Emblematic Art Through the Canons: What Role Does Perspective Play in Regard to the Development and Consciousness of Narrative?

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Charles Kyle O’Rourke

Narrative Knowing | Professor Wise

Term Paper

University of California, Los Angeles

Emblematic Art Through the Canons: What Role Does Perspective Play in Regard to

the Development and Consciousness of Narrative?

Found in cultural zoos, private homes, alleyways, salons, religious houses, and

studios, works of art adorn many walls and sit atop innumerable surfaces in order to be

received and interpreted. The reception and immediate interpretation typically consists of

superficial analysis with claims along the lines of “great color” or “profound message” –

in essence describing the first exposure to a painting, and nevertheless establishing a

narrative around and within the work. Narrative consists of the interplay of explanations,

descriptions, and contingencies centered on a common subject arranged spatially, not

temporally, to convey understanding; it is through this development of understanding -

what is derived from a narrative – that fosters the formation of knowledge. In order to

initially develop understanding, a phenomenological approach to art and institution is

needed, the exploration of direct experience and the consciousness involved with such

encounters. Explored through the French existentialist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, one

understands how the concept of visual perception as an embodied, kinesthetic experience

furthers the narrative around a work of art thus shaping its meaning, creating knowledge.

Coupled with the narrative theories of W.B. Gallie and Louis Mink on what and how

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narratives exist, the assertion that narratives create understanding resulting in the

acquisition of knowledge stands true.

Artistic intent when composing a work not only focuses on technical detail and

expertise, rather a concert of influences from patrons’ requests to stylistic form,

culminating in the development of the narrative behind the work. Background

information leading up to the creation of the work, and the overall artist’s goal at

conferring meaning act upon the historical significance associated with the work;

however, these factors do not establish the meaning of the work, because through direct

experience, the phenomenon of interpretation, a claim arises about the meaning of the

work and through the precipitate of claims in a social context the contemporary

understanding of pictorial art comes to light. When objectively viewed, does an

individual interpret the influences of the artist, and most importantly intent – or is an

individual account formed, adding to the overall reach and impact of the work? When a

painting leaves the studio, its meaning never fixed, allows for multifaceted

interpretation(s) throughout various art canons, focusing particularly on a modernist

interpretation for the purposes of this paper, developing all details and nuances of the

work – sometimes altering meaning to fit contemporary standards. In a contemporary

sense this narrative holds meaning, and the deliberate actions of the artist form two

narratives: how the work was created through interpretation, and how the intended

audience let it be social elite of the public perceive the work. The aspect of perception

and its influence on the essential meaning of a work allows room for close debate, where

Louis Mink notes, “not all parts of a story are about actions correctly describable only by

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story-statements […] we can say that the actions and events of a story comprehended as a

whole are connected by a network of overlapping descriptions.”1

Narrative provides explanation and understanding simultaneously through a

configurational moment, where we see the whole story in a single mental act. In order to

construct this single mental act – essentially knowledge of the subject – one must

retrospectively analyze the story. By revisiting the narrative, details crucial for

establishing an understanding fully recognized, in turn create the configuration into one

comprehensive set of interrelationships between the elements where, “it is in this

configurational mode that we see together the complex of imagery in a poem, or the

combination of motives, pressures, promises and principles which explain […] which

constitute our understanding.”2 Louis Mink approaches narratives with dynamic mindset,

arguing that overlapping descriptions constitute a full-scale understanding of what has

happened, emphasizing the experience of narration, and the expectation of an end as the

driving forces behind development.

In W. B. Gallie’s Philosophy and the Historical Understanding the aspect of

“What is a Story?” develops through the assertion that there is no logical chain of events,

where everything together constitutes a contingency, the story devoid of any cause

relationships, only followable due to the expectation of an end. Gallie characterizes

contingencies as, “the strangest combinations or successions of events,”3 placing

emphasis on the unpredictable nature of contingencies. For example, going from the later

1 Mink, Louis. “History and Fiction as Modes of Comprehension.” New Literary History 1, no.3 (1970): 541-558 2 Ibid., 551 3 Gallie, W. B. “What Is a Story” in Philosophy and the Historical Understanding, 43. 2d Ed. New York, New York: Schocken Books, 1968.

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event, to what would necessitate the later event conjures the story relatable to the event,

in order to explain. “More simply, almost every incident in a story requires, as a

necessary condition of its intelligibility, its acceptability, some indication of the kind of

event or context which occasioned or evoked it, or, at the very least, made it possible.”4

Works of pictorial art allow for the exploration of narrative within a literal boundary, the

canvas, but void of philosophical boundaries. When interpreting a work the individual

takes it upon oneself to develop a relative meaning, in an interest at understanding the

story behind, within, and around a work – ultimately directing the essence of the work in

the direction that is most apt for the time; works of art act as time capsules directly

connecting the viewer to the past and time of creation, while also inadvertently

implicating itself through others interpretations relevant to status quo thought.

