the image of the

is

unfinished pyramid rising toward heaven and the ancient symbol of the eye suggesting the eye of Providence that give the entire design the character of an ancient oracle close to fulfilment. hiteresting as the historian

eye

on the Great

somewhat through the

the sword of

ones and

Part

II:

More

find the continuity

of a symbol, such

back over more than 4,000 frequently

the

past

Achilles' heel

come

to us

and the widow's mite from the

from

Visual Image

is

symbolism

Herculean labours, classical antiquity,

Bible, sour grapes

share from Aesop's fables, a paper tiger and losing face

The

as the

years, the case

influences

lore in the language. Cupid's darts,

Damocles and

the olive branch lion's

Seal, reaching

exceptional. si

must

and the

from the Far

Such allusions or

East.

do not have to

spell

common

the

possibilities

cliches enable us to 'cut a

property

of

of condensing

term 'Quisling' or the

and new

figures

running

out',

scientific

community term

with new

language

enriches

whether

it is

the political

Moreover, language carries old

'fallout'.

'The sands

are rightly described as images:

pump must

dollar should be allowed to offers

a

a situation into a word,

of speech that

'The

long story short because we

out the meaning. Almost any story or event that becomes

are

be primed', 'Wages should be pegged', 'The

float'.

The

literal illustration

of these metaphors

untold possibilities for that special branch of symbolic imagery, the art

of the cartoonist."

He

too can condense a

comment

into a few pregnant

images bv the use of the language's stock figures and symbols. Vicky's cartoon

showing

Italy as Hitler's 'Achilles' heel'

Like the successful the

sound of

what

else

pun

it

m point (Fig. 20).

a case

that finds an unexpected but compelling

a word, Vicky's cartoon

could

is

reminds us that

be but an Achilles' heel? But even

familiarity with the shape

if

meaning

Italy has a 'heel',

we can count on some

of Italy and the story of Achilles, the aptness of the

cartoon might need a good deal of spelling out forty years after appearance. If there

is

and code,

be lost on those

who do not know

at the

it is

the political cartoon. Its point the situation

disapprove of the role advertising has

this field.

come

and wit used by commercial

the invention of fresh ones. Britain cleverly

on which

it

must

inevitably

comments.

imagery that surrounds us does not bear out the claim that

our civilization lacks inventiveness in

the mgenuit)'

its initial

one type of image that remains mute without the aid of

context, caption

A glance

m

and

combines the

to play

Whether we approve or

m our society, we can enjoy

artists in the

The trademark adopted trident, that old

use of old symbols and for

North Sea Gas

m

symbol of Neptune, with the

The

Visual Image:

ics

Place in

Communication

22, 23

Trident trademark,

adopted

in Britain for

North Sea Gas. version

picture of a gas burner (Fig. 22). It

coded

first

is

increase in distinctiveness

reproduce (Fig.

making

it

watch

interesting to

as a realistic representation

was

easier to

23).

and dreamworld could

be applied, as Ernst Kris has shown, to the condensation of visual

easily

symbols

m advertising and cartoons." Where the aim

power of arousal and for

and the unexpected one enjoy

their surprise effects.

(Fig. 23) set the

remember

and

is first

and foremost to

condensation and selective emphasis are used both for

arrest the attention,

and

this idea

essentials, the

both more memorable and

Freud's analysis of the kinship between verbal wit

their

how

and then reduced to

the

mind

solution,

The incomplete image

a puzzle that

where

makes us

prose

the

linger,

of purely

informational images would remain unnoticed or unremembered. It

might be tempting to equate the poetry of images with the

visual media, but

it is

well to

remember that what we

produced for purely

aesthetic effects.

of communication

are observable,

Here too

it is

medium. The

Even

cult

faithful that the is

58

Pare

II:

The

was not invariably

of art the dimensions

although in more complex interaction.

image in

its

shrine mobilizes the emotions that belong to

Hebrew prophets remind

heathen idols were only sticks and stones.

the

The power of such who can

stronger than any rational consideration. There are few

escape the spell of a great cult image in

The

use of

the arousal function of the image that determines the use of the

the prototype, the divme being. In vain did the

images

call art

in the sphere

artistic

its

strength of the visual image posed a

Visual Image

setting.

dilemma

for the Christian church.

(left)

Realistic

and abstact

The church

communication. The decisive papal pronouncement on that

means of

feared idolatry but hesitated to renounce the image as a

this vital issue

was

of Pope Gregory the Great, who wrote that

'pictures are for the illiterate

Not

that religious images could

what

letters are for

those

who

can

read.'

function without the aid of context, caption and code, but given such aid the

medium was

value of the

of Genoa

(Fig. 24),

with

easily apparent. its

Take the

traditional rendering

the four symbols of the Evangelists (derived

of the throne of the Lord will tell the faithful

represents the

as

from

it is

described

from the prophet

Ezekiel's vision

m the Bible). The relief underneath

which

afar to

mam porch of the cathedral

of Christ enthroned between

saint the church

martyrdom of St Lawrence. For

all its

dedicated.

is

impressive lucidity the

image could not be read by anyone unfamiliar with the code, that style

of medieval sculpture. That

from the most

telling angle.

hovering sideways in front of a grid.

Without

of course, could not know that the is

with the

Hence

the naked

man

commands an

the aid of the spoken

sufferer

marked by the symbol of the

represents every

it

is

not a giant

We must understand that he is stretched

out on an instrument of torture while the ruler fan the flames with bellows.

is,

style disregards the relative size of figures for

the sake of emphasizing importance through scale, and object

It

is

executioner to

word

the

illiterate,

not a malefactor but a saint

halo, or that the gestures

made by

who the

onlookers indicate compassion.

But heard

if the of, it

image alone could not

tell

the worshipper a story he

was admirably suited to remind him of the

The

stories

had never

he had been told

Visual Image:

its

Place in

Communicacion

59

^5

Stained-glass lancet

windows,

early 13th

century. Chartres

Cathedral

in

sermons or

Once he had become

lessons.

Lawrence even the picture of a saint. It

only needed a change

master to make us

feel the

able to read. Pictures

this

way

stories alive

still

of St

with a gridiron would remind him of the

m the means

and aims of art to enable

heroism and the suffering of the martyr

of great emotional appeal. In of sacred and legendary

man

familiar with the legend

m images

pictures could indeed keep the

among

the

serve the purpose.

laity,

a great

memory

whether or not they were

There must be many whose

acquaintance with these legends started from images.

We

have touched briefly on the

certainly relevant to

mnemonic power of

many forms of religious and

the image, which

secular art.

is

The windows of

Chartres show the power of symbolism to transform a metaphor into a

memorable image with

their vivid portrayal

stand on the shoulders of the vast genre

of

of the doctrine that the apostles

Old Testament prophets

allegorical images testifies to this possibility

abstract thought into a picture." Michelangelo's 26),

with her symbolic attributes of the

poppies,

is

(Fig. 25).

star,

The whole

of turning an

famous statue of Night

the owl

(Fig.

and the sleep-inducing

not only a pictograph of a concept but also a poetic evocation of

nocturnal feelings.

The

capacity of the image to purvey a

maximum of

could be exploited only in periods where the

60

Part

II:

The

Visual Image

styles

of

visual information

art

were sufficiently

flexible

and

rich for such a task.

naturalistic portraiture

and

Some

faithful views

great artists

met

with consummate mastery, but the

aesthetic needs for selective emphasis could also clash with these tasks.

art

The

demands of

the

more prosaic

idealized portrait or the revealing caricature was felt to be closer to

than the wax facsimile could ever be, and the romantic landscape that

evoked a

The

mood

contrast between the prose and the poetry of image

to conflicts

when

was similarly exalted over the topographic painting.

the

of genius

between

artists

and patrons. The

autonomy of art became an

though the catchword

is

of later

it

date). It

will be

emotions was distinguished

in

is

of art

idea has been criticized by several philosophers

knowledge the most succinct criticism was years ago in The

New

a

Yorker (Fig. 27). Its target

art as

in his

and

turn.'"^

artists,

work

This naive but to

my

drawing that appeared some

is

term self-expression has had the greatest vogue.

who speak of

that give rise to the

them

feels

symptom of

communication from the

critics

communication often imply that the same emotions

who

as self-expression (even

that the expressive

the theory of

are transmitted to the beholder,

led

acerbity

precisely this issue that remains to

remembered

dimension of arousal or description. Popular

of art

m

was the Romantic conception

issue. It

in particular that stressed the function

be discussed here, since

making often

conflict increased

the very setting in which the

A little dancer fondly believes

The

Visual Image:

its

Place in

Communication

communicating her idea of a

she

is

the

minds of the various onlookers.

what

flower, but observe

arises instead in

A series of experiments made by Remhard

Sceptical view of nonverbal

Germany some decades ago confirms

Krauss in

m

the cartoon." Subjects were asked to convey through

configurations It

the sceptical view portrayed

some emotion or

idea for others to guess

of various possible meanings,

improved progressively with

which they were confronted.

It is

became

their guesses

number of

a reduction in the

Not

abstract

surprisingly

When people were given a

was found that such guessing was quite random.

list

at.

drawn

better,

and they

alternatives

easy to guess whether a given line

is

with

intended

to convey grief or joy, or stone or water.

Many

readers will

know

the painting by

painted in Aries in 1889 (Fig. 28).

It

Van Gogh of his humble bedroom

happens to be one of the very few works

of art where we know the expressive significance the work held for the

Van Gogh's wonderful correspondence

In

this

work

Gauguin

that firmly establish the

in

Still for

October 1888 he

the decoration [of

meaning

it

held for him. Writing to

says:

my

furniture of whitewood which that interior with nothing in

house]

I

have done

you know. Well,

it,

it

.

.

Part

II:

The

Visual Image

my bedroom

.

with

amused me enormously

with a simplicity a

la

to

its

do

Seurat: with flat paint but

coarsely put on, the neat pigment, the walls a pale violet

62

artist.

there are three letters dealing with

.

.

communication by

CEM. From Yorker

The

New

.

28

Vincent van Gogh, Bedroom

at Aries,

Institute

1889.

Art

of Chicago

29

Vincent van Gogh, The Night Cafe, 1888. Yale

University Art Gallery,

New

Haven, Conn.,

bequest of Stephen (

I

wanted to express an absolute calm with these very

where there

A letter to My eyes It

IS

is

no white except

his brother

are

still

strained, but at last

quite simply

my bedroom,

have a

style to things,

in general. In other words, the sight

or rather the imagination

doors are green, that

is all.

.

.

.

The

There

new

idea

is

it

.

m my head it

off,

.

.

it

.

further:

This time

by imparting

should be suggestive of rest

of the picture should

rest the head,

walls are pale violet, the floor tiles red

nothing

see,

.

and explains

colour alone must carry

through simplification a grander

and sleep

1

his intention

you

different tones,

m the mirror with its black frame

Theo confirms

arlton Clark, 1903

.

.

.

the

m the room with the shutters closed.

The

Visual Image:

its

Place in

Communication

63

The

squareness of the furniture should also express the undisturbed rest

shadows and modelling

are suppressed,

coloured with

is

it

Japanese prints. This will contrast, for instance, with the the

(Fig. 29) that

To him, it

was

he wanted to show that

The

.

diligence

the

of Tarascon and

in clear

a

haven after the strain of work,

The manner of

stress its tranquillity.

from Seurat and from the Japanese print stood

It is this

of his

*No

style.

stippling,

This

is

what he

stresses in still

no hatching, nothing,

modification of the code that

communicate

this feeling?

None of the

naive subjects

meaning; although they knew the caption (Van

and the code. Not that

this failure

I

another

flat areas,

Van Gogh

but in

experiences as

being expressive of calm and restfulness. Does the painting of the

the context

for

opposition to the expressive graphological brushwork that had

characteristic

letter to his brother.

harmony.'

written of The Night Cafe

was a place where one could go mad.

it

room was

made him

this contrast that

become so

Van Gogh had

clue.

in other words, his little

simplification he adopted

him

.

Night Cafe.

Here we have an important

and

.

flat tints like

bedroom

have asked hit on this

Gogh s bedroom),

they lacked

of getting the message speaks

against the artist or his work. It only speaks against the equation

of art with

communication.

Editor's Postscript

American

Scientific

is

an unlikely place

seems doubly appropriate that

work with

to find

a contribution from an art historian, so

it

should start a collection of readings which typifes GombricFs

this one.

Some of the Illusion^

we

issues

which are raised by

The Image and

this essay

are treated in

the Eye and Meditations

Jonathan Miller conducted a

BBC

much greater

detail in

Hobby

Horse.

on

a

interview with

television

Aspects of the Visual Arts', which he published in States

Psychological Investigators (London, igSj).

Gombrich,

Art and

'Psychological

of Mind: Conversations with

Altogether

it

is

a fascinating collection of

material.

The J. Paul Getty Trust a video,

Gombrich Themes,

Reflections

Readers interested in

Scientific

Pare

II:

The

Part

m Art and Nature.

a National Gallery video

64

in collaboration

It

with

the

Metropolitan

the subject

Museum

of Art has produced

Illumination in Art and Nature, and Part is

part of

the

Gombrich on Shadows

Program for Art on Tilm. There

is

Z:

also

(London, ig^j).

of perception are recommended

American publications.

Visual Image

1:

to

keep a watchful eye on

On

Art and Artists

Introduction to The Story of Art (1950, i6th edition, 1995), pp. 15—^7

There

really

no such thing

is

men who took wall

of a

cave;

many

long

activities art as

other things. There

as

A

it

a fetish.

You may

I

do not think

and

as

Someone may

of home, or

a portrait because that. All

in

its

like a it

we

as

A

these

realize that

come

has

way, only

wrong reasons

Art

to be

him

that

not Art'.

it is

for liking a statue

landscape painting because

it

reminds him

reminds him of a friend. There

of us, when we

irrelevant

all

different.

see a painting, are

memories help us to enjoy what we

when some

calling

word may mean very

long

own

of a hundred-and-one things which influence our these

m

crush an artist by telling

that there are any

or a picture.

wrong with

these were

anyone enjoying a picture by declaring that what he

was not the Art but something

Actually

that such a

places,

done may be quite good

And you may confound liked in

mind

and

no harm

is

has no existence. For Art with a capital

something of a bogey and just

m

we keep

different things in different times

what he has

Once

are only artists.

today some buy their paints, and design posters for hoardings;

they did and do

with a capital

There

as Art.

coloured earth and roughed out the forms of a bison on the

memory makes

see,

likes

bound and

is

to be

dislikes.

we need not worry.

us prejudiced,

when we

nothing

reminded

As long It is

as

only

instinctively

turn away from a magnificent picture of an alpine scene because we dislike

we should

climbing, that

which spoils

a pleasure

for disliking a

reality.

and

mind

for the reason for the aversion

we might otherwise have had. There

are

wrong reasons

work of art.

Most people

m

search our

This

like to see in pictures is

what they would

quite a natural preference.

are grateful to the artists

who

We

have preserved

it

all like

also like to see

beauty in nature,

in their works.

Nor would

On

Arc and Artists

65

When the great Flemish

these artists themselves have rebuffed us for our taste.

painter

of his

Rubens made

good

pretty

looks.

a

drawing of his

and engaging subject

to reject

is

apt to

works which represent

as

Rubens

boy

(Fig. 30)

admire the

become

child.

felt

drew

his

for his

he was surely proud

But

this bias for the

stumbling-block

a

a less appealing subject.

painter Albrecht Diirer certainly

devotion and love

little

He wanted us, too, to

mother

chubby

The

(Fig. 31)

if it leads

German

with

as

we

fight against

Diirer 's drawing

m

its

our

first

subject-matter.

I

tremendous

sincerity

is

work. In

a great

do not know whether the

really lie

little

Spanish painter Murillo liked to pamt (Fig. 32) were

call

The

it is

trouble about beauty

is

vary so much. Figures 34 and

35

an attractive picture that tastes

Forli (Fig. 34) with

northern contemporary Hans take a

little

we

On

flute.

its

all

Many

shall

whom

ragamuffins

the

or not,

the other hand,

Dutch

the same.

and standards of what

were both painted

both represent angels playing the

Melozzo da

fact,

the child in Pieter de Hooch's wonderful

interior (Fig. 33) plain, but

— and

m the beauty of

strictly beautiful

but, as he painted them, they certainly have great charm.

most people would

it

repugnance we may be richly rewarded, for

soon discover that the beauty of a picture does not Its

much

His truthful study of

child.

careworn old age may give us a shock which makes us turn away from yet, if

us

great

is

beautiful

m the fifteenth century, and

will prefer the Italian

work by

appealing grace and charm, to that of his

Memlmg

(fig. 35). I

myself

longer to discover the intrinsic beauty of

like both. It

Memlmg s

may

angel, but

once we are no longer disturbed by his faint awkwardness we may find him infinitely lovable.

66

Part

II:

The

Visual Image

What

5^

Bartolome Esteban Murillo,

Munich

Some people

1663.

Hooch.

Interior

\wman peeling

also true

of expression. In

often the

fact, it is

like

an expression which thev can easily understand, and which

Guido

Rem

When

the seventeenth-century Italian

painted the head of Christ on the cross (Fig. 36) he

intended, no doubt, that the beholder should find in this face

all

the agony

apples.

Wallace Collection,

London

is

moves them profoundly.

therefore

painter with a

true of beautv

Street Arabs.

f.1670—5. Alee Pinakothek.

Pieter de

IS

expression of a figure in the painting which makes us like or loathe the work.

and

all

centuries have

Saviour.

The

feeling

it

expresses

m simple

know nothing about

appeals to us

we should

expression

perhaps

is

people throughout subsequent

drawn strength and comfort from such

work can be found people

Many

the glory of the Passion.

is

a representation of the

so strong and so clear that copies of this

wavside shrines and remote farmhouses where

Art'.

But even

if this intense

not, for that reason, turn

less easy to

understand.

expression of feeling

away from works whose

The

Italian painter of the

Middle Ages who painted the

crucifix (Fig. 37) surely felt as sincerely

the Passion as did Reni. but

we must

drawing to understand

his feelings.

we may even

different languages,

obvious than Reni's. Just gestures

and

leave

as

about. In the

the

know

his

more

of art whose expression

prefer people

who

them something

'primitive' periods,

faces

to see

when

and human gestures

how

methods of

to understand these

artists

as

is

less

use few words and

something to be guessed, so some people

human

more moving

the)'

learn to

we have come

prefer works

some

paintings or sculptures which leave

representing

first

When

about

to guess

were not

they are now,

are

fond of

and ponder as skilled

m

often

all

it is

they tried nevertheless to bring out the feeling

wanted to convey.

On

Arc and Artists

67

But here newcomers to

They want

brought up against another

art are often

to admire the artists skill

m representing the things they see. What

they like best are paintmgs which look this

an important consideration.

is

faithful rendering

of the

visible

real'. I

The

world

do not deny

patience and

are

It

shows fewer

details?

moment

in

which every tiny

(Fig. 39)

is

(Fig. 38)

necessarily less

Indeed Rembrandt was such

a

is

But

not sketchiness that mainly offends people

It is

'real'.

They

are even

more

incorrectly drawn, particularly

when

the artist 'ought to have

m

discussions

Disney film or right to

comic

a

who

•

like their pictures

when they belong

known

better'.

As

to a

more modern period

a matter

of fact, there

knows

all

Everyone

art.

about

it.

who

do not write indignant

Those who

hear

has ever seen a

they like to take with

modern

a bungler

who

like a real

in

mouse,

papers about the length of his

enter Disney's enchanted world are not worried about Art

They do not watch

with a capital A.

if a

letters to the

no

He knows that it is sometimes

one way or another. Mickey Mouse does not look very much

But

still

is

draw things otherwise than they look, to change and distort them

yet people tail.

say that

repelled by works which they consider to be

on modern

strip

is

wizard that he gave us

mystery about these distortions of nature about which we complaints

detail

good because

the feel of the elephant's wrinkly skin with a few lines of his chalk.

to look

artists

one of the

who would

But

this loving patience.

that

which go into the

skill

of a hare

carefully recorded. Diirer's watercolour study

Rembrandt's drawing of an elephant

for a

indeed to be admired. Great

of the past have devoted much labour to works

most famous examples of

difficulty.

artist

them when going

we may

If they

do not do so

safely credit

armed with the same

to an exhibition

draws something in his

own

of modern painting.

way, he

is

them with enough knowledge

may be

their reasons

prejudices

apt to be thought

Now, whatever we may think of modern

can do no better.

artists,

his films

to

draw

'correctly'.

very similar to those of Walt Disney.

Figure 40 shows a plate from an illustrated Natural History by the famous

pioneer of the his

modern movement,

charming representation of

drawing a cockerel

Picasso. Surely

(Fig. 41) Picasso

He

rendering of the bird's appearance.

cheek and

its

its

stupidity. In other

a convincing caricature

There

are

two

no one could find fault with

mother hen and her

a

fluffy chicks.

was not content with giving

wanted to bring out

words he resorted to

its

a

in

mere

aggressiveness,

But what

caricature.

it is!

things, therefore,

find fault with the accuracy

of a

which we should always ask ourselves picture.

One

is

whether the

artist

have had his reasons for changing the appearance of what he saw. hear

But

more about such reasons

as the story

of art unfolds. The other

if we

may not

We is

shall

that

we

should never condemn a work for being incorrectly drawn unless we have

68

Part

II:

The

Visual Image

made

34

Melozzo da

Forli. Angel.

f.1480. Detail

of a

quite sure that

and the painter

to be quick with the verdict that 'things

is

We are all inclined like that'. We have a

wrong.

do not look

Angel,

from an

we

curious habit of thinking that nature must always look like the pictures

accustomed f.1490. Detail

are right

fresco.

Pinacoteca, Vatican

Hans Memling,

we

to. It is

are

easy to illustrate this by an astonishing discovery which

was made not very long ago. Generations have watched horses gallop, have attended horse-races and hunts, have enjoyed paintings and sporting prints

alcarpiece. Koninklijk

Museum

voor Schone

Kunsten, Antwerp

showing horses charging into

battle or

people seems to have noticed what Pictures

through the

air

—

'really

(Fig. 42).

About

in a

looks

like'

Not one of these

when

a horse runs.

when

sufficiently perfected for snapshots

all

the while.

'natural' to us.

As

legs in

famous representation of the races

fifty years later,

taken, these snapshots proved that

wrong

hounds.

nineteenth-century French painter

as the great

Theodore Gericault painted them

been

it

after

and sporting prints usually showed them with outstretched

full flight

Epsom

running

the photographic camera

of horses

m

both the painters and

at

had

rapid motion to be their public

had been

No galloping horse ever moved m the way which seems so

the legs

come

off the

next kick-off (fig. 43). If we reflect for a hardly get along otherwise.

And

yet,

ground they

moment we

when

are

moved

in turn for the

shall realize that

it

could

painters began to apply this

On

new

Art and Artists

69

Part

II:

The

Visual Image

discovery,

and painted horses

complained that

their pictures

This, no doubt, as rare as

is

moving

they

as

actually

everyone

do,

looked wrong.

an extreme example, but similar errors are by no means

one might think.

We are all inclined to accept conventional forms or

colours as the onlv correct ones. Children sometimes think that stars must be star-shaped, though naturally they are not.

must be

picture the sky

these children.

we

They

try to forget

all

the world as if

blue,

and the grass green,

we have heard about green

we had

just arrived it

most surprising

all

colours.

grass

and blue

skies,

Now

we may

and look

a

It is

at

voyage of

a

find that things are apt

painters sometimes feel as if they

They want

to see the

world

afresh,

the accepted notions and prejudices about flesh being

apples yellow or red.

m

not very different from

from another planet on

for the first time,

were on such a voyage of discovery. discard

are

insist that

get indignant if they see other colours in a picture, but if

discovery and were seeing to have the

The people who

not easy to get rid of these preconceived

and to

pmk

and

ideas,

but

the artists

who

succeed best in doing so often produce the most exciting

works.

they

who

It IS

teach us to see

m nature new beauties of whose existence

On

Art and Artists

71

we have never dreamt.

If

we follow them and

own window may become

out of our

learn

from them, even

a glance Albrecht Diirer, Hare,

a thrilling adventure.

1502.

There

no

is

of great works of art than our

greater obstacle to the enjoyment

A painting which represents

unwillingness to discard habits and prejudices.

Albertina, Vienna

a 59

familiar subject in an unexpected

than that

way

often

condemned for no

The more

does not seem right.

it

is

better reason

we have seen

often

a story

Rembrandt van

Rijn,

Elephant, 1657.

Albertina, Vienna

represented in

on

always be represented feelings are apt to

more

the

art,

firmly

similar lines.

who

past

human

all

form, and though we

inclined to think that to depart

know

must

it

know

that the Scriptures

God Himself

that

was the

it

we have become used

from these

that

biblical subjects, in particular,

and that

Jesus,

created the images

first

About

run high. Though we

nothing about the appearance of visualized in

do we become convinced

traditional

to,

tell

us

cannot be

artists

some

of the

are

still

forms amounts to

blasphemy.

As

a matter

of fact,

the greatest devotion entirely fresh picture all

it

was usually those

and attention who

who

read the Scriptures with

of the incidents of the sacred

the Christ Child lay in the

Him,

or

when

a fisherman

and again that such fresh eyes have

of this kind painter,

efforts

of a great

Visual Image

artist to

up round Caravaggio,

Matthew

God, an angel was

The

They

minds an

tried to forget

must have been

It

for the altar

1600.

a very

He

to adore

has happened time

A

typical 'scandal'

bold and revolutionary

Italian

was given the task of painting a

of a church

show

like

read the old text with entirely

shocked and outraged thoughtless people.

flared

in their

manger and the shepherds came

represented writing the gospel, and, to

II:

it

began to preach the gospel.

who worked round about

picture of St

up

story.

the paintings they had seen, and to imagine what

when

Part

artists

tried to build

m Rome. The saint was to be

that the gospels were the

word of

to be represented inspiring his writings. Caravaggio,

who

was a highly imaginative and uncompromising young

40 Pablo Picasso, Hen with chicks,

about what

must have been hke when an

it

artist,

thought hard

poor, working man, a

elderly,

1941-2.

Illustration to

Buffon's

Natural History. Etching

a picture

of St Matthew

down

sit

to write a book.

Cockerel,

unaccustomed

strain

of

And so he

painted

44) with a bald head and bare, dusty

(Fig.

awkwardly gripping the huge volume, anxiously wrinkling

41

Pablo Picasso,

simple publican, suddenly had to

By

writing.

his

feet,

brow under the

he painted a youthful angel,

his side

1938.

Private collection

who seems

just to

have arrived from on high, and

labourer s hand as a teacher

may do

picture to the church where

to a child.

who

was to be placed on the

it

gently guides the

When Caravaggio delivered this people were

altar,

scandalized at what they took to be a lack of respect for the samt.

The

painting was not accepted, and Caravaggio had to try again. This time he took

no chances. a

He

kept

samt should look

strictly to the

like (Fig. 45).

Caravaggio tried hard to make is less

The outcome look

honest and sincere than the

This story criticize

home

it

illustrates the

works of

to us that

mysterious

art for

what we

activity,

it is

call

but objects

picture looks so remote

our museums

harm

wrong

—

when

it

conventional ideas of what an angel and

lively

first

that

is still

and

quite a

good

interesting, but

we

may be done by

What

'works of

art'

made by human

is

are

those

who

dislike

more important,

it

it

and

brings

not the results of some

beings for

human

hangs glazed and framed on the

—

feel that

had been.

reasons.

very properly

picture, for

beings.

wall.

A

And in

forbidden to touch the objects on view.

On

Art and Artists

73

42

Theodore

Gericault,

Horse-racing at Epsom, 1821.

Louvre, Pans

But originally they were made to be touched and handled, they were bargained about, quarrelled about, worried about. Let us also

of

their features

is

remember

that every one

the result of a decision by the artist: that he

may

have

pondered over them and changed them many times, that he may have

wondered whether again, that he a

to leave that tree in the

may have been

sudden unexpected

brilliance to a sunlit cloud,

figures reluctantly at the insistence

statues

which

are

now

lined

a definite

Those

on the other hand,

and that he put

They were made

that

reason

but

is

it

was so for many centuries

partly that artists

are

embarrassing to use big words if

artist s

galleries

for a definite occasion

mind when he

artists. It

m the past, and

set to

work.

often shy people

like 'Beauty'.

who would

They would

ideas

was not always

so again now.

it is

The

think

it

feel rather priggish

they were to speak about 'expressing their emotions' and to use similar

catchwords. Such things they take for granted and find

That

is

one reason, and,

actual everyday worries

outsiders would,

4

over

in these

we outsiders usually worry about,

about beauty and expression, are rarely mentioned by like that,

museums and

the walls of our

as Art.

purpose which were in the

ideas,

it

of a buyer. For most of the paintings and

up along

were not meant to be displayed

and

background or to paint

pleased by a lucky stroke of his brush which gave

Part

II:

The

Visual Image

I

it

seems, a

of the

good

What

an

useless to discuss.

one. But there

artist these ideas

think, suspect.

it

play a

artist

much

is

another. In the

smaller part than

worries about as he plans his

~ ~

^"m^^ ^"^^^

43

Eadweard Muybridge,

fpt«^^ 'w^m^l^

Calloping horse in motion,

1872.

Photograph sequence.

Kmgston-upon-Thames

w^mi^^^ ^rm^f^

'"M^^

Wj^^^S^

{xraHT^pl^

^

wm^^

i^fm^fK »>^m^f^

is

^

^

makes

pictures,

his sketches, or

something much more

wonders whether he has completed

difficult to

Now

'right'.

it

understand what he means by that modest

understand what

his canvas,

put into words. Perhaps he would say he

worries about whether he has got

little

word

only

is

it

'right'

that

when we

we begin

Of

we

artists,

we may never have

own

But

so.

this

tried to paint

need not mean

confronted with problems similar to those which make up

are never

artist's life.

who

course we are no

and may have no intention of ever doing

a picture

that

In

am

fact, I

anxious to prove that there

hardly any person

is

has not got at least an inkling of this type of problem, be

modest shuffle

a way.

and

to

artists are really after.

think we can only hope to understand this if we draw on our

I

experience.

the

Museum

Anybody who

it

m

ever so

has ever tried to arrange a bunch of flowers, to

shift the colours, to

add

a little here

and take away

there, has

experienced this strange sensation of balancing forms and colours without

being able to

exactly

what kind of harmony

patch of red here

just feel a

by

tell

itself but

it

does not

'go'

leaves

may seem to make

'now

it

is

perfect.'

Not

it

may make

it is

he

is

trying to achieve.

the difference, or this blue

all

with the others, and suddenly a

come

'right*.

everybody,

I

'Don't touch

admit,

is

it

little

is all

We

right

stem of green

any more,' we exclaim,

quite so careful over the

arrangement of flowers, but nearly everybody has something he wants to get 'right'. It

may just be a matter of finding the right belt to match

or nothing

more impressive than

pudding and cream on feel that a

shade too

People

one's plate. In every such case,

much or too little upsets

one relationship which

who worry

is

as

it

a certain dress,

the worry over the right proportion of, say,

however

trivial,

we may

the balance and that there

is

only

should be.

like this over flowers, dresses or food,

we may

call fussy,

On

Art and Artists

75

may feel these things do not warrant so much attention. But what may sometimes be a bad habit in daily life and is often, therefore, suppressed or concealed, comes into its own in the realm of art. When it is a matter of because we

matching forms or arranging colours an fastidious to the extreme.

we should hardly

He may

artist

must always be Tussy' or

see differences in shades

notice. Moreover, his task

is

infinitely

rather

44 Caravaggio, Saint Matthew, 1602.

Altar painting. Destroyed;

formerly Kaiser-Friedrich

Museum,

Berlin

and texture which

more complex than

45

Caravaggio,

any of those we

may

experience in ordinary

two or three colours, shapes or

tastes,

life.

He

has not only to balance

but to juggle with any number.

He

has,

Saint Matthew, 1602

Altar-painting. S. Luigi del Francesi,

on

his canvas,

till

they look

it

'right'.

A patch of green may suddenly look too yellow because

was brought into too close proximity with a strong blue

all IS

spoiled, that there

over again.

It all

about to

perhaps hundreds of shades and forms which he must balance

it

add

and

I

a

is

He may

a jarring note

suffer agonies over this

in sleepless nights;

he

feel that

problem.

He may

stand in front of his picture

touch of colour here or there and rubbing

it

all

ponder

day trying

out again, though you

might not have noticed the difference either way. But once he has

succeeded we

all feel

that he has achieved something to

be added, something which imperfect world.

P,irt II:

may

— he may

m the picture and that he must begin

The

Visual Image

is

right

—

which nothing could

an example of perfection

m

our very

Rome

Take one of Raphael's famous Madonnas: the 'Virgin instance ^Fig. 46).

It is beautiful,

m the Meadow', for

no doubt, and engaging; the

admirably drawn, and the expression of the h^oly Virgin

as

figures are

she looks

down on

quite unforgettable. But if we look at Raphael's sketches for

the two children

is

the picture

47) we begin to realize that these were not the things he took

'^Fig.

most trouble about. These he took

for granted.

What he tried again and again

On Art and Artists

which

to get was the right balance between the figures, the right relationship

would make the most harmonious whole. In the rapid sketch

at

His mother.

And he tried different positions of the mother's head to

movement of the

the

Him

to let

the

look up

him turn out of the

Then he decided

Child.

He

at her.

— but,

St John

little

to turn the Child

picture.

tried another way, this time introducing

Then

of

several leaves

he

made another

how

at the final picture

Everything in the picture seems in

Raphael has achieved by hardly notice them. Yet

Madonna more

to

if we

some

He

this

attempt, and apparently

many

different positions.

sketch-book, in which he

best to balance these three figures. But if

we

see that he did get

right

it

m the end.

proper place, and the pose and harmony

hard work seem so natural and effortless that we just this

harmony which makes

the beauty of the

and the sweetness of the children more

why he did this

sweet.

or changed that, he might not be able

does not follow any fixed rules.

artists

their art; but

when

beautiful

were to ask him

tell us.

that

his

it is

its

m

m

made

fascinating to watch an artist thus striving to achieve the right balance,

It is

but

kind

this

searched again and again to find

we now look back

answer

round and

instead of letting the Christ Child look at him,

became impatient, trying the head of the Child There were

m the left-hand

away looking back and up

corner, he thought of letting the Christ Child walk

it

or critics

He

just feels his way. It

m certain periods have tried to

formulate laws of

new kind of harmony no one had thought of before.

them and yet

When the great

m

English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds explained to his students

Academy

that blue should not be put into the foreground

rival

Gainsborough

—

so the story goes

such academic rules are usually nonsense.

whose blue costume,

m

He

the Royal

of paintings but

should be reserved for the distant backgrounds, for the fading horizon, his

true

always turned out that poor artists did not achieve anything

trying to apply these laws, while great masters could break

achieve a

is

— wanted

hills

on the

to prove that

painted the famous 'Blue boy',

the central foreground of the picture, stands out

warm brown of the background. impossible to lay down rules of this kind because advance what effect the artist may wish to achieve. He

triumphantly against the

The

truth

is

that

one can never know

may

even want a

right.

As

it is

in

shrill,

there are

no

jarring note if he rules to tell us

happens to

when

a picture or statue

usually impossible to explain in words exactly

work of art. But

that does not

mean

that one

why we

work

is

the kind of

Part

II:

The

Y:siial

good

is

would be right

it is

as

do nothing

it is

a great

any other, else,

such

make us look at pictures, and the more we look at them the more we

notice points which have escaped us before.

78

feel that

just as

or that one cannot discuss matters of taste. If they discussions

feel that that

harmony each generation of

Image

We begin to develop artists

a feeling for

has tried to achieve.

The

greater our feeling for these harmonies the after

all, is

developed. This

may

m

is

modest

a

taste

true,

that,

again a matter of common experience which everybody can

field.

exactly

To people who

are

But

another.

like

into true 'connoisseurs'

and

them, and

but that should not conceal the fact that taste can be

not used to drinking tea one blend

if

they have

opportunity to search out such refinements

prefer,

shall enjoy

what matters. The old proverb that you cannot argue about matters

of taste may well be

test

more we

as there

the

may be,

they

and

will

leisure,

may develop

who can distinguish exactly what type and mixture they

their greater

knowledge

is

bound

to

add

of the

to their enjoyment

choicest blends.

Admittedly, taste

food and drink. It IS

m art

is

something

more complex than

infinitely

not only a matter of discovering various subtle flavours;

It is

something more serious and more important. After

have given their

all

taste in

all,

the great masters

m these works, they have suffered for them, sweated blood

over them, and the least they have a right to ask of us

we

that

is

try to

understand what they wanted to do.

One

never finishes learning about

discover. Great

before them.

works of

They seem

art

art.

There

seem to look

new

are always

to be as inexhaustible

things to

one stands

different every time

and unpredictable

as real

human beings. It is an exciting world of its own with its own strange laws and Its own adventures. Nobody should think he knows all about it, for nobody does. Nothing, perhaps,

is

more important than

works we must have

a fresh

to respond to every

hidden harmony:

mind, one which a

just this: that to enjoy these

ready to catch every hint and

is

mind, most of

with long high-sounding words and ready-made phrases. not to

know

chapter,

who

is

very

have picked up the simple points

and who understand that there

of the obvious but

It is infinitely

better

anything about art than to have the kind of half-knowledge

which makes for snobbishness. The danger instance,

not cluttered up

all,

qualities

who become

so

are great

I

real.

There

make

in this

works of art which have none

of beauty of expression or correct draughtsmanship,

proud of their knowledge

that they pretend to like only

those works which are neither beautiful nor correctly drawn.

haunted by the

are people, for

have tried to

They

are always

might be considered uneducated

fear that they

if

they

confessed to liking a work which seems too obviously pleasant or moving.

They end by being snobs who

lose their true

enjoyment of art and who

everything Very interesting' which they really find

somewhat

should hate to be responsible for any similar misunderstanding. not be believed

at all

I

call

repulsive. I

would rather

than be believed in such an uncritical way.

In the chapters which follow

I

shall discuss the history

of

art,

history of buildings, of picture-making and of statue-making.

I

that

is

the

think that

On

Art and Artists

knowing something of this history helps us in a particular way, or

way of sharpening our

Perhaps

it is

catalogue

gallery,

dangers.

its

eagerly search for

m

books, and as soon

They might just They

painting. circuit

We

number.

who

it,

but rather search their

all

through

a

front of a picture they

name

they walk on.

kind of mental short

It is a

memory

I

should

m

use have been employed

lost all precision.

But to look

voyage of discovery into

rewarding task. There

it

no

is

this

is

so

a far

telling

work of art they do not

for the appropriate label.

for his chiaroscuro

they

nod

wisely

— which is when they

and wander on to the next

danger of half-knowledge and

and

a

book

like

help to open eyes, not to loosen

not very

many

at a picture is

,

a

to such temptations,

like to

about art

talk cleverly

— so

chiaroscuro

succumb

apt to

could increase them.

critics

difference.

a picture.

Rembrandt was famous

that

want to be quite frank about

snobbery, for we are

To

m

When they see

a similar trap.

Rembrandt, mumble 'wonderful

tongues.

of

m their own right. But no

or the

title

the Italian technical term for light and shade

this

good

have acquired some knowledge of art history are sometimes in

stay to look at

I

a

have stayed at home, for they have hardly looked at the

have only checked the catalogue.

They may have heard

picture.

worked

is

of works of art,

sees people walking

which has nothing to do with enjoying

People

artists

can watch them thumbing through their

they have found the

as

as well

danger of falling into

see a

them

to enjoy

One sometimes

hand. Every time they stop

its

why

Most of all it

sensitivity to the finer shades

way of learning

the only

without

is

effects.

eyes for the particular characteristics

and of thereby increasing our

way

to understand

why they aimed at certain

difficult,

because the words

different contexts that they have

with fresh eyes and to venture on a

more

difficult

but also a

much more

what one might bring home from such

a

journey.

Editor's Postscript

The

call for clarity in the final

paragraph echoes Franz Wickhoff's famous manifesto for

Vienna School of Art History (igo/f):

What its

it

aims

at

...

that despite a societies

and

place

is to

subject scientifcally.

For

Art History mto

this

the

ranks of the other historical sciences hy treating

has by no means been achieved as yet. It can everywhere be observed

number of achievements

the

History of Art

collapses in the neighbouringfields of history

is

not taken fully seriously by learned

and philosophy. One must admit

does not happen without reason for their are few disciplines in which verbiage

and shallow reasoning

to be tolerated

and for

publications

regarded as sheer mockery of all principles of scientific method.'

80

Part

II:

The

Visual Image

it is still

to be

that this

possible for

empty

launched which must be

the

U h'khcff ami

used their journal

his disciples

approach

helles-lettristic

was common

writing about art which

to

The

Wilfrid Blunt, reviewing

Story of Art for

now

curriculum. The problems

are different.

Owing

specious reasoning,

and

the

at the time.

Burlington Magazine on

the

described the difficulties encountered in

puhlication,^

and

attack shallow

to

introducing art history

its first

school

the

to

explosion of interest in art, galleries

to the

have appeared in great numbers and blockbuster exhibitions are proving enormously popular

with

the

Man\\

general public.

if

not the majority, of our art historians were first introduced

GombricVs

art history by reading

Having become

book.

successful in one way,

it

to

has become a

targetfor political correctness.

The first accusation

now

one of elitism.

is

deal of confusion

a general label for paintings, sculptures, pictures

which

is

thing

(including computers),

conversationj

A great

.

A

way

while in

through

this is to

the

past

bear in

it

and

is

objects

any

signified

caused by

the

word

'Art\

produced by anyone or (such as the art of

skill

mind Gombrich'sformulation

in a later chapter,

'Experimental Art':

It

is

of

the secret

the artist that he does his

work was supposed

what

his

with

this shift

of emphasis

to he, for sheer

in

more

work

and imagination

in the

of art

this sense the history

that

it

IS

But

anti feminine.

is

just as

fne

guilds.

and

elitist

to

fruition

to take things

and

'Canons and Values

and

and 'Trom Addison

the

ask

are allfamiliar is

an

artist in

— that he displays such

areforced

to

admire

his skill

is

The second accusation

dominated by male

is

artists

period covered, painting and sculpture were

in

women

the

system gave to

way

to the

display their talents, a

of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

the course

and

Only when

have a slight chance

are,

not as

we wish them

to

have been.

there can be such a thing as a short-list

of major works of

Correspondence with Quentin BelV in Ideals

historical emergence of the present

to

also

mV^PP-

Kant: Modern

(ed.f

Essays on

see P.

O. Kristeller,

the History of Aesthetics

'Art-as-Such: The Sociology of Modern Aesthetics'

Aesthetics

and

day concept of Art

and Txemplary

Critical

Theory^

ed.

Art',

Doing Things with

Michael Tischer

(New

York,

^33-3^ ^nd 139-Sj.

Franz Wickkoff, 'An History and

The

Kivy

in P.

M. H. Abrams,

Texts: Essays in Criticism

3.

we

Story of Art

in the Visual Arts: a

Modern System of the Arts'

'The

(Rochester, iggi),

I.

We

to

Idols.

Tor an account of the

1. 'Art

precisely this

as the history of sport.

most of

as they were

Tor a discussion of the idea of that art see

it.

hut forget

"

These were predominantly male occupations.

development that came

that he did

all

stone-cutting, organized in workshops according to the rules of diverse

conception of painting as a liberal art did

Historians have

we

say of a schoolboy that he

we mean

art,

The

the fact that

reflects the historical situation that for

trades like carpentry

If we

pursuit of his unworthy ends that

however much we may disapprove of his motives.

In

way

admiration of the

trivial instances.

boasting or that he has turned shirking into a

ingenuity

so superlativeh well that

the

die Leser!',

Kunstgeschichtliche Anzeigen, no.

Public Schools',

Story of Art,

pp.

The

i

(1904);

Burlington Magazine, 92 (igjo),

translation

fry

E.H. Comhrich.

pp. Iiy-l8.

J94-J-

On

Art and

.Artists

Psychology and the Riddle oj Style Extract from the

Introduction to Art and Ilbisicn

(1960: 5th edition.

1977), pp.

2-8

Art It

being a thing of the mind,

may

Max J.

follows that any scientific study of art will he psychology.

it

he other things as well, hut psychology;

Friedlander, Vcn Kimst

it

will always

he.

itnd Kennerschaff

I

48

Drawing by Alam i9„.

The

illustration

quicklv than Alain's

m

front of the reader (Fig. 48) should explain

could in words what

I

many

generations.

Why

paintings

we accept

as true to life

look

Egyptian paintings look to us?

Is

as

m

the

life class

m

nature

adopt them?

m

These

are questions

different

unconvincing to future generations

m such matters? If there are, if the m more faithful imitations of

today result

Is it possible, as

a different wa\'?

and

our cartoonist

Would not

such a

why did

the Egyptians

hints, that they perceived

variability^

of artistic vision

help us to explain the bewildering images created by contemporary

which concern the history of

art.

But

their answers

The

work when he has described the changes

that have taken place.

concerned with the differences

and he has refined identif\^ the

his

works of

together with

he does

its sty4e;

we

we

m

find in this book,

his studies:

see a

done

his

He

in order to group, organize,

which have survived from the

the varietv^ of illustrations extent, as

art historian has

is

m style between one school of art and another,

methods of description art

also

artists?

cannot be found by historical methods alone.

minor

srv4e'.

such different ways? Will the

nature than the conventions adopted by the Egyptians, to

of

everything concerned with art entirely

subjective, or are there objective standards

methods taught

that different ages

is it

nations have represented the visible world

fail

much more

'riddle

cartoon neatly sums up a problem which has haunted the minds of art

historians for

as

meant bv the

here

is

we

take

we

m

past.

and

Glancing through

all react,

to a major or

the subject of a picture

Chinese landscape here and a Dutch landscape

Psychologv and the Riddle of Style

85

there, a

Greek head and a seventeenth-century

such classifications so

much

why

whether a

It is

so easy to

tell

for granted that tree

We have come to take

portrait.

we have almost stopped asking

was painted by a Chinese or by a Dutch

master. If art were only, or mainly, an expression of personal vision, there

could be no history of art.

must be

there

proximity.

We

We could have no reason to assume,

a family likeness

between pictures of

trees

as

we

could not count on the fact that the boys in Alain's a typical Egyptian figure.

would produce

Even

less

do, that

produced

in

life class

could we hope to detect

whether an Egyptian figure was indeed made three thousand years ago or

The

forged yesterday.

trade rests

art historians

formulated by Wolfilin, that 'not everything explain this curious fact

is

is

on

the conviction once

possible in every period'.'

To

not the art historian's duty, but whose business

is

It?

II

There was

time

a

concern of the

works

first

when

art critic.

the

methods of representation were the proper

Accustomed

he was to judging contemporary

as

of all by standards of representational accuracy, he had no doubt

that this skill

had progressed from rude beginnings to the perfection of

illusion.

Egyptian

knew no

better.

art

adopted childish methods because Egyptian

artists

Their conventions could perhaps be excused, but they could

not be condoned.

It is

one of the permanent gams we owe to the great

revolution which has swept across Europe

m

the

century that we are rid of this type of aesthetics.

of art appreciation usually

try to

combat

identical with photographic accuracy.

half of the twentieth

first

prejudice teachers

the belief that artistic excellence

is

The

first

The

artistic

picture postcard or

pm-up

girl

is

has

become

the conventional foil against which the student learns to see the

creative

achievement of the great masters. Aesthetics, in other words, has

surrendered

its

claim to be concerned with the problem of convincing

representation, the a liberation

problem of illusion

m art. In certain respects this

and nobody would wish to

neither the art historian nor the critic

perennial problem,

it

has

revert to the old confusion.

still

indeed

wishes to occupy himself with this

become orphaned and

has grown up that illusion,

is

But since

neglected.

The

impression

being artistically irrelevant, must also be

psychologically very simple.'

We

do not have

to turn to art to

show

that this view

is

erroneous.

Any

psychology textbook will provide us with bafiling examples that show the complexity of the issues involved. Take the simple trick drawing which has reached the philosophical seminar from the pages of the humorous weekly Die Fliegenden Blatter (Fig. 49).

84

Part

III:

Arc and Psychology

We can see the picture as either a rabbit or a duck. It

49 Rabbit or duck?

is

easy to discover both readings. It

we switch from one we

illusion that

is

confronted with a

are

paper resembles neither animal very shape transforms

mouth.^

we switch back

and

this,

I

rabbit.

And yet there

is

The shape on no doubt

say 'neglected', but does

is 'really

we soon

is

not

enter our experience at

it

To answer

there', to see the

discover,

the

that the

way when the duck's beak becomes

subtle

to reading 'duck'?

what

to look for

some

itself in

duck or

'real'

closely.

when

we do not have the

and brings an otherwise neglected spot into prominence

rabbit's ears rabbit's

easy to describe what happens

less

interpretation to the other. Clearly

this question,

shape apart from

we its

are

all

the

as the

when

compelled

interpretation,

we can switch from one

really possible. True,

reading to another with increasing rapidity; we will also 'remember' the rabbit while we see the duck, but the

we

certainly will

same time.

may be

we

Illusion,

we cannot,

if

is

of the

is

watch ourselves having an

hand to

and to

clear the area enclosed

this

do we

realize

how

our head. fact,

I

do not want

though

basically

halfway between

of the apparent

always an I specif)^

make succeeds

best

m

a fascinating exercise

is

the surface of the mirror

To be

exact,

it

is

gives us the illusion

of

precisely half the size

of

which

must be

to trouble the reader with geometrical

it is

is

by the outline. For only when we have actually

proof of this

simple: since the mirror will always appear to be

me and my reflection,

size.'

It

illusion.

bathroom mirror.

own head on

small the image

seeing ourselves 'face to face'.

the

it:

urge the reader to

clouded by steam.

a little

puzzling, there

little

verify^ I

illusionist representation to trace one's

done

any given experience must be an

fact that

bathroom because the experiment

the mirror

more

ourselves, the

alternative readings at the

hard to describe or analyse, for though we

strictly speaking,

at

we watch

closely

the reader finds this assertion a

instrument of illusion close the

more

we cannot experience

will find,

intellectually aware

illusion, If

discover that

the size

But however cogently

the help of similar triangles, the assertion

on

its

this fact

is

usually

surface will be one half

can be demonstrated with

met with frank

incredulity.

And despite all geometry, I, too, would stubbornly contend that I really see my head (natural

phantom.

and watch

I

size)

when

cannot have

I

shave and that the size on the mirror surface

my

cake and eat

it.

I

cannot make

is

the

use of an illusion

it.

Works of art

are

not mirrors, but they share with mirrors that elusive magic

of transformation which introspection,

is

so

hard to put into words.

A

master of

Kenneth Clark, has recently described to us most vividly

how

Looking

at a

even he was defeated great Velazquez, he

when he attempted

to 'stalk' an illusion.

wanted to observe what went on when the brushstrokes

and dabs of pigment on the canvas transformed themselves into

a vision of

transfigured reality as he stepped back. But try as he might, stepping backward

Psychology and the Riddle of Style

and forward, he could never hold both visions

problem of how

the answer to his

Kenneth Clark's example, the

it

issues

same time, and therefore

at the

was done always seemed to elude

of aesthetics and of psychology

him.''

In

are subtly

intertwined; in the examples of the psychology textbooks, they are obviously not. In this

book

visual effects

I

have often found

it

from the discussion of works of art.

lead to an impression of irreverence;

Representation need not be well

remember

that the

art,

a

rhyme explained how you could

would turn the loaf into

would make

it

What

(Fig. 50).

see the

my

intrigued me, as

had hardly

anticipated,

who wish

in the

how

pictures

be

When

I

found

my

I

am

Art and Psychology

all

the

primer.

A

a circle to represent a loaf of

squiggles

little

now by adding

a

trick,

tail,

as

we

added on top

on

its

handle

here was a cat

was the power of

are

cat;

you cannot

from completely

I

embarked on

would

my

explorations, into

take me.

Hunting of the Snark

What

all

I

what

can only appeal to

to tram themselves a

m museums as m their daily

kinds while sitting on the bus or

they will see there will obviously not

of Velazquez.

we deal with masters of the past who were both great

kept apart.

revealed to

first

in

I

pretentious but also less embarrassing than poor

tricks

great 'illusionists', the study

III:

draw

learned the

and images of

less

works of art that ape the

Part

I

illusion

to join in this

as art. It will

the truth.

mysterious for that.

less

can we hope to approach Velazquez?

when

of

standing in the waiting room.

86

first

game of self-observation, not so much

commerce with

is

may sometimes

native Vienna); a curve

one without obliterating the other. Far

distant fields the subject

count

none the

destroyed the purse and created the

tail

this process,

little

it is

shopping bag, two

a

understanding

readers

hope the opposite

shrink into a purse; and

metamorphosis: the

realize this

simple drawing game

bread (for loaves were round in

I

I

but

I

power and magic of image making was

me, not by Velazquez, but by little

convenient to isolate the discussion of

artists

and

of art and the study of illusion cannot always be

more anxious

to emphasize as explicitly as

I

possibly

50

How to

draw

a cat

can that this book

of

exercise

m

illusionist tricks

as a plea, disguised or otherwise, for the

painting today.

because

to chase this hare

and

effects

become

trivial

would be

to miss the point

of the book. That the discoveries

today

I

would not deny

for a

moment. Yet

why

Never before has there been an age cheap in every sense of the word.

believe that

on the

as therapy

and

as a

television screen

pastime, and

would have looked

we

do with

to

are

we accept art.

be looked upon as

the visual image was so

surrounded and assailed by posters

are

stamps and on food packages. Painting

now

if

have

interest to the historian.

when

ours

like

We

and advertisements, by comics and magazine reality represented

tricks that

I

had anything

the representation of nature can

something commonplace should be of the greatest

home

earlier artists

of losing contact with the great masters of the past

very reason

and

readers

where they seemed relevant/ But

the fashionable doctrine that such matters never

The

my

issues

of representation which were the pride of

in real danger

prevent this

like to

m fact, rather critical of certain theories of non-figurative

am,

I

and have alluded to some of these

art

should

I

breakdown of communication between myself and

particular critics

not intended

is

is

We

see aspects

in the cinema,

of

on postage

taught at school and practised at

many

like sheer

illustrations.

and

a

modest amateur has mastered

magic to Giotto. Perhaps even the

crude coloured renderings we find on a box of breakfast cereal would have

made

Giotto's contemporaries gasp.

conclude from this that the box

But a

I

for

The Greeks

said that to marvel

we may be

in

myself in these chapters

to conjure

of visual

up by forms,

reality

we make

we

a

awake?'*

I

it

a sort

art,

perhaps

substitutes,

the beginning of knowledge and where

'Should we not

art

say',

said Plato

of building, and by the

of man-made dream produced

from

rightly,

whether we

comics, rightly viewed,

Plato's definition that

who

are awake, are

art

may

phantoms

m the Sophist,

of painting we

for those

who

the study of art

linguistics

of the

—

many of these man-made

banished by us from the realm as

dream

them pin-ups or comics. Even pm-ups and provide food for thought. Just as the study of

poetry remains incomplete without an awareness of the language of prose, I believe,

are

of wonder again

because they are almost too effective call

we

The mam aim I have of wonder at mans capacity

better description to teach us the art

detracts nothing

skills create

shades, or colours those mysterious

call 'pictures'.

know of no

I

is

who

am not one of them.

critic.

to restore our sense

is

lines,

dreams, produced for those

of

people

if there are

danger of ceasing to know.

house by the

make another house, and

do not know

both the historian and the

cease to marvel

'that

I

superior to a Giotto.

think that the victory and vulgarization of representational

problem

set

is

so,

will be increasingly supplemented by inquiry into the

visual image. Already

we

see the outlines

of iconology, which

Psychology and the Riddle of Style

87

of images

investigates the function

reference to

what might be

called the 'invisible

language of art refers to the visible world that as

It IS still

we use

all

A great artists

largely

unknown

languages

knowledge

world of ideas'.'' The way the

its

who

can use

it

grammar and

semantics.

many books

written by

stored in the

of students and amateurs.' Not being an '

have refrained from enlarging on such technical matters beyond

the needs of my argument. But

could be seen

is

their

both so obvious and so mysterious

except to the artists themselves

art teachers for the use

artist myself, I

is

— without needing to know

deal of practical

and

and symbolism and

in allegory

I

should be happy

as a provisional pier for the

if each

chapter of this

much-needed bridge between the

field of art history

and the domain of the practising

in Alains life class

and discuss the problems of the boys

makes sense to both of us and,

if luck will

book

have

it,

artist.

We

want to meet

in a language that

even to the scientific student

of perception.

Editor^s Postscript

This extract opens ^Psychology

and

begnning. The

the

rest

Introduction

the

Riddle of

of

Style',

Forfurther background

The

to

'Art

backgrovmd

Alain cartoon to

Art and

History and Psychology

see

Gert Schiff(ed.f

igSS) and Richard Woodfield

York,

the

the

problem of at the very

Illusion;_/or

Vienna Tifty Years

in

pp. l6z-/f.

Gombrich's work

(ed.),

German Essays on Art

Gombrich on Art and

(Manchester, /996). Difficult books for advanced readers are Michael Podro,

Critical Historians

Eleftherios

famously captured by

H. Gombrich,

Ago\ Art Journal (summer igS/f),

Psychology

Illusion^ which poses

the chapter clarifes the historical

further material consult E.

History (New

Art and

to

Ikonomou

(eds.f

of Art (New Haven,

igSz); Harry Francis Mallgrave and

Empathy, Formx and Space: Problems

in

German

Aesthetics 1873— 1893 (^^nta Monica, igg^) and Histoire et theories de

Wmckelmann a Panofsky, Revue Germanique a collection of essays by a

produced a useful book,

number of distinguished German

Forms of Representation

de

I'art:

Internationale, 2 (igg/Q, which art historians. Margaret

m Alois

Riegl's

is

Olin has

Theory of Art

(Pennsylvania, Z992). Julius von Schlosser's vivid account of the history of the vmtranslated:

'Die Wiener Schule der Kunstgeschichte. Riiblick auf ein

Mitteilungen

Gelehrtenarbeit]

des

Osterreichischen

Geschichtsforschung (Erganzungsband) XIII, heftz collection

Congress

of essays in English,

on

Art

History,

German and volume

Kunsthistorischen Methode^

Part

III:

Vienna School

Art and Psychology

ed.

l:

Stefan

(1934-)- ^^^^^

und

die

Sdkulum

deutscher

Instituts

Italian in the Acts of the

Wien

remains

still

'^^^^

fiir

interesting

XXV International

Entwicklung

Krenn and Martina Pippal

der

(Vienna, igS/f).

Truth and

the Stereotype

Chapter 2 of Art and Illusion

(I960. 5th edition,

1977). pp.

55-78

The schematism h\ which our understanding is

a skill so deeply hidden in the

that

Nature

human

deals with the

soul that

we

phenomenal world

.

.

.

shall hardly guess the secret trick

here employs:

Immanuel Kant.

Critique o f Pun Reason

I

In his charming autobiography, the

how

relates

visited the

he and his friends,

all

German

young

famous beauty spot of Tivoli and

with surprise, but hardly with approval,

illustrator

sat

at a

down

in the 1820s,

to draw.

They looked

group of French

approached the place with enormous baggage, carrying

pamt which they applied

to

Germans, perhaps roused by the opposite approach.

Thev

artists

who

this self-confident artiness,

The

were determined on

selected the hardest, best-pointed pencils, its

of

large quantities

the canvas with big, coarse brushes.

could render the motif firmly and minutely to

down

Ludwig Richter

Rome

art students in

finest detail,

which

and each bent

over his small piece of paper, trying to transcribe what he saw with the

utmost

'We

fidelitv.

refused to

let

fell

m love with every blade of grass, every tiny twig, and

anything escape us. Every one tried to render the motif

as

objectively as possible.'

Nevertheless,

when they then compared

evening, their transcripts differed to a surprising extent. colour, even the outline

m

m

the

The mood,

the

the fruits of their efforts

of the motif had undergone a subtle transformation

each of them. Richter goes on to describe

reflected the different dispositions

of the four

how

these different versions

friends, for instance,

how

the

melancholy painter had straightened the exuberant contours and emphasized the blue tinges.

We might say he gives an illustration of the famous definition

by Emile Zola, who called

a

work of art

'a

corner of nature seen through a

temperament'.' It is precisely

because we are interested

m this definition that we must probe

Truth and the Stereot)'pe

89

it

a

little

further.

The

undergoes under the fact,

'temperament' or 'personality' of the

may be one of the

preferences,

artist's

When this

the style of the artist.

who happen

those

must

'stylized',

'style',

transformation

is

to be interested

m

everything,

the style of the period

very noticeable

and the corollary to

learn to discount the style. This

we

say the

observation

this

m

and

is

that

the motif, for one reason or another, is

part of that natural adjustment, the

m what I called 'mental set', which we all perform quite automatically

change

when looking

at

old illustrations.

without reflecting on

tempted for

a

its

moment

and the ground It

—

hands, but there must be others

which we bundle together into the word

motif has been greatly

artist, his selective

reasons for the transformation which the motif

We

can

'read' the

countless 'deviations

brings out the all-important fact that the

beg the question. transformed the

It

from

It is

word

m

We

are

not

an extreme example, but

'stylized'

somehow

tends to

implies there was a special activity by which the artist

trees,

much

as the

Victorian designer was taught to study the

forms of flowers before he turned them into patterns.

chimed

reality'.

(Fig. 51)

to think the trees at Hastings looked like palmettes

time consisted of scrolls.

at that

Bayeux tapestry

well with ideas

factories were built first

of Victorian

It

was

architecture,

a practice

when

and then adorned with the marks of a

which

railways

style. It

and

was not

the practice of earlier times.

The

very point of Richter's story, after

all, is

that style rules even where the

wishes to reproduce nature faithfully, and trying to analyse these limits

artist

to objectivity

may help

we know from the

us get nearer to the riddle of style.

last chapter; it is

One of these

limits

indicated in Richter's story by the contrast

fine pencil. The artist, clearly, can render only what medium are capable of rendering. His technique restricts his freedom of choice. The features and relationships the pencil picks out will

between coarse brush and his tool

differ

and

his

from those the brush can

indicate. Sitting in front

of his motif, pencil

in hand, the artist will, therefore, look out for those aspects

90

Part

III:

Arc and Psychology

which can be

m lines — as we say m a pardonable abbreviation, he will tend to see his motif m terms of lines, while, brush m hand, he sees m terms of masses. rendered

Paul Cezanne, Mont

Sainte-

it

I'lctctre. i'.igo).

Museum

of-

Philadelphia

Art

The

question of

answered, least of Mont Sainte-N'ictoire seen from Les Lauves.

why

style

should impose similar limitations

when we do not know whether

the

is

less easily

artist's

intentions

Historians of art have explored the regions where Cezanne and

Van Gogh

were the same

all

those of Richter and his friends.

as

Photograph by John Revvald

set

up

their easels

comparisons

and have photographed

their motifs' (Figs. 52

will always retain their fascination since they

look over the

artist's

shoulder

— and who

and

53).

does not wish he had this privilege?

But however instructive such confrontations may be when handled with

we must

clearly

beware of the fallacy of

photograph represents the artist's

subjective vision

compare

'the

'stylization'.

Should we

— the way he

believe the

transformed 'what he saw'? Can we here

m

the mind'? Such

speculations easily lead into a morass of unprovables. Take the image

sounds

care,

'objective truth' while the painting records the

image on the retma' with the 'image

artist's retina.^ It

Such

almost allow us to

scientific

on the

enough, but actually there never was

one

such image which we could single out for comparison with either photograph

What there

or painting.

as the painter

was was an endless succession of innumerable images

scanned the landscape

m front of him,

and these images sent

complex pattern of impulses through the optic nerves to

Even the

artist

knew nothing of these

far the picture that

photograph artists

it is

formed

even

and we know even

led

them

less profitable to ask.

to organize the elements

of marvellous complexity that bear

poem

less.

How

m his mind corresponded to or deviated from the What we do know

went out into nature to look for material for

wisdom

as a

events,

a

his brain.

as

a picture

and

is

that these

their artistic

of the landscape into works of

much relationship

art

to a surveyor's record

bears to a police report.

Truth and the Stereotype

91

Does

this

mean, then, that we

never be asked?

do not think

I

in our formulation

on

are altogether

much from prosaic

truth differs so

so.

a useless quest?

That

artistic

must

truth that the question of objectivity

We must

only be a

little

more circumspect

of the question.

II

The National

Gallery in Washington possesses a landscape painting by a

nineteenth-century artist which almost seems

made

to clarify this issue. It

an attractive picture by George Inness of The Lackawanna

we know from

the master's son was

for a railroad.

At

commissioned

the time there was only one track running into the

easing his conscience by explaining that the road

Inness protested, and

we can

see that

when he

To him

this

would

patch was a

it

lie

painted

in,

eventually have them'.

finally gave in for the sake

and no

lie,

of his

aesthetic explanation

about mental images or higher truth could have disputed But, strictly speaking, the

five

with the non-existent tracks behind

family, he shamefacedly hid the patch

advertisement, if

which

Valley (Fig. 54),'

in 1855 as an advertisement

roundhouse, 'but the president insisted on having four or

puffs of smoke.

is

this away.

was not in the pamtmg.

It

was

in

the

claimed by caption or implication that the painting gave

accurate information about the facilities of the railway's roundhouses. In a different context the

president had taken

if the

instance,

same picture might have it

illustrated a true statement

to

shareholders'

a

meeting to

demonstrate improvements he was anxious to make. Indeed in that Inness' rendering

engineer

some

— for case,

of the nonexistent tracks might conceivably have given the

hints about where to lay them. It

would have served

as a sketch

or blueprint.

Logicians

terms

'true'

whatever

us

and

Talse'

may be

that sense

simple

they are not people to be easily gainsaid

Much

It

can no more be true or

confusion has been caused

fact. It is

abbreviated statements.

and

labels,

cause celebre

of the

than a statement can be

m aesthetics by disregarding

made

use of photographs falsely

one of the warring

parties.

Even

Part

III:

last century, the

Without much

Art and Psychology

in scientific

the caption which determines the truth of the picture.' In a

embryo of a pig,

labelled as a

human embryo

to prove a theory of evolution, brought about the downfall reputation.'

And

never a statement in

When it is said 'the camera cannot lie', this confusion

labelled to accuse or exculpate it is

false

is

or captions, can be understood as

apparent. Propaganda in wartime often

illustrations

that the

an understandable confusion because in our culture

pictures are usually labelled,

IS

—

can only be applied to statements, propositions.^'

the usage of critical parlance, a picture

of the term.

blue or green. this

— and

tell

reflection,

we can

all

of

a great

expand into statements the

we

laconic captions

find

'Ludwig Richter' under that he painted false.

