Imuage asd Wosdl in Feserstieth-Century Art ain etc Hes an words ete Wo than aes fi ud ithe history ofa, Buon lm, forhere itt on ene of iat ewncents ofthe pind = the del of pity and the constant “i fo ref this i tough the breaking of former tas, ‘Wise an which pefedy embod theoretical ees ane not nec sil th test of thei ie, and make no sich cn for Mel Ramsden's Set Prrton, ics fond in Ursla Meyer's Gonccponale (1972). 1 shows back ate nest to te folossing eapeon: “The content of this painting i nw the character and dimensions of de comer ae tobe ke peta hers." Tac handlers om the es for iso peter hat shuns contact wh the tl Wowk of ais er any paying eyes. Hin onder tein this purty of a and tei xp may hy tray sere, kno ony dis at join the movement fons own a conceptual at, Whi Ins tetas enanadher and pais, the fern of the image or he inminia or dc the contamination of words. "he Mel which sere cleng the deal af sv ar whi hes be, pugstf words has at east bot the Bsory atc, One of thea i ase demonstrate by showing what happens if the taboo rae Is eta. panting of 1928-9 by Maprite ended Pawan Lande 1,0), Tere fan abxios casi hetween the writen word ‘montage Fhe nauraisticiae of te wom, fr any naturale image eeates its vn pe atound le any erie worl is oneeied to stand ea syst nota sutice. The words ot Ween om he face, bt onthe ves seems an intrusion hovstng soatewhere in out il of von ww ae many ways in which even natalie images can rach an snnaaton with the ween Word In Ladi by Metanger Cg 100) netsh lish whatever Been the spatial ndscape and the worl Ais ont elm it Fr hete dhe word spears quotation marks ase were ts bar ofthe representation ofa mtieeboard which kes the wo [Now ed Tl a ent om the oct that dhe verso of uni pace this conta allowed fe ents to the writen wont which partook of the Vie Hi Reba Leste a the Solomon R. Cingsentin ven, Gar, ‘Mai? G91-12; Nes York, Musca of Ms Ae cron ofthis ning of medi, a mixing which vet ‘words were dese ofa popula ona which ovis hind when he was thinking of his prety a, So the is ‘of ecering sa device which compe ome wate t the pl to he sno ep othe ictal ins tocol Ht the win ti clase alee all, that we do not aenl 0 the words at Reliance om the meaning of words an texte Beton the serene bo biter aims of commence or entertainment that charter the Wiss nein ofadveninents a of eomies."The very success f these dices them suspect. The mage needs the word and dhe worth nai th eld not manage on thir ot An ancient Grocksuthor mus have hd this n mind when he wet ha ahs ha cr centuries archaic artists had 1 Wie 09 thet pictures hws this eco to make dhe oteligile He yas in tha ash ait ha not yet ected writing, but I hase ako ica he rs: he images ould east fatrnize wid the writen word exen thou the wn evant nforpation than the areastenuthor Ts. 4 most Greck vases ofthe black igre syle (even aa sith cent Imes ofthe participants in any scene are a9 expla he sta ‘With the Banskment of wetng feos the pita space, tis hilei 0 be ie, its ud sgn tht the ie tnt een ony a ater noe, he the Spar’ iy Tie nage Bid ly nts ng or dentine sing su ume cay gnse with words may have a subj ke the “Lan has sli he op terete fer a marta! Foret the anist five the tank which posts paysite, novelists ad authors eve alae Thali taoe the ha to ind nani for ti eration as parents have ody fr so firings luldken for thei pets, and fis for thir brands, (Counting the allpervaive role which naming plas in ou ives We pay sory hile stent to the pes of names we encounter ~ cueing trans sich as “The Solomon R. Guggcncim Msc’ tanspa ones sic The Meteopoitn Museum? deserve ones like The Closes nthe tit the inction ofthe nae was fromthe hein 2 alone ‘Sci his wok oa show or selling toa elector he mont ewe rer vant so must dealers and owners, bat give thi dora fora ice sho ure tote his pie what mattered t hn, he work Lp Ite the te ll po with it. Chains moving pining of a i yng prey Fe oe, exits er that nant in the Sn of F720, rnd sre prin aller Fragonard of a young won caving eters nto tree ‘pulsed in 1787 wid the tile Le Chie dno peiated wndcracath he subentc source forthe tie of course the catalogs a i is certainty reanding to ten the pages of the Vietran vfoadey Nak of 1877. "One would have need tis printed companion obsessed stn. 0 ht Hays baer anal to nesta th th iin with woe in tvs, 02 is Waiting forthe King’s Favourite’ (Fig. 101). An anit like xtc eran wate ws to se the Hive ds in his panting the ight ‘the ie, Ling fr Crs fo te Rik Man's Tas (1859; Landon, Wallice Collection) ‘Of ease asthe fct that uch pictres col nt stan alone, that hey und he complemented by ax explanatory tis, that aon forthe ction mains anvthing that smacked of snsclote.Stialing the 0 Sune culogue of the Gugeenhsim Muscum collection by Angelica “avaler Rodenstine one finds that among the 252 painting om 1880 to 115 aharefenot one comparable ile One als nies, however, tha ies hve nnn some redinda 0 any afte three partes concerned the artist, the eats or the pubic. The twentcth century added 8 new generic sytiation to the categories familiar fom carer petiods. Instead of Tanscapes and. Stl Lies we now find & name sch as Nev 1606 insisaron 28 PD by Kandinsky (Fig. 102). Tpke is ome because the ~~ SFyhanks 10 the care bestowed on this catalogue one