At the middle of the 20th century, phenomenological interpretations like that of

the French existentialist movement paralleled an era where critics and artists themselves

sought alternatives to the paradigm of ocular models dictating how a viewer interacts

with works of visual art. Phenomenology in relation to pictorial art embodies the

ontological approach of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and the claim that through subjective

experience one establishes the meaning of a work of art, transitively establishing holistic

understanding. In order to truly establish meaning, the narrative of experience while

engaging the work internally dominates the initial process aimed at developing

knowledge. “One who, with his nose against the painters brush, observed the painter from

4 Ibid., 24-28

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too close would see only the wrong side of his work.”5 Merleau-Ponty here emphasizes

the significance of individual interaction, yet illustrates how through subjectivity

distortions in understanding take place, such as overgeneralizations, or claims against a

work too biased. In order to counter this oversight the importance of social analysis, an

objective view of a work due to the inclusion of limitless narratives, allows for the

development of meaning to rise through retrospection and dialogue, explored through the

concept of chiasmus. Merleau-Ponty goes on to claim that, “the perceived world is the

always presupposed foundation of all rationality, all value and all existence,”6 where

value derived in the form of understanding through public discourse, allows for the

meaning of a work to develop.

Commissioned in 1866 by Turkish diplomat Kahil Bey, Gustave Courbet’s

L’Origine du Monde7 embodies the influence that perception expresses over the work,

and how meaning takes new form with additional narratives considered. A woman’s

torso, sinuously laid across a bed with suggestive pose presents what some may say is

vulgar, especially around the period of creation (late-19th century France), yet when

applied to a more contemporary standard adheres to the postmodern emphasis on female

liberation. The ability to have a nude figure of a woman counters the norm of

representing the natural man as nude, but still contains elements of censorship, where no

defining elements such as a face are present, and just the direct sight of open legs. Dana

5 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “Indirect Language and the Voices of Silence.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Accessed June 1, 2015. http://dcg.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Merleau-Ponty__Indirect-Language-Voices-of-Silence.pdf 6 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “La Crise de L’entendement.” In Les Adventures de la Dialectique. Paris, France: Éditions Gallimard, 1955. 7 "Gustave Courbet The Origin of the World." Musée D'Orsay:. Accessed May 25, 2015. http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/the-origin-of-the-world-3122.html.

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Arnold explains how, “this example points to the fact that the interpreter, in complex

relation to the subject who made the work, produces its meaning; in the case of a picture

of a body or bodies, the interpreter can also be seen to produce the identity of the

subject(s) depicted therein.”8 Individuals perceive the work in relation to themselves, to

their own bias, where these contingencies allow for the subjectivity of a work to develop

in relation to the individual. Simply reading through publications such as The Last

Taboo: Women and Body Hair published in 2011, the reference to Courbet’s work

represented an application of the work to the contemporary feminist social atmosphere.

Karin Lesnik-Oberstein draws the parallel between the depiction of body hair on the

canvas, and how to have this voyeuristic image publicly visible did not adhere to

contemporary standards. “Visibility is indeed […] the mark of the body-hair taboo […

and how] these images should raise no questions about the feminine ideal – an ideal that

has generated […] a gigantic and thriving industry worldwide,”9 where meaning now

focused through a feminist lens allowed for a new dialogue, a new narrative. Immanuel

Kant notes how in aesthetics the individual has a relation to objects subjectively and non-

subjectively in judgment.10 The fact that this judgment can be derived and applied to

other subjects aids in establishing the meaning of a work, essentially defining what it is

and what it is not.

8 Arnold, Dana. "Meaning, Identity, Embodiment." In Art and Thought. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2003. 9 Oberstein, Karin. “The Last Taboo: Women and Body Hair.” Paperback ed. Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2011. 10 Arnold, Dana. "Meaning, Identity, Embodiment." In Art and Thought. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2003., 72

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Gustave Courbet, “L’Origine du Monde”,1866, Musée d’Orsay Paris, France.11

The schism in traditional artistic representation culminated in the 1913 exhibition

at the 69th regiment armory on Park Avenue in New York City. Commonly referred to as

the Armory Show, the exhibition transformed the American artistic landscape with the

exhibition of the European avant-garde. One of the strongest examples of how public

perception, and in fact public reaction can shape the meaning of works, the Armory show

brought to the American public the experience of interacting with dynamic forms of art.

“The meaning of the work, the perceived identities of its maker and depicted subject(s)

are all, then, intertwined in the act of interpretation,” where, “in a reciprocal circuit, these

identities are all implicated in the identity of the interpreter,”12 substantiating the process

of chiasm introduced by Merleau-Ponty. The ornate halls showcased the works of

Matisse, Duchamp, Cézanne, Courbet, and Van Gogh, some examples to highlight the

transformative experience within the walls of the Armory. Thousands of New Yorkers

waited in queue to view what art historians like Kimberly Orcutt of the New-York

11 Retrieved from: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/the-origin-of-the-world-3122.html 12 Arnold, Dana. "Meaning, Identity, Embodiment." In Art and Thought. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2003., 73.

