Psychoanalytic aesthetics: the case of Miró and the 'child-like'

Miró's art is regularly characterised as 'child-like' in art historical literature. That is, his work is taken visually to resemble, or as sharing some of the characteristics (freshness of vision, spontaneity, emotional expressiveness, freedom from traditional illusionistic techniques) attributed to, the artistic productions of children. This analogy with child art (exploited by Expressionists and others in the early years of the twentieth-century) dates in Miró's case to his involvement with Surrealism in the 1920s. It was understood as a more or less conscious intention to exploit the visual characteristics of the successive stages in a child's artistic development. In other words, it was one aspect of Surrealism's engagement with 'primitivist' forms of expression, in which artists appropriated the aesthetic of children's drawings, tribal and folk artifacts, and the artistic productions of the mentally ill. My discussion of Miró is supported by comparison with the work of two other artists, Klee and Chagall, who also borrowed from child art and whose production was likewise associated with childhood by critical literature. Klee's work supports my contention that although Mirós painting bears a passing resemblance to children's drawings, a more sustained analysis demonstrates that it is unlike anything that a child would actually produce. 'Child-likeness', generally a comment on form, becomes in Miró's case question of artistic content, relating to the development and constant recycling of a vocabulary of shapes largely derived from childhood memories. Comparison with Chagall, whose oeuvre was also thematically indebted to childhood memories, allows one to put forward a psychoanalytically informed explanation of the infantile origins of the content that finds expression in art. Miró's thematic 'child-like' content, from this point onwards, is used as a case study to effect the comparison between the theories of Freud (a major influence on Surrealism), and those of the Kleinian tradition within the British Object-Relations School of psychoanalysis, insofar as these have lent themselves to the discussion of art. Both approaches are developmental (Freud and Klein theorised adult psychology as a development of the thought processes of infancy and childhood), and for this reason have been preferred to the topographical and Lacanian orientation adopted in recent applied psychoanalytic literature. \Vhereas Freud's psychoanalysis of art concentrates on the unconscious processes and mechanisms by means of which the fantasy-distorted derivatives of repressed infantile material emerge into consciousness and become the material of art, the Kleinian psychoanalytic aesthetic developed by Segal and Stokes focuses on the unconscious revelations underlying creativity and the phantasy content that finds expression at the level of the medium. Winnicott provides a (poetic) description of the experiences, rooted in childhood perceptual patterns, to which the production of art and its reception give rise. Miró's own accounts of his creative procedures confirm that the unconscious infantile-derived thought processes, motivations and contents theorised by these authors are in .... [?] operative in the production of art, whilst also making clear that creativity is determined by socio-cultural, therefore conscious (and, as such, psychoanalytically unaccounted for) factors. Both the explanatory value and the principal methodological limitation of psychoanalytic aesthetics centre on these two final considerations

Related trends in music and painting of the twentieth century

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University N.B.: Page misnumbered no I

Representar el movimiento / Presentar lo móvil

This article is proposed as an analysis of the artistic works which were interested in including movement representation or pointing to the attainment of kinetic art. Before incorporating the real movement in art works, there have been different attempts to represent it: by poses, instant grasp, or action narrative suggestion, and also by giving form to different movement stages. Thus, in this study we define two possible itineraries: “Representing the Movement” goes through the different approximations to movement representation from the pictorial and photographic practice, and “Presenting the Movable” does the same from the sculpture. We will travel through the path that covers the first trials to represent and fix something that moves in order to conquer the movable art itself, where the work becomes process and event, and it is developed, finally, into a time and space expanded action.This article is proposed as an analysis of the artistic works which were interested in including movement representation or pointing to the attainment of kinetic art. Before incorporating the real movement in art works, there have been different attempts to represent it: by poses, instant grasp, or action narrative suggestion, and also by giving form to different movement stages. Thus, in this study we define two possible itineraries: “Representing the Movement” goes through the different approximations to movement representation from the pictorial and photographic practice, and “Presenting the Movable” does the same from the sculpture. We will travel through the path that covers the first trials to represent and fix something that moves in order to conquer the movable art itself, where the work becomes process and event, and it is developed, finally, into a time and space expanded action