can freqently see Bow103, at Mel Nag 156 13, ‘Composition’ but in his correspondence withthe Guggealiim Museum the ast objected: ‘Le tine marqué de Composition me semble. grtul, Faimerais que vous metties Besannage." He obviously wanted us to lock for ‘figure o at least s presence in his composition, The reaction of Chagal to ‘he various tiles given to his paling of 1913 (Fig. 106) is even more interesting because he challenged eater interpretations. The picture had ‘been variously listed as Landscape” and as ‘Burning House’ but Chagall protested: ‘C'est aime, moa tablem, Rin ne Bile, Crest a grande exe” ‘Accordingly the eatlogutr chose the subject description The Fins Carrage* ‘But if we are interested inthe relation between image and word 4 tady of this or any catalogue will soon convince ws that auch terms a “subject ‘description’ are misleading if they suggest that they merely peat in words 104 Jot Aer: band 37. New Yor, Salomon Goggin Mean 15 inn ens 105 Non Yn Solomon Gages an what the image shows us. The obvious eats in point are landscapes and Dorris. Whether or not the att printed rom the motif or from his "gnatio, his intenion may hae Deen to represent particular tee ort, a rey a particular man oust aman, “This tune ou, one af the crucial pins to remember in the relation tecween images and words, Unie image, language can make that vit distinction which has concemed pllosophers since the days of Pito, the -scncion betscenuniversas and nical. Cézanne’ painting of 1899 {ithe Guggenheim Museum is decribed as Man wth Grosed Arm but we {ead thn Venturcalled it ‘The Clockmater? Clockmaher, 100 is # nie ‘erst sub-clas of men of women who make clocks, bu he clockmaker “denotes an identifiable individual, someone in Cfzanne’s environment. In another case we may not regret ou inability to fnd ou, but we may not that ‘Abert Gleizes tok care to nsrbe on his pining of ines that his Was not ‘a bridge” but Brolin Bdge (1915; New York, Solomon R. Guggenkeim seu), whch had made gest impresion on hir® Let me sy in a rough and ready way that language can speci, images ‘cannot It isan observation which stands in curious contrast the fact that images ae concrete, vivid and inexhausly rich n sensory qualities, while Taniiage fata end purely coavenional. I suppose ii this conven- tional character of words to which Magste wanted to draw attention in is sry comment on captions ven to fmages. He stars ws in The Key of rams (1930; New Yn, Sidney Janis Galley by captioning a handbag ase cil (Gy) a leaf Ta able’ (able); pocket, ‘oisea’ (bid) and then dismisses us with laughter by calling «sponge, a sponge ‘There isan even more fame comment by Magri on my topic ofimage sand words his series ofpaitings of pipe with the caption ‘Cees pas une pipe” (this i not pipe) Ihave heard ths eaption described as presenting a philosophical problem. Frankly, i i «problem which «fist jeer student should not find hard to solve. Thi ot a pipe, tis pictute of pipe leis true tha captions tend tobe elipie and omit pat ofthis statement This is standard in the use of words where the conten is obvious Ifyou passa door where it say ‘please ing” you won’ ake thio mean that anyone pang it enteated toring the bell. The notice is an abbreviated form ofthe tatement ifyou want to gein, plese rng’ Ithere isa philosophical problem, thet lies on a somewhat diferent plane: Magrite’s word, like the expanded ‘apton, fom a statement his image doesnot, because po image can be the -soubalencaCa verbal satement, I know very well tha at cris have taken to desebing brushstrokes statements, Butt me this seems a rather on fusing metaphor Is in fact the most ebstract pars of spessh which enable language to form propositions or stsements, such words “thi, oi, oF “not which Magrite employs and which you could hutrate no more an the terms ‘was of ‘will be’ of, when, “therefor “al onan” shor the connectives, which form the cement binding the descriptive words of language together eis this act with which the purist would have to contend if he wished to argue that words are always redundant in relation to the image excep per haps as utilitarian convenience forthe purpose of labeling Tome thisis jus another versio of the dactrine ofthe innocent eye which Twas at rome pains to combat in my book Ar and Huson Al perception occurs ina context of memory and expectation; we says interpret wha we fee, evn fit cloud or an nk-bot. I just so happens that for us the word pie isredundant because we recogiz pipes, anditis hard to know what a pipe would look ike to anyone who doesnot know where the mosthpiee i fo fr that mate, that the contraption isnot ten yas long and used in ‘topical Aes to spray swamp apnnst theese ‘Where hearts eannot yon cultural knowledge, ashe can with us when he pains a pipe has to offer netractions fr wie in the form of tes, be they ancedoral, descriptive of motif or indivi, o, for neance, refer tal have in mind works which equiv che knowledge of a text oF st Kind of foomote forthe uninitiated, like Holman Hunt's The Seopgoat (1854-5; Port Sunlight, Lady Lever Art Gallery), where we are asked to ‘mobilize our memory of the Bible to se this animal not simply asa goat but {the socrifcial anal chated into the deser. Whistler gave dierent and ‘ore evostonary bind of