When

that spot,

it

a

m

landscape pamtmg, we

and can

we read

museums and books. When we

heo;in

arauma whether

this

we

infer the picture

is

'Tivoli'.

and we can again agree or disagree with the

agree, in such a case, will largeh-

object represented.

The

the historian

knows

name

read the

informed

are thus

information

true or

is

to be taken as a view label.

depend on what we want

Ba\-eux tapestrv. for instance,

battle at Hastings. It does not tell us

Now

know we

know about

to

tells

what b^astinas 'looked

like'.^

Not

onlv were images scarce

the past, but so were the public's opportunities to check their captions, ever

saw

It is

m

b^ow

their ruler in the fiesh at sufiicientlv close quarters to

b^ow manv

recognize his likeness?

from another;

the

us there was a

that the information pictures were expected to

provide differed wideh' in different periods.

manv people

of

Mow and when we

travelled widelv

enough

to

tell

one

citv

hardlv surprising, therefore, that pictures of people and

places changed their captions with sovereign disregard for truth.

sold on the market as a portrait of a king

would be

The

print

altered to represent his

successor or enemv.

There

is

a

famous example of

this indifference to truthful captions

of the most ambitious publishing projects of the

earlv

m one

printing press,

Hiartmann Schedel's so-called 'Nuremberg Chronicle' with woodcuts by Diirer's teacher Wolg;emut.^

give the historian to see

But

as

we turn

What

what the world was

the pages of this

medieval citv recurring with Milan, and cities

were

Mantua as

an opportunit\- such

(Fig.

55).

indisting;uishable

big; folio,

different

like at the

we

find the

captions

Unless we

are

as

a

volume should

time of Columbus!

same woodcut of Damascus,

a

Ferrara,

prepared to believe these

from one another

as

their suburbs

mav

be todav, we must conclude that neither the publisher nor the public

minded whether

the captions told the truth. All they were expected to

do

Truth and the Stereot^'pe

93

was to bring

home

names stood

to the reader that these

for cities.

These varying standards of illustration and documentation

are

55

of interest to

Michel Wolgemut,

woodcuts from the

the historian of representation precisely because he can soberly test the

information supplied by picture and caption without becoming entangled too

soon

in

problems of

imparted

by

image,

the

Where

aesthetics.

it

is

comparison

the

photograph should be of obvious

a question

with

the

of information

correctly

labelled

Three topographical prints

value.

representing various approaches to the perfect picture postcard should suffice to exemplify the results

The

first (Fig.

56)

of such an

shows

a

analysis.

view of Rome from a

news-sheet reporting a catastrophic flood

Where

in

Rome

could the

artist

when

German

Is this also a

Strangely enough,

it is

view of a

not.

The

its

banks.

have seen such a timber structure, a castle

with black-and-white walls, and a steep roof such

Nuremberg?

sixteenth-century

the Tiber burst

as

German town with

artist,

might be found

in

a misleading caption?

whoever he was, must have made some

effort to portray the scene, for this curious building turns out to be the Castel

Sant'

Angelo

m

comparison with

Rome, which guards photograph

a

(Fig. 57)

bridge across

the

shows that

number of features which belong or belonged roof that gives

it

its

name, the

mam

it

does

the

Tiber.

embody

to the castle: the angel

quite a

on the

round bulk, founded on Hadrian's

mausoleum, and the outworks with the bastions that we know were there

I

am

fond of

this coarse

woodcut because

its

his

94

Part

mood

III:

artist's

is

no

having deviated from the motif in order to express

or his aesthetic preferences.

Art and Psychology

(Fig.

very crudeness allows us to

study the mechanism of portrayal as in a slow-motion picture. There question here of the

A

It is

doubtful, in

fact,

whether the

Nuremberg

chmmck

i^g^

m

gill cifcftjoff (ut» tnt^ vjraufamlu'O oicmdf) cr / fo fid)

Rome,

woodcut

designer of the

56

Castel Sant' Angelo, 1557.

m &m

ever

saw Rome.

He

city in order to illustrate the sensational

probably adapted a view of the

news.

Anonymous

Angelo to be

woodcut

a castle,

He knew

the Castel Sant'

and so he selected from the drawer of

his

mental

— a German Bur^ with its

stereotypes the appropriate cliche for a castle

timber

57

Castel Sant' Angelo,

Rome. Modern

structure

and high-pitched roof But he did not simply repeat

he adapted

to

it

its

embodying

particular function by

his stereotype

—

certain distinctive

photograph

features

which he knew belonged to that particular building

supplies

some information

over and above the fact that there

m is

Rome. He

a castle

by a

we

also

Castel Sant' Angelo,

Rome,

1-.1540.

Anonymous

pen and ink drawing.

bridge.

Once we pay

attention to this principle of the adapted stereotype,

Private collection

find

It

where we would be

illustrations,

The example from well-known and

Notre-Dame and church (Fig.

less likely to

which look much more

topographical

gives, at first, quite a

it:

that

is,

within the idiom of

and therefore

the seventeenth century,

skilful

59).

expect

flexible

artist

plausible.

from the views of Paris by

convincing rendering of that famous

Comparison with the

real building (Fig.

60), however,

demonstrates that Merian has proceeded in exactly the same way

anonymous German woodcutter. As

a child

is

that

of a lofty symmetrical building with

windows, and that

is

how

he designs Notre-Dame.

rounded windows on

He

large,

choir.

his

rounded

places the transept

m

either side, while the actual

view shows seven narrow, pointed Gothic windows to the west and

his

as the

of the seventeenth century,

notion of a church

the centre with four large,

that

Matthaus Merian, represents

six

m the

Once more portrayal means for Merian the adaptation or adjustment of

formula or scheme for churches to a particular building through the

Truth and the Stereotype

addition of a

number of distinctive

— enough to make

features

it

not in search of architectural

are

information. If this happened to be the only document extant to the Cathedral of Paris,

One

example

last

recognizable Matthaus Merian,

and even acceptable to those who

tell

us about

of an engraving from de Paris

we would be very much misled.

in this series: a

nineteenth-century lithograph (Fig. 6i) of

60

Notre-Dame,

Chartres Cathedral, done in the heyday of English topographical

we might expect

surely,

a faithful visual record.

previous instances, the artist really gives a

good

about that famous building. But he, too, limitations which his time

whom

and

And

with pointed arches and

do not want

examples that

By comparison with the

deal of accurate information

turns out, cannot escape the

it

impose on him.

He

is

a

romantic to

fails

to record the

no place

Romanesque rounded windows of

in his universe

to be misunderstood here. all

I

of form

(Fig. 62).

do not want to prove by these

representation must be

inaccurate

or that

documents before the advent of photography must be misleading.

we had pointed out

scheme and rounded the windows. be a step-by-step process

depend on

the choice

of the

initial

My point

with his idea or concept: the

church,

He

is

rather that such matching

humble documents do indeed

who wants

German

artist

he can to that individual

and the lithographer with

g6

Part

III:

it

were,

Art and Psychology

upon

to

make

a truthful

begins not with his visual impression but

his

with his concept of a castle that castle,

Merian with

stereotype

individual visual information, those distinctive features entered, as

Clearly, if

schema to be adapted to the task of serving

us a lot about the procedure of any artist

record of an individual form.

as well as

visual

— how long it takes and how hard it is will

as a portrait. I believe that in this respect these

he applies

all

to the artist his mistake, he could have further modified

will always

tell

Here,

so he conceives of Chartres as a Gothic structure

the west facade, which have

his

art.

the French cathedrals are the greatest flowers of the Gothic centuries,

the true age of faith.

I

interests

a pre-existing

Notre-

Daiue, Paris, r.1635. Detail

of I

a

his idea

cathedral.

of a

The

have mentioned, are

blank or formulary. And, as often

Paris.

Modern photograph

Vues

happens with blanks, Robert Garland. Ch.mrcs Cathedral. iS;;6.

have no provisions for certain kinds of

essential,

just

it is

too bad for the information.

En^jravmc;

after a lithosraph

from

Benjamin Winkles. Cathedrals

thc\'

if

information we consider

(London,

French

The comparison, bv and the

artist

s

the wav, between the formularies of administration

stereotypes

not

is

mv invention.

In medieval parlance there was

1837^

one word for both, Chartres Cathedral.

Modern photograph

a

simile,'"

or pattern, that

is

applied to individual incidents

m law no less than in pictorial art. And just

lawyer or the statistician could plead that he could never get

as the

hold of the individual case without some sort of framework provided by

forms or blanks, so the

could argue that

artist

motif unless one has learned

how

of a schematic form. This, at

have

come who knew

figure',

classify-

the blot and

instance, that

scheme to

fit

it is

the

and catch

it

withm

is

fit it

let

us

say,

into

some

sort of it

the network

who

out to

called a

The draughtsman tries familiar schema — he will

looks like a

form approximately, he

set is

or an irregular patch. By and large,

always the same.

triangular or that

his at a

the conclusion to which psychologists

anyone adopts when copying what

an inkblot,

appears, the procedure

makes no sense to look

nothing; of our historical series but

investigate the procedure

'nonsense

to classif\'

least, is

it

will

fish.

first

it

to

say, for

Having selected such

proceed to adjust

it,

a

noticing for

Truth and the Stereonpe

97

instance that the triangle

is

rounded

o

or that the fish ends in a

at the top,

Copying, we learn from these experiments, proceeds through the

pigtail.

rhythms of schema and

The schema

correction.''

is

process of 'abstraction, of a tendency to 'simplify';

approximate, loose category which

not the product of a represents the

it

gradually tightened to

is

fit

the

first

form

it is

to reproduce.

Ill

One more important copying:

it is

point emerges from these psychological discussions of

dangerous to confuse the way

'Reproducing

seen.

the

simplest

'constitutes a process itself by

a figure

is

drawn with the way Professor

writes

figures',

it is

Zangwill,

no means psychologically simple. This process

Test-figure, 'pickaxe', F.

typically displays an essentially constructive or reconstructive character,

and

with the subjects employed, reproduction was mediated pre-eminently

through the agency of verbal and geometrical formulae If a figure

is

flashed

on

without some appropriate

a screen for a short

The

classification.

choice of a schema. If we happen to hit on a best

.''^ .

.

moment, we cannot

label given

it

retain

it

will influence the

good description we

will

succeed

m the task of reconstruction." In a famous investigation by F. C. Bartlett,

students had to draw such a 'nonsense figure' (Fig. 63) from called

and consequently drew

a pickaxe

it

accepted

it

as

it

an anchor and subsequently exaggerated the size of the

There was only one person who reproduced the shape

who had

student

Maybe he was

memory. Some

with pointed prongs. Others

labelled the shape for himself

'a

trained in classifying such objects

correctly.

He

pre-historic battle

ring.

was

a

axe'.'^'

and was therefore able to

portray the figure that happened to correspond to a schema with which he was familiar.

Where become

such a pre-existing category

particularly

of 'drawing consequences'.'^ Thus copied and recopied

of a pussycat

To

is

lacking, distortion sets

m.

Its effects

amusing when the psychologist imitates the parlour game

till it

F.

C. Bartlett had an Egyptian hieroglyph

gradually assumed the familiar shape and formula

(Fig. 64).

the art historian these experiments are of interest because they help to

clarify certain

fundamentals.

constantly brought

up

The

against the

student of medieval

art, for instance, is

problem of tradition through copy. Thus

the copies of classical coins by Celtic''

and Teutonic

tribes have

become

fashionable of late as witnesses to the barbaric 'will-to-form' (Fig. 65). These tribes,

it

ornament.

is

implied, rejected classical beauty

Maybe

did we would need other evidence.

98

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

m

favour of the abstract

they really disapproved of naturalistic shapes, but if they

The

fact that in being

copied and recopied

from

C. Bartlett, Reiiu-inbcnn^

(Cambridge, 19^2)

the image

became assimilated mto the schemata of

demonstrates the same tendency which made the the Castel Sant' Angelo into a timbered Burg.

artist

own

craftsmen

German woodcut transform

The

'will-to-form'

new shape

Svill-to-make-conform', the assimilation of am-

and patterns an

their

is

rather a

to the schemata

has learned to handle.

The Northumbrian

m

scribes were marvelloush- skilled

the weaving of

patterns and the shaping of letters. Confronted with the task of copying the

image of man, the symbol of St Matthew, from a very different were quite satisfied to build

The

it

up from those

solution in the famous Echternach Gospels (Fig. 66)

arouse our admiration. protot\^pe

It is creative,

— Bartlett s pussycat also

with the challenge of the unfamiliar artist

not because

differs

m

tradition, they

units they could handle so well.

it

differs

is

so ingenious as to

from the presumed

from the owl — but because

a surprising

it

copes

and successful way. The

handles the letter forms as he handles his medium, with complete

assurance

m

creating;

from

it

the symbolic image of a

But did the desig;ner of the Ba\'eux tapestry (Fig.

was obvioush- trained

m

the intricate interlace

ornament and adjusted these forms

as far as

man.

51) act

very differently?

He

work of eleventh-century

he thought necessary to

signify^

Truth and the Scereon"pe

gg

trees.

Withm

his universe

of form

this

procedure was both ingenious and

consistent.

Could he have done otherwise? Could he have inserted renderings of beeches or generally discouraged

firs if

only he had wanted to?

from asking

this question.

He

is

The

little

student of art

is

supposed to look for

explanations of style in the artist s will rather than in his historian has

naturalistic

skill.

Moreover, the

use for questions of might-have-been. But

is

not

this

reluctance to ask about the degree of freedom that exists for artists to change

and modify

their

idiom one of the reasons why we have made so

in the explanation

little

progress

of style?

In the study of art no less than in the study of man, the mysteries of success are frequently best revealed

through an investigation of

failures.

Only

a

pathology of representation will give us some insight into the mechanisms

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

which enabled the masters to handle

Not

this

instrument with such assurance.

only must we surprise the artist

when he

is

confronted with an

unfamiliar task that he cannot easily adjust to his means; that his

aim was

in fact portrayal.

all,

nature

is

test case

The

know

and representation that was our

sufficiently

the information value of a picture even

portrayed.

also

Given these conditions, we may do without

the actual comparison between photograph starting point. For, after

we must

uniform to allow us to judge

when we have

never seen the specimen

beginnings of illustrated reportage, therefore, provide another

where we need have no doubt about the

concentrate on the

will

and

can, consequently,

skill.

IV

Perhaps the

earliest instance

years, to the

of this kind dates back more than three thousand

beginnings of the

Thutmose included

New Kingdom

in his picture chronicle

of plants he had brought back to Egypt

somewhat mutilated, 'the truth'.

tells

in Egypt,

when

the Pharaoh

of the Syrian campaign

(Fig. 67).'"

The

a record

inscription,

though

us that Pharaoh pronounced these pictures to be

Yet botanists have found

it

hard to agree on what plants

been meant by these renderings. The schematic shapes

are

not

may

have

sufficiently

differentiated to allow secure identification.

An was

even

more famous example comes from

at Its height,

the period

the

tells

us so

much about

and outlook of the men who created the French cathedrals.

many

art

from the volume of plans and drawings by the Gothic

masterbuilder, Villard de Honnecourt, which practice

when medieval

architectural, religious,

beauty to be found

m this

and symbolic drawings of striking

volume, there

is

the

Among

skill

and

a curiously stiff picture of a lion,

Truth and the Stereotype

loi

68 Villard de Honnecourt, Lion and Porcupine, ^.1255.

Pen and ink drawing.

OkBonrstlxn ma^vniiMDU^ J fH »«r Sjirr 06«rSaiil9*
a

Bibliotheque Nationale,

m

Pans

'vnaMTiwtlii^ eobsrolTa Sontiiin

ocn do«n amanloj 9JI
•6
I SfaicniQ gijauifiasor inn

Wotm

nSsa ?!J?a?1iioSI ooff
it

tfo (t
Locust,

iMmdatlivUta SBiidw^Clncin? r In atfonam ; ^1 (o UHnUi i'fia

woodcut

topic* fcla
y cmii

1

»oxi

^^

C(r obirutf (Dili* B nortrll*

n/ju OTdsUmDi firdnmunsrtjd. n sdjalKo mDttcn

/

ols 06 (In (lillS'

^mat^

mat Si^ eUttxgtn b*a»l>cn/aud> TOO* far (Iraff gw

(ttTircHib

seen en face (Fig. 68).

To

us,

looks like an ornamental or heraldic image, but

it

Villard's caption tells us that

he regarded

'Know

says, 'qvulju contrefais al vif

in a different light: 'Et saves hien, he

it

well that

it is

drawn from

life.'"'

These words

He

obviously had a very different meaning for Villard than they have for us.

can have meant only that he had drawn his schema in the presence of a real lion. is

How much of his visual observation he allowed to enter into the formula

a different matter.

Once more

the broadsheets

of popular

attitude survived the Renaissance.

The

the sixteenth century informs us that

kind of locust that invaded Europe zoologist

would be rash

entirely different species

had again used

artist

to infer

show us

art

letterpress

we here

in

from

to

what extent

see 'the exact counterfeit'

menacing swarms

(Fig. 69).

of creatures that has never been recorded

a familiar schema,

German word

The much

for a locust

creation of such a

m

Hevtj^erd

name and

more

exactly, to

subspecies. Since the locust

is

remain a

illustrated.

since.

an

The

knew from

Perhaps the fact that

(hay horse) tempted

of the

him

to adopt a

insect's prance.

the creation of the image have, in fact,

common. Both proceed by

familiar, or

Its

is

for the rendering

a

compounded of animals he had

an Apocalypse where the locust plague was

schema of a horse

of

But the

this inscription that there existed

learned to portray, and the traditional formula for locusts that he

the

this

of a German woodcut from

classifying the unfamiliar with the

in the zoological sphere,

kind of horse

it

by creating

a

must therefore share some of

distinctive features.

The

Roman

caption of a

German woodcut.

It

print of 1601 (Fig. 70)

is

as explicit as that

of the

claims the engraving represents a giant whale that has

been washed ashore near Ancona the same year and 'was drawn accurately

from

nature' (^Ritratto qui dal naturale appunto).

trustworthy

102

Part

III:

if there

Art and Psychology

The

claim would be more

did not exist an earlier print recording a similar 'scoop'

1556.

Anonymous

from the Dutch coast Whale Washed Ashore Ancona.

1601.

at

sixteenth century, those masters of realism,

Not

quite,

it

whales with Whale Washed Ashore 1598.

But surely the Dutch

would be

of the

artists

late

able to portray a whale?

Anom-mous

Italian engraving

Holland,

in 1598 (Fig. 71).

m

Engraving

sccms, fot the crcature looks suspiciously as if ears,

am

I

it

far

had

assured on higher authority, do not

draughtsman probably mistook one of the whale's therefore placed

it

too close to the

eye.

He,

flippers for

and

ears,

The

exist.

an ear and

was misled by a familiar

too,

after Goltzius

schema, the schema of the typical head." greater difficulties than

why

reason

is

To draw an unfamiliar

usually realized.

And

to portray

it

Trom

again

the

life'

suppose, was also the

this, I

from another

the Italian preferred to copy the whale

need not doubt the part of the caption that

tells

sight presents

the

We

print.

news from Ancona, but

was not worth the trouble.

In this respect, the fate of exotic creatures in the illustrated books of the

few centuries before the advent of photography

When

amusing.

had to

72)," he

Diirer published his famous

rely

is

as instructive as

woodcut of

on secondhand evidence which he

last

it

is

a rhinoceros (Fig.

filled

m from his

own

imagination, coloured, no doubt, by what he had learned of the most famous

of exotic

beasts, the

dragon with

its

armoured body. Yet

that this half-mvented creature served as a

rhinoceros, even

When, Travels

m

to

m

natural-history books,

model up

for

it

has been

shown

renderings of the

all

to the eighteenth century.

1790, James Bruce published a drawing of the beast (Fig. 73) in his

Discover

the

Source of the Nile,

he proudly showed that he was aware of this

fact:

The animal .

.

.

and

this

represented in this drawing is

the

first

a native

of Tcherkin, near Ras

el

Feel

drawing of the rhinoceros with a double horn that has ever

yet been presented to the public.

species having but

is

The

first figure

of the Asiatic rhinoceros, the

one horn, was painted by Albert Durer, from the

wonderfully ill-executed

m aU

its

parts,

life ... It

was

and was the origin of all the monstrous

forms under which that animal has been painted, ever since

.

.

.

Several

modern

Truth and the Stereotype

philosophers have

and the Count

made amends

for this in our days;

de BufFon, have given

good

figures

Mr Parsons, Mr Edwards, Albrecht Diirer,

of it from life; they have indeed

1515.

some

the

... is

owmg

faults, first

chiefly to preconceived prejudices

that has been published with two horns,

and inattention

it is

.

.

.

Rhinoceros,

Woodcut

This

designed from the

life,

African rhinoceros, 1789.

and

IS

an African.''

Engraving from James Bruce,

Travels to Discover the

Source of the Nile

If proof were

and

needed that the difference between the medieval draughtsman

his eighteenth-century

found

For the

here.

surely not free

saw

Ras

at

We

m Africa (Fig.

to be

drawn

prejudices'

do not know

exactly

it

could be is

and the all-pervading memory what species of rhinoceros the

and the comparison of his picture with

el Feel,

taken

only one of degree,

is

presented with such flourishes of trumpets,

from 'preconceived

of Dtirer's woodcut. artist

descendant

illustration,

photograph

a

74) may not, therefore, be quite fair. But I am told that none of the species known to zoologists corresponds to the engraving claimed al vif.

The story repeats

itself whenever a rare

Even the elephants

that

seventeenth centuries have been

embody

to

all

specimen

is

introduced into Europe.

populate the paintings of the sixteenth and

shown

to stem

from

a very

few archetypes and

their curious features, despite the fact that information

elephants was not particularly hard to

These examples demonstrate,

in

come

by.'^

somewhat grotesque magnification,

tendency which the student of art has learned to reckon with. will always

remain the

likely starting

strives to

several

record the truth.

famous

artists

Thus

it

its

of antiquity had made

104

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

critics that

a strange mistake in the portrayal

which belongs to the human eye but not to that of the

who

familiar

spell over the artist even while

was remarked by ancient

of horses: they had represented them with eyelashes on the lower

ophthalmologist

The

a

point for the rendering of the unfamiliar

an existing representation will always exert he

about

lid,

horse.''

a feature

A German

studied the eyes of Diirer's portraits, which to the

(Edmburgh, 1790)

layman appear to be such triumphs of painstaking accuracy, reports

74 African rhinoceros

somewhat look

Muscles of the neck.

From

This should not give us cause for

Gray's Anatomy

knew what

similar mistakes. Apparently not even Diirer

eyes 'really

like'/''

explorers,

anatomical drawings/' Apparently he drew features of the

Galen made him expect but which he cannot have

The

of all the

surprise, for the greatest

study of pathology

is

meant

human

visual

m

Leonardo himself, has been shown to have made mistakes

his

heart which

seen.

to increase our understanding

of health:

the sway of schemata did not prevent the emergence of an art of scientific

sometimes

that

illustration

succeeds

m

packing

more

correct

visual

information into the image than even a photograph contains. But the

diagrammatic maps of muscles 'transcripts'

m our illustrated anatomies

(Fig. 75) are

picture of a specimen that has been revealed to

Now m this

sphere of scientific illustration

them it

m years of patient study.'^

obviously makes sense to say

done what the

that Thutmose's artists or Villard himself could not have

modern

not

of things seen but the work of trained observers who build up the

illustrator

point was too

far

can do.

They

removed from

lacked the relevant schemata, their starting their motif,

allow a sufficiently supple adjustment. For so

study of portrayal

You must have

m

art:

and

their style

much

was too rigid to

certainly emerges

from

a

you cannot create a faithful image out of nothing.

learned the trick if only from other pictures you have seen.

V In our culture, where pictures exist in such profusion,

demonstrate facility

m

this basic fact.

There

are

freshmen

the objective rendering of motifs that

assumption. But those

who

a different story. James

have given art classes

m

is

difficult to

art schools

would appear

who

have

to belie this

m other cultural settings tell

Cheng, who taught painting to

trained in different conventions, once told

it

me of a

a

group of Chinese

sketching expedition he

Truth and the Stereot)'pe

105

76

Chiang Yee, Cows

in

Derwentwater. 1936. Brush

and ink on paper. From

Chiang Yce, The Traveller

Silent

(London, 1957)

Derwentwater, looking

toward Borrowdale, 1826.

Anonymous from

lithograph

Ten Lithographic

Drawings of Scenery

(London, 1926)

made with his

The

least a picture

copy. It

is

a history I

students to a famous beauty spot, one of Pekmgs old city gates.

task baffled them. In the end, one of the students asked to be given at

postcard of the building so that they would have something to

stories

and

cannot

such as these, stories of breakdowns, that explain why art has

artists

need

a style

adapted to a

illustrate this revealing incident.

next stage, as

it

were

— the

art to the unfamiliar task

some decades Chiang

task.

But luck allows us to study the

adjustment of the traditional vocabulary of Chinese

of topographical portrayal

in the

Western

and painter of great

Yee, a Chinese writer

sense.

For

gifts

and

charm, has delighted us with contemplative records of the Silent Traveller,

books

m

which he

tells

of

his encounters

with scenes and people of the

English and Irish countryside and elsewhere.

from the volume on the English Lakeland.

106

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

I

take an illustration (Fig. 76)

It is a

view of Derwentwater. Here we have crossed the

documentation from

Mr

art.

the Chinese idiom to a

Chiang Yee

instructive to

compare

Romantic period

precisely for this reason that

it is

of

us to see the English scenery it is

so

view with a typical 'picturesque' rendering from the

his

We

(Fig. 77).

see

how

the relatively rigid vocabulary of the

Chinese tradition acts

as a selective screen

which schemata

The

exist.

certainly enjoys the adaptation

new purpose; he wants

for once 'through Chinese eyes'/'^ But

line that separates

which admits only the

features for

be attracted by motifs which can be

artist will

rendered in his idiom. As he scans the landscape, the sights which can be

matched forward

successfully with the schemata he has learned to handle will leap as centres

of attention. The

which makes the

set

that he can render. Painting

is

an

activity,

and the

what he paints rather than to paint what he

see

It is this

up

the

style, like

medium,

creates a

mental

look for certain aspects in the scene around him

artist

artist will therefore

tend to

sees.

and preference which Nietzsche summed

interaction between style

m his mordant comment on the claims of realism:

All Nature faithfully'

- But

Can Nature be subdued

Her

smallest fragment

to

by what

art's

feint

constraint?

mfinitel

is still

And so he paints but what he likes in it. What does he like? He likes, what he can There

is

more

paint!'"

m this observation than just a cool reminder of the limitations

of artistic means.

We catch a glimpse of the reasons why these limitations will domain of

never obtrude themselves within the

more

mastery, and the greater the artist the task where his mastery

would

The layman may wonder

whether Giotto could have painted a view of Fiesole historian will suspect that, lacking the means, he rather than he could not have

where there

is

a will there

is

read that only where there enrich the ways and

means

wanted

fact that artists

training equip

them

is

a

way

one

is

is

but the

like to

to,

or

assume, somehow, that

of art the maxim should

there also a will.

The

individual can

that his culture offers him; he can hardly wish for is

possible.

tend to look for motifs for which their

explains

different to the historian

We

in sunshine,

would not have wanted

also a way, but in matters

something that he has never known

The

to.

Art presupposes

surely will he instinctively avoid a

to serve him.

fail

art itself

why

style

and

the problem of representational skill looks

of art and to the historian of visual information. The

concerned with success, the other must also observe the

these failures suggest that

we sometimes assume

failures.

But

a little rashly that the ability

Truth and che Stereotype

107

of art to portray the

We know

visible

of specialists

world developed,

as

it v^^ere,

along a uniform front.

- of Claude Lorram, the master of landscape who concentrated almost May not skill as much as will have dictated this type in art

whose figure paintings were poor, of Frans Hals

on

exclusively

portraits.

of preference?

A

not

Is

all

naturalism in the art of the past selective?

somewhat philistme experiment would suggest

that

Take the next

it is.

magazine containing snapshots of crowds and street scenes and walk with through any

how many

art gallery to see

gestures

and types that occur

it

in life

can be matched from old paintings. Even Dutch genre paintings that appear to mirror

m

life

all its

and

bustle

limited number of types and

variety will turn out to be created

gestures,

picaresque novel or of Restoration

much

comedy

The on

artist,

a 'copy'

no

less

a

and modifies stock

applies

still

figures which can be traced back for centuries. There

from

apparent realism of the

as the

is

no neutral naturalism.

than the writer, needs a vocabulary before he can embark

of reality.^'

VI

Everything points to the conclusion that the phrase 'the language of

art* is

more than a loose metaphor, that even to describe the visible world in images we need

a

developed system of schemata. This conclusion rather clashes with

the traditional distinction, often discussed in the eighteenth century, between

spoken words which

signs to 'intimate' reality." It

is

we assume, with

difficulties. If

and painting which uses

are conventional signs

a plausible distinction,

but

it

'natural'

has led to certain

can simply be

this tradition, that natural signs

copied from nature, the history of art represents a complete puzzle.

become

It

has

increasingly clear since the late nineteenth century that primitive art

and child

language of symbols rather than 'natural

art use a

for this fact

it

signs'.

To account

was postulated that there must be a special kind of art grounded

not on seeing but rather on knowledge, an art which operates with 'conceptual images'.

The

child

the 'conceptual'

does not

—

it is

argued

schema of a

embody

—

does not look

tree that fails to

at trees;

he

satisfied

is

correspond to any

with

reality since

it

the characteristics of, say, birch or beech, let alone those of

individual trees. This reliance

on construction

rather than

on imitation was

and primitives who

attributed to the peculiar mentality of children

live in a

world of their own. But we have come to

realize that this distinction

and Rudolf Arnheim have stressed that there crude

map of

the world

made by

a child

naturalistic images. All art originates in the

the world rather than in the visible world

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

is

is

unreal.

no opposition between the

and the

richer

human mind,

itself,

Gustaf Britsch

and

it is

map

presented in

in our reactions to

precisely because

all

art

'conceptual' that

IS

Without some of the

all

representations are recognizable by their

starting point,

first

it

categories are.

An

prove not a hindrance but a help." its

purpose;

it

flexible,

first filing

to the

game of

system

is

initial

schema of

nor very

it

would lack pigeonholes.

trial

'Twentv^ Questions', where

'animal, vegetable or mineral'

but

suitable,

is

we

and

concepts by submitting them to the corrective

of

infinite complexity^

we

can be

identify an object

The

traditional

to

narrow down our

The

test of 'yes' or 'no'.

example of this parlour game has become popular of late that process of articulation through which

error,

certainly neither scientific

enough

usually serves us well

it

may

vagueness

not very relevant.

throug;h inclusion or exclusion along anv network of classes.''' initial

little

system would no longer

progress of learning, of adjustment through

compared

our

sort

matters relatively

such

entirely fluid

could not register facts because

But how we arrange the

The

it

can always adjust them according to need.

Indeed, if the schema remains loose and

serve

we could not

categories,

has turned out that

We

styleJ"^

schema, we could never get hold

initial

of experience. Without

flux

impressions. Paradoxically,

what these

some

as

an illustration of

learn to adjust ourselves to the

this world. It indicates,

however crudely, the way in

which not only organisms, but even machines may be said to learn by

and

error.

Engineers

mechanisms', that

is,

their

at

thrilling

work on what they

'servo

call

self-adjusting machines, have recognized the importance

of some kinds of 'initiative' on the part of the machine. The

machine may make

trial

will be,

and indeed must

be, a

first

move such

random movement,

a

a shot

m the dark. Provided a report of success or failure, hit or miss, can be fed back into the machine,

correct ones.

it

One

will increasingly avoid the

of the pioneers

m

the

this field has recently described this

m

machine rhythm of schema and correction calls all

wrong moves and repeat

he

a striking verbal formula:

learning 'an arboriform stratification of guesses about the world'.'"

Arboriform, we

may

and subclasses such

take as

it,

here describes the progressive creation of classes

might be described

m

a

diagrammatic account of

'Twenty Questions'.''

We

seem to have drifted

far

from the discussion of

certainly possible to look at a portrait as a distinctive

features

portrayal.

But

and

let

saying

is

The

about which we wish to convey information.

American police sometimes employ draughtsmen to aid witnesses identification

it

schema of a head modified by the

of criminals. They may draw any vague

face, a

m

the

random schema,

witnesses guide their modifications of selected features simply by

'yes'

or 'no' to various suggested standard alterations until the face

sufficiently individualized for a search

m

the

account of portrait drawing by remote control

to be profitable.'^

files

may

is

This

well be over-tidy, but as a

Truth and the Stereotype

parable

may

it

visual record

Need we

is

from

task? It

is

a

a guess

makes no sense to

it

more or

is

m which the

lithograph

If all art

to clarify

moment

how

cannot be true or

flux

Where

whether Chiang Yee's

than the nineteenth-century

landscapes were applied to the

brings

home

to the

layman how much of the

It is all it

rests

and statements which we saw

is

rather simple. For concepts, like pictures,

They can only be more

false.

of events

the needs

it

itself to the

truth was ascribed to paintings rather than to captions.

fellow-speakers in that

We

classical

an objective

as

far this relativism will take us. I believe

of descriptions. The words of

from the

ask, for instance,

pictures, words,

conceptual, the issue

is

no such thing

less correct

formulas of

on the confusion between arising the

is

conditioned by habits and expectations.

call 'seeing* is

more important

conditioned by habit and tradition.

tempting conclusion and one which recommends

teacher of art appreciation because

what we

reminds us that the starting point of a

It

this fact that there

view of Derwentwater

same

purpose.

its

not knowledge but

infer

That

likeness?

serve

or less useful for the formation

a language, like pictorial formulas, pick

out

few signposts which allow us to give direction to our

a

game of 'Twenty Questions'

of users

in

which we

are similar, the signposts will

are engaged.^"

tend to correspond.

can mostly find equivalent terms in English, French, German, and Latin,

and hence the idea has taken root that concepts language as the constituents of

'reality'.

exist

independently of

But the English language

signpost on the roadfork between 'clock' and 'watch' where the

only 'Uhr\

The

leaves us in

translations

there

is

sisters',

sentence from the

German

doubt whether the aunt has

may be wrong

German

primer, 'Meine Tante

hat eine

of a

has

Uhr,

of the two

a clock or a watch. Either

as a description

erects a

In Swedish, by the way,

fact.

an additional roadfork to distinguish between aunts

who

and those who

are just ordinary

we were

aunts. If

are 'mother's sisters',

to play our

game

m

and those who

are 'father's

Swedish we would need additional

questions to get at the truth about the timepiece.

This simple example brings out the

fact,

emphasized by Benjamin

recently

Lee Whorf, that language does not give names to pre-existing things or concepts so art,

we

stand

much

suspect,

m

the

as

it

articulates the

do the same. But

way of

world of our experience.

The

images of

this difference in styles or languages

correct answers

need not

and descriptions. The world may be

approached from a different angle and the information given may yet be the same.^'

From

the point of view of information there

discussing portrayal.

To

say

of

a

drawing that

does not mean, of course, that Tivoli those

no

Part

III:

who understand

Art and Psychology

is

is

it is

surely

no

difficulty

a correct view

bounded by wiry

lines. It

m

of Tivoli

means that

the notation will derive no false information

from the

drawing

— whether

of grass'

it

gives the

obtain

wanted to do. The complete portrayal might be

as Richter's friends

the one which gives as if we

looked

at

m a few Knes or picks out 'every blade

contour

much

from the very spot where the

it

we would

correct information about the spot as

number of questions they allow

artist stood.

sequence of articulation and in the

Styles, like languages, differ in the

the artist to ask; and so complex

the

is

information that reaches us from the visible world that no picture will ever

embody it all. That is not due to the subjectivity of vision but to its richness. Where the artist has to copy a human product he can, of course, produce a facsimile which is indistinguishable from the original. The forger of banknotes succeeds only too well limitations of a period

m

effacing

his

and the

personality

style.

But what matters to us

is

that the correct portrait, like the useful map,

end product on a long road through schema and correction.

is

an

not a faithful

It is

record of a visual experience but the faithful construction of a relational

model.

Neither the subjectivity of vision nor the sway of conventions need lead us to deny that such a

accuracy.

What

is

model can be constructed

decisive here

clearly the

is

representation cannot be divorced from the society'

its

to any required degree

word

'required'.

of

The form of a

purpose and the requirements of

m which the given visual language gains currency.

Editors Postscript Section FI, which starts with the sentence 'Everythmg points to the conclusion that the phrase "the

language of art"

is

Some

controversy.

naturalistic imagery

word

'dog

published in

does,

more than a theorists^ is

just

metaphor' has generated an enormous amount of

loose

like

The Image and the Eye^ p.

For Gomhrich's response Perspective Representation

to

and

Goodman the

the Eye. Other

see

its

'Recognizing

the

World: Pissarro at p.

JJ and

his essays: 'The

in

RA',

i/f

Gomhrich,

overemphasize

"What" and

the

Richard Rudner and Israel

"How": Scheffler

York,

igyz)

in Pictorial Representation', in

relevant essays, such as 'Mirror

and Map: Theories of

The Image and the Eye as well. See also The Royal Academy Magazine, Zj

'Voir la Nature, Voir

National d'art moderne,

to

that

dog just as the

Honor of Nelson Goodman (New

the

mean

to

real advances in visual discovery.

two of

Pictorial Representation', have been republished in

(summer igg^),

to a

28/fn. Other theorists have tended

Phenomenal World',

Logic and Art: Essays in

this

explicitly rejected in a letter to

and Tmage and Code: Scope and Limits of Conventionalism

The Image and

taken

language and thus a picture of a dog stands

an interpretation which he has

naturalistic imagery's conventions, as opposed to

(eds.).

Goodman^ have

following Nelson

les

(summer igSS),

Peintures',

Les Cahiers du Musee

pp. 2.1-^^.

Gombrich's position has been completely consistent, though he has continued

to

refne

it,

since

Truth and the Stereocy-pe

writing a review) of Charles Morris's Signs,

Language and Behavior (19^9)

reprinted in

Reflections on the History of Art. Psychological theory has

and

moved on

in its investigations

the stereotype. Interesting reading is offered

(Nevj York, I9y6) and Ilona Roth antl John

P. Frishy,

Words The

the relationship

discusses the unportant

work done by

A very stimulating perspectivefrom linguistics has been offered by Jean Aitchison, Mmd: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon (Oxford, ig&j).

in the classic

sociological study

Peter Berger

is

and Thomas Tuckmann,

Construction of Reality (Harmondsworth, 196^). Thomas

of

between perception

Cognition and Reality^

Perception and Representation:

a cognitive approach (Milton Keynes, 19S6), which

Eleanor Rosch.

of

by Ulric Neisser,

Scientific Revolutions (znd

edn.,

S.

Kuhn,

The

The

Social

Structure

London, l^Sg), discusses developments

in science;

note particularly Postscript - ig6g'. Both books should he read very carefully because, despite

popular

belief neither support

language,

thought and

purely conventionalist approaches

experience.

They should both be read

in the

to

the

same

relationship between

direction as

Art and

Illusion.

The net

effect

of recent research

is

to

confirm Gombrich's view that despite a painting or

drawing being a representation through a medium,

the doctrine

of complete conventionalism has

no justification. Work on colour perception, for example, indicates that although our talk

itself is universal. Similarly, translation

world

to talk

The philosophical

III:

would not

be possible unless there were

an independent

about. issues have been

(Cambridge, Mass., iggi).

Part

abilities to

about colour discrimination are obviously affected by our language, colour discrimination

Art and Psychology

reviewed by Hilary Putnam,

Renewing Philosophy

Action and Expression in Western Art A

paper presented to a

stud\- eroiip

verbal

on non-

communication

set

up bv the Ro\ al Socienunder the chairmanship

of \V. H. Thorpe and published

Hinde

in

in 1970.

R. A.

(ed.), Non-Verhal

Communication

(Cambndge,

1972);

reprinted in The Image and the

Eye (1982), pp. 78—104

I

The Problem

'It

only lacks the

would suggest

This traditional formula

voice.'

that painting

in praise

for the student

of 'non-verbal communication'. But,

lacks speech,

also lacks

animals rely course,

is

it

The answer

may

I

shall

wonder how

well

human

satisfv^

certain specific

trial

Art does not

and

start

this I

have argued that the creation of images

—

I

verisimilitude

suggested —

by constructing 'minimum models' which

this process the resources till

is

achieved

till

m a secular

'comes before matching.'

out by observing reality and trying to match

of the beholder's reaction

are gradually

it, it

modified

they 'match' the impression that

is

starts

m

desired. In

the image satisfies the requirements

made on

it.

Seen in

this light

the triumph of painting

Works of art have

we

fact satisfied succeeding generations

who approached them with different demands, but with a desire for convincing rendering of human expression. Indeed the literature on testifies to

out

the light

which art lacks have to be compensated for by other

need not doubt that works of art have in

media.

its

could ever have acquired the

paper will inevitably correspond to the

demands of

'Making'

error.

art

emotions.

propose in

have suggested elsewhere.'

process of

means

painting not only

blush or the frequency of eye contact are equally outside

reputation of rendering

I

alas,

most of the resources on which human beings and

m their contacts and interactions. The most essential of these, of

The sudden

which

art

movement. Art can represent neither the nod nor the headshake.

range. Indeed one

one

of works of

and sculpture might present ready-made material

the art

and sculpture over the limitations of their

traditionally

been praised precisely for 'only lacking

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

the voice

To

in other words, for

,

embodying everything of real

except speech.

life

would

dismiss this reaction simply as a conventional exaggeration

exclude the student of non-verbal communication from the realm of

seems more

fruitful

and

more cautious

also

art. It

to accept this reaction as a

testimony to the combined power of convention and conditioning in creating a

semblance of

reality, a

model

men

which

to

have responded as

if it

were

identical with a life situation.

If art

thus seen as an experiment

is

m

'doing without', an exercise in

reduction (conventionally referred to as 'abstraction'),

it

clear that the

is

history of styles cannot be seen simply as a slow approximation to one

on

particular solution. Different styles concentrate

moves, largely determined by the function the image

compensatory

different is

expected to perform in

a given civilization.

The most

obvious way of compensating for the absence of speech

intensity in ancient Egypt,

m

modern comic with

the

its

of

archaic Greece, in medieval art where scrolls

come out of the mouth of figures

m

is

method was used with varying

course by the addition of writing, and this

to

show what they

'balloons'.

We may

are saying, leave these

and once more

on one

side as

evading the problem of 'non-verbal' communication.

2 Legible Interaction

There

are at least

expressive

two requirements

for a

'still'

movements. The movements must

result

to be legible in terms

of

m configurations that can

be easily understood and must stand in contexts which are sufficiently

unambiguous

An

to be interpreted."

example

(Fig. 78)

which dates from the third millennium BC may

illustrate these postulates all the better

because the interaction depicted

cultural

but 'natural' and concerns 'non-verbal communication'

animals.

The Egyptian

calf

on

lifts

her head towards

his shoulders

not only

relief from the fourth

which turns it

its

head

and appears to

dynasty shows a

at a

low.

not

among

carrying a

group of cows, one of which

The movements

easily legible as significant deviations

man

is

represented are

from the normal or expected

postures of the animals, they also leave us in no doubt as to their expressive significance.

We know that the man

we almost hear we would have

low. If we asked

to say that the

is

taking the calf from the

man could not very well walk backwards

cow —

quite apart

why he should do

while

we know very

shown

Part

III:

so,

cow and thus

somewhat pedantically how we can be

to take the calf to the

Many of the

114

it

from the well

fact that

why he

sure,

in order

we would not know

takes the calf away.

resources of art for the depiction of expressive interaction are

in this little group. It

Arc and Psychology

reminds us from the

start that the transition

from

.

.

movements

physical interaction to anticipatory

on the part of the cow and the

intention

separation, only

we

3

movements attempting

interpret these

movements

Action and Expression on

This insight

the Stage

an old one.

is

eighteenth-century actor Biihler^

as

J. J.

a gradual one, there

is

no

calf to express their reaction to the

to overcome

it.

It is

up

to us whether

purposive or expressive.

and

It

is

in

Art

was developed with much subtlety by the

Engel, to

whose

Ideen zu einerMimik

(1785—6) Karl

has paid a justified tribute. Speaking of positive or negative reactions

to an 'external object', Engel observes that they are both

marked by an

'oblique position of the body'."^

When

desire approaches the object either to possess

and the

chest, that

is

the upper part of the body,

is

it

or to attack

it,

the head

shifted forward, not only

because this will enable the legs to catch up more quickly, but also because these parts are

most

through them.

easily set

Where

m motion and man

disgust or fear

thus strives

upper part of the body bends backwards before the

A

second observation which

work

IS

the following:

in a straight line

.

it

first

to satisfy his urge

makes him shrink back from the object the

will always

legs have started

moving

be confirmed where a vivid desire

is

.

.

at

always tends towards the object or away from the object

.

Engel describes the

human

parallel to

our animal example

between the child standing on tiptoes stretching

its

—

the interaction

arms towards the mother

and the mother bending down and extending her hands encouragingly towards her darling.

He

then proceeds to analyse reactions to more distant

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

of the

objects, the posture

gaping onlooker. In the

body

is

all

listener

these

who

overhear a conversation, the

tries to

movements of orientation the most

of

active part

turned towards the object of attention.

Engels analysis of the conflicting pulls of contrary drives strikingly foreshadows the descriptions of modern ethologists.-

When Hamlet

follows the ghost of his father his longing for the desired

discovery of a dreadful family secret has the overwhelming preponderance; but

longing

this

weakened by

is

his fear

of the unknown being from a strange world,

and increasingly weakened the nearer the prince comes to the ghost and the further he moves away

be

lively

from

his

companions. Hence

when he breaks away from

begins to walk,

it

body

the

Nor

is

companions with

his

should be without hurry or heat though

determination, gradually his step should

should bestride

movement should only

his

less

become more

cautious,

of posture

is

itself

used by

and

on

his

all

kind of

Engel also has

many

who

love in the actor's

anticipates his

and

coming

monologue. But he

is

Having

claim.''

things to say about

internal states, to imagined situations

revengeful rival

analysis.

nations as an expression of

evidence from Tahiti which appears to contradict this actor,

m expressive

and circumspection anthropological

reverence, he discusses with honesty

human

reactions to

objects, the clenched

fight,

also very

the

fist

of the

movement of horror

much

or of

aware of the role which

m explaining and communicating these reactions and sceptical even

speech plays

about the chances of pure mime. About painting, he

explicitly forbears to speak.^

have shown elsewhere'' that Engel had an important predecessor in Lord

Shaftesbury,

and the

who had attempted

'stills'

to bridge the gap between the

visible

m

the rendering of a transitory

Chamctensticks (1714) he discussed the

of the c^oicQ of Hercules

Whatever we may think of his

clues.

initial postulates,

m

legibility,

and

III:

m

which the hero

Art and Psychology

is

confronted by

reminds us of the relevance

the need for legibility and for clear contextual

our animal example), the vice versa.

his

latter.

a priori analysis, it

In art the two are obviously interdependent.

clues (as

moment. In

ways a painter could represent the story

(see Fig. 79),

Pleasure and Virtue and decides for the

of our two

movements of

of painting by suggesting how the past and the future could

somehow be made

Part

soft

increasingly pulled back into a vertical position.

asserted that a lowering

life

more

space, the whole movement should be more inhibited and

movements which must indeed obtrude

I

he

with firmness and

Engel unaware of the problem of the role of convention

As an

When

a threat.

still

less

may

The

clearer the situational

there be need for perfect

4

Syinholic

It is well

and Expressive Gestures

known

much concern

and

for clarity

legibility.

devices adopted towards this very

But

end may

it

be found that some of the

will

interfere

with the lucid rendering

of expressive movement. The conventions of ancient Egyptian

human

excluded the rendering of foreshortening.'' Every

shown

m

'conceptual' shape. It

is

artist

is

so turned as to present

of animals and

of our example to depict

figures

had

to be

us, precisely

its

most

lucid,

partly for anatomical reasons that these needs

interfered less with the rendering

allowed the

art strenuously

figure

which looks somewhat distorted to

a clear silhouette

because every part of the body

Where human

show

that 'primitive' or 'conceptual' styles of representation

are

shown

their

movements and thus

his little tragedy so movingly.

interacting

in

motion,

violent

as

in

representations of teamwork, or of fighting, the needs of legibility sometimes lead to a wrenching and twisting of the

body which somewhat hampers the

convincing rendering of expressive gestures. In the representation of social interaction recourse had therefore to be taken to social symbolism. Notoriously the important personage in Egyptian art

is

He

is

represented larger than are those on the lower rungs of the hierarchy. frequently

marked with

a sceptre or other insignia while those

he

commands

or supervises are represented in submissive postures. Moreover

known

it

is

well

that aU civilizations have developed standardized symbolic gestures

which approximate the vocabulary of a gesture

language.'" I have suggested in

another essay" that these ritualized gestures of prayer, of greeting, of

mourning

at funeral rites,

represented in

art.

They

of teaching or triumph

are

much more

are

among

easily fitted into the

the

first

to be

conventions of a

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

such

conceptual

style,

of human

interaction.

up

actions which set time."

The King

are bewailed:

Egyptian, than are the spontaneous movements

as the

These 'performative' gestures

a clear context

and

are

stands before his God, the

Noble

receives tributes, the

unambiguous representation even withm approach to the human body in action. It is well known that it is to Greek art I

which excludes the

a style

that

have suggested in Art and

we must look

it

required

the

or

illustration

by the epic

ological stories as told

even

for the conquest

dramatic

the

Be that

poets.''

realist

that the striving for this

Illusioji

mastery was determined by the function of art withm Greek

where

dead

these are types of juxtaposition which lend themselves to

all

of appearances.

self-explanatory

are

not concerned with the passage of

as

it

civilization,

of

evocation

may, Greek art

which compensate for the absence of movement

certainly developed devices

not by symbolic expression but by the creation of images of maximal instability.

made

Bodies are

to take

up positions which we know from

experience to be incapable of being maintained, muscles are tautened like a

drawn bow, garments begin transitormess.

By

itself

theoretically the interaction

fighting groups grappling in such situations

it

wind

to flutter in the

of figures could remain on

and parrying blows, or

no more possible than

is

to indicate speed

and

such a style need not be relevant to our topic, for

it

was

m

We

example to separate action from communication. aggression trying to ward off the

a purely physical level,

athletes wrestling.

coming thrust with

our

But even

initial

animal

of

see the victim a gesture

of

self-

protection that also suggests pleading, we see the victor in an attitude of

domination that suggests triumph or pride similar motifs in ancient art reveals the

conflicting

demands of maximal

legibility

solutions which best

do

formula on which only 'non-verbal

specifically

justice to these

slight variations

communication

a

A

study of these and

compromise between the

and maximal movement.'^ The

of both aggressor and victim must be

attitude

which

(Fig. 80).

need for

transitory, but lucid,

demands

will

and those

tend to be adopted

as a

need be played. Thus the moment between

human

beings

was

in

first

observed and rendered in art can never be determined with any

degree of precision.''

What

matters

is

the degree of

empathy expected and

aroused. If

it

really

became the task of Greek

witness of events he fruitful to

physical

118

Part

III:

look beyond

this

and psychological

Art and Psychology

art to turn the

knew from Homer and

demand

for a hard

interaction.

beholder into an eye-

other poets,

and

it

is

clearly

fast distinction

not

between

8o

Greek fighting group

from the Halicarnassus

Mausoleum, British

f.350 BC.

Museum, Londo

Eur\'stheus in his vat.

Detail from a hydna. BC. Louvre.

1.530

Pans

5

Theseus s

sailors

landing

Narrative and Interpretation

on Delos. Detail from the

We do not know how the Egyptians viewed the separation ot the calf from its

Francois \

mother, but

Museo

ase. c.yjo BC.

it is

.^rcheologico.

Florence

little

tragedy.

No

obvious that

empathy

I

have sentimentalized the scene

likely to

is

m

calling

it

a

have been expected on the part of the

beholder: even

m human

this appeal to

our responses which disting;uishes Greek narrative art of the

sixth

and

who on

fifth centuries

a

scenes there

is little

BC from most

evidence of such a demand.

earlier styles.

hvdria in Paris) has crept into a vat and

Hercules brings Cerberus

The

lifts

of Eurvstheus

fright

his

hands

Theseus

Eig. 8i); the joy of

s

It is

m horror as

sailors :'on the

Francois \ase in Florence) gesticulating and throwing up their arms pleasure as they land \^ienna)

who

m

Delos

hides his head

m

(Fig. 82); the

grief

when he

Achilles; the rapt attention of the Thracians

hear Orpheus sing Tig. joy as he finds a

leading

up

m'mph

83); the satAT

asleep

(on

— all these

sorrow of Ajax (on a cup loses his case for the

on

a

a jug in

are

wme

bowl

arms of

in Berlin)

Oxford) who

m m

who

dances with

examples taken from Greek

vases'^'

when Xenophon

m the

to the period in the early fourth century

Memorabilia represented Socrates discussing the subject of expression with the

painter Parrhasios and the sculptor Cleiton. In both these artists

must have

their attention

drawn

little

dialogues the

to the possibility of representing not

only the actions of the body but through the body the 'workings of the soul'.

Action and E.xpression

in

Western Art

119

Orpheus and Thracians. Detail from

^450

a krater,

Museen,

BC. Staatliche

Berlin

'How could one not even

imitate that which has neither shape nor colour

visible?' asks

the puzzled Parrhasios, and

is

.

.

.

and

is

told of the effect of

emotions on people's looks: 'Nobility and dignity, self-abasement and

prudence and understanding, insolence and

servility,

and

the face

The

of the body whether

in the attitudes

vulgarity, are reflected in

still

or in motion.''^

injunction has been repeated in countless variations throughout the

of

literature

particular

art

which

is

based on the

Not

classical tradition.

works of painting or sculpture praised for

their

many

conveying the character and emotions of the figures portrayed,

on

art since the

Renaissance

(e.g.

symptoms of

and analysed. Interesting

the history of our studies,"^

Expressive

movements

sequence to

tell

it

between

difference

crucial

us

are

how

must be admitted art

treatises

by Alberti, Leonardo, Lomazzo, Le Brun)

contain sections in which the outward 'passions' are described

only are

mastery in

and

life

emotions or

the

as these discussions are for

that

most of them bypass the

which was our starting-point.

movements and once we

this configuration started

lack the explanatory

and where

leads to,

it

ambiguity will increase to an unexpected extent, unless, of course, the absence

of movement

may be sailor

is

compensated for by situational

cues. Eurystheus

laughter

throws up his arms for joy on landing in Delos his

head to conceal not

m having brought off a splendid trick,

wake the sleeping nymph. There

Outrageous

(by

Bob

Reisner

and

is

a

how

a firm lead

120

Part

III:

know from great is

is

his

his

humorous book

Hal

reinterpretations of famous masterpieces with

moreover,

may

Kapplow)

more or less

the varying readings of the

his

may be bored hands

m order

called Captions

attempting

such

wit. Psychologists,

Thematic Apperception

the spread of possible interpretations of any picture unless

given by the context or caption. Experiments have

Art and Psychology

have been hit

sorrow but

the Thracians

by Orpheus's songs and even the satyr may jump and clap

Test"'

his vat

extending his hands because he cannot wait to stroke Cerberus, the

who

by an arrow, Ajax may be hiding

to

m

shown

that if

we

an individual figure from the snapshot of an emotional scene

isolate

it

only exceptionally allow us to guess the elements of the situation/ Even

facial

'

when

expression

ambiguous.

isolated

from casual snapshots turns out

The contorted

were laughing, while a

of

face

a wrestler

man opening

may look

mouth

his

to eat

will

to be highly

in isolation as if

may appear

he

to be

yawning/'

Thus in

art stands in

need of very

clear

and unambiguous cues to the situation

which the movement occurs. In particular we have to know whether

movement should be Fig.

84

IS

easily misinterpreted as a gesture

movement of extreme

obeisance.

of submission, that

his

hands

— he

is

man

IS

not necessarily self-explanatory.

interpretation implies setting the

is

cowering,

trying to grab as

miraculous food that has fallen from heaven. people

is

an expressive

We have to know the context, the story of the

Gathering of Manna, to understand why the

and stretching out

a

interpreted as predominantly utilitarian or expressive.

It

A

much

on the ground

as possible

of the

representation of interacting

must be interpreted and

this

movements into an imaginary context.

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

most periods of

In

familiar to a

good

art

such a context

members of the

culture.

deal of symbolic lore to

The

mark

a

is

given by situational cues which are

painter and the sculptor

personage

demon, they introduce further emblems or no

that

as

make use of

king or beggar, angel or

'attributes' to label individuals so

difficulty arises in recognizing Christ or the

Buddha, the Nativity or

Rape of Proserpina.

the

Take the

of the

fifth

relief of Orpheus

and Eurydice

(Fig. 85) after a

Greek composition

century BC. First we must recognize the protagonists by what are

called their 'attributes', the singers lyre, or the travellers hat

of Hermes, the

guide of the dead. Only then can we identify the episode here represented, the fatal

moment when Orpheus

and has looked back

at

has disobeyed the condition imposed on

Eurydice,

who

Thus we may 'compare and

god.

Egyptian example

(Fig. 78).

is

therefore taken back to

contrast'

in fact in subtle departure

of the three actors

122

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

is

most

the

without irreverence with our

The Greek work does not deviate much from that

'conceptual' clarity that presents the posture It IS

it

him

Hades by

from

this

of every

figure at

its

most

legible,

normal position that the relationship

delicately conveyed.

These small deviations

are in

Hermes

the direction postulated by Engel's analysis.

is

seen to bend back

he gently takes Eurydice by the wrist to return her to the realm of

slightly as

The two lovers face each other, her hand rests on the shoulders of the guide who had failed her, her head is slightly lowered as they gaze at each other Hades,

in a

mute

farewell.

There

nothing contradicts the

we have grasped Such

its

mood we

Sophocles or Euripides.

must

rely

on the kind of beholder who would

The

relief, in

of

to relive

it

in

human

movement was used

is

not

to enable those

at the

art in

also

hands of

a

really created to tell

who know

terms. This reliance

of the great period of Greek

characteristic

myth

a familiar

other words,

Orpheus and Eurydice but

from childhood

expressive

readily project into this composition, once

to appreciate the reworking

the story of

in their blank features, but

import.

a subtle evocation

know how

no overt expression

is

the story

on suggestion

is

which every resource of

to convey the interaction

of individuals. These

resources were lost or discarded as soon as art was predominantly used to drive

home

a

message and proclaim

a sacred truth.

6 The Pictographic Style

During declining

antiquity, with the rise of Imperial cults and, above

the development of Christian

gestures.''

These gestures of

rapidly to set

art,

new

conceptual methods and a

we can observe

to

make

as

the scene legible.

all

unambiguous

these are types

Such impressive

The Emperor

legibility

is

of juxtaposition

a representation for those

the conventions of gesture language, as not.

mourning help

army, the teacher instructing his pupils,

the defeated submitting to the victor,

who do

the re-emergence of frankly

prayer, instruction, teaching or

sacrificing, the general addressing the

know

with

standardization of symbolic or conceptual

up the context and

which lend themselves to

all,

do scenes of combat

demanded where

who

for those

the rendering of a

holy writ almost forbids that free dramatic evocation that Greek art had evolved. Moreover,

it

needs

much mastery on

the part of the artist

beholder to isolate and interpret expressive movements interaction.

Thus

late

antique and

the illustration of narrative texts.

from the

freer tradition

stilled the vivid

m the context of vivid

early Christian art generally played safe in

An

of classical

and the

almost pictographic idiom was distilled

art.

The need

for

unambiguous messages

and subtle interplay of action and reaction that marked the

masterpieces of the earlier style." Instead we are frequently

shown

the

protagonist, Christ, a saint, or a prophet or even a pagan hero, standing erect,

with a gesture of 'speaking' or command, the centre of the scene to which

all

other figures must be related.

To

the student of non-verbal

communication

this

extreme 'pictographic'

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

convention the

of interest precisely because the need to turn

is

illiterate'"^

art into a 'script for

brings out both the potentialities and the limitations of the

86

The

Raising of Lazarus,

r.520 AD.

medium and

can serve

as a

point of reference

m

the consideration of other

Mosaic.

Apollmare Nuovo,

Ravenna

styles.

The

S.

pictographic style takes no chance w^ith naturalism. There

pretence, implied or overt,

of presenting

a

is

no

snapshot of a given scene such

as

87

Moses

Striking the Rock.

Catacomb

might have been seen and photographed by an imaginary witness. In style

makes

it

easy to

show up

the fallacies in this conception

fact the

of art'' which

Maius, Via Nomentana,

Rome

have haunted criticism since Lessings Laocoon. Neither the prayer nor the speech, the wailing or the submission

is

imagined to be recorded

a

at

moment of time. The assembled pictographs relate to a story in the past which IS now accomplished and complete. Christ stands with extended hand in front of an edifice that contains a mummy, to symbolize the Raising particular

of Lazarus

(Fig. 86).

Moses

is

seen with outstretched hand holding a rod,

while water gushes from the rock as in

would be

many catacomb

foolish to ask whether the act of striking

has anticipated the effect by showing the

simply conveys the story of the water miracle

One might protagonist

The

in fact translate the is

—

is

It

over or whether the artist

of water. The juxtaposition

much

as a brief narrative

would.

pictograph into a sentence in which the

the subject, the action the verb

pictograph

jet

paintings (Fig. 87).

to use a distinction

I

and the tomb or rock the

have found useful

—

object.

represents the

'what' but not the 'how', the verb but not the adverb or any adjectival clause.

7 The Chorus

There

Effect

are several

ways

in

which

art can introduce these

not only the fact of the event but also some of invariably

III:

significance,

and these

draw on the resources of 'non-verbal communication, that

expressive as distinct

Part

its

enrichments to convey

Art and Psychology

is

on

from symbolic movement. Perhaps the most general

painting, 4th

century AD. Coemeterium

88 Giotto, The Raising of Lazarus, r.1306. Fresco.

Arena Chapel, Padua

m

method

art has

been to

clarify the

meaning of the action by showing the

When Christ brings Lazarus before Him in awe and gratitude

reaction of onlookers. prostrate themselves

by

their gestures

and movements that they

mention the bystanders holding already far gone! Fig. 88.)

who had come

of action and the

The

two

sisters

while the crowd shows

(Not

to

remind us that the corpse was

throw up

arms

their

hands to drink

action, and, in

in

(Fig. 89).

which can best be described

reaction, the reacting

meaning of the

response.

his

are witnessing a miracle.

their noses to

to witness the scene

art

life,

When Moses strikes water from the rock, the Elders

thirsting Israelites extend their eager

themes of Western

to

in terms

wonder and the There

are

many

of this formula

crowds providing the 'chorus' explaining

doing

so, setting

the key for the beholder's

student of expression can here verify some of the analysis by

Shaftesbury and Engel mentioned above.

The

orientation of the figures

towards or away from the central event can express admiration, aggression, flight or awe.

But

art, like

the stage, has also explored less obvious reactions

the depiction of great events fearful

movement of

the

— the

hand

'autistic' gestures

to the head, the abstracted look

immobilized by surprise and, to mention the

way

a bystander

may

neighbour's eye as if to equally

moved

m

of the contemplative, the of those

a frequent but very subtle formula,

turn away from the main event to look into his

make

sure that others, too, have seen the

same and

are

(Fig. 90)/^

8 Expression and Emphasis

Needless to

say, it is

somewhat too schematic

to call purposeful

movements

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

125

'action

,

and movements which

are an expression

more or

Both action and reaction can be states,

less

of an inner

state 'reaction.

communicative of psychological

provided we have sufficient context to interpret them. This

a point

is

where the language' of gestures can be compared with the language of words

—

every symbolic

emotion;

movement

also has a 'tone'

which conveys character and

can be tense or relaxed, urgent or calm. There are countless

it

Western

traditional subjects in

art

which allow us to study these

of what Dante

calls

'visible

Annunciation he

says:

'The angel that came to earth with

possibilities

speech'. Describing a relief representing the a decree

of peace

appeared before us so truthfully carved in a gentle gesture that

One would

appear to be a silent image.

on

is

wax

sealed onto

In what

I

.' .

.

(^Purgatorio, x,

ancilla

.

did not

have sworn that he said "Ave"

to her attitude there was impressed that speech "Ecce

a figure

it

.

.

.

.

and

Dei" exactly as

34—45).

have called the 'pictographic'

mode

this

exchange would be

expressed simply by the Angel extending his hand in a speaking gesture while the Virgins reaction and response were confined to a lifting of her palms

movement of surprise find

more about

(Fig. 91).

the supreme

on seeing the angel

'she

manner of salutation

But on reading the gospels the

moment of the

was troubled

this

handmaid of the Lord; be

should be' before the it

unto

me

Part

III:

Arc and Psychology

and

final

cast

ma

would

would read

that

m her mind what

submission, 'Behold the

according to thy

Any artist who wanted to depart from

126

Incarnation, he

at his saying

artist

word.'''

the pictographic

method of narrative

to emulate the representation Giotto, The Presentation of the Virgin, c.i^o6.

feel his

The Annunciation. From Swabian Gospel

in his vision

had therefore to

—

the

way

fear

happen

right extent

to

know through

the writings of Leonardo da Vinci that the

of departing from pictographic

dramatic evocation was a subject of debate

clarity

among

towards the Greek style of artists

of the Renaissance.

i:.ii5o.

Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart

Dante had seen

an actor trying to express a complex emotion

and wonder turn into unquestioning acceptance.

We

manuscript,

like

Fresco.

Arena Chapel, Padua

a

way

Chiding those of his fellow specialists in portraiture

need for universality

m

artists

— Leonardo comes to an

artist

encountered Alberti

m

especially the

exploring

in

their

m

jugglers.

his

own

—

in the

about

look

like

'duellers'.'^^

later, identifies

Filarete,"'

the target of these

Now

Leonardo,

who

paintings, goes over to the counter-attack. Specialists

m

m portraiture,

own works are are lazy and sluggish. Thus when they

for looking as if 'possessed' or like

Leonardo concedes, there can

like

these matters because their

works showing more movement and greater alertness than

them

'decorum'.

must have heard similar remarks passed about

without movement and they themselves

attack

of movement

name of

he says that Donatello's disputing Apostles are gesticulating

he remarks, lack judgement

see

of the Quattrocento

general terms of the need for restraint, since

limbs

paraphrasing this remark some twenty years strictures

—

importance of observing

artists

representation

the

amount of opposition

the 1430s speaks

throwing

figures

furthest

a certain

and

Tace painters'

speak of his favourite topic, the

Those Florentine

the expression of mental states.

who had gone

whom he regarded as mere

also be excesses

Morris

their

dancers.'''

own, they

Admittedly,

m the other direction."

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

One must

observe decorum, that

movements of

the

mind

.

display a timid reverence

presumption that the

who looked

is

A

accord with the

should not be represented with such audacity and

it

annunciation he wanted to chase

as if in the

enemy, and

window

m

effect looks like despair ... I have seen these days

chamber with gestures which looked Vilest

movements must be

the

thus if one has to represent a figure which should

.

