The Life of Forms in Art

by Henri Focillon

Book is in used-good condition. Could be missing access codes or other accessories. May be ex-library inventory.

Genres: Art, Philosophy, Theory, Nonfiction, France, Architecture, 20th Century

94 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

http://mappinggothic.org/person/418

Reviews

[Uroš Đurković · Rating 4 out of 5]

Umetničko delo za Anrija Fosijona postoji pre i posle svega kao FORMA. Umetnost se stvara kao što se stvara život, a život je forma podložna jednoj specijalnoj biologiji metamorfoza. Život jeste forma, ali forma koja produkuje forme. Taj nad-splet formi jeste svet. A jedna od najvećih zabluda, koja je izazvala mnoge neprilike, jeste odvajanje forme od sadržaja. (66)

E sada – dodajem ja – ukoliko je sve izraz velikog života oblika, onda su tu posredi ne samo estetička već i ontološka pitanja. („Oblici su stvoritelji univerzuma, umetnika i samog čoveka. (87)) Ali i tu se može uplesti u rđavu beskonačnost, ako, na primer, postavimo pitanje o formi forme. To, verovatno, sad ne treba da bude presudno, ali valja istaći da je za Fosiona prostor „životna sredina umetničkog dela” (31), da proučavalac umetnosti treba da pravi genealoška istraživanja života formi (varijacije i interferencije) (68), kao i da su formalni elementi „rečnik stila” u kome se vidi razlika (15). A (prava) razlika nikad nije stvar dekoaracije, nego uvek razmere i tu opet čuči (malo hegelijanski, rekao bih) momenat stalnog samopotvrđivanja DUHA kroz formu.

Ako je sve forma, onda je i nacija forma i to kao jedan dugi eksperiment, u neprestanom samoispitivanju i samoizgrađivanju (104). Renan tvrdi da je nacija „svakodnevni plebiscit”. Može biti.

Fosijon, kao još mnoge mudre i osećajne glave, ističe da „svaki život ima svoj roman” (89), a meni je to privuklo pažnju jer deluje da je životu određen žanrovski oblik. E sad, život, tako stvari stoje, ima i svoju vremensku dimenziju. Nju imaju i umetnički oblici. Stoga ni umetnost ni život nisu imuni od promene. Oni su ujedno i forme i DOGAĐAJI, kao uspešni prelomi u vremenu (112).

I tako dalje, i tako bliže... Fosijon piše divno, bergsonovski, ali mekše. Čak lepršavo. Ipak, nije kao Bašlar. A Bašlar je car.

Vrlo je zanimljiv i esej „Pohvala ruci”. Ruka se doživljava razigrano i višedimenzionalno i mnoge ideje tu podsećaju na Merlo-Pontija.

I da, sledeći put kad mi neko kaže: „ma, sve ti je sadržaj” imaću sasvim drugo značenje na umu.
Drugi oblik?

[Steve]

Early Gothic figure from the cathedral at Naumburg


Henri Focillon (1881-1943) was an art historian of great repute and professor at the Sorbonne and later at the Collège de France. He died in the USA while teaching at Yale and working for the cause of Free France, then under the Nazi heel. Of his many books I was first attracted to his Vie des formes (1934),(*) which is a summary of his theory of art. A formalist, he is rather (poetically) abstract in this short text, since he is concerned primarily with the evolution of the morphology of art,(**) but I would like to summarize the aspects of the book that drew me to it in the first place.

In Vie des formes Focillon presents a typology of the evolution of style in art, wherein he proposes that every art form progresses through four stages(***) which he called Experimental, Classical, Refined and Baroque. In the Experimental stage (which he also refers to as Archaic) a nascent style is casting about for its (often tacit) principles in order to define itself and is therefore experimenting with not always happy results. In the Classical stage the style has decided upon its principles and is, in a stable and secure manner, working out their consequences in concrete works. It is not yet manifesting conformism or academicism. In the stage of Refinement the style develops in the direction of increased elegance and often lands in a state of dry purity. In the Baroque stage, which Focillon asserts is "without doubt the most liberated", the principles of the style are taken to extremes that become their own ends and exhaust all the creative impulse of the style. Then one must recommence from a new beginning, a new stage of Experiment.

Focillon proposes characteristics of each of these stages and illustrates his points using European art over the ages. However - and this is how I was directed to this book in the first place - no less a critic than Kato Shuichi usefully employs Focillon's ideas in some of his essays on Japanese literature and art in Form, Style, Tradition: Reflections on Japanese Art and Society. Of particular interest to me is the suggestion that when artists in one of these four stages look back over art history, they are particularly attracted to art and artists in the same stylistic stage of development as they. Kato used this notion tellingly, but, unfortunately, Focillon does not move beyond a sketch of these ideas in this text.

Of course, this classification can be no more than a suggestive tool for organizing the incredibly complicated genesis and morphology of artistic styles, which is not likely to be exhaustively "understood" at any point in the future. And one must wonder at the claim of universality through all cultures and times, which clearly rests upon the notion that human beings at all times and places are essentially similar. Here the nature/nurture debate is particularly fierce.


(*) Available in English translation under the title The Life of Forms in Art.

(**) He was a noted expert in medieval sculpture, but he also wrote on 19th century painting and Buddhist art, among other topics.

(***) This was neither the first nor the last attempt to provide this kind of phenomenology of artistic style.

Rating

http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/119...

[ana ☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty useful as a "comfort read" at this point of my life.

[Patrick Marcoux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Gaines once said this book was one of the things that changed the way he looked at art. It's pretty moving. Well worth the money to find a copy of this out-of-print book.

[Kevin Fitzpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drawing upon the whole breadth of Western Art, from Classic Greek, to Romanesque, to Gothic, and even to that stockbroker-turned-rebel-artist Gaugin, Focillon, in "The Life of Forms in Art," uses his exquisite prose writing ability to show to the reader the "Life of Forms" in both life and Art. Elaborate, opaque, beguiling, and brilliant, this theory, as outlined by the author, seeks to explain the role of the 'form' in the history of Western Art, a role which is central to understanding Art in all its complexity and grandeur. Supplemented by illustrative paintings and sculptures, "The Life of Forms of Art" leaves one with a deepened appreciation, bordering on worship, of both Art and Focillon, who, in this translation, is revealed as a master prose stylist, the equal of Ruskin and Malraux. A great, if difficult, read, this one is for the ages.

[Mariana Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estava à procura de algo mais objetivo, mais direto ao ponto, mas este livro levou-me, deixou -me embalar pela sua "prosa poética". Mesmo não entendendo completamente espanhol e às vezes escaparem -me algumas expressões ( a versão que eu li e a única disponível era espanhola), senti-me embalada. Procurei este livro para a tese, mas acho que vai servir para outro mote.

[Lilian Schettini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Explica de maneira muito interessante questões importantíssimas pra artistas em exercício. O lirismo é fascinante e cada nova descoberta, através das ideias apresentadas, acende uma nova chama no espírito. Explica a produção provocando-a, sendo provocativo das manifestações

[Malak Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

This shit confusing as hell I took 10+ pages of notes in the first chapter

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this very interesting work on style throughout the ages while doing research for a paper. The last chapter, which focuses exclusively on the hand, is not very helpful for my immediate purposes, but it is still compelling. The first three chapters were the most useful for me. It should be noted that this book is focused entirely on structures, or the forms themselves, and not on the world outside of those forms (world's impact on forms or form's impact on the world).