instruction. By cling the portait of is mother Amangemnt in Gray and Back Poni ofthe Ari's Mosher (Fig, 107) he ‘Sahed te viewer to attend tothe sentory qualities af colour and compo ‘tion rather than going stright forthe represeataion ofa resigned old nd, ‘Speaking in psychological terms the ttle was to jafluence dhe beholder's rental st I regret having fuse this term which an swhvardtansation| tf the German word Entel. Both words are metaphors taken fom instruments which must beset adjusted, or tuned to do their jb, ike radio, receiver Perception i always transaction between us end the world, and the ies that we could or should ever perceive an image without the pron eption or expectations we derive fom prior knowledge end experience 10 Jame Wir drt Orwould fstmible te demand tht we should make an electric eurent flow {rom the postive pole without connecting the wie with the negative pole ‘The image is one pole, the tide often provides the other, and ithe sev works, something new will emerge which i nether the image no he words, br the product of thes ineracton, ‘Sometime ago a malicious book was published under the tle Captions Courageous, in which alternative tes were suggested for famous paintings, Whistler's mother would be capsoned ‘When that no-good sen of mine gonna send the rent money or, a the German version has "Chane 2 isn't any better." What the te does ofcourse i to change our mental set and ourimerpretaton. ses up a ss Weare instructed to particulaize and to imagine the festidious lady dsstsied with her sone {he TViradio programme. Up o 2 pois this process of particulrzation {common also ro all so-called anecdotal tits, The one I referred to cake, "Baby's bette’, makes us project the mother's fears and hopes nt the litle scene, By and large it was the Symbolist atthe end ofthe century who reversed the tend and demanded not particulavzing but generalizing iter. ‘When Cari pated» mother hugging a pale child he called the pat- ng not ‘Babys worse’, but Matera (18795 Avignon, Musée Calves when ‘Munch painted an adolescent git he turned her into symbol of Pubery (1895, Oslo, Nasonagallerie; fst version of 1886 destroyed) tobe used in his ambitious ‘Cycle of Lie’. What matters rome in these generale tes ‘isthe instruction to adopt a diferent attitude; we are asked ose the image 155 something solema, not wo say portetous, and to meditate on questions of Iie and death. Gauguin’ mows panting wit tte asking theultimate questions: Dad nenon-nous? Que sonmernou? Oi allny-nos? (1897, Boston, Museum of Fine Ars) isi here, conforming to this mood. That does not stand alone is shown by one of the least sucessful paintings by George Frederick Wats, etied When? Whither? (Fig. 108). The paintings will no give an answer to these questions the tides intended tobe what we right calla mia seuer’ to induce a qussh-eigous atmosphere We acto ‘thik of rape, fot ro join in, when standing in font of Hodis pa jing of nude in a landscape with hee arms outstretched, Commnuvin ith Infinity (1892; Base, Kunstmuseum), or Radin’ folded hands called La CCarhidrale (1908; Pais, Rodin Museum). We ate enjoined to find the ink ‘Between image and ide, link which lads through metaphor. To speak of ‘medieral cathedrals as ‘prayers in tone’ i« metaphor bordering ona cliché By inverting the metaphor Rodin tured the image of paying hands int the likeness ofa sacred edifice. Once the current has begun o flow between form tnd ides the two have become part a higher unity IMAGE AND WORD 18 TWHNTIETH-CENTURY ART Many artists of the twentieth century have played variations on this pame of ict building, but now the tether tendo serve a an instruction to connect the idea of «fue thing with an unanilar configuration. Take tne of the great pioneer works of wenith-century sculprore, Brancusl’s Bin Set 109), You might pees any ng cag risa icesointra batihats Soonas now wha teat wate. tn aen ne fol le de sage le igh er ce so Canad wih einen mean that Ward 0 se ‘Syncs ee heer a ry pace ea ne a "hamid ncn ot cvs cnt flow The wer the cbse ditne beeen the orm and een peste he eng (© ‘Shc te require poestan or amp, No mone ht Peso’ st ‘ir insgs appear fae being arsfomed by ociton into ® Soning Nc (908, Bote eso ie Arey. What eis we ict ty, pursing eur eta, te sting up nara unt isi oeween nage nd es weet andthe ey rt arpa fe indexer, Thre ar wore of Pasio’s ow he s.Sus penodsochas tacit pater mag the cdot {ist New Yr Semon Rogge scum), bc lo fer stop ar ny pemanet soa od ny ded be ended oan bina Troms tome pith tee qutons tn obscured by au sot demua of wa he poi gh sep woul rer sb thse queen to paolo experiment. Take ave simple exe SS Stout sear ead Heat hg. 110, Wold bot be10 cme Ran, in Con ‘nxeresting to show ie 0 one set of volunteers with the te and to another labeled Untied? We might then measure the lngth afte of inspection and Pethaps also the eye maxements ofboth groups to find out how the fst, handled he task of finding ahead inthe oval stone and whether they sw i recumbent or upright and squashed, and how the others came to terms with ‘he shape in is own sight, perhape attending to its materi its sustae, oo ‘he toolmarks.Clesy the term inte isnot merely a negative nseuction 1 donot recall having sen flower piece or landscape wit that eppelation, Like