.

Our Lady looked

as offensive as

Our Lady

an angel

out of her

one would make towards the

wanted to throw herself out of the

as if she

in despair.

m

painting

Glasgow

(Fig. 92)

from the workshop of

almost

Botticelli

answers to Leonardo s satirical description.

But Leonardo, being Leonardo, did not remain content with these

He

polemical remarks.

went on

on the problem posed by such

reflecting

disparate judgements about works of art and came to the conclusion that the reactions of his fellow artists were invariably connected with their

and temperament. 'He who moves

who moves them them but

little

as they should,

his

own

figures too

makes them look

will call the correct

much

sleepy,

and proper movement

own

style

will think that

and he who moves ''possessed".

watch Leonardo himself groping for the 'correct and

It is interesting to

proper' rendering of 'timid reverence' in an early study for an Adoration of

Magi (Fig.

93).

Once more

mode of illustrating

may be

it

are

early Christian sarcophagi,

in the

course, the symbolic act

must

also be expressive

of the Kings who have come from the gesture of presentation

m

unmoved youngster child, to the

one of the needs the posture and

way

vivant

artist seeks to satisfy.

as to present the clearest silhouette.

and

it is

figures were

this

the

among

who as

his solution

He

Part

III:

Botticelli,

Art and Psychology

He varies

does not even look

at the

he moves forward on his is

obviously only

turning the actors in such

None of these

attitudes

is

really a

taken up and held in a

tableau

other things which Leonardo clearly wanted if the justified strictures

of excessive movement.

with that of his contemporaries one might imagine

that the criticism that Leonardo's figures looked too lethargic

come from

m the minds

also takes great care that the

legible,

wmg; each could be

not to incur the

Comparing

For Leonardo, of

newborn Saviour.

But the right degree of emphasis

movement remain completely

movement caught on

the

and submission from the upright and rather

who humbles himself

gift.

a cloth.

of what goes on

afar to greet the

the left-hand corner

old King

knees to extend his

where in

figures

symbolic act of paying homage (Fig. 94),

hands carrying the presents often covered by

their

a

on

approached by three identical

Magi

recognizable garb of the

the

instructive to recall the 'pictographic'

the Biblical episode

and Child

the Virgin

he

whose

later style

is

might have

indeed almost 'possessed' (Fig.

95).

9^

School of Botxicelli, The Annunciation, f.1490.

Gallery and

Art

Museum,

Glasgow

93

Leonardo da \ 'inci, study for The Adoration of the Magi. f.1481.

Drawing. Musee du

Louvre, Pans

The The Adoration of the Magi. Detail from a sarcophagus, 4th centur},\D. S.

opposite objection, that Leonardo

mad', might have

come from

s

own

figures are 'gesticulating like

whose

his other Florentine rival Ghirlandaio,

Adoration provides a foil of stolid

immobility to Leonardo's dramatic gestures

Giovanni Bactisu,

Ravenna

(Fig. 96).

Leonardo's interesting observations can be generalized to apply not only to the

varvmg standards of artists, but Northerner

that the

will

also to those

of other

critics.

We all know

tend to find the expressive movements of the Latin

nations over-emphatic and theatrical. In writing about Leonardo's Last

Goethe" had to remind

and

culture,

mcredulous intensit\^

judge

comparing

it

readers of this characteristic of Italian

thev are told that Leonardo

m

of gesticulation he used

disciples' reaction to Christ's

certainly

German

have found that contemporary English students can be

I

if

his

Supper,

the

may

really

have intended the

the Last Supper (Fig. 97) to convey the

words that one of them would betray Him.'^

emotional

We

import of an expressive movement by

with some mean, just

as

we do

the loudness of speech or other

dimensions of emphasis.

Thus

the st\de of movement represented

m art will depend on a great many

Action and Expression

in

Western

An

129

of emphasis, or the demand for

variables including the current level

which

varies

restraint,

not only from period to period and nation to nation but also

95 Botticelli, The Adoration of the

from

class to class.

Few

discussed in treatises

aspects of 'manners*

on

acting

and on

on the whole, implied

Nobility,

art

and behaviour were more eagerly

Magi,

c.i'^oo.

Uffizi,

Fl orence

than this question of 'decorum'.

restraint or at least a stylized type

of

emphasis, while the vulgar could disport themselves more freely and more

Ghirlandaio,

Br ^^i<

of the Magi, 1488.

Ospedale

degli Innocenti, Florence

spontaneously, as in pictures of carnivals, of taverns, of the barber pulling a tooth. Naturally the resources of expressiveness continued to be adapted to different ends in conformity with these different ideals. It has

Church of the Counter-Reformation favoured the representation of

that the

martyrdoms Italy

to rouse the beholder. It

is

certain that the seventeenth century

developed new formulae for extreme and ecstatic

By that time, of course, akin to

its

art

role in classical Greece. It

was not mainly there to

to those

who knew

resources

It is characteristic

it.

may become

much admired

artists

is

certainly true

mastery in conveying

for the exercise

of

human

by post-Renaissance

maximum of dramatic Naturally in art no

of such mastery.

artists

Just as the

passions in his music, so the subjects

were frequently intended to permit a

effects.

less

than in drama these effects in their turn were subject

Poussin illustrated the story of Moses striking the rock (Fig. 98) three times in his

III:

human

a sacred or secular

to the rules of 'decorum', particularly in seventeenth-century France.

Part

of the

of the average opera was chosen to allow the composer to express or

depict the widest range of selected

the sacred

of art that ultimately the display of

that the illustration

becomes rather the occasion

libretto

The

tell

a function

and imaginative way

in a convincing

part of a novel purpose. This

rendering of expressive movement.

emotions was so

it

m

states.

may be said to have largely returned to

story to the illiterate but rather to evoke

story

been claimed''

Art and Psychology

life

—

he took great care that the thirsting

—

as

When he did

Israelites in the

desert were restramt.

made

to express their response to the miracle with nobihtv

His rendering; of the Gathering; of

Manna

famous academy discourse hv the painter Le Brun. who conformity

of

the

yarious

types

to

classical

stage,

a reaction. Epithets such as 'stagey' or 'theatrical' are

words of praise when applied to works of b\-

academic

art

with

its

'grand manner'

art, is

stressed

and the gradual

the

The

yery

howeyer,

also

precedents/''

approximation of pictorial representations to the

produced

and

was the subject of a

not necessarily eclipse suffered

closely linked with the reaction

against classical rhetoric in fayour of a less formal

and

less

public display of

emphatic emotion.

Accion and Expression

in

Western Art

131

9 Inwardness and Ambiguity

The

99

of Northern

tradition

art,

less

immediately affected by

classical

The Hortulus Adoration of

influences, taste for a

had

on developed

earlier

more inward, more

pictorial devices

and

lyrical

less

which appealed to

this

m

art.

dramatic expression

Instead of concentrating on expansive movement, the artist relied

and

physiognomies

of

characterization

i-

facial

^

A

expression. I

composition appeared towards the end of the fifteenth century dramatis personae are

must be read

shown

and

in close-ups

all

to the Christ child (Fig. 99) or

on contrasting

on the

type J L

of

m which the

offer their gifts

the fierce aggression of Christ s

tormentors with the Saviour's patience.

Northern by

art, like

drama of Shakespeare, was

the

altogether less

hemmed m

this may explain the fact that in human reactions is to be found in the Rembrandt, who had studied and absorbed both

and decorum, and

classical rhetoric

painting too the greatest portrayer of Protestant North, in traditions.

Once more

it is

instructive to

compare

the 'pictographic'

method of

Apollmare Nuovo

(Fig. 100) illustrates the

Then took

And

Peter followed afar

maid beheld him This

Part

III:

man was

as

off.

down

And when

he sat by the

Art and Psychology

fire

And

One of the

mosaics of

fire,

m the midst of

down among them. But

a certain

and earnestly looked upon him, and

he denied him, saying,

Woman,

I

S.

22: 54—62).

into the high priest's house.

they had kindled a

together, Peter sat

also with him.

way of narration with

Denial of Peter (Luke

him and brought him

they him, and led

the hall, and were set

early Christian art.

his

Bayensche

said,

know him

Munich

loo

St Peters Denial,

Mosaic.

the psychological interaction

Magi who

Master,

Magi, c.i^go.

Staatsbibliothek,

m the features.'' Thus the artist may concentrate on representing

the expression of devotion in the heads of the three

the

S.

f.520.

Apollinare

Nuovo, Ravenna

Rembrandt,

St Peter's

Denial, f.u-56.

Rijksmuseum,

Amsterdam

not.

And

And

Peter said,

after a little while

Man,

am

I

not.

confidently affirmed, saying. Galilaean.

And

Peter said,

another saw him, and

And

Of a

Man,

the

word

the cock crow, thou shaft deny

The Ravenna mosaic raises her

hand

m

a

fire,

but

after

of the Lord, thrice.

And

sayest.

And

how

Rembrandt

at first glance

it

another

upon

a

Peter.

he had said unto him, Before

who

The maid

shrinks back and

(Fig. loi) evokes the entire scene

would seem

The maid

is

Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

speaking gesture towards St Peter,

speech into movement.

them.

immediately,

turned, and looked

represents the essential elements in the story.

vividly signals his denial.

camp

art also of

about the space of one hour

And the Lord

me

Thou

truth this fellow also was with him: for he

know not what thou

I

while he yet spake, the cock crew.

And Peter remembered

said,

that he

is

less intent

on

by the

translating

holds a candle close to Peter's face to

scrutinize his features but he merely

lifts

one hand

m

a

movement which

is

much

less

taken

m isolation the figure may simply be shown to speak or even to make an

unambiguous than

inviting gesture asking IS

not

scene

that

of the

one of the other

early Christian mosaicists. Indeed,

figures to

come

forward. But the figure

m isolation and thus Rembrandt compels us to picture the whole tragic m our mind, the anxious old man sadly facing the inquisitive woman

and the two tough

soldiers

what makes the picture Christ

m

whose presence amply accounts

particularly unforgettable

the dark background,

who

is

for his denial.

But

the barely visible figure of

has been facing His accusers and

turning round, as the Bible says, to look at His erring disciple.

It is

is

the absence

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

133

of any

of any unambiguous, gesture which prevents us from

'theatrical', that is

reading off the story as if it were written on scrolls and mvolves us

The

deeply in the event.

all

more

the

very element of ambiguity and of mystery makes us

read the drama in terms of inner emotions and once we are attuned to this reading we mcreasingly project expressions than

Latin

we

The

style.

more mtensity

on

into these calm gestures

of the beholder, who must know the

the part its

quiet

demands much more

it

universal significance

he

if

and

the extrovert gesticulations of the

Rembrandt demands

painting by

prolonged meditation. Moreover,

pondered

mto

are likely to read

scrutiny

and

active participation

Biblical story

and have

to understand the poignancy

is

of

Peter s expression and of Christ's unseen gaze.

Speaking somewhat schematically,

may be argued

it

from the

that

Renaissance to the eighteenth century the function of art was conceived in the

same way

as

m ancient Greece — the artist should show his mettle

had been

it

by interpreting known

was the 'how' and not the 'what' that the

texts. It

connoisseur admired and pondered.

He

appreciated the way the painter

rendered a particular episode from the Bible or from the Classics and desired to share

and understand the reaction of participants through an

imaginative empathy.

It

is

of course, that

here,

Rembrandt

is

act

of

supreme

precisely because he has discovered

and developed the perfect mean between

the unrealistic pictographic gesture

and the indeterminate representation of

an enigmatic movement.

The importance

for art

of mobilizing the beholder's projective

order to compensate for the limitations of the in a variety

of

which suggest

The

fields.

light

medium

activities

indeterminate outlines of Impressionist pictures

and movement

are a case

m

Such experiments

point.

should be of interest to the psychologist of perception for what they about our reactions to

real-life situations.

non-verbal communication. There situations the

or moving.

response that a great

in non-verbal

in old

iH

human

artist

such

IS

is

also the

most

telling

and depth of our

as

Rembrandt knows how

to evoke. Provided

is

m

the greatest works of

record of movements such as actually occur

realistic

illustrations

with

much

of the medium would allow one to expect.

true despite the fact that an inventory

master paintings would be

of expressive movements used

likely to reveal a surprisingly limited range.

The

reasons for this restriction should have

Part

Art and Psychology

III:

of

this richness

beings. It

communication we can study these

profit than the limitations

This

us

to think that in such real

we do not make the mistake of looking

dramatic narration for a

more

no reason

tell

also apply to the study

appreciate ambiguity, ambivalence and conflict in the

reactions of our fellow

therefore

is

This may

most unambiguous gesture or expression

We learn to

m

can be demonstrated

become

clear

from the preceding

examples. Perhaps the most decisive of them

m

the need for conceptual clarity

the posture presented to the beholder, which rules out a large range of

m

movements the IS

is

which limbs would be too much foreshortened or hidden for

movement to

explain itself Needless to say, neither this nor any other rule

and subsidiary

absolute,

figures can often

be shown in postures of greater

complexity or obscurity. However, the astonishment with which the

first

snapshots were greeted shows that the average observer rarely notices,

more

alone remembers, the

transient

movements, which were therefore

excluded from the traditional vocabulary of that

let

art.

We

must

once more

stress

m this as m other respects the realistic rendering of life situations did not

arise

from simple imitation but from the adjustment of

a

conceptual or

pictographic tradition.

lo Alternative Functions I

have emphasized the interdependence of art and function because

recognition helps us to escape from a dilemma which

and criticism of

still

haunts the history

m

terms of progress,

Originally this history was told

art.

interrupted by periods of decline.

It is this

its

conception of history that we find

m the authors of classical antiquity and m those from the Renaissance to the who describe the gradual acquisition of mastery in the rendering of the human anatomy, of space, of light, texture and expression. To nineteenth century,

the twentieth century, which has witnessed the deliberate

abandonment of

come

these skills

on the part of its

look naive.

No style of art is said to be better or worse than any other. We may

accept this verdict

withm

artists, this

interpretation of history has

limits provided

it

does not tempt us into an

untenable relativism concerning the achievement of certain aims rendering of non-verbal communication

We

a perceptive It

occurs

m

the

m

the mastery of

m the discovery of perfect solutions. Kenneth Clark, m

and

essay,'''

— and

a case in point.

have a right to speak of evolution and of progress

certain problems

as

is

to

has singled out such a problem, the meeting and embrace

the story of the Visitation,

perfection towards what

may be

and has shown

called a 'classic' form.

We

its

progressive

can acknowledge

such perfection without forgetting the possibility of alternative solutions

once

a shift

m the problem occurs.

Unfortunately the history of art has tended for too long to fight shy of this type of investigation.

We have no systematic study of eye contacts m art^" and

even the exact development of facial expression

would not be possible

map of our knowledge. their existence

is all

but unknown. Clearly

for this essay to reduce these large blank patches

All that can

still

be done,

m conclusion,

is

it

on the

to point to

and to the location of some of them.

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

135

have mentioned one at least by implication: there must be a great

I

difference between a

paintmg that

known

illustrates a

story

and another that

Haynes Flirtation,

wishes to

tell

anecdotal pictures.

a story.

No

history exists of this second category, the so-called

pamtmg which

most

flourished

Indeed twentieth-century

in the

mneteenth-century salon

¥.ing. Jealousy ami

1874. Victoria

and Albert Museum,

London

have covered the whole genre with

critics

such a blanket of disapproval that we are only

now beginning

to notice this

Sir

William QuiUer

Orchardson, The

phase in the history of art.^" It is likely,

find a

good

however, that the student of non-verbal communication would

deal of interest

m these systematic attempts to condense a typical

dramatic scene into a picture without any more contextual aids than, most, a caption. Clearly study of the

many of

realistic stage rather

remains that they

made

a caption.

head,

is

The

flirting girl

immediately

these painters

Flirtation

much

Or

'autistic'

is

the

gesture of the

see the

girl's left

woman from

movements whatever we read Lister, 'she

is

a little too obvious

hand

is

.

(Fig.

by subjects who do not

this scene

the back

.

It

is

would be

Orchardson

.

103).

It

interpretations, for

and have to project into her

in the man's expression.

walking off in a huff

and genteel,

expressive enough.

of

According to

Raymond

the man's eyes following her with a

somewhat puzzled though obstinate expression posture

painting

m need of

awkward but pleased reaction of the

know the caption. One could certainly think of alternative we only

a

with her inviting look, her hands resting on her

intelligible as

interesting to test the interpretations

after all

The

(1874, Fig. 102), hardly stands

The First Cloud (1887) by

take

must have profited from

enriched vocabulary.

young man. The expression of jealousy may be though the

at the

than from an observation of life, but the fact

use of a very

by Haynes King, Jealousy and

.'^' . .

At any rate

his expressive

a novelty to art.

would be

interesting to trace the

development of these novel means and

m particular to examine the role which book illustration on the one hand and photography on the other played

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

First

Cloud, 1887. Tate Gallery,

in this

development.

One

thing seems to

me

London

Given the story-tellmg function of anecdotal

sure.

also to trace another series

representation. In fact, if

of progressive

we go back

we should be enabled

art

m any other type of of this art m the genre

skills in this as

to the roots

paintings of the Netherlands and if we stop to examine the the

first

deliberate story-teller,

that there

One artist

could think of other topics and social functions which have driven the

towards the exploration of non-verbal communication. Advertising, for

instance, frequently

demands

who

the signalling of rapturous satisfaction

on the

who

uses a

specialized

pretty

housewife

eats his breakfast cereals, the

man smoking

washing powder or the young

a cigarette.

m the exploration of erotic enticement, the or

girl

recommends

mvitmg smile of

the

a typewriter. Clearly the

photographer

are likely to

know

stylization that produces the

a great deal

optimum

the

commercial

It

has equally

'come hither look* of

secretary artist

who

ostensibly

and the commercial

about the degree of realism and

results for this

the changing reactions of the public to certain

may

will in all likelihood find

like or dislike the ultimate result.

part of the child

the

methods used by

of enrichment and refinement regardless of

a gradual process

is

whether we

William Hogarth, we

purpose and also about

means and methods.

Finally

point once more to the unexplored realm of the 'comics' with their

conventions of

facial expressions

'pop' art. Art

long and

is

life is

we

own

and gestures which have penetrated into

short.

Author^s Postscript

In conclusion a further elucidation of the use of the term 'expression' relation to art

may be

useful.

The

traditional usage here adopted,

m

which

applies this term to the expression of the emotions of the figures in a dramatic illustration (Laocoon, the Pietd), has

approach of twentieth-century

work of art the

as

most ancient usage which

The

effects

relates art

which so frequently regards the

inner

states.^'

To

these

The

may be added

predominantly to the emotions

it is

of these usages can best be exemplified

The Greeks

(including Plato) concentrated

of music on the emotions, which ranged from magical

creation of moods.

opera

artist's

interplay

the history of musical theory.

the

aesthetics,

an expression of the

capable of arousing.^^

indeed been partly superseded by the

m on

efficacy to the

dramatic theory of music favoured by the revivers of

m the Renaissance and the Baroque stressed the power of music to depict It was only m the

or paint the emotions of the noble hero or the desolate lover.

Romantic period composer's attitude

that

moods and

may

music was interpreted

as

an expression of the

sentiments. It will be observed that this change of

leave the correlation

between certain types of music and certain

types of emotion unaffected: the proverbial trumpet call

may

be seen as

Action and Expression

in

Western Art

arousing, depicting or manifesting war-like feelings. Interest in these aspects

changes with the changing social functions of music. visual arts.

The

magical function of arousal

may

It is

reach far back to apotropaic

images and survives in religious, erotic and commercial an expression

autonomy of

of

the

personality

artists

found

art only

art. Interest in art as

and emotion presupposes an

in certain societies

such as Renaissance

Indeed Leonardo's observations on the link between an his dramatic

the same with the

Italy.

artists character

powers quoted above (pp. 127—8) point the way to

and

this evaluation.

Editor's Postscript

Gombrich's interest in gesture and expression dates back

Kris on is

the expressions

on

the faces

discussed in 'The Study of Art

of

and

the statues

the

of

to his

early years

the founders at

Study of Man] reprinted

in

on

the

interpretation

of Venus in

Primavera;

it

may

be

his

Tributes.

exploration further in his essay 'Botticelli^s Mythologies] in which there (2jj)

and

Naumberg

is

work with

Cathedral;

this

He

this

moved

a remarkablefootnote

found on

pp.

2.0/j.~y

of

Symbolic Images. Other important essays on in

Art and

in

Art' and 'The

in

The Image and

Illusion;

Expression' in (Baltimore, (ed.),

the

same theme

are:

Moment and Movenmit

Mask and

the Tace:

Charles

S.

Singleton

(ed.),

in

Heinz Demisch's Erhobene

a related theme

p. is

Interpretation,

Theory and

Art and Psychology

Practice Woodfeld

Hande

in the

on the History of Art, and Burlington Magazine^

the

l^l, no.

8jg.

& Miranda

Images and Understandings

Montagu,

The

ed.

Weston-Smith (Cambridge, iggo).

Jennifer Montagu's doctoral dissertation, mentioned in the footnotes, has in a revised form: Jennifer

III:

hfe and Art'

(Manchester, igg6). Also worth looking at are

Reflections

'Pictorial Instructions' in

Horace Barlow, Colin Blakemore

Part

in

t<)6g); 'Four Theories of Artistic Expression, reprinted in Richard

(December igSg),

On

'The Experiment of Caricature]

The Perception of Physiognomic Likeness

Gombrich on Art and Psychology

10/j.i

X

Art] 'Ritualized Gesture and Expression

the Eye; 'The Evidence of Images IT The Priority of Context over

two reviews: 'Expressions of Despair' review of

Chapter in

now

been published

Expression of the Passions (New Haven,

and Art

Illusion Extracts from the chapter 'Illusion

and

Art', in

R. L.

Gregory and E. H.

Gombrich in

(eds.), Illusion

Xature and Art (London,

973). PP- 199-^07, 225-43

Simulation and stimulation It

may be

useful to follow Plato

and to

start a discussion

of

illusion

considering the lowest layers, what he would have called the vegetative Clearly any organism stimuli in a specific

has been hard at 'take action'

reports.

work decoding

it

Thus

the 'piU'

may be

these 'messages'

these

and external

which cause the organism to

effects

by the simulation of

false

said to act by sending out a false chemical

pregnancy has occurred

effect that

While

to react to internal

to adapt to diverse conditions. Science

and even to achieve certain

message to the inhibited.

must be 'programmed'

way which allows

by

soul.'

and many similar

effects are

after

which ovulation

is

not directly 'monitored'

by the conscious mind, other forms of simulation notoriously carry over into mental

states.

Not

that these stages should be confused with a veridical

perception of the trigger action. Black coffee after a heavy meal

no more noxious drugs —

numbing preventing

gives us the illusion

— to mention

of easing the digestion by

the vegetative nerves which are labouring with this task and

them from sending groans

to our bram.

We

feel relieved,

but are

not.

Plato would certainly not have objected to discussing drugs in conjunction

with the illusion of art.

It

mattered in art were the

'effects',

as

was

a

commonplace of ancient and these were

criticism that

as close to the action

what

of drugs

they were to that of magic." Orators and poets, musicians and even painters

were celebrated

as 'spell binders'

who

were able to arouse or to calm the

emotions. Here, too, the 'animal experiment' was never far from the

mind. Orpheus

who could charm

the wild beasts was the

model

critic's

artist.

Illusion

and Art

What must

need not,

insight that stimulation can, but

There

time-honoured approach

interest us in this

are plants

and animals which

are

on the imitation of the

rely

found to have an

regulating growth and behaviour to the length

These can

seasons.*

with

certainly be 'deceived'

that

light,

artificial

that nature

herself —

that

evolutionary pressure

keys by which one species ensures is

much

this

welcomed

to be

is

ethologists

looked

also have

needed to stimulate or

dummies

find

to

character of the trigger.

as a

is 'set'

to follow

The

its

mother

will also follow it

has been

—

the internal state

to react

triumphs

as that

mother. There are situations,

its

of Apelles^' can

Readers of Art and

these observations for

some of Its The

I

easily

history of art

They

are

in readiness

burglar

who

mechanism. his

hook

.

far

it

will

existence that the

seems, where such

be achieved.

have emphasized their importance

.

.

may be

me

appealing to

m

summing up

described as the forging of master keys for opening

and when tries to

a

which only nature herself originally held the

number of bolts

break a

safe,

are shifted at the

the artist has

no

are first set

same time. Like the

direct access to the inner

He can only feel his way with sensitive fingers, probing and adjusting

or wire

when something is

shaped,

it

person needs no special insight predecessor's master key.

III:

m this way

complex locks which respond only when various screws

open, once the key

Pare

how

duckling

results:

the mysterious locks of our senses to key.

its it

not be surprised to find

will

Illusion'

The

any other moving object, such

made

apparently remain under the illusion for the rest of is

out what

strange experiment of 'imprinting' shows

brown cardboard box, and once

cardboard box

the

disposition to respond in a particular way, and the

its

objective likeness can be dispensed with in certain situations.

that

m

'release' a particular reaction. It

appears that there are two variables here to be considered

of the organism,

not only

is

What

like a leaf to

can be. Following the lead of Konrad Lorenz,

it

have systematically varied their

features are

Arc and Psychology

it

discussed in

is

a limit to perceptual relativism.

predators in fairly distant geological epochs.' Likeness

minimum

dummy

of another, and

phenomena teach the

these astounding

modern European must

beholder's eye. But sometimes

We know

has evoked such

of illusion

that this important aspect

precisely that there

is

looks like a leaf to

—

survival at the expense

its

book by Professor Hinton.^ What

student of art

of daylight throughout the

by simulating the identical stimulus

much wider spectrum of stimulations.

is

trigger.

'internal clock'

to say mimesis, but there are other biological

is

reactions which yield to a

precisely the

is

gives way.

is

Of course,

once the door springs

easy to repeat the performance.

- no

more, that

is,

than

is

The

next

needed to copy

his

There

are inventions

m the history of art that have something of the character m the way

of such an open-sesame. Foreshortening may be one of them

it

produces the impression of depth (Fig. 104): others are the tonal system of modelling, highlights for texture (Fig. discovered by

humorous

art (Fig. 106).

The

or the clues to expression

question

is

not whether nature

looks' like these pictorial devices but whether pictures with such

'really

features suggest a reading in terms

to which they

do depends

to

respond differently when we

some

of natural extent

lock but not

Response

to

its

opening, which

Meaning:

the

still

objects.

on what we

are 'keyed up'

cultural habituation. All these factors

It will

105),

Admittedly the degree called 'mental set.

We

by expectation, by need, and by

may affect the preliminary setting of the

depends on turning the right

key.

Magic of Eyes

be noticed that this argument makes no sharp distinction between

emotional

arousal

discovered by

and perceptual

humorous

by means of highlights.

I

reactions.

art are treated

on

believe that this

The

'clues

to

expression'

a par with the suggestion

approach can be

justified,

of texture it

may

Illusion

and Arc

but

141

still

be in need of explanation and elaboration.

an example in which the two

I

should

like therefore to take

types of reaction are particularly closely allied,

the perception and representation of eyes. It is clear

from the outset that

real eyes

cannot be simulated

in images.

Seeing eyes are in constant motion, pupils expand and contract, their colour tends to change with the light, their moisture varies, not to speak of the lids

and surrounds that

Without

The

it is

of the

impossible to predict in advance.

though exactly how

it

will

It is experience, tradition

and

eye,

and error which show the make-up expert how to

(Fig. 107).

eye.

of make-up would never have developed.*

this influence the 'art

setting transforms the appearance

transform trial

transform the look' of the

will incessantly

We know it when we see

it,

been touched in the right way, but

create 'the gentle look'

because the springs of our response have it

is

the

meaning we

perceive, not the

means.

So dominant discovery

is

this

immediate reaction, that

how hard it is human

appearance of the

comes

artists

who were trained in

the traditional

way (Fig.

but most of us will hesitate when we are asked to draw a horizontal

the exact shape of the eye sockets. It then turns out that

image in our

mmd

of their position when seen from

accurate one, of the profile, but exactly the transition

confess that

I

it

is

difficult for

and indicating

we have

enjace

from one view to another, though they

a schematic

and another,

most people

have to touch the two corners of my eyes to

of their relation

see

it

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

less

to visualize continually.

become

fully

aware

in space.

This tendency of ours to look for meaning rather than to take in the

142

and

Of course this difficulty will not be experienced

section through the head (Fig. 108), across the root of the nose,

I

mortifying

as a

to answer specific questions about the shape eye.

by ophthalmologists or by 109),

it

real

'

appearance of the world has been a constant theme of art educators to change our attitude. exciting

and

I

would not deny

for a

moment

that

it

but what

art,

assumption that scanning for meaning could not function without

I

am disposed to

this vital principle

question

form of mental

just a

is

which

can be an

of things by

liberating experience to discover the true look

learning to draw or by studying

who want

is

laziness.

the

We

Bartlett called 'the effort

after meaning'. I

believe this principle to be part

not our response to eves

something

like

early

inborn

is

of our biological inheritance. Whether or

—

'imprinting',

as I

would suspect — or learned through

there

is

an obvious survival value

m

recognizing the eyes, and even the direction of the gaze, of our fellow creatures. It

is

useful to

know when and how we

to respond adequatelv to

the

threat

are being

looked

at if we

want

or invitation of another creature.

Professor Hmton's chapter shows that this advantage has also led other

organisms to react to the standard configuration of two eyes which a

warning signal of the presence of a lurking predator

would explain the frequency with which with

'eyes'

on the wings,

approaching them. are

When

even those of us

(Fig.

iio).'^

This, at

who

act as least,

moths have become marked

marking that appears to deter birds from

the markings are artificially obliterated the

more frequently eaten by

Not

a

certain

may

moths

predators.' are

not behaviourists would ever want to say that

Illusion

and Art

the markings of the wings have produced an illusion in the birds, if by illusion

we mean

of consciousness,

a state

Very

a false belief

likely the bird

is

just that reaction

psychologically.

What

manual by Louis Corinth,

precedes reflection, both phylogenetically and

distinguishes us

from the animal

is

have appealed to this

to scrawl an eyeless face relief

when two dots

know

did not yet

method on

m

a piece

at last enable

The Story of Art," where

When

to look at us.

the eyes lying

asked the reader

I

I

wrote the book

eye spot

on the wing

of an Emperor

the full weight of anthropological evidence which shows the

Buddha statue with

eyes

is

surrounded by

strict taboos,

painting in the eyes the craftsman brings the image to

because in

The

life.

effect

is

regarded with such awe that not even the craftsman himself is allowed to look while this miraculous transformation takes place.

He

shoulder while looking into a mirror, and nobody

else

ceremony.

and

if he

Richard

On

from the sacred

his return

F.

Gombrich,

the Nirvana

to

of the great

whom

I

owe

this account," stresses the

Any Buddhist knows

teacher.

that the

man

is

image

as if

of an

illusion that

doctrine which

a

existence.

mere reminder

not merely rational, and so he will react

to the strength

it

paradox

Buddha has entered

Buddha image can be no more than

But

affectively to the

could look through is

its

eyes.

explicitly ruled

The

ritual testifies

out by the cognitive

it serves.'*

Yet, the illusion

III:

must be purged,

and has been thus liberated from the wheel of

Rationally, therefore, the

Part

allowed to watch the

is

omits these precautions he will be exposed to supernatural sanctions.

inherent in the situation.

144

paints the eyes over his

act the craftsman

Art and Psychology

is

not one of visual

reality, it is

even

'pupil'

I

strength and immediacy of this type of reaction. In Ceylon the act of a

Moth

has a highlight in the

Agnolo Gaddi, Madonna Humility, detail

endowing

on

a curve

The

of paper and to watch the experience of

it

showmg

not the absence of

automatic responses, but the capacity to probe and experiment with them. I

artists

is

stimulated to react without the possibility of conscious reflection. But the

point

109

Drawing from an

one of meaning: the eyes

eye.

of the

Courtauld Institute

Galleries,

London

of

left

appear to give the image sight. But Nicolas Poussin,

Eliezer

Rebecca, f.i66o, detail

ami

of eye.

Museum,

Fitzwilliam

Cambridge

looking

and

a blind

this appearance,

Rembrandt, 1669, detail

Self-Pcrtrait.

looks

not

our fellow humans?

at

rationally that there

seeing eye

"3

eye.

when know

is

no

We

see

difference in

one and that even

contend

I

is

this exactly the

it

like a vitreous sphere.

would be

The

task

them looking. Though we may outward appearance between

a glass eye

false to

of the

a

can reasonably simulate

experience to say that any eye

artist therefore

is

not necessarily

of the right

National Gallery,

London

to fashion a facsimile eye. It

is

to find a

way of stimulating the response

to a

means of coping with

this

living gaze.

Different styles have adopted very different Auguste Renoir, La 1874, detail

of right

Courtauld Institute Galleries,

same reaction we have

London

Loge,

problem, which

may be compounded by

the very taboos

I

have mentioned.

It

eye.

would not be without variety

interest to investigate

m

the light of this problem the

of ways the human eye has been rendered

There

is

ample evidence

craftsmen experienced

m

in the history

of art.

of sculpture for the

in the history

difficulties

correctly shaping a face in the round.

The

eye

sockets are frequently set into a flattened face, though squeezed profiles also occur.

As

far as the

possibilities,

What may

shape of the eye

is

concerned, there

from the schematic dot strike

real

appearance.

The

a

to the artificial eye

the historian of art as

odd

is

conventions adopted in certain periods or by various

with

is

how

whole spectrum of of far

artists

a

wax dummy.

some of

were

the

at variance

Giottesque tradition favoured slanted eyes which

almost look mongoloid (Figs,

iii,

112);

Poussin so emphasized the rim round

the eyes that his figures often acquire the stony stare of the classical statues he

so admired. artist's

It is

impossible for us to

contemporaries

formulation

I

who

have quoted above,

different 'mental set'

tell

how such

deviations affected the

were not used to alternative solutions. Using the

through

it

might be said that we have acquired

'cultural habituation'

spontaneously to these renderings.

It is

a

and no longer respond

because we do not so respond that

Illusion

and Art

145

i'5

Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1781.

Voltaire,

Marble.

Victoria and Albert

Museum, London

we

odd shapes on

see these eyes less as eyes than as slightly

But here, as always, there

There

this variety.

is little

is

doubt

be given to the eye and make that a great painter, a

no need

it

draw

to

Rembrandt,

Renoir

a

of illusionism knew of ever fresh ways to tried to describe

I

of these devices

is

real eye

making

Much

a

(Figs.

On

the contrary, the true masters

trigger

our responses, precisely in the

employed by the eighteenth-century sculptor is

even

less

capable of imitating the appearance

protruding piece of stone stand for the light in the eye (Fig.

as I

have always admired till it

Houdons

splendidly life-like heads,

was pointed out to me.

convincing us that the image looks at us, the

He

actually there.

'We might at

all

needed to make an

than are pigments, and so he had recourse to the daring trick of

see this device

is

113, 114),

Not

m the simile of the lock and key. The most astounding

the one

Houdon. Marble, of course, of a

from

m this case that the discovery that a glint can

shine enhanced the appeal of the image.

exact copy of the eye to achieve this effect.

way

the canvas.

a relativistic conclusion

like

is

115).

did not

master succeeds

a

we

are to realize

absurd.

If a

equals

am b,

though

real eyes

do not look

aware of the fact that logically this h

must

also equal

a.

But

I

have argued

elsewhere that this symmetrical relationship does not describe what experience as likeness

m

art.

I

have trailed

formulation that the world does not look like the world.'^

are less

The

catch,

of course,

is

my

like a picture,

the

word look'.

but a picture can look I

have argued that

aware of the look of things than of our response. If it

it is

is

clear that these reactions are adjusted to

the real world, not to our contemplation of pictures. If I

146

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

we

coat and proposed the

really part

our biological heritage that certain perceptual configurations can specific reactions,

m

what

has transformed the image into a living presence.

say that the eyes look like real eyes,

his representation. I

proposition

The more less likely

I

we of

'trigger'

our survival in

am right

that in this

.

we

respect, too, this

are closer to the

might suggest that

like the

aware of what the world looks

seem

at first

react as if

it

— is

the artist

animal than our pride would want us to be,

know and do not have to be The person who has to be — so it would

animals we do not like.

who wants

to contrive a configuration to

were an aspect of the world.

I

which we

m Art and Illusion

have argued

that

even this conclusion need not hold: that even the artist has to grope his way

by

trial

and error

he discovers the configuration that produces the desired

till

response.

—

This response need not be visual

we

believe that

more of the

see

eye

but clearly

can be.

it

on the canvas than

is

We may

present

easily

m the artist

s

brushstrokes. In other words the response to meaning guides our projection,

and we think we

llliisionistic

and colours which

see shapes

are

not actually

there.

.

.

painting

Maybe we

are

now

of illusion evoked by

debate, the degree

who

philosophers

equipped to return to the starting point of

at last

claim that there

is

on the museum

a seascape

no

wall.

this

Those

difference in principle between the

shapes we see on an lUusionistic canvas and other conventional forms of

notation

may be granted the

any symbolic system could appeal to our

fact that

imagination and transport us into an illusionary world. It IS

my

quite true that if I

am shown a map of my native

city

and asked to

trace

streets may affect me my imagination is stirred and that sights I had almost forgotten arise before the eyes of my mind. But of my mmd only. My daydreaming would not interfere with my perception of the map or cause me to imagine shapes which on examination would prove to be illusory.

way

daily

There

and names of the

to school the shape

emotionally (Fig.

ii6). I

are styles

m

enumeration of what

may

art

—

even find that

which

for

are essentially map-like.

want of

a better

'conceptual images', pictographs which stage props. (Fig. 117).

Many

To

read

a medieval picture it

may not

differ

word —

tell a

I still

much from

fall

had been made

for the

power of painting to

of our perception. Not that

appeal to the imagination.

118).

Why

into this category

this fresh

I

fell

so far short of

create an illusion.''

have described as keys

dimension would stunt the

A Dutch seascape may also cause me to dream and

to imagine in a fleeting reverie that

breeze (Fig.

like to call

poem about the sea. moment such diagrammatic

Slowly but surely those devices were developed which to the lock

oifer us an

reading a

at a given

pictures were rejected as inadequate, precisely because they

the claims that

would

story or give an inventory of

of the sea would

But the historian of art also knows that

They

else

I

hear the rush of the wind or sense the

should Fuseli have quipped that the sight of

Illusion

and Art

Constables landscapes made him open his umbrella? Needless to however, he was not acting under the influence of an illusion.

exactly

and so transforms

what

is

Once more whether

I

really there it

seems to

it

on the

me

say,

visual

where the beholder s reaction fuses with

illusion can only be said to take over

the picture

The

that

it

becomes increasingly hard

to specify

canvas.

a mistake to start this

see painted distance as distant. It

is

examination by asking

more prudent

to begin with the

question as to whether certain tones or lines are actually given or merely

imagined. For here, as always, perception will tend to 'run ahead of the evidence'.

The problem,

then,

is

in

what direction

perception of meaning plays such a

of movement

m

a painting.

vital part.

Nobody

it

will run. It

Take what we

is

here that the

call the illusion

thinks that the sailing boat

is

actually

racing out of the frame, but there are experiments to suggest that if

understand

The

its

direction

and speed we

will anticipate its shift to

some

we

extent.'^

configuration will be tense with a directional thrust which can be

measured

in the tachystoscope.

Gestalt psychologists have investigated the

tendency to ignore the gap in the

circle

phenomenon of

'closure', the

exposed to the view for a moment.

Here, too, similar experiments might be devised for representational pictures.

My hypothesis would be that the 'filling in' would again be determined by the

148

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

or J txif

c

iju.T

LJt\jL

I L-

cjum mcrct urrt

•'

f

I

The

raging sea. Detail

from the Stuttgart

Psalter,

9th centurw Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart

interpretation of what a blurred

is

represented. Everyday experience, even in looking at

photograph, supports

even go further here. For percept,

does

if

m

we so want

the

I

this

assumption. In

would contend

to call

phenomenon of

dimensional representation.

will

it,

I

submission we can

that the filling

not follow the

lines

in,

phantom

the

on the

surface as

it

but will obey the laws of three-

closure,

If

my

look

at

a

painting

of the calm sea

convincingly showing the ripples of the waves, the reflections of boats and the

sheen of

light, I will

represented

fill

m

m paint and will

the surface of the water that

words,

IS

of depth

meant

The

question of 'depth' or

bound up with that imaged orientation. To IS

really to say that I

to be

Now

in as a horizontal expanse,

fill it

patch of pigment on the panel.

this

only

know

on top of each other but

say that

is

not actually

not

as a vertical

'space', I

m

other

have no illusion

intellectually that the ripples are

not

signify an extension into the distance.

contention has in fact been experimentally tested and refuted.

It

has been refuted precisely because the 'tendency to run ahead of the evidence'

can be shown to have the same kind of effect on the appearance of objects represented

m

pictures as

it

has

on those

in three-dimensional space.

'expectation' that a small object in the distance it

would prove

appears to be at the moment, once we approach

distant objects as larger than their retinal size

it,

Our

to be larger than

notoriously makes us see

would allow us

to infer.

This

Illusion

is

and Art

149

Willem van de Velde Younger, The

Shore at

Sihcveningen, f.1670.

National Gallery,

London

the so-called 'constancy' as

Dr Thouless

between

has

retinal size

phenomenon. The term has been phenomenal

stressed,''

and inferred

Personally

size.

concept of phenomenal size altogether, because to be a very elusive entity.'^ It

is

criticized because,

size appears to I

be a compromise

am not very happy with the

m real life situations

it

proves

We can measure the

different with paintings.'-

represented size and the apparent size by a variety of methods'" and see that patches of paint which are objectively equal in extension 'appear' to be very

m size if they stand for a distant sail or for a pebble on the beach in

different

the foreground.

More

evidence for the illusion of depth comes from the shift

in apparent orientation following a 121)."

The

'constancies'

and make us read them

mask as

the perspectival distortions

movement

If illusion was not a dirty

much of

word

What,

for instance,

these illusory transformations?

reality'.

in visual research,

and of context? There

is

of the picture plane

we would by now know

know about

is

on

the relative importance of facsimile

obviously a spectrum

At one extreme we would

as

auditory

the exact effect of stereoscopic devices

What is

119, 120,

in space.

these effects as Hi-Fi engineers presumably

perception.

fidelity

change of viewing point (Figs.

find the

m

the 'imitation of

panoramas beloved of the

nineteenth century, in which real bushes and pebbles were placed in front of the curving canvas to give the visitor as complete an illusion as possible of

being transported to an imaginary scene, be the Berg Isel

Museum

in

still

shown

m

it

a battle (as in the

The Hague). Here

the visitor can look around

without encountering blatant contradictions, but

150

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

panorama of

Innsbruck) or a seascape (as in the Mesdag

it is

well

on

known

all

sides

that the

the

very fidelity of detail

and

life.

may enhance

the clash with the absence of

At the other end of the spectrum we would have

which exclude surface drawings (Fig.

122).

fidelity,

What

be they

monochrome

movement

to place those

sculptures

happens here to the observed

effects

media

or Ime

on the

constancies of size and orientations?

To some occur

extent these

phenomena

are

independent of the medium: they

m line drawings as well as in naturalistic paintings. The question would

be to what extent. Gibson, of course,

is

quite right in stressing the relative

Illusion

and Art

151

122

Willem van de Velde

the

Younger, Two Men of War

at

Anchor with Three Small Boats, f.i686.

when

character of naturalism

Pigments can never

comes

it

to representing an open-air scene."

fully simulate those textural gradients

which he has shown

pamting

to be of such importance to our perception of depth, nor can

us the resources of binocular vision.

The

field

is

offer

wide open for experiments to

probe and explain the degree to which these apparent handicaps can be

overcome

in

experiments

mobilizing our response and projection (Fig. is

easy to perform.

tube, thus cutting out the frame

be dramatic, so

much

so that

123).

One of these

We need only look at our seascape

through a

The

result can

and any surrounding

know of

I

a

features.

medical student who, having

discovered this effect for himself, wanted tubes to be on sale or loan at picture galleries

and

to facilitate the enjoyment of paintings. Artists

unlikely to adopt this device, but psychologists should not ignore value.

more important,

m this respect the need for the all-round panorama. Even

it

cuts out binocular disparity

perceive the orientation

more contradictory

and location of the

percepts. It

to estimate our distance

tube, but the point

is

in this case, illusion

becomes genuinely

from the

painting. True,

precisely that

more

which normally enables us to

canvas,

estimate our distance from a blank wall either,

it

and

this alone eliminates

difficult

may not

easily takes over.

We

fill

is

is

that the production

the

of

moment

at

it

through a

unsettled, as

it is

the void of our uncertainty

Art and Psychology

to recall the fact

a perfect facsimile

beyond the resources of art. There

III:

this situation

it

coheres in our

of vision we begin to enter into the game.

Here, moreover,

Part

m

always be easy to

when we look

where our perception

with the information we are fed by the pictures, and since

152

are

heuristic

Obviously the tube masks the contradictory percepts of the frame and

the wall and obviates

field

critics its

of

mentioned

a flat object

are passages in

many

is

at the outset,

not, by

itself,

naturalistic paintings

Fogg Art Museum,

which come close to such

a facsimile,

be

it

of a

curtain, a

Isolating such passages will naturally enhance their trompe

make

also IS

us

more ready

to give credit to the surround

—

book Vceil

the

served by the real foreground features of the panorama.

visual field the

more

likely will this effect obtain,

cover or a leaf

effect,

same

The

but

One

will

effect that

smaller the

though here again we would

need controlled experiments to examine the variables that come into

would

it

play.

thing might be predicted. In low-fidelity media the tube experiment reveal

more complex

meticulously detailed as a (Fig. 124), or even

Looking

relationships.

Van Eyck even

the smallest area

at

a

painting

as

of a painted damask

of a lawn, would mobilize our projection. Looking

at a line

drawing we would obviously have to see enough to be able to make sense of the configuration before the effects of illusion could take over. It in this

way

that

we could

m

precisely

therefore study the devices evolved by art to suggest

convincing readings without any recourse to facsimile. IS

is

We

would

find that

it

the exploitation of our response to gradients that the graphic arts have

found such

a

compelling

trick.

The

invention of hatching enables the

draughtsman or engraver to indicate form and depth by variations of density (Fig. 125). If

the

medium

we narrow our

tube, the

will surely

rather than the message (Fig. 126).

rather than a representation.

unimpeded view? To what and

moment

What

extent can

see the representation at the

There

come when we

will be

see

senseless lines

happens when we then return to the

we

retain

our awareness of the means

same time? Perhaps the word

'seeing'

is

Illusion

too

and Arc

imprecise

here

investigated

to

much-discussed question/^

this

settle

What

can be

the tendency so to ignore contradictory clues that the percept

is

Jan van Eyck, Madonna and Child with St Donatian,

in front

of us

is

transformed.

I

contend (to repeat) that there

between the appearance of a piece of paper showing the

and one showing

a

view of a city (Fig.

in the other 'background'.

many

variables

—

The

195).

In the

map of a city (Fig. case there

cultural conditioning, emotional involvement

Some of these

section dealing with the rendering of eyes. It

is

variables

probably

I

and therefore

discussed

less easy to see

and we obey

its

way

(Fig. 127).

But

instruction the object that

as

soon

m

to see

as the representation clicks

we recognize

will also

be

felt

to be

potentially mobile. It will tend to be surrounded by a fluctuating halo

on

a plain

Part

can

III:

background

fix it

more

Art and Psychology

of

my

introspection deceives me, the extent of this halo

will

roughly coincide with the area of focused vision.

imaginary space. Unless

We

the

an eye

it is

firmly by drawing a frame

round the

object. Provided

George and

we

Canon van

Paek, 1436, detail

Musee

'ground',

is

mere scrawl or pattern of dots on the surface of the paper than

a fold in a sleeve in this

ii6)

degree of this transformation must depend on

the nature of the subject-matter.

in a

first

a different

is

Bruges

St.

der

of robe.

des Beaux-Arts,

take

m

and the image

the framing line

likeh' to recede It is for this

at

one glance the drawing surface

from our awareness.

reason that

I

am

not quite happv with the su2;gestion made bv

Gregorv"" that representations should be classified as 'impossible objects' objects, that

Once more

is

it

is

which

give us contradictory impressions at the

—

same time.

ma\- be worth reverting to our tube. X'lewmg a drawing of an

'impossible object', such as the notorious tuning-fork, through a narrow

opening, we see indeed a coherent configuration which suggests a hypothesis of what might

assumptions

come

will

into view

when we move

the tube elsewhere.''

These

be belied by another view, which will suggest a different

reading, inconsistent with the

first.

But here there

no uncertamtA', no way of

is

ironing out these disturbing contradictions except by adopting the correct

hypothesis that what we see very possible drawing

The as the

situation

not

is

a turning-fork

may be

a little

more complex

barber-pole illusion. Looking

the whole

hypothesis

is

we must

a little

is

is

not

a real

ribbon rising and

something of this experience

when our

on decoration

is

the jug and at the landscape

troublesome to look

real object,

such

we

rising.

our interpretation, but since the correct

full

attention

may

at a cereal

\'ictorian

of warnings against the use of illusionistic

may be

a conflict

m the viewing of

becomes divided. The

three-dimensional pictures on fabrics or chma,

not believe that such

a

knowledge.

grant that there

certain representations literature

of a

harder to grasp, the illusion of the rising ribbon

persist against our better

One may

revise

in the case

at the turning pole through our tube,

have no means of knowing that there

Seemg

of impossible shape but

on paper.

felt

lest

the conflict of looking at

to be disturbing (Fig. 128). But

Few of

I

do

us find

it

package with lettering and pictures. There

is

is

frequently experienced.

Illusion

and Art

nothing paradoxical about them, and neither

would

there, I

is

suggest, in a

painting on the wall. It IS

we may concede

here that

pomt to the

a

'conventionalists'

who compare

the inspection of paintings with the reading of any other notation.

two

activities

common

have in

have devoted so

much

space in this essay. This effort involves the 'mental

of readiness for anticipation;

—

not only looking

something

that has

more

m common

meanings of this page, but both that

at pictures

—

attend.'"

involves a sequential process

with reading. True, we can sweep our focus

round the room than we can pick up the

readily

happen over

I

set'

implies fitting the percept at least provisionally

it

into an imaginary sequence to which we become keyed to All looking

the

meaning to which

surely the effort after

is

What

words and

letters,

activities are essentially constructive processes

time.^^

Photographs of eye movements

m inspecting paintings confirm that trying

to understand a representation involves a test of consistency.

The

sequential process with a logic of its own.

As

such,

it is

a

focus of attention shifts from

points of high information content to those areas where the postulated interpretation

illusionism

is

to

likely

is

The road

be confirmed or refuted.

towards

the road towards visual consistency, the non-refutation of any

assumption the representation evokes. twentieth-century

led

art

through

Cubism which deny

ambiguities of

The road away from the

cunning

illusion

in

and

inconsistencies

us the resolution of a coherent reading

—

127

Has

the

medium —

of varying

size

suppressed

if

the message?

book

dots

— to

we

be

are to see

Hold

the

and the

at a distance

image becomes an

eye.

What happens when you

except that of the canvas.^^

return to the close-up?

A number

of experiments might be devised to

these activities

and

its

test the sequential nature

of

on our perceptions. They might make use of

influence

Vase decorated with a

ambiguous

figures,

new and

Take the example of eyes for

old, but

put them into a slightly novel context.

a last time.

There

are

humorous drawings which

landscape figure. conflict

Is

between

landscape and vase?

show an

eye that

is

common

happy and the other

a

melancholy

faces the

double eye changes

that once

it is

a left eye

two

to

its

faces (Fig. 129).

face. Clearly, in

character

It

at these

drawings that

might be worth while to

figures

and other

can make the one a

focusing on the alternate

and mood, reinforced by the

illusions

investigate

known

It is

the direction through

may determine our some of

reading.

the familiar

to psychologists to see

how

and

(Fig. 130).

just as easily

Mask

either,

two

faces

when we

give

and the other reading

is

them

when we add

ears outside the

156

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

131).

frame

ensured. Put the American

Indian or Eskimo' figure into appropriate contexts, and you eliminate the other reading (Fig.

ambiguous

a given reading

can be suggested or enforced. Rubin's vase easily becomes a vase flowers

fact

with eyebrows raised to the centre, and then a right eye

with the eyebrows drooping in the other direction.

which we come

We

may

also

there

,

It IS

from here that I should like

to return to our central problem, the double

demandmg

perception of pamtmgs, the one

concentration within the frame,

The

the other a different sequence that takes in the wall and the surround. effect

of these sequences could also be tested by making use of those

constancy illusions that occur within paintings. Take the shapes of objectively equal size which appear to grow as they are placed farther back

How

schema.

would the phenomenon

far

outside the frame and turned

The

illusion

persist if

we repeated the shapes

motif of the wall-paper? In that

case, I

would be influenced by the sequence of fixation points

suggest, the effect 132).

into a

it

m a perspective

should dimmish

if we

(Fig.

read the shapes across the picture and

concentrate on the repeat pattern.

Those who ask about our the

wrong

caused by illusions.

window

IS

from the

'beliefs' in

front of paintings are certainly asking

may be

question. Illusions are not false beliefs, though false beliefs

What may make

a painting like a distant

not the fact that the two can be

original:

it is

view through a

as indistinguishable as

is

a facsimile

the similarity between the mental activities both can

m

arouse, the search for meaning, the testing for consistency, expressed

movements of the This

eye and,

Deregowski's

about

chapter

representations,"''

more important,

in the

movements of the mind.

mam

not seem to square too badly with the

result does

reactions

the

of

naive

object.

But

findings of

subjects

to

though the interpretation of these findings may well be

need of further refinement. For anyone who has never seen illustration or a

the

pamtmg it cannot be

obvious

coheres in the

if the picture

confirm and refute predictions,

it

how to

a snapshot,

m an

deal with this unfamiliar

manner described above so

should not be hard to transfer the

as to

skill

of

perceiving a scene to the reading of the representation.

me

This hypothesis seems to

Where

there

is

strengthened by the effect of moving pictures.

imposed upon us withm the frame which

a sequence

the confirmation and refutations

we employ

m real-life situations,

carries

becomes

it

indeed almost impossible to read the picture and attend to the alternative system in which the screen

of course, enhances the

may do

me

is

an object like any other in the room.

illusion

by darkening the room, and

The

television viewers

the same, but even without this additional aid to illusion

screen to the extent that rather than people

it is

that this

we merely

overwhelms

my

see

me

will

expanding and contracting shapes

and objects approaching and receding.

compels

show

next to impossible to 'concentrate' on the

never succeeded in so suppressing repeat,

seems to

it

very hard to remain aware of the projecting surface. Even if the

not involve us emotionally,

cinema,

to

my

responses and

say that the

critical faculty that I

I,

for one, have

anticipations.

Not, to

cinema or television so

become deluded: but my experience

Illusion

is

and Art

131

The Winson

lillMMllllll!)!

figure.

American Indian or

Eskimo?

1

n n pi UK

When

we

isolate the

perspectival picture (by

up the

covering

rest

of the

illustration) the three figures within the

frame

appear to take up a different

on

amount of room

the page.

What

happens when we see

them

in

conjunction with

the identical silhouettes

arranged in a pattern?

liHHHlllllllliillli shot through with illusions which remain uncorrected.

Gregory has reminded

me —

would be

as the

One of them —

and

lip

as

despised ventriloquist

their

moving mouths and

they change their place on the screen, but

to the unrefuted expectation that speech It

same

of people coming out of

illusion. I hear the voice

shift direction as

actually the

is

this

movements

is

merely due

are connected.

interesting to investigate further the hypothesis here presented,

of representations

that the illusion

our mental and physical introspection. Perhaps

activity,

we could

rests

on the degree

much of which

take our doubting

lies

to

which they arouse

outside the reach of

Thomases

to one

of the

simulators used for training drivers and pilots, where the screen shows a

moving picture of the road or landscape through which they

are

supposed to

be moving while they have to make such predictions and take such actions the situation the

tilt

would demand,

steering clear

of the plane by pressing

this creation

levers

as

of sudden obstacles or correcting

and reading instruments. Not that even

of a highly consistent interlocking system would necessarily blot

out their knowledge of where they are and what they are doing, but they

would have I

should

less

and

like

to

less

time to spare for the confirmation of their disbelief

make

it

clear that

I

do not propose

aspires to the condition

might be hard put to 'ordinary language'.

of simulators.

if they

It

does not.

wanted to describe

Language,

I

believe,

My point

is

as

a

what

social

communicate ordinary experiences, hypotheses about the world out our normal reaction to typical events.

It fails

notoriously

all

art

rather that they

their reactions in

developed

my

to subject

philosophical critics to this ordeal in order to demonstrate to them that

is

called

tool there

to

and

when we want

to

convey the elusive states of subjective reactions and automatic responses. Art,

15S

Part

III:

Art and Psychology

I

have tried to show, plays on these responses, which

awareness. Plato, indeed, wanted to see

because

it

largely outside

lie

banished from the

our

state precisely

strengthened those responses of the lower reaches of the soul'

it

which he wanted to submit to the dominance of reason. To him

He saw art m terms

tantamount to delusion. bv numbing our

critical sense.

illusion

was

of a drug that enslaved the mind

No wonder the tradition of classical aesthetics

has tried to rescue art from this charge by insisting on the 'aesthetic distance'

mmd m

that keeps the believe that reflex

and

sum up

control.

There

no verbal formula can do

term

much

m

value

but

this tradition,

I

complex interplay between

involvement and detachment that we so inadequately

reflection,

in the

is

justice to the

'illusion'.

Editor's Postscript

This extract develops

arguments of 'Conditions of Ilhision'

the

also generated a great deal of controversy. It

in

Art and

Illusion^ which

a text which has tended to he neglected in the

is

debates over pictorial illusion.

Many

philosophers

Illusion

and

literacy theorists have

and

deception

Constable's remarks on the diorama: Tt

and

chamber,

because

views

to the

it is

its

was

part a transparency;

a typical attitude

for example, Svetlana Alpers,

We

[i.e.,

This discussion

amongst

Ekphrasis and

Gombrich's views on

the role

extremely uncomfortable. thefamous theorist

Leonardo, ^ ibid.,

to

to

naturalistic artists; on this subject

Aesthetic Attitudes

Approach

the

On

into account; this

this subject note, for

reply, ibid., p. is

the

pp.

Books^

Zl,

complements

usefully

Any adequate

Gibson took up

^74 -J-

zz (ig January igSg), its

theory

makes many psychologists

then

the

(l^J^) made

argument again

Leonardo^

ll

(igyS),

p.

a contribution

Pictorial Vision', in 'The Ecological

zzy; Gombrich's

See also his review of Edward in

in Pictures',

pp. /pj-y; Gibson's rejoinder,

Timit": The Vault of Heaven and

Gibson and the Psychology of Perception

Interest, for which consult

ibid.,

jo8, Gombrich

Visual Perception of Pictures',

a

example, Gombrich's debate with J. J. Gibson,

Gombrich's response,

(^97^), pp-

though,

world.

the visible

heart of illusion,

is,

of ecological perception: J. J. Gibson, 'The Information Available

comment, Leonardo^ li (igjg), J.

at

phenomena

The Image and the Eye.

to the

is

It

see,

Lives

Vasari's

in

of categorization in 'Truth and the Stereotype'.

Gibson's festschrift, "'The Sky

reprinted in

can simulate the appearance of

which

take both

/97-9; Gombrich's

pp.

artists

of projection,

of perception will have

dark

outside] the pale of

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 2j (ig6o). remarkablefact that naturalistic

other things

might remember

the spectator is in a

without

illusion. It is

many

art includes

Art and

The art pleases by reminding^ not by deceiving/' Despite

object is deception.

contrary, this

in

is

But

not the same as illusion.

is

and has great

very pleasing,

mistake of thinking that

the

offers the theory that art's business is deception.

besides naturalistic paintings

art,

made

S.

Reed,

James.

The New York Review of

pp. ?J-^J' There are additional

index. Eurther relevant material

is

comments

in

available in

A Lifelong The Image

Illusion

and Arc

and the Eye.

It

is

a matterfor some concern that psychologists have rarely taken cognisance of

this debate.

While writers on

aesthetics have

entertainment industry has

made

doubted

the facts

of

illusion,

spectacular advances in

time being in what has been called virtual

reality.

its

modern

technology serving the

production, culminating for the

These discoveries have also served the practical

purposes of training car drivers and pilots in their contact with the real world. Before the toy

and entertainment industry

diorama and

The

I.

stereoscope.

III:

in

Art and

Art and Psychology

Illusion, p. 33

the movies,

undoubted experiences of illusion, notably

subject of phantom visions needsfurther exploration by psychologists.

Quoted hy Gomhricb

Part

also created

in the

The Use of Colour and the This

text

IS

its

Effect:

How and the Why

an edited

version of a conversation

between Gombrich and

Bndget

Riley, the

second

of five interviews with the

_

painter produced by

Judith

Bumpus and

broadcast on

BBC Radio

3

in connection with

Bndget

Riley's exhibition

Arcording

to Sensation,

Paintings

igSz—iggz, held at

the Ha^-ward Galler\",

London, autumn

1992;

published in the Burlington yfagazine, 126 (1994), pp.

427-9

EG: Bridget Rilev,

Constable's as

I

would

like to start

pronouncement

that

bv asking vou vour views on

pamtms;

is

a science

and should be pursued

an enquir\- into the laws of nature. Constable continues that pictures

be regarded

as

m that science. What

experiments

is

vour attitude to

mav

this

idea? BR: I have alwavs loved Constable, but

science, or at least not

what

paintings are experiments.

I

He

when pamtmg had become

works but which

pamtmg

can't quite agree that

was working

stale, tasteful

imitating, quite blmdlv. 'the look of earlier great

1

understand bv science.

art',

at the

and

Nor do

end of

I

is

a

think that his

a great tradition

'historical'. Artists

were

making paintings which looked

didn't spring

from

like

original feeling or insight.

In that sort of context studvmg atmospheric phenomena, kncwing exactly

what gave

rise to the

formation of a particular cloud, for instance,

set

him

m a fresh wa\- to nature instead of simplv exploiting what m the wav of pamt blotches. But surelv observation he also had m mmd; At that time

free to

respond

turned up EG:

it is

observation

vou have

\\'as

also said that

interests vou,

light as

considered to be the kev to a natural science, but

m \'our own

work

it is

not

a

I

believe

theorv of optics that

but the appearance of things, and therefore the behaviour of

vou can observe

it,

rather than the optical reasons for the behaviour

of light. BR:

That

and

also out of the

I

is

true, m\'

have seen other

work has grown out of mv own experiences of looking,

work

that

I

artists seeing,

have seen

m the museums

and

m galleries, so

and that has been an enormous help to

me

The Use of Colour and

its

Effect

and

kind of pattern maker, in that

a

of lookmg one's

shown me how

has

it

a formal structure

way that one proceeds with

in turn the

own work.

So you

EC:

shaped and can shape

IS

BR: Yes,

I

prefer to look at pictures rather than to read

books on optics?

do.

EC: I'm glad to hear that.

And

suppose

for that reason I

in

your

own work,

you have always concentrated on particular problems which interested you, visual problems, rather than scientific problems, in exemplifications, as

were, by relatively controlled

it

juxtapositions of shapes at

sometimes

first,

and colours

a very surprising effect, that

the pure physics of the behaviour

I

realized that the

establish limits,

push

and

clear

m your work, which have

later

you could not have predicted from

of light. Would you agree

there?

pure physics of the behaviour of light, but

BR: I haven't studied the early 1960s

which you try to work out

most

m the

way of setting about work was

exciting

to

m terms of each particular piece, which would sometimes

me and the work

as

we evolved together

they yielded surprising riches. oneself, even severely,

It

was

into such tight corners that

house: through limiting

like a forcing

one discovers things that one would never have dreamt

of EC:

I'm sure that

way

also in

must

it's

But that of course has a parallel in science, and in a

That

'concentrate'.

quote

so.

our world of art, that the

cannot roam

artist

over the place, he

all

perhaps the simplest word. In your catalogue you

is

a beautiful passage

from Stravinsky about

from one of the

on

it.

Would you

like to

read

it

to us? BR:

It's

six lectures

the

gave at Harvard in the winter of 1939—40.

making of music

that Stravinsky

They were published

in a

called The Poetics of Music, which, along with Paul Klee's Thinking Eye,

one of my

'bibles'

powerful chord:

m the 1960s, and this particular paragraph struck a very thus consists m my moving about within the

'My freedom

narrow frame that shall

book

became

I

have assigned myself for each one of my undertakings.

go even further:

my

freedom

meaningful the more narrowly

I

will

limit

be so

my

much

field

the greater

I

and more

of action and the more

I

surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength.

The more

constraints one imposes, the

the chains that shackle the

became EC:

I

spirit.' I

think

it

immensely illuminating, that 'if

the

to external restrictions, then this simply

162

Part

in

frees oneself of

connection with

modern

means

Art and Psychology

artist is

it

own

this

problem

no longer subject

that he has this

himself limitations, to invent, so to speak, his

III:

more one

very beautiful piece, and

a guiding principle.

found

of self-limitation, you write or say

set

that's a

freedom to

sonnet form'."

I

think

.

that

IS

and illuminating comparison, and

a very beautiful

of what Goethe said about the sonnet, which, quotation,

tried to

make

the

is

made me think

m your

of course also restricted to fourteen lines and a fixed rhyme

is

I

It is in

it

you indicate

cannot translate Goethe's sonnet about

scheme.

This

as

These

at least scan.

it

way with

all

are the

a

sonnet

concluding

m rhyme, but I've

lines:

types of creation:

vain that an unbridled spirit

Will try to reach the summit of perfection. Self-discipline alone can lead to greatness.

Accepting limits

And

I

you must have experienced

believe that

creations

which

are

freedom within the law

m your

parallel the trying to write a sonnet.

are the rewards, they

amongst the pleasures for which one works.

Do you think that you

unbidden, BR:

this

Those marvellous moments of freedom

BR: Yes, I have.

EG:

will reveal the master,

nothing but the law can give us freedom.

as a grace, as

it

can predict these moments, or do they come

were?

They come unbidden.

find that if they

I

become.

.

EG: Predictable? BR: Yes, predictable, then they lose their bite, they lose their vitality.

EG:

Lose

their bite for yow?

BR: Exactly.

with what

I

Then

am

go on

I can't

in that particular vein because the contact

doing, the feeling of life, comes

m part out of being

surprised. EG:

I see. It is

BR:

Indeed

it's

about painting EG: It

is

medium which

the

the is

medium

that

its

that surprises.

the dialogue with the

BR: Yes, until

you get

you

surprise?

