Chilhood in art : transitional space, transfiguration and transfer in the graphic, photographic and videographic medium

S'appuyant sur une pratique personnelle du dessin, du collage et de la photographie, cette thèse de poïétique explore le thème de l'enfance dans l'art. Conçue comme un " work in progress", elle part d'une recherche sur l'intimité du dessin afin de construire un regard singulier sur : l'exposition de photographies et de vidéographies témoignant de traumas d'enfants. Elle vérifie l'hypothèse selon laquelle l'artiste puise dans sa propre enfance et dans celle des autres afin de conquérir des territoires de créations ignorés, là où prend corps l'altérité intime. La première partie analyse notamment les œuvres de Louise Bourgeois, Mike Kelley et Rosemarie Trockel, pour comprendre comment leurs processus créateurs réactivent l'espace transitionnel et ses phénomènes en nous immergeant dans des souvenirs d'enfances perdus. Dans une deuxième partie, c'est la transfiguration et l'altération radicale des visages d'enfants photographiés par Diane Arbus, Lewis Hine, Sebastiâo Salgado, ou filmés par Gillian Wearing qui sont interrogées. La réflexion se poursuit autour d'enjeux esthétiques et politiques liés à l'utilisation de ces images par des artistes tels que Mathieu Pemot et Catherine Poncin. Enfin, la troisième partie est centrée sur l'œuvre de Gerhard Richter traitant du transfert en tant que processus permettant d'actualiser, par la répétition, les événements passés qui le hantent. Le faire-œuvre qui en témoigne fait corps, devenant ainsi capable de figer ces blessures. Notre thèse, c'est que l'expérience d'un« absorbement » total dans ces œuvres nous incluant et nous excluant simultanément permet à l'artiste et au regardeur de reconnaître l'histoire des autres en lui.Relying on personal experience in drawing, collage and photography, this thesis on poiesis explores the subject of childhood in Art. Designed as a work in progress, it stems from the intimacy of drawing and aims at constructing a singular outlook from the display of photography and films depicting childhood trauma. It verifies the hypothesis stating that the artist peers into his own childhood and that of others in order to conquer creative fields hitherto ignored, at the threshold of the intimate other. The first section scrutinizes the works of Louis Bourgeois, Mike Kelley and Rosemarie Trockel striving to understand how their creative processes reactivate transitional space -and its associated phenomena- by immersing us in distant recollections of childhood. The second section questions the transfiguration and the dramatic alteration of children's faces filmed and photographed by Diane Arbus, Lewis Hine, Sebastiâo Salgado and Gillian Wearing. The thesis then pursues on to evaluate the aesthetic and political stakes bound to the use of these images by artists, the likes of Mathieu Pemot and Catherine Poncin. Ultimately, the third part is centred on the work of Gerhard Richter dealing with transfer as a means of resurfacing -through reiteration- past events that haunt him. The resulting product thus making it possible to set these wounds in stone. Mythesis is that the experience of total absorption/immersion in these works -simultaneously including and excluding us- makes it possible for the artist and the observer to acknowled e the narratives of ethers within themselves

Musique concrète, French New Wave cinema, and Jean Cocteau's 'Le Testament d'Orphée' (1960)

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) is recognized as one of France's most well-known film directors, directing six films over a thirty-year period. This article argues that his film soundscapes occupy a unique position in the history of French film sound, providing a key link between contemporary experimentation in art music and the sonic experimentation of the New Wave filmmakers. This argument is best exemplified by Le Testament d'Orphée (1960), which represents the apotheosis of Cocteau's artistic output as well as the stage at which he was most confident in handling the design of a film soundscape. Indeed, Cocteau was comfortable with the selection and arrangement of sonic elements to the extent that his regular collaborator Georges Auric became almost dispensable. Nevertheless, Auric's willing support enriched the final film and Cocteau created a highly self-reflexive work through his arrangement of the composer's music with pre-existing musical borrowings. Cocteau's engagement with contemporary developments in film and art music can be heard throughout this film, highlighting his position as a poet simultaneously establishing himself in the canon of art and looking to the future