Whistler ils, i ls an ineruction to adopt given mental ct. ‘Noartis more suited totes the eet ofthese instructions than the art of ‘music: Here too we have she distinction between the generic tiles of forms tnd opus numbers and the whole spectrum extending fom the descriptive Aevies of programme music such athe tiling of bela sleigh de 0 less obvious evocation, a with ome of Schumann's piano pieces with les such as “The Merry Pease’, ‘Lonely Flowers “Child filling asleep’ ot ‘Soaring (Auchan). These ate ideas which the muse surely docs not pee tend depict: the titles are agin instruc ett, instructions in thiscase both to the player and tothe ene. If wear willing too slong withthe composer's suggestion, we can perhaps build the required bridge between our idea ofloney flowers andthe wones we hea, end finally fae the ‘wointoa succesful evocation. The example suggests that the oe of the tle in evocation can also be described as one of dferentiaton, of making vague fnd general mood more specie by allowing ovr reaction to exysalze round «definite idea without theres losing inauthentic. think we must ‘keep thi function in mind wien considering the quest fr evocative images corshapes ia twenteth-century art ined not recapitulate te role which the example of musi played in this quest Interest in synaesthesi, the lnk betwen the various sense modalities ‘which ellows us to speak ofloud colour or ewet sounds, reaches, of course, ‘ery far back in the history of rite tory, bu in art became dominant ‘only alter the tum of the century, when the possiblity of evocation became the subject of experiment in Rly, France snd Germany. Like Beethoven ‘wth his sonata ‘Les Adiewx’, Boccion painted three compositions called Ste of Mind (1911-124 New York, Museum of Modern Art) depicting The farewel’ "Those who leave’ and Those who sty behind’ he wrote that pet pendicular lines, undulating and, sit were, worn cu, may well prevent the Tanguidness and depression of enve-taking ™ ‘iterances ofthis Kind could be muliped ed bina from the writings of tists and erie who have been convinced oftheir wath. I would not claim that they are false, only that they ae nwfcent. I is no doube tue that ‘water contains hydogen, but water doesnot const of hydzogen ony. tis the proces of combustion, which creates a compound between hydrogen tnd exygen, that results i the stall we call water. Wary ins are indeed ‘pal of entering into x compound evoking the idea of leavetaking, buf ‘il wany ines dis, the world would be an evn sadder place than itis [Many decades aga when these problems were topical a member of the Gestalt Scho! of Pychology arranged an experiment which ought perhaps tobebeiter known. Reinhard Kraus thowed hi subject diply of several Configurations consisting of variously shaped lines and also gave them alist ‘of notions, eskng them to match the lines tothe words. It urmed out that thei choice was by no means andom. related a jagged ine with cain, ofa sofly undulating one Bar opine dered See ie aged ine Ges te be ald Puy or “Thundestrm’ or ‘Despair’ ‘The shorter the lis of alternatives the more chance there ws of “unanimity. Without ny list from which oehoose, the tsk interpreting the strat ins was hopeless. once attempted to test this result in ery unaytematic experiment con- ducted witha group of ar sadens when Twas teaching atthe Slade Schoo! ‘of Ar in London I kod one of them to draw an abstract configuration on {he Blackboard while we others had to write down the notion he ad wanted to suggcst I remember an exiting whit of lines which, ic tured out, was ‘meant to evoke the idea of headache, None of us had guested it and of‘course it cannot be dani But once we were tld weal agreed that twas a very convincing image. The idea nd the line eudily combined into anew and fey sable compound Only & mystic would disregard this experimental proof that there ete no fixed equivalences in syaesthesa. is no aceident thatthe first systematic ‘explorations ofthese phenomena claimed indeed some hind of metaphysical justification. Iam refetng tothe thosophicel books by Annie Besant ad . W. Leadbeater on the subject they called ‘rsined clairvoyance’. One of ‘ese books, Theuph-Fanns, published in 1905, purported to show the ext shape end colour of certain emotion, such as ‘Sudden fight and “Angry Jealousy’ would not cli that I would be unable to meet these sugges. tons hala. The ies could certainly not be swapped round and cary the same conviction. But we all could think of a variety of alternative le ‘Sudden fright” mighe perhaps represent ‘Joyous raprre’, and “Angry jealowsy’ ‘Disqus Forte authors this etcsm would surly have seemed ‘uite pointes, since they believed thatthe real appearance ofthese su sates or thoughtforms had een ceveled to them in» sate of higher Consciousness. You do not argue withthe supernatural ‘Shen Ringbom has made «good cae forthe influence which these books sand these creeds had on the development of Wassily Kandinsky." What is here relevant to my subjects the fact that Kandinséy’s faith inthis prec linkage berween tones, colours and emotions was so strong that e een disdained the aid ofthe word Fis tiles, as we have seen alluded to mscal forms sich as improvisation or composition, whish he numbered, re sored increasingly