One of the most wonderful

it's

medium,

very, very

if you like, I

think you also said that

important.

this dialogue going, you're getting

You cannot simply

things

resources are inexhaustible.

somewhere." I'm sure that

EG:

gives

lie

nowhere.

m your bed and imagine what you will want to

paint? BR: That's impossible!

EG: It will turn out differently? BR:

You cannot

EG:

No.

BR:

But

that,

plan like that.

of course,

is

one of the most exasperating things about making

a painting, because although

one longs to use one's

intellect as such,

one

The Use of Colour and

its

Effect

one cannot do so

finds that

way

way one normally

in the

seems to be

viable turns out to be beside the point. It

What

does.

less a

is

in that

question of

successive thinking than an instantaneous response.

You must remain open

£G;

and one

BR: Yes,

EG: I'm sure

will

need

what the medium wants?

to all

a little similar to the chess-player

it's

openings by heart, but gradually

happen, otherwise

The

reason,

colours, the

I

suppose,

mutual

because there are so

two colours

by

side

what has been visually,

is

that particularly as

of colours

many

variables involved.

irradiation

this all the time, this

but

so,

the 1960s

you work with

We all know that if you put may

or there

may be

spread into each other

it is

is

are a

a story

him

Charles Blanc one night and explaining to

of black and white. In

they, along

with greys, behave

to say activities such as contrast,

is

— there

long time

of colour.

effect

also true

found that

I

your

and be both delighted and

mutual

similar to colours, that

this for a very

as

may enhance them,

has to pick one's way through. There

He

soon

and interaction were taking place there

known

have

going to

in the other direction. I'm sure that in

much

true, very

is

work during

way somehow

in a

the

is

indeed almost unpredictable

called the spreading effect, they

sometimes perhaps disappointed by BR: Yes, that

are

side, the contrast

and therefore change

earlier

all

it.

all?

effect

work you must experience

my

who knows

becomes unpredictable what

it

wouldn't be a game at

it

flexibility to field

good comparison.

BR: That's a

EG:

and

one's experience

too. I think that painters

myriad sensations and one

of Delacroix running into the secret of colour painting.

paint a fair

muddy pavement saying *if someone asked Veronese to haired woman with those colours, he would do just that and

a beautiful

blond he would make on

EG:

points at the

Wonderful,

this

is

absolutely true,

as scientifically correct.

right,

when he

effects. If I

is

so, I

said that there are

may quote him

While form work

Even

is

altered

absolute

.

.

.

at

am

no

some

colour

is

and

in a

way we may

air in

rules

by which you can predict these

wholly

relative.

Every hue throughout your

in other places ... In all the best

distinctly a right

taste respecting

III:

it

be reasoned about.

mode of succession

We like

it,

just as

music, but cannot reason any refractory person into likmg

And yet there's

Part

can

Art and Psychology

it,

and

as also in music.^

it

length:

by every touch that you add

Nor

also describe

convinced that John Ruskin was also

arrangements of colour, the delight occasioned by their entirely inexplicable.

what

his canvas!''

a

wrong

in

it,

and

a

good

it

if

taste

we

like

is

an

they do not.

and

a

bad

He's absolutely right.

BR:

music.

It's

makes

interesting that he

organisation of their abstract qualities. In music

it's

the contrasts and harmonies are arranged

fall,

principles. In lines,

tones and colours can be organized

vehicle for those things

it

seems to

least the strongest of

EG:

\ou

all

their

m

m the

accordmg

flow, the rise

to certain spaces, the

a parallel way. It's as

complexity

though

m order to provide a

m this way. Music articulates this indefinable

me

that this also applies to abstract painting, or at

it.

have talked about a cycle of repose, disturbance, and repose, and

surely this all

m

up

lie

which cannot be objectively identified but which can

nevertheless be expressed

content and

and

picture-makmg the masses, the open and closed

these relationships are built

to

verv clear, such things as

the accumulation of sound, the dispersal of sound, the ebb

and

comparison with

this

The common ground between music and pamtmg seems

is.

m Western music, m our diatonic system, the basis of m the cadence

at least

music, the possibility of a resolution of a discordant sound

and so on.

And Fm

background

sure that here too,

m acoustics,

acoustics alone have been

music, because

That

IS

as

we have

of course a scientific

colour has a scientific background

shown not

m acoustic, what

is

work

to

if you really

m optics, but

want to analyse

temperament has no

called even

place.

to say the scales of our piano are not tuned exactly according to the

laws of acoustics. BR:

That's splendid

—

that's exacth' the point.

Simple regular symmetrical

thinking does not take sufficient account of the imaginative relations and balances.

Without

that input,

which 'beds m' sensation, one

interpret or look with any real precision

and

can't listen,

certainty.

EG: Apparently our

mmd has many more dimensions or variables, or

whatever you

than vou would have been able to predict from the study

call

it.

of the ph\-sical correlates which thirty \'ears or so

we have

reall\-

form our

moved

sensations. It seems that

awa\'.

or scientists have

m the last

moved away

very much, from the theories of vision which were accepted as gospel truth,

and which we even have learnt retina

at school. \A'hich place all the sensations

and think that by explaining what happens

m the

m the retina we can explain

how we see. This is obviously no longer a fact, that is to say, it never was fact. The discoverer of the Polaroid Camera. Edwin Land, showed m a number

of experiments that the

a

most surprising colour phenomena can be

produced by using only two colours, something very similar to what Delacroix mentioned

m the

anecdote you told.

neurologists, particularly Margaret Livingstone

bram with and have

electrodes

really

And more

recently

m Harvard, have probed the

and made unpleasant experiments made on monkeys

found that there

are centres in the

bram which respond only

The Use of Colour and

its

Effect

to colour, others only to shape, others only to

movement and

these various

systems mteract in the most surprismg and bewildering way, so that what

another student of vision,

]. ].

complexity of vision has by BR:

Gibson

awe-inspirmg

at Cornell, called 'the

now become

a scientific fact.'

think your account of those experiments just makes the precedence of

I

Delacroix's observation so to his visit to in the

North

much more

Africa.

appearance of objects.

poignant. This probably dates back

He What his

noticed several interesting things happening discoveries

amount

to

is

that taking a

white cloth in sunlight, for instance, he saw there a violet shadow and a fugitive green

— but

it

also

seemed to him that he saw more colours than

just

those two: was there not an orange there as well? Because, he argued, in the elusive green he

found the yellow and

m the violet the red. Delacroix was

convinced that there were always three colours preceptually present in what

we

see,

and he found more evidence

m various other observations he made

and concluded that the continual presence of three colours could be regarded as a

'law'

Have you had

EG:

m the perception of colour.'' similar experiences to the

one of Delacroix

m looking at a

white piece of linen or any other such objects in the sunlight? BR:

I

have never re-run that purely as an experiment, but the second colour

painting

made

I

in 1967 Chant 1

is all

about

Delacroix's discoveries at the time, but as

I

this. I

articulate this visual energy as I called

innate character of colour

when

it

set free

then.

anything of

studies

could see

I

I

built the painting to

I

saw

an instance of the

this as

from any sort of task describing or

depicting things. In nature this sort of thing happens quite often. In the Mediterranean landscape there

example that anyone can observe. If m the fair

my

worked on

something was beginning to happen, and

that

know

did not

field

is

more or

a quite

less clearly

common

of vision there should be

amount of ochre ground or rocks of an orange or an orange

maybe some strong green vegetation or turquoise green

red,

a

and

in the shallows

of

the sea, one will then see violets particularly along any edges where the

oranges and greens are seen one against the other. In Cornwall a few years

ago

I

little

remember rocks

a spectacular instance; looking at the sea

— which

was basically

produced by various

quite a lot of dull orange result the

brown

whatever one looks

in the

was also

— and

this

always

is

important

III:

found that

m action —

is

fugitive

working

all

crimson

the time

one cannot help but look through one's own

Arc and Psychology

as a painter

—

seaweed floating in the water. As a

sight.

Of course.

BR: I have

Part

at

is

in over

few greens and a great many blue violets

whole surface of the water was flecked with tiny

points. It seems that as sight

£G;

a

— there

reflections

coming

you develop

a

kind of screen or

veil

—

between you and external

which

reality

actually such fabrics or veils

is

made up of your own

and Cezanne's

habits of seeing. Monet's 'enveloppe

by means of which

practice or

'harmonie genemle are

their perception

is

so

heightened that they can penetrate further and with greater precision than they could without

And

EG:

strokes

it.

m addition of course, as you said,

the scale of the patches or

of colour, which change the behaviour of colour

and therefore when you step too

same

interaction to have the that

it is

far

effect

you aimed

at,

you may

when they

perception of their work in their minds

For instance,

in

Tiepolo s

ceiling paintings in

of distance and the

destroy, the purity

fresh grey intention.

which

An

Wiirzburg, the blues over

of those colours, makes instead

what one

artist

work

part of his

is

from the

sees

floor,

luminous,

a beautiful,

his

of distance,

effect

it's

to understand those things.

How far do you take this

distance at which you BR:

No, each painting

But

I

have noticed in

would is

into account?

and

specific

Have you any

its

viewing distance

my own work and in

the making, in the studio or wherever,

spectators will instinctively take

is

up on

particular ideal

your colour compositions viewed?

like to see

is

equally specific.

other painters' that if an artist

working by response then the distance from which the

Thank

out, or even

which I'm sure was

know — should know — the

does

making something.

are

marks which cancel

yellows, the reds over greens, the brush

EG:

Was

really see grey.

what happened?

BR: Artists have usually held this very subtle question

EG:

our perception,

in

away and they become too small for the

is

work has been seen

in

usually the one which perceptive

their

own

accord later on.

you, Bridget Riley, for having told us such illuminating facts

about your work and your experience.

Eiitors Postscript It

is

often thought that

ideologies of

modern

Gomhrich

is

modern

hostile to

art,

art which tend to worship novelty

regardless of where the times

may

lead us.

He

is

all the

hut he

and

more happy

to

oj several contemporary masters whose work he profoundly admires. that

contemporary art has

affected his perception

second thoughts about the idea of the postscript onp.

^lo). So

it is

stylistic

as truefor

contemporary achievements can

affect

of art's

way

in

hostile to certain

'go

with

the age,

has also acknowledged

when

he

was

him

to

have

a student (see

my

other historian of art or culture that

which they perceive those of

conversation with Bridget Riley demonstrates that there are

the times^

have enjoyed the confidence

He

history. Picasso's versatility led

uniformity of

Gomhrich asfor any

the

merely

is

expect us to

still

ways

in

the past.

This

which contemporary art

can participate in the Western tradition ofgenuine experiment and analytical observation. See also his interview with the

T.H. Gomhrich and

L. Njatin,

Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley

in ].

Hutchinson,

(Tondon: Phaidon, iggj), pp. 8~ig.

The Use of Colour and

its

Effect

Part IV

Tradition

and Innovation

The Necessity of Tradition: an Interpretation of the Poetics of I. The Danvm en'en ar

A. Richards

Lecture

Cambridge

L'niversin-

m November

1979; published in Tributes 1984), pp.

184—209

I

and

Aesthetics

Any

the

Hiskvy

cf the Arts

who

art historian

he encounters

m

m

to exchange ideas with colleao;ues

likes

departments of the Facult\' ot Arts

will notice

of the problems that

who

teach the historv of

his held are also familiar to those

music, or literature, or perhaps the dance. These historians

all

explore the

historv of traditions and conventions, because these alone permit

poem or

assign a date or place to a painting, a building;, a

when we enquire

after a

ma\- give courses

notions

department

we mav draw

the object of studv.

on

aesthetics,

mechanisms of

but

true that

is

more

the\' are

about

am

'the

also

artist'

somewhat uneasv when or 'the

work of

expected to think of the Temple of

likeh' to discuss there the

I

forgot that our disciplines are

arts

known bv

that

was conceived

efflorescence aesthetics

down-to-earth

have mentioned have

art'

I

am

m

and

and the

name

as

the

books on

aesthetics.

am bv Andy

without being told whether

Abu Simbel

or of a screenprmt

m gratitude

if

I

we

ever

m fact the offspring of aesthetics — whether the or not. storv

It is

of

their ultimate decline. histor\'

time

little

confronted with disquisitions

Warhol. Yet we historians of the arts \\'ould be lacking

topic was

some philosophers

than the more

or patience with the generalizations which thev find I

to

tradition.

Small wonder that mam' of the historians

Franklv,

them

a piece of music. Yet,

m which these general questions are made

a blank. It

beautv or of expressiveness

of

other

how mam'

of an

art

is

not long since the historv of all the

their

beginnings,

their

The paradigm of that

of course Aristotle's

rise,

their

conspectus of

Poetics,

The

especially the

Necessin- of Tradition

169

pages devoted to the evolution of Greek tragedy from rude beginnings to the

intrinsic essence.

Its

m the course of which

of Sophocles, an evolution

classic perfection

to regard any play

Subsequent

who

critics

which deviated from

this

it

revealed

accepted this reading were

model

bound

as decadent.

was no doubt history which helped to soften the normative dogmatism of

It

and induced

aesthetics

admit

to

it

plurality

a

encompass Shakespeare and even Kalidasa without

came

moment,

a

historians

I

of the

which

believe, in

arts

from

of

loss

took the

aesthetics

which could

values,

of

But there

status.

initiative to expel the

sacred precincts, at least those historians

its

who

concerned themselves with conventions.

memory of the

have a vivid personal

I

art historian

was plunged by

whom

Schlosser,!

this

move.

which

intellectual crisis into

a great

am referring to my teacher Julius von

I

even our fast-living times

remember

as the

author of the

standard work on the literature on art from antiquity to the end of the eighteenth century. Before he had

collections his

of sculpture and applied

a university teacher relatively late in

the

of the

treasures

and

art laid the

of

translated into

his generation,

m

German.

I

cannot of course do justice to the philosophy of art

his Estetica come scienza delFespressione

which found such I

who was

Benedetto Croce, some of whose writings he

which Croce championed with much verve and learning century

foundation

sensitive practitioner,

by birth, contracted a close friendship with the greatest

half Italian aesthetician

erudite

Habsburg

vast

Vienna Museum, and many of

art at the

monumental papers on problems of late medieval

much subsequent work. This

of

become

among

Schlosser had worked

life,

a persuasive

exponent in

at the

a

e linguistica generate,

this

turn of the

philosophy

country in R. G. Collingwood.

can only touch on the relation of this system of aesthetics to the history of

the arts.

This relation could only be antagonistic, for though himself, Croce

had no use

could be seen to have developed. Its

consequences, for he had

He had to reject this whole

come

expression. 'Since every

work of

'and the state of the soul

is

art expresses a state

doomed from picture

picture as

without foundation.

it is

There may be

from

a

a craft

all

of the souf, he wrote,

individual and always new',' any attempt to classify

of the

is

approach and

to the conclusion that art was pure

these incommensurable expressions was arts

a brilliant historian

for the traditional Aristotelian view that the arts

Any

poem. All that matters of painting,

as there

is is

is

the start.

as distinct

The

division

from any other

what they can

tell

the spirit.

one of shoe-making, but

history belongs to what Croce called the practical,

and not to the

its

aesthetic

sphere. It

was

this radical doctrine

Pare IV: Tradition and Innovation

which had such an unsettling

effect

on Schlosser

I.

A. Richards giving a

lecture, 1979.

Photograph

taken during his last

visir

to China.

Ivor .Armstrong Richards, the leading English critic

of his generation, was

bom in Qieshire

on 26

Februan- 1S95 and educated at Clifton and

Magdalene College. Cambridge. Together with C. K.

Ogden he advocated

a scientific

approach to

the stud\-

of English

literature,

based on the

results

of linguistic and

psychological theones.

After his

Cambndge

ears

^

he went to

Pekmg

'1929— 30

returning there

for the last time shortl\-

as I

knew him. He

still

telt

m

entitled

his lectures to

communicate

his

response to the ereat art ot Piero della Francesca. but what should his attitude

be to a master such

as Uccello.

who

obsession with

wsls celebrated tor his

perspective, if that was irrelevant to the historv of true art?

before his death. In 1959

Universit}'.

retired

from which he

m 1963, ultimately

to settle in his old college in

Cambridge. Having

une.xpectedly turned in

continued to

welcomed

of verse. The

insight he gained in this

dilemma posed hv

feel the

read, but

their challenge.

On

I

who

for one have

the one hand.

the individualistic implications of an approach which

made

I

short

have alwa\-s been on ^uard

I

against the temptation to h\-postasize the spirit of the aee into a super-artist

who

m

expresses himself

pamtme.

the stvles of

could not accept the dismissal of these

stvles

poetr\' or music.

and conventions

And

^'et I

as aestheticallv

phase (to which this

essay

is

devoted)

summed up

is

best

in the reph-

irrelevant.

Anv svstem

conventions

he gave when

complimented on one of his

no longer much

-seventh ytai to

the wnting

last

a similar anti-historical line, are

shrift of all versions of historical collectivism.

books on criticism he

fiftA

took

many successful

published

his

that the writmgs of Croce. Colllne^^ood and even Clive Bell,

I realize

he transferred to Harvard

poems:

language.

arts.

in the

'It is all

He

of the

of aesthetics that has nothing to sav about the place of

m the process of creation seems to me of little use to the historian

was a

dedicated teacher,

who

pinned great hopes on the

2

1.

A. Richards

This being

reform of the means of

communication, and. his wife

Dorothea, a

fearless

mountaineer.

like

He

died in Cambridge on 7

September 1979.

mv

conviction.

I

was verv moved when

and lamented friend Ivor A. Richards

I

received

from

a cop\- of his Presidential

mv

revered

Address to the

English Association for 197S, entitled "Prose versus \erse': for he there reverses the verdict of

composing the

poetr\-

A

of the poet.

Croce and.

as

he

sa\"s.

puts the responsibilitv for

on the language, not on the

language, he continues, has

intellect, feeling

much

or

wisdom

stronger and broader

shoulders than am- poet. It IS

not for

me

to

comment on

think that the address his life after

the trajector\- of Richards's thought, but

testifies to a trait

he had uTitten The Mc-anino

which made cf Meaning

itself

igij].

mcreasmglv

felt

I

m

an awareness of the

mvster\' of language.

The Necessin- of Tradition

171

It

was

this awareness,

from the

criticism

Address

in his

and enjoyed

and

how

believe,

analysis

it

at its

its

what you

sonnets which he called 'Ars

aback

in his fifty-seventh year

of literature to the writmg of poetry.

and

exercise

habit, an addiction, call

a bit taken

which made him turn

He relates

he was writing a play which required 'some sort of song

new

'the

I

Poetica

'

much

reward so please'.

—

Let

me

that the

game became

a

quote from the cycle of

admitting characteristically that he was

audacity in assuming so ambitious a

title

— with which

he concluded his moving lecture:

Our mother

tongue, so far ahead of me,

Displays her goods, hints at each Provides the means, leaves

bond and

link,

to us to think.

it

Proffers the possibles, balanced mutually.

To be used To be

or not, as our designs elect,

tried out, taken

up or

in or on.

Scrapped or transformed past recognition.

Though

she sustains, she's too wise to direct.

Ineffably regenerative,

how

know

does she

So much more than we can?

How hold such store

For our recovery, for what must come before

Our

mstauration, that future

To what?

Who, It will

To whom? To

we

will

tending meanings, grew Man's

be

my

owe

countless of our kind.

unknown Mind.

task in this part of the lecture to spell out

somewhat more

the theory which Richards espoused, the theory that, as he put

Apollo guide.

as the

I

it,

fully

replaces

source of the poet's inspiration by Language as his teacher and

do not think he would have considered

it

offensive to hear

it

The

described

in the

terms of modern engineering

as a

reacts

back on the speaker.

important observation which puts any

simplistic theory

It is this

of self-expression

theory of feedback.

language

m poetry out of court, precisely because m any act of expression.

it

neglects the creative share language always has

3

The Grid of Language

I

have no credentials, academic or otherwise, for discussing the mysteries of

language except the credentials those of us have relatively late

m

life. It

was in

this

slow process that

meaning of I. A. Richards 's image that language each

bond and

link'. I

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

who had

found to

my

I

to switch languages

learned to appreciate the

'displays her goods, hints at

surprise that in describing the

same

painting in ofFer

m

German and

and thus had to

descriptions,

English

had

I

goods which were on

to take the

of the same pamtmg. Both

single out different aspects

m

hope, were correct, but they differed from each other

I

elements they singled out from the infinite multitude of impressions. grid or network of language will inevitably result

we impose on the landscape of our experience

m different maps.

I

need not go further than the topic of

this lecture to illustrate this decisive point.

My

first subtitle.

the History of the Arts', could not be formulated

m

Greek, notoriously lacks a term for art or the arts

—

or

it

still

much wider

ancient term comprises a

idioms

like the art

of war and the

find that a small coin

be exchanged on the

French or

Italian

of popular

category, as

Aesthetics and

Latin, for Latin like

more

exactly: the

does in English

of love. Moving closer to our own day

art

aesthetics, the

Common Market,

which corresponds

term

for there

no term

is

exactly."^ It is

m

in either

in this context

is

German,

the task of translating,

the rule rather than the exception.

of translation that the complexities of the

themselves on the thoughts of Mencius on

the

system of

a

Mind

(1931),

I.

A. Richards;

am

I

I

cannot

'self-expression',

not only poetry but even expository prose, that we learn that such exact correspondence

the

The

I

believe

a lack

it

issues first

of

was also

obtruded

thinking of his

book

which wrestles with the problem of rendering the

Chinese thinker into English.

It is

m

such situations that we are

forced to abandon the nai ve idea of language as a set of labels or names affixed to existing notions existence

—

for language has created the notions

when deprived of their names.

approach to the

Whorf, who

creativitv^

but the accents we

4

which

need not go quite

lose their

as far

m this

of language as the American linguist Benjamin Lee

insisted that different languages fashion radically different

mental universes which

reflect

We

language as

are

set,

much

mutually exclusive.

We

all live

particularly the social values as

language

reflects

we

in the

same world,

experience, surely

them.

'Second Nature'

Considered if the

m the light of anthropology rather than that of pure linguistics —

two can ever be separated

—

the term 'self-expression' loses

its

validity

much because of the theory of expression it implies — I shall come back that — but because of its simplistic assumption that the self is an

not so to

independent entity which does the expressing. nature makes us question this idea, for

we have

What we know all

about

experienced how

human

much man

resembles that admirable creature, the chameleon. But he goes one better, he

can change not only the colour of his skm, but even the cast of his personality.

A

telling

idiom

says that a given environment, social

'bring out the best or the worst in us.

and psychological, can

The role which life

assigns to us colours

The

Necessity of Tradition

175

our personality to such an extent that we typical civil servant or hotel

recognize the typical don, the

all

porter when he

is

presented to us on the stage or

m a film. The language we adopt will mould our personality more subtly, but perhaps even more decisively. This language can become,

idiom has

When

'second nature'.

it,

maketh man' he

certainly

Language may be described

said

'Manners

public-school language.

of conventions and

as a set

another splendid

Wykeham

William of

included language —

as

rules,

but strangely

enough you do not have to be aware of them to master the language. certainly rote.

is

The

of the

not passed on

drill

in the culture as a skill

of imitation plays only

in the language acquisition

We have been frequently reminded of late, and rightly so, that the

child.

power of language does not

To

flexibility.

minor part

a

reside in

learn a language

is

vocabulary, but in

its

its

infinite

make statements which we have

to learn to

never heard before; language makes us creative without our being at

conscious of the miracle. once,

we

It

which has to be learned by

learn, as

Of course we

we always

learn,

mistakes and are corrected. But that

do not acquire

by feedback, by not the whole

is

story.

it

to a

new

all

instrument

all at

We

make

and

trial

be capable after such a correction to generalize on the If we could not transfer

this

error.

Somehow we must we have

rule

learnt.

whole family of utterances we could never make

progress.

5

Perceptual Generalizations

We may

envy children their pliability in casting their thoughts into these

moulds, but for the student of language

which

there are adult performances

some people have

may be for

for mimicry,

mannerisms of speech and

style

and

it

its

lowest level

result in a tour deforce

it

fine ear

of a page written I

is

precisely because

parodist does not

first sit

the style he wishes to mimic. This

acquires

On

which may blossom into a

m the style of a famous master. The reason why am interested

in this lowly art

The

medium of literature and poetry, instructive. I mean the skill

more

parody or even forgery.

the skill of impersonating a teacher,

convincingly

effort.

as a

are even

by the direct method.

He

I

think

it is

down and would not

not a matter of conscious

tabulate the characteristics get

him

very

far.

He

of

rather

reads a lot and finds that gradually the

mannerisms, rhythms and cadences of his prospective victim will come to him unsought. capacity,

I

do not know

which

I

if

any psychologist has devoted research to

would describe

as that

capacity not only to classify families of

produce fresh instances.

It is this feat

learns to generate the style

this

of perceptual generalization, the

form but

also spontaneously to

which the parodist performs when he

of an author, to the mortification of those who

have valued the original effort as unique and inimitable. Again this process

4

P.irt

Tradition and Innovation

is

.

nor

likelv to

succeed without

tempted to use character

.

How

and

trial

and whv.

better at that kind ot

it is

hard to

once

error;

word or phrase which on

a

sa\".

m

a while

he will be

of

reflection he finds to be 'out

but

^ame than computers

it

seems that people

are

— how

lono,

I

are still

would not

venture to predict. I

believe that

w€ knew more about

it

\^'hlch underlie the

also

come

changes

m

hich act

\\

learnmo; ot lano;ua^e and the imitation ot

closer to understandmo;

forces

such

m

have

common. x\mong

upon lan^iage some mav be

The word

was coined when the enc^meers eiiects as that ot the

stvde.

we would

what mterests the historian ot the

srvle \\'hich all the arts

others aesthetic and social. It

these processes of generalizations

the

arts:

the varietv^ of

called practical or functional,

'feedback' belones to the first category.

telt

the need ror

term describing

a i:eneral

governor ot the steam eno;ine or the thermostat.

Strangely enough, ordinary lancaiao;e

knew only

ot vicious

not of

circles,

virtuous ones, but once a new" term was launched, one wondered how one ever

got alonc^ without

But the

drifts

it.

of lancnaac^e also obey less tangible pressures of social

preference and of fashion, a fact which

we may deplore but can

New ideals are imposed on speakers

and

avoidance rather than ot use. ^our

sr\-le

ponderous, and conversely

The

it

of language and. given the creatn will

may not be

are frequently rules

m use and m usage

tc

Darw^m is

lecturer to bring out this notion

implicit

m Richards

s

Ars Poetica

metaphor

m

.

all

earlier

at its earliest age,

just entered the awaiting egg.

^\Tlat were \-ou then?

Guided you

since

What guides What

transformation

poem.

Conceive your embr\-o

A\Tiat led

a

is

Art Histcn;

inappropriate tor the

the less since Richards himself invoked the biological

The germ

of

precious or

ot the medium, also a transformation of

in-

of creation without a creator which

parts of the

stilted,

be communicated.

6 The Darwinist Approach It

which

should not be

should not resemble colloquial snde too much.

cumulative elfect of these changes

what can and

writers

rarely avert.

it

And how

has what ensued

m all that vou have done?

this lite to

what

it

comes

.

.

.

to be?

through so blind a whirl of being?

served throughout as substitute tor seeing.

Settled each loop and twist decisively?

.

.

TKe

Necessity-

of Tradition

.

The answer take is

given by

in the sobering

it,

this dual

Darwinism

may be summed

to these questions

terms 'random mutation and survival of the

mechanism which has driven evolution forward,

a creator, even, if

one may so put

up,

I

fittest'. It

a creation

without

a blind creation.

it,

Transferred from the vast panorama of geological epochs to the narrow stage It

of human

was

me

history, the

mechanism goes under the name of trial and

error.

m particular Sir Karl Popper, the first Darwin lecturer, who convinced

that this formula throws light not only

on the growth of science, but

also

on the evolution of art. I

profited

opened

my

from

his insight

when

writing

my book

Art and

Illusion

because

eyes to the important fact that even the so-called imitation

nature cannot be achieved without the feedback principle. Even here there

an element

not of blind creation

if

summing up from The history of art

at least

the last chapter of the

.

.

.

may be

of groping. If

book

at

some

I

it

of is

may quote my

length:

described as the forging of master keys for opening

the mysterious locks of our senses to which only nature herself originally held the

They

key.

m readiness burglar

and when

who

mechanism. his

complex locks which respond only when various screws

are

hook or

tries to

number of bolts

a

break a

safe,

are shifted at the

the artist has

no

are first set

same time. Like the

direct access to the inner

He can only feel his way with sensitive fingers, probing and adjusting wire when something gives way. Of course, once the door springs

open, once the key

is

shaped,

easy to repeat the performance.

it is

person needs no special insight

— no

more, that

is,

than

is

The

next

needed to copy

his

predecessor's master key.

There

are inventions

m the history of art that have something of the character

of such an open-sesame. Foreshortening

may be one of them

in the

way

it

produces the impression of depth; others are the tonal system of modelling,

humorous

highlights for texture, or the clue to expression discovered by

The

question

is

not whether nature

'really looks' like

art

.

.

the pictorial devices but

whether pictures with such features suggest a reading in terms of natural objects

.

.

Leaving aside the art of burglary the paragraph states that the tricks of illusionistic

representation could never have been developed simply by

looking out of a window or going for a walk. the process of painting. For

it

was not

the fifth century to predict that

m

rather than as a circle (Fig. 135)

tempting to say that hoops seen a

somewhat dubious

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

assertion.

They could

at all easy for the

representing a

it

would seem

at

hoop

as

like

m

an oval (Fig. 134)

to extend in depth. It

an angle look

Psychologists

as

only be found

Greek pioneers of

ovals,

but this

sophisticated

as

J.

is

is

J.

Gibson would

'34

Boy with

a

hoop. Detail

of a Greek marble

The same

insist that

they look circular because they are circular.

applies mutatis mutandis to the other

means of naturalistic painting

relief,

5th century BC.

National

Archaeological

Museum,

which

to

I

referred.

You might

argue about whether a head painted in various

tones of red and blue looks like a head, but

it

can certainly suggest one.

The

Athens

same applies to the suggestive power of tonal gradation from warm 135

The

tints

which landscape painters exploited

for the rendering

to cool

of distance.

Berlin Painter,

Greek

krater, early 5th

am

I

Ganymede with a Hoop.

confirmed

in

my

conviction about the limits of introspection in these

matters by the debate which was caused by

my book on

Art and

Illusion. It

century BC. Louvre, Paris

seems

and

artists

There

an agreement

difficult to arrive at

are

on what

is

philosophers, psychologists

actually their experience in looking at a representation.

some who speak

pigments, while for

among

me

this

is

as if

they simply saw a surface covered with

the hardest to see.

I

have frequently' reverted to

the example of the rendering of eyes, particularly the magic of the white dot

which simulates

a highlight

and imparts an added degree of intensity

gaze of the Hellenistic portrait from Egypt (Fig. 136) I

believe that our response to these experiences

biological heritage to yield to conscious analysis. in this context eliciting this

by the observation that long before

response nature had stumbled on

natural selection.'' Its

is

I

There

body two simulated

is

it

an incredible caterpillar

pairs

of

I

to the

find hard to discount.

too deeply rooted have been

m

art discovered the trick

its

of

by random mutation and (Fig. 137)

which

carries

on

eyes; together these suggest a threatening

head, which the creature displays to deter predators, meanwhile curling

and hiding

our

much impressed

up

real tiny head.

The

Necessity of Tradition

Evidently such forms would hardly have evolved if they did not provide the

advantage to the species of triggering a response of fear in

presumably birds or

power of such

do not want

I

modes of thought

intriguing

into aesthetics.

m

we know,

as

humans we might

reactions in later years

new

its

natural enemies,

are learning

more about

the

call

We

are

not simple trigger mechanisms

governed by their past history. That

are also

and

us of the importance of what

most impressionable

the

of these

m a predictable way. Not even animals are.

phenomenon of 'imprinting' reminds

we have experienced

surprised if aesthetic effects

traditions

we

to advocate the wholesale transfer

which react to given configurations Their reactions,

ethologists

mechanisms, which release certain pre-programmed

trigger

Now

responses.

From

reptiles.

if this

might

would not be

age. I

early in life

determined our

also help to explain the

power of local

m the arts. To be sure, traditions can lose their hold and give way to

reactions, but

I

do

believe that an awareness of our biological heritage

should make the student of aesthetics pause before he undertakes to account for our responses to art." art

which moves

heartbreaking?',

I

that the artist has

us,

am

Understandable

'why

himself,

work

as

in matters is

of course, devoted

The Expression of

the

heart.

Tradition and Innovation

so

of

a

work of

exhilarating?

or so

For

am sceptical about the I am doubly so when it

if I

specifically called expression.

a

Emotions

book

in

Man

facial

traced back to similar reactions in primates

1\':

for us to ask

of representation,

more

devoted to a minute examination of the

Part

it is

beautiful?

not sure there will ever be an answer except the old one:

comes to our response to what

Darwin

so

found the way to our

power of introspection

great

this

is

to the study

and

in

of expression,

Animals,

which

is

his

mainly

symptoms of feelings, which

are

and other animals. But Darwin

dead. Detail vase

not have been Darwin

\\'ould

138

The mourning of the

he had remained unaware of what

the feedback principle, though he turns to

it

only

from a Greek

m the 'Geometnc'

st\-le.

if

Sth centur\- BC.

'The

free expression

adding

a

I

have called

m his concluding remarks.

bv outward signs of an emotion', he

writes, 'intensifies

it',

footnote on the effect of an actor's movements on the actor (which

National Archaeological

Museum, Athens

had

actuallv

been noticed by Lessing) and on the observation that 'passions

can be produced bv putting hvpnotized people

who

gives

wav

to violent gestures',

Darwin

m appropriate attitudes'.

'He

he

who

savs, \vill increase his rage;

does not control the signs of fear will experience fear

These

are

adumbrations of what became known

expression, the mtim.ate link between bodily

of particular

area \^'hich was

Warburg

Institute,

interest to

who was

deeplv

as the

m

a greater degree.'

James— Lange theory of

and psvchological

Aby Warburg,

states. It is

an

the founder of the

by Darwin's book on

influenced

Expression.

7 Grief in Greek Art I

can think of no better illustration of this unitv of experience and expression

which concerned Warburg than the articulation of the

mourning which we owe

to

Greek

art.

Geometric vases of the mid-eighth century show us the

m

the funeral ceremonies infer

the funeral, for wailing rather than for vase

of

c.

its

470 BC

we might not have done so

is

a ritual that has to

expressive function.^^

(Fig. 139)

ritual

lament during

appropriately schematic shapes (Fig.

nothing about the sentiments of those mourners,

to their heads, but then

of grief and

feelings

we

feel

m

who

either if we

be performed for

Looking

at a detail

138).

We

clasp their

had attended

its

from

can

hands

magic

effect

a red-figured

the presence of death; there

is still

the

ritual gesture of tearing the hair, but the contrast between the impassive

beautv^

of the dead

woman on the bier and the grief- stricken man could not be

more poignant. Around

the middle of the fifth century, Attic painters began

to articulate these feelings

white-grounded

lekythoi,

of mourning

m representations of funeral rites on

small oil flasks for libations.

They convey

grief,

not

lament, a respect for the dead even shared by the genii or spirits of sleep and

The

Necessity of Tradition

death

on

as

this

famous

lekythos in

the British

sculptors of tombstones took part in this

Museum

movement

(Fig. 140). Attic

of crystallizing the

Lamentation scene. Detail

from

valedictory

mood. Instead of the loud lament you have

the simple handshake

of farewell, maybe of father and son, or of man and wife the

most moving of these monuments

142) nearly

mourning This

IS

all

outward gestures

as in the

(Fig. 141). In

example now

some of

m Berlin

Greek red-figured century BC.

National Archaeological

Museum, Athens

(Fig.

are stilled, the family are together in silent

at the inevitable.

the time

a

vase, 5th

140

The

spirits of sleep

carrymg away the dead.

when Xenophon makes

the Socrates of the Memorabilia ask

Greek lekythos, 5th century BC. British

movements of the body but

the sculptor to render not only the

workings of the soul, articulations

The loss

to

of human

convention, for

it

tes

his

somewhat

debated notion of

argument that

this

feelings did

is

grief.

hard to imagine that these

not affect those

who

refers

is

a difference.

he must have

And

as

my

with the dramatist the feelings of the

to carve these stelae

Whether

must

surely have

known about

do not come wailmg

in.

women

There

of yore.

or not he was affected by the death of

known about

the workings of the

sadness. In arranging his figures

poses he must have watched their effect on his

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

of tragedy, the much

not to the feelings of the playwright, but to the

to think that he felt sadder than did the

yet there

tombs.

visited these

the purgation of the emotions. It suits

katharsis,

term

that particular person, he soul,

is

Towards the end of that century Aristotle was

who was commissioned

no reason

And

It

cryptic remarks about the effects

experience of his audience. sculptor

erga."

was a convention, must have helped them to bear their

without denying their

make

psyches

also the

own mood.

and

Elsewhere"'

I

their

have

Museum, London

contrasted this idea of feedback with that of self-expression, which called a centrifugal theory since his

own

which

it

regards the artist as a sender

feelings to the beholder. Instead I have

lays stress

on the

effects

to the conventions with

proposed

which the work has on the

which he operates. There

the emotions of grief, but they

may not

all strike

are

a

who

the ritual lament, but IS

fully

me.

humanized, but not

Some

are

143),

which

m a new style. It all

is

links

a fine

have

a centripetal theory, artist's

own response

many ways of rendering

chord in the maker. Take

another Greek work of the period, but from Asia Minor, the weeping

sarcophagus from Sidon (Fig.

I

transmits

women

once more with the theme of

work

m which the show of grief

these figures are equally convincing, at least to

moving, others rather empty.

The

sculptor had failed to apply

the test of my centripetal theory, not because he failed to grieve, but because

he was

less

concerned with that authenticity which only

his

own

reaction

could confirm. Feeling alone will not produce a work of art, nor will a mastery

of means, both have to be present

in

abundance.

8 Michelangelo's Moses

Nobody

can talk about self-expression without thinking of that archetypal

genius, Michelangelo, (Fig. 144)

may

who imposed his

well be the

personality

on

most famous instance of

maker and the work, the powerful prophetic

figure

his creations. this unity

His Moses

between the

with his formidable turn

The

Necessity of Tradition

of the body and

John

(Fig. 145)

days.

his fierce

of prophetic might

vision

Some

and

about influence, else.

reminded

us,

as if

itself

critics flinch

we accused

But we have

all

on Michelangelo

when they hear

a genius

'to

ideas,

inspired Michelangelo was the

found most beautifully embodied

evangelist;

was a tradition which had blossomed forth

twelfth

known

it.

What

Western sculpture

The

in Donatello's majestic seated

m many great works a prophet by that great artist born m the

Nicolaus of Verdun (Fig. 146), perhaps the equal of

century,

Donatello and Michelangelo. have

from

countless of our kind, who, tending

Mans unknown Mmd'. What

throughout the centuries. Witness

his ideas

because, as Richards

tradition he it

in his Florentine

art historians talking

of having pinched

pinched our

we owe our language

meanings, grew

this individual

not without precedent. Donatello s statue of St

must have impressed

artists

someone

and dominating mien. But even

is

It is

next to impossible that the later artist can

he had inherited was the language, the conventions of

in rendering figures

of authority and power.

needs for this mastery were manifold throughout the history of

Christian

art; let

me

only remind you of the convention of placing such

prophets and apostles in serried ranks in the voussoir of cathedral porches the one

from Rheims

in this tradition this

182

(Fig. 147),

you had to be

which dates from around able to

1230.

artist

produce any number of variations on

theme. Today one has to go to architectural or decorative

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

To be an

like

monuments

to

146

Nicolaus of \erdun. Jin-muk. detail

from the

Dreikonigsschrein'. earh' i;ch cenfun*.

Treasun-.

Cathedral

Cologne

14-

\ bussoir from the Callixtus portal.

Rhemi5

Cathedral, j.1250

experience the range of inventiveness which allowed the artist to discover ever fresh potentialities

of such

of hurried and bored visitors appreciate a I

Our museums have vielded to

a motif.

work thev want

who

to see

it

sure that

m

To

m artificial isolation.

suspect that this tendency also obscures for

characteristic of the arts

the pressure

shy awav from such plenitude.

them what

is

such a

vital

m the past — the possibility^ of teamwork. I am not

our individualistic age and with our individualistic aesthetics we

can ever quite reconstruct the processes of collective

creativitv^ It

the inestimable values of the rule of conventions that

it

made

was one of

collaboration

possible.

Take that beautiful monument of Florentine craftsmanship, Ghiberti's

door of the Baptisterv the four doctors of the

(Fig. 148),

showing eight panels of such seated

Church and the four

who worked

of a round dozen of assistants

decades or more the work was

Michelozzo, but we have

little

m

progress,

how

idea

the

Evangelists.

less to a

must

probabh' do \'Ou a Ghiberti, that If

distributed. I think the

is

m

master

like best to the

more menial hand. What st\de

I

said

of speech to the point of

surely also have applied to the gifted

workshop. Working for so long and

have approved.

during the two

among them Paolo Uccello and work was

about picking up and mimicking a manner and possible forgery

We know the names

m the workshop

temptation must be resisted to assign the portions we

and the parts which appeal to us

first

figures,

members of

a

such close association, they could

to say, a figure

he had not, he would have sent

of which Ghiberti would

them

away.

He

could always

intervene at anv stage as the leader of anv team does, either by precept or

The

Necessicv'

of Tradition

185

.

148

Lorenzo Ghiberti, the first

bronze doors of the

Florence Baptistery

(bottom four

panels),

completed 1424

149

Andrea da Sangallo

after

Michelangelo, study for the lower part of the

r

of Pope

Julius

tomb

II, 151^.

Casa Buonarroti, Florence

.

demonstration. Like the producer of a play or of a film, he would charge and take the credit. This

a point,

is

from the emphasis on feedback possibility of creation

Not

am

m

here advocating.

It

illuminates the

by remote control.

were

artists

all

I

remam

think, where art history can profit

I

equally

suited

for

this

method of teamwork.

Michelangelo was not. His conception of creativity evidently excluded the

kind of workshop which alone made the execution of major enterprises in sculpture possible. There his original

was to the I

is

a

famous drawing or copy of a drawing showing

conception of the tomb of Julius

figure. It

remained a torso. Only

superman Michelangelo

II (Fig. 149),

in the

on which

realize the potential

of his immense

Moses

thought of the Neoplatonic conception of genius, the visionary

even

creativity.

have talked of Michelangelo because he became the archetype

demiurge

the

medium of painting could

m Western

who

rivals the

m creating a world out of nothing by gazing at the realm of ideas. I

do not deny

for a

new dimension

moment

that the very sublimity

to our ideas about art, but

model was not wholly

beneficial,

and that

I

of this thought has added

a

also believe that for aesthetics this

it is

time to redress the balance.

9 Changing Aims

An

apocryphal anecdote about Turner

the conception of creativity is

supposed to have

children

—

serve as a convenient parable for

have been advocating

m this lecture. The painter

'got three children to dabble watercolours together

suddenly stopped them

Turner bequest

I

may

at the

till

he

propitious moment'. Judging by the size of the

almost 20,000 items in the British

must have kept him pretty busy

—

that

is,

if

Museum

alone

—

the

they were children and

not rather demons or angels.

Whatever may have been the intention of those who this story, I certainly

dignity of genius.

1S4

It

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

do not think

that the element

originally circulated

of feedback diminishes the

may stand for what Karl Popper

in his

opening address of

m Science and m

the Salzburg Festival of 1979 called 'Creative Self-Criticism

Admittedh; there

Art'."

The aims of science

creativitv.

two

are vital differences in the

more

are

easily

of human

areas

formulated than those of

art.

Paul Ehrlich called the drug against syphilis he had developed Salvarsan 606

because he and his collaborators had tried out 605 compounds of arsenic before thev found one thev considered non-toxic for humans. This

example of applied science where the

though there

are

no such

which

forces operate

purpose have had a

criteria

clear-cut criteria

may be

of success or

an

is

easiest to specify,

but

m art, the same

failure

have mentioned in relation to language. Use and

I

vital influence

on the development of artistic conventions

and media, thev have led to unintended discoveries which were embodied creative conventions.

m art various

Moreover which

Principles of Exclusion

periods accepted what

are enshrined in the so-called 'Rules

I

in

called

of Art'. In

mav be the elementary demand of grammar or versification, in pamtmg of certain periods the laws of perspective or of anatomy, which

poetrv there the

might

m

figure

criticism or self-criticism.

criticism here can operate

on anv

had been dabbling pamt

for

He would

different point. a

level

But the point

of the

precisely that

is

creative process. If the children

Kandmsky, he would have stopped them

combination of colours to which he could attribute special

significance.

It

is

change

this

constitutes the history of style.

he had started painting

pamtmg

in I

m

spiritual

the rules of elimination which largely

remember an American

a picture

same motif

of the

of a

artist telling

taking off her shift

girl

an art journal.

To

it

resembled another icon.

have had second thoughts

if

He would have

been more

formulated grounds for criticism which

artist

who

his

is

own

a

pamtmg likely to

he had found that what he had painted was

without precedent and therefore without authority. There are

process, the shibboleths

that

an abstract.

into

Needless to say a Russian icon painter would not have cancelled his it

me

when he saw

safeguard his originality he

turned his painting upside-down and transformed

on finding that

at a

not have wanted a landscape to emerge, but rather

still

may be

applied

m

less

easily

this sifting

of schools or of movements which help to guide the

critic.

But on

a

deeper

level

it

must

surely be the effect

which the creation has on the maker himself which must be decisive for the real artist: the process I have called authentication.

withm

his range

and medium he

of

—

to speak

experience,

1 do not

I

his 'self

think, to

seek,

For there

is

which alone

Trying out possibilities

will find that his self —

and here

I

resonates to a particular configuration.

would

like

It is

this

which Picasso referred when he said proudly and

justly,

I find'.

one aim which has united the entitles

them

arts in

many historical periods and

to the claim of creativity— the aim of novelty.

The

A

Necessity of Tradition

simple repetition of what has been done before art.

believe

I

creativity

this

outside this concept of

from what

inseparable

is

falls

described

I

as

articulation. Just as language teaches the poet to articulate his experience, so

the visual arts serve as instruments for the discovery of

outer and inner world.

Whether you think

new

aspects of the

of Michelangelo or of Rembrandt,

of Rubens or of Van Gogh, we know what we mean when we say that the

m

and psychological experiences they embodied

visual

work only

their

entered our heritage through their mediation.

10 Innovation and Refinement

There

one distinction here which

is

two almost opposite

articulation can take

medium

in

an effort to extend

extremes as

at the

I

it

directions.

a

more

to

The

introduce: artist

can strain the

make

discoveries by refining his

subtle calibration

which permits him to bring

Not

out new shades and nuances never recorded or expressed before. these

The

two ways of enriching the language of

art

greatest masters were frequently creative in

need be mutually

described and appreciated than their miracles of refining."

fortunate enough to subtleties

on the magic of

reflect

believe

it

is

wonderful

when

I

was

of great poetry do not survive the process of

inevitable that these

achievements which

There may be

and similar limitations of our

is

far

from

artistic traditions

a bias into the discussion

healthy.

appreciate such fine calibration than does our Western

knowledge to substantiate

present context, for

I

hope

I

of

which depend even more on the need to

masters of the Far East, our Western painters lack the

a

in

easily

alone the change of scale and tonal range of the

let

methods of communication have introduced artistic

had

it is

the Chardin Exhibition in Paris in 1979. But the

visit

mechanical reproduction, I

I

refinement

more

of tone and of texture which turn these paintings of simple kitchen

utensils into the visual equivalent

screen.

artistic

are

that

exclusive.

both directions. But

more dramatic innovations

the nature of things that their

opportunity to

creative

range and thus to discover novel possibilities

its

were. But he can also

medium, by introducing

like

still

this

art.

Compared

may sometimes look

hunch, nor does

it

much

can make the same point in turning

to the

coarse.

matter in

I

my

m conclusion

to the history of yet another art, that of music.

11

I

Music

know

there are musicians

music, but rate, for

I

who

think that their approach

the purpose of

my

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

any talk of the expressive character of flies

exposition,

ethical or psychological effects

186

dislike

I

in the face

of experience. At any

who stressed the on the hearer. Remember that

side with Plato,

which music has

Mode

he condemned the effeminating effects of the Lydian

Mode

to admit the mvigorating Dorian

to call this ancient approach to the arts, for a

m

as

the Bacchic dance.

m these and countless

those affected

can never kno\^'

how and why

should

I

I

tempted

is

spells as in the lullabv

and

emphasize again that

like to

other ways need not

the spell works.

One

have also quoted Aristotle,

know and

possibly

They need not know about

the

of music any more than the tea-drinker need know about the

secrets

chemically active agents

There I

which

magico-medical one, there are tranquillizing

rousing ones

and only wished

into his Ideal State.

is

m 'the cup that cheers'.

of the spread of tea drinking from China to Europe, but,

a history

suppose, the effects of tea have remained very

music have proved

less stable.

of any other

as a trigger-theory

training

much

the same.

The

effects

of

A pure trigger-theory of music will work as little art,

m

to conventions which crystallized

may change with

but though effects

art,

and habituation, no other

not even poetry,

a long tradition.

medium

characteristic of the great masters of the

is

may be more indebted

What

me

seems to

so

the extent of their voyages

of discovery throughout the length, breadth and depth of the tonal system

The mere

they inherited. or Schubert

is

sight

awe-mspirmg even

was allotted to some of them. six

of the collected works of Bach, Haydn, Mozart

hundred songs,

m

if you

How

addition to

do not remember how short

chamber music,

the piano works,

all

symphonies, abortive operas, Masses and choral compositions,

some It

fifteen years? Surely only

seems to

by

a lifetime

did Schubert manage to write more than

letting

music serve him,

as

m a period of

he served music.

me that music must always have filled the minds of these masters,

tunes and harmonies were always running

composing and what they

left

m their heads, they were incessantly

us are only the snatches they

down when some commission

or occasion

prompted them

managed to

do

to write

so. I

know

that not only the very great exhibited this prodigious productivity^. If

you

whom

you

consult your Qroxe you will frequently find that the composer of

have heard for the

Many

first

time wrote scores of Masses and dozens of operas.

of these minor masters were

also

on intimate terms with

and thanks to the radio we can now sometimes enjoy struck at after a

their

first

own a

time we will also frequently find that they

Maybe

response. It

bad name.

their work.

medium

We

will

be

by the kinship of their inventions with those of the masters, but

euphony they

composers.

their

I

is

they

let

the

this evident

to hold us because for

all

medium

take over

and

failed to

watch their

danger which has given the term 'convention

have sufficiently explained

creative potential

fail

offer far fewer surprises, far fewer riches than the canonic

why we cannot do without

the

of artistic conventions.

Of course, music like the other arts has come to rely among other effects on

The

Necessity of Tradition

the effect of novelty, but here as elsewhere, there

up

craving for this stimulation swallows

always a danger that the

is

other charms music holds in store.

all

In contemplating the situation in music as an outsider,

two contrastmg art,

have

come

Composers

to

are

range of the

dominate two

am

I

it

medium by new found

of our musical

entirely different branches

own

place

m the musical life of our century. I

who

are outstanding

who

only as technical virtuosos but also as profound musicians it is

lovers,

not they

and there

who

of them,

critics

are avid for this experience, they

of the same compositions because they have

sensitive to the small

and important range of legitimate

new

timing, touch and phrasing which reveal

Music

facets

sometimes chide the public for

matter of programmes, but for

token of the continued

should ignore. For

vitality

me

of the great masterpieces.

developed sensitivity

this

of the

is

of Ivor A. Richards that

between the forming and the performing

m

the

a reassuring

which no student of

arts

if he accepts the insight

variants in

their conservativism

the idiom which inspires the artist he will also be led to reflect relation

not

can give us the

play the music, but the music which plays them.

are plenty

flock to hear performances

become

we

great pianists today than

masters of the keyboard

fingers,

we must be

this respect, I believe

Golden Age. There must be more

could count on our

Music

life.

meanwhile the cultivation of

inventions, but

its

of performance. In

referring to the art

feeling that

me that the

seems to

discussed in relation to

understandably anxious to make an impact by extending the

subtle calibration has

living in a

of articulation which

possibilities

aesthetics it is

always

anew on

the

arts.

Editor's Postscript

So much emphasis has been placed on self-expression and creativity a corrective

is

needed.

The

Story of Art

artists the resources for its development^

and many of its generate

new

artists' statements

and

would

in art education today that

described the evolution of a tradition which o_ffered it

has

to be

said that a close reading of

modern

art

reveal that artistic traditions have often been raided to

imagery. The traditional model of artistic influence^ which

may

be true of rote

learnings should be replaced, in cases of genuine creativity, by one of artists' active development

of past

artistic achievements.

The

idea that the art's history

is

a dead weight on creativity

was

not

even true of modernism.

This

is

Gombrich's only essay in

traditions. See also 'The Tradition

aesthetics

and

it

discusses the generative potential of artistic

of General Knowledge' in Ideals

of Habit' and 'Verbal Wit as a Paradigm of Art' reprinted

zzj^—j6). For examples of historical analysis based on

this

and Idols and

in this

approach

volume

see,

(pp.

'TheTorce

iSg—llO,

for example, 'The

style

air antica; Imitation and Assimilation' and 'Reynolds's Theory and Practice of Imitation in

Norm and Form;

'Botticelli's

Stanza della Segnatura

188

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

Mythologies' reprinted in

Symbolic Images^ and

reprinted in this volume (pp. //.Sj—jl/f).

'Raphael's

Verbal Wit as a Paradigm of Art:

of Sigmund Freud

the Aesthetic Theories Lecture ^iven at X'lenna University-

m May 1981 on

the 125th anniversan- of the birth

of Sigmund

Freud: published Trihuus

jgS^X

m

pp. 92—115

A recent display in the exhibition rooms of the British Library assembled in a special showcase the first editions

of three books which constitute landmarks

in the intellectual history

of Europe: Galileo

Two

of

Principal l%rld Systems

1632, the

book which

victory of the Copernican system against Origin of Species

of

1859, a

Galilei

all

s Dialogvte

Concerning

the

ultimately secured the

opponents; Charles Darwin's The

work which encountered

similar resistance in

its

m the evolution of organic and finally The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud published m the year 1900, the book which ushered in a new epoch m the exploration of the human psyche. attempt to define the place of man

This work also met with much because in

it

the

power of

generally welcomed, but

hostility

instinct

result

of mental

conflicts

is

for the

first

time the mental

life

conjunction with the symptoms of all,

the

dream

is

here interpreted as a

which so frequently deny to

fulfilment of instinctual urges.

which can serve also

was assigned a greater role than was

m

of psychotics. After

waking consciousness

and misunderstanding, not only

most of all because

of normal adults was considered neurotics, indeed

life;

man

civilized

During that third part of our

lifespan

the

m which

out of action, the same forces fight for dominance

m the explanation of madness and neurosis.

am not a psychiatrist, but a historian of art, and it would be impertinent me to attempt in my turn to interpret The Interpretation of Dreams. But the art

I

of

historian can

no more ignore

the impact of Darwm's

cevivre.

its

implications than the ethologist can neglect

Least of all can he do so if his interests include

the theory of art. I

can only attempt to indicate the stage of development in which the work

Verbal

Wit

as a

Paradigm of Art

i8g

Sigmund Freud

in his

study in Vienna with his art collection

chow,

and

his

r.1956

Sigmund Freud — Founder of Psychoanalysis, as he

is

described on the

commemorative plaque of his

London house — was

born on 6

May

1856 in

Freiberg in Moravia,

which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian

Empire. In i860 his a

father,

wool-merchant, moved

with his family to Vienna

where Freud attended school, including a classical

grammar

school,

before entering Vienna

University as a medical

He

student in 1873.

graduated in

of Sigmund Freud entered the theory of art, and even for digress a

little.

To put

it

briefly,

up

purpose

this

I

must

number of

variations

time his interest (and publications) centred on

to the eighteenth century the theory of art

m the Western world was dominated by ancient philosophy. It was most of all Plato's metaphysics which, in a

At the

1881.

and even distortions,

attributed to the artist the capacity of perceiving the divine ideals of beauty

neurology and

in 1885

he

spent four months in

Pans with

J.

M.

Charcot,

on the

a leading authority

subject. In 1886 he

established his private

beyond the world of the senses and of embodying them rejection

of this mystical view of art

in the course

in his creations.

The

of the eighteenth century,

practice in

Vienna and

with Josef Breuer,

m England, was bound to make theorists turn to psychology, a new branch of knowledge which had become prominent m the philosophy of John

most of all

Locke. Foremost

Burke, whose

Philosophical Enquiry

Origin of our Ideas of the Suhlime and Beautiful, first published in 1756, created

into the

a

among them was Edmund

profound impression

also in

Germany.

on

undertook to establish

aesthetics

struck a note which

reverberates in

It

was the

first

time that an author

biological foundations,

and he thus

Hysteria,

the

human

mmd

is

Freud s writings. According to Burke,

dominated by two basic emotions, the

itself,

of course,

self-preservation rests threat.

on the

This avoidance

is

latter

manifests

and Burke explains the sensation of the

as the sexual instinct,

from the

The

attractions

of a

fine physique.

striving for safety

served by

fear,

The

instinct for

and on the avoidance of any

which constitutes

as

it

were a

biological warning system. Fear in moderate doses explains the sensation

the sublime which the poets celebrate in storms

What

iQo

separates Burke's approach

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

of

and tempests.

from the psychoanalytic theory of

art.

Studies in

laid the

about the causes of neuroses. The Interpretation of Dreams

1900.

appeared

in

The Nazi

occupation of Austria 1938

compelled him leave

in

as a

Vienna and

seek refuge in England.

He

died in

September

preservation and that for the propagation of the species.

beautiful as deriving

desire for self-

which

foundation of his theory

Jew to still

in

1895 published, jointly

London on 1939-

23

despite a certain rudimentary kinship,

above

is

the fact that Burke concerns

all

himself not with the artist but with the beholder.

he

effects

owes the concept of the sublime. musician

As

of emotional

a student

indebted to the tradition of ancient rhetoric, to which he also

is

It

centres

on the power of the

poet, the

What

and the painter to arouse or to calm the passions.

psychological dispositions enable the creator to play on the keyboard of the soul

much

is

less at issue.

m his classic study

M. H. Abrams

effects to the aesthetics

aftermath

of self-expression

m our age. In Germany

which marked the break, 'Thus

savs,

feel

I

when

as

'Where man

what

to sav

from the

of its

was the movement of 'Storm and

young

lover

when Goethe

falls silent

the

aesthetics

m Goethe

moment what makes

this

overflowing with emotion, or beautiful words,

a

it

at the

The Mirror and

time of Romanticism and

Lamp' has described the decisive reorientation that led

Gotz von

s

the poet:

Stress'

Berlichingen

wholly

a heart

makes Tasso speak the

later

m torment, a god gave me the power

I suffer.'

In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, therefore, the theory of art shifts

from

objective to subjective criteria. In poetry, music

interest centres

on the experience of the

genuine experience the work of art

and the

m

creator; indeed,

considered wholly bogus, a kind of

is

forgerv or confidence trick which pretends that the artist had

whereas in

realitv^

he was only out for

Interpretation of Dreams,

three

m his book

What

is

effects.

of Freud's

1900, the year

critics

all art as

communication of feeling,

mere rhetoric

if it failed as

lyrical expression.

Small wonder that Freud's book made critics,

something

artistic creation to intoxication, Tolstoy,

Art? equated art with the

and Benedetto Croce, who dismissed genuine

Around

felt

names commanded immense respect among

of art: Nietzsche, who approximated

who

visual arts,

the absence of

who had

expression and to consider

genius and the

its

greatest impression

always inclined to regard the its affinity

work of

with the dream.

on

artists

The

kinship of the

madman had m any case been a favourite topic of the fin

Freud also paid tribute to the aesthetics of expression when he interpret a

work of art

like a

dream or

and

art as subjective

a day-dream, above aU in his

de

siecle.

tried to

famous

study of Leonardo da Vinci.

Hermann

Freud's characterization of this study in a letter to the painter

Struck' deserves to be quoted in full since he always weighed his words very carefully. '£5

ist

vinserer sonstigen

iihrigens

Ermittlungen nach diesem Muster

half novelistic fiction. investigations

that

remark

auch halh Romandichtung. Ich mochte

by

I

would not want you

this example.')

had

been

A

beurteilen.'

nicht,

(It

is,

dass Sie die Sicherheit

incidentally, also

to judge the certamt)^

of our other

good deal of ink could have been saved if

known

before

the

publication

Verbal

Wit

of

as a

Freuds

Paradigm of Arc

correspondence

in

When

i960.

Freud

referred

to

fiction

'novelistic

was obviously thinking of the famous historical novel on

(Komandichtung) he

Leonardo da Vinci, the second volume of an ambitious trilogy by the Russian author D.

S.

Merezhkovsky, published

in Freud's study. It

m 1903, which episode m that

German

in

must indeed have been an

is

mentioned

novel which

sparked off Freud's interest in Leonardo's childhood. In chapter nine

Leonardo

home

childhood

visits his

Borgia's army,

and reminisces about

Leonardo remembered imperceptibly

his

flitting, full

mother

man of fifty,

as a

dream —

as in a

[his

especially her smile, tender,

of mystery, seeming somewhat

simple, sad face of an almost austere beauty

.

.

The

.

little

mother] dwelt with her husband was situated not

Antonio

sly

and odd on her

house where Caterina

from the

far

villa

of Ser

[his grandfather].

Describing the young Leonardo's secret day-time told that *he

would throw himself upon

at

night

still

visits to his

mother we

are

and she would cover with her

her,

kisses his face, his eyes, his lips, his hair'. But,

meetings

prior to joining Cesare

his past.

we

read, the

boy liked the

more. Knowing the times when his stepfather was out

young Leonardo would with

exceeding caution arise from the wide family couch, where he slept beside his

grandmother Lucia: half-dressed he would of the window grass

.

.

.

.

noiselessly

open the shutter crawl out

and run to Caterina. Sweet to him were the

.

the fear lest his grandmother, awakening, miss him;

.

chill

of the dewy

and the mystery of

the seemingly criminal embraces, when, having gotten into Caterina's bed, in the

darkness, under the blanket, he

The way

is

Leonardo's

wish to

I

saved

an

him

artist

not

from

far

Virgin

would

all

his body.

imaginary oedipal scene to Freud's reading of

this

and St Anne (Fig.

stress

cling to her with

151) as

representing his 'two mothers'.

from the outset that Freud's wide culture and

here and elsewhere

his insights

from the mistake of confusing the biography of

with the theory of the

What

arts.

he says about this point in his

autobiographical account could not possibly be more explicit.

It

must be confessed

to the layman,

analysis in this respect, that

it

artist's gifts,

artistic technique.*

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

possibly expect too

much of

does not throw any light on two problems which

probably interest him most. explanation of an

who may

Analysis

nor

is it

has

nothing to

competent to

contribute

lay bare his

to

method,

the his

'51

Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin

(.1508.

With

discussion of artistic

art historian.

For

if

he did not want to enter into a

he thereby eliminated the problems of value.

gifts,

Leonardo means so much more to us than

for instance, is

artist's

method

or technique

affects

The methods which both

problems.

must learn from

their

masters

most

the

are,

still

after

Without

architecture,

gifted all,

and the

without the technique of

Oedipus

the

Freud was

oil

I

am

that

speaking

would be no Gothic

painting no Rembrandt, without

King by Sophocles. fully

aware of the significance of this renunciation. In his essay

that The Brothers Karamazov

Grand

from

no Bach, and without the development of the drama

on 'Dostoyevsky and Father-KiUmg' of 1927 he

the

less talented

inseparable

the technique of vaulting there

the art of the fugue

discussion of

wider and more decisive

manifestation of art which concerns the art historian most, style.

If,

his pupil Luini,

To renounce

ultimately due to their different talents.

this

the

no

Louvre, Paris

these words Freud decisively indicated the frontiers between his insights

and the concerns of the

of

and Child with St Anne,

Inquisitor

is

declares right at the outset

the greatest novel ever written, and the episode of

one

of the

high

points

of world

Verbal

Wit

literature.

as a

Paradigm of Art

193

'Unfortunately*, he continues, 'analysis

with the problem of the creative

must surrender arms when confronted

writer.'

But though Freud was not afraid here to draw the

we must not

line,

that he wished subjectivism in art to be given free rein.

throughout his

life

explicitly

condemned both

these remarks, despite the fact that

I

have

I

He

must not pass over

commented on them

His criticism of Expressionism was stimulated by Pfister, the

in relation to art.

currents of radical subjectivism in the art of the

twentieth century. Expressionism and Surrealism, and

of Oskar

the contrary,

he energetically opposed the conclusions which some of

wanted to draw from psychoanalysis

his contemporaries

On

infer

Zurich parson with

whom

a little

before.^

book from the pen

Freud engaged

in a lively

exchange of ideas and who, in 1920, sent him his publication on Der psychologische

Biological

und

hiologische

he

des

Expressionismus

(The Psychological and

of horrified maiden aunts' and scolds the

against 'the shrieks as

Hintergrund

Background of Expressionism). In the introduction

says, 'believe

"disgusting",

they have done enough

"barbaric",

characterize the

"daubs",

serious problems', he continues, 'we

pl^ilistines

who,

when they bandy about words

"perverse"

new movement'. 'To

Pfister protests

and

"pathological"

get our bearing in the chaos

must peer

into the secret

like

to

of these

womb

of the

unconscious' and use the methods of Sigmund Freud which 'penetrate below the outer crust of the conscious mind'. Pfister wants to define Expressionism

194

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

as

which

'any subjective representation

nature'.

But he also includes abstract

and the Dadaists, wishing, however, to For

a short time the author

during

the

sessions

the

refrain

had taken an patient

artist

dealt with these images as he

the Cubists

from any

aesthetic judgement.

of this school into

made drawings and

With good

associations for interpretation (Fig. 152).

patient.

almost totally distorts

totally or

art, referring explicitly to

would have

analysis

offered

his

and free

reason, therefore, Pfister

dealt with a

dream told by

He distinguishes between their manifest and their latent content,

his

and

attempts to probe the private meanings which appear behind the enigmatic shapes.

He

is

profoundly disquieted by what he found

After analysis has

made

there.

He

writes:

us see what a welter of hatred, revenge, helplessness,

inner conflicts and confusion sometimes

doubly disinclined to attribute any

human

lies

one becomes

in these images,

value to this autism.

What concern to

us are those brawls, disappointments, miserable childhood incidents which the Expressionist secretly embodies in his work?

One

can certainly understand

unjust.

We

Pfister's outburst,

must not be surprised

if the

associations of this kind since that was part of entirely possible that

Anton Pilgram,

and

yet

analysis its

I

think that

of an

purpose.

artist It

it is

also

produces

seems to

me

the great master of the pulpit of St

Verbal

Wit

as a

Paradigm of Art

Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna (Fig. painter of Springtime

in the

on the

associations

Vienna Woods (Fig. 154),

might have produced similar

couch which

would somehow have been

analyst's

connected with their works. But creations.