Design Credo: The making of design tools as a personal theory building process

Design tools, just like any design objects, can be examined from the angle of their making, and this viewpoint can be used for exploring designing itself. This thesis presents one way to build tools for reflecting on design approach and developing skills and beliefs. Three different angles are opened to the idea of design tools, explored and presented through three artefacts. The author has engaged with both computer tools and drawing approaches, alternating between insight that emerges from the works and the literature which supplies keys for interpreting the artefacts. The tools arise from personal beliefs, fuelled by ideologies and a broader world view. Cultivating a personal belief, a design credo, becomes an integral part of understanding the role of tools in the designer’s exploration.Muotoilun välineitä, kuten muitakin suunniteltuja esineitä, voidaan tarkastella niiden rakentamisen kautta. Tässä väitöskirjassa tätä näkökulmaa hyödynnetään itse muotoilutoiminnan avaamiseen. Työkalujen rakentaminen on yksi keino käsitteellistää ja kehittää omia suunnittelutaitoja, lähestymistapoja ja uskomuksia. Väitöksen kolme työkaluprojektia avaavat erilaisia kulmia muotoiluvälineajatteluun. Tekijä on lähestynyt aihetta sekä rakentamalla tietokoneohjelmia että kehittänyt piirtämistekniikkaansa vuoropuhelussa kirjallisuudesta nousevan käsitteistön kanssa. Työkalut ovat heijastuksia henkilökohtaisista uskomuksista ja ideologioista. Suunnittelijan “credo”, omakohtainen maailmankuva, näyttäytyy olennaisena osana muotoiluvälineiden ymmärtämistä

Transforming structured descriptions to visual representations. An automated visualization of historical bookbinding structures.

In cultural heritage, the documentation of artefacts can be both iconographic and textual, i.e. both pictures and drawings on the one hand, and text and words on the other are used for documentation purposes. This research project aims to produce a methodology to transform automatically verbal descriptions of material objects, with a focus on bookbinding structures, into standardized and scholarly-sound visual representations. In the last few decades, the recording and management of documentation data about material objects, including bookbindings, has switched from paper-based archives to databases, but sketches and diagrams are a form of documentation still carried out mostly by hand. Diagrams hold some unique information, but often, also redundant information already secured through verbal means within the databases. This project proposes a methodology to harness verbal information stored within a database and automatically generate visual representations. A number of projects within the cultural heritage sector have applied semantic modelling to generate graphic outputs from verbal inputs. None of these has considered bookbindings and none of these relies on information already recorded within databases. Instead they develop an extra layer of modelling and typically gather more data, specifically for the purpose of generating a pictorial output. In these projects qualitative data (verbal input) is often mixed with quantitative data (measurements, scans, or other direct acquisition methods) to solve the problems of indeterminateness found in verbal descriptions. Also, none of these projects has attempted to develop a general methodology to ascertain the minimum amount ii of information that is required for successful verbal-to-visual transformations for material objects in other fields. This research has addressed these issues. The novel contributions of this research include: (i) a series of methodological recommendations for successful automated verbal-to-visual intersemiotic translations for material objects — and bookbinding structures in particular — which are possible when whole/part relationships, spatial configurations, the object’s logical form, and its prototypical shapes are communicated; (ii) the production of intersemiotic transformations for the domain of bookbinding structures; (iii) design recommendations for the generation of standardized automated prototypical drawings of bookbinding structures; (iv) the application — never considered before — of uncertainty visualization to the field of the archaeology of the book. This research also proposes the use of automatically generated diagrams as data verification tools to help identify meaningless or wrong data, thus increasing data accuracy within databases

Non-photorealistic rendering: a critical examination and proposed system.