to description, such st Painting with White Boer and Cire on Black (1913 and 1921; both New York, Solomon R. Gusgenem, Museum). They may be compared to Whistles les intended to make the beholder atend to what is there, This certainly remained an important purpose in Kandinshy’s titling, despite the fact that both in his writings and in his art his interest shied from what may be calle tigger cect othe ‘mutual interaction of formal elements in the emergence of self-supporting structures which miroed cosmic ores. The ttle Earth Gone of 1921 (New ‘York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum) hint at these preoccupations ‘While the precise share of pisiuaiat ideas in Kandinshy’s et maybe con Fectural theres atleast one work ofthe Blaue Reiter movement in whi hc tile makes it explicc Tam efering tothe painting by Franz Mare of 1913, ented Bos Oris Mundi (Dis Waenbuh) erally “The World Caw” (Fig 111), We know fom one of the artis’ eters tht fr him yellow represented the feminine prinple, meek and serene." Some such principle he aw ‘mbodied in the cow. Recalling. the generalizing tendencies of the ‘Symbolist’ es, suchas the transformation of a mother and chi into a combul of materi, we mie ay hat Mar cov represents bviiy or mes va coos ping ofa et ndcoreedmyloy ‘Wh nas imdb pooh psn ne imap thir ofthe oe at who excell bth in he renin of mapes tin he maser of words Ime of eure Pal le, whore ie sand ‘ut for their uniquely poetic and imaginative quay Born in December 1879, thineen year afer Kandinsky, Klee, who char sterically wavered betwcen music nd pining, gre up during the high, tide of Symbolism in at Franz von Stick, whote cates Klee fequented in “Munich might be casi from my point of view as one ofthe generliers whose portentous tiles were much appreciated bythe avant-garde His most famous pining of sulry nade entwined by a serpent, Sin (1893; Munich, ‘Neue Pnakothe), not so moc an ilostation othe Fall as an embodiment ‘of sensuality, seemed to my generation the very epitome of kitsch. Naturally ‘he image i sll connected with the catia adtion of allegorical personi> featon, tradition which has ntreried me in other context, because the personification can 2 eal be sen aba pital entity the embodiment of fn abstract principle in vse form,” There was another rt student in Munich at that time whose fendship Klee Incr temured, Alfred Kubin, howe ary drawing show te future speualis searching for precisely uch images fe from the eters of tration: his Arh (Suspicion), drawn in 198 (Pig. 112) is such a vsualization sil ooted inthe igh seriousness of smboti, rT resting to vatch Ke emanating hms rom thi mood in cealy works in which he wansforms this erary mode ito personal dion, Tam hiking ofhis etching ented Poses, Der Wits hatter de eid geet112 Ale ati Spin, 1808, Van, Grpis Seg Aeon Titra ema hope (Perseus, Withas triumphed over Sufeving) (Fig. 113) Suffering, ofcourse, fs embodied inthe mythical figure of Meduss, whose head Perseus ext of ne composition i what conologit calla moraizaton ofa Greek myth I "underlying theme remained central v0 Klee's outlook on life The following yearhe came up with the etching Greier Phoene (Aged Phosnin), a strange conceit and almost inexplicable sil you remember what the phoenix did ‘when he reached ol age he burnt himssf to ashes in fire and was fur ‘enate in the flames. nother words, there ete same optimistic ra othe smyth and mystery a in the previous etching." Certsiny in both work the referential tiles ae an integral pat of the messge, ‘Klee was 25 at theme und seven years were slo clapse before he made ecisive contact withthe medera movement in Pars and Munich, One inf nee, however musthave come erie: the discovery of Kindred sou inthe ‘German poet Christian Morgenstern, whose famous nonsense verse (which he did not want tobe called such) embodies the same pilosophy of wit te lumping over suffering, the sme myrtical faith ia renewal Tem speaking of ‘Morgenstems Gainer ~ which might roughly be translated as ‘Whistes {in dhe Dask’ ~ which were published in 1905, followed in 1910 by the sequence Punt" On New Year's Eve 1909 Klee had aleady noted in his diay with mock solemnity: "With Morgenstern's Galtier let the yea be ended." Morgenstern, the son of a painter, was a mystic who wrote much Serious poetry expressing the creed of Rudolf Steiner's version of theosopy, ‘that anthroposophy that also captivated Kandinsy. He denied tat his biaaere punning fantasies shouldbe searched for deeper meanings, but the ‘motto with which he prefaced Galgender really anticipates the underying Bhlwphy of Sure nd precunor n te lahat of Herne Let the molecules career, Leave them to thei own confections! [Never fir abou corrections, -Besasies how shal revere {isnot only this hin of estas behind the sereen of inconsequential playfulness that concerns the student af Klee, but aso the fact that -Morgenstem too created some images ina sinilr mood, which today we right call doodles, and used them as vignettes bewween his poems, giving them titles such as Monarchennbercne (roughly Summit Meeting) Fi. 114), or Neuer (Curiosity) (Fig. 113). Mark the simple means with which ‘he hee achiever what Kubin aimed ain his drawing of Suspicion. These pay exercses in minimal at may hate given Klee the