What

or Ferdinand Waldmuller, the lovable

153),

also

nor against these

this speaks neither for

from those of

distinguishes the works of the Expressionists

Pilgram's or Waldmiiller's time

much

not so

is

The

idea the artist wished to realize.

artists

their origin as their style, the

whom

Pfister

had

in analysis

could not be blamed for the prominence their subjective experience assumed in their creations; the responsibility lies with that theory

hinted, increasingly put the accent

on

self-expression

of

arts which, as

I

and demanded nothing

but honesty of these intimate exposures.

For the same reason

I

cannot agree with Pfister who,

like so

many

others,

wishes to explain the Expressionist cries of anguish by referring to the distress

of the

age.

No doubt the age was indeed distressing, but then which age is not?

Anton Pilgram

certainly

had reasons

to be terrified by the danger threatening

Vienna from the Turks, and even beneath the apparent art there

grumbled the volcano of social and national

What was a

at issue in the

new conception of art,

artist,

do

a

idea of the task

and without taking note of

to him.

Thus

call 'art' is

is

was approached by

fifty years ago: I

should

room of the University who

passionately to look at his works.

to a covered work.

On

lifting the

told

m

human

had experienced the urge to depth of his his

To

in

young man of my age

in

that he was an

me

to his

artist

face.

and urged

rooms and pointed

is

a

possibly,

On my

I

last

addressed to

and with much

work of art,

I

know

it is

a

work of

to say was that he

and that the product had arisen from the

cut short any further discussion, he opened a drawer in

him which was signed

you have achieved what

of the door, but

I

saw an

embarrassed silence he

work of art.' What he wanted

create

I

desk and took out a sheet of paper covered with neat handwriting.

a letter

At

soul.

me

took

a

which one might

with fanatical intensity: It originated like a

had

an experience

dust sheet with great solemnity

almost shapeless lump of clay

it

in a period. In case this

like to relate

He

goodwill, find the marks of a

me

be possible to

other things a social

intimately connected with

dominant

Vienna some

art because

than

the artist also identifies with the role which society assigns

the psychology of artistic creation

I

assured

will never

it

among

formulation sounds puzzling

me

less

and indeed of the duty of the

conception

this

What we

the theory of art which happens to be

the lecture

of Waldmiiller's

movement of Expressionism was nothing

new

justice to these creations.

phenomenon and

idyll

tensions.

I

It

was

'Michelangelo' and said roughly:

always tried to

do.' I

was glad to get

safely

out

have never forgotten the experience because from the point

of view of an extreme subjectivism,

Pare IV: Tradition and Innovation

it

would indeed have been impossible

to

poor madman. Yet even he sensed somewhere that

rehire the aretiment ot that

were not enough, tor

his subjective convictions alone

produced the tantasv ot

s

oeuvre

less

is

how

Siomund Freud, who durmo;

it

Kke

it

What

art.

m Rome

m

matters to us

stood

ever\' da\'

m

front of

meaning, never doubted the

its

masterv even thouc^h he

contemporaries he took

his

telt

unable to discuss

But

it.

had to be

for granted that this master\'

m the service of a personal artistic concern. Hfis readme ot Leonardo's

placed Virgin

artists

ot

originated than what he accomplished.

his sta\'

Michelaneelo's statue ot Mcses to probe

importance ot the

he would not have

bv Michelangelo, whose name stands

a testimonial

for such a totallv ditferent conception iV'Kchelaneelo

else

and St Anne, tor instance, rests on the implicit assumiption that the ur^e

to create

it

arose

trom withm the

and not trom without,

artist

as

was the rule

m the Renaissance. For Freud technical skill consisted m the abilit\- to realize m a beautitul letter about ethics' he quoted the saving of

fantasies.

But

Friedrich

Theodor \

just as

ischer: "Morality-

probablv ^\"ould have

'The aesthetic must

said:

tound

Preciselv because he

must alwavs be taken

be taken tor granted'.

alwa\'s

his expectations here

disappointed he rejected

with the utmost vigour the whole movement ot

art

Expressionism. His

may

todav. but

It

letter to Ptister ot 21

June 1920

tor ^r^inted'. so he

which

Pfister called

well alienate readers

cannot be ignored.

Dear Doctor. I

took up your pamphlet about Expressionism with no

aversion the

and

purelv

I

read

it

in

anal\n:ic

one

eo. In the

which

parts,

end

can

interpretation for non-analvsts. but tor

Often

I

Pfister

said to mvself:

is,

how

little

'What

a

the

that

m private Hfe

harm they can do and

of those

these people have

Let

me

ha\"e

all.

no claim

no patience

stick-m-the-muds

title

over

m

arrives at all

the

nice

all

\-ou

ot

injustice

that

it is

own

way.'

with lunatics.

clearly

for

and make of it.

trom

his

much

difficulties

it

I

vou

For

I

onlv see

m tact one pillorv m vour

concerned.

uhom

vou vourselt then say to the

verv much, not so

him and how

which he

as tar as these "artists' are

and

philistines

introduction. But after

I

at

it

get

charitable person free

\-ourselt to

must come to aeree with evervthm^ must teU vou

liked

ea^er curiosit\' than

u hat vou connect with

eood and

vou can compare

I

never

less

I

am

and exhaustively why

ot artist.

therefore thank \-ou cordiallv tor this

new enrichment of mv

psvchoanahTic storehouse.

^vlore formidable even

painter

who had made

was the thunderbolt hurled bv the a portrait ot Karl

Abraham

irate writer at a

poor

m 1922:

Verbal

Wic as

a

Paradi^ of .Art

Dear Friend, I

received the drawing which allegedly represents your head. It

what an

excellent person

slight flaw in

you

your character

are, I

as

is

should have been punished so maintained that he saw you in allowed access to analytic Adler's theory that

become

am

ghastly.

more deeply shocked

the

all

is

know

that such a

your tolerance or sympathy for modern cruelly.

this way.

circles, for

hear from

I

Lampl

'art'

that the artist

People such as he should be the

last to

be

they are all-too-unwelcome illustrations of

precisely people with severe inborn defects

it is

I

painters and draughtsmen. Let

me

of vision who

forget this portrait in wishing

you the

very best for 1923.'

Who would have expected to encounter here of all places an anticipation of the hatred against an allegedly degenerate art? little restraint

found

because he himself sensed

Maybe Freud wrote with

so

somehow that the younger generation movement of

in psychoanalysis a bridge to that

art

which he so

passionately disliked.

Thus

it is

wholly understandable that

it

become usual

has meanwhile

to

explain and if possible to excuse Freud's rejection of modern art by pointing to the prejudices

of his generation and of his milieu. But

risky to dispose

of the views of

Moreover,

a great

it is

man which we

think that in the case of Freud this escape route

I

always

somewhat

find uncomfortable. is

barred. If there

was ever anyone who proved that the prejudices of his generation had no such

power over

had

his

thought

was Sigmund Freud.

it

Fortunately opportunity arose for

By

a

We may be

quite sure that he

theoretical reasons for his attitude.

him

to explain these reasons in a letter.

happy coincidence he was prompted to

most extreme form of which

towards the

movement of

Surrealism,

on the kinship between the dream and the

relied programmatically

work of art and hence on

of creation: Stefan Zweig had asked

the automatism

Freud to receive Salvador Dali two, agreed and wrote

clarity his position

artistic subjectivism, the

on 20

(Fig. 159)

m

London and

Freud, then eighty-

July 1938:

Dear Doctor, I

can really thank you for the introduction which yesterday's visitor brought me.

For up to then chosen

me

I

was inclined to consider the

as their

'pure' alcohol.

patron

saint,

pure lunatics or

The young Spaniard with his

his undeniable technical

would indeed be very

let

me

still

appear to have

and

fanatic eyes

and

a different appreciation. It

interesting to explore the origins

one might

who

us say 95 per cent, as with

patently sincere

mastery has suggested to

analytically. Yet, as a critic,

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

Surrealists,

of

a painting

by him

be entitled to say that the concept of

Salrador Dali.

Sleep,

19;-

Prirate collection

art resisrs an extension

bevond the point where the

quantitative proportion

between unconscious material and preconscious elaboration

kept withm a

is

certain limit. In anv case. ho\\'ever. these are serious psychological problems.

I

owe

to the guidance ot Ernst Kris"

It

Museum monthh" L--:^:: —

Kunsthistorisches

the

psychoanalytic

Freud's highly complex

— who.

m

betore his

\ ienna

that

I

and

interpret

done It

it

through

may perhaps

to explore the oric^ms ot a

free association

resists

a

work

first

as a critic

like a

Too much imconscious

The terminology which Freud

dream,

had

as Pfister

is

kept withm a

little

preconscious

Bilaticn

For

it

to the

was

would acknowledge

AVhen we speak trom

ot

as a

work of art.

uses points to one ot his works which arts: I

am

thinking of his

precisel\-

m

this

calling a ]oke

The

come

as

context that Freud demonstrated what

good and bad dreams we

sureh"

m this

briet

it

lets

us down.

mean somethuig

good or bad. The problem ot

theory ot art can ignore, stands

of

is

book

Umonssicus ot 1905. This estimation should not

the comparison with the dream could achieve and where

dilferent

it

one might say that even so

material and too

importance tor the theory ot the

a surprise.

remarks that

ot art hut like a dream, because 'the concept

elaboration does not result in what Freud

its

at

the

ot

an extension beyond the point where the quantitative proportion

certain lirmt'.

decisive

Keeper

Dali analytically,

benveen unconscious material and preconscious elaboration

Joke and

a

editor

venture to interpret

pamtmg by

and memories

m his time. But. Freud continues,

was not bv anv means

of art

was

and thus to elucidate what he here

utterance

considered to be 'serious psychological problems', hde

would be mterestmg

exile,

joint

a

value,

which no

and highly personal book

\ erbal

very

m the

Wt as a Paradigm ol Art

199

centre of attention

and

I

on

the

the observation of the frequency with which

we

some

believe that

light

is

thrown

in

even

it

problems of technique and of style. Freud's starting-point

is

can find in dreams witty comparisons, puns and allusions, which must serve the purpose which he attributes to

and disguising wishful

liberating

What

Freud

all

dreamwork: the purpose of both

fantasies.

in The Interpretation of Dreams describes as the

primary process, that

mechanism of the

condensation, displacement and the transformation

is

found

into an image, can also be

in the joke. It

was particularly the pun

in

which the double meaning of a word makes us laugh that interested Freud. Puns, of course,

but even before illustrating the kind of

resist translation,

verbal joke which Freud enjoyed

of

to the popular stereotype

it

may be worth

book on

his bias his

concentrates on sexual innuendoes.

On

pointing out that contrary the Joke by

quotation the witticisms of 'one of the leading figures of Austria brilliant career in science

and

no means

the contrary, he singles out for

who

after a

m the civil service now occupies an exalted post

m the State'. The joker had made fun of a historian who happened to have red him something

hair, calling

like 'that

gmger bore who bores

the history of Napoleon's family'. Admittedly the

pun

a little wittier in

is

would hardly

German;'^ but even if these witticisms were translatable they

make

we no longer know

us laugh today since

their butts.

Freud wished to bring out was that an educated

m

a malicious quip.

remark does not appear which, as It

IS

a

withm

Not

Hence

with language

a

person

of sharing which represents the

it

only can the dream dispense with

can make

it

full

Freud

decisive

writes,

else.

Having

compromise between contending psychic

as a

intelligible, for else it

as

has nothing to say to anyone

remains unintelligible even to that person and

of being

alone of red hair,

as a play

and the dream. 'The dream',

wholly asocial psychic product:

others.

let

laugh because the derogatory

naked aggression, but

as

precisely this possibility

originated it

feel free to

hardly have

were, seduces us to share in the speaker's sentiment.

It

difference between the joke

is

We

However, what

man would

allowed himself to express his distaste of tedious writings, except

way through

his

it

forces,

wholly uninteresting to

intelligibility, it

would be destroyed;

use

is

must even beware

can only exist

m disguise.

of those mechanisms which dominate our

unconscious thoughts, distorting them beyond any possibility of retrieval. joke

on the other hand

pleasure

This

.

.

.

thus

it is

intelligibility

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

—

is

the

most

social

The

of all psychic achievements aiming

at

bound by conditions of intelligibility.^'

if I

may pursue

this

thought

—

rests

of course on the

common

store of culture,

most of

m

Freud regarded the pleasure pleasure

m

on the common possession of language.

all

wordplay

as a continuation

of the childish

experimenting with speech sounds, experiments which gradually

The

lead to the mastery of language.

twistmgs of words manifests witticisms;

m

itself

m

free

permutations and

verbal tomfoolery as

well

in

as

part of that regression to earlier psychic states to which

is

it

pleasure

Freud's theory assigns such an essential role.

What

ultimately matters

is

that

m Freud's theory play and regression are simply the means of which we make when

use

consciously or the joke comes to us as a fully fledged idea.

own

the joke manifests itself

.

.

m

.

and such imaginary situations which make words and ideas to withstand the of the vocabulary and

peculiarities

must be most

'The most the

it

all

and for

whom

in a nutshell, a

the joke.

word

all

The

of the vocabulary', that

wittiest writers,

whether Karl Kraus,

is

all

failed to relish, or

masters of language.

not an invention but a discovery.

on which the pun

rests

The

To put identity

did not have to be

had merely to be discovered, though one might quarrel over the

'merely'. In a letter to Jung"

meeting us half-way,

just as

Freud speaks

are already

in this

connection of language

he also acknowledges coincidences meeting us

half-way. But both the coincidence

I

purpose

of associated connections

constellations

he highly esteemed, were

good joke

or similarity of speech sounds it

this

skilfully exploited.'"

demand we make on

invented:

game with

possible for the old

test of criticism,

skilful exploitation of all the peculiarities

Lichtenberg,

who

Freud's

the choice of such verbal material

whose jokes about psychoanalysis Freud understandably

it

To quote

formulation again:

The work on

is

we proceed

cracking a tendentious joke, regardless of whether

and language only meet those half-way

on the road.

can illustrate the situation by means of a mot attributed to Erwin Panofsky,

who warned

his students to be aware

knew he had courted himself similarity

We

a danger he

of the 'boa constructor',

might imagine the discovery of the verbal

between constrictor and constructor by picturing two

neatly arranged according to subject-matter where

no

libraries,

would be found under Herpetology, while construction might be the section

one

doubt the giant snake treated

m

on Engineering. There would be no way from the one to the other.

But according to Freud's model of the psyche the library of our waking consciousness

is

supplemented by one deposited

books and loose pages 'constructor'

are piled

up

m

might accidentally adjoin

in a

dark basement where

wild confusion. Here the word 'constrictor',

for instead

VerbaJ

Wit

as a

of well-

Paradigm of Art

down

trained librarians imps are having their fun

words according to

their

own whim,

or emotional associations.

The

meaning, and

result will certainly lack rational

without further interpretation

who,

assembling texts or

there,

for instance according to sounds, images

might look

it

like

mere verbiage. But anyone

Panofsky, enjoys dressing a thought in a surprising garment has

like

more chance of making

a useful discovery

down there than

in the well-ordered

library upstairs.

The

demands

successful joke, therefore,

of

a brief descent into the cellars

the unconscious, but also an elaboration by the preconscious of the finds

made down

satisfy at least

two standards, that of meaning and that of form, and

choice of both there

much

less

Punning

mere punning the successful witticism must

there. In contrast to

an element of style. In Anglo-Saxon

lies

highly esteemed than

is

m

circles the

in the

pun

is

Freud's Austria or Panofsky s Germany.

considered the lowest form of humour because traditionally

it is

confined to a juggling with sounds rather than with meanings.

But naturally the verbal pun

is

far

from being the only form

come

surprising arrangements of the unconscious

a

few

who

please or evoke a smile. will avoid the tritest

discoveries. will

It will

permits

The

We

The

may

at least

life

of course,

is

is

sure of

making more inspired

endowed with genuine mastery, and

me of confusing rhyming with poetry. how effortlessly Freud's approach m his book on

not suspect be seen a

transition

to

those

techniques.

is

the Joke

which he considered outside the

areas

competence of psychoanalysis, that

the areas of artistic gifts

and of artistic

And yet we may also divine the reasons which deterred Freud from

proceeding further along that road: any attempt to translate a verbal joke

doomed

of

mildly

experienced word-smith knows the territory and

of rhymes because he

real poet,

need

has ever tried to

of doggerel knows that he must surrender to the

lines

language to find the desired meeting of sounds which

you

which the

into their own.

only think of that humble device, the rhyme. Anyone

compose

in

To

to failure.

use traditional terminology, the joke simply does not

permit us to separate form from content. However,

Freud aimed

is

at in his clinical

work.

He

this

was precisely what

regarded himself as a translator

who

was able to interpret for his patients the latent contents of their dreams and their

symptoms. To

'interpret them'

But what the theory of joke, teaches us

possible;

art,

to

could only mean to put them into words.

which Freud approximated the theory of the

precisely that this

is

kind of interpretation

one can never put into words what

Freud realized that

a

work of art

this impossibility troubled

him.

will never

be

'says'.

Thus he

prefaced his

interpretation of Michelangelo's Moses with a telling remark which should by

no means be taken

loz

to be a

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

mere

captatio henevolentiae:

I

must begin with the declaration

that

I

am

not an expert on art but a layman.

have often noticed that the content of a work of art attracts

formal and technical

qualities,

which the

artist values

understanding of many media and several

I

effects

Freud to have been too modest

believe

the

means and

It

effects

of art

was probably on

to reconstruct the various stages

in

of drawings, that he arrived

much

effects

We

He

exaggerated

m

I

am

when he

first

gesture of

attempted

conviction to which he gave

at the

Lou Andreas-Salome:

a letter to

me

terms of a content which could be

do with the posture and

this occasion,

expression

compliments they pay

its

of the hypothetical movement of the Prophet

in a series

later

than do

lack the proper

of art."

in this declaration.

translated into words, as he was trying to

the statue of Moses.

I

he identified understanding with the capacity to

his difficulties because

comprehend

me more

most of all.

I

not an

artist, I

'But despite the

could never have rendered the

of light and colour and could only have drawn hard contours.'"

must not doubt

his words,

and

yet

— would

he not have despaired of

achieving the effects of light and of colour if he had not understood their subtleties?

How

indeed could Freud have so enjoyed collecting art and visiting art

centres if he

had lacked

a natural

response to the works of the masters or to

the splendours of the Acropolis? But what in this letter he described as 'hard

may perhaps be compared with

contours'

how he could

understanding, which also explains

music was

a closed

understanding, and

book it

to him.'^

Music eludes

almost looks as

if Freud

insistence

his tell

on

literal

Remain Rolland

that

verbal interpretation but not

had debarred himself from

this

natural access in a posture of defiance.

In a cheerful letter which he wrote to his family from describes a performance of Bizet's Carmen

he had stayed until the Third Act despite the endless loved the music of the fortune-tellmg episode. criticizing the

lacks an ear for

art

would

simply on his personal

'Why is

intervals,

Nor

because he so

does he refrain from

noisy.'"

No

one who quite

bias.

The

blame Freud's one-sided approach to

responsibility lies again with the theory

at that time, the

expression or even with communication. is

I907 he

music could have made these remarks.

scarcely be just, however, to

of art which was dominant

theory

in

performance: 'The wonderful tunes came well into their own,

but everything was somewhat coarsened and too

It

Rome

and mentions quite naturally that

theory which identified art with

The most profound

criticism

of the

contained in an epigram by Friedrich Schiller headed 'Language':

the

life

of the

spirit for ever

concealed from the

spirit?

When you hear

Verbal

Wit

as a

Paradigm of Art

156

Andrea

del Vcrrocchio,

head of a Virtue from :he Fortcgucrn Monument,

completed

in 1489. Pistoia

Cathedral

the soul

speak,

know that here

speaks not the

soul and soul, in other words, case,

we may add

is

5ow/.'"

Immediate contact between

an unrealizable dream. If that were not the

we would not stand

to Schiller's words,

need of

in

psychoanalysis. I

do not want

artistic creation

that the artist effect results

to be misunderstood. In questioning the proposition that

can be identified with communication,

is

concerned with the

human

on the empirical observation

heart.

we

that

whether we experience them in nature or little

his

whether we can regard such

all

do not want to deny

work on

from the manipulation of his medium, the

through which he can move the rests

of

effect

I

lines,

Such an

in front

exist

of

aesthetics

effects

react to sense impressions,

of works of art.

effects as constant or

conditioned by culture. There certainly

others. But this

colours or tones

It

matters

whether they

are

elementary reactions which are

almost or wholly universal, for instance the impression

made by

light,

by

bright or shining surfaces, by the disgusting and by the erotically arousing.

What concerns me

is

only that

that the artist therefore builds others.

204

That

is

why

Pare IV: Tradition and Innovation

I like

all arts

make

systematic use of such effects and

on observations he has made on himself and on

to insist

on the formulation

that the artist

must be

The

Karlskirche, N'ienna,

built b\- Fischer

Erlach.

von

Engraving

L-.i-i^.

bv H. Sperling after

S.

Kleiner

Trajan's

Forum, Rome,

with the 16th-century

church of S. Maria di

Loreto on the Trajan's

(dedicated in the centre,

of SS.

right,

Column

AD

114) in

and the church

Nome

(completed

di

m

Maria

1738)

on

the right

a discoverer. Just as the verbal joke

of other which —

artistic

media find

to return to

right in accepting ideal

is

discovered in the language, so the masters

their effects prefigured

Freud s words —

Merezhkovsky s

m

meets us half-way'. Even

intuition that

among

—

the artist

must

if

Freud was

Leonardo had developed

of womanhood out of memories of his childhood"'

neither be proven nor refuted

the language of style

his

— something that can

in any case have discovered

it

the female types of his master Verrocchio (Fig. 156), which he varied

Verbal

Wit

as a

Paradigm of Art

205

and

Without

refined.

the mason's lodge

and pattern books Anton Pilgram

could not have designed his beautiful pulpit in St Stephens Cathedral, and

without

the

achievements

of Romantic landscape

painting

Ferdinand

Waldmiiller would not have been able to conjure up for us his Springtime Vienna Woods.

Even Cubism has been observed to

in the late paintings

on

certain faceting effects

of Cezanne where, of course, they served

a different

purpose.

artistic

As

rest

in the

for architecture:

Vienna

(Fig. 157)

however original Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche

may be, he too

discovered rather than invented

its

m

forms and

even their combinations; far from creating them out of nothing he merely

modified and reinterpreted what he found in tradition. Even so the church not a mere pastiche, but a masterpiece because the architect knew render the individual set pieces pliable as the

memory of the domed

Rome

(Fig. 158)

IS

I

is

to

were and to fuse them together:

churches, temple fronts and triumphal columns of

combined with an

with flanking minarets (Fig.

Music

it

how

159), to

allusion to the

scheme of the mosque

mention only some of the elements.

need hardly talk about, since the whole structure of the tonal

system of Western music can be described

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

as a series

of discoveries which

enabled the composers to create their towering works. Naturally this could

who responded

never have happened if there had not been musicians

and harmonies which meant something to them; to them, but not as translatable symbols, at the

m fact they meant evervthing

most

have meaning withm the context of the language

who had if

the feeling as she was lying

she could onlv find the position

To

me

is

as

metaphors which only

know of a musician

itself. I

m bed half awake, during an illness, that

m F sharp minor she would be able to sleep. must be

the analyst such emotional relationships

matters to

composer or possibly

communicated

increasing refinement,

m I

nobodv would expect such

What

performance.

would almost

An

out-and-out

Indian could never have sensed

a conservative

this equivalence. Naturallv, also,

to be

but what

familiar,

the fact that even feelings of this kind presuppose an existing

tonal language which meets the fevering patient half-way. atonal

to tones

a private

meaning

asks for interpretation

is

the

say physiognomization, of the language

of tones through which the sound poem can ultimately make us respond, whatever private associations

What the study of effects

it

may evoke

suggests

of psychology which might be

sensuallv-moral effect of colours'

The

must

need of a special branch

are in

which he gave the

fitting

Wirkung der

(^die sinnlich-sittliche

from

heading: 'The Farbefi).

A

pleasantly cheerful feeling which reddish-yellow gives us

when

active aspect manifests itself here

it is

m

is

changed into the

heightened into intense yellowish-red.

its

extreme energy, and so we need not

be surprised that energetic, healthy, rude people evince a particular pleasure this colour.

when

few

suffice:

sensation of intolerable violence

The

we

called 'metaphorics'. It can be exemplified

a section in Goethe's Theory of Colour to

extracts

m us.

that

is

This preference has been universally noticed amongst

children

who

are left to themselves begin to

pamt they

savages.

will

m

And

not spare

vermilion and red lead.

To

illustrate these 'moral' effects

observant Frenchman of whom of his conversation with

it

Goethe mentions was told that

Madame had

'he

changed

had

altered,

We

had changed the

do not hear

but Goethe

tells

m what us later

that the French obviously hate crimson (cramoisij since the expressions cramoisi

or 'mechant

Madame

et

cramoisi

signify the extreme

probablv had to suffer for her lapse

Possibly Goethe's anecdote sounds a 'Real Princess'.

To

m

little like

and

had noticed that the tone

after she

upholsterv of the furniture from blue into crimson'. direction the tone of the conversation

a highly intelligent

of tastelessness and

eviL

'sot et

Poor

taste.

Andersen's famous tale of the

find out whether she was indeed genuine the Prince's

Verbal

Wit

as a

Paradigm of Arc

mother placed

pea on the bedstead and piled upon

a tiny

When

and twenty feather beds for her to sleep on.

morning

that she hardly slept a

wink because somethmg

disturbed her she had passed the test triumphantly. is

precisely

such

heightened

a

it

she

twenty mattresses

complamed

in the

next

bed had badly

What makes

a real artist

responding to the slightest

sensitivity,

differences in shade imperceptible to a less delicate sensorium.

Goethe, of course, was a poet, not a painter, or if

we remember

Much

have

I

own

his

tried in

Painting pictures in

my

life,

to sketch

I

Only through one of my

came

gifts

a failed painter,

in clay;

learned and produced next to nothing,

Lacking persistence, however,

That of writing

most

and make copper engravings.

modelling figures

oil,

at the

m the 'Venetian Epigrams':

confession

to mastery close:

I

m German, and thus, I unfortunate poet

In the meanest of means squandered

my life

my

and

art.

We must not hold this spell of ill-humour against the great man. I only quote these lines to bring out the contrast between his sensitive response to

all

the

shades of colour and his self-confessed inability to master colour as he language.

miastered

So much has come together

to

transform

artistic

sensibility into artistic creativity. In this context, of course, the historical

situation

must not be

The son of a Frankfurt middle-class

out of account.

left

family who had taken drawing lessons in Leipzig with Oeser, Goethe was much too old for a change of careers at the time of his Italian journey when he

discovered the greatness of the masters. But

first fully

the respective shares to luck

Would Freud

have

Goethe had ended up

and to merit

equally honoured,

felt

a painter rather

of discovery uncannily

fitting

receiving the

who

He

Goethe

himself, after

in his turn

Prize, if all,

was a

embarked on voyages

work and who on any occasion could produce an

in Goethe's

quotation from Goethe's

attitude to painters was

on

than a poet?

master of language, a wizard with words,

who would apportion

m the life of such a man?

Faust. It

cannot be denied that his

much more reserved. He had much less understanding a letter

m

English to Ernest Jones which speaks of his impatient reaction: 'Meaning

is

of their world. After having spent an evening with painters he wrote

but

little

They

to these

are given

forgotten at that line,

men up

all

to

they care for

is

line,

shape, agreement of contours.

"Lustprinzip" [pleasure

moment

that these

men

principle].'"^

could never have become

forms and contours had meant nothing to them.

approached poets and writers with image of the

artist

real

He must And

have

artists if

while he

humility he seems to have derived his

from the novels of the turn of the century which wallowed

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

in the depiction

Hermann

to

article

of the

Boheme; witness a letter he wrote in

who had

Struck,

on the

vie de

Moses of Michelangelo:

of the basic weakness of my work. like a scientist

1 must hurry to say that

is

I

1914

he sent his

am

well aware

m my effort to see the artist rationally

It lies

or engineer while he

November

whom

painted his portrait and to

kind of being,

after all a very special

aloof, self-centred, unprincipled, occasionally rather unintelligible.'"^

We will not enquire whether Struck liked to hear that he belonged to an 'unprincipled'

But in Freud's repeated insistence that

ilk.

we

rather unintelligible to him, scientist It is

from

only

m

their alleged irrationality.

work of

a

Freud's old age. Civilization and

civilization

comes

to the fore.

its

He

Discontents, that a

there discusses the

imposes on us by barring the satisfaction of our

mentions the Eastern and Western

ideals

Another technique of defence against suffering makes use of that

much

in flexibility. It

drives in such a

way

solve the

problem of how to

when one knows how

its

he

shifting

of

function gams

shift the

aims of the

imposed on us by

that they cannot be affected by the denials

Here the sublimation of

the environment.

achieved

must

drives;

of their control and continues:

libido which our psychic apparatus permits and through which

so

remained

also sense his desire to distance himself as a

different attitude towards the artist

burden

artists

such

The optimum

drives will help.

sufficiently to increase the pleasure gained

is

from

the exercise of mental and intellectual faculties. In that case fate will have lost

much of its power artist

m

over us. Satisfactions of this kind, such as the pleasure of the

creating, in

embodying the

scientist in the solution

quality

which

we

visions

of

his imagination, that

of problems and the discovery of

certainly

will

be

able

one

of the

truth, have a special

day

to

characterize

metapsychologically.'"

Here the achievement of the

artist

is

accorded the same rank

as that

scientist searching for truth, and Freud expresses his confidence that

it

of the

would

be possible one day to discover the psychic sources of this mental attitude. But even here his confidence concerns a future psychology of the artist rather than a

psychology of the

less

arts.

He

never denied the limits of his methods, and even

did he hide them behind a fog of impressive words as has so often

happened and

still is

The more one

happening

in the theory

impressed must one be by his personality, his strictly

us

human

dignity.

We have

seen

him

observe the moral imperative of the scientist never to say more than he

thought he could answer tell

of art.

concerns oneself with Sigmund Freud's life-work, the more

for.

Even the most daring

flights

of his mtellect do not

more of his greatness than does this noble reserve. He certainly was no friend

Verbal

Wit

as a

Paradigm of Art

of flag-waving and so

it

me that on this day we cannot honour him better

seems to

than by refusing to make these matters look simpler than they happen to be.

-

Editor

Postscript

GomhricFs

Freud dates back

interest in

'The Study of Art

and

project on caricature, which

hook

was

to his association

Man

was intended

to

match Freud's work on

revision of

underlying theory, 'Magic,

volume

Satire] reprinted in this

of caricature and

zy (l^^S), pp.

(pp.

JJl—jj),

has

When work on

cind he has continued to

A

dream.

its

yg-^i,

which was

York, igji),

used Freud

Dreams

are,

to elucidate

works of art,

however, private

fungian approach

is

Unconscious when one has

the

work on

mechanics

the

is

and works of art

are, like jokes, public.

of artistic

life

but does

no need

to

7,'.

But

see also

here, the

invent the existence of a Collective

On

Knowledge:

the

An

Popperian notion of

the

Fhird

Evolutionary Approach

Gombrich's remarks on fung on pp.

my postscript

'Freud's Aesthetics, has been reprinted in

on pp.

^jZ—^

i^^—^

of

Der Witz und seme Beziehung zum Unbewussten

1.

Sigmund Freud,

Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious (Harmondsworth, i^yS).

Tradition and Innovation

Reflections.

below.

fl5

W:

The

little to

of art can be found in 'Kenneth Clark's

Fhird World of culture.

Karl. R. Popper, Objective

A complementary essay,

Part

is

Hobby

Meditations on a

Sense of Order.

See also

210

major

they have typically focused on his

the interiority

to the history

that there

(Oxford^ l^Jl), index 'world

The

a

Reflections on Pictorial

"Piero della Francesca", reprinted in Reflections. Following the article republished

obvious criticism of fung

see

and

socialfunction.

criticism of a

World

resulting

theme of regression occurs throughout Gombrich's work.

model of dreaming fits well with an emphasis on accountfor

The

throughout his career 'Psychoanalysis and the History of Art'

the cartoon

theorists have the

discussed in

recently published a

Myth and Metaphor:

another essay in the Freudian idiom and has been republished in

Horse. The

the verbal joke.'

Psychoanalytic Explorations in Art (New

King Penguin, Caricature (Tondon, 19^0). Goinbrich the project's

is

'The Principles of Caricature^ in

article,

of Medical Psychology^

reprinted in Ernst Kris,

with Ernst Kris, which

(reprinted in Tributes^). They collaborated on a

never published though they did publish an

British Journal

the

Study of

the

(l^Oj)

translated by James Strachey, revised by Angela Richard

Leonardo's Methodfor Working

Compositions

ovit This paper was a contribution to the

Congress on Leonardo da

Vmci

at

Tours in 1952;

published in

Acrm and

Fcrm 1966: 4th edition, 19S5;

.

pp.

Anyone who looks

Corpus of Florentine drawings' must

throuo;h Berenson's

be struck bv the novelty of Leonardo's drawing modelling;

m

clay

who

style.

He works like a sculptor

never accepts any form as final but goes on creating,

even at the risk of obscuring his original intentions. There are drawings such as

one for the

St

Anne {Fig. i6o; where we no longer find our

welter o£ pentimenti. and ma\' doubt

Leonardo had to

clarify his idea b\-

chose through the paper to

There

is

no

its

Leonardo could. In

if

parallel for such a

You who compose

its

through the

we know

that

using a srvlus and tracing the line he finally

reverse

Fig. i6i).

procedure in the work of

Leonardo knew that the method was discuss he explains both

\\d.\

fact

his

novelty and

subject pictures,

own and

its

do not

misoi

m

earlier artists.

the passage

I

want to

d'etre:

articulate the individual parts of

those pictures \Mth determinate outlines, or else there will happen to vou what usually happens to man\- and different painters

of charcoal to remain

trace

no praise with to

move

its

his art, for

lim.bs in

it

valid: this sort of

And

The

It

damaging to

these people

every even the slightest

mav

well earn a fortune but

frequently happens that the creature represented

fails

accordance with the movements of the mind; and once such

a painter has given a beautiful

think

who want

person

and graceful

shift these

finish to the articulated limbs

he will

limbs higher or lower or forward or backward.

do not deserve the

slightest praise

m their art."

polemical note suggests that Leonardo must have argued about his

method with

fellow artists

who took

a different view.

Leonardo's

Their standard, we can

Method

for

Working out Compositions

211

Leonardo da Vinci, Jor

the Virgin

Study

with St Anne,

c.i^oo. British

Museum,

London

Leonardo da Vinci, verso of Fig. i6o with tracing of the Virgin and St

gather,

was that of the

second thoughts. Vasari's

sure, unfailing line

It is

the idea of the perfect draughtsman crystallized in

anecdote of the King of Naples asking for a token of Giotto's

the master drew a perfect hand.- It

is

this quality

circle,

the proverbial

d'Honnecourt's Svoan (Fig.

162)."^

down

Nor

to

,

us,

for

skill:

to prove his skill

line that

we admire

instance

did this standard of

of

in such

Villard

in

artistic perfection

m the early Quattrocento. Cennini' implies that the young apprentice

must copy the works of his chosen masters the

di Giotto

of the perfectly controlled

medieval drawings as have come

change

which needed no correction and no

same perfect assurance; better

themselves which, despite

same concern

all

for 'tidiness'

still,

till

we have

he can write them

down with

the evidence of the drawings

the variations of style and technique,

Leonardo

attacks.

Even

Pisanello,

show

who

laid

the

up

such a store of studies from nature in his sketchbooks, practised this restrained

and

careful line; in an unfinished

163) the heraldic

that artists before

still

be

as his

felt.

But

Hawk

is it

di

carhone sia valido}

workshop was not

As long

as the

(Fig.

possible

Leonardo never had second thoughts? Did they

believe that ogni segno

the medieval

drawing such

formula of the pattern book can

really

function of drawing in

clearly analysed these questions

could scarcely

be answered with assurance, but since the careful researches of OerteF and of

Degenhart^ we have begun to see that drawing did in fact serve a different

purpose in a world where the patterns.

Where

invention

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

is

artist

was so

much guided by

traditions

not expected and demanded of the

and

artist,

Anne

emphasis must be on his facihty

fumbling

will therefore

m

be frowned

mastering the on."*

This

is

'simile',

the formula,

not to say that

artists

and

of that

period never introduced a correction into an existing drawing. Negativa non sunt probanda, as the lawyers sav. pentimenti are

m

But

it

remains remarkable

how

rare even small

drawings. As a rule, if one of these artists did have doubts

about which pattern to adopt for a composition he preferred to begin to

draw two or more

Louvre

is

a

alternatives side

good example of an

by

side.

'

A late Trecento

afresh,

drawing

artist trying to select the right

m the

composition

for an Annunciation without resorting to a pentimento (Fig. 164).

Before this background of an established workshop practice and of rigid standards of propriety 165)

we must look

at

an early drawing by Leonardo (Fig.

m order to gauge the revolutionary character of his wayward approach to

his calling.

The terms

continuation of the

Precetti

of which

I

quoted the

first

passage shows the

m which Leonardo saw and meant to justify this departure:

Now have you never thought about how poets compose their verse? They do not trouble to trace beautiful letters nor to

make them better.

figures

and

first

creatures that

do they mind crossing out

several lines so as

So, painter, rough out the arrangement of the limbs of your

attend to the movements appropriate to the mental state of the

make up your

picture rather than to the beaut)'

and perfection of

their parts.

Leonardo's

Method

for

Working cue Compositions

The

one of the Liberal Arts and It.

more

appeal to the practice of the poet could not be

familiar with Leonardo's insistence its

significant.

on the dignity of painting, on

equality with poetry, if not

its

its

We

are

status as

superiority over

But here we meet with a tangible and far-reaching result of this insistence.

Painting, like poetry,

execution

m

a

is

an activity of the mind, and to lay

stress

and unworthy

as to

drawing

of

draft by the beauty

is

just as philistme

One

his handwriting.

feels the

on

tidiness

of

judge a poet's

m

pride

Leonardo's

argument, but one can also sense the dangers which threatened his art from that direction.

Who

justify his illegible

has not

met the

how he writes but what he writes? quality of art can certainly

In Leonardo, as

we

all

could have kept him Leonardo's

new

know,

it

insistence

destructive

poet

But

entirely

artist first

on

who it

has tried to

does not matter

invention,

on the mental

of standards of craftsmanship.

was destructive of that patience that alone

at his easel.

it

not on

is

doctrine of the sketch that

What concerns the

execute;

The

become

Leonardo here argues from an it.

intellectual or

handwriting by saying or implying that

I

this negative aspect

wish to dwell. For good or

of ill,

new conception of art, and he knows

and foremost

is

the capacity to invent, not to

and to become a vehicle and aid to invention the drawing has to

assume an

entirely different character

—

reminiscent not of the craftsman's

pattern but of the poet's inspired and untidy draft. to follow his imagination where

it

leads

him and

Only then

is

to 'attend to the

appropriate to the mental states of the figures which

make up

needs the most pliable of mediums which allows him to write whatever he sees

the artist free

movements

his story'.

down

He

quickly

m his mind — as a variant of our passage m Leonardo's notes

says:

Part IV: Tradirion and Innovation

Leonardo da Vinci, for

the Battle

f.1503.

Study

of Anghiari,

Royal Library,

.AS)

Windsor

Sketch subject pictures quickly and do not give the limbs too indicate their position,

which you can then work out

at

your

Castle

much

finish:

leisure."

We

can follow the development of this technique in Leonardo's drawings.

The

early sketches are

emphasis.

One

still

m Verrocchio

show

tradition, but also

s

can see that what matters for Leonardo

is

the moto

a

change of

and

mentale,

that he occasionally even resorts to a plain scrawl (Fig. 160) because his

attention

is

not on the

hellezza e bontd delle

In the studies for the

.

.

.

Battle of Anghiari (Fig.

membra. 166)

we

new method fully

find the

developed. In this technique the inner vision, the inspiration,

is

the paper as if the artist were anxious to strike the iron while

from such works that the new conception of the sketch point,

a

Lemierre wrote in his

Le moment du genie C'est Id qii'on voit

But Leonardo's the poet.

m

conception which culminates

The

poem

La

'thrown on to hot. It

it is

takes

its

is

starting

the eighteenth century

when

Peinture (1770):

est celui de I'esquisse

la

verve

Precetti

et la

chaleur du plan

.'^ .

.

artist

and

interesting one, suggests that to

him

do not end with the comparison between the

final passage,

and the most

the sketch was not only the record of an inspiration but could also

become

the

source of further inspiration.

For you must understand that composition

when

It is

if

only you have hit olf such an untidy

m accordance with the subject,

later clothed in the perfection

it

will give all the

appropriate to

all its

more

parts. I have even

seen shapes in clouds and on patchy walls which have roused

Leonardo's

Method

satisfaction

me

for

to beautiful

Working out Compositions

i67

Leonardo da Vinci, the Baptist, c.iji^.

St John

Louvre,

Paris

inventions of various things, and even though such shapes totally lack finish

m

any single part they were yet not devoid of perfection in their gestures or other movements.''

Here, then, Leonardo links his technical advice on the best method of sketching with that psychological observation and advice which

formulated in one of the most famous passages of the

new

recommends

'a

inventions','"*

looking

invention for meditation at

crumbling

walls,

...

Trattato,

to rouse the

that

also

is

m which he

mind

to various

glowing embers, speckled stones,

clouds or mould, because in these irregular shapes one can find strange inventions, just as

The

we

are apt to project

creation." It suggests that state

words into the sound of church

bells.

passage has always fascinated psychologists concerned with artistic

Leonardo could deliberately induce

of dreamlike loosening of controls

in

himself a

in

which the imagination began to

play with blots and irregular shapes, and that these shapes in turn helped

Leonardo to enter into the kind of trance

in

which

his inner visions

projected on to external objects. In the vast universe of Leonardo's invention

is

mind

contiguous with his discovery of the 'indeterminate' and

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

could be

its

this

power

mmd. which made him the 'mventor' ot Fia. i6And we now come

over the

guessed form

.

the sfumato and the halt-

understand that the

to

indetermmate has to rule the sketch tor the same reason,

The

IS

complete.

IS

part of a process which

of fixing the

There

sketch

tlou'

is

no longer the preparation is

constantlv crom^ on

ot imagination

it

keeps

evidence that Leonardo did

is

per destare Vingegnio, to

mmd to turther inventions. The reversal ot workshop standards

stimulate the

should use crumbling

it

m

m

m

tor a particular work, but

the

artist's

tlux.

tact use his sketches as

Virgin

remarkable clear

'

that the sketches tor the St Anne

and Chdd with

m these instances

sig;nifies

torms

—

the

is

in

Lamb

into the torms he saw sug;^ests itself:

a

new

m

the

wav

m

'

What

which certain motits which have

is

a

the finished version g;row out ot entirely

was tormerl\-

a cat

and even

a

solution Leonardo projected the

his old discarded sketches.

we know trom \

detailed

develop motits ot his

ot the St Anne composition which,

the Passion ot Christ

i6g\ In searching tor

Fig;. i6o'^

more

Cat Tig;. 168} and other earlv drawing;s.

a

svmbolic significance

dilierent

he says one

walls, to help his 'invention' reg;ardless ot the subject. It

has otten been observed, and recenth" been emphasized bv observation.

mmd; mstead

asari that

we know,

Unicorn

(Fig.

new meaning;

Another such instance

Leonardo made the tamous

]\eptune

m Florence en2ag;ed on the Battle ofAnghiari. Does not m this ecmpciumentc incidtc Tig;. 170^ with the figure risine with upraised arm over the e^oup ot horses had evoked m Leonardo's searching mmd the ima^e ot Neptune driving; his sea horses i^Fig. sketch for Segni while

look

as

it

it

the welter ot torms

Leonardo's

Method

for

Working out Compositions

171)?

As

do we

was, the group did not satisfy him; not only

it

pentimenti in the fantastic

-

shape of the sea horses

m

find countless

his constant internal

^

,70

Leonardo da Vmci, for

monologue he even group:

mmd

abasso

i

calls the

One may

cavalli.

word

written

imagine that

that he attended the meetings

and writes on top of the

to his aid it

was with

problem

this

f.1503.

Accademia, Venice

it

on

a

Leonardo da Vmci, ^'P'""'' ^•'5«4-

Library,

sheet (Fig. 172) he again began to project the into the drawing he

version of the

There

is

had made, and

form

tentatively

for

which he was searching

added some

sea horses to the

David.'"^

perhaps nothing more astounding

divorce between motif and meaning.

We

m

Leonardo's

are all familiar

ceuvre

than this

with the persistence

m his creation of certain images which are given different names according to the context they are

made

to serve.

Only

a

conception of art so utterly

personal and almost solipsistic as Leonardo's could have brought about this

most

significant break with the past.

Itself that

For ultimately

the act of creation

matters to him: If the painter wants to see beautiful

in love with, he has

it

m

his

power

to bring

them forth

sketch can stimulate the imagination the better can to

it is

Leonardo

this

is

only one side of the question.

becomes, the more we stereotyped visions, the

on the need of

he

feel that

more he

indeterminate could only be

it fulfil its

The more

on the

all

the parts of the things

fall

the

purpose. True,

of certain

of his

art is

and

no

that the fantasies he discovered in the

to spring to

you want to

landscapes, of rocks, plants or others."

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

women to The more

personal his art

objectivity

life

by lucid knowledge.

For confused things rouse the mind to new inventions; but see to

know

^

.

grounded on observation." There

knew

made

.

a prey to the obsession

also insists

rational variation

contradiction here. Leonardo

is

'" .

represent, be

it

it

that

you

5n/^y

of Anghiari,

in his

of the committee for the placing of

Michelangelo's David, for as he looked at this towering figure and drew

the Battle

first

those of animals, of

Royal

Windsor

Castle

Our

distinction between

Leonardo.

hawking was an reason

and

'art'

'art'

m

the

Renaissance any increase

conventions

m that imaginative

the pattern

book

is

broken and the painter

m as

freedom we

But

it

stands to

conceived by

Once

the

demanded

call 'art'

call 'scientific'. is

unintelligible to

which medicine or

a 'science'.

of painting

an equal intensification of those studies we

variety

language

a

and painting could be termed

withm

that

would have been

'science'

could not even be made

It

the sway of

enjoined to visualize an infinite

of groupings and movements, only the most intimate knowledge of the

structure

of organic form can enable him to clothe

his pritno pensiero

with flesh

and bones.

The

who would

master

forms and

effects

let it

be

known

that he could keep in his

me

of Nature would certainly seem to

mind

graced with

Ignorance, insofar as those effects are infinite and the capacity of our

not such that

And

it

would

You

much

memory

is

new method of sketching

leads

of

more exacting standard of procedure:

will first

attempt in a drawing to give to the eye an indication of the

intention and the invention which you

proceed to take away and add

models be posed it

the

suffice."'

so the advice to the artist to adopt a

necessity to a

all

in the

that they accord in

till

manner

m

you

is

not

made

in

your imagination, then

and then

let

draped or nude

which you have arranged the work; and see to

measurement and

be nothing in the work that

first

are satisfied,

scale to perspective so that there

m accord with reason and natural

Leonardo's

Method

for

should

effects.'-*

Working out Compositions

'74

Raphael, f.1502— 3.

Virgin

and

Child,

Ashmolean

Museum, Oxford

'75

Raphael,

Studies of the Virgin

and Chili.

About

British

But even

had

full

this exacting

knowledge of what Leonardo

e

ponendo,

nothing

less

would

futile unless the painter

To

calls Vintrinsicaforma.''

had emerged from the

to a figure that levando

work from the posed model was

than a knowledge of those laws of

suffice

growth and proportion by which Nature herself would create disappointment awaited even the infinite patience to the

reality

which

artist

— whether we

painting cannot

make

who

But what

it.

if

applied infinite knowledge and

achievement of that complete illusion of tangible like

it

or not

was to keep the promise of

if art

give substance

and been adjusted

artist's immaginativa

a picture

Leonardo indispensable

to

Creator

rivalling the

look

will always perceive the difference

— seemed

All the science of

?

because, with two-eyed vision

real'

between a

flat

surface

and

we

a thing in the

round/^'

There was he desired to

a flaw see.

his belief in the

m the dream of the painter who could 'make' any creature

But

if the

of painting to build up might the

m

by

a perfect little universe:

strangely cAled piacere

a verbal

age but one of

delpittore"^

was outside the power

it

could

173).

still

exemplifies

la deitd, ch'

There

them belongs

are

many

passage

its

m

a la scientia del

aspects to these fantasies

to our context.

For may

it

of his old

not be that Leonardo's

loved increasingly to dwell on these scenes of utter confusion because

here he had found a realm of art where the componimento

unexampled

force? In these deluge drawings

and motions of the elements, but the

scientific

acquired an

earlier

procedure

views of the laws

spiralling chaos creates that 'confusion'

on paper through which the 'imagination

Part IV: Tradition and Innovation

inculto

Leonardos

seems somehow reversed. They are based on his

220

demonstrate

The famous

orgy of destructive fury in which the elements seem to return

to their primeval mixture.

mmd

it

images of chaos and destruction (Fig.

Trattato

pittore

hubris of his ambition had led to a tragic failure,

power of art was unshaken. Perhaps

is

stirred to

new

inventions'.

The

1505.

Museum, London

chaos ot supemnposed lines conjures up ever

which

all

These :r e

human striving would come to

new visions of that cataclysm in

rest.

of course personal to Leonardo s genius. But

truly titanic tensions are

mind lived on and learned to own sphere. We can almost watch this process in the Life of

concept of art which gained shape in his

resicTi Itself to its

the artist destined to give

Umbrian period sho^ s draughtsmanship.

me

Leonardo

Fi^5

its

canonic form, Raphael. Raphaels eady

devoted to the traditional standards of tidy

An early ivladonna study (Fig. 174) simpfy treasures up, for

future reference, one draT\

it

r-rr.

1:^5^

ger ius.

of the approved patterns of the sacred dieme. In a later

we can

He

see

what happened to him under the impact of

has learned to

tise

the compmimento inadtQ as if he had

You most be

listened to Xierzsches advice:

a chaos, to give birth to a dancing

star'.

Iditcr's Postscript

Freud published an essay on Leonardo^' which has subsequently given comment. This essa^ shows that to

of Leonardos St

the peculiarity

rise to

a great deal of

Anne has rather a great deed

do with his innovatory drawing tedmiques. See also Gombrich^s comments on the painting on

pp.

^j6-S

of this volume and

A Lifelong Interest^ p.

ijg.

Gctnbrich's interest in Leonardo started v^drni^ as a sdjoolboy^ he

was ashed to write about his

favourite hero. Ever since then he has been a constant source qffascination. TheJbUowing articles

haw

been published in Phaidon's

Gombrid}

^Leonardos grotesque heads. Prolegomena

to their study^;

New Light on Old Masters:

Air. In

Commentary on Rivalry'.

the "Trattato

Li Reflections

In

Collection:

The

Heritage of Apelles:

^The Form oj Movement in Water and

^Leonardo on the Science of Painting: Towards a

deUa Pittura"'; ^Leonardo and

on the History of Art^

reviews

the

of:

Magicians: Polemics and

Carlo Pedretti^

Leonardo

da \^mci on Faulting: a Lost Book (Libro A) and Sigmund Freud^ Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory? of his Childhood

Leonardo da \^ci, Leonardo da \^ci,

as '^Seeking a hey to Leonardc

as ^Leonardo da Vinci in the History of Science) Martin

See also ^Kenneth Keele^s Contribution to the Study ofLeonardo da Vinci\ ^Leonardo's

on the occasion of the dedication of the

Magdalen College Occasioned Papers^ Turner^

11^ Z:;:

:

..

Kemp^

as T^he marvel oJLeonardo^

Royal Society of Medicine^ 8z (ig8g)^ pp. j6^~6; given

.

Laventine Leonardo^

in

I

Journal of the

Last Supper Papers

Last Supper (after Leonardo)^

(October 199^, pp. 7-Z9, and

the review

of Richard

The Ne^^ York Review of Books Qune iggjjijpp.

39-40.

A fascinating

article

on

the

Commitment and Improvisation

later history

of drawing

is

in the History of Drawing'^ in

LEmeKmdheitseiiineriijmgdesLeoaaidadaVi^^

Wodnng

Artists at Work:

Topics of our Tjre.

%mmtAiaJ^mdmiailSbmmyffhsCMMxx!^,

Leooadb s ]N<&flM)d

^

^^bs&iDg oat Caai|iasfiXK3s

Chapter 7 of The

Scnsi of

Order (1979)- PP- i7i-94

Progress, degradaticn, survival revival modifieation, are all

complex network of civilization

together the try here that.

howfar

Here

is the

who only knows

he

%neysuckk' of Assyria,

Greek horder runs round

.

own

his

.

.

modes oj

Looking round

rooms we

live in,

we may

time can he capahle of rightly comprehending even

there the fleur-de-lis

fhe ceiling, the style

the

the connection that hinds

of Louis

of Anjou, a cornice with a

XIV and

its

parent

the

Renaissance

share the looking-glass hetween them. Transformed, shifted, or mutilated, such elements of art still

easy

carry their history plainh stamped upon them;

we

to read,

are not

to

say that hecaiise

and

we cannot

hehind

if the history yetfarther

clearly discern

it

there

is

therefore

is less

no

history there.

Edward Burnett

I

and Liahit

Perception

The

Tylor, Primitive Culture^

force of habit

from our

mav be

resistance

ever\l:hing

is

m

said to spring

from the sense of

order. It results

change and our search for continuity.

to

and nothing could ever be predicted, habit

flux

frame of reference against which we can plot the

variety^

Where

establishes a

of experience. If the

preceding chapters explored the relevance of our need for spatial order

environment, we must

176

Rorschach ink

blot,

now

m our

turn to the manifestations of the temporal sense

of order, the wa\' the force of habit, the urge for repetition, has dominated

originally devised as a

psychological diagnosis

decoration throughout history.

test

In the study of perception the force of habit makes itself felt in the greater ease with result in

which we take

our

in the familiar.

failure to notice the

We

have seen that this ease can even

expected because habit has a way of sinking

below the threshold of awareness. As soon impressions

is

triggered

we

take

as

a

the rest as read and only probe the

environment perfunctorily for confirmation of our hypothesis. to this role

of perceptual habits

m

the preceding chapter

the notion of 'chunks', those units of skill which have are thus available to us for the construction

may be argued is

that

what we

call

an aspect of that tendency,

a

of

familiar sequence

I

when

have alluded I

referred to

become automatic and

of further hierarchies of skills.

It

projection in the theory of vision or hearing

The

manifestation of the force of habit.

ink

blot vaguely resembling a familiar sight such as an insect (Fig. 176) will be seen in this habitual way.

There

are perceptual habits even

than the sight of butterflies, notably the sight of the

more deeply ingrained

human

face.

Whether

The

Force of Habit

223

this habit has

an inborn component or not,

it

notorious that we are

is

particularly prone to project faces into any configuration remotely permitting

Animated (a)

The tendency may help

this transformation.

to account for certain decorative

motifs which must have sprung up independently in

many

parts

of the globe.

vessels.

(b) Picasso. Animals: (c)

Chinese,

c.

ist

millennium

BC; (d) Greek,

The

bulging form of a vessel shaped to hold a liquid has often been endowed

with eyes and other

facial features to

resemble a head, a bird or the semblance

BC;

similar habits

figure (Fig. 177).

of 'animation

We shall find, m chapter 10, that these and

are frequently reinforced

by the belief

in the

(e)

century. (f)

of a whole portly

Heads;

Mexican, f.1300— 1500;

Mosan,

5th century early 13th

Human

bodies;

urn from prehistoric

Troy; (g) Peruvian,

millennium

AD;

ist

(h)

Toby

Jug, English, i8th century

efficacy

here

is

as the

of eyes,' limbs or claws

the

as

protection against

power of inertia which contributed to the

m respectable

179), this

Victorian

homes

need not be interpreted

as a

is

up

force

concerns us

of such devices

legs.

m

one sometimes

reads,

symptom of excessive at these

prudery. After

props

as legs

all,

they are

In other words, once a perceptual interpretation

for whatever reasons,

of habit

true, as

the legs of the piano were draped (Fig.

once we adopt the perceptual habit of looking not exactly beautiful set

What

transformation of supports into clawed legs long after the magic

connotation has been forgotten (Fig. 178). If it that

evil.

survival

it is

likely to persist.

From

is

the operation of the

space we must pass to the consideration of

its

working

in

time.

2 Mimicry and Metaphor

In Art and

Illusion^ I

have tried to

make

grow out of the same psychological called

24

upon

a case for the

roots. It

m human culture to resist change

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

is

view that art and

artifice first

of

all

and to perpetuate the

artifice

which

is

present.

Where

178

,\nimal sledge.

feet: ^a^

Egj-prian

things deca\- the craftsman can create the substitute that remains

whether we thmk of the cowrie

shells serving as e\'es

2nd millennium

BC: b centun-

Roman AD;

table, ist

some

SIX

thousand

iSth-

beards

xA^rtificial

of

nothing more solemn than the cosmetics mdustrv.

BC. or of

worn bv

m the Jericho heads

—

the Egyptian Pharaohs, the wig;s which have plaved

centun" table

such a part

m human attire over the centuries, artificial eve-lashes or artificial

teeth, all testifv^ to the urge Draped piano

man

which makes

trv to defeat nature

and to go

leg

one better wherever possible.

we have seen

In Chapter 6 Gnnhnc; Gibbons,

the floral motif taking over

from the shortlived

detail

of reredos, Tnnit\Colieee. Oxtord, r.1700

flower.

Not

that this translation

was. But

literal. It rarelv

be the poorer

from

(Fig;.

Mellaart,^

we

remind us of blossoms,

to

and more durable. In one of the

is

Old Kingdom

here reproduced

of Catal Hu\'uk

is

to pieces, painted

monuments of a

in Anatolia excavated

woven

find

it

rugs. It

mav be

by

which the

impossible to

m Egypt (Fig. i8i) one cannot doubt that what

the pattern and appearance of a woven hanging. This

convention of imitating; a wall-han2;mg;

We

fall

earliest

but when we come to the mural of the tomb of

this hypothesis,

tenacious.

leaves, gardens,

find walls covered with patterned paintings

excavator considers to be imitations of

Hesire from the

must have been

i8o)?

settled civilization, the Neolithic site

confirm

into stone or paint

with flowers so with furnishings. Real curtains

curtains are cheaper

Dr

life

can doubt that the decorator's repertory would

power

\\'ithout his

wreaths, and festoons

And as

who

m

in paint

many medieval

Sistme chapel, below the Quattrocento fresco

Modern designers have mimicry. The lino which

a

term for

imitates

is

particularly widespread

and

m

the

churches (Fig. 182) and even cycle.

kind of imitation. They

this

bathroom

tiles

call it

or parquet flooring, the

wallpaper which imitates damask or wood, the marbling of stuccoed walls, the false timber frontage

Tudor'

—

there

is

no end

— what Osbert

to these devices

Lancaster called 'stockbroker's

all

around

us.

Of course

they are

The

Force of Habit

225

not exactly popular with modern designers.

We

have observed the roots of this revulsion at the time of the Industrial

Revolution when the power of the machine to simulate expensive handiwork

and even costly materials threatened the established hierarchies of the craft traditions.

the Joneses

some

to

on

is

much

not

'make-believe' involved?

in the

up with

name of honesty. But

original material,

We

all

know

is

that the painted

and the lino parquet not made of wood; maybe therefore

real

of providing

this habit

feat

identified with the vulgar desire to keep

and was thus condemned

extent this criticism misses the point of an age-old tradition, for

there really

curtain

Mimicry was

the cheap,

earlier

is

substitutes, cheaper

and more adaptable than the

not rooted in our wickedness. Instead we

may

of the imagination, the discovery of fiction, the liberation from

see

it

as a

literalness

m a playful shifting of functions. To a

the Puritan revolution of the twentieth centurv, make-believe as such

symptom of escapism,

diagnosis but

of

for

the refusal to adapt to change.

would plead

Mimicry can

habit.

materials,

I

new

is

new

tools,

so strong a need.

carriages imitated coaches (Fig. 183)' 184).

Even

in

would agree with

this

of this force

ease us into adaptation, the adaptation to

conditions,

which there

I

for another psychological assessment

is

new

by providing that element of continuity It is

well

and the

known

first

that the

first

railway

gas lamps candelabras (Fig.

our fast-moving times, which discourage conservatism, examples

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

of this craving

for continuity are too

numerous

advertisements for electric heaters which imitate coal re-create the beloved cosy

One

to specify.

can

fires (Fig. 185)

still

see

and even

glow by means of a red lamp and an engine-driven

device to produce the flicker.

Rather than mocking the fireplace,

where he liked to

sit

man who had organized and relax, and who refuses

his life

round the

to change his habits

of technical change, we should consider the strength that comes

for the sake

of adjusting the new to the

To

from

this capacity

force

and source of this strength we may do well to look from decoration to

the greatest example of continuity in

of language.

Many of the words we

which can be found But impressive

as

human

old.

culture,

gain an estimate of the

mean

I

the development

use can be traced by etymology to roots

in Sanskrit texts dating

are these testimonies

from the second millennium BC of traditions

to the tenacity

language, etymology also demonstrates to us the capacity of the to keep language a pliable tool.

The meaning of

sometimes changed beyond recognition, and yet this

change

intelligible.

new functions. Thus concrete usage." as

As new concepts come

nearly

The terms

all

— away from

human mind

the original root has

often possible to

make

old words have to perform

our abstract terms can be traced back to a more

for spirit started their career

words designating the breath, and the term

pulled away

it is

in,

in

m nearly all languages

'abstract' itself of course

means

the concrete or literal meaning. In studying these

extensions and transfers of meaning, etymology comes to concern itself with

what the Greeks called metaphor,' which It IS this is

capacitv of the

also at

work

m

the

really

means

transfer or carry-over.

human mind for assimilating the new to

humble device of decorative mimicry.

the old which

It is a

form of

metaphor.

Take the new element

m

our

lives

which

aeroplane that 'the silver bird winged

would

classify this as a

metaphor and

the airport and look at the aircraft

a

its

is

poor

from

air travel. If

way over

its

anyone said of an

a carpet

cliche to boot.

nose to

its tail

of

But

clouds', let

us go to

units with

The

we

its fins

Force of Habit

227

and

its

rudders,

its

wings and

of petrol which

fuelled with a product

passes will take us

named

mysteriously

who

IS

engines,

its

of so and so much horsepower, and

is,

down

cockpit and pass

no hostess and who

tells

Our boarding

of course, 'rock oif.

We

on board, but not on any boards.

glance at that

the aisle guided by the air hostess,

us to fasten our seatbelts, which are

no

belts.

Such derivations make the dictionary one of the most fascinating books on our shelves.

m

elephant

Who

could have guessed that the jumbo

London zoo famous

the

How

bogey

first

merciful

it

mumbo-jumbo,

it

word

new

while linking

was

in turn

Van Helmont

on the Greek word

it

(d.

for every fresh

1644) to denote

for chaos.

There

are

which new words proliferate and one sometimes suspects

nowadays

them

to be used as status symbols, the esoteric language

and

of being

with the old.

it

fields

Metaphor

to an

West African

a

new names

to invent

gas was invented by

though even he modelled

m

name of

the alleged

that language has retained this capacity

would have been possible

feature, just as the a novelty,

name

recorded in 1738?

is

stretched and changed to take in the

Naturally

its

and that he

size

its

owes

extended

meaning

is

of a new the

adaptation,

illustrate

assimilation to which our mental apparatus

attuned.

Our

tribe.

way

of

very process of

growth, of learning from childhood onwards, extends, ramifies and assimilates

new emotional and

intellectual experiences

system of classification.

We learn about the

by way of stretching the old

emotional side of this continuity

through psychoanalysis. Freud's concept of the symbol categories

which

symbol, the force

of

refers to the

primal

are still close to

our biological dispositions, the sexual

father-figure.*^ All these

can be interpreted as expressions of the

habit,

of continuities which can be extended and refined but

somehow remain

alive in

will

our minds.

J The Language of Architecture If these considerations have taken us a

little

far

away from the topic of

decoration there exists luckily a visual tradition of acknowledged importance

which permits us to of aspects

—

illustrate the

the history of

workings of the force of habit from a variety

Western

architecture

from ancient Greece to the

present century. In the introductory pamphlet to a series of

Radio

talks

'The Classical Language of Architecture' Sir John Summerson has called tradition 'the ever

seen'.'^

most comprehensive and

The

origins

stable

manner of design

on

this

the world has

of the language, the etymology of many of its motifs,

can certainly be traced back to the elements of primitive timber architecture,

and the

the post features

lS

186

Doric order, north-west corner of the Parthenon,

probably called after divinity or

for

jet

Imtel. It

of the Doric order

Pare V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

was Vitruvius himself who explained the (Fig. 186) as imitations

of forms

salient

originally used

m

Athens

\\-ood. If

tradition

he was right, which

m

architecture

expensive but

it is

What

stick to such features as triglvphs

wooden

rafter,

had come

instance, offered

and

showed where the laid.

only this time

was

it

that

it

still

offers

what

The triglvph,

for It

m terms of mimicry. The

column, for instance, which contributes so

by Greek architecture, has

less

We must accept the contribution here of what Wolfflm m of projecting

life

into

The column seems to carry the load like a living shaft and being. The endowment of the various forms of columns,

human

the 'orders', with tradition

as

of the roof ended and how they were

to the organic impression conveyed

like a

used to simulate the

have called an explanatory accent.

I

his architectural studies describes as empathy, the habit

indeed

more

have been anything but the tenacit\^ of perceptual

True, other accents are not so easily explained

inert shapes.'

classical

the

and metopes which make obvious sense

transversal supports

mechanical origins.

is

the ancient architects

to expect certain structural elements?

entasis, the gentle swelling; of the

much

is

made

it

but onlv cause additional work to the masons of a

temple built of stone? Can habits which

—

more durable material of marble which

traditional timber structure.

part of a

hard to doubt, the origins of the

in 'mimicrv'

lie

and

human

also goes

characteristics

is

an essential feature of the

classical

back to Vitruvius, though the metaphor was not

illustrated before the sixteenth century (Fig. 187).

In the history of language there are two

One

is

mam

the natural drift of language, the changes

by which Latin turned into

'vulgar' Latin

factors

making

for change.

m usage and pronunciation

and into the various regional

dialects

The Force of Habit

229

which became the Romance languages. In the eyes of the schoolmasters most

of these changes were corruptions and so they saw the language of the tribe.