In the first part of the program the emergent field of Non-Photorealistic Rendering is explored from a cultural perspective. This is to establish a clear understanding of what Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR) ought to be in its mature form in order to provide goals and an overall infrastructure for future development. This thesis claims that unless we understand and clarify NPR's relationship with other media (photography, photorealistic computer graphics and traditional media) we will continue to manufacture "new solutions" to computer based imaging which are confused and naive in their goals. Such solutions will be rejected by the art and design community, generally condemned as novelties of little cultural worth ( i.e. they will not sell). This is achieved by critically reviewing published systems that are naively described as Non-photorealistic or "painterly" systems. Current practices and techniques are criticised in terms of their low ability to articulate meaning in images; solutions to this problem are given. A further argument claims that NPR, while being similar to traditional "natural media" techniques in certain aspects, is fundamentally different in other ways. This similarity has lead NPR to be sometimes proposed as "painting simulation" — something it can never be. Methods for avoiding this position are proposed. The similarities and differences to painting and drawing are presented and NPR's relationship to its other counterpart, Photorealistic Rendering (PR), is then delineated. It is shown that NPR is paradigmatically different to other forms of representation — i.e. it is not an "effect", but rather something basically different. The benefits of NPR in its mature form are discussed in the context of Architectural Representation and Design in general. This is done in conjunction with consultations with designers and architects. From this consultation a "wish-list" of capabilities is compiled by way of a requirements capture for a proposed system. A series of computer-based experiments resulting in the systems "Expressive Marks" and 'Magic Painter" are carried out; these practical experiments add further understanding to the problems of NPR. The exploration concludes with a prototype system "Piranesi" which is submitted as a good overall solution to the problem of NPR. In support of this written thesis are : - • The Expressive Marks system • Magic Painter system • The Piranesi system (which includes the EPixel and Sketcher systems) • A large portfolio of images generated throughout the exploration

A Critical Study of Modern Orthodox Scholarly Criticism of Western Art

The present work seeks to explore the modern Orthodox Christian view of western art with a particular reference to western painting since the times of the Italian Renaissance to the present day. The fact that the phenomenon of western art is relatively new appears as a main challenge while attempting to examine the validity of modern views expressed in the name of the Orthodox tradition by references from patristic sources. Therefore the method of this thesis is to divide the concept of western art into its constituent components and find the patristic responses to each of them in the light of the Fathers’ appreciation of their contemporary art, literature and philosophy outside the church. As an interdisciplinary exploration of artistic creativity this work has its goal throughout to trace the positive aspects presented by the masterpieces of western art that can aid the Christian process of theosis as well as enhance the Orthodox theological contribution to the ecumenical dialogue between the East and West on the grounds of common aspects manifested in the phenomenon of human creativity. Drawing on categories of western aesthetics as well as Orthodox theology, this work is particularly interested in the nature of Orthodox arguments for and against artistic creativity per se and their relationship to the ‘Patristic mind’ of the Church rather than seeking the direct quotations of the Fathers over the subject in vain. The historical background of the modern disagreement over the issue will be taken into special consideration. Focusing on western art from an Orthodox perspective is fundamentally at odds with many conservative expectations of human creativity that are usually associated with iconography and liturgical art in Orthodox theology. Yet, the number and quality of works dedicated to explorations of iconography provides a sufficient material for enlightening both Orthodox and western readers on the mystical power of spiritual illumination generating from Orthodox icons as well as its artistic and historical analyses. The topic of this work – art outside the liturgical boundaries of the church –has been deliberately chosen. The central argument of this work is that human creativity in general has a divine origin since it has been inherited from the creative energy of God. The power of artistic influence cannot be doubted especially in a modern society that subconsciously seeks a liberation from the custody of the machinery of technical civilization. Therefore, the search for true and authentic goodness in sincere artistic manifestations of beauty and truth can find an important place in the Orthodox Christian consciousness without a need for its inclusion in worship. If taken seriously great masterpieces of western art offer an immense contribution to the theological study of spiritual senses and their relationship to the process of theosis