courage 10 ‘explore the potentialities of the srawl or seibble wo say as much asthe more ‘etn image he had made befor, jst as Morgenstern’ philosophy mest have reinforced is faith in the valid of personal visions and dreams. They tre the dreams which arte when controls are rlaxed and ecstasy wins oFer the fussing and correcting. But they are more than dreams, they ate intimations of possible realty, manifestations of ccaive nature which wotk within and tough te ari, A late dratng of 1939 makes this comparison Clic Ui led ner in Madchn? (Wt se a gieP) (Fig. 116), and ‘geet the elements of frm coming together and tending owas the mere Soggeston of ahead wit closed eyes. ‘The i italing shape “Kleehas oldu in farnous passage ofhislecture published under the tke ‘On Modern An that he could not plan the outcome of his ereative at any ‘more than s parent ean. He di not start fom the theme, but fom the fom. Balancing his shape, lines and colours he might discover an association which he could accept and even elaborate, “There ate occasions’, Me ay 114 chin Moroes: Soi aig. pte Ro e105 12 ice Morn Cy etm Cnet, 19316 Pale: toe 19. NewYork Sloan R Gages Mase Wk: Buon nes ew ‘when ones very lato se a familiar fae surfacing spontaneously rom the configuration, and find thatthe images look tone cheerfully o sternly, more for less tense, conslingly cr tueateningy, sullering or sling” Klee cer tainly atibuted a Kind of reality to these presences which his activity as a tvs summoned or called up fro the depth of eeation. Indeed when we spetk of evocation, nis ease we may fel the magic overtones of the word [Afterall his most quoted urterance says, “Art does not reprduce the visible, ‘but makes visible Even so he was not a haunted man, as Kubin beceme. Hie had taken the measure of his ghost visors and remined in chrge. ‘There isa work which splendidly expresses Klee's own conception ofhis ae Ikisentied Tae de Ungohener zu meinem sen Led! (Dance you monste: ‘tomy soft song!) (Fig. 117). The ere monster of the ibe ofthe Mesa ‘overcome the aes’ gentle magi: t mt dance rater than threten, wit has trampbed over sering. 1 would suggest that he is helped inthis dominance by the very act of naming, whichis my theme; do not let us forget tht in dealing with spits it ‘most elpfolo know ther names, forthe nme gives ws power How many fof hem, tom the highest tothe humble Rumpelslskin, ae anaious to with hold their names so as nor to be enthralled! Klee the wins is not deceived He knows that this is The Son of Rucesah! (1034; Bern, Felix Kee CCotestion), oftpring of the mischievous sprite who haunts the forests of othnearer Germans 1 would not elim thar all Klee's des can be interpreted as words of power forhe opened is min tal possibiies of formal experiment, Like the Futurists he attempted a porsayal of eou-states in his ely deeting calle Sp (arsed in On Mader At) which can be read a sleepet OF san abstract shape. Most ofa, Klee exploited the humorous potentialities of play, though if we ean belive him, there was an clement of schadefe Ihre, touch of the gloating ofan elect who looked tthe ol ofthis woeld with some detachment. Everything was grist to his mill words signs and Itrary allusions ~ asin his light-hearted evocation of The Bavarian Don Gian (1919; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum), where the ‘names of the sweetiearts he seeks out are writen all around the gabled Jhouses. Bu fom the pont of view of tides, those purely formal works are ‘most interesting which resolve tension by ing an unexpected direction to fou imagination. However wie the gap may sem a fs, we can foam the Tinkand fare image and ides none insoluble whole. Wht are we to make ofthese curver and these halrealied herds? Ob! of course it x Peach “Harvest (1931; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum). Even one of ‘he most pualing tle inthis collection wil nally fos wih the image Ale ‘Schnee legend Lying as Sno) (Fig. 118) ~ seems like the snatch from & weather report inthe Alps, where preciptations over a certain height are reported at remaining at snow. Thus guided se, ora east fancy Tse, the slow descent ofthe hovering creature preparing to settle down as snow onthe round undemeath, Poychoogiss speak of the ‘Aha experience ~oh ye, of course, that isi suggest that Klee's tis belong te the unique category of “Aba tes [Naturally the fact that we experience shisirberween image end word does rot mean that there could be no other tie which would fase ually wll 6 Pal Ke iS, 95. Now Yon, Semon R. Gapnein Mase1p. Pat ke: gt Raping 193, Now Yt Slr. Geggesn Mea ‘One chemical element can ener into @ viet of indisoluble compounds, \Weknow that Kle sometimes invited king ‘them to suggest mimes for his latest compositions. It would have been. immensely instructive to eavesdrop on these converetions, One could im vine, for instance, that the ile J Anges Kespine for he drawing Fig. 119) ‘would not have been the only one suggested for one cat sto se some- ‘hing demonic and uncanny inthe geste we have now learmed to interpret 4% protective and reassuring. But this, remember, i precisely the point. “The word and the dai conveys an serve diferentiation, hepingto specify the emotive conten or fectng tone of the work, We all might enjoy the imerpay