Latm

to

The

efforts

from above. Both

these factors have their exact analogue in

from the vantage pomt of

the history of Europe's architectural language. Seen

the Renaissance theorists of architecture, the millennium extending decline of the

corruption

Roman

empire to Brunelleschi's reforms was an age of

is

well

known

connected with

appreciation of these styles

that the terms Gothic

this

on

their

own

methods of vaulting and forms of

that these necessary classifications

which

is

not, the

more

relevant to

my

and Romanesque were

When

interpretation.

it

tracery. It

round

may be

somewhat obscured

(Fig. i88)

is

a

it

detail

also

of tradition

what technical and

piers

of Gothic

The history of architecture

social conditions

accounted for these

reminds us of their aesthetic potential. To make the support

heavier or lighter than usual, to

make

it

alternate with piers or introduce

complex rhythms, to imprison the supports fictitious

the

development of the ancient

interiors betray this origin at first sight (Fig. 189).

m

on

pointed

argued, however,

that unity

column and even the slender columnettes and soaring

describes

arch, the

present context. Corrupt or no, distinctive or

Romanesque column

mutations;

gave way to an

merits, emphasis centred

distinctive features allowing for easy classification, the arch,

from the

m which the good laws of classical grammar were perverted by the

barbarians." It originally

reform

example of the second kind of change, the

pristine purity are an

its

deliberate reform

as their task to

it

of the Renaissance humanists to restore

network,

all

these modifications are

created by a building (Figs. 190 and 191)."

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

m

masonry or

bound It is

let

more

them form

a

to affect the impression

here that the tenacity of

traditions yields an unexpected advantage. It

igo, 191

Wall systems of the nave

of Peterborough Cathedral,

1-.1150,

and

Limburg Cathedral, begun 1213. cit.

From W.

formed

is

only where expectations are

that they can also be reassuringly confirmed, playfully disappointed

or grandly surpassed. There

is

no period

in

European

architecture in

which

these possibilities were not instinctively felt or exploited by builders of genius.

Liibke, op.

And

yet these masterpieces in the vernacular

may somewhat

differ in

from the self-conscious products of the reform movement which we with the Renaissance theorists Alberti,

Serlio,

associate

Vignola and Palladio,

reduced the Vitruvian rules to what Sir John Summerson called architectural equivalent of the Latin tongue'. his masterly account:

but also lyrical

like

Latin

is

'It

the quotation

who 'the

from

has a strict grammatical discipline, just as Latin has,

capable of magnificent rhetoric, calm pastoral beauty,

charm or sustained epic

Such

To continue

kind

diversity in unity

may

grandeur.'

only become possible where the designer works

The

Force of Habit

2^51

192

Michelangelo, Palazzo dei Conservatori,

begun 1546

within

which the public learns to appreciate.

strict alternatives

which of the

five

within the building.

can make their

He knows

orders will suit which type of building and which position

effect.

against this

It is

background

also that wilful deviations

'The giant orders' which Michelangelo introduced

in his

design of the Capitol (Fig. 192) presented such a bold departure because

normally each storey of a building was assigned Vasari say that Michelangelos departures rule

of

artists

common

under an

infinite obligation

would guess

order.

Well might

from the proportions, order and

because he broke the fetters and chains

common

And

highway'."

Greek

yet

nobody reading

m architecture continued

that the classical tradition

quite unbroken throughout the subsequent styles classicism, the

own

usage derived from Vitruvius and antiquity 'have placed

which kept them always on the these words

its

of the Baroque, Neo-

Revival, right into the twentieth century.

As

in the past,

the licence, even the extravagance, of certain solutions presupposed the

coherent framework of an accepted language. Its

adaptability, poses a

might puzzle us more

The

of this language,

problem of aesthetics and of social psychology which

if we

had not come to take

builders adopted the idiom as a matter of course, to carpentry

pliability

and cabinet-making, indeed to

all

it

for granted.

it

Not

only the

spread from architecture

forms of decoration which

used the elements originally developed for the timber structures of early

Greek temples

(Fig. 193).

The

spread of these motifs can be traced in the

manuals and pattern books of the various decorative

crafts (Fig. 194);'^ to

master the rudiments of the orders and the shapes of mouldings was a necessity. It Itself felt.

is

m these less

Look around

the twentieth century

conspicuous forms that the force of habit makes

in any

and you

house built before the functional revolution of will see shapes

of door frames, of table ledges

or of ceiling cornices, reflecting designs invented

hundred

No

252

more than two thousand

five

years ago.

doubt there

are

many

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

reasons for this conservatism of the crafts.

We

Rome,

know

of new models of

that even in our fast-moving times the introduction

machmery

a period

requires

of 'toohng up',

and the masons' and the and unsuitable for

carpenters' tools were necessarily adjusted to certain forms others. It

made

as

may soon become

as difficult to get a

would have been some decades ago

it

door frame with mouldings

to persuade the builder to leave

the frame uncut. But here as often the conservatism of the craft

of factors.

a large variety

An

may be due

to

interesting suggestion in this respect has recently

been made by Konrad Lorenz, who compared the tenacity of conventions in the traditional crafts with the process that students of animal behaviour call 'ritualization

.

In both cases, so he argues, the rigid stereotype facilitates

communication and preservation. The movements and actions the craftsmen perform must not only be performed

correctly, they

must

also be correctly

handed down to the next generation. 'It

IS

hardly an exaggeration to say that every pattern handed

tradition becomes, with time,

which, by making

it

more

endowed with those

in

red-hot,

still

is

taught to do

irrespective are

.

.

and what

.

of

their

is

it

morning dew, according

Weyland, smith of the gods, the procedure

impressive

which

in the

The

apprentice

newly forged sword must be tempered

m cold water, but if he

running water and once

Kipling's

a

down by

and embellishments

impressive, facilitate handing-down.

of the ancient smith had to learn that while

frills

three times, twice to the precept

is

so

of

much more

more, that kind of embellishment may contain,

non-rational origin,

some

very real improvements,

consequently taken up and reinforced by natural

selection.'''

Certainly the craftsman will not be inclined to 'reason why' his tools

The

Force oi Habit

2^?

and patterns

are adjusted to

mouldings, and mouldings he will make.

Not that this tradition remains ritual — if we so want to call it —

On

perceptual habits.

when we

the whole

are asked to break

confined to members of the carries over to the public

switch on the light

push

It

up.

deplored by I

know no

The

m

them. Every

traveller

when

to work. If

England you press the switch down,

these habits

and

of

this link

is

made

you want to

m America you m art, so much

and reformers, must be symptomatic of a deeply

better example

form of

the

knows how often he

it fails

resistance to change in technology

critics

m

we only become conscious of

aware of a habitual assumption only

The

crafts.

felt

need.

between conservatism and perceptual

habit than the hostile reaction with which the public of Vienna greeted the first

functional facade by

Adolf Loos

(Fig. 195). It

was dubbed

'the

house

without eyebrows', because the windows lacked the customary cornice or gables,

^

with which normal windows of whatever style were marked in Vienna.

The Etymology of Motifs

The

radicalism of

Adolf Loos was

decoration had caused for so long early twentieth centuries.

of the

a

among

symptom of

the malaise which

the theorists of the nineteenth

craft tradition, also led to those reflections

on the nature and

decoration which formed the subject of our second chapter.

It is

background that the most important work on the history of

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

and

We have seen that this malaise, rooted in the decline origin

of

against this

a decorative

motif must be seen, Alois Riegl's

m

was trained

of

Stilfragen

1893.

m

Born

1858, Alois Riegl

and proud tradition of the Vienna

the strict

Institut fur

osterreichische Geschichtsforschung before, at the age of 28, he joined the staff

Museum fiir Kunst und Industrie, closely and Albert Museum in London. These centres had

of the Osterreichisches

modelled on the Victoria been founded

m the hope of fostering a new awareness of the laws of design

among manufacturers and among As

a

Keeper

of one of the these

to

of oriental rugs anywhere

richest collections

and

Altorientalische Teppiche,

topical relevance

of his

not only among the

honour to own to the source

his Preface

devoted his

rich,

much wider

but in

commended reminded

book of

1891,

had become fashionable; and

circles

it

had become

*a

point of

in Riegl's

mind

as

arts

of

was the corruption of the industrial

Europe which had sparked off the reform movement simplicity. Citing Gottfried

was

in the world. It

first

one such piece. There was no doubt

this trend. It

in charge

shows that he was well aware of the

subject. Oriental carpets

at least

of

he

that

therefore,

treasures,

the public.

department of the Museum, Riegl was

in the textile

Semper and Owen

calling for a return to

Jones,

who had

specifically

the unerring taste in design to be found in oriental rugs, Riegl

his readers that the sands

were running out. Even

m

the East the

conditions of home crafts under which these rugs were produced were about to disappear,

done

its

and

collectors

would do

well to hurry before commercialism

had

He

was

worst.

But Riegl was not only aware of the aesthetic problems of his time. also eminently responsive to the intellectual climate

were

still

of these decades, which

dominated by the impact of Evolutionism. His

historical training

had acquainted him with the persistence of Roman Law charters

m

formularies,

and other documents of the Middle Ages, and he had earned

his

spurs with a paper on medieval calendar illustrations, which likewise proved the

unbroken power of the

Warburg, born eight years

classical tradition.

after Riegl,

These were the

ponder the called

Das

relation

demand

for a

New

—

the

life

and

his library, precisely

Style challenged the historian to

between continuity and

Nachleben der Antike

when Aby

took up the problem of the tenacity of

the classical tradition, to which he devoted his

because the universal

years

'afterlife'

change.'^'

What

Springer had

of the ancient world

—

was a

potent factor wherever the historian looked. It

turned out that

it

was also

Dissatisfied with the vague

talk

a factor in the history

of oriental rugs.

which linked these products with the

legendary splendours of the ancient East, Riegl began to analyse the principal motifs occurring in the designs of these regions.

The

result

was

startling.

The

vocabulary of these visual poems derived frequently from Greek roots.

The

Force of Habit

Take the motif so often found on the borders of oriental rugs, which looks like a series

that

it

of pomegranates linked by

leaves (Fig. 196). Riegl

was able to show

could be traced back over more than a thousand years to the

leaf-

palmette of a type used, for instance,

m the late antique temple of Split from

the time of Diocletian (Fig. 197).

The

alternating

common

directions

ancestry.

in

the

flowers

By the time

of the arrangement of

similarity

and undulating

leaves

Diocletian's craftsmen used

it

confirms a

m

the fourth

century AD, however, the arrangement was in fact at least a thousand years old.

A

vase

the

from Melos dating from the seventh century BC

principle

established

who

of alternating flowers with

m Greek

art

traces the roots

languages,

appearances. His

of

was

Riegl

a particular

to

able

we

find

m

decorative a

ornament we

is

a

behind

changing

demonstration that the typical

Greek palmette

(Fig.

199).

Thus

associate with this

if

only we alter the relation

the whole vast growth of

form of the arabesque was

development or transformation of the Greek

French or Spanish

the history of various

the stucco motifs of Islamic Egypt, can be

revealed as a transformation of a

between figure and ground

had been

motifs

basic

in the

links

dawn. Like the etymologist

word through

identify

method triumphed

arabesque, such as

its

shows that

scrolly

their

during the period of

(Fig. 198)

style

of ornament,

in fact just as

development of the Latin language.

At the very time when Riegl was busy tracing the continuous development of the Greek palmette over 2,500 years to digging on the other side of the tunnel, as

256

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

his it

own

time, another scholar was

were, to lengthen the story in the

\ase from Melos. ~th centun- BC.

From

Riegl,

199

The

r

arabesque

From

Riegl.

Egyptian column.

From

retranslated. Stiljragen

200

^tof right)

A. Speltz. The

Styles of

Ornament (1910)

201 Jar

right^

E^\ptian lotus motifs.

From W. H. Good\ ear. Tki

Grammar

cj

Lctus ^1891

Detail ot pavement

from

Nimrud, 9th centun-

BC.

Louvre, Pans

other direction.

He

was the American, W. H. Goodyear, the Keeper of the

Egyptian Collection of the Brooklyn Museum, whose book The Grammar Lotus also appeared

from

Riegl's.

His

m

1891.''

interest

Goodyear 's background and motivation

had been

fired

the Nile was a explains

its

of Lotus

is

I

shall have to refer again.

this sacred character

universal application in Egyptian art,

Moreover Goodyear

tried to

and that

it

of the flower

on columns and on borders

show

spread from Egypt to other Eastern civilizations, lotus (Fig. 202),

The

not only to show that the beautiful plant of

symbol of the Sun, but that

(Figs. 200, 201).

differed

by the search for ancient symbols in

the traditions of the East, a search to which

purpose of The Grammar

of

that this solar all

symbolism

of which adopted the

finally infiltrated ancient Greece,

where the

decorative forms of the palmette (Fig. 203) and of other elements turn out to

be nothing but transformations of this solar flower.

Goodyear 's theory of the ubiquity of Itself

to scholars, but his

solar motifs has not

recommended

proof of the link between Greek and Egyptian

The Force of Habit

237

mm

ornament could not be easily

early

/A

/r^'i

This means that another 2,500 years could

gainsaid.

be added to Riegl's story, for the use of the lotus certainly goes back to

m

Egyptian dynasties

many of

the fourth millennium BC.

the decorative elements

m

still

The

venerable continuous history inspired Riegl to write his

have worked at surprising speed, for the after I

discovery that so

circulation in his time

book came out

had such

a

He must

Stilfragetu

in 1893, only

two

the lotus to the

H. Goodyear,

The

Grammar

of Lotus, 1891

204

from Thebes, 19th dynasty, 1348— 1315 BC.

perhaps the one great book ever written about the

Stilfragen

From

Greek palmette. From W.

Egyptian ceiling pattern

years

Goodyear 's publication.

have called

203

From N. M.

Davies,

Ancient Egyptian Paintings

history of ornament.

before Riegl's eyes

It

owes

when he

historical discipline.

its

greatness to the inspiring vision which rose

The opening

his

of

ornament

colleagues regarded

up

a strictly

paragraphs of his Introduction indicate

that he expected opposition to this point

among

of ornament was

realized that the study

view. as

The

accepted orthodoxy

by-product of technical

a

procedures, and such by-products could arise spontaneously at any time and

m

any region.

become

We

remember

that

it

was Gottfried Semper whose name had

associated with the so-called 'materialistic' explanation of decorative

forms, though Riegl

careful to

is

dissociate

Semper himself from

thoughtless application of his original insights. 'Certainly

been the

last to

want to replace

a freely creative will to art

mechanistic and materialistic imitative

which Riegl

first

to-form) and

I

urge.'

This

is

the

Semper would have by an

essentially

the polemical context in

introduced his famous term Kunstwollen (will-to-art or will-

have stressed

m Chapter

3

that he was right

m reminding his

contemporaries of the limited explanatory power of any purely technical explanation."^

What

Riegl

may

have underrated

is

the degree to which the

sense of order also dominates technical artefacts, and further the force of

habit which, as

Not that

we have

seen,

makes

for the survival

258

created.

he denied the possibility of such survivals, of which the influence of

timber construction on the Doric order against

of orders once

the

lazy

assumption

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

that

is

all

a classic

example, he only turned

geometrical

motifs

must

arise

(Chicago, 1936)

spontaneously again and again from the techniques of basketry or weaving.

was

kind of assumption which bhnded students or

this

continuities

which he had observed, and he made

it

together the thread which had been cut into a thousand pieces'.

those

to

art

programme

his

It

It

to

'tie

was the

thread that linked the earliest Egyptian Lotus ornament with the latest arabesque.

There were two places only where loose ends needed knotting. One was the transformation of the lotus ornament into the

scroll, the

the dominant classical motif, the acanthus.

was his concentration on the

which had prevented Riegl

scroll

in

It

his

other the origin of

book from

first

anticipating

Goodyear's insights into the Egyptian origin of European plant ornament.

For the Egyptians did not know the undulating

of Mesopotamia. The ancient Oriental isolation

and geometric

waving

freely

styles

could not, so

rigidity

scroll

and neither did the

it

seems,

accommodate

Their decorative repertory included

line as a link.

art

with their tendency to lucid the

spirals (Fig.

204), but these were strictly confined to repeat patterns and never extended

along borders. In searching for the origins of this linking device which proved

of such immense consequence for the history of decoration, Riegl was of

known

necessity restricted by the archaeological material

of Crete, for instance, with discovered yet, but Riegl

and

it

its

wealth of decorative forms, had not been

knew of Schliemann's

was there that he found the motif he was looking

Whatever

the ethnic origins of the

made

invention of this design was 'a

a child

for,

the

wavy or

motif (Fig.

205).

have been, the fertile

of ancient Greece. As Riegl put

(horniert) artistic spirit

Greek vegetative

of Egypt from

scroll'.

of his time, Riegl never doubted the influence of racial factors on

development. Those of us

stylistic

as a plant

Mycenaeans may

in the orbit

whole world separates the limited

that which manifests itself in the

As

of Mycenaean pottery

finds

undulating scroll either as a geometrical design or

it,

m his time. The art

who

are

disinclined to accept such

explanations have to look for alternatives, provided explanations are ever possible.

No

useful as the

doubt the absence of

wavy

line

from

a

motif which seems so natural and so

a style extending over several

over a large geographical area, presents a problem. that undulating lines

It is

of one kind or another can

thousand years and

not lessened by the

fact

m

the

also be observed

decorative repertory of other prehistoric styles which need not necessarily

have had any connections with Mycenaean Greece."^ the explanation

would have

to be sociological, that

working procedures of the Egyptian decorative

Maybe one element of

is, it

crafts.

might be found

The

strictly

m the

designed

repeat pattern permits division of labour and the collaboration of large teams

such

as

were undoubtedly needed for the colossal enterprises of the Oriental

The Force of Habit

239

empires. There

working

a

is

Greek anecdote

in different places

illustrating the point.

Two

sculptors

were each producing one half of a colossal

figure;

using 'the Egyptian system of proportion they achieved such accuracy that the

two halves were found to

fit

usually right

fit

together like the blocks or

when he

felt

amount of

elasticity

flaw.'"

Such precision

tiles

composing the

building. Riegl was

that the undulating line was contrary to the spirit

styles. It is essentially a

certain

without the slightest

of Egyptian (and Mesopotamian) decoration

requires rigidity; the elements

motif suggesting

elasticity

and

a free-hand design

which allows a

irregularity (Fig. 206). In fact,

it

is

this

which proved so invaluable to the decorator once the motif had been

integrated into the repertory, because

any area

infinitely adaptable to

it is

—

Riegl

as

expected to

fill,

knew —

the

that this adaptability

and

flexibility

had been introduced. But maybe

wavy

line

is

allowing for contractions

or extensions, stretching along borders or masking a gap. There

a

of these

is

no doubt

secured the success of the motif once

in considering its relatively late

adoption

it

in

developed form, we should not disregard the hidden complexity which we

found when analysing 207)

is

far

its

perceptual

effect.

Perceptually the wavy line (Fig.

from simple because of the fluctuating

and ground which

arise as

hollow. Moreover, any diagonal configuration

Part V; Psychology and the Decorative Arts

interactions between figure

we look from bulge to bulge or from hollow is

to

perceptually less easy to grasp

than the horizontal or vertical connection. Small children have considerable

2o8 Corinthian capital, f.300 BC.

difficulty

m

copying

a square

with a diagonal because,

if

we may simplify

a

Archaeological

Museum, Epidaurus

complex argument,

disturbs their rigid habit of expectations/'

it

It

would be

an abuse of such psychological results to suggest that the ancient Egyptians 209 Acanthus.

From

Curtis's

Botanical Magazine (1816)

had not

yet attained the degree

adoption of the wavy irrational element

We

scroll,

of

intellectual maturity necessary for the

may

but they

which contravened

their

have resisted

own

scroll,

somewhat

and we followed with Riegl the transformation of

design into the palmette as used in oriental rugs. But faithful to his

programme of demonstrating

novelty had to be accounted for, a novelty

Greek ornament than the wavy ancient decorative

of

as a

have seen the way Greek art combined the motif of the lotus blossom

with the wavy

The

it

rigorous sense of order.

ancients

art,

had

—

scroll

if

continuity,

Riegl wanted to be

one other important

more famous even I

this

in the history

refer again to that

of

hallmark of

the acanthus.''

certainly believed the acanthus to be a straight imitation

a real plant. Vitruvius

had told the touching story of the origin of the

Corinthian capital (Plate 208)

—

that

it

had been modelled by the sculptor

Kallimachos on the chance find of a basket with toys which a faithful nurse

had deposited on the tom.b of

a girl

and which had become enclosed by

acanthus leaves. Riegl could surely not be expected to believe this ad invention, but he was altogether sceptical about the derivation

motif from the particular weed which grows

and

Italy (Plate 209).

Was

hoc

of the plant

m such profusion all over Greece

the leaf all that similar to the leaf of Acanthus spmosus

The

Force of Habit

241

which he found

illustrated

m Owen

Jones?

It

was not. There if you

need to give up the hypothesis of continuity, for forms you could

see that the so-called acanthus

more

than

clearly

m

really

was no

at certain early

Corinthian A. Riegl,

was

really

than the old palmette turned into a leaf (Fig. 210). forensic skill shine out

looked

no more and no

From

(1893)

less

Nowhere does Riegls

this plea for continuity.

capital.

Stilfragen

He

Row

of palmettes. From

A. Riegl,

Stilfragen

(1893)

marshals most convincing comparisons between an indubitable row of palmettes (Fig. 211) and an early acanthus frieze from the Erechtheion (Fig.

make

212) to

No doubt there was He had to

a

good

deal of special pleading in Riegls presentation.

circumvent a number of inconvenient facts such as the naturalistic

rendering of acanthus leaves on vase paintings representing funeral stelae (Fig. 213)

.

Moreover,

closest leaves

it is

clear that the leaf

example he could have chosen.

of the

plant.

Greek designers (Figs. 215

certainly

and is

They resemble

also place

216). It has

them

he illustrated was

far

from being the

The early examples do not represent the The

the supports of the chalice (Fig. 214).

corresponding positions to the stem

in the

been argued correctly that

not the palmette which turns into a

leaf.

in these early versions

The

it

palmette seems to be

conceived as a blossom and the acanthus as the chalice (Figs. 217 and 218). Indeed, in is

to

all

mask

the early versions of the acanthus scroll the function of the leaf

the divisions of the stem.

Maybe we can here recall another perceptual element which may have played its

part

m

the adoption of this motif;

There

continuities.

which other taken

m

our

stride,

visual explanation.

direction

is

is

something

lines fork off.

I

mean

the tendency of searching for

slightly unsatisfactory

The change of direction

m

in the

a

wavy

line

from

undulation can be

but the additional complication demands some kind of

The

joints conflict

with continuity not only because a new

introduced, but also because the continuous width of the line

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arcs

Lotus-palmette frieze

from the Erechtheion,

his interesting case.

is

f.415 BC.

From

Stilfragen

(1893)

A. Riegl,

h-kytkcs.

From

Stilfragen

A. Riegl,

(1893)

Acanthus.

From R.

Hauglid, Akantus (Oslo. 1950)

Detail of a frieze

from the

Erechtheion, 1.415 BC.

From

A. Riegl.

(1895)

Cf

Stilfragen

Fig. 216

216

Ornamental

frieze

from

the Erechtheion, Athens. r.415 BC. British

Museum,

London

Detail of a gold quiver. 5th

century

BC:.

From

Riegl, Stilfragen (1893^

A.

Cf

Fig. 218

218

Gold

quiver.

Greek

workmanship, early

late 5th-

4th century BC.

Archaeological

Museum,

Rostov-on-Don

The

Force of Habit

219 Altar grille from the

Abbey of Ourscamp, France, 12th century

German

locksmith's sign,

1M750. X'lctona

and Albert

Museum, London

221

Arum

Dracunciilus.

Sterne, Natiir und

(Berim, 1891)

a'eriin'lsS.r

compromised jomed, and have to be

at the joint.

if not,

which of the two

hammered

can be masked

Should both be imagined to taper where they

or tied,

if the scroll

is

contmuous? In metalwork the

becomes an acanthus

scroll (Fig. 220). It has

m

a different plant,

true,

IS

it

m

It

been

Arum

way

(Fig.

would strengthen rather than weaken Riegls

case

which has stems growing out of blossom

221). If that

joints

mtroducmg another discontmuity (Fig. 219).

suggested that the Greeks observed this advantage dracunculusr

are

a similar

because what he was after was the priority of formal requirements over purely imitative interest It

would be

m a particular plant.

a pity if the

immense value of

Riegl's observations were

obscured by certain weaknesses in his method, weaknesses closely linked to his evolutionist

background. Like Darwin he looked for 'missing

links', links

between the palmette and the acanthus. But the designs he identified links

do not necessarily prove his

be interpreted

as

entitled to place

case.

Granted that there

are motifs

something between a palmette and an acanthus

them chronologically between

the former

evidence for a gradual evolution? abstract form. If we have a

244

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

We

'b'

and we find

we

latter? Is it

form must be

might put the question

motif 'a' and another

such

leaf, are

and the

necessarily the case that anything that looks like a transitional

as

which can

a

in the

most

mixed form

From Kiiiist

C.

'ab'

does this necessarily show that

'ab'

be a subsequent hvbrid or an assimilation of one form to the other?

The

history of

'a'

developed into

ornament knows many such

cases,

'b'

via 'ab'?

Could not

and some of them come

very close to Riegl's example. There are oriental rug;s of the kind Riegl

m

studied,

uhich the shapes of the

parrots (Fig. 222). that

parrots

ail

It IS

scroll are assimilated to pheasants or

We could obviously not apply Riegjl's criterion here and say

m Persian decoration are nothing; but transformed scrolls.

important to

stress,

however, that these and other criticisms that could

be made of Riegl's specific h\-pothesis concerning; the origins of the acanthus

motif

Greek

in

art

do not

invalidate his basic postulate of continuity. For

whether or not the palmette can be watched It is still

likely that the plant

ornament because

it

could so

as

turning

itself

into an acanthus,

motif was received into the repertory of Greek easily

be assimilated to the traditional palmette.

We see once more that force of visual habits at work which ensures the role of the 'schema'

designers

m

the procedures of

art.

The

schematic motifs which Greek

to life m the m all aspects of Greek civilization. The

had derived from the ancient Orient were returned

great awakening that can be observed

'animation' of the scroll into a living plant with a resemblance to a familiar

weed It

IS

part of that evolution which became a revolution.

remains fascinating to follow Riegl

of the book, through

a further

as

he takes

thousand years of

us,

m the last four sections

stylistic

change, to analyse

with him the transformations of the Corinthian capital from the fourth century BC to the

late

antique versions of the motif

of St John Tig. 223) and

Owen

Jones,

who had

in the

Hagia Sophia

m

the

Bvzantme Church

(Fig. 224). f^e pays tribute to

recognized that this development led directly to the

arabesque, but he criticizes the emphasis Jones places on the novelty of the

design in which the distinction between stem and leaf this

same tendency makes

itself

felt

much

earlier

is

m

lost,

observing that

Greek ornament.

The

Force of Habit

246

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

Resuming Romanesque

capital

from

his

arguments from the book on oriental rugs, Riegl completes the

demonstration of the continuous development from Byzantine to Sassanian

the crypt of St Servatius.

Quedlinburg, consecrated IIZ9

228

and Syrian variants of plant ornament, culminating

Moorish

art,

which

still

in the

developed forms of

betray to the practised eye their origin from the Greek

palmette and the acanthus (Fig. 225)/^

Capital from the

—

Riegl was perfectly aware of the fact

as

he says in the Introduction to

tnfonum, Rheims Cathedral, f.1250— 60

Stiljragen

— that

the history of the classical plant

ornament could be continued

throughout the Middle Ages and to the Renaissance, but strange

as

it

may

229 Capital from the Chapter

House, Southwell

sound, nobody has yet written a worthy continuation of the book. Needless to say,

it

could only be written with Riegl's single-minded concentration on

Mmster,

individual problems, for

nobody could

ever

transformations of the acanthus scroll in

all

map

out the ramifications and

their surprising varieties.

Once

our eyes have been sharpened to these continuities of the motif we shall encounter

it

again and again.

and on Romanesque IS

metamorphosed

a

new

work

It

luxuriates in Byzantine

capitals (Fig. 227),

it

stonework

(Fig. 226)

turns into Gothic foliage,

into native plants. Indeed, one

'

where

it

of the many urgent tasks for

Riegl would be to investigate the apparent naturalism of Gothic leaf

m

the light of his treatment of the acanthus.

Were

the craftsmen

who

fashioned the marvellous decorations of Rheims (Fig. 228) and Amiens, so

admired by Ruskin, or the famous 'Leaves of Southwelf described in a charming relying

on

a

Did

(Fig. 229), so lovingly

Pevsner,"'' really

study of living plants, or can we sometimes, at

schema of the flora?

book by Nikolaus

traditional acanthus leaf

and

exclusively

least, still feel

the

behind the renderings of the native

the continuous tradition facilitate the reabsorption of classical

m the Renaissance? What was borrowing and what independent growth m the heavier forms of the scroll favoured m the Baroque such as we forms

encountered on the frame of Raphael's Madonna

delta Sedia

(Fig. 230)?

The

And

to

Force of Habic

Raphael, Madonna dcUa Scdia. (-.1516, in a

1.1700.

Palazzo

frame of Pitti,

Florence

Designs by

F.

Cuvillies,

engraved by Lespilliez, (-.1740.

Victoria and

Albert

Museum, London

J.

E. Nilson, 'Neues

CaiFehaus', 1756. P.

Jessen Meister

From

dcs

Ornainentstichs (Berlin,

1923)

Chinese tomb later

Han

relief slab,

dynasty, f.150

AD. Royal Ontario

Museum, Toronto

what extent can Riegls method be used Rocaille?'^

Are

these

playful

shells

metamorphosis of the acanthus, or

for the explanation (Figs.

231

and

and 232)

are those versions

analysis just

of the

another

of the motif which

suggest this affinity also hybrids which sprang from the unlikely crossing of

two

different motifs?

But tempting

as it

would be

to linger over these questions, other problems

posed by Riegls researches might prove even more rewarding to any intrepid

who took up

explorer

the etymology of motifs.

am

I

referring to the

astounding spread of the scroll across Asia into the Far East.

China during the

Han

dynasty in the

to the Chinese idiom but IS

finally

losing

still

first

It

appears

m

centuries of our era, approximated

recognizable as the Greek scroll (Fig. 233), and

adapted there to the great tradition of floral decoration without fully

Its

Greek accents

associated at

first

(Fig. 234). In India,

with Buddhist imagery

the fifth century (Fig. 235),

it

as

where

it

seems to have been

on the halo of the Buddha from

finally achieves

m

Hindu

sculpture a lush

richness not rivalled anywhere (Fig. 236). It also penetrates into the folk art of

248

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

the South East, as witnessed by tribal

mask from

motifs would

a

still

Moluccan

its

appearance on what looks

like a primitive

ritual pole (Fig. 237). Clearly the

offer interesting

etymology of

problems for research and indeed for the

demonstration of the interdependence of all civilizations of the Old World.

Not that

the flow was

one way. There

all

are

some motifs which developed

China and percolated to the West; one of them (Fig. 238),

many

J

the so-called cloud

band

which was assimilated into the vocabulary of Oriental rugs and

sometimes crossed with the western derivation

is

in

and spread

is

scroll (Fig.

239).''''

More

enigmatic in

is

wholly satisfactory.

it is

frequently useless to ask

why

certain roots or

on over thousands of years while others were eliminated without must

surely approach such

problems of explanation

with diffidence and with scepticism but, speaking in the most general terms, it

may still be

guideline.

to apply

accepted that the principle of the survival of the

Maybe

fittest is a

useful

motifs survive because they are easy to remember and easy

m diverse contexts. It was suggested in a previous chapter for instance

that the Paisley pattern possibility

^37

Carved head from Tanimbar, Moluccan Islands.

Rijksmuseum

Leiden

Cloud band

239

example of language that

historian

1141— 82

The

We know that the force of habit is selective and survivals are often capricious. We also know from the

Any

Halebid, Mysore, India,

its

But what would constitute a satisfactory explanation?

lived

Hoysaleswara Temple,

the so-called Paisley pattern (Fig. 240)/" for which

explanations have been suggested, none of which

a trace.

Relief from the

voor Volkenkunde,

Invention or Discovery

forms

236

combines the advantage of distinctness with the

of introducing

a

directional

element,

a

slight

loosening of

symmetrical rigidity which could easily be regulated or counteracted

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

at will.

cloud band motif in

an Oriental rug. Victoria

and Albert Museum,

London

Could not

similar

advantages be found in

all

motifs which remained

successful over the centuries?

The manifold

versions of the palmette

Europe from the East

m

the textile motifs which reached

(Fig. 241), variously described as pineapple or artichoke

designs and also assimilated to the pomegranate or the carnation, their survival to this adaptability. still

While

must owe

the basic arrangement was given,

it

allowed the designer subtly to adjust the relation between figure and

ground and to lighten or

increase the relative weights

of the motif and the

framing device.

One of

Saul Steinberg's delightful covers for The

New

Yorker (Fig.

The

242)

Force of Habit

251

May

242

THE

16,1964

Drawing by Saul

Price25cents

NL\^YOIlKEIl

suggests the fantasy of a garden in which the traditional floral motifs of the

decorator s repertory have reverted to the grave feline gardener.

which

Does

Which of them

will fall victim to the voracious It

make

is

soil, as it

were,

and

are

tended by a

destined to grow and prosper, and

ornamental birds which haunt the plot?

sense even to ask this kind of question in the harsher world of

historical realities?

We certainly must not claim that we could ever have predicted the course of events

and foreseen the road, which led from the lotus to the acanthus and

beyond

to the rocaille. But if the perpetual study

the historian Riegl's

for

252

its

it

must

at least

animated undulating survival

and

of decoration

is

to benefit

be able to identify certain advantages which

scroll

enjoyed and which

proliferation. Partial explanations

may

therefore account

of its perceptual appeal

have indeed been offered

m

the past. Hogarth's discussions of the line

beauty' are entirely based

on

his idea

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

of

visual satisfaction,

and so

is

of

Owen

of the arabesque

Jones's analysis

are

found to

terms of eye-movements.

not only inventions but also discoveries. By certain psychological dispositions

fit

Medicine speaks of drugs which

before.

of such habit-forming drugs or spices

No

doubt

It

of art, but

would be foolhardy

it is

is

true

IS

this

that they are

which had not been

satisfied

and the history

writ large over the face of the globe.

to apply this idea uncritically to the history

worth asking whether we may not speak of decorative motifs

Maybe

the acanthus has

our attention similar to that of the vine or the tobacco plant. If that

may

It

still

be impossible to specify exactly wherein

some

psychological attraction of the motif. But themselves. First

it

has

all

remember,

m

lies

its flexibility,

the disadvantage derives

may

ground, which

which makes

from the

it

the

lies

tentative answers suggest

the decorative advantages

we found

without the possible disadvantage of that abstract motif.

The

mean

I

are 'habit-formmg',

which, once invented, turn out to be habit-forming. a claim to

believe that

I

m their contention that there are formal motifs

both these authors were right

which

in

m the wavy line

The

advantage,

we

applicable to any

empty

area,

between

figure

and

inbuilt ambiguity

introduce an undesirable element of visual complexity.

transformation of the line into a plant scroll firmly establishes the

between

relation

figure

and ground, introduces explanatory accents which

allow subsidiary scrolls to grow out of the stem without visual discomfort and gives the decorator the

option of introducing

accents as he wants, varying the

demands of his

Thus

decorative designer which

—

many

additional directional to the

task (Fig. 243).

the acanthus scroll offers scope for

linking'

as

symmetry and balance according

I

all

the basic activities of the

described in Chapter

3

as

Trammg,

combines them

m

so flexible and sensitive a way that

it

and

filling

— and

the latter taking the forms of branching or radiation

offers the perfect

instrument for the organization of areas. Moreover, the animation of the

which turns flowers

it

into a live organic motif ofl^ers

and greenery so

of decoration. Last but not

same order.

plant

least,

The

trained public will

come

sensitivity, if

in the cases

of the

architectural

to sense the exact degree to

stylized or animated, lush or lean,

with increasing

pleasant associations with

immemorial with the habit

the restriction to particular motifs offers the

we observed

aesthetic opportunities

IS

many

closely linked since time

line

and

not necessarily

will

which the

respond to these variations

as violently as

Ruskm

did

when

he distinguished between temperance and luxury in a scroll (Fig. 244). I

realize that

an ad

hoc

any such analysis must, by

its

very nature, have

hypothesis which cannot be tested. All we can ask

is

all

the faults of

whether

be an improvement on Riegl's explanatory hypothesis. Riegl,

remembered, had used the discovery of continuity to counter the

it

it

may

will

be

'materialist'

The

Force of Habit

theory of decoration which appealed to the authority of Gottfried Semper for

of decorative

the role played by technique in the spontaneous generation

^43

Relief on the Ara Pacis

Augustae, Rome, 13-9 BC

motifs.

It

was

this

materialism,

this

of the

disregard

aesthetic

and

psychological urges underlying artistic creativity, which Riegl wanted to put John Ruskin, 'Temperance

out of court by his demonstration of a millennial development. As he studied the vicissitudes of the lotus turning itself successively into the palmette, the

and Intemperance Curvature'.

From

Stones of Venice

acanthus and the arabesque, he began to think of it as a life

and

or that

it

of its own. Thus we read that Hellenistic

will

scroll to the

if it

end towards which

was

its

it

brought the Greek

had been consistently driving

aim to unfold

essential

art

were endowed with

for centuries,

freely over large areas. In other words,

he was more Lamarckian than a Darwinist, or more precisely an Aristotelian

who thought

m

terms of a

'final cause'.

That

*will-to-art',

which Riegl had

conceived as an alternative to the mechanistic explanations of individual motifs, developed into a vitalistic principle underlying the whole history of art. It is this shift

to follow

up

of emphasis which

Stiljmgen

also helps to explain Riegls unwillingness

with further studies in the history of motifs. Having

proved his point he must have found

concept of the

Kunstvoollen

inherent force pervaded style.

Once

it

by

a different

all artistic

The

254

more important

approach.

It

to consolidate his

had to be shown

that this

manifestations of a particular period or

could be demonstrated that architecture and sculpture, design

and ornament obeyed one unifying surely laid for

it

good and

principle, the ghost

of 'materialism' was

all.

Swiss scholar Ferdinand de Saussure,*"

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

who

so greatly influenced

'853)

in

The

(London,

modern

introduced the distinction between the 'diachronic' and

linguistics,

The

the "synchronic' studv oi lanaua^e.

first

deals with historical changes (e.g.

the chano;ine torms and meanings of the term 'pattern'}; the second with

language

as

can he observed

it

usage of the term

.

at

AppK'me

diachronic studv ot ornamental motifs.

opportunitA- tor this shitt olfered

itselt ver\"

Austro-Hungarian Monarchy', (i90i\ presents a turther

withm

hiis

bv

it

is

a

a 'synchronic'

a particular stylistic period.

An

soon when he was commissioned

work, entitled Die

m

stag;e

the current

'e.g.

clear that Stilfrageu

is

m

orks ot late antique decorative art tound

'\\

decorative arts

it

To supplement

account Rie^l had to turn to the analysis oi

to publish the

m time

anv particular point

this distinction,

the area of the

s-patrcmischi Kiiustindiistrie

interpretation ot the place ot the

his

history.

st\-listic

Editor's Postscript

Gomhrich used an Illusion.

He

analog)- between verbal lanouaoe

did so again in

The

ornament. Lnderlying both analyses Lectures,

from which

Making.

It

this

Sense ot Order, is

the use

Art and

naturalistic imagery in

but

of infcrmaticii

hook ultimately grew, was

the completion

is

and

this

and

time between language

thccry.

The

title

cfthe ycrthcliffe

m

Rh\"me and Reason

of a rhyme that invites analogy with

the

Pattern

development of an

ornamental motif.

The problem

that

Gomhrich addresses

in

decorative pattern, such as a

grows out of a

row of dots around of handling

tradition

chapter

this

having shown in ^Art and Self-Transcendence^

is

one cf ornamental sophistication,

Tdeals and Idols'

that even the simplest

a pot, requires plvining. Sophisticated

ecmplcxitw

visual

net

unlike problem

ornament

solving

m

mathematics. Indeed, the analogies with mathematics are worth exploring: fractals seem quite boring in comparison with the has a generative capacity^ in,

amongst other

Tor

Art and

like

Illusion,

decorators of the

language^ mathematics

metaphor, so

things,

Art and Illusion

work of the

it is

the artist's frst

Alhambra or Book ofKells. Pattern

and music. Language's generative power

no surprise

metaphor was

the

hobbx

place

the artist

needed

and time because

to

learn to produce.

they

embodied a

a style could be explained h;

Li

of a

tradition.

styles

would remain

The larger development of ritualized societies static.

innovation, style could become a motivator for change

new achievement would

before: this ties together the ancient

technique, such as the Prefaces,

image was a complex artefact

local practice, like a language.

the persistence

feedback, hi naturalistic imagen;, each

had been done

the

A cluster of paintings could be assigned to a particular

Gombrich/s remarks on Konrad Lorenzs ideasj

was placed on

horse.

looked at the psxchology of image production from the artist's point of

view: the existence of style could be explained by the fact that

which

lies

that this chapter starts off with that subject.

II here

a

(note

premium

and generate

result in a re-evaluation

its

own

of what

and Renaissance accounts of development of

Plinys h^istoria Naturalis Iw^s

'

and

]

asarisWtt

(particularly

r

The

Force of Habit

The central

difference

between fractal-generating computers and

human

computers do not have imaginations. Vasari said that Michela^jgelo broke

and perhaps

usage,

nothing

is

like

he did

more than

deviant behaviour

that,

the

be witnessed in the

that

is

of common

work of hisfollowers:

there

greater deviancy. Deviant behaviour need not be

to create

disordered, but organized at a different

On

may

as

beings

the chains

level.

imagination run riot see 'The Edge of Chaos' in

The

Sense of Order.

See also the

preceding section in this volume.

For a concise statement of the central argument of The Sense the

znd

edition

(Oxford, l^S/^). See

Order and Classical

Psychology

I.

See Jex-Blake

1.

Any number

The

256

Part

and

see the

Preface

Sellers,

The

Elder Pliny's Chapters on the History of Art

of editions of Vasari's Vite are available.

On my

and Architects

Psychology and the Decorative Arts

to

Joaquin Lordas essay 'Orders with Sense: Sense of

Richard Woodfeld

(ed.),

Gombrich on Art and

(Manchester, iggS).

Lives of the Painters, Sculptors

\':

also

Architecture', in

of Order

bookshelf

is

theJour

(London, ig6j).

(reprinted Chicago, ig68).

volume translation by A. B. Hinds, Giorgio Vasan,

The Psychology of Styles Chapter 8 of The oj Orier

{\c,-jOi).

Sense

pp.

195—216

How / am in a

always overcome hyfear whenever I hear a whole nation or age being characterized

jew words —for what an immense mass

of varieties are comprised

Modern Times!

Johann Gottfried von Herder,

Briefe iiher schone Litemtur iind Kunst, Viertes Fragment.'

I

and

Ablandliingen

words as nation

in such

or the Middle Ages or the Ancient or

RiegVs Perceptual Theory of Style

If Riegl's

the greatest

Stilfragen is

book among

studies of decorative design (see

above, pp. 235f£), his Spatromische Kunstindustrie

One cannot

challenging. uncritically.

evidence

There

is

handled.

is

demonstrated in 'synchronic' unity postulate. It

IS

ignore

thesis

its

a great difference

The

of style

doubtful whether

it

stylistic

is

much

Kunstindustrie^

of

style,

can serve

it

can be tested

at all.

may be undemonstrable

as a

only too

is

way the

landmark even

easy

to

for those

The

closer to a metaphysical

But

this

ambitious

also offers a clear-cut

psychological theory of style. In a field as vast and as varied as interpretation

in the

it

developments which he

survived the test of observation.

m any one period

attempt to demonstrate what

described as the most

one cannot accept

if

between the two books

diachronic unity of

Stilfragen brilliantly

may be

even

lose

is

the study and

ones way.

Riegl's

of us who may ultimately

wish to go in another direction.

There observe

are

few episodes in the history of artistic theories which allow us to

the

interaction

arguments with greater Just as

clarity

Goodyear 's Grammar

synthesis

of

Stilfragen,

contemporary

between

issues

and

intellectual

than the genesis of Riegl's most famous work.

of Lotus

was a

catalyst

which permitted the great

so Die spatromische Kvinstindustrie constitutes Riegl's

response to the book by the holder of the Chair of Art History in Vienna,

Franz Wickhoff, on the

Vienna Genesis (1895).' Originally conceived as the

introduction to the publication of a famous early Christian manuscript, this interpretation

of late antique

art (published in English as

to clear the stylistic development

Roman

Art) set out

from Augustus to Constantine from the

The Psychology of Styles

257

stigma of decline.

does so quite explicitly by referring to the topical issues

It

of WickhofFs period, notably the critics

this

earlier

had merely seen the corruption of Greek sculpture and painting and sketchy procedures, Wickhoff stressed the

slovenly

by

around Impressionism. Where

battle

development in what he called

context

is

'illusionism'.

positive

What is

in

gams achieved

important in our

the attention he paid in this analysis to works of decorative

art.

Among his prime witnesses were the beautiful slabs of the tomb of the Haterii Museum,

in the Lateran

Wickhoff stresses

sensitive description

the roses

dating from the

surrounding the

naturalistic

all

made by

impression was to be rendered, the impression buds, flowers and leaves trembling in the

which had come out two years stylistic

development

characteristic

earlier,

in the rendering

of

beauty

(Fig. 245). In his

'Only the

detail.

a rosebush full of

Referring to Riegls

air.'

Wickhoff

Stiljragen,

of

stresses the continuity

of plant motifs.

decorative

this

AD

the refusal of the craftsmen to imitate

with

pillar

century

first

masterpiece

He

asks

could

how

the

been

have

overlooked for so long, and blames the orthodoxies discussed in Chapter

While

11.^

the academies of art taught the painters to imitate reality to the point

of deception, the schools of design warned

their students never to imitate the 245

art

of illusionistic periods, but rather to choose

of those ages of European

art

as their

models the decoration

which had not yet 'outgrown the charmingly

Rose

AD.

of stylized representation

childish babble

the inevitable reaction against this

'unprecedented

.

We also learn from Wickhoff that

dogmatism was connected with an event

m the history of art' — the impact of Japanese art on the West.

According to Wickhoff taboo on naturalism.

it

'In the

was

which helped to remove the

this discovery

wake of this development, we can now appreciate

the beauty of such works as the rose pillar which a previous generation

would

have rejected as contravening the rules of design.'

WickhofFs interpretation and advocacy naturally added the study of ornament,

on which Riegl was to

seize.

a

new element

The account

of the development of plant motifs had been mainly

descriptive.

to

in Stilfragen

Changes

in

treatment and style were attributed to the changing Kunstwollen (will-to-form),

but no further analysis was given to explain

why

changed. Wickhoff provided part of the answer.

The change ran parallel to

one observed

m

the history of

the artistic notion

associate with a rapid visual impression.

much

sculptor

Adolf von Hildebrand,

The Problem of Form

m

as Stilfragen.

discussion in these years

same year

which had interested Wickhoff, but

a 58

Part V: Ps)'chology and the Decorative Arts

came to

less

summary treatment we

Here another book which had

aroused

the

the

European painting from the Renaissance

onwards. Close attention to detail had given way to the

had been published

had

Riegl's aid, the

book by

in the Figurative Arts,'

Prompted by

the

same

the

which issues

sympathetic to Impressionism,

pillar

from the tomb

of the Haterii,

ist

century

Rome. Vatican

Museums

Hildebrand

set

out to define the contrasting approaches to nature

—

Impressionist painting was purely visual

of

residues

perception.

ignoring at

own

its

peril the

sensation which are invariably associated with visual

tactile

We

m terms of

on sensations of touch,

perception. Classical sculpture was essentially based

when Berenson was

are in the years

to elevate these tactile

sensations into an aesthetic principle, while Wolfflin used the polarities of

Hildebrand for

more

his even

of

influential analysis

developments

stylistic

since the Renaissance.

Riegls

Kunstindustne

Spatrdmische

of

1901

most consistent and

the

is

uncompromising application of this perceptual theory of art. briefly

summed

the history of the shift of the Kuntstwollen -46

Openwork. AD.

From

i:.3rd

century

A. Riegl. Die

spat rem ische

visual or 'optic'

crafts. 'Vienna, 1901)

from

modes of perception. This

the figurative arts,

Ku nstmdi is trie

Its thesis

can be

up: the history of art from ancient Egypt to late antiquity

it

tactile

(Riegl says haptic) to

can be observed not only

shift

is

and

also manifests itself in architecture

m

m the decorative

Every architectural motif, every brooch or fibula of a given period, must

and can be shown to obey the same inherent laws of stylistic development that drove art relentlessly from touch to vision.

It will

be remembered that Riegls

assignment had in fact been the publication and description of archaeological finds

m

The thoroughness and programme must command

the soil of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

consistency with which he carried out his

admiration even where

book on Oriental

it

does not

command acceptance. Here,

aim was to reduce

rugs, his first

claimed for other cultures and other

tribes.

Graeco-Roman world

if

as far as possible the share

The

migration had to be shown to form part of the

m his earlier

as

finds

from the period of

artistic

development of the

they were to be explained as the products of a late

phase of the Kunstwollen^ the outcome of one specific phase of perceptual

Three techniques Chipcarving, AD.

From

c.jth

century

A. Riegl, op.

Garnet

insets.

m

the progressive

abandonment of the

against a neutral

ground such

we

248

are here analysed

succession

get a blurring

as

isolated

we know

it

(Fig. 246),

in Riegls view,

motif lucidly standing out

from

of the distinction between

— openwork

They show,

chipcarving (Fig. 247) and garnet insets (Fig. 248).

bias.

classical

Greek

art.

and ground.

figure

Instead I

have

The

Ixworth Cross, AngloSaxon, f.6oo AD.

mentioned

in

an

chapter

earlier

that

it

was

Riegl

who

anticipated

psychologists of perception in his discussion of the change between figure and

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

ground first

that

marks certain

emerged

styles

in certain types

of ornament (see above,

of openwork where the

balance each other visually. In the technique

harder to

tell

whether

it

is

known

as

p. 236).

figure

The

feature

and the void

chipcarving

it is

even

the ridge or the groove that should be seen as

dominant. In the garnet inlay of the dark ages the golden setting sometimes provides a pattern and the dark red stones impress us as ground. is

The

reversal

complete. For Riegl this development runs exactly parallel to the changes in

The Psychology of Styles

259

sculpture observed during that period. Instead of the careful tactile modelling

of every individual

feature, late

treatment which gave chisels,

it

Roman

sculpture developed that

such a bad name, the use of

summary

drills as distinct

from

leading to an exploitation of deep shadows and strong lights (Fig.

249). Instead of that loving articulation of the individual element which

admire in the best products of Greek impressive from the distance than IS

from

we

art,

massed

get

close quarters.

not only useless but also shortsighted to decry

effects,

we

more

According to Riegl

this

change

it

as a decline^

because without this inevitable development art could not have progressed to the rendering of space the Renaissance

That

there

is

and atmosphere

and culminated a certain

in that

amount of

special pleading

demonstration almost goes without saying. find, for instance, that

second cycle which started in

m Riegl's time. A

m

careful reader

this

remarkable

of the book

will

Riegl sometimes rejected the evidence of coins found

with the objects, because they suggested a date too early to suit his sequence.

Moreover, some of the perceptual

effects

he so

brilliantly

analysed as

manifestations of a given phase in the evolution of the Kunstwollen are far from

unique to

this stylistic

group. After

teasingly with the switch

pattern (Fig. 206).

260

there

is

no ornament which plays more

A stroll through any collection of tribal art is

produce intriguing tribal artefacts

all,

between figure and ground than the Greek key

parallels to Riegl's

may be

specimens (Figs. 250,

also likely to

251, 252).

Some

explained as the results of diffusion and imitation, but

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

with Others there

is

no such possibiKtv, and we would have to

various remote regions the the

attribute to

same perceptual development which we found

m

Western world.

m admitting such pluralism because, like

Rie^l would have found difficultv

his earlier Stilfragen, the Spatrcmische Kiinstindiistrie has a

demonstration of the 'svnchronic' unities of their intrinsic necessity' critics

—

was aimed

artistic

polemical edge.

consciously or unconsciously

of modern developments who were trying

The

developments and of

m vam

—

at the

to stop the stars

m

their courses. Its message, popularized in Worringer's Abstraction and Empathy,

was taken up by the revolutionary movements century,

which strove to fashion

such an escape from the

of Art

Xoiiveaii, for

demand.

250 N'larwork by Brazilian

From G.

Indians.

Welcfish. The Origins of Art

No

unir^'

of high

that the study

inner cohesion and unitw

Its

art for the

round of historical

stale

which the

wonder

new

a

m the art of the early twentieth

roots

lie

art

new

age.

The

longing for

stvdes inspired the

and applied

art

of st)des was coloured by

movement

was so

vital a

this quest for

m the artistic situation of the nineteenth

centurw

Indianapolis, 1953)

2 The Pervasiveness of Sty^ Amazon

Indian club.

From H.

Stoipe, Arm.

Ir.dum Designs (1927)

The

idea of linking period

commonplace

srv'les

with distinctive

tv^pes

of ornament was

m nineteenth-century schools of design. Any number of books

took the student through the repertories of forms associated with -Ancient

Mexican stamp.

From J.

Enciso. Dcsmi

interiors or furnishings

Mctifs cfAncic-nt ^LxL-c

'947}

classical,

Bvzantme, Gothic or Renaissance ornament to enable him to design facades,

m

any of the period styles favoured by changing

fashions and requirements (Fig. 253). Turning the pages of these books,

we

are

immediately reminded of one of the principal sources of these unified repertories. Architectural

stv'les

are

m the lead and tend to determine the m a very direct way. We have seen this

forms of furniture and of implements principle of unity at classical orders

and

work

in the

preceding chapter (see above, pp. 230—4).

their subsidiary elements,

by carpenters to wardrobes and

chests,

such

as

The

mouldings, were applied

which were turned

m

this

way

into

The Psychology of St)-les

261

We

metaphorical buildings.

can

observe

it

difficult to see

how

these elements

same process

the

furnishings with their blind arcades suggesting

m

Gothic

windows and mullions. Nor

is

of design spread from here to other

media and other purposes whenever function invited decorative enhancement.

The Gothic

chalice or ivory diptych will exhibit

Renaissance

title-page

Renaissance repertory. precisely because efforts

it felt

of restorers to

or

picture

The

will

display

elements

as the

of the

nineteenth century was obsessed with style

itself to

be without a style of its own.

rid buildings

of style

frame

Gothic designs, much

The misguided

of later accretions and to return them to

a

are

symptomatic of this preoccupation. But the very

difficulties

m achieving this

desired cohesion also drew attention to the fact

that there

is

fictitious purity

more

to style than a

mere repertory of forms. The Gothic

churches of the Victorian age stubbornly refuse to look medieval.

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

It

may be no

accident therefore that

le-Duc. whose

name

we has

find one of the greatest students of design, Viollet-

become

unjustly associated mereh' with radical

restoration of Gothic cathedrals, postulating this principle of a higlier unity

m the article on style he wrote for his Dictionnaire raisonne de Varchitecturejran^aise "1854—69).' In this article he

made

makes the very point which has so often been

'We cannot adopt

against his restorations:

We

because we are not Athenians. forebears because times have

marched on. All we can do

m

of the Greeks or of the medieval masters,

we must do what they did or

Instead IS

to

sa\'

What

do

that our

works

will have style

stvde.

He

'Whenever

a

saw such

form followed from the

ever\'

architects. In this sense stvle

population of

is

proceed

as

manner

to affect the

other words,

make

pastiche.

they proceeded, that

object the stvde shows itself

most ordinarv pot

But what

IS

without our seeking for

it.'

st)des as vast deductive

logical

systems in

principle adopted by the

central

kind of unsought emanation of forms'.

*a

artists

and craftsmen

the logical principles by which every

the

is

Greeks

^the

our medieval

wanted to demonstrate was the

X'^iollet-le-Duc, like Riegl,

cohesion of every great

which

at least

style of

penetrate to the true and natural principles to which they penetrated,

if we

and

the styde of

cannot recover the

form

are

thoroughly imbued by

from the purpose of the

derives

m all works issued from the hands of man, monument.'

to the exalted

this logical calculus

from

which could

tell

the Greek or the Gothic

craftsman on the grounds of first principles what form he should give to an ordinarv pot? Surelv the Cartesian tradition here plaved a trick on Viollet-le-

m making him extend the principle of deduction much further than logic

Duc

warrants.

It is

not hard to see that his assertion represents one of the many

attempts to rationalize the intuitive feeling that the various manifestations of

common

an age are not random, but exhibit a

Having frequentlv Hegelian versions,

I

character, a

Erwm

he was walking his dog

been

m

I

pamtmg

'yes'.

just

Only

remember

a as

it.

I

vividly

m the summer of 1951. He told me how puzzled he had by the expression 'Gothic pamtmg'.

be Gothic?

I

all this really exists?',

later I realized that

summoned my to

structures

spirits.

The

m

He

could

what sense

courage and asked, 'Do you

which he replied with an uncompromising

m his

lectures

committed himself to another attempt

governing

their

accompanied him on Cape Cod

understand the application to buildings or decoration, but could a

m

return to this elusive question once more,

Panofsky when

his student davs

think that

spirit.

criticized these rationalizations, particularly

feel reluctant to

but no discussion of stvle can possible evade conversation with

common

on

Gothic and Scholasticism

he had

to justif)' the Hegelian tradition

intuitive feeling that there

is

an

affinity

of

between the

of Gothic cathedrals and the philosophical system of the

The Psychology of Srj'Ies

Scholastics need not concern us here, but the reasons which

Panofsky to

set aside his initial

doubts

are surely relevant to the history

design. Reformulating Panofsky 's question, link

between a painting and

its

frame, or

we may ask whether there more

specifically

elements of a Gothic altar (Fig. 254), the shrine with

with their

reliefs

prompted

its

and painted panels and the architectural

of

exists a

between

all

the

sculptures, the wings detail

of its fretwork

setting.

To deny

this

coherence would be to

fly in

the face not only of Hegelianism^

but of the most cherished conviction of aesthetics, which postulates the 'organic unity'

And yet it is hard to see how this conviction What could we say to a sceptic who objects that

of works of art.

could be tested objectively.

our feeling of unity

is

simply due to the force of habit

?

We have so often seen

paintings of this style associated with Gothic shrines that the sight of one calls

face,

264

up the other — much

as the sight

some imaginative people even

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

of a

friend's hat

seeing a kind of

on

a

peg may

call

up

his

phantom head peeping

out under

it.

No

doubt, the sceptic might continue, this experience

of necessitv to

to the subjective conviction that the hat belongs

nobodv

to

and once

this conviction

settled

is

it

this

I

one and the same

might venture to

Panofsky's

call

mo\'ement of our

wrinkled brow,

is

automatic

experienced

mind

sets the

is

know

it

and

we

their habits

we may

m our physiognomic

than

mouth, the

—

all

extend this synoptic vision of '

facial expressions to their gestures, their gait,

including their choice of a hat, and

register a

momentary

If

must

attribute

The form

sceptic

a 'global'

we decide something it

some

to

much

the

which we adjust our

'out

is

only as a

of character' that we

external cause.

might grant that such intuitions

are

not wholly

fanciful.

We do

impression of our fellow humans which allows us to sense their

character and their likely actions

could hardly get on

m

a different matter,

possible

to be so

m

it is

an old friend turns up wearing

surprise, after

picture of his character to allow for this whimsical aberration. It last resort that

So

find the reading almost inescapable

We

nature of things that we can never be refuted. a strange hat

the

is

and any combination of

expressive,

to be mistaken.

our fellow humans from their their voice

the cool examination of

facial features, the smiling

as

seen

the task of deciphering their joint significance.

this achievement, that

even where we

m

even

sense of order

problem. For nowhere

mmd more m evidence

integrative capacit\' of our reactions. Ever\'

movements

first

The

mind.

spirit or

somewhat disturbing element

turns out to be a w^hat

is

m any

oi wavs.

as the 'expression' of

lead

man and

can be rationalized

The sceptic certainly has a case there; and his case can strengthened — as I have argued elsewhere — where various features are

number be

else,

mav

from the

life.

and reactions. Without some such faculty we

How far these feelings

are

open

to rational analysis

but the claims of graphology, which imply that

traces of handwriting to infer other character traits,

it is

cannot

be entirely dismissed.

At

this point, however, the sceptic

may

well

of the expressive character of handwriting pre-established context.

way

remind us that the assessment

only possible

the graphologist

may

a given writer modifies the traditional lettering

invented the script less rather

we

than more.

are judging, It is

tradition in the teaching

and

What

is

and

if he had, its

precisely because

assess the slight individual deviations

of styles may be

transfer implies a belief in

would permit us

illicit

traits.

on

a very firm

symptomatic

find

He

he has learnt.

diagnostic value

is

the

has not

might be

trace the causative chain

and learning of writing that

whole coherent system of character to the study

we can

withm

we may be

of

able to plot

which we find symptomatic of

To

at least

transfer this

two counts:

some kind of collective

spirit or

to speak of races, classes or ages

m

a

method by analogy first

because such a

group

mmd which

the terms

we use

for

The Psychology of Styles

Hans Schonsperger, woodcut from

QVefta

opra da ogiii palte e un ibro don 1

Non

fu

pm

Dil kalendario

^Con 'villi

gran

cbe

:

facilita

Reproduced

numeroaureo etum (egni fuoro dil gran polodaogni lai :

Quando ti

lole

In

un

fai a

e liina eclipfi

le rece a fto

inftanci tu

Qiial

:

Alphabets and

lanno

;

giorno

fai

:

(la

(^952)

;

tempo

Cbetucri ponti Ion daftrologia

;

e

256

me\e

:

Title page by Erhard

.

loannede monrc regioquello lexe Coglier cal frurco acio non graue ha :

In

bvcue cernpo: e con pocbi penexe

Cbi cemccoul Scampa

inrtu.

no mi

I

Son qui da balTo di

imprefTon

i

.

4.

ra-

vBernaidus pictor de Pctrusloflein

individuals, secondly because the styles a

number of reasons

entirely

the clearcut context which

Even so the history of

may

from the lush form of

symptomatic of everything It

is

almost inescapable.

inferring the

a scroll (Fig. 244).

is

We may

m

art

and

society? If

it is

grant that the

not, at

it

be

what point

script to define this question.

There

between Gothic script and Gothic ornament

we can appreciate why Renaissance humanists changed over

forms of Carolingian minuscules, which they described

which was adopted by

is

(Fig.

to the

as alVantica

and

their printers (Fig. 256; see also below, pp. 420—4).

But

there also a special Gothic mentality behind Gothic lettering?

scribe

We

moral decay of

not an isolated phenomenon, but must

need not go further than

255), just as

is

else

m

treat

be prudent to stop analogizing?

certainly a formal affinity

clear

vary for

We lack

arts

shows that the temptation to

'graphologist'

change in the form of the scroll

We

may

their expressive force.

graphology.

art criticism

remember how Ruskm turned

would

Erhardus ratdolt de Augufia

changes as symptoms of changing spirits

stylistic

the age

justify

Auguda

deLangencen

and forms of visual

unconnected with

Reproduced op.

colon

Venetijs.

'

Ratdolt (Venice, 1476). .

fpexe

di

rofli

of the period have to learn and practise

can trace the evolution in a secular process

?

this

Does

Did not any

kind of script, of which we it

make

sense, therefore, to

diagnose the spikiness of Gothic shapes by the same standards we might

adopt when seeing such spiky forms

m a contemporary hand?

J Heinrich Wdlfflin

None of

the great historians of art expended

question than Heinrich Wolfflin. qualities

266

A

more energy on

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

this type

of

master in conveying the physiognomic

of forms and of styles, Wolfflin loved to

Ornaments

cbexoro.

qual liora

fai

in E. Lehner,

i

Delcnpci

Qiiance rerre

first

(Augsburg, 1496).

cratta cole afai

ma gran buoro

:

the

German law book

preciofn ge.iima mai

exercise his skill.

But unlike

cit.

in E. Lehner,

some of his

he was well aware of the sceptic looking

less critical successors,

Throughout

over his shoulder.

conscience. This inner conflict

his life he

was a physiognomist with an uneasy

apparent even in his

is

first

book,

published in 1888, thirteen years before Riegl's

Baroque,

famous chapter on the causes of change

in style

Renaissance and

Kunstindustrie.

Its

opens with a confrontation

between two theories then current; one, the psychological hypothesis of a

German

Adolf Goller, who regarded the sequence of forms from the

architect

Renaissance to Baroque

of blunted

as a result

sensitivity,

of the need for

stronger stimulation resulting from visual boredom; the opposing theory 257. ^-5^

m Wolfflin's day saw style as an 'expression of the age'. We are once

prevalent

Gothic and Renaissance shoes [E. \'iollet-Ie-Duc,

Dictionnam du Mobilier Franfais,

more faced with and

the duality between a diachronic or sequential explanation

Wolfflm was

a synchronic or holistic one.

critical

of the Hegelian type of

1858—75)

holism, which lumps together feudalism, scholasticism, spiritualism

of the Gothic

'expressions'

modicum

of

ingenuity

manifestations. are at

all

up with

age.

He knew

to

find

What we must ask,

little

is

what

architecture,

is

dancing inwardly.

The

lean vertical shaft

much

may make

muscles, the spreading horizontal shape will is

body

in this

is ...

everything

a

is

is

and

thin.

Gothic deportment, with

to

music by

us tense and stretch our

us feel relaxed and calm. It

its

tense muscles and precise movements; is

no

relaxation,

no flabbmess,

m the most explicit fashion. The Gothic nose

as

it

itself

m energy. Figures are slim and

completely

were to be on tip-toe.

The

extended, and

m

become loosened and

liberated

pervaded by vigour, both

movement and

calm.

its static

The most immediate formal movement

is

different

way of stepping;

point; the other

is

is

which the hard frozen forms

expression of a chosen

by means of costume.

257] with a Renaissance one

all

m

its

form of deportment and

We have only to compare a Gothic shoe [Fig.

[Fig. 258] to see that

the one

The

Renaissance, by contrast, evolves the

expression of a present state of well-being

and

a

fine

is

Every massive shape, everything broad and calm has disappeared.

body sublimates appear

end of the

at the

we respond

of

a theory

style."'

sharp and precisely pointed, there

expressed everywhere

will

make

is

reaction that Wolfflin seeks to locate the mediating factor

between various aspects of the Gothic

There

as

of an age

here that he comes

which

empathy. According to this view, which enjoyed a great vogue nineteenth century, we respond to shapes

a

disparate

these

characteristics

m a visual form. It

physiognomic theory of

etc. as

more was needed than

between

affinities

he argues,

capable of being expressed his

that

is

each conveys a completely

narrow and elongated and ends

m

a

long

broad and comfortable and treads the ground with quiet

assurance.

