Topic 7

Space, form, realism

Objectives of this lecture:

To introduce basic concepts of space and form in

art

To go beyond that kind of pedagogy by

considering multicultural examples

To explore the basic theories of naturalistic

representation of space, and their alternatives

Note: this material was originally posted on www.jameselkins.com, under “Syllabi.” Send all comments to jelkins@artic.edu
 Organization of this lecture:

1. Key concepts in the first half of the text “A

Multicultural Look at Space and Form”

2. Key concepts in the second half of the text, on Vik

Muñiz’s work

(These notes are minimal because the full text is

available.)
 1. Concepts in the first half of the essay

These are among the concepts, names, and works that you should
memorize from the text:

From the introduction and first section on spaces:

Mu Ch’i, Six Persimmons

space: perspectival = Euclidean = rational
space: everyday = “room”
space: psychophysiological
space: imaginary
three properties of perspectival space: 3-D, infinite, and isotropic
ma (Japanese term)
Immanuel Kant, theory of the inherent capacity to sense space and time
From the section “What is Linear Perspective?”

picture plane, plane of projection (terms from the unit on Lacan)

perspective space = fictive space
relation between perspective and religious meaning
Fernando Gallego (example of perspective)

From the sections “Non-Perspective: Cave Painting” and “Anti-Perspective:

Cézanne’s Inaccessible Landscapes”

non-perspective
Mayan reliefs (an example of non-perspective)
anti-perspective
Cubist painting (an example of anti-perspective)
Cézanne, House of the Hanged Man = Suicide’s House
Meyer Schapiro

From the section “Pre-Prespective: ‘Naïve Mistakes’”

pre-perspective
Giovanni di Paolo (example of pre-prespective)
From the sections “A-Perspective:Where There Is No Space” and “A-Perspective: Ignoring Space”

a-perspective
diagram of the sefirot (example of a-perspective)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Girl Before a Mirror (example of a-perspective)

From the section “Stretching, Straining, and Shearing Relief Spaces”

fondo
Tabula Peutingeriana
anamorphosis, plural anamorpohses (a special case of linear perspective—not in the text)

From the section “Stage Distortion in Mannerism”

Jacopo Pontormo, Visitation

From the section “Crushing, Squeezing, and Flattening Space”

Swedish boundary stones

From the section “Descriptive Geometry”

descriptive geometry (invented by Gaspard Monge—not in the text)

parallel projection (a kind of drawing with no vanishing points—not in the text)
isometric projection (a special case of parallel projection with all axes equal—not in the text)
From the section “Form, Contour...”

primo pensiero = first thought

figure, ground
contours: blind
contours: observational
contours: modulated
colntours: broken
hatching
cross-hatching
double hatching
lumen
umbra
tonos
splendor
From the sections “Ornament versus Foundation,” “Frame, Context, Setting,” and
“Parargon”

Georges Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”

parergon, plural parerga
sarcophagus in the Pyramid of Kheops
Jacques Derrida, The Truth in Painting
 2. Concepts in the second half of the essay
These are among the concepts, names, and works that your should
memorize from the text:

From the section on uninteresting things that can be said about representation:

Paul Delaroche
Peter Galison
Joel Snyder (from the unit on photography)
Leo Steinberg
Sherrie Levine
Jean Baudrillard
Erró

From the section on Clark:

T.J. Clark, Farewell to an Idea
Picasso, Portrait of Kahnweiler
cubism as a language (or a method)
Picasso, Reservoir at Horta de Ebro
metonymies
metaphors
play
failure
base materiality
From section 2 on “Interesting Representation”

Michael Camille, “The Très riche heures in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
contingency
Jacques-Louis David, Death of Marat