of shapes inthe design of his painting of 1938, with is suggestion of dancing signs and musical notes, but Kies tie adds another dimension he calls it Lich rochenes Gedicht (Somewhat Arid Poem) (1938; Private Colleton), and fr fom spling our pleasure his geatle seliony enlists cour sympathy. frequently prefer to quote Klee tes in thei orginal German, becase ‘hey are as untransaable at all poetic language. Its the measite of his search for precision, forthe exact ance, thathe often came up with «word for which there eno exact esuivalent in Engish “This sensitivity to nuance fs part and parcel of Kle’s unique effort o give ‘the maximum precision tothe import ofhis images While was striking out ‘on this lonely read towards dierentition and articulation, «more powerful ‘mend deliberately and sucessfully went inthe opposite direction, seeking t0 stirup less articulate but more incense reactions which were flo ie beyond the reach of words. It was Ouilon Redon, a survivor of the Symbolist IMAGE AND WORD IN-TWUNTHENHCENTURY ART 181 ‘ovement, who ssi qute explicit: ete is used only when it ‘vague indterminae and even ending create confusion and ambiguity.) ‘Confision snd ambiguity are the characteris ofthe dream, and you ‘ould induce such state you might open the ats of the poche 10 The ‘uonamed and the unnameable, I have refered to certain Symbolist tle a ‘imo setters intended to induces surrende to what poyhoanalyt call reqresve state. This is par of the programme of Romanticism which the ‘Swiss painter Amold Boclin translated into his ow om. His painting of "woman ring through afrst on unicorn acguired fame under the fd hich his dalee Gust invented the tile Der Schesgo des Wales (The Silence of the Fores) (1885; Porn, Mezeum Narodowe), a mysterious silence embodied in ahaunting peer. Béclin’s direct descendant here was ‘de Chiro, svn to impress wit he mesbge of he biden menace of ‘an important mystery. His tile Dh Engme of te Hay (1912; Milan, The ‘Gianni Matt Foundation, Feroldi Collection) would ser wo fet re scription, sting the mood for a portent * oes his Nawal of he Iinte (Fg. 120) which vaguely recalls Howie's Ui, Gonmioion ath infty Gee pa 17. But once ithad become the scknowicdand aim ofthe avant-garde to pen- strate more deeply int the region of he elemental, undierentiated poyeho- logical response, the dteton was set towards those base reactions which se roted notin culture but in nature, reactions duet ou biological inher itanes; hee name is Known to all of s who have beard the debates on the modem media they are ale ex and violence. Once himan beings eres {othe stat ofserual desir and animal fea rational language loses ron the mind, Paradoxically incoherent words could satin inducing there ‘eptve state of regression in which the precision of language no longer “The more chtotic the image and thet Become, the more chance there right be of achieving e knock-out, gute ofbafiemnr in which contrls are ® abandoned. Maybe the challenge ~ Ge which the publi read under the ‘more hermece of te Cubist paintings prepared the wa forthe acceptance of eatlogue ens of which they could make no sense It was hard oo, and ssl hard to know, where mysticism ended and mystifcation began. Before anyone rejects this observation aa sur on twenteth-eentury at hasten to add thatthe word mysiication implies making a mystery ifnot rysic and that baflement self can Become evocative of mystery, ofthe ‘unfthomeble and inatonal. Most of us have heard of the nonsense ‘Questions on which nates vo Zen Buddhism ae asked vo meditate, the s0- ‘alled Koans such asthe problem ofthe one-hand cap, Perhaps they prepare the seeker after rth for deeper insights into the insertable ature of ealRemember the harsh words fom Goethe's Faust about that enigma of the Christian dogma, the Tent: now it wel the Book was my addictions asted many an hou over its pages, Fora complete and perfect contaditon Remains mysterious alike t fools and sage." By all accounts twas Marcel Duchamp who launched art on this path of puzzlement The theme of his famous panting The Posse from Vin Bride (Fig. 121) has its precedent in Gauguin's Symbols painting ented The Les of Maidenhood (18907; Novfolk, Vigna, Chyler Museuin), The tle was known, though the paiting was lst at the tine when Duchamp produced his version, which is much more over in itu of seal metapoe suggested bythe half-organi, halfmechanica shapes, In Duchamp’ The tide stgped bare by her Bachar, vn (The Large Glas) (1915-25; Philadelphia Museum of Art) violence joins x in the repressive appeal of contraptions which hve pt commentators busy, happen to know ofa fk Custom sil practised in the wilds of Scotland where the groom's bachelor frends regard it indeed as their pevlege to strip the ride afer the wedding ‘Duchamp, of coure, merely teases us with this salacious te and bales us ‘vith the halmechanical saggestons of The Lare Gls. It was Pica who picked up the cue ofthe veualization of mechanisms in ies which ae anj- thing bu enigmatic, He inscribed his pictre of a sparking plug copied fom ‘a catlogue of engine pasts ‘Porat d'une jeune file amtrcaine dans at Gemudite (Porat of « Young American Gin in the State of Nudity) Pig. 122) fone wantto, however one can even here point. precedent forthe ‘metaphor from