The Psychology of Styles

267

This masterly characterization has become pages

it is

followed by qualifications.

of technical explanations style

is

in the history

always a mirror of

its

ceased to be responsive to the finds an 'outlet'

He

a locus

classicus,

of architecture, nor does he think that

time. Sometimes, for instance, architecture has

moods of an

age,

whose formal

sensibility then

m the decorative arts.

Wolfilm never resolved the contradiction between approach to

his formalistic

but in Wolfflin's

does not intend to deny the validity

style.

His

Principles of

his

physiognomic and

Art History

establishing identifiable categories for the description

aims

still

of the same

transformation he had discussed in Renaissance and Baroque." But

now

at

stylistic

he

less

is

concerned with their expressive character than with basic organizational principles. seeing'

Wolfilm

likes to

which accompany

speak in this context of contrasting 'modes of

do not explain) the

(if they

m

shift

artistic styles

from hard-edged to soft-edged, from closed form to open form. His approach here has

much

m common with Riegl's but less unitary, less deterministic. moved m 1933 to publish an essay entitled Revision to clarify his it is

Even so he

felt

position."

The

diagnostic tools he had sharpened in his

meanwhile become vulgarized and sensationalized Worringer and of Oswald Spengler, 'Renaissance

Man' had become

the small

and

m

development of

Italian painting

seems to him a case in this evolution

resulting in

268

its

m point.

'It

from the Early

would be absurd

corresponds to

a

distinctive

own kind of art.' He warns

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

to the

Man

of

and

place. Wolfflin

we must not overdo

the history of painting which exhibit their

book had

writings

of 'Gothic

com of the market

evidently wished to call a halt. Surely, he says, are phases

talk

first

the

in

own

this.

There

logic.

The

High Renaissance

to postulate that every step

nuance of

his readers

"classic

not to expect too

man",

much

z6o

German

wardrobe,

f.1500.

Bayerisches

Nationalmuseum,

Munich

and not to demand an exact general history of the

parallel

human

spirit. It

troubled by certain over-statements

book Die Kunst

sequel, the

between the 'history of looks as

if his

seeing'

and the

conscience was not only

m the Principles, but quite especially by its

der Renaissance in Italien

(rather misleadingly translated as 'The Sense of

und

das Deutsche Formgefuhl

Form

in Art').

For here

Wolfflin had shown himself more responsive to the intellectual currents of

and had exercised

the time

of

his interpretative skill in the elaboration

national physiognomies, contrasting the classic lucidity of Italian Renaissance creations (Fig. 259) with the intricate,

of German difficulty

art Fig. 260).

What had

dynamic and

driven

him

of assuming that mentalities changed

these doubts led

him

to the even

irregular shapes beloved

to this investigation was the as rapidly as

did

more dubious assumption of a

styles.

But

racial theory.'^

We have become too much used to identifying the history of art with a sequence of closed

stylistic

something

systems, allowing the idea to slip in that every style originates

entirely new.

A moment's reflection suffices, however, to realize that m

the various styles prevalent in a country there remains

common

to

them

all

which stems from the

soil,

from the

still

one element

m

race, so that the Italian

The Psychology of Styles

269

26l

^81

Lucas Cranach, and Donor,

St Valentine

f.1503.

Akademie der Bildenden Kiinste,

Vienna

262

Wolf Huber, pen drawing,

f.1520.

Gortingen

University

263

Martin Schongauer, Gothic ornamental 15th

century. British

Museum,

London

Baroque, for instance, does not only differ from the Italian Renaissance but also resembles

it,

since behind

which only changes

both

styles there

remains Italian Man,

him from

we can examine

elaboration of this philosophy, and so parti pris.

Maybe one should

is

me

his

further

comparisons

even be grateful for the fact that the

though no reader

sceptic did not prevent the exercise altogether. For

suspect

type

slowly.

Mercifully the sceptic and the humanist in Wolfflin kept

without

as a racial

to be neutral in this matter,

my scepticism,

sometimes troubled by an uneasy conscience.

No

like Wolfflin's

will

holism,

student of decorative art

can deny that some of Wolfflin's confrontations are persuasive. Mis contrast

between an less telling

Italian Renaissance chest

than

The notion of

is

and

a

Gothic wardrobe

is

certainly

no

the comparison between Gothic and Renaissance lettering.

an underlying sense of form which mediates between the

various visual arts need not be a mere figment of the imagination simply

because the explanations offered have proved so feeble.

all feel

sure that a

Rococo ornament would look out of place

m an ancient Egyptian temple or

a chinoiserie in a Renaissance church. It

is

decorative motifs which particular style. After

seem

all it

were seen

as visual

metaphors

ground of this comparison. certain aspects

a satisfying

game

to look for

to go together with other elements

of a

was the Greeks themselves who stressed that the

columns of their temples had something

270

We

No

in

(Fig. 187)

common and

doubt the same

it is

is

with

human

types; they

easy to understand the

true

of Gothic forms and

of Gothic sculpture and painting. To the Romantics the

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

leaf,

2nd half of the

-^4 Giotto, decorative panel

trom the .Axena Chapel. Padua,

1.1506.

265

\ermeer. detail from Icting

Ucman

A

standing at a

Virginal f.1670.

National

Gallen London ,

comparison of Gothic architecture with northern

and

It IS

forests

was a commonplace

easy to see the kinship between Cranach's crozier

Many trees on German

(Fig. 261)/^

sense of form as a Gothic

may

qualms, we

ornament

say that there

is

frame of the Gothic shrine and

and Cranach's

tree

drawings (Fig. 262) seem to obey the same (Fig. 263).

Remembering Panofsky's

indeed some its

real

early

coherence between the

figurative elements, the rich whirling

drapery of Gothic sculpture certainly goes well with the fretwork of the

crowning decoration. There the arts

is

preference for sinuous lines

even these principles?

when Art Nouveau was

where

are periods

formal coherence between

this

none more so than the period of Art Nouveau with

obtrusive,

Not

its

m painting and decoration. But how pervasive are buildings or furnishings produced m the years

all

followed these laws; on the contrary, even

among

the advanced designers of the period there were opponents such as

Adolf

who preached

Loos,

such

affinity

en vogue

a functionalism avant

la lettre.

Indeed, if the examples of

can be multiplied, so can the counter-examples.

Would we expect know

the decorative forms Giotto used in his frescoes (Fig. 264), if we did not them?'^

Would

the original frames of

fitting (Fig. 265)?

interiors

Maybe

What

Dutch

decorative feature

paintings strike us as visually

from Spanish seventeenth-century

could be set beside a Velazquez without a sense of strain? a

champion of Riegl's unitary

theories

would here object

that our

comparisons remained too close to the surface of the phenomena. If we dig

deep enough we may

However they may

still

find the

same

Kunstwollen manifested in

differ in aesthetic qualities

and

same pointer readings when examined along the tactile

make

and optic perception. But there

this postulate

we remember, was

status, they still

scale

are episodes in the history

mentioned by

of them.

show the

between the extremes of

of perceptual unity extremely doubtful.

actually

all

Riegl's predecessor

of art which

One of them,

as

Franz Wickhoff:

Victorian theory insisted on the need for a clear separation between the forms

The Psychology of Styles

271

of applied

and those of high

art

should not.

art.

The

decorator should

A flower on a wallpaper should be flat,

dimensional.

And

lest it is

suggested that this late example

an intellectual dogmatism alien to earlier periods, we cleavage

m

the early

stylize, the painter

a flower in a picture three-

may

Middle Ages, though here the

Romanesque painting tends

to be

flat,

is

the product of

point at a similar

roles

are

reversed.

emphasizing the plane and permitting

the figures to stand out as lucidly legible shapes. In the decorative borders,

however, the illusionistic devices of Hellenistic painting artists

enjoyed showing their

would not have done no longer offered by of

skills,

skill

m

narrative painting.

Whatever the reasons

certainly sacrificed wherever

is

on, as if the 266).'^'

They

public had not shared this pleasure, which was

so, if their

perceptual unity

live

these simple tricks (Fig.

sticks to old patterns while the other

for this division

one

transforms the models

craft tradition

m

a particular

direction.

^

Focillon

and

the 'Life

But do we need

of Forms'

this postulate

of uniformity for each

style

and period? The

need has certainly been denied not only by sceptics suspicious of generalizations arrive at

of

this kind,

some underlying

whose brief book allowing every

Vie des

law. I

Formes

medium and

all

but also by schools of art history anxious to

art

am

particularly thinking

made many form

its

own

of Henri

Focillon,'^

converts to a stylistic pluralism,

pace of evolution.

All interpretations of stylistic movements', he writes, 'must take account of

272

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

two

essential facts: several styles can live at the

same time, even

m

adjoining or the same area; and styles do not develop

Though

different technical domains.*

which always

same way

the

in

Focillon acknowledged the tem.ptation

which governs the

to 'demonstrate an internal logic

exists

in closely

and pupils never to forget the contingent, the

forms', he asked his readers

experimental and the creative elements in the history of art. But what concerns us here

that he

is

It lies in

all

but exempted the study of ornament from

the essence of

intelligibility,

ornament

that

it

can be reduced to the purest forms of

and that geometrical reasoning can be applied without hindrance

to an analysis of its constituent relationships

and

assimilate style to stylistics

and demonstrably

at

work

In such a field

...

may

differ in

speed and

phases which a style normally undergoes in

called 'Experimental', 'Classic'

of

Gothic.

The parallelism

he described the

the West,

not is

illicit

to

forcefully

inside the style— it always being understood, however,

and 'Baroque', and

is

it is

he found

clear that

of late Romanesque and

well brought out in the

final stages

purity."^

development Focillon

its

identical tendencies in the architectural decorations late

it is

which

to establish a logical process

that the temporal or regional sequences

The

this caution.

way

of both styles.

in which,

He

writes

m The Art

of twelfth-

century Romanesque:

By spreading

itself

with a lavishness which disregarded architectural discipline,

and by overrunning members

for

which

it

was

ill

adapted or whose function

obscured or enfeebled, the decoration escaped from the confined

it

to definite situations

and

definite frames ...

strict

A

it

regime which had

network of flickering

shadows, a scattering of excessively numerous and varied accents, compromise the balance and unity of the

And

this

on the Flamboyant

This new also

of

monumental block

instinct

which

.

.

.

style,

and shadow,

this

.

(Fig. 267)."'

the 'Gothic Baroque':

assailed the

undermined the strength and

light

.' .

fundamental principles of the structure,

stability

of external masses

.

.

.

This stippling

undulating movement of the forms, these flames of

stone are the most prominent features of the glistening cloak, an optical illusionism which conceals the annihilated masses (Fig. 268).

Focillon,

of course,

dominant medieval a cyclical theory in

is

aware of this affinity between the

styles,

which

and broaches the like

possibility

comes to borrow from

final stages

of the two

of a deliberate

like.

What

is

revival,

even more

The Psychology of Styles

inrercsrinor

kmslup luMwccn

(lir

is

his description

of

styles he

considered

degenerate and those ct^ndeninal ions of similar developments we found

and

NidiiMiis

Cathedral

masterpieces clleci

.111

-^^o)

O'^i-

condemnation

ol

.

.

.

As an optical

orandcur and statues

rhe

or

He

illusion,

lu\ur\'.

charaeten/at ion

loeillon's

conscionsh'

ol the 'C'jothic' style.

linials, halusti.ides,

eye

Indeed

X'asari.

in

nneonscionsly

calls

it

Milan

ol

echoes

Vasan's

masterpiece of

'the

in

false

all

Milan ('athedral successfully prt)duces

Init

the prolusion of gables, pinnacles,

and statuettes c.innot conceal from the practised

poverty of the architecture and the extreme mediocrity o(

the

technRjue.' It

IS

what extent Focillon here continues the tradition of hrench

strikincT to

mediex al studies largely inaugurated by F^rosper Merimee, witness the opening of Merimee's essay

on medieval

religious architecture in hrance pul-)lished as

early as 18^8:

Roman

Srud\ing the buildings erected between rhe Renais-sanee. as

if

one

will lind ih.U (he history ol every archilectiiral style

rheir progress

buildings gradually elegance and the

age

all

and decadence followed

become adorned;

the richness

as

a

its

greatest

which belong to the

as

V: Psychology and the Decomtivc Arts

il

i(

all

the the

being ahered,

one

[>relers

the

development. Soon, however, (he (endency to

of being accessories ornamentation

P-irt

wi(hou(

same,

lirs(,

rhey have acquired

style,

decorate, to enrich the original repertory exceeds the

74

is (lie

general law. Simple at

soon

has arrived at the perfection of that style or,

formulation, at

and rhar of rhe

era

becomes

bounds we have

(he principal aim.

"

set. hisie.id

269

Milan Cathedral, founded i?86

Given

this ancestn',

ver\- view's against

it is

not unexpected that Focillon's analysis

which Riegl had

ve2iczed so strongh-.

That

m

which he speaks derives from the academic theorv of art, based the criticism of rhetoric

m

antiquitv.

between ends and means, and the

become an end

in themselves

—

The conquest of means,

final displa\' all

of

virtuositv'

restates the

'inner logic'

of

turn on

its

the perfect

fit

m which means

these are features of the traditional

vocabulan' of criticism which mplied and justified that notion of progress

and decline which was so abhorrent

to

RiegL Moreo\'er,

m

scrutmizmg

Focillon's accounts,

we

features, the reliance

on shadows, the exuberance of texture, which Riegl had

shall find the

same emphasis on

certain decorative

placed into the centre of his analvsis of late antique art while refusing at the

same time to brand of scientific

J

'Purity

It is all

'

with the stigma of 'decadence

it

objectivitv',

.

He

did so

which had no room for such notions

name

in the

as decline.

and 'Decadence'

the

more

surprising to find that RiegFs mterpretation of late antique

decoration shows a remarkable affinitv with that of John Ruskm,

who would

The

chapter on

have abhorred the intrusion of science mto the studv of

'The

art.

Lamp of Power' in Ruskin's Seven Lamps of Architecture contains

appreciation of B\'zantme ornament ^which

Romanesque^

for

stressed.

alien

Vv-as

its

is

meant

a passionate

to include \^'hat

to

ancient Greek

art,

for the

Greek 'attention

concentrated on the one aim of readableness and clearness of accent

power of light these primal arrangements

left,

we

was diminished

call

Ruskm

masterh' exploration of light effects. This, as

.

.

.

u-as

what

in successive

The Psjrdwlogjr of Siyfcs

Hence

arose,

restrained

with

as

among

withm

the Byzantine architects, a system of ornament, entirely

the superficies of curvilinear masses,

unbroken gradation

was nevertheless cut into

Something

is,

as

on

a

details

dome

down

light fell

or column, while the illumined surface

of singular and most ingenious

of course, to be allowed for the

being easier to cut

on which the

less dexterity

intricacy.

of the workmen;

it

into a solid block, than to arrange the projecting

proportions of leaf on the Greek executed by the Byzantines with

capital:

skill

such leafy capitals are nevertheless

enough to show that

massive form was by no means compulsory, nor can contrary, while the arrangements of

line

are far

more

the Byzantine light and shade are as incontestably

I

their preference

think

it

unwise.

artful in the

Greek

of the

On

the

capital,

more grand and masculine

.

.

(Figs. 270, 271).

As so often

in his great

and enigmatic book, Ruskin

all

but drowns this

important observation in a hymnic praise of the power of nature and the beauty of light falling on clouds, mountains and

276

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arcs

trees, 'that

diffusion of

light for

Those

which the Byzantine ornaments were designed'.

had truer sympathy with what

builders

self-contemplating and self-contented Greek.

comparison; but there

is

a

comprehended nor ruled which could not bury

Itself

rest

power

in their

God made majestic,

know

I

barbarism

that they are barbaric in

power that neither

... a

but worked and wandered

itself,

than the

as

it

listed

.

.

.

and

m the expression or seizure of finite form. It could not

m acanthus leaves.

In a footnote added later to this passage, Ruskin withdrew his slighting

remark about the self-contented Greek.

by

his

own power

He

had evidently been carried awav

of advocacy, but this recantation only enhances the kinship

of his account with that of Riegl and even Wolfflin. Every

own right. The Greek style skill; late

some

aims

antique art worked

m masses

style exists

m

its

and a line executed with

at legibility (Fig. 216)

for powerful visual effects, sacrificing

dexterity for a grander impression

of the whole.

Ruskm's account can dispense with the apparatus of perceptual psychology

and the recourse to evolutionist determinism and later style against the charge

denying that some a

skill

must have been

change was due to the introduction of the

idea that architecture view; but taken

hypothesis.

m

a

more

general

way

right

dome

must always be the leading

The tendency

can do so even without

lost in the transition

summary treatment of forms. Whether he was

this

yet successfully defend the

He

of corruption.

there

art

is

from

a linear to

m his suggestion that

a different matter.

may

The

have influenced his

may be some

truth

m

this

towards the grandiose and colossal which pervades

the development of late antique architecture and culminates in the Hagia

Sophia cannot be divorced from the changes

in decoration.

Nobody

today

The Psychology of Styles

273 Capitals

from the Temple

of Bacchus, Baalbek, Lebanon, 138—61 AD

274 Capital from S.

Apolhnare

m Classe,

Ravenna, 534—9

would want

to leave out

workforce needed to against the temples

of account the difference

in the organization

build the Erechtheion on the Acropolis

of Baalbek

(Fig. 273).

The

(Fig.

and

272) as

small band of Greek fifth-

century masons would necessarily work differently from the armies of

workmen needed

The

emperors.

on decorative

of the orientalized

for the vast architectural enterprises

gradual adoption of the mechanical

detail

must be

as

deep shadows

a perceptual bias for

exclude the other? Great art

drill

instead of the chisel

much connected with this development as with

is

But need one explanation

(Fig. 274).

great because

it is

resourceful. If the road

is

barred to one kind of perfection, the desire for excellence searches for a

compensating move, turning ignore

or

a

handicap into an unexpected advantage. To

deny the existence of such handicaps may well block our

understanding of stylistic change.

It is for this

the idea of skill by that of 'will' seems to to that process

me unhelpful.

of adaptation, that interplay between

which characterizes art.

reason that the replacement of

all

and exploration

successful developments in science, technology

To deny that representational

as perverse as to

can never do justice

It

sacrifice

skills

declined in late antiquity seems to

and

me

withhold admiration from the marvels of Ravenna or the

Lindisfarne Gospels.

Maybe

it is

precisely here that the study

of the relevant

issues.

One of them

of decorative

where the Kaleidoscope introduced us to the

effects

the conclusion that there are contrary pulls at things

can clarify some

art

engaged our attention

m

of patterning and led to

work

in

our perception of

and of patterns."" Repetition, we found, devalues the individual motif,

isolation enhances

it.

The

designer will accordingly tend to stylize the

repeated elements and animate the enhanced representation.

between Ruskin and

278

Chapter VI,

his

Part V; Psychology and the Decorative Arts

more orthodox opponent helped

The

dispute

to bring out this

AD

275,

276

John Ruskin and R. N.

Wornumi, designs from The Two Paths (iS^g)

opposition," which

is

equally relevant to our present concerns.

That

childish

scrawl he had produced as a challenge (Fig. 275) turned out to serve quite well as a It

repeated motif, where

individuality was scarcely noticeable (Fig. 276).

its

would have been wasteful and

drawing to function in

no more

Not

skill

pointless to produce a masterpiece of figure

this capacity, just as

than Ruskin used for

it

would be ludicrous

this figure in a narrative

that this illustration should be taken au pied de

consideration

is

to

employ

composition.

la lettre.

What

deserves

merely that compensatory character between decoration and

representation which the extreme example brings out.

The

isolation

and the

refinement of the Greek acanthus scroll are two sides of the same coin, as are the multiplication and the simplification of floral motifs in late antique art (Figs. 223, 224, 225).'^

Or

observe the delicacy of the Rose pillar (Fig. 245)

which so enchanted Wickhofi^. antique scrollwork, in which

It

could find no place

because of the pull of redundancies. the development of late Gothic

decadent.

The

We find a similar decline of naturalism m much

the

as

summary

of the architectural structure these motifs had

been meant to enhance rather than obscure.

This phase also seems to be subject of French of

the individual motif

ornament which FociUon characterized

reason for his charge here was not so

execution, as the disregard originally

m the rich design of late

we cannot concentrate on

common

to

many

styles."'

Discussing the same

Flamboyant decoration, the popular handbook on The

Styles

Ornament by Alexander Speltz says (in the English edition): 'The desire for

greater lightness

becoming now apparent, and the purity of design being

The Psychology of Styles

279

it

finally

happened

a fate

which

in the

neglected at the same time,

and masked the form, architecture.'"*'

one would

Ornament grew apace

that the

end overtook almost

There may be an element of overstatement

like to describe this typical

That subservience

development

which

to structure

is

serves to facilitate the grasp

here, but in any case

m more neutral terms.

so often identified with 'purity'

of the object

it

decorates.

We

have observed this

when

function in the extended application of the Classical orders, as

and

friezes turn

and

lintels.

instance of such explanatory articulation in

may

turn out to be the Gothic rib

and the other members of the Gothic repertory. At any

rate there

of thought which denies the functional explanation of these

add to the

not necessarily

but

in

is

stability

it

features formerly

of

a vault, nor, so

thought of as purely structural.

and

at least

ways. Articulation

force'

it

Ribs

features."'

seems, do flymg

it

in the case

What was

of the orders?

It is

remember

demands

the

homely adage

it

case,

its

then that led to

hard to

such a question permits an unambiguous answer, but here,

discontinuity,

a school

has brought into relief the articulating function of certain

the loss of purity here

we can

is

of an old orthodoxy overstates

likely that this denial

doing so

instance,

pilasters

an otherwise amorphous wall into the semblance of supports

The most important

the whole history of architecture, however,

do

of

m our terms, to the use of 'explanatory articulation'. Ornament

corresponds,

buttresses. It

all styles

that

know whether

as in the

you

can't

previous

have

presupposes a paucity of accents enhanced by that

we have observed

it

both

comes from

that 'magnet for the eye' that

'field

of

m this context. The multiplication of accents and the

complications of design which lead to enrichment and profusion cannot but detach the decoration from the structure and set up a

does not

mean

between those

that, as

This

with representation, a balance can never be struck

conflicting

demands — on the

masterpieces precisely where we it IS

rival attraction.

feel that this difficult feat

likely that the difficulty will increase

be handled and reconciled, and

we speak of

contrary,

has succeeded. But

with the complexity of elements to statement

it

helps

to justify not only the idea of decline, but also the conviction that styles

come

to an

if this general

end when these developments have run

is

acceptable,

their course

and can go no

further.

There

is

no intention of offering

to the dynamics of stylistic change. ideas

which

are implicit in the

these remarks as an original contribution

They

are

no more than reformulations of

whole conception of

with which most historians of design have operated. the future to turn this loose analysis.

o I

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

metaphor into

a 'logical It

development'

should be the task of

a serviceable tool

of

historical

6 The Lc^ic cf Sititaticiis

The

m

step

first

such an anah-sis would consist of

must acknowledge

who

that

it is

are the subject of historv. rather than the collectives of nations, ages, or

we must

sr\des, vet

also recognize the limits of the individual

of co-operative action existence

which

m

Looking

at

any

and over time,

societ\'

final

for

speak of evolution.

entitles us to

human

bv short-lived and weak

built

m\-th.

tree

first

child

and made

if

it is

The

beings, but

and the strength

this aspect

of human

coral reef of culture was

its

growth

not a

a fact,

is

achievement we can trace the contributions of

individuals and understand both their greatness

The

We

a clearing operation.

individual people, craftsmen, designers, patrons,

there ever was such a child)

and

who

their inevitable limits.

from

cut a twig

a

willow

mav

have been a genius, but however great we

a whistle ma\'

imagine him to have been, he could not have evolved the complex instrument

of the organ and written Bach's organ fugues single-handed and within the span of

a

human

life.

We have

a right to sav that

both the instrument and the

music evolved step bv step from small beginnings, mavbe from the whistle the pan-pipe.

Whether we

logical onlv

is

m

call this a logical

development

is

the sense in which K. R. Popper speaks of the

situations,"' the course

of action

a rational being

via

another matter. log^ic

The

historian of the arts

if we

can speak of such aims

of

a logical evolution

is

m

is

given, the choice of

a less

means can be

comfortable situation.

of

rational.

The aims of art —

— ma\' shift, and what we take to be the end-pomt mav onlv look this wav bv hindsight. The piping

shepherd had no thought of church organs, and Bach's fugues would have

him

of

m pursuit of a

would choose

particular aim. This approach ofi:ers a powerful tool for anv historian

technologv, for where the aim

It

left

cold.

It IS

important to face the

art differs radically

show 'whv

tried to

from

fact that

m

this respect the historv of figurative

that of decorative design. In Art and

art has a historv'.

I

have

lUusiivi I

gave psychological reasons for the fact

that the rendering of nature cannot be achieved by any untutored individual,

however

gifted,

without the support of a tradition.

I

found the reasons

psAxhology of perception, which explains why we cannot simply

what we

see

and have to resort to methods of

trial

and error

m the

'transcribe'

slow

in the

process of 'making and matching', 'schema and correction'. Given the aim of creating a convincing picture

aim,

m

its

turn,

of realit\;

this

is

the

way the

must depend on the function assigned

arts will 'evolve'; the

particular culture such as that of ancient Greece. It should be clear even this brief recapitulation wh\- the loq^ic of situations

ma

to the visual arts

cannot yield

from

a similar

clear-cut hypothesis for the decorative arts.

Both the aims and the means

more

altogether, for

difi:use.

Even so we need not

give

up

we have seen

The

Ps\-cholog\'

are

that

of Styles

m

here, as

against

the case of pictorial styles, certain facts have been established

which we can

One of them

test the tool

of situational

logic.

was the subject of the preceding chapter (see above,

m the millennial

pp. 223—55): the tenacity of decorative traditions exemplified

m

history of Western architecture and

traced

Riegls

in

What

Stiljmgen.

the evolutions of the plant motifs

confirm

observations

these

is

the

psychological fact that designers will rather modify an existing motif than

from

invent one

The

scratch.

both psychological and

and those which

book on

as

radical innovation are

original

minds

is

small

be told by the public to stick to established

George Kubler,

The Shape of Time: 'The

very difficult tour de

way of a

The number of truly

exist are apt to

Hence,

traditions

difficulties in the

social.

m his thoughtful

Focillon's disciple, says

human

situation admits invention only as a

force.''"

Nothing comes out of nothing. The

no more

great ornamental styles could

have been the invention of one man, however inspired, than could the organ

come

fugue. Anglo-Irish ornament, the arabesque or the rocaille

such typical 'end-products' of a long sequence of what Kubler solutions'.

We

have seen

why

it is

much

mind

to

easier to modify, enrich or reduce a

given complex configuration than to construct one

formal sequences resemble the game of

m

cat's cradle,

a void.

Hence

that the

Though we cannot trace

these evolutions in detail,

development must have taken

form, such

as the interlace

from

starting point

its

if

kind which are most readily described

we assume

that

we

observed sequence

as 'logical',

It is

m

situation to say that

teleological language,

it is

rational for

we have

would be

different terms. It

human

with a logic of

beings to want to advance in the

other for the sake of attention, prestige and fame. profit the historian

of such basic

The

settled

on one

sequences of

to account for the

in accord

permitted but encouraged. Thus patrons and craftsmen

Fair'.'"

complex

but they are logical only

pecking order. In most societies some kind of competition

analysis

are satisfied

a less

maximal complexity was the aim from the very beginning. If

we shrink from such

what

them an

of late antique mosaics, and reached the end points

through the collective efforts of generations of craftsmen. this

certain

with every craftsman

taking over the threads from the hands of his predecessor and giving extra twist.

as

calls 'linked

of fashions, trends and

situations,

what

point to remember here particular feature, be

it

is

I

I

is

not only

vie to 'outdo'

each

have discussed elsewhere

styles

may

derive

from the

have called 'The Logic of Vanity

merely that once competition has

expenditure,

pomp

or refinement,

it lies

within the logic of the situation that this line will be followed as long as the

game

is

worth the candle. If intricacy becomes

that artists

and patrons

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

will

a 'critical issue',

want to 'overtop' each

other.

it is

in intricacy

Given the right

conditions and the right craftsmen, the competition

extremes call it

The for

as the

Book of Kells

(Fig. 277). Is

in

such

only hindsight which makes us

an extreme? idea that a style

becomes 'exhausted' must always be somewhat

how should we know what

discovered style

it

may culminate

fresh possibilities a genius

m a given repertory of forms? It

of interlace came to an end

at the

is

such dramatic termination of the arabesque.

something of the zest and routine;

maybe

well to

time of the

To be

vitality of earlier

might

remember

that,

Book of Kells, sure

it

may

suspect,

still

have

while the

there

is

be argued that

periods was later lost

m

mere

the spirit of competition declined after driving the style to

perfection, but having reached this plateau of excellence,

into a splendid convention

which

is still

practised

it

no

may

its

have settled

m the East.

Everything speaks against the existence of all-pervasive laws which would

permit us to explain any such development

Even those sequences which appear

as

an inevitable sequence of events.

to be following an internal logic can be

The Psychology of Styles

283

shown not

to be fully determined.

The

course of Gothic decoration, the

phase of which was so brilliantly described by Focillon,

is

last

a case in point. In

278

Chapel of Henry VII, Westminster Abbey,

England,

known

as is well

as the

known, the Decorated Style was succeeded by what

is

London, 1503—19

Perpendicular Style. Focillon speaks of *the revenge of the 279

straight line, supplanting, with all

styles their

names

explanation.

He

m the

early

rigidity

and

purity, the capricious

Thomas Rickman, who gave nineteenth century, has a more down to

of curve and counter

sinuosities

its

curve*."

these

Example of the Perpendicular T.

earth

writes that the Decorated Style *was very difficult to execute,

Discriminate

its

requiring

combined, and

flowing lines where straight ones

at the close

From

Attempt

the Styles

Architecture in

(London,

from

style.

Rickman, An

of

EngLind

1836)

were more easily

of the fourteenth century' (m

fact before its

280

Mouldings, Divinity

middle) 'we find these flowing

lines

giving

way

to

horizontal ones, the use of which continued to increase,

almost lost

perpendicular and the arches were

till

m a continued series of panels, which, at length, in one building —

the chapel of Henry

VII

(Fig. 278)

— covered completely both the

outside and

mside; and the eye, fatigued by the constant repetition of small parts, sought

vam

in

for the

bold grandeur of design which had been so nobly conspicuous

in the preceding style' (Fig. 279).''

If

we

are to believe the writer

and other

critics,

there was

decadence, whichever way the Gothic designer turned.

we

justify this universal feeling in

can, at least

up

to a point.

mere

bias or can

terms of the logic of situations?

Maybe we

Is this

We have seen that this criticism attaches to styles in

which the play of forms acquires

a certain

autonomy, unconnected with

decorative purpose of serving as explanatory articulation.

how

It is

its

not hard to see

such emancipation can result from that very game of competition we

have been considering. As soon as the need to trump the quality

284

no escape from

becomes paramount,

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

all

rival in

one particular

other purposes are forgotten or at least

Schools, Oxford, c.i^^o

to

—

Not

neglected.

we have the example of music

all,

Up to

happened even to the

a point this

medium was

at

show how an

to

decline. After

form transcended

art

its

world of its own.

social setting to create a

a

m genuine

that such emancipation need result

hand

of ornament,

art

soon

at least as

as

to allow the craftsmen to exercise their ingenuity

divorced from any immediate purpose.

am

I

the flood of

referring to

engravings with ornamental inventions which were produced between the fifteenth

and the

late

eighteenth centuries. Ostensibly they are meant to serve

models and patterns, but few of them could be applied consistently

as

without modification and simplification. They are autonomous products of the

artist's creative

There

imagination.''

evidence to show that the spirit of 'outdoing' sometimes passed

is

from the patrons to the

Schools

a telling

is

know

Oxford, where we

at

instructed in fillets,

Employers had to

artists.

fear of bankruptcy. There

example

restrain their designers for visible in the Divinity

still

Thomas Elkyn was

that the master

1440 to dispense with the 'housings of images, casements and

and other frivolous and

predecessor Robert

from complex mouldings and

elaborations'

irrelevant

Winchcombe. As

we can

a result

still

We

m

more

—

recent

do not know whether Thomas Elkyn submitted

meekly or under protest, but evidence from

sometimes the

his

traceried panels to simpler forms (Fig. 280)

an episode for which there are any number of parallels universitv buildings.'^

by

initiated

see the transition

artists rather

later periods

than the patrons

game of 'one-upmanship'. Writing about

who

confirms that

it

was

were committed to the

the extension of his country seat,

which he had entrusted to Lucas von Hildebrandt, Count Harrach bursts out in his

correspondence: 'That accursed Jean Luca properly wallows in the

grandiose like

.

.

.

whenever

one possessed.

depends on

it.'''

It

Much

I

suggest an omission or an

cannot

be,

it

cannot be,

of the work discussed

economy Jean Luca

my honour and

m that

raves

reputation

correspondence

is lost,

but the Lower Belvedere, which Hildebrandt designed for Prince Eugene

about that period (Fig. 281) gives an idea of his ambition. There

something

in the frequent charge

was the architects

who seduced

they could not afford or

Once more

it

may be

at

may be

heard since the times of Ben Jonson that

their patrons to indulge in

it

spending sprees

justify.

in the 'logic

of situations' that

whether on the part of the patron or of the

artist

—

this

urge to

show off

could lead to short-cut

methods, cheaper materials, coarser craftsmanship, which invited the

stricture

of purists and accounts for the charge of decadence. Whether or not we share these misgivings, they are not entirely irrational.

Nor

is

dismiss altogether the explanation of 'aesthetic fatigue'

there any need to first

proposed by

The Psychology of Sn-Ies

28l

Lucas von Hildebrandt, the Hall of Mirrors,

Lower

Belvedere, Vienna,

f.1725

Adolf Goller;

it is

based on the undeniable psychological fact that the familiar

tends to register less than the unfamiliar, and that the public therefore

demands

m

ever stronger stimuli/^'

his Renaissance and Baroque

George Kubler. That been great

seem

styles

to have tired

well to

remember

demand

it

The theory was rejected by Heinrich Wolfflin

but

is

treated with

somewhat

cannot express a universal law

which changed very

little.

The

of their decorative repertory for in this context that

for novelty. Ritualistic art rests

where

on

is

greater respect by

obvious, for there have

ancient Egyptians a very

ritual

is

long time.

286

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

may

may be

concerned there

is

no

the strong desire for re-enactment

and preservation rather than for fresh stimulation. The opposite search for novel impressions,

It

do not

only arise

m

more

attitude, the

fluid situations where

competition establishes new hierarchies. Here

which Harold Rosenberg has aptly called caught in such a situation will look for

must

implicitly

compare what they

certainly are different degrees

may co-exist

attitudes

that where the

in

demand

inflation sets in.

There

Ruskin's moral

'the tradition

see with

society. It

of the new'. Those

which means that they

what they have seen here, ranging

from

a

before.

mild

of last year s model, and

would make

all

There

interest

of these

sense, however, to suggest

for stimulation outruns the capital

is

than in economics

less

one

the germs of that attitude

'originality',

of emphasis

in innovation to the impatient rejection

lie

of inventiveness

such a thing as the debasement of coinage in art no

—

and, as

comments on

I

had occasion to remark

Fig. 244, in neither case

m

discussing

can the fault be laid

at

the door of the individual.'^

Thus, while we must give up the search for the laws of history which could

we

explain every stylistic change,

are

entitled to watch out for sequences

still

m terms of the logic of situations.

and episodes which we can hope to explain For though his

account must restore to the individual

a non-deterministic

freedom of choice between various rational options,

this choice

artist

need not

random. The aims of competition on which attention has

therefore be

become focused

at

any particular

moment may

certainly influence his choice

of a novel modification.

The movements of Whether

who

fashion

the competition

is

show

in

game must follow

join in the

this selectivity in bizarre magnification.

high hats, short skirts or small waists, those suit

—

at least for a while, till the folly

reduces itself ad ahsurditm. There need be no such excess in design, but here, too,

we can observe trends and

directions in features which

while others are suppressed or neglected.

of the perceptual factors analysed

in terms 'repose'

and

identify the

'baroque'

'restlessness', 'lucid' first

and

with Wolfflin's

'optic'.

or

come

to the fore

How far can we identify these trends in

'blurred'?^*^

'classic'

Chapter V, factors such

The

or Riegl's

temptation 'tactile' as

But we must beware of overstatements.

can be clear and asymmetrical, indistinct but

flat.

What

is

as

great to

against their

A configuration

remains true

is

that

any one of these features can become dominant, a focus of interest and competition.

7 The

Rococo:

Mood and Movement

We certainly must not fall into the trap of reducing the artist's choice to a few alternatives. Style in art, like style in language,

preferences. It will

is

only where there

is

is

rather a matter of weighted

a choice that those

who aim at a plain style

go for the short word, whereas personalities manifesting predilections

favouring polysyllabic alternatives activate opposite selectivities. In practice

The Psychology of Styles

distinctions are less clear-cut than in this example. In judging a style a tendency. This, I believe,

is

one of the factors which account for the different

interpretations which have been the subject of this chapter.

tendency

There

'globally'

no

is

masterly

book

example of

made of the

this

origin

The Creation of the Rococo.

of

difhculty

tailor,

advancing with

down.

—

Fiske Kimball's

Where a student of Wolfflin might have man the product of the dancing ,

mmcmg steps and an air of frivolity, the

author shows us the result of his work

m

the archives of the French court,

analysing the contributions of individual designers

who

continued, developed

and modified the decorative schemes of their predecessors. trace precisely the

it

than the most detailed

a decorative style

conjured up for us the image of 'Rococo

master and the

We may discern a

without being able in any individual case to pin

better

investigation ever

we judge

We are enabled to

tendency towards asymmetrical designs which marks the

second generation of these masters, and learn that their source was not so

much the chinoiseries which came later into of an

earlier

date.

generalizations of yet, it

could

it

No

German

wonder

the

fashion, as individual experiments

author made

art historians.

His

short

shrift

of the

criticisms hit their mark,

be that somewhere he failed to see the

wood

for the trees?

and

Could

not be argued that the individual innovations introduced step by step have

something

Part

\':

m

common,

if

Psychology and the Decorative Arts

only a revulsion from the heavy grandeur of the

The

style?

earlier

Lepautre

delicate flatness

of Mansart's ornaments engraved by

m 1699 (Fig. 282) may be seen to move in the same direction as the

subsequent introduction of playful asymmetries by Mariette in 1735 (Fig. 283).

To be

sure,

am enough of a

I

sceptic not to attribute this tendency to a

we not

all-pervasive body-feeling, but are

entitled to speak

new

of such global

impressions as lightness and grace? Fiske Kimball was not unaware of this general quality.

He

monarch

the ageing

ait de la jeunesse melee

vous voudrez

.

.

.

dans

chose d changer, que ce

which

of subjects for the palace of a young

criticizes the choice

princess—'!/ me paroit qu'ily a quelque

jaut qu'ily

XIV m

twice quoted the famous minute by Louis

les

sujets sont trop serieux et qu'il

que Von Jem. Vous m'apporterez des dessins quand

Iljaut de Venjance repandue

partout'.'"'

Referring, as

does, to the

it

choice of subjects for paintings which were to have included such grave divinities as

Minerva and Juno, the King, with

everywhere',

may

his

demand

for 'childhood

only have insisted on the principle of decorum, the fitting

Why does

subject for the fitting place.

produce such resonance

it

notice the coincidence of its date, 1699, with the initiation of the It is

the theory of decorum itself which implies

of styles with emotive tones. For Vitruvius, robust and severe, Corinthian maidenly. and

Illusion

I

as

we

and demands

in us as

new

trend?

a correlation

recall (Fig. 209),

Doric was

have generalized this theory in Art

between formal and physiognomic

to explain the links

we

qualities,

drawing not on the theory of empathy, which was favoured by Wolfflin, but

on the

findings

which

I

of Charles

referred

m

talking plain nonsense

Osgood m

S.

Chapter

when we

his

They can

V"^"

book

attribute an overall

style.

Fashion writers would not have needed

they

mean when

we

are

not

physiognomic quality to

this assurance.

a

They know what

they announce that the coming collection will have a

feminine touch or an accent on loose global descriptions at

The Measurement of Meaning, to

reassure us at least that

by whatever means.

is

The

severity.

What is relevant to

our quest in these

that they characterize certain effects to be

unitary aim

schemes, of textures or of cuts

—

there

is

may

aimed

influence the choice of colour

no demonstrable

link

between these

various decisions except their desired end effect. It is

for this reason that

I

have declared myself a sceptic with an uneasy

conscience. For if there are such global aims

along different ways and described as

Formgefiihl

m

may

m

different media, the type still

of bias which Wolfflin

be definable in psychological terms. There

even hope of making progress in the solution of what first

which can be reached

styles

I

problem, the problem of why we can speak of Gothic painting.

that a painting by

Watteau aims

ornamental design of his

Gothic painting and

its

amhiente.

at a similar range

Maybe

contemporary

there

setting?

is

also

To be

is

have called Panofsky's

of

We all feel

feelings as does an

some

affinity

between a

sure, there are

no laws

The Psychology of Styles

imposing the same aim on any

no compulsion

for

to

all

out in a different direction and

may

he

not.

The

may

one point

the

m

artist

on the

insisting

sceptic

concessions to the collectivists. There taste for robust effects

Any

lines.

may

is

strike

— or else

role played

by

and opportunities.

particular

in

at a given time, just as there

another bandwagon rolling

start

sceptic remains right

individual temperaments, talents

On

working

artist

compete along the same

is

must not be tempted into

no need whatever

to

assume that

m art must be the symptom of a robust mind,

a

or that

conversely a bias for the light touch correlates with a lighthearted disposition.

There

are

any number of counter-examples which should dispose of these

facile conclusions. It

the Great

was the

who surrounded

Rococo decorations

austere, harsh

himself

(Fig. 284).

On

at

and

the other

Antoinette with her pastoral entertainments (Fig. 285),

one of the

first

rationalist Prussian Frederick

Potsdam with hand

who

it

the

most whimsical

was the

flighty

Marie

inhabited the Petit Trianon

buildings in France which

showed the influence of

neo-classicism. I

have argued elsewhere that this absence of correlations would have to be

expected

if

we replaced the Hegelian idea of a

concrete notion of movements.^'

who

find followers

spirit

Movements may be

among whom

a

of the age by the more started by individuals

strong sense of identity develops.

Sometimes they want to distinguish themselves from others

m

deportment and preferences. Sometimes they may even adopt

a style as their

their dress,

badge. I

2go

have suggested that for a time, at

Part V: Psychology and the Decorative Arts

least,

the Renaissance was such a

movement and

that a

to

could, but

Its ideals. It

many

a friend

fashion

may

buildmg it

alVautica

of the humanists

have

made

a prince

was thoroughly medieval.

It

could proclaim the patrons adherence

need not. Inertia or lack of funds may have kept

m

Gothic surroundings, conformism and

adopt the new

when and under what circumstances

adopted

as a

badge.

against the

Rococo

We a

We have

of Its arguments from the general

On

his

seen

own showing,

its

part

of England,

m discrediting

outlook

that the

m the first chapter^' that

ideals

as Fiske

a fashion

to

Rococo was

however, the reaction it

drew some

of the Enlightenment, the worship of

Nature, the cult of Reason and the authority of the ancients. cultural prestige

his

of forms, was

a stvle, a family

must agree with Fiske Kimball

movement.

was.

though

would be the task of a future sociology of art

establish

not associated with

style even

Kimball has rightly

which had never been

The political and

stressed, also played

fully

accepted by the

British.

These and has not led

similar facts

me

to

may

abandon

suffice to explain

my

why my troubled

sceptical convictions.

factum, by a process of hindsight, that

styles

can

come

Maybe

the

nineteenth

Renaissance

as

century used the historical styles

symbols to proclaim

political

it is

only

post

to express the spirit of

an age— an age which has acquired the quality of a myth.^' that

conscience

It

was

m

this

way

of Gothic and

and ideological

allegiances. A.

The

Ps\-chology of Styles

W. Pugin

m his Contrasts or A Parallel between

articulated this opposition

Edifices of the Fourteenth

and Ffteenth Centuries and Similar Buildings of

(1836) (Fig. 286).

Henceforward the Gothic

Age of Faith and

its

ideals.

style.

we must turn

The

the

Noble

Present

Day

was firmly identified with the

Churches and colleges were conventionally built in

of progress and secularism preferred the

that guise while the advocates

Renaissance

style

the

subject as such

to the general role

lies

beyond the scope of this book, but

of symbolic meaning

m design.

Editors Postscript In

The Sense of Order

chapterfrom

this

of view. Riegl, once more,

o_ffers

range of artefacts what

the logic

is

Gombrich examines

it

may

a starting point: iffamily resemblances

governing

their connection?

relationshipsJor example, doesn't characterize just the one

antiquity;

stylefrom the spectator's point

be seen across a

Play with figure and ground

moment of artistic development

the indissoluble

unity of stylistic development.

IfGombrich's theory of physiognomic perception had explained historians' willingness

SuperMinds behind styles.

Our

in late

can befound scattered across a variety of styles. This would upset Riegl's theory of

the styles

of the past,

it

recognition of a friend depends

could also be used

upon

to

to find

explain the perceived unity of

the perceived unity

of his appearance, and the

acquisition of a beard or the loss of a favourite hat swiftly becomes incorporated in one's image

of the person. Perception'

In

'Art

this chapter,

articles

ic)Z

and

For Gombrich's ideas on physiognomic perception

and papers

and

Scholarship', reprinted in

Gombrich

Meditations on a

also introduces the theme of 'purity

are: 'Visual

Pare V: Psychology and the Decorative Arcs

Metaphors of Value

see

in

and

'On Physiognomic

Hobby

Horse.

decadence'. Associated

Art' and 'Psychoanalysis and

the

History

of Art]

in

Meditations on

Hobby

a

reprinted in this volume (pp. 2.gj—^Jo),

Also related in

'Norm and Form: The

are:

Horse;

Listener

his

articles

and 'The Logic of Vanity Fair]

in

on primitivism,

Ideals

Renaissance Ideals' and 'Mannerism: The Historiography background] both in

Form. Which

leads into the topic of 'style]

for which

Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (New

of Life (The Reynolds Lecture,

Styles

situation

see,

besides the articles

the

Revival of Letters

'Style' in

the

ig68) and Styles of Art and

York,

'style' seen

through the logic of the

to the

Giulio Romano's Palazzo del Te (below, pp.

Reform of

the

Arts (below, pp. /fll—^j),

Search of Cultural History', 'The Leaven of Criticism in Renaissance Art: Texts in

The

Heritage of Apelles and

'Patrons

and Painters

of Taste' and 'A Theory of Modern Art' in Reflections

A

classic essay

Today style

is

on style

Riegl,

see

Meyer

And

(Chicago, 19 J,)j

Paul Frankl,

Eight Centuries For

is

The

in

Baroque

Italy',

and Episodes'

'The Whirligig

on the History of Art.

Schapiro's 'Style' in A. L.

Kroeber (ed.f

Anthropology

a fascinating book tracking the art historiography of the Gothic

(Princeton, ig6o), on which see

Olin,

Norm and Form,

Forms of Representation

(Pennsylvania, l^^i), and for Worringer see Neil

Invisible Cathedrals:

'In

Gothic: Literary Sources and Interpretations through

now Margaret

Theory of Art

Norm and

International

in thefootnotes to this extract, the essays generally in

Norm and Form^ Architecture and Rhetoric in /foi—io), From

see:

London, tggif For

mentioned

and Idols.

of Art History and their Origins

Stylistic Categories

The

Expressionist Art History of

p.

88.

in Alois Riegls

H. Donahue

(ed.),

Wilhelm Worringer

(Pennsylvania, l^^j).

The Psychology of Styles

The Primitive and Four

talks broadcast

BBC Radio

^

:^

S

and

Listener.

February', pp. 242—5:

12 Februar\-. pp. I

on

in 1979.

published in The

Value in Art

its

March, pp.

279—Si; 14:

March, pp. 547-50

I

The Dread of Corruption

The

m

idea of the 'primitive'

art or

m

civdization has

problematic to this century since we have lost the faith

our

own

culture.

position of safety

and

become

m the

mcreasing;h^

superiority of

Art historians, m particular, have long withdrawn to a m these matters. They consider more scientific to classify' it

label the heritage

of the past without pronouncing judgement. But

neither artists nor art collectors have shared this detached attitude.

sophisticated they were, the

This bias

is

more they preferred

The more

the values of primitive

usually connected with the birth of the

art.

modern movement in the

turbulent years before the First

World War, when Pablo

threw overboard

and refinement which had informed

all

the

skill

Picasso suddenly his

287 Jacob Epstein. Cursed

Day Whereon

1913— 14. Plaster

'blue' period. It

was

m

1907 that he

first

took to carving

crude images on the model of primitive idols and started on a voyage of

and wood,

painted red. Location

unknown, probably destro\ed

he the

I was Bern,

masterpieces of the

exploration to the distant shores of tribal

art.

He was

followed as early

or 1913 by Jacob Epstein, whose expressive carving, Cursed he

the

Day

as 1912

Whereon I was

Born (Fig. 287), so closeK' resembles the conventions of the African sculpture

he collected and admired, though, life

to display his virtuositv

It is

like Picasso,

he continued throughout his

m portraits and images of a naturalistic idiom.

precisely the point that

many of

the possessors of supreme formal

mastery have been most attracted by such voyages in space and time. Think of

Henry Moore, whose keen awareness

of tradition has

prompted him

to grope

m his works for the aura of mystery that surrounds the strange and weathered idols

of a

lost world.

The

Primitive and

its

Value

m Art

Meanwhile, the discovery of naive painters such

Douanier Rousseau

as the

led to a search for talents outside the formal disciplines of the art school; and,

following that quest, the Hungarian photographer, Brassai, recorded the

of the primitive

traces

in the

rude

on

graffiti

the walls of our big

while

cities,

the painter Dubuffet adopted their idiom in his highly priced paintings.

Needless to

only means that Dubulfet

say, this

purveyor of images than, chocolate-boxes,

a

is

much more

sophisticated

the designers of alluring picture postcards or

say,

with their smiling goldilocks

or

mouthwatering

their

cherries.

Indeed, this awareness of the essentially unprimitive nature of esoteric

some

primitivism in art has worried

who want

from the

art to escape

and

artists

of the

critics

world of the

esoteric

elite

contact with the images which the masses appear to prefer. the

movement

I

called 'pop

of the comic

folk art

hope

art',

which went

strip or the

in search

issues. It so

wanting to

them

raise

theoretical

attention

I

framework

happens that

again.

development of pictorial

I

Art and

have these

among my skills to

urban

in the

you that we

are in

need

have tried in two books to describe the

It

Illusion.

and then

friends

do with

and

art?

in a

more

was almost inevitable that the

paid in these books to representational

a certain uneasiness

thinking of

have also a personal reason for

I

skills

of space, of light and shade, of the human body or the

What

of models

styles, first in The Story of Art,

m

and find fresh

am

I

hamburger stand.

that even these few examples have convinced

of clarifying these

few decades

last

such

as the

rendering

facial expression

caused

critics.

Were

those picture postcards and

chocolate-boxes the crowning achievements towards which the centuries had

been driving? skill,

Of course

they were not. Technical

can be used or abused. But for this very reason,

paradox that for the historian,

box

skill

IS

from the

one of the most significant products of our

role as a catalyst. I believe that

by art

as distinct

in

more

we cannot hope

recent times if we

fail

critic

m

art, like

any other

would venture the

I

of art, the chocolate-

age, precisely

because of its

to understand the course taken

to appreciate the holy terror of what was

called chocolate-boxy, kitsch or saccharine.

The

desire to get

away from the

cheap, the tainted, the corrupt has been one of the prime motive forces artistic

developments, and not only

led to the adoption

of the term

m this century. And

'primitive' as a term,

it

was

of

this desire that

not of condescension,

but of admiration.

We know the place was launched

as a

1797 in the atelier

and the

year,

word of praise

almost the day, when the word 'primitive'

in the

world of art.'

It

happened

in Paris in

of Jacques-Louis David. David's pupil, Delecluze, who was

present, vividly described

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

many years

later

how his

master

at that

time was

full

288 Jacque-Louis David,

of ideas earlier

traces

for his

new

painting of The Intervention of the Sabine Women (Fig. 288). His

works, such as the Brutus of 1789, he confessed to his pupils, had

still

of Roman influence, but now he wanted to model himself exclusively on

the purity of Greek

art.

He must have raised the hopes of his followers too high, for when the pupils were

at last

allowed to see the painting their hearts sank.

had studied the

of Greek vases to greater

latest archaeological publications

purpose than their busy master. They granted that but, to quote Delecluze, 'You find in

nothing "primitive"* mot,

—

it

Maybe some of them

his intentions were

no grandeur, no

that was at the time the

word

good,

simplicity, in short,

to conjure with,

le

grand

which had been applied to Greek vase paintings.

David's heretic pupils held a meeting and, in three dismissive words,

declared

him

to be 'Vanloo,

we hear

the

word

Pompadour, Rococo'.

'rococo', a

term of

fashion fostered by the meretricious way, the painter Carle Vanloo

Poor David! is

a draught

by

had been head of the be severe and

which asks for more. 'One

a generation

said

m

is

to go

the

first

much

time, too, that

auspices, by the

Academie. classical,

but primitivism

always somebody's reactionary', as

a different context.

who wanted

It is

and abuse for the frivolous

Pompadour under whose

He had tried so hard to

Clemenceau once

ridicule

David found himself outclassed

further in the direction of severity,

and who lumped him together with the very

style

which he had taught them

to regard as corrupt.

The

Primitive and

its

Value

in

Art

297

Delecluzc has

who became

rebel

us a

left

moving

literary portrait

of Maurice Quai, the young

the leader of the sect of Les Primitifs or Les Penseurs, but

who

was destmed to die before he ever completed any of the great works of which he dreamt. Dressed

Homer,

venerated

of them

primitif

Rococo'!

The

As

all.

him mannered,

flowing beard, Maurice Quai

Ossian, for Ossian was the most

Vanloo, Pompadour,

for Euripides, he was just

and

statues

really

reliefs.

Anything done

be burned.

Maurice combined an intense personal piety which

his radicalism,

have endeared the word 'primitive' to

him even more,

since the return to

primitive Christianity must have appealed to a young man who

from the Gospels when Christ blessed the

the story

of the

that his passionate rejection

down

the Louvre

had led

skill

stemmed from

children.

There

some

will be

we

more

stirrings

rise

who would

unable to share

a collection

of ancient

by the virtuoso pieces of Hellenistic critics

who

of sculpture would have found here only the

first

some

archaic torso.

The Greek

m which they saw the aim of art. m the rendering of the human figure exemplified in the

of mimesis, the imitation of nature

They saw

the progress

change from the rigid kouroi of the sixth century to the Polyclitus,

Lysippus

clear

burn

feel quite

Walking through

likely to pass

sculpture and to stop in front of

chronicled the

it is

his desire to

m other words, to lose its innocence.

Pompadour —

few art lovers today

are all

and

a conviction that the increase in technical

least of this reaction.

at

statuary,

arts after Phidias

Virtuosity had tempted art to adopt the

art to perdition.

seductive wiles of a

first

little

specially loved

important to see his revolt in an even wider perspective, for

It IS

was to

after Phidias

abominable and ignoble. The picture gallery

false, theatrical,

of the Louvre should

may

all,

only works of art Maurice Quai acknowledged were the earliest

Greek vase paintings,

With

Agamemnon, with long

as

the Bible and, above

and on to the grace and ease of

classical poise

of

and the naturalism of

Praxiteles

m the fourth century. Why do we experience a certain reluctance in

accepting their interpretation? Surely because

them

we have come

to be different.

and we would no more the outlines of the

to love the earlier phases

They stand

like

like to see

Mont Cervm.

should not want to quarrel.

It is

issues

of sculpture and painting

as

Part VI: Primicivism

and the Primicive

and would not want

panorama of history, to alter

good reason and one with which

when we

try to mobilize

I

arguments in

become aware of the complexities of these

classical antiquity,

to the ancients, the art or rhetoric,

2gS

It is a

which Maurice Quai so bravely ignored.

arguments were rehearsed in critics

in the

them changed than we would want

only

favour of our preferences that we

landmarks

I

believe that

these

art

which meant most

It is here, first

of all, that we find

by writers about that

of oratory.

all

though not so much by the

Quai s

the roots of

identification of skill with corruption

which

I

would

like

to call the moral argument.

From

Plato onwards, critics have been increasingly concerned with the

possibility that skills

technological age,

might be abused. Living

we can understand

m

and

this self-questioning

this suspicion of progress

only too well.

Plato resisted or resented the power of all art to pander to the lower faculties

of the

soul.

He

looked back to the

liturgy

and

art;

but the

m

the sophists

mam

ritualistic

immobility of Egyptian music,

cause of his concern was the increasing

swaying the emotions of the crowd.

corrupted the honesty of argument by introducing flatter the ear

who had

was they

It

effects that

illicit

of

skill

should

with jmgling euphonies, rather than persuade reason with sound

evidence.

The

arch-corrupter, to Plato, was Gorgias, and

school of oratory derived that became

known

was from him that the

it

as the Asiatic school.

Asianism,

hence, became the stock example of moral corruption and of the prostitution

of speech. I

cannot judge the validity of this accusation against the sophists;

concerned with the

skill

am only

one of the possible reactions to the progress of skill. If

as

it

I

of persuasion can be used for seduction, one can understand the

nostalgia for a period where this skill was

innocent of such In their classic

book on

Primitivism and Related Ideas,'

George Boas have profoundly and

from

primitivism'

unknown and where

were

artists

still

evil tricks.

soft,

what they

call

'hard

dream of the Golden Age of

primitivism'; the

'soft

Innocence standing for the

Arthur Lovejoy and

wittily distinguished

and the vision of hard and rugged heroes

for

the hard kind.

Both forms, of course,

Whenever our

civilization.

effeminate,

we

It

we

guilt

feelings

idealize a primitive state

keeps before our guilty,

what Freud

are reactions to

mind

take refuge

discontents of

accuse us of being spoilt and

of hard

virility. If

our conscience

and venality of which our society

the sins of lust

is

m the image of an age of childlike and noble innocence.

may well be one of the

two interpretations

calls the

are

secrets

of the appeal of primitive

not experienced

robust or delicate, the art that does not

as

styles that here the

mutually exclusive. Hard or

know any

tricks

is

soft,

any rate honest.

at

Now that question of honesty m art that looks so simple is really one of the most

elusive

come

closer to a psychological understanding

— as

distinct

that honesty

of

all.

from

But

luckily, I

'oratory'.

and innocence

For

need not tackle

if you

scan

now

it

of this

fear

merely want to

of corruption

the critical literature,

are frequently contrasted

of seduction, the sensual appeal of erotic

if I

art.

What

you

m 'art'

will find

with one particular trick else, after all, lies

The

Primitive and

its

behind

Nalue

in

Art

Quais charge of 'Pompadour', than

form of meretriciousness so

this

characteristic

seduction certamly stands in need of technical mastery.

of the goddess aroused

that the image

power of art was

still

in the service

dangers of corruption. abuse, chaste beauty

do not want

desire in

was the proud boast

who beheld

all

of religion, but the

It is here, also,

it.

possibilities

Here the

opened up

that the difference between use

and meretricious sweetness,

artistic skills

mainly because, even in

this

were seen to be prone.

century of Freud,

it is

and

balanced on a knife-edge.

is

to give the impression that erotic seduction

of corruption to which

a strangely

is

I

the only

have put

form

it first

unacknowledged

Moreover, the development of means to create images of seductive

subject.

m

beauty tends to fuse with the second argument

which

of

account for some of the most violent denunciations of the

this skill

I

It

kmd

this

of Aphrodite, made by Praxiteles for the temple of Cnidos,

of the cult statue

bv

Now

of the age of Boucher and Fragonard?

must now

I

favour of primitivism, to

turn.

can be called the originator of the moral condemnation of

If Plato

corruption,

it is

m his

pupil Aristotle that

we

model of the organic

find the

metaphor, in which the development of any art

is

identified with the life cycle

of an organism from youth to maturity and then declining to death.

Our model technology.

of

We

human

visualized as

is

Aristotelian,

progress has tended to be furnished by science and

need only remember science infinitely

model was

extendable.

that

The

and

ancient,

particularly the

of organic growth. The oak progresses from the

acorn to the mature tree by transforming

Greek drama, according to

fiction to see that here progress

Aristotle,

its

potentialities into actuality.

developed in

this

way from the rude

shows of Thespis to the masterpieces of Sophocles and Euripides. little',

he

said, 'tragedy

and, going through Its

own

grew

many

as

'Little

people developed whatever of it came to

transformations, came to rest

when

it

by

light,

had attained

nature.'

There

is

no doubt that

Aristotle

would have

said the

painting. If their essential nature was the imitation instance, they

had to progress

till

same of sculpture and

of beautiful

they had attained that

change would then automatically be corruption, since

it

skill.

things, for

Any

further

would lead away from

that true nature. It IS

well

known that it was Vasari, two thousand years later, who

organic metaphor to the rebirth of the arts; he applied the

gamut of

skills that

century. Vasari

awakening of

by Masaccio

ioo

Part

saw

art

m

m

this

it

applied the

to that repetition

m phases — from the

rude Byzantine manner to the

Cimabue and Giotto; hence

to the conquest

of

reality

the Quattrocento, and, finally, of beauty by the third

Primitivism and the Primitive

of

occurred between the thirteenth and the sixteenth

and

perfect

manner

It IS this

ot which Raphael offered a prime example.

Aristotelian conception also that

or the development of an

art,

and vvithm

makes us speak of the 'evolution

much

so

for

as

undeveloped. Yet the difference

withm the

the

life cvcle,

first

term

this context, the

apply to the earlv phase of the process. But here

it

not

is

will

'primitive' will

not mean uncorrupted

as radical as

it

may sound;

or primitive phase leads upwards towards the

perfection of maturity, while maturitv

itself is

bound

to decline into old age

and decay. Hence the primitive can be equated with youth or with

spring,

while the last phase will strike us as autumnal or decadent.

Like the Platonic theory of corruption, the Aristotelian ima2;e of the organic growth of an art

should not some trial

and

error?

that those

who

I

activity attain

am

a chess player, for instance,

not

Why

capable of a perfectly rational interpretation.

is

human

game

are find the

optimum through

an

perfect

m

its

but

I

a

long process of

could well imagine

present set of rules; they

would

neither like to go back to earlier forms nor complicate the rules further.

theory of limited progress to

beautA',

because the organic metaphor

is

the ideal of

human

alleged. After

health,

all.

and those

beauty it

m

only a metaphor.

much less

is

The

other words, need not be false just It

may

well be argued that

subject to change than

it is

sometimes

g;rounded on our biological response to youth and

is

of the academic persuasion

critics

who urged

the artist to

study the Apollo Belvedere or the Capitolme \ enus to learn their secret need

not have been

What life

is

cvcle

all

that misguided.

my mmd,

misguided, to

of an

art

must

is

only the simplistic assumption that the

directly reflect the life cycle

of the human

spirit.

We

must not yield to the temptation of imagining archaic Greece populated by solemn kouroi and

delicate korai. the age of Pericles

by

living replicas of the

youths and maidens of the Parthenon frieze growing progressively more relaxed and sensuous as time I

once described

you keep your arts

this

eves open,

of the past.

marched on.

temptation

How

you

will find

often,

Quattrocento been celebrated beautv of Botticelli's voun^^

as that of the

for

its

influence

instance,

as virginal

girls

physiognomic

m

many

fallacy,

\^Tltlngs

and

if

on the

has the art of the Italian

and sprmg-like,

as

if

the gawkish

could be identified with the mentalit)^ of the

fifteenth-centur\' Florentines, while sixteenth-century Venice

is

visualized as

an age of ripe and seductive forms embodied in the reclining \enuses by Titian.

Nobody who people's

has accustomed himself to dissecting his

reactions

to

art

will

underrate the

interpretation. All forms have a physiognomy,

response.

The

o\^'n

and other

compulsive force of all st\4es elicit

this

an emotional

impassive grandeur of Egyptian sculpture, the solemnity' of

The Pnmicive and

its

\alue

in .\rt

Byzantine icons, the hieratic

Gothic fretwork, how forms? There

is

can we see them but in terms of our response to

else

no need

of Romanesque porches, the delicacy of

stillness

more than

to suppress this response any

avoid the so-called pathetic fallacy in our

commerce with

there

is

to

nature, reading joy

of birds and melancholy into the drooping branches of a

into the song

weeping willow. But we do not psychologize birds and willows, and we should beware of equating families of forms with types of mentality.

Here

our reaction to the changing forms of language offers an

also

instructive parallel.

The modes of expression used

m old texts and documents

tend to strike us as more weighty, more sublime than the apparent ease of the current vernacular. Naturally this impression was not lost analysers

on those

of our emotional reactions to forms and sounds, the ancient

subtle

orators.

Asianism, for instance, was alleged to attempt the sublime in oratory but to

produce merely bombast, precisely because

The

true sublime, in the

it

on

relied

artifice.

immortal phrase of Longmus,

is

the ring of the

noble soul, and this natural nobility was, he thought, the property of the early

and uncorrupted

ages.'

Longmus

gives as an

example of that

important power of utterance God's words of the there be light,

and there was

whole category of

anticipates a

oak I

trees are

'as

early

Roman poet,

Ennius, sums up and

Tet

us worship Ennius',

age,

where the grand old

critical appraisals:

we do sacred groves hallowed by

not perhaps

elusive but all-

book of Genesis, Tet

light.'

Qumtilians characterization of the

said Qumtilian,

first

as beautiful as

they are awe-inspiring.'"*

have contrasted this reaction to venerable age with the interpretation of

early stages as

young, but such contrasts are too logical to be true to our

experience. It

is

idyllic, It

the privilege of early art that

it is

real

not only both heroic and

but also both old and venerable, young and endearing.

was Cicero

who

first

rebelled against the tacit assumptions underlying

the interpretations of the primitive

reason to be

critical

have discussed so

I

far.

He

had every

of them, since the preference for uncorrupted sublimity

threatened his very position as Rome's foremost orator. Having spent his in polishing

all

life

and perfecting the beauty of pure Latmity, he found the very

beauty of his famous cadences an obstacle to their appreciation. His

memorable defence before the court of posterity shows the most

subtle.

One of his arguments

called themselves Atticists

the

was

power of primitive modes

but he will not have to dispose

it

is

that the classicism

really a

as just

primitivism

of his opponents who

m disguise. He recognizes

one stop on the grand organ of speech,

restricted to this

of the m.oral argument

great lawyer at his

narrow range. Most of all, he wished

in favour

of

earlier styles.

