The Poetics of Bricolage: Andre Breton's Theoretical Fables

1996-01-01

Imaging Evil in the First Chapters of Genesis: Texts behind the Images in Eastern Orthodox Art

Satan’s interference in the events described in the first chapters of the book of Genesis and in the life of the protoplasts is not mentioned at all in the biblical text. This happens, however, in pseudo-canonical texts. The article is a short survey on the apocryphal accounts that mention Satan and their influence on art. The main focus is put on the inclusion of the image of Satan behind Cain’s figure in a number of depictions of the scene The Murder of Abel in the Russian art of the 16th and 17th centuries. The possible links between this visual motif with several literary sources is examined, among them the Short and the Explanatory Palaea, the Tale of Bygone Years (Povest’ vremennykh let or Primary Chronicle), Russian recensions of the apocryphon The Sea of Tiberias, and of The Revelation of Pseudo-Methodius of Patara. In addition, some instances of the same visual decision in Balkan art are pointed out and their connection to Russian models is underlined

Che cos’è la pittura ? Trois manières de toucher la Chose : Nancy, Cixous, Derrida

Notre étude s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet de recherche subventionné par le CRSH, « Entre philosophie et littérature : Jacques Derrida et Hélène Cixous, rapports croisés ». Comment l’écriture touche-t-elle le tableau ? Il s’agit d’examiner ici, dans une sorte de triptyque, trois façons d’« être », de se tenir, de se plier ou de se rendre à la Chose de la peinture, à la chose peinte. Des nombreux textes de Jean-Luc Nancy consacrés à l’art, nous retenons surtout sa Visitation (de la peinture chrétienne), Noli me tangere et Transcription, en nous attachant au « sens dessus dessous » produit par la methexis au sein de la représentation. D’Hélène Cixous, nous analysons Le tablier de Simon Hantaï. Annagrammes, où la question du commerce de l’écriture avec la peinture, de l’échange entre la lettre et le tableau (en l’occurrence, la toile Peinture [Écriture rose], de Simon Hantaï) est abordée dans une relation unique où advient « la transfiguration de Peinture en Écriture, d’Écriture en Peinture ». Quant à Jacques Derrida, nous le suivons dans l’atelier de Camilla Adami où, devant les grands singes de (ou en) peinture qui le toisent, il rêve en silence de la Chose et interroge, au-delà de toute appropriation, ces singes/signes de peinture, cette Chose expropriée par tout discours où s’échangent « le devenir-quelqu’un de quelque chose » et le « devenir quelque chose de quelqu’un » — autrement dit, la grande question philosophique du « qui » et du « quoi » comme celle de « la peinture même ». Cette façon d’entrecroiser les lectures nous permet ainsi de laisser ces textes, ensemble et séparément, se parler, ou mieux se toucher, comme les toiles accrochées ou tournées contre le mur dans l’atelier.How does writing touch a painting? Are examined here, in what could be conceived as a triptych, three ways of ‘being,’ of holding, yielding or surrending to the Thing of painting, to the painted thing. Among the numerous texts by Jean-Luc Nancy devoted to art, particular attention is paid to Visitation (de la peinture chrétienne), Noli me tangere and Transcription, in order to examine the ‘meaning turned upside down’ produced by the methexis in representation. This article also considers Le Tablier de Simon Hantaï. Annagrammes by Hélène Cixous, a text where the dealings of writing with painting, the exchange between the letter and the canvas (here the work entitled Peinture (Écriture rose), by artist Simon Hantaï) are approached within a singular, unique relation, one where the ‘transfiguration of Painting into Writing, of Writing into Painting’ comes about. Finally, we follow Jacques Derrida into Camilla Adami’s studio. There, meditating before the big apes (singes/signes) in (or of) painting gazing back at him, the philosopher silently dreams of the Thing and interrogates, beyond any appropriation, these signs (singes) of painting, this Thing expropriated by all discourse where the ‘becoming-someone of something’ and the ‘becoming-something of someone’ are exchanged; in other words, Derrida raises here the great philosophical question of the ‘who’ and the ‘what’ as being the question of ?painting? itself. Such intertwined readings allow for the texts to speak to each other, all at once and separately or, better still, to touch each other like paintings hanging, or turned against the walls of a studio

Points of Departure: exhibition text

This text was published to accompany The Hunterian exhibition 'Still Moving: the films and photographs of Ulrike Ottinger' and served as both an introduction to the artist's work and to set out the rationale for the particular selection of her work included in the exhibition