a less expe age, the group by the German sculptor Reinhold Begs of the Ite 16608 ened The Elerie Spark (Fig, 123) Maybe the Plabi is preferable, I do not think there is precedent for Picabia's notorious sty plah enti La Sainte Virge,* excep, ofcourse, inthe sphere of language, where similar profanities are common currency. ‘What marks Pieabi's postion in the history of theft f the plating labelled with an unieligible name, Un, joe file améiaine (dane) (Cénie, Young American Gil (Dance) Fig 124. “Uae” looks tke an anagram and a good many solitons have been proposed, including most tecenty ED N.U.Ey leeors Duncan naked” Tmt leave tt peciaiststo facge whether this kel In any case Virginia Spate to whom this sugges 12, Fa en Sin Pag 9, 6 a-ha 113. Ne Yo 2h Real Hes Fe pom 187 Poms paoton is due, writes of Picabias les her recent and most through book on Orphism: His paintings are objects which arouse associations of so Heeting and tenuousa kind that they ate imposible to define, and although the ies slko draw the mind in pursuit ofthe association, i is imposible 19 resolve tile an form. Thus, when one confronts these paitings, one confronted by 2 conceptual voi, and ici only in this ved that one can stein fall consciousness of the form asthe enigmatic cretion of comples, unknowable, but completely eel individual." Remember my formula that in this century the striving for new forms of arty goes together with the breaking of earlier taboos. hardly need doce nent this fact in considering Dads, whose main targets were fcr al ou ois moray and rationality. In x world where madness and ercly a ampans they were then and ail are, could think of more importer mies to fight, but I concede that there are moments in our lives when Our nnds run so much on pre-established ral thatthe shock of devaiment ean experienced as liberating. I, in the middle of a lecture, T suddenly roduced shosepipe and drenched the audi with water, they would remember the event 0 the end of ther days and be prepared for the “unexpected away to happen. I has only been my’ bourgeois morality which ‘ns resuained me from making the experiment "There ate many surreal les which, despite the continued quest fr the cleansing power of chaos, conta referential clement leading us tothe text fof Freud. I am thinking of Max Emits nightmarish Oedipur Rex (1922; Private Collection) with ts tormented fingers which we can associate with seul organs, or Tanguy’s Mame, Pope sr wounded! (1927; New York, ‘Museum of Modem Ar), which slo combines phallic motives with an (Oedipal tie. Nobody has even mare consistently than Mic o suggest the ‘workings of the Freudian primary proce in ties mixing sexual and seem- ingly inconsequential associations uch as Leeopucle oe arene Te sexe des Fammero der oseuc (Phe Rose Dusk caresses the Sex of Women aad of Birds) Fig. 125). I would hardly expect an ‘Aha’ response sin the case of Klee 01 hope I shall cause no offence if propose to call his kind not ‘Aha’ ‘but Oho es ‘There at east one of Miss tiles which I should ike to ell descriptive 128 Jem Mi: Tr Rw Dc Sof Wa and ‘Gott New Yor Pee Naas Cae(oo ina new way: it isthe paimting inscribed “Phat his isthe colour of my ream’ (1925; Private Collection). The sage is used to communicate a pr ‘vate experience btn perfectly atonal wap. Salvador Dali ted something Similar wih his Dream caused by the flight of Boe around a pomepranate, one second bore awakening (1944; Thyssen-Rornemisea Collection), but unless Dal’ dreams aways lok ke Dais wonder fone can believe him ot seven meant todos. ‘Some of the tadtons which formed at the begining of our century could be traced righ through tothe presen day. The links with musie might be exemplified through Hille Rebay’s painting entitled Animato Fig. 126), a9 evocative ile which should like to interpret as much aan insruction as 8 description. The tradition ofthe defining metaphor which harks backto Klee might be exemplied by such works ar Mark Tabsy’s The Bdge of August of 1053, dhe search forthe representation oF Hats of mind by Arshle Gorkys Agony of 1947 (both New York, Museutn of Modern Ar), A ironic revival ofthe Victorian reference tile represented by Georges Mattie, who kes to give his gory abstract tangles of brushstrokes tls such as The Death of Aria or Le Bon Duc Philip opais parson fs le Comte de Choos, Piabie's verbal coinage has found a more entious successor in Barnett Newnes ile Onement 1. As Harold Rosenberg wrote: ‘Onement is not rally a word and dough ifs meanings quite clear~the state of being one ~it designates a condition that is inefable .. - Onement adds an aura of indefnteness to oneness.” Be that a it may, Barnett Newman has remained one of the most determined prattioners of the baling tle, designed to set out mind ccing wound hsm compe flr coloue Ror band Hs hm im 19501 Nw Yr nam of Maser A a tein gin: Hee went trend ou eg: pone ports he enh canny ek Rok, fr nae, le $€Stoun,sn te od atd o Wher nd he otk stor ie Such appear he Darko Bs, Nee ‘SGnsi¢senempar nod cnn emit aon ot Chant Auin hs sim wich omen vo many oe ie “Ssne ron oben wc he pened he merino warn has ced "pop a on epson a th ban Fy cai our new sad aw my arith i ng fs meri” Tam pang of ceo Se Shee ts srving ofA ig 2, wich avy ses shen, Shu ung sy hier to veered nwa