The Question of Painting
Also available from Bloomsbury
The Phenomenology of Modern Art , Paul Crowther
Aesthetics of Ugliness , Karl Rosenkranz
Art, Language and Figure in Merleau-Ponty , Rajiv Kaushik
Art and Institution , Rajiv Kaushik
The Aesthetico-Political , Martn Plot
The Merleau-Ponty Dictionary , Donald A. Landes
Showing Off! A Philosophy of Image , Jorella Andrews
There is a pictorial rationality as there is a rationality of a painters work, rationality not of completion but of investigation.
(Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Institution of a
Work of Art, 195455)
The Question of Painting
Rethinking Thought with Merleau-Ponty
JORELLA ANDREWS
Contents
This book is dedicated, with profound thanks, to the memory of Professor Michael Podro. It was Michael who first introduced me to the work of Merleau-Ponty and who supervised the MA and PhD research I carried out on this topic while at the University of Essex. The original research for this project was supported by funding from a British Academy Scholarship.
I would also like to thank my family members they know who they are and my friends and colleagues, including Leah Durner, Walter Hayn, Donna Kehoe, Angela Nicholls, Alex Potts and Diana Stephenson, as well as my editors at Bloomsbury, Liza Thompson, Frankie Mace, Beth Williams and Sweda Deanta, for their wonderful friendship, advice and support.
I thank the publishers of the following works for granting me permission to reproduce substantial extracts for the purposes of analysis and discussion:
From The Structure of Behavior by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Copyright 1963 by Beacon Press; originally published in French under the title La Structure du Comportement, copyright 1942 by Presses Universitaires de France. Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press, Boston. From Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Translated from the French Phnomenologie de la perception by Colin Smith. English translation 1962, Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Books UK.
From Sense and Non-Sense. Originally published in French as Sens et non-sens , 1948 by Les ditions Nagel. This translation is based upon the revised third edition, issued by Nagel in 1961. English translation 1964 by Northwestern University Press. First published 1964 by Northwestern University Press. All rights reserved .
From Signs. Originally published in French under the title Signes. Copyright by Librarie Gallimard, Paris. English translation copyright 1964 by Northwestern University Press. First printing 1964. All rights reserved.
From The Primacy of Perception and Other Essays. Loeil et lesprit ditions Gallimard 1964. English translation copyright 1964 by Northwestern University Press.
From The Visible and the Invisible. Originally published in French under the title Le Visible et linvisible. Copyright 1964 by Editions Gallimard, Paris. English translation copyright 1968 by Northwestern University Press. First printing 1968. All rights reserved . From Metamorphoses by Ovid. Translated by A. D. Melville (2008). By permission of Oxford University Press / By permission of Oxford University Press, USA http://www.oup.com.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.
The Louvre during the War: The Rubens Room ( Le Muse de Louvre pendant la guerre: la salle Rubens ), press photograph, n.d., [photographie de presse] / Agence Meurisse. Bibliothque Nationale de France |
El Greco, Christ on the Cross Adored by Donors , c. 1590, oil on canvas, 248 180 cm. The Louvre, Paris. Photo RMN-Grand Palais (muse du Louvre) / Tony Querrec |
Leah Durner, Feast or Famine , 1986, compressed charcoal and graphite on Fabriano paper, 96.52 127 cm. Courtesy Leah Durner. |
Leah Durner, darkgreylightgreyyellow pour , 2017, from the Cline series (2016present), poured latex enamel on canvas, 182.88 152.4 cm. Courtesy Leah Durner. |
Jan Dibbets, Perspective Correction My Studio II , 1969, gelatin silver print on linen. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam / ARS, NY and DACS, London 2018. |
Leah Durner, Studio, New York, NY , 2016, photograph. Courtesy Leah Durner. |
Rashid Johnson, Cosmic Slop The Berlin Conference , 2011, black soap, wax, 184.2 245.11 5.1 cm. Rashid Johnson. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Martin Parsekian. |
Charline von Heyl, The Colour Out of Space , 2013, acrylic and oil on canvas, 209.6 182.9 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York. |
Paul Czanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from the Bibmus Quarry , c. 1897, oil on canvas, 25 5/8 32 inches (65.1 81.3 cm), The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland. BMA 1950.196. Courtesy Baltimore Museum of Art. |
Paul Czanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire , c. 19026, watercolour and graphite on paper. Sheet (sight): 18 1/2 12 1/16 inches (47 30.7 cm). Credit: Philadelphia Museum of Art. Made possible by the families of Helen Tyson Madeira and Charles R. Tyson, 2015-42-1. |
Barbara Kapusta, Still from Os Vocalization , 2016, HD 16:9 video transferred to PAL 4:3, sound Chra, 10:56 mins. Courtesy Barbara Kapusta |
Pieter de Hooch, A Woman Carrying a Bucket in a Courtyard ( Eine Magd mit Eimer in einem Hinterhof ) c. 165860, oil on canvas, 44 42 cm. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Credit: bpk / Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe / Wolfgang Pankoke |
Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze), Untitled (Paris Palisade ) ( Ohne Titel [Paris ]), 19323, gelatin silver print on paper, 7.7 4.6 cm. ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2018 / Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Photo: Herbert Boswank. |
Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze) , Untitled, c. 19445, graphite, watercolour and gouache on paper, 9.2 13.5 cm. Tate, London . ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2018 / Tate, London, 2017 . |
Merleau-Ponty and his Daughter, La Canebire, Marseille, summer 1948, photograph. Archives Merleau-Ponty. Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce this image. The publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity. |
Katharina Grosse, This is Not Dogshit , 2007, acrylic on wall, windows and floor, 600 1200 100 cm. Leeuwarden / Franchise Foundation. Photo: Harold Koppmanns. Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / DACS 2018. |
Katharina Grosse, The Poise of the Head und die anderen folgen , 2004, acrylic on wall, floor, soil and canvas, 900 900 1100 cm. Photo: Nic Tenwiggenhorn and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / DACS 2018. |
Installation view, Rashid Johnson. Within Our Gates , Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia, 2016. Rashid Johnson. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Alexey Naroditsky. |
Andr Malraux and His Imaginary Museum, Boulogne sur Seine, France , 1953 (the writer Andr Malraux poses in his house in Boulogne near Paris while working on his book Le Muse Imaginaire or Imaginary Museum , 2nd volume, Du bas relief aux Grottes Sacres , in 1953). Photo by Maurice Jarnoux / Paris Match Archive via Getty Images. |