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Historical Society characterize as the most important exhibition ever held in the United

States.13

Marcel Duchamp and the Armory Show are often regarded as one within another,

for Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) sparked intense controversy, and

public debate over the progression of the modern art canon, and whether or not these new

works of art contained any substance. Emblematic of the cubist movement formed

through the friendship of Picasso and Braque, Duchamp incorporated aspects of Italian

futurism with that of French cubism to depict a woman descending a staircase, where

neither figure nor form was clearly discernible – in a then contemporary sense. This

“abnormality” sparked comments from publications like American Art News offering any

attendee ten-dollars to find the lady. Additional commentary described the work as, “an

explosion in a shingle factory,”14 from the likes of Julian Street at the New York Times.

Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) was extremely challenging for the American public,

and even for critics to decipher. Through the configuration of accounts on the work, came

the developed understanding of what the subject matter addressed, nevertheless rejected

by many as technically inept. Through this developed understanding, established through

public discourse seen in media outlets, knowledge surrounding the work came to be

universally known, where the scattered shingles across a canvas transformed into an

abstract woman descending the stairs. The simultaneous representation of the figure from

alternating angles on the canvas inevitably puzzled those who were accustomed to

realistic scenes of the Hudson, or portraits of family members; “it is only by the most

13 “About | The Armory Show at 100.” The Armory Show at 100. Accessed June 1, 2015. http://armory.nyhistory.org/about 14 Ibid.

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intense conceptual effort that the structure of all experience can be distinguished from the

vivid details of particular experience which commonly command our attention.”15 Intense

debate, public outcry, and professional inquiry enveloped the Armory Show and the

works contained within creating a sense of extreme importance, while emboldening the

inquisitive nature of people, their innate inclination to seek understanding around a

subject. Early 20th-century New York City through the platform of the Armory Show

grew into a synecdoche for later analysis surrounding phenomenology and art, where

experience elicited dialogue, establishing understanding based off of the overlapping

contingencies, generating knowledge.

Marcel Duchamp, “Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), 1912, Philadelphia

Museum of Art Pennsylvania, United States of America16

Initial contact provides the stimulus necessary in order for an individual to sense

the subject presented, to individually experience the essence of the subject. The initial

experience solely cannot amount to much; however, through reconfiguration and

evaluation a deeper understanding establishes itself around the subject, creating a new

15 Mink, Louis. “History and Fiction as Modes of Comprehension.” New Literary History 1, no.3 (1970): 547. 16 Retrieved from: http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51449.html

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narrative. Formed through the convergence of contingent factors, explanations,

descriptions, all factors of perception, one successfully establishes developed knowledge.

Philosophically, the phenomenological approach associated with French existentialist

Maurice Merleau-Ponty allows for one to initially experience a work of art, mentally

process all factors in a spatial arrangement and then deduce meaning. Through this

deduction of meaning can one effectively establish understanding, furthermore resulting

in the development of knowledge. Explored through some of the intriguing controversies

within the modern art canon, one can clearly see the connection between public

perception and the development of meaning in reference to a work of art. Although the

work may represent one static message from the eyes and mind of the artist, the

introduction to society truly allows for dialogue to surround, for a story to develop, and

for many to influence the meaning. This influence speaks volumes to the power social

opinion exerts over factors of existence, what it means to be, and in what context.

Through the works of Louis Mink, W.B. Gallie, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty one is able

to make meaning of the world, from the basis of other subjects, in an effort to further the

narrative of experience.

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-Works Cited-

I. “About | The Armory Show at 100.” The Armory Show at 100. Accessed June 1,

2015. http://armory.nyhistory.org/about

II. Arnold, Dana. "Meaning, Identity, Embodiment." In Art and Thought. Malden,

Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2003.

III. Gallie, W. B. “What Is a Story” in Philosophy and the Historical Understanding,

43. 2d Ed. New York, New York: Schocken Books, 1968.

IV. "Gustave Courbet The Origin of the World." Musée D'Orsay:. Accessed May 25,

2015. http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-

focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/the-origin-of-the-world-3122.html.

V. Mink, Louis. “History and Fiction as Modes of Comprehension.” New Literary

History 1, no.3 (1970)

VI. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “Indirect Language and the Voices of Silence.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Accessed June 1, 2015.

http://dcg.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Merleau-Ponty__Indirect-

Language-Voices-of-Silence.pdf

VII. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “La Crise de L’entendement.” In Les Adventures de la

Dialectique. Paris, France: Éditions Gallimard, 1955.

VIII. Oberstein, Karin. “The Last Taboo: Women and Body Hair.” Paperback ed.

Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2011.