Far from

accepting the physiognomic fallacy, he looks for an alternative to account for

Part VI: Primitivism

and the Primitive

He

the undeniable appeal of rugged simplicity.

finds

psychology of

in the

it

the educated public:

It is difficult

what reason the very things that move our senses most to

and appeal to them most speedily

pleasure, are

to say for

most quickly estranged by

brilliant, as a rule,

How much

surfeit.

more

m beauty and variety of colouring are new pictures compared

though they captivate us

to old ones. But

ones from which we

at first, are the

kind of disgust and

a

at first sight, the pleasure

does not

last,

while the very roughness and primitiveness of old painting maintain their hold

on

smgmg, how much

In

us.

and more

softer

and

delicate are glides

trills

than

firm and severe notes. But not only people of austere taste but often even the

crowd protest senses.

We

if such effects are

too

much repeated. The same

true of the other

is

enjoy ointments prepared with an extremely sweet and penetrating

scent less long than those that are subdued, and even the sense of touch wants

only a certain degree of softness and lightness. Taste

of the senses and more quickly

it

rejects

and

borders immediately

As you replace is

this

see,

dislikes anything sweet

upon

them by

a

theory of response.

rough sublimity of themselves,

overdose of

There

is

paintings

it

is

that

.

Thus,

.

early art.

Some

I

m

all

things, disgust

have been considering so far to

people get tired of beauty, and

The

it

to alternatives such as the

sin, as it were, is

the beholder's sophistication that

not in the harmonies

makes him

reject

an

skill.

no doubt

— and

that

when Cicero speaks of

he does so more than

once — he

who

also

this

and not always

a

remote charm of archaic these motifs that have that where the

one. art

is

its

later

to impress others."

their understanding

wrong

speaks from experience. His

—

That Roman

though

perfection,

snobbery and affectation,

as

upmanship of connoisseurs who want

show off

the preference for archaic

mentions people who prefer the

beginnings of the art of painting to

Qumtilian dismisses

amhitu, to

.

makes them open

hints are reinforced by Quintilian, first

most pleasure-lovmg

the

pleasure.'

Cicero brushes aside the theories

moment of fatigue

is

by sweetness than the others, yet how

easily attracted

a

kind of one-

They do

it intelligenii

another subjective interpretation collectors did,

m

fact,

enjoy the

amply shown by the copies and adaptations of

come down

gamut of skill goes

to us.

in

They confirm what Cicero

suggests,

one direction, the movement of taste may

tend the opposite way.

At the same

time, his analysis

unreflective acceptance

of the

organic and the physiognomic.

of sophistication

raises a

warning against any

earlier three interpretations, the

Not

that this disposes

moral, the

of the problem of

The

Primitive and

its

Value

m Art

corruption or debases the primitive to appear the mere by-product of a jaded

On the

palate.

contrary,

clears the ages

where

m a curious and paradoxical sense, Cicero's argument

this reaction

occurs from the charge of decadence and

moral decay.

Would

they have longed with such passion for the paradise of a lost

innocence and the vigour of a bygone simplicity

A

devoid of moral standards?

And it is

moral depravation.

sensitive conscience

this

uneasy conscience,

that fuses the various responses to the history

metaphor

m

the

of love and of

fire

modern

them

m one heady brew.

stirred together

2 The Turn of

In

my

they had, indeed, been

is

usually not the sign of

of discontent,

this feeling

of

into one living

styles

hate. Indeed, if

historical sources of our all

if

we turn again

preferences for the primitive,

we

to the

shall find

Tide

the

first talk, I

described

praise towards the

how

the term 'primitive'

end of the eighteenth century.

It

became

was

a

a

vogue word of

word much bandied

about among the radical students of the neo-classical painter, Jacques-Louis

who

David, to

show

were obsessed with the dangers of corruption in

that the dread

influential thinkers

warned

of these dangers could be traced back to the most

classical antiquity, to Plato

his disciples against the lure

numbed

human

of

arts evolved

from primitive

at the risk

and

of an oratory that

the reasoning faculties; Aristotle

could deviate only

art. I also tried

had taken

it

Aristotle. Plato

had

flattered the ear

and

for granted that the

stages towards perfection

of declining.

the academies of art in the seventeenth

from which they

No wonder the oflicial doctrines of

and eighteenth centuries stressed the

need for the pupil to keep to the straight and narrow path blazed by the

embodiments of perfection, the ancients or Raphael, and not vulgar

mob who

But the sermons of high-minded seventeenth century,

condemned

to indulge the

merely looked for sensuous pleasures.

who preached

critics

such as Giovanni Bellori

a return to the ideals

m

the

of Raphael and

the naturalism of Caravaggio, can hardly be said to have changed

the course of art or influenced public taste. It was only

progress of civilization was put

when

the whole

m question, and the age and the culture of the

age accused of being corrupted and corrupting, that the public conscience

was aroused.

I

am, of course, alluding to the

effect created

Europe by the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau. rightly so, that Rousseau's

famous

call for a

It

m

the whole of

has been stressed, and

return to nature should not be

interpreted as out-and-out primitivism.' Voltaire's jest of inviting Rousseau to

graze on his estate was a deliberate travesty. Like Aristotle, Rousseau did not

deny the


reality

of human progress, but, unlike him, he focused attention on

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

the danger of decline

The

from health to effeminacy, from

virtue to debauchery.

noble savage, that figment of eighteenth-century imagination, was

noble because he had not been spoilt by the luxuries of civilized Europe.

Without Rousseau, Quai

there

would have been no young

to exalt the superiority

periods.

Nor would Quai

of everything

'primitif

condemn

have been likely to

Phidias as 'Pompadour, Rococo, Vanloo', if

it

all

the arts after

had not been

for that other

great prophet of the eighteenth century, Johann Joachim

manifesto,

m

Winckelmann.

Winckelmann had read Rousseau when he

that

It is likely

Maurice

radicals like

over the arts of later

issued his

first

the mid-i75os, against the corruption of taste in his time,

and

urged a return

Winckelmann's other mentor, had warned everything that

and of

'gaudy, luscious

is

of Greek

fountainhead

pure

the

to

Shaftesbury,

art.

English readers

his

against

But what made

a false taste'.'^

Winckelmann's appeal to the Greeks so much more compelling was

m my first talk,

adoption of what,

called the

I

his

physiognomic approach. The

calm grandeur and noble simplicity which he found to be the hallmark of great Greek art of the best period was, to him, the direct revelation of the

Greek soul

m all

its

nobility

and

restraint.

In poetic prose unequalled in writings on art before his time, exalted the ideal beauty of Greek sculpture

only from plaster casts and, after his as

move

— sculpture which,

to

Winckelmann he

at first,

Rome, from Roman

knew

copies, such

Apollo Belvedere or the Niobe. For him, the appeal of these noble heads

was a moral appeal; they were symbols of a speaking, perhaps, he valued

they were.

them

as

They were not touched by

tempted the

artist

times, Bernini their Bernini

form of existence.

to lavish praise

on

lines,

too,

had had

classical art to dwell at

monuments showing such symptoms of decline

art,

modern

the glories of ancient art to an end.

Winckelmann was too anxious But reading between the

what

In

effects.

had been the arch-corrupter; no doubt the Greeks,

history of Greek

Strictly

as for

those corrupting influences which

on the path of outward show and cheap

who had brought

length on any

loftier

much for what they were not,

one can well understand how

which was published

or debasement.

his

account of the

in 1764, implicitly favoured the

period of Phidias rather than the more sensuous, insinuating

subsequent centuries. In particular,

it

was he

style

who drew attention to

of the

the beauty

of Greek vase painting, which he took to be Etruscan and which he admired in particular for

its

clean

and disciplined

Indeed, no trick of style

fell

outlines.

more quickly under

the suspicion of corrupt

meretriciousness than the pride of the virtuoso painter

brushwork.

What

m the bravura of his

could be more dishonest than the smudging of outlines,

leaving the beholder to guess where the figure

ended and the background

The

Primitive and

its

Value

in

Art

began?

You

missed

in his painting

will

remember

they called 'primitive'. all

of

that the severity

which David's pupils

style

of the Sabine women was that of Greek

vases

—

vases

was an ideal of purity which was to be popularized

It

over Europe by Flaxman,

whose

of blurred

rejection

was passionately

lines

shared by William Blake. It

is

only an apparent paradox that

Wmckelmann's extreme brand of

new

neoclassicism also helped to pave the way for a art,

appreciation of Gothic

which had, heretofore, been considered barbaric. In

had been hoisted with

his

own

petard. If

the unique grandeur of the Greek soul,

nations to follow this ideal.

was the

It

a way,

Winckelmann

was true that Greek

it

was, after

it

German

critic

all,

art reflected

ask other

futile to

and polymath, Johann

Von Herder, who drew attention to these consequences. What German soul? Did it have no authentic expression m the great

Gottfried

about the

Was

poetry of the Middle Ages?

it

not

less

corrupt than the modish

effeminacy that governed the elegant Parisians?

We

tend to regard Classicism and Romanticism as two contrasting

still

movements, but

in this obsession

Goethe, in his Strasbourg period in 1772 where he had fallen under

really one.

had discarded the rococo

the spell of Herder and

and

with the corruption of the age, they were

taste

of his Frankfurt home

denouncing the fashionable painters of

his years in Leipzig,

his tim.e,

wrote:

How I hate the

those painted dolls of our masters

women-folk with

dresses.

is

Diirer,

.

They have caught

made-up

and

tints

whom our moderns mock,

the

the eyes of their

gaudy

most wooden of

dearer to me!''

But Goethe went even farther

The

.

their theatrical poses, their

Honest Albrecht

your figures

.

m his

rejection

of Rococo culture and

ideals.

occasion of his enthusiasm was the Gothic mmster of Strasbourg, and he

wanted to demolish

all

the soft doctrines of

prejudices that stood

the significantly rugged, they

before

it is

'beauty' in

beautiful. It

man;

m the way of its appreciation. If

modern beauty-mongers had

is

would have

spoilt their

to learn that art

is

enjoyment of long creative

nonsense, Goethe said, to speak of an instinct for

his instinct

is

for 'creation'.

In this way, the savage moulds his coconuts, his feathers or his body with terrifying shapes

and loud colours

arbitrary combinations,

for one

emotion welded

significant art that

iob

is

it

will

all

.

.

and

let this

art consist

of the most

harmonize without any system of proportions,

the elements into one significant whole.

the only true one.

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

.

It is this

It is

no

accident,

of course, that

m

was thrown out

this astonishing challenge

an essay which the young Goethe wrote under the inspiration of Herder. Herder's enthusiasm for folksongs and the relics of ancient poetry which

much

so

to British examples, to Percy

and Ossian no

ofVico, swept aside the standards of classicism in poetry. Poetry, the primordial language of mankind,

and

all

why

than

its

after

all,

was

peoples revealed their soul in

song. Seen against this background, the historian's problem taste for primitive art arose,

owed

than to the theories

less

less

is

how

acceptance was delayed

the the

till

twentieth century. in my next talk that this delay applied only to — representational art not to design and pattern. In the rendering of the figure, fidelity to nature counted for too much to permit any aesthetic response to distorted images of the human form. And so we have the curious paradox that

hope to show

I

word

the

'primitive', or, at

any

rate,

'les

primitifs,

came

to be applied as praise,

not to the very beginnings of Italian painting, but to fifteenth-century

artists

such as Fra Angelico, Francesco Francia, or Perugino. These masters were to have progressed far

had not It IS

yet

enough

in skill to represent plausible

been spoilt by meretricious

worth pointing out that

this

perfection, but

on

its

human figures but

virtuosity.

kind of primitivism does not

of the organic theory, the theory that

rejection

felt

acceptance. After

all, it is

rest

on

a

art gradually ripens into

only

m

relation to Vasari's

version of the organic growth of art that the painters of the fifteenth century

can be called more primitive than those of the sixteenth.

And

proud court painter of the grand dukes of Tuscany, became

new

the

for

devotions.

In 1797, the

published his notorious Outpouringsfrom

revamped

a

few stories from Vasari in

a

a

so Vasari, the

kind of breviary

German Romantic, Wackenroder, the

Heart of an Art-loving Monk. In

gushing

style.

Raphael

is still

he

it,

at the

pinnacle where Vasari had put him, but the earlier generations, Francesco Francia, Perugino and, It

may

of course, Fra Angelico, get

surprise those

who

their share

accuse Vasari of a shallow progressivism that he

could thus provide the main source for the Romantic reflection, this as

mere

stages

is

quite natural.

The academic

revivalists, but,

on

creed had ignored the primitives

of transition, to be discarded when beauty had been discovered.

Vasari had not been so narrow. earlier masters,

a love

of admiration."'

He

recorded the

lives

and habits of these

masters who, in his view, had led the arts to the heights, with

and admiration that was much more laudatory and understanding than

anything the Romantics could find elsewhere. Moreover, he told the history

of

art in

human

terms.

He

described the piety of Fra Angelico, the simple

habits of Donatello, the escapades

of Filippo Lippi, and the oddities of Piero

The

Primitive and

its

Value

in

Art

di

He

Cosimo.

practised as

presented the picture of an environment where art was

an honest

Most of his

craft.

story

technically

lies

still

still

within the

Middle Ages, the age of faith. It

was a happy circumstance that Vasari s high point, what he called the third

or perfect

style,

almost coincided with the technical end of the Middle Ages,

the discovery of America

Leonardo was then

in 1492.

seventeen and Raphael eight. Thus, the whole

new

role

of the corrupter of the

from Plato onwards. For

The

corrupter was not

of Chateaubriand's

was

this

skill,

arts for a

new

Modern Age could

which

had been

it

version of Plato

not even sm, but reason

influential

Michelangelo

forty,

book, Le Genie du

s

itself.

on

take

its

by romantics

cast

of corruption.

tale

This

is

Christianisme, that

the message

came out

in

1802. 'Painting, architecture, poetry and oratory', he claimed, 'have always

degenerated in philosophical ages, for the reasoning spirit destroys the imagination and saps the foundations of the fine It

was

critic,

at that time, in the early 1800s, that the

Friedrich Schlegel,

came

he wrote an essay that gave

Pans to learn Sanskrit, and

to

new substance and

The

vapid enthusiasm of Wackenroder.

published

far,

is

is

now set

as

It is

teacher, Perugino,

the frigid beauty

Guido Reni who

it

was Raphael

who could

m

name of

their turn,

—

—

however unwittingly

for

the Nazarenes.

new

We

withm

a

the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood;

by the German Romantic painters

in the early decades

farther back. Only, where

the ancients, the

be

from the chaste beauty of his

and having prepared the way

they were inspired,

name of

exalts."

of Vasari's canon, and the dethronement

the decisive turn of the tide, also, which was to lead

banded together

of

flesh tints

of a Guido Rem.

generation to the programmatic

the

like

Giovanni Bellini or Perugino which he

for the rejection

for having departed, in his later style,

IS

on paintings which he

the calm, sweet beauty of late

of Raphael, the demi-god of the academics, for

This

stamina to the

and the shiny rose-and-milk

appeal to him.

Quattrocento masters such

blamed

was here that

it

mam bulwark against decline. Schlegel admits

Rem

of Guido

Domenichmo do not stage

essays

extended even to those academic masters

been considered the

that the frigid grace

The

intellectual

m his journal, Europa, are perhaps the first in which the doctrine of

corruption had, so

arts.'"

German Romantic poet and

who

of the nineteenth century and adopted

have seen that this reaction reaches

Wmckelmann had preached

much

the noble simplicity of

medievalizers were captivated by what they saw as the

devout simplicity of the age of faith.

One of the earliest documents of this change of heart is a letter written by the German painter, Franz Pforr, m March 1810, m which he recounts his conversion to the older style of art — a conversion which he experienced m the

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

The

\^ienna Gallery early in 1808."

masters of the high Renaissance, Titian,

Tintoretto, Veronese or Correggio, he discovered, often concealed their cold

and

hearts behind bold brushstrokes

aim

at the arousal of sensual

German

fine colours;

worse

they seemed to

still,

emotions. In contrast, the early Italian and

masters, with their chaste simplicity, spoke loudly to these

students. 'Brushstrokes, after

the beholder's attention

One would like

all,

are only necessary evils

from the

and should not

art

divert

subject-matter.'

know by what underground

to

young

channels these sentiments of

Franz Pforr's came to correspond so closely to those expressed by William

m the descriptive catalogue of his exhibition m May 1809:

Blake

m

Clearness and precision have been the chief objects

The

Venetian and Flemish practice

colours.

Mr

Blake's practice

colours. Their art

is

is

is

broken

unbroken

to lose form, his art

lines,

lines,

broken masses, and broken

unbroken masses, and unbroken

to find

is

painting these pictures.

form and keep

whom

Blakes polemics are principally directed against Stothard,

of having plagiarized

his project

of the Canterbury Pilgrims,

enough, Stothard himself prefaced his

from Hoppner, of absence of

all

its

among

the

German

version of the theme by a letter

They have

first

comment on

oil

total

are often

m

the

manner of reject aerial

not have them

loud and their figures frequently

they consider that even Raphael's way of

abandoned the manner of

similar ideals

and they deliberately

painting and paint

sharp, clear outlines

linear perspective because the ancient masters did

Their colours therefore,

and

'primitive simplicity'

m Rome, who, wrote Count Uxkiill,

artists

have renounced the advantages of watercolours.

he accused

but, strangely

affectation."

only four years later that we read the

It is

and

own

commending

1807,

it.'-*

his teacher,

flat.

pamtmg

either.

Consistently, after

he had

Perugmo, was an aberration of that great

man.'^

It

IS

interesting and, perhaps, a

little

disappointing to turn from these

programmatic descriptions to the actual works of these painters which often

strike

one

as a

mere pastiche of motifs

Italian

become used

to very

painting of around 1500. Moreover, we, in our time, have

much greater doses of primitivism, and so step that

Raphael had taken

these

(Fig. 289),

from German and

first efforts

will inevitably strike us as

to rectify the fatal

tame and timid. But we

must not allow our impatience with the Nazarenes or even our eagerness get to Gauguin, to miss their problem. Their concern was

still

The

to

with the morals

Primitive and

its

X'alue in

Art

289

Johann Friedrich Overbeck, his

Self-portrait with

Wife and Son, 1820—2.

Museum

fur Kunst

und

Kulturgeschichte der

Hansestadt Liibeck

290

Angel on

a

medieval

\ enetian tomb. From

John Ruskin,

Seven Lectures

on the Elements oj Sculpture ^iven before the University of

Oxford,

1870

of art, with the avoidance of certain In our histories of

art,

sins,

Kke that of smudging, for example.

movement

the Nazarenes figure as an abortive

anticipating the Pre-Raphaelites,

who

petered out, in their turn. But this

enormous

version of the history of nineteenth-century art overlooks the

production of neo-Gothic devotional art which transformed and possibly ruined a vast majority of church interiors in Europe. These stereotyped, well-

groomed

with

saints,

epitomize, to

my

their

mind, the

smooth

fatal flaw

draperies

and bland expressions,

of nineteenth-century primitivism, the

concentration on negative virtues, for the concern of these generations was

with art forms. It,

It

as the expression

was the

which these

state

of a

state

of mind, rather than with the creation of

of mind of late Raphael and of his

men wished

to reject, not the mastery

easy to dismiss their concern as sentimental

It is

fallacious. It

writers

and

is

much less

critics

age,

such

as

they saw

of representation.

and

their reasoning as

easy to rid oneself of the interpretations which these

have so successfully imposed on the high Renaissance.

do we improve matters

greatly if

we do

a

Nor

Maurice Quai and successively

call

the Quattrocento, the Trecento and, possibly, even the Duecento, 'Vanloo,

Pompadour, For

rococo'.

this, in a

way,

is

what happened

century, after the uneasy stability

of the

in the

second half of the nineteenth

early Victorian age.

you read the turbulent and contradictory pages of Ruskin. virtue even

Uneasy indeed,

He

learned to see

where he found childishness. Comparing archaic Greek

medieval Venetian

tomb

1870— i:

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

(Fig. 290),

if

art

with a

he thundered at his Oxford audience, in

Michaelmas Term,

In both examples, childish though

and

alike sincere,

thoughts their

m

may

work

we

Our hands

are dextrous

listened to

same generation

who was born

as

Gauguin,

Middle Ages were not the only

vile

and deadly

in 1848.

Medical Research Council,

They realized

increasingly

alternative to the tainted dexterity

of

Epstein, one of the leaders of

twentieth-century primitivism, shocked the public

chair, Sir

with the

Ruskins denunciations were of the

when Jacob

industrialized Europe. In fact,

Oxford

m

now,

...

The young gentlemen who

the

are

do, absolutely without sincerity: absolutely, therefore, without

dextenrv ot machines

for the

of infancy, but

men. We, on the contrary,

are the thoughts of

is

that of infancy: the

is

their visionary simplicity are also the thoughts

imagination, and without virtue.

that the

heathen and Christian art

be, this

alike vividly imaginative: the actual

solemn virtue they

in all that

it

in the Strand,

m

1908 with his sculpture

one of Ruskins successors to

Charles Holmes, came to his aid

m the

columns of The

Times by appealing to this very continuity:

The

Pre-Raphaelites,

it

remembered, turned back from the over-ripe

will be

tradition of painting to the example of an earlier age. Is not exactly the

Greek

same

m turning; back from our tired and sweetened adaptations of late

words of

Sir Charles

a slightly

earlier styles

had long adopted

do with such

subjective reactions;

techniques to

come

arguments that

I

Holmes,

for

all

their

good

intention,

old-fashioned ring. For, meanwhile, the defence of

had already

a

new it

line

based

of argument which had nothing to itself on the inability

to grips with the problems

shall turn

of form.

of naturalistic It

is

to these

m my third talk.

The Priority of Pattern

Last time,

I

of such

many

considered that turning of the tides of taste which led so

Victorian art lovers to reject the mature art of Raphael earlier painters

masters, they

felt,

as

or of Titian in favour

Era Angelico, Botticelli and Perugmo. These

were displaying the virtues of innocence and honesty, and

therefore they described

them

as the Primitives. Basically, these critics

animated by that dread of corruption, that same I

Epstein doing

ideals to the stern vigour of the pre-Phidian epoch?''

But, by 1908, these

3

Mr

fear

of seductive

skill

were

which

traced back to the doctrines of Plato.

The

superiority of the Primitives was seen to be a moral superiority^ rather

than a superiority

m

the mastery of the

medium. They were

The

first

valued for

Primitive and

its

\'alue in

Art

311

what they were not, rather than for what they were. They were not meretricious, not sensuous, not out to impress by bravura

virtuosity. But,

formerly neglected masters were increasingly brought to the attention

as these

of the public,

it

was only natural that

more

preference in

critics also

who may

wished to account for their

wanted to evaluate the

positive terms; they

achievement of painters as the

and

artistic

have been lacking in such naturalistic

skills

rendering of anatomy, of atmospheric effects or of texture, but whose

masterpieces never m.ake us miss such a

One of the

first critics

who

command of natural

consciously looked for such alternative criteria

by which to judge the so-called Primitives was Goethe. You that, in the 1770s, the

appearances.

young Goethe had

fallen

m

may remember Gothic

love with the

Minster of Strasbourg, and had been led to attack the cult of beauty of his contemporaries

as effeminate.

that time, he was

Goethe went to

German

artists

later

Weimar

sympathy

art great. later in

At

life,

of

a conversion to the ideals

hardened and he looked askance

who turned from

younger

at the

the pagan ideal of physical beauty to the

earlier masters.

Given the influence which Goethe,

years, exerted over the intellectual life

for

made

of the Greeks and of the high Renaissance.

older, his attitude

innocent piety of the

strength was what

of the moral argument. But,

and there he experienced

Italy

Classical art, the ideals

As he got

Rugged

in the thrall

still

of Germany,

in his

of

his lack

Romantics and Nazarenes deeply hurt the younger

the

generation and they tried to convert the old

man

The

the brothers Boisseree, invited

leading collectors of German Gothic

Goethe to

visit their

collection in

Olympian responsive

of

1815 deserves to

earlier styles

his

to their

new enthusiasm.

and, sure enough, they found the old

charm of these

to the

His published account of and

Bonn

art,

journey to

pictures.

Bonn and

be better known, for Goethe

and puts forward an idea of

the

reflects

Rhmeland

on the

in 1814

characteristics

his own.'* Briefly,

he does not

propose to subvert Vasari's scheme of the progress of skill in the rendering of nature which had led from the stiffness of Byzantine images to the supple grace of Raphael, but he makes the all-important point that,

m art,

any such

gain must also imply a loss.

The

style

of the

earlier

Middle Ages, which Goethe, following

always referred to as Byzantine,

may indeed

very defect enabled these artists to arts;

fulfil

the

have been rigid and

most

stiff,

Vasari,

but this

exalted task of the figurative

the task of decorating a particular space such as an interior. This task, as

he observes, demands a respect for symmetry and a lucid composition, and

was

in this orderly distribution

it

of elements that the Byzantine masters had

excelled.

The

?i2

very progress of naturalism which led to so

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

many

artistic

conquests,

on

the other hand,

becomes more pattern

undermined

difficult, if

this earlier achievement. In other

when you concentrate on the

naturalistic light

and

words,

it

not impossible, to preserve the balance of a perfect

lively

imitation of three-dimensional space, on

movement. The marvellous innovations of

a Jan

van Eyck, for instance, in the minute rendering of visible nature, Goethe thought, had led

him

Gothic panels, with

to lose that respect for order that marks the earlier

their

golden background and their lucidly silhouetted

figures.

Here, then, a

new argument, which was

quite independent of ideological

The

considerations, was introduced into the debate.

the

Middle Ages masters were more moral and

masters could be safely

not

really their state

to

a

left

on one

of mind, but

side.

question whether or not

sensuous than the

less

What commanded

their decorative skill, a skill

development which preferred the

of

illusion

later

admiration was

which

reality

fell

victim

balanced

to

symmetries.

The argument was independent of ideology, religious medievalizers. In England,

who championed

French emigre,

it

but

it

could also be used by the

was Augustus Pugin, son of a Catholic

a

return

to

Gothic architecture and

decoration, and was therefore anxious to prove the superiority of Gothic over

modern

decorative design.

He

stressed that the patterns used by medieval

craftsmen for the embellishment of walls or floors tended to be stylized,

much

of the general

to the advantage

effect.'"

illusionism into decoration could only be disturbing:

on simulated

The

up by

flowers or see walls broken

effect of Pugin's

on

to tread

naturalistic vistas. all

proportion to their

a sensitive point, indeed,

Proud

public concern to the early Victorians.

and

intrusion of

we do not want

remarks was, perhaps, out of

original purpose, because he hit

The

flat

as

on

a

matter of

they were, and had every

reason to be, of the spectacular progress in technology which completely

transformed industry and

life,

they were increasingly aware of certain

shortcomings which were inextricably linked with

this irresistible advance:

one of the victims of the industrial revolution was precisely

—

the furnishings, lamps, inkstands

and

cutlery turned out

by the factories of Birmingham and elsewhere were, aesthetic

critics,

design resulted

abominations,

m poor sales,

veritable

instinct

The

of design

and thus

words of

their

Moreover, poor it

happened

that

the past, been safely left to the

of the craftsman, moved into the centre of public debate.

high intellectual

them of continued art.

m

in the

monstrosities.

particularly abroad,

the aesthetics of decoration which had,

a sense

m such profusion

level

on which

these debates were conducted

relevance to anyone interested in the theory

But what matters to

me now

is

makes

of decorative

the eagerness with which the reformers of

The

Primitive and

its

Value in Art

513

design

— men

like

Henry Cole and Richard Redgrave — began

to study, not

only medieval, but also exotic styles of decoration.

The

focus of these discussions was, of course, the Great Exhibition of 1851,

organized with the express purpose of surveying the state of the arts and crafts

m the whole world. Though setting, the exhibition

wrote one of

its

it

was so splendidly arrayed

occasioned

much

organizers, the architect,

should be startled when we found that

whom

heart-searching.

we had been too apt

m

m its Crystal Palace 'It

was but

Matthew Digby Wyatt, consistency of design

natural,'

'that .

.

.

we

those

to regard as almost savages were infinitely our

superiors.'"'

Five years later, in 1856, the eminent decorator,

harvest of the exhibition in a

Ornament and,

as his very first

sumptuous tome

Owen

Jones, gathered the

entitled

The

Grammar

of

example, he chose a tattooed severed head from

New Zealand m the museum in Chester (Fig. 291). It was meant as a deliberate

^14

Part VI: Primicivism and the Primitive

m

shock to the Victorian pubhc; to show,

his words, that 'in this very

barbarous practice, the principles of the very highest ornamental art are manifest,'

which

and Jones recommended

artists

How

admirable lessons

composition'

in

tribes'.

could one account for these newly discovered values embodied

of pre-industrial

arts

'the

could derive 'from the works of savage

this vital

societies?

question was given

Semper had

fled

The most systematic and by the German architect,

from Germany to England

m the

considered reply to Gottfried Semper.

after the failure

of the revolution

of 1848, and had been drawn into the ongoing discussion.

No

had read Goethe, and he applied Goethe's

problems of textile

insights to the

doubt Semper

He accepted the current dogma — that decorative patterns must be flat easily into ordered arrangement — and concluded:

design. to

fit

It

must never concern

follows that textile art

itself

nature and a naturalistic treatment of ornament. perspective nor of light and shade, but very

Wherever

there are figures

with a faithful imitation of

We

stand

much of

m

no need of

regular composition.

m the design, they must be shown as much as possible much more m the impression of a flat plane than

in profile, since profile results

a frontal view.

The law of regular symmetrical repetition

is

being observed by the

uncivilized nations, possibly for the reason that they lack the

from

it.

Thus

nature preserves

them from sm. We, on

masters of enormous means, and

it

is

this

means of deviating

the other hand, are the

abundance of means which

is

our

greatest danger. Only by reasoning are we able to get some kind of order into this

matter, since

tremendous

Remember were

far

that the

we have

our feeling for

lost

start over us

that, for the

.

.

.

and

are

still

it.

Even

superior over

germ of disintegration all

that

a

widespread fear abroad

had affected the applied

arts of the

West

over the world. Contact with Europe was about to

spoil the precious heritage that

the village industries of what

had been maintained over so many

we today

call

centuries in

the underdeveloped countries. B.

Waring lavished

on mattings from Central and South Africa

for their artistic

In a catalogue of industrial arts published in 1862'', special praise

the Indians have a

laws of style."'

nineteenth-century art lovers and collectors, these

from merely academic questions. There was

was rapidly spreading

so, all

J.

arrangement of patterns and colours, and warned the Turks, whose rugs he rightly admired,

for

not to abandon their traditions of craftsmanship in exchange

Western methods. 'Whatever other improvement the Turk may obtain by

European

intercourse,' he wrote, 'let us assure

him

that these are not

among

the number.'

In 1879, William Morris admitted, regretfully, that the famous wares of

The

Primitive and

its

Value

in

Art

315

India, 'so praised

restoration price.'"*

by those who, thirty years ago, began to attempt the

of popular

art

They had fallen

.

no longer

are

.

.

to be

victim to short-cut methods.

blamed

particular used to be

for

much

bought

at a reasonable

One European

export in

of this deplorable decline

—

the

replacement of natural dyes by aniline colours. Thanks to their spread, the subtle harmonies that

had been developed over the centuries disintegrated

Through

evervwhere, and loud and vulgar wares took their place.

of the native

similar short-cuts, the traditions

collapsed within a

styles

generation, to be replaced, at best, by a self-conscious

and

these

manner which has had

to be kept alive artificially. I

need not point out that

m

newly emancipated nations

and South America want to

Africa, Asia

cultivate their ancient artistic traditions, but are threatened

and by new tools pastiche that

as well as

has come

by new

to be

skills.

known

The

a subject or urgent topicality.

all this is still

The

result,

as 'airport art'.

by commercialism

too often,

The

is

that type

of

may be

corruption

irreparable.

Remember, however,

that in

my first talk I presented various

of the value of the primitive in airport art

art.

must be symptomatic of a

To

who

those

loss

of moral

fibre,

superior values expressed in the traditions of the tribe. rule out this diagnosis,

I

should

primitive

is

the undeveloped.

to a perfect balance loss

of

While new

art, as

we may reconstruct

inventions or innovations

between means and ends, decline

of that balance,

a cultivation

of a decline of the

Without wanting

to

remind you of the view that Aristotle

like to

m.ight have taken. In his philosophy

interpretations

share Plato's approach,

of means

in excess

sets

m when

the

it,

may

lead

there

is

a

of the ends they were

intended to serve.

The

range and intensity of aniline colours, in other words,

may well have much as we

upset a balance instinctively achieved in a slow development, but,

may

regret this loss,

significance. It

is

we need not

attach to

the style of the tribe which

This Aristotelian interpretation

offers

it

is

more

any moral or psychological

corrupted, not to the student

the Platonic moralising or sentimental nostalgia of the

me worth

seems to

which

I

might

call,

its

of

soul.

art

Romantic

than

all

view. It

paying particular attention to this alternative approach

without irreverence,

'the

argument from

helps to establish a value of the primitive which

is

more

design', for

it

defensible rationally

and therefore more interesting than some of the reactions

I

described

m my

earlier talks.

Take an example frequently discussed of Greek vase-pamtmg. There discipline

316

known

to

me

Part VI: Primkivism and the Primitive

is

m the nineteenth century: the history

no more wonderful application of decorative

than the famous wares which emerged from the Attic

workshops of the

sixth

Most of the

styles.

and

fifth centuries

black-figures vases

out of a long tradition of geometric

still

exhibit this marvellous decorative

balance and, even with the arrival of the more naturalistic red-figured style of the early fifth century, the design

dramatic narrative.

Had

is

not disrupted by the new freedom of

Aristotle written the history

of vase-pamting rather

m my

than the history of tragedy, he would have been right,

demonstrating

how

the mutually limiting

the naturalistic rendering were here

But

has always been

It

advance of naturalism.

m

modelling

light

element in the

and yet

think

I

Greek painting developed foreshortening and

Aristotelian terms will describe fourth-century there

been spoilt by demands which,

I

mean, the

a practical

to

The game was up,

the trade declined.

...

of Aladdin's lamp; but

glass

one of the most vulgar barbarisms

would claim differs

you want

it

down

as:

from the one

grandeur of early this,

I

quoted

art. It differs

you must do

emotionalism, this passage from

last time,

m

which he exalted the

because of

its

implicit rationality: if

compromised by modelling

that

in light

the

full

and shade.

colour of stained glass

It surely

makes

point of view, to say that stained-glass painting was a

compatible with the

style

sense,

from

medium more

is

this

easily

of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries than with

of the Renaissance. The great masters of Florentine

Castagno and Uccello,

than

picture in coloured

that.

right

is

A

is

.^'^

that, despite its characteristic

And, of course, he

that

laid

if you like pictures better

you must come into broad daylight to paint them.

childlike

in the nineteenth

If you care to build palaces of jewels, painted glass

jewels,

Ruskin

had

matter of immediate importance that painted windows have nothing

do with chiaroscuro

is

It

could not be assimilated.

more frequently discussed

of the stained-glass window. Ruskin

art

richer than all the treasures

I

a subjective element in this judgement,

artistically,

take another example even

century:

is

could be argued that the new inventions objectively

disrupted the art of vase-paintmg.

Or

a disturbing

calculated balance between pattern and dramatic

Of course, it

and

in a perfect whole.

and shade, these inventions introduced

Those who accept

evocation.

the lucid pattern

in

that this perfection was threatened by the further

felt

When

finely

vases as decadent.

demands of

harmonized

view,

all

practically illegible because

realism, Ghiberti,

designed stained-glass windows, but they are

of their complexity. Naturalism had

killed

one of

the glories of medieval art.

And

so,

when William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones

tried in their

church windows to move away from the illusionistic devices of Victorian

The

Primitive and

its

Value

in

Art

517

painting, they were not only motivated by a nostalgia for the

admired

medium demanded

a greater

They

primitives. restraint It

and

felt,

rightly

that the

felt,

m the deployment of naturalistic effects. It was a significant move, for Movement

was the purpose of the Arts and Crafts

artificial

other.

in

monumental

the

on

the

sculpture or in the art of the mural, whether

book, the priority of the pattern over the

in tapestries or in the art of the

demands of realism became an

The most emphatic of

articles

down

separation between design, on the one hand, and the fine arts,

Whether

fetters

to break

article

of faith

as the

of the freedom of decorative

assertion

demands can be found

naturalistic

century drew to

m

art

its

close.

from the

Walter Cranes books and

championing the Arts and Crafts Movement. In two of

from what he

and the

tapestry,

point of view. His imaginary decorator has

calls a decorator's

decided to turn for a

moment from his

all-engrossing studies

an exhibition of painting.

like to

of the arrangement, but even more by the inartistic imitation

.

witchery of imitative

his

Crane reviews the sculpture and the painting of his time

characteristic essays,''

we

Sculpture, skill

may

He

Tutility

learn,

is

is

m stained glass,

appalled by the chaos

of an aimless and therefore

a little better off, for

Vhile the

we

are forced

lead painters astray, in sculpture

back to what may be called the more purely

artistic qualities

of design, of

style.'

Crane never ceases to drive home

and constructive design:

imitative

*the

accidental lighting, phases

surfaces,

depending, for

its

beauty,

on

qualities

between what he

this distinction

calls

one seeking rather to imitate planes and

and

effects,

the other constructive,

of line and form and

tint,

unaffected by

and

accidental conditions, seeking typical rather than individual forms

ornamental rather than pursuit

determine

new I

fascination

its

its

precisely

'The way

success:

expositions,

realistic results.' is

is

that

What,

m

there

are

Crane's eyes, gives this

no

perpetually open for

and new adaptations and

scientific

new

rules

to

experiments, for

applications.'

am convinced that the modern movement owes

this

openness, this sense of

adventure and experiment, to no small extent, to the renewed interest in decorative art which

I

have examined today.

When

the competition

of the

camera had become oppressive, when 'photographic' became tantamount to vulgar, a

whole

rejected the

No artists

alternative tradition

was ready to receive the

Western preoccupation with

artist

who

imitative skills.

other tradition proved more attractive in this respect to European

of the

final

print (Fig. 292).

decades of the nineteenth century than that of the Japanese

Maybe

the style of these masterpieces of decorative tact was

particularly accessible to

assimilated

Western

some elements of

Part VI: Primitivisni and the Primitive

artists

the

because Japan had absorbed and

Western methods without thereby

surrendering

appeared

in

individuality. It

its

quotation marks,

as

is

interesting to see

it

were,

m

how

these prints

paintings such as Manet's portrait of Zola. Japonism, the rage for Japanese

among

painters such as Whistler or the designers of Art

bridge over which artists and art lovers could pass appreciation of

more

alien styles.

first

the backgrounds of naturalistic

more

For Van Gogh,

it

art,

Nouveau, became

effortlessly towards

a

an

was not so much the

refinement of these compositions which counted as their bold forms and

unbroken colours.

A

few years

later, his

South Seas and introduced

for the

elements of a more or

less fantastic

erstwhile companion, Gauguin, left

in the

South Sea

background of art.

In his prints and sculptures,

he went even farther and tried to imitate altogether the he saw I

to

style

of native

art, as

it.

confess that

which

see, in

his paintings

his

I

share, to

some

extent, the

doubts about Gauguin's greatness

former teacher, Pissarro, often gave vent. But

it is

not

difficult to

our present context, why Gauguin's decision to abandon naturalistic

The

Primitive and

its

Value

in

Art

319

conventions was journalists,

such a liberation, as what, in the jargon of our science

felt as

would now probably be

He

called a 'breakthrough'.

had dared to

cut the Gordian knot and to resolve the irreconcilable conflict between design

and representation that was such an increasingly disturbing element

work of his like

human face — with

the

and, suddenly, the their decoration

the

contemporaries, such as the masters of Art Nouveau,

less resolute

Gustav Klimt. Gauguin's example gave the signal to

— indeed,

new

in the

values

as

much freedom

of tribal

art

as

treat the

human form

any other part of nature,

were revealed to

artists.

Not

only

was superb, but their treatment of the human form displayed

same freedom from doubts, the same assurance,

which these

for

nineteenth-century Paris artists longed. Picasso, in 1907, copied tribal idols as artists a

at

generation earlier had studied Gothic stained glass, or Maurice Denis

Pont- Aven had studied the peasant art of Bretagne.

But then,

after 1906,

in earnest, the garrison

you

a passage

from the

when

the grand assault

had long last

on

the academic fortress began

lost its will to resist.

of six

lectures

I

should

English painter, George Clausen, delivered at the Royal

These

lectures are, to

a historical

Western

me,

moving

as

and

honesty

in their

m

document. Having passed

art in colour, light

like to

on painting which the

review

quote to

traditionalist

Academy

in 1904.

as they are interesting as

the achievements of

all

perspective, Clausen comes,

m conclusion, to

speak of the art of Japan:

There

is

at the

same time, so altogether

something disquieting

momentary thought whether our

own

illusion

nature

.

.

.

Our

of nature

is

m

art appeals

not

without changing

finer.

ours, so

so beautiful and,

is

much

so as to cause a

But whether or not, we must keep on

through representation or imitation, creating an

.

.

perfection

.

And

on the

lines

of the

earliest

forms of

if

find they are alike in this; that they

express and leave out the their art has developed,

I

rest.

The Japanese make

we look

may

Greek

vase-

drawings of

draw the things they want to

m the same way:

but has not changed."'

have been forming

m your minds

to bracket an art as sophisticated

Part VI: Pnmitivism and the Primitive

at the

their selection

have quoted this passage with an ulterior motive.

that

art,

direction.

pamtings, or to the earliest Italians, or even

we

of

their art seems, in this respect, to

If we go back to beginnings, to the Egyptian wall-paintings, to the

children,

like

three dimensions; while the Japanese representation

its

its final its

from

and practice do not lead us to render nature

not imitative, but selective

have developed to

fact that Japanese art

different

it is

road, for our traditions

the Japanese

m the

and

for

It is

some

to answer a question

time.

as subtle as the art

What

right have

I

of the Far East with

of the primitive? The answer

ideas

you

as

is,

always, a negative characteristic counts as

much

see in Clausen, that here, as in the history

of taste

any

as

positive features.

the absence of the third dimension, the absence of the

It is

European

of creating illusion through perspective and light and shade that

common

Clausen concentrate on the Japanese

art.

For the historian,

perplexing to the

critic.

The

denominator between child

this bracketing

The

for the

South Sea

significance

it

is

made Gauguin

Islands.

of this development and the questions

of the themes of my

and

indeed into the same

falls

period of crisis towards the end of the nineteenth century that

embark

made

art

as illuminating as

is

discovery of child art

skills

poses will be one

it

last talk.

Tree of Knowledge

4 The

Since these talks have been announced

mean by some

my

answer.

time, particularly

praise, after

which

I

am

I

have several times been asked what

Those who have followed me

so far will not be called primitive at

when

the

word was used

which implies the presence of

all,

I

mean any kind of art which was

the 'primitive*.

surprised at

I

here concerned.

Remember

term of praise.

It is

such

a value in the primitive

with

as a

that the

first

group of monuments

singled out for this particular praise in the late eighteenth century were Greek vases

— presumably works we would now

the nineteenth century, 'the primitives' Italian

call archaic rather

and Netherlandish schools; painters such

Oxford Dictionary, revised

m 1947, you will

still

The

if you

read that

*a

consult the

primitive

modern

painter

is

a

who

of these.'

preference for that style obviously implies a dissatisfaction with the

course art had taken since. the

Yet

us.

painter of the period before the Renaissance, or a imitates the style

for the early

Fra Angelico or Jan van

as

Eyck, whose art certainly does not look primitive to Shorter

than primitive. In

became the generic term

moment when

'the rot

It

was thought necessary to go back

had

set m'.

m time beyond

A. O. Lovejoy and George Boas, whose

standard work on primitivism in antiquity

I

have mentioned before, propose

to call this version 'chronological primitivism';

it is,

m

a way, a

form of the

longing for the good old days, for the lost paradise of innocence. Discontent

with civilization

would

all

as

such they

call 'cultural primitivism',

the

dream

that

be better off without the blessings of science and technology.

this conviction,

To quote

applied to

the words of

art,

which has led to the meaning of the term today.

Henry Moore

m

1941'':

'The term Primitive Art

generally used to include the products of a great variety of races in history ... In

its

we

It is

widest sense,

it

is

and periods

seems to cover most of those cultures

The

Primitive and

its

Value

m Art

321

which that

European and the great

are outside

we would expect

a

book

oriental civihzations.'

entitled Primitive Art to range

He

right

is

from African masks

and Ashanti gold weights to Maori carvings, Haida totem poles and Peruvian textiles. I

made

the point last time that the qualities of these styles were

discerned by Victorian

critics

who deplored

in the industrialized countries.

You

of the

m

A

mere decade

will also

remember

European malaise

that this

and barbarism

1895,

called

Seas, artists

of the

a rejuvenation.

South

after Gauguin's final flight to the

took to picking up what they called Negro sculpture from

Paris avant-garde

curio shops.

first

crafts

design of cultures not yet touched by the

culminated in the cultural primitivism of Gauguin, who, in civilization a sickness

and

arts

Here, the Great Exhibition was an eye-opener,

showing the superior standards blight of the machine.

the decline

Much

dismay of the conservative

to the

they came to

critics,

study these carvings rather as the Impressionists had copied Japanese prints

and Renaissance 'From art I

a

artists

Negro and

study of the

As Herbert Read wrote

ancient sarcophagi. the

Bushman we

are led to

m its most elementary form, and the elementary have quoted the words of this influential

which

existed

for

his

generation

chronological primitivism. practised 'art in

To assume

critic

between

closer to the origins,

and that

this that

it is

alone

vital*-^

Negro and

makes

Bushman

the

all,

that they are

their products

Not

and

primitivism

more

that Herbert

vital

Read was

m this conviction. The idea that civilization had slowly emerged out of

savagery, really

most

because they reveal the link

implies, after

than the derivative traditions of the ageing West.

an understanding

always the

cultural

that the

most elementary form'

its

is

in 1930:

and that

looking

at

in

our

century. Darwin's

looking

at the lives

of so-called savage

own distant past, had taken root as

tribes

we were

early as the eighteenth

and Herbert Spencers theories of evolution appeared to

provide scientific sanction for this rather simplistic view, which was generally

accepted without

much

question.

Without

this view,

of course, there would

have been no justification whatever in applying the term 'primitive' to varieties

of complex

styles

was no reason to assume that these millennial history.

term

styles

did not also have their

No wonder anthropologists

'primitive' for the art

all

the

developed by non- Western cultures. Surely there

of the

own

today have come to reject the

tribes they study,

and not only because the

educated members of the tribe resent the appellation which, somewhat misguidedly, they regard as a

slur.

But the dismantling of an old prejudice always leaves one with a problem.

Granted that so

it is little

short of absurd to assume that the art and culture of

many non-European peoples

development than we do, how could

522

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

represent

an

earlier

phase of

human

intelligent critics ever believe this?

The

The

brief answer

is

that they

took

a technological

demonstration.

We

developed ones.

It is well

can indeed speak of primitive technologies and of

known

that such

complex cultures

the Inca never developed the wheel, which invention,

knew

though

it is

remember

salutary to

the boomerang, which

mentalitv.

Now, from

weapon may

a technological

they

Western nations never

To

device.

the styles of non- Western all

represent the visible world

did the West before certain inventions were made, by which in

skills

of nature

imitation

the

Australian

indicate a rather primitive

angle,

common;

traditions certainly have this in

Maya and

as the

undoubtedly an important

is

that the

also an ingenious

is

Aborigines, our ignorance of that

as

view of human evolution.

technological superiority of Western civilization stands in no need of

which

I

mean

I

mentioned

have

those

before:

foreshortening, perspective and the rendering of light and of texture which can, in certain cases, result I

argued

that,

m an illusion of reality. In my book. Art and Illusion,

whether or not you

this result of a

deeply rooted

like these inventions,

long development

obvious or

as

easy.

mistake to regard

a

it is

For reasons which

m the psychology of perception, nobody

an aspect of nature which he sees in front of him unless he has it.

He

learnt

how to do

must, for instance, be taught to measure the apparent size of distant

m

objects against the brush held

modification of colours by the procedures,

fall

the outstretched hand, or to judge the

of light or the casting of shadows. All these

turns out, require the art student to fight

it

tendencies towards looking at the world.

The

down

his natural

appearance of nature can only

be 'trapped' bv a roundabout strategy. But, paradoxically, knowing

complex that

'trap'

is

styles as 'primitive'.

'normal'

They

are the rule rather than the exception, because the

method of making an image employs what

normal method

how

makes me question the description of non-naturalistic

schema, one which embodies what this

are

capable of copying

is

'primitive'

is

is

as

known

is

rather than

misleading as to

called a conceptual

what

is

form of locomotion because we have developed the

internal

To

seen.

call

primitive

call 'walking' a

combustion

engine.

The

reaction of Europeans to

misunderstandings,

similar

non-European

for

the

absence

particularly complex technique does not imply respect.

show

We

know,

a control

practice.

in fact, that the

of tools and

Compared

products of

materials that

to the precision

of

traditions has not been free

from

their

a lack

of

many

comes from

styles

skill

m

of one

any other

tribal traditions often

a

long and disciplined

of these native craftsmen

it is

often the

Western handiwork which looks clumsy. It is

for this reason also that the

comparison between

tribal art

of children, which was so dear to evolutionists, now seems

and the

art

totally misguided.

The

Primitive and

its

Value

in

Art

The mere

employs conceptual methods no longer

fact that child art also

justifies the idea that primitive art takes

m

us back to the childhood of man;

Most

every other respect, the two types of art are diametrically opposed.

forms of native

art are highly controlled.

even slapdash, especially since

lucky,

and

inventiveness

observed that

comes

this carefree stage

talks that

who

David's atelier

He

piety.

the

spontaneous, happy-go-

is

schools rightly encourage

of manual

end with puberty and the

to an

No

wonder, then,

that, in child art,

I

mentioned

was

called themselves Les Primitifs,

kingdom of heaven

unless

we become

of children.

It

as little children.

took more than

shall

not enter

But even these

not make their art

century for the seed of

a

primitivism to flower into the conviction that not only the academic

and shading, but

rather than a help

m

in

young man of great

a

on the teaching of Jesus Christ that we

radicals did not apply Christ's saying literally; they did

perspective

m the

Maurice Quai, that leader of the rebellious students

liked to dwell

similar to that

has often been

skill. It

found another object of nostalgia.

cultural primitivism has

of these

adult.

art

modern

originality at the expense

growing self-consciousness of the

first

Child

for,

of

drill

virtually all the artistic skills were a hindrance

striving for

immediacy. Only in the twentieth century

were the drawings and paintings of children taken sufficiently seriously to be

shown

in art exhibitions.

During

a visit to

one such exhibition Picasso

is

reported to have expressed his admiration and, indeed, his envy in these words:

'When I was draw

since to

a child I

could draw

like these children.'

We

like

great artists, too seriously. Picasso could not

what he meant

a child;

is

him

far

from easy

of drawing

like

even of

Raphael when he was

an art teacher, had obviously

that

like a child.

it is

what he has learned.

we cannot

tell,

but

it

so happens that

and that he succeeded

This, at any

rate, is

Vasari, tells us: 'Once, in his youth, Michelangelo

friends wagered a dinner to be stood to the winner a figure

obiter dicta,

had been trying to discard these

that his contemporary, Michelangelo, did

difficult task

have been trying ever

Picasso implied, quite correctly, that

like these children,

for anyone to unlearn

Whether or not Raphael knew

know

draw

his father,

to copy. But, in adding that he

and draw

skills

I

merely that he had mastered the academic routines

of drawing from the plaster cast which trained

Raphael.

need not take these

what

we

in this

his biographer,

and some of

his painter

m a competition for doing

completely devoid of draughtsmanship, one

as

clumsy

as

the

mannikms scrawled by that Michelangelo's

the ignorant who deface walls.' It was here, Vasari says, memory stood him in good stead. For he remembered

having seen such a scrawl on a wall and he perfectly imitated in front

adds

524

—

of him, thus surpassing

'for a

man

so steeped in

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

all

the other painters;

design.''''

it

as if he

'a difficult feat'

had

it

— Vasari

Whatever the

on

intrinsic, for

on

exact truth of this story,

a value of the primitive it is

who

an\'one

I

think

it

throws considerable light

which may be called extraneous rather than

obvious that the interest of the drawing would have been lost

know

did not

draughtsmanship.

The

that

author was the admired master of

its

joke rested on the distance between his real skill and

the clumsiness of the showpiece. Indeed, nowhere

of the unskilled scrawl were

that the distinctive characteristics

and exploited for fun. William Hogarth, ever ready to and methods of his

art, also

demonstrate

easier to

is it

than in the realm of humour.

this particular eifect of the primitive

included in his

satirical

rude grahtto of the French king drawn on a wall by a

No wonder

reflect

on the means

pamtmg,

The Invasion, a

child.

When,

eighteenth centurv. the craze for caricatures spread to amateurs,

hard to

tell

to

observed

first

m the late often

it is

what extent the clumsiness of some of these products was

humorous

intentional, for the cruditv^ adds to the

effect.

Mv eves were sharpened for the significance of this effect by my late friend, who

Ernst Kris; Kris was an eminent X^iennese art historian

joined the circle

of Sigmund Freud and explored the psychoanalytic theory of art.

It

was

m the

theory of verbal humour, of jokes and puns, that Freud had stressed the role of a deliberate relaxation of standards, the reversal to o gratifications was

enjoved pla\-s

m

our childhood. His example was the babblings of the infant

who

with the noises he can make. In a joke, so Freud thought, these playful

variations

emerge

and distortions

m

are placed

m the service of a repressed thought, and

the guise of a witticism which society^ accepts because

of the

amusing wrapping.

compared the

Generalizing; this model, Kris

humour with

that of the scrawl

psychoanalysts

call

m

'regression',

stage

of babbling

m

verbal

graphic wit. Both share the mechanism

the reversal to earlier phases of mental

development; indeed, the surrender of the rationality and control that characterize the adult

mmd. There

few theories of art which do not take

are

account of such a surrender, whether ecstasies of inspiration.

m.ovements the

is

What

is

it

is

to dream-like states or to the

characteristic

of many twentieth-century

the almost frantic search for such states through contact with

primitive.

Whether you think of French Fauvism

Expressionism, of

Dada

or

or Surrealism, or Abstract Expressionism

mention more recent movements and fads — they

all

have this

German — not to

m common: that

they value regression. This valuation, as we have seen, reflects the distaste for the skills developed by the

Western

distaste I can appreciate the causes

tradition.

of

While

I

do not share

this revulsion: the

naturalistic representation as such has

become

become somewhat redundant through

the invention of photography.

trivialized. It has.

The

this

achievement of

Primitive and

anyhow,

its

The

\alue

in

Art

325

resulting attitudes confront art with urgent problems.

An I

experience which

mean. Interested

composing

as

had when writing Art and

I

was

I

naturalistic

a

Illusio?-i

in the integrative skill

landscape,

asked

I

a

may

which

is

of

ii

child

reproduction of one of the masterpieces of John Constable. Wivenhoe Park,

m

which now hangs

illustrate

It

what

required in

copy

to

a

was the picture,

the National Gallery in Washington.

As

I

had expected, the child disregarded the interaction of elements, and so the copy, which

I

my

also included in

book, considerably reduced the complexity

of the painting. The main elements of the scene the distance behind the lake, the swans

but

these items are arranged

all

on

on

are

the water

all

recorded, the house in

m the fields,

and the cows

m

a flat surface, lacking

depth and

atmosphere, but compensating for this lack by a greater intensity of colours

and

a greater simplicity

You

of the component shapes.

not be surprised to hear that when

will

student of

my

I

showed the

result to

an art

acquaintance he expressed a strong preference for the child's

drawing over Constable's masterpiece. You here. Because, if there

anything

is

Constable was the better

and the child

in question has

wanted to add

admit that there

know about

values

m

is

art,

problem

a

it

is

that

This experiment took place many years ago,

artist.

yet she never

I

will

meanwhile grown into art to her

a

woman,

splendid young

many accomplishments,

let

alone to

surpass Constable.

On

the other hand,

You may remember

it is

enough to read the mind of the

easy

that, at the very

beginning of these

talks, I

art student.

contrasted the

cover of a chocolate-box with a child-like scrawl by the French painter,

Dubuffet.

I

ventured to say that, without the chocolate-box, we would not

have Dubuffet.

The

sweet picture of smiling goldilocks or the bowl of

appetizing cherries mobilizes the dread of kitsch because cloying. Cloying at least to those

among

it is

found to be

us whose taste has undergone that

process of sophistication of which, two thousand years ago, Cicero gave such a masterly description,

which

actually liking such a piece

an undeveloped, that

is,

I

have quoted in

would be

a primitive taste.

Dubuffet, on the other hand,

is

safe

my

first talk.

To be found

a social embarrassment, the admission

from

A taste

for the primitive scrawl

of

of a

this suspicion.

Now this, to be frank, is the danger I see m the cult of the primitive. It is the cult

of an extraneous negative

qualities

enough.

virtue, the preference for the

which we have been taught to

reject.

absence of certain

But negation can never be

Nor can regression be. If I may return to Freuds example,

childish babble

which makes the

in the witty hon mot. True, sheer

joke, but the skilful use

it is

not the

of verbal confusion

nonsense can also be delightful,

as in the

rhymes of Lewis Carroll or Edward Lear, but who can miss the mastery with

Part VI: Primicivism and the Primitive

which

293

Pablo Picasso, sketch for

I Giurnu-a.

pencil

i

Ma\- ig;- I\

on blue paper,

nonsense

presented?

is

of the twentieth century who admired the primitive

.

21 x

26.9 cm.

this

believe the great artists

and appeared to regression

reject the skills

of

tradition,

knew

equally well

m plav or m earnest without surrendering to

its

how

to use

pull.

Take Picasso,

He

never did. But

Centro de Arte Reina Sofia,

whom

Madrid

m

quoted for

I

one instance,

his alleged desire to

at least,

draw

like children.

where we find him deliberately regressing to the

294

Roy

Lichtenstein, / knew

hew voK must 1965. oil

feel.

Brad

methods of child

art,

we can guess

his purpose.

am

I

thinking of one of his

commemorate

preparatory drawings for Guernica, the mural he did to

the

and magna on

canvas. 16S

.\

96 cm.

destruction of the small Basque town

Ludwig Forum. Stadt

When

m the Spanish Civil War.

Picasso received the commission to paint a

work

for the Spanish

Aachen

Government

Pavilion at the Pans International Exhibition of 1937 he

thought of symbolizing the bullfight.

before,

As

war through the

civil

a passionate aficionado,

Some of

poignancy

m

illustrates

he had often painted and drawn bullfights

these

earlier

compositions reach an intensity and

the image of the rearing creature

how much

the motif

formula which he

first

a childish scrawl.

He drew

tried out

must have meant and

a horse

yet discarded

which

four straight legs sticking out of an oval

clumsy neck

(Fig. 293).

do not think

I

am

like children.

its

death agony that

to him. It

is

precisely this

really recalls a child's

a crude

Other sketches show even wilder

drawing, with

head attached to

a

distortions.

over-interpreting if I say that Picasso tried to revert to

away from what threatened to become

draw

m

m favour of what looks like

body and

elementals precisely because he found his

to

first

obvious analogy of a

and the theme of the gored and dying horse came to him almost

unbidden.

I

fairly

His fury and

skill obtrusive.

He

a facile stereotype; he

wanted to get

wanted to learn

grief at the violation of his country

The

Primitive

and

its

may

Value in Art

327

demanded from him somethmg more genume, more

have

intense than a

repetition of a symbol, however moving. But for Picasso

regression was a energies. It

symbol

is

passmg phase,

not the

of

artistic

self-quotation. Even with

he could afford this

m

Guernica,

its final

He must have felt that he

just as the great actor

me

niceties

the decisive point

cultivated in our century.

The

of that of plot

and even of the brush

of style

Picasso's

in the heat

of emotion.

without becoming inarticulate.

m

the use

itself,

exemplifies in his

and abuse of regression

drama, the casting aside of dexterity

must be compensated

work

I

for

by

a

heightened

were asked to

just the right balance

name one

between regression

and control, the exact dosage of the primitive handled with mastery, be Paul Klee. Studying his

as

disregard of the rules of grammar that occurred

in the novel or

awareness of the means at the artist s disposal. If

who

that

can scream or roar without losing control of his

faculties, so Picasso gave vent to his fury

in poetry or

amendment

this

form, remains one of the most impressive instances of the

power of regression, casting aside the

This seems to

could not do better and

had meanwhile become so charged with emotion

that the painting as such

artist

with

an expressive

his search for

that, in the end, Picasso reverted to his earlier invention, the rearing

horse in the agony of death.

But

mmd

chargmg of the

a fresh

least instructive aspect

extreme

this

cevivre

m

and that of his peers

primitive modes, one arrives at a conclusion which

the

is

would

it

employment of

only an apparent

paradox: the more the Western artist courts the primitive, the more must his art differ

used to

from

his

admired models. African or Polynesian

call primitive

—

have

many

resources, but, for

lack the one so dear to the sophisticated. tribal artist

cannot regress to an

earlier

I

art

—

good or

ill,

they must

mean, of course, primitivism. The phase for the sake of

effect.

of the Western tradition have thus given to

technical developments

we

the styles

unexpected dimension. Hence one of the values of the primitive

m

The

art

an

art, its

otherness, turns out to be a by-product of the striving for progress which the

ancients and Vasari celebrated in chronicling the evolution of Greek

Renaissance

adjustment of the conceptual schema. Without this effort and the perils

It

disclosed,

we could not appreciate

that

distance

artistic

between the

elemental and the slick which plays such a decisive role in our taste today.

cannot opt out of this development which has carried us so genuine primitive.

Nor

and

progress achieved by the systematic correction and

art. It is a

can the self-conscious

artist

far

We

away from the

escape from the hall of

mirrors which gives an added significance to whatever he does or leaves

undone. I

was confirmed

in

my

public find themselves

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

diagnosis of the situation in which the artist and the

m

reading

some of

the utterances

made by Roy

Lichtenstem, whose rejection of inspiration

m

artistic sophistication

him

drove

the popular art of the comic strip (Fig. 294).

reporter of Art News, Are you anti-experimental?' he replied,

*I

to seek

Asked by

think

a

and

so,

anti-contemplative, anti-nuance, anti-getting-away-from-the-tyranny-of-therectangle,

and

anti-movement and

anti-all

of these

light, anti-mystery, anti-pamt-quality,

anti-Zen

of preceding movements which everyone

brilliant ideas

understands so thoroughly.' Apparently, Lichtenstein found himself trapped in a field of force in

which he could

no move but

see

And yet he,

imagery beloved of the unsophisticated masses. heart of hearts that art cannot

put

come

this insight into the following

of turning to the

that

too, realized in his

of rejection alone. Three years

words:

I'm interested in portraying a sort of anti-sensibility that pervades the

and a kind of gross I really

mean not

it

art.

over-simplification.

use that

I

more

as style

society,

than as actuality.

don't think that art can be gross and over-simplified and remain art.

must have But using

subtleties it

and

as a style,

I

it

must

yield to aesthetic unity; otherwise

think that

it's

really a

I

it's

kind of conceptual rather

than a visual style which maybe permeates most art being done today, whether

it

geometric or whatever.'"

is

We

must hand

it

to Lichtenstem that he has seen the

negation of negations has landed realized the resulting plight, art

he

later,

really very different

IS

and

him and

so

dilemma

many of his

m

which

his

fellow artists.

He

tried to extricate himself by claiming that his

from the

style

he imitates, and therefore very subtle.

But, whether true or false, this claim only brings us back to that sophisticated elitism

from which

on

own

his

result

of

much of the

also offer a remedy. I

I

other primitivists, wanted to escape. But,

art

of our time, then

I

to

first

appeared

what to do

tell artists

am

as

long

is

right that

arguments

as they,

the

and

may

critic,

their

think that, in the present malaise, even the historian of

can make a contribution because

who

intellectual

have always seen myself as a historian rather than a

would never want

public, are happy. But art

many

intellectual rather than purely artistic ambitions. If I

this applies to

and

he, like so

showing, the dilemma in which he finds himself enmeshed

it

was he,

as I tried to

show

in these talks,

m the guise of the serpent, tempting the artist to eat from

the Tree of Knowledge.

Editors Postscript Gomhrich showed

his interest in

Medieval Art'

Meditations on a

primitivism

in

primitivism in a very early

Hobby

was 'The Debate on Primitivism

in

Horse,

article,

A

republished as Achievement in

seminal essay for

Ancient Rhetoric] Journal

The

later studies

of

of the Warburg

Primitive and

its

Value

in

Art

and Courtauld

29 (ig66),

Institutes^

pp.

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes^ 2j (ig6o),

Cicero's Brutus'^

^og~ll. The psychological theory was developed Psychoanalysis and

We Its

2^-37^ which followed 'Vasans Lives and

the

History of Art\ also

in

in

'Visual Metaphors of Value in Art'

Meditations on a

are currently waiting for his forthcoming book

preliminary ideas were

Mary Duke

spelt

of Progress and

out in Ideas

and

(Cologne, l^yS), et

in French,

German

Hobby

Horse.

Preference for the Primitive. their

(New

Biddle Lectures given at the Cooper Union

privately circulated, though there has been a

de progres

The

pp.

and

translation,

L'Ecologie des Images

Impact on Art^ The

York,

l^yi), which were

Kunst und Fortschritt

(Paris,

198j), contains Tesldees

leur repercussion dans Fart'.

'The Values of the Byzantine Tradition: Boisseree Collection' in G. P. Weisberg (Syracuse, l^Sy),

Romanesque',

in

A Documentary History of Goethe's Response to the

and

and Prom Archaeology

L.

to

S.

Dixon

(eds.).

Art History: Some

Icon to Cartoon: a Tribute to Sixten

give a taste of what

is

about

come. In Italian there

to

is

II

The Documented Image Stages in the Rediscovery of the

Ringbom

(Abo, iggy),

gusto dei primitivi

may

(Naples,

198J). Useful background works remain George Levitine,

The Dawn of Bohemianism:

the

m Neoclassical France (Pennsylvania, i^yS), and m Modern Art (enlarged Cambridge, Mass., igS6).

Barbu Rebellion and Primitivism Robert Goldwater,

Primitivism

For a commentary on Obtrusive: on E.

Woodfeld (ed.f

}}o

the

edn.,

work

H. Gombrich's

so

far

see

Contribution

Graham

to the

Gombrich on Art and Psychology

Part VI: Primitivism and the Primitive

Birtwistle,

'When

Study of Primitivism

in

Skills

Art'

(Manchester, igg6).

in

Become Richard