Between Word and Image: Heidegger, Klee, and Gadamer on Gesture and Genesis

by Dennis J. Schmidt

Engagement with the image has played a decisive role in the formulation of the very idea of philosophy since Plato. Identifying pivotal moments in the history of philosophy, Dennis J. Schmidt develops the question of philosophy's regard of the image in thinking by considering painting―where the image most clearly calls attention to itself as an image. Focusing on Heidegger and the work of Paul Klee, Schmidt pursues larger issues in the relationship between word, image, and truth. As he investigates alternative ways of thinking about truth through word and image, Schmidt shows how the form of art can indeed possess the capacity to change its viewers.

Genres: Philosophy, Art

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Garrett Rowlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a dilettante when it comes to philosophy, I found this book at times difficult to understand, with occasional a-ha moments when some insight relating to painting, especially the perception of painting, became clear, or at least I experienced the "quickening" of mind that apparently was one of the most valuable aspects of art appreciation. The ideal work of art, according to Gadamer, is one that doesn't reproduces nature, but creates its own genesis (the term is from Paul Klee's notes on his art), in a way that turns away from the object and in so doing transforms the very notion of image and original. To quote, "A sunset seen from a plane will never be the same after Rothko's painting," or "Homer's Achilles is more original than the real Achilles." In short, the true work of art is a dynamic entity that grows in the perceiver is a way beyond what is on the canvas or the page. Obviously, the work of Walter Benjamin and the growth of non-representational, abstract modern art have occasioned these writings. This is a book at that repays reread sentences and jotted notes. It was difficult at times, and yet filled with insights that had the effect of cleansing the reader's mind. Not always easy going, but it repays the effort in reading with illuminations.