Écrits sur l'art

by Charles Baudelaire

« Je crois sincèrement que la meilleure critique est celle qui est amusante et poétique ; non pas celle-ci, froide et algébrique, qui, sous prétexte de tout expliquer, n'a ni haine ni amour, et se dépouille volontairement de toute espèce de tempérament ; mais, - un beau tableau étant la nature réfléchie par un artiste, - celle qui sera ce tableau réfléchi par un esprit intelligent et sensible. [...] Pour être juste, c'est-à-dire pour avoir sa raison d'être, la critique doit être partiale, passionnée, politique, c'est-à-dire faite à un point de vue exclusif, mais au point de vue qui ouvre le plus d'horizons. »
Baudelaire, ainsi, est tout entier présent dans ces Ecrits sur l'art qui sont l'autre versant de son oeuvre et, en effet, selon son voeu, ouvrent bien plus d'horizons. Car dans ces pages écrites de 1845 à ses dernières années, ce n'est pas simplement le critique d'art des Salons que l'on découvre, mais le théoricien du romantisme et de l'imagination, du beau et du comique dans l'art, et finalement l'écrivain de cette modernité qu'il définit - et qui pour nous s'ouvre avec lui.


Edition de Francis Moulinat.

Genres: Art, Classics, Essays, Nonfiction, France, Poetry, Literary Criticism

528 pages, Pocket Book

First published January 1, 1860

About the author

Public condemned Les fleurs du mal (1857), obscene only volume of French writer, translator, and critic Charles Pierre Baudelaire; expanded in 1861, it exerted an enormous influence over later symbolist and modernist poets.

Reputation of Charles Pierre Baudelaire rests primarily on perhaps the most important literary art collection, published in Europe in the 19th century. Similarly, his early experiment Petits poèmes en prose (1868) ( Little Prose Poems ) most succeeded and innovated of the time.

From financial disaster to prosecution for blasphemy, drama and strife filled life of known Baudelaire with highly controversial and often dark tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Long after his death, his name represents depravity and vice. He seemingly speaks directly to the 20th century civilization.

Reviews

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I sincerely believe that the best criticism is the criticism that is entertaining and poetic; not a cold analytic type of criticism, which, claiming to explain everything, is devoid of hatred and love, and deliberately rids itself of any trace of feeling, but, since a fine painting is nature reflected by an artist, the best critical study, I repeat, will be the one that is that painting reflected by an intelligent and sensitive mind.”
-Charles Baudelaire, from his essay What is the Good of Criticism?

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), author of the famous and infamous Les Fleures du mal published in 1857 when the poet reached the age of thirty-six, was better known as a literary and art critic when in his twenties. And let me tell you folks, as the essays in this volume forcefully demonstrate, young Charles Baudelaire was a critic on fire, a passionate supporter and defended of the dignity and beauty of art against materialism and the crass positivist philosophy of his day, a critic who employed sumptuous, colorful language to articulate his views, opinions, judgements and ideas on many topics of literature and the arts, ranging from the paintings of Eugène Delacroix and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot to Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe. Below are a number of direct Baudelaire quotes from this Penguin edition along with my own comments.


Baudelaire on Delacroix’s Dernières paroles de l’empereur Marc Aurèle: “In conclusion, let us add, for no one mentions it, this picture is perfection in drawing and modelling. Does the layman really appreciate the difficulty of getting the effect of shape and depth with paint? The difficulty is twofold. Modelling with one tone is the equivalent of using a drawing stump, the problem is simple: to achieve the same effect with colour means that the artist, in the midst of his rapid, spontaneous and complex brushwork, must first understand the logical interrelation of the shadows and light and then find the corresponding tone and its harmonious range; in other words, if the shadow is green and the source of light red, the artist must at once find a harmony of green and red, the former dark and the latter luminous, with which to render the effect in the round of a monochrome object.” ---------- These words from the great French author capture a copious number of painterly elements: the depiction of male subjects in their diverse postures and in all their depth and profundity surrounding the gravity of the event; the hues, shades and tints of the various colors harmonizing in darkness and light. Can there be any doubt this Delacroix painting opened critic Baudelaire’s mind and heart in ways that lifted his spirit to the full flower of beauty?


Baudelaire on Horace Vernet's Prise de la smalah d'Abd-el-Kader: "This African scene is colder than a fine winter's day. Everything in it has a disastrous whiteness and clarity about it. Unity, nil; instead, a host of interesting little anecdotes; the whole vast panorama is fit for the walls of a tavern. Mr. Horace Vernet himself, that odious representative of chic, has the merit of not being a doubter. He is a man of a happy and frolicsome disposition; he inhabits an artificial country, where the actors and the scenery are all made of cardboard, but he reigns supreme in his kingdom of parade and entertainment." ---------- The young critic pulls no punches and claims to be blunt and go straight to the point when assessing this artist who has degraded himself by “wallowing in the horrible,” an artist who (and here I offer my language to underscore the critic's disdain) assumes the mantle of art yet is nothing more than a brush-wielding poopstick, a semi-talented dabbler who uses his meager talents to champion war and jingoism. Such nonsense sickened Baudelaire and it certainly sickens me. This to say, even today, serious critics both in literature and in art do well to maintain high standards.

"There are certain awe-inspiring words that constantly recur in literary polemics: Art, the beautiful, the useful, morality. A grand scrimmage is in progress, in which, owing to lack of philosophical wisdom, each contestant grabs half the flag and says the other half is valueless." ---------- Our young critic goes on to say how there is a term when morality is featured as a central component in judging a work of art – propaganda. I’m in complete agreement with Baudelaire on this point: such a critic writes on art but what they really value is indoctrination into the party line and the half-truths of the status quo; they view painting, films and novels as nothing but tools to trump their own political or religious leanings; they continue to write on this or that but they have forfeited all claims to be taken seriously.

"Fabulous creations, beings for whose existence no explanation drawn from ordinary common sense is possible, often excite in us a wild hilarity, excessive fits and swoonings of laughter. Evidently a distinction is called for here, as we are confronted with a higher form. From the artistic point of view, the comic is an imitation, the grotesque, a creation." ---------- Obviously what Baudelaire values is creation, as in the grotesques featured in the paintings of (my examples here) Hieronymus Bosch or Francisco Goya. I myself must give more reflection to the distinction being made between the comic and the grotesque, but I sense there is keen insight here. I’d be happy if anybody reading this would care to share any reflections on the subject.

"A biographer - well-intended, worthy fellow - tells us in the gravest tones that, if Poe had only made an effort to bring order into his genius and to apply his creative faculties in a manner more appropriate to American soil, he might have become a moneyed author, 'A money-making author'." ---------- There was no bigger supporter of Poe in Europe than Baudelaire, who translated the American writer’s tales and poetry into French for the first time. Baudelaire devotes many pages to Poe’s life and work, emphasizing the unending battle waged by the literary genius with his refined tastes, highly developed artistic awareness and insatiable love of beauty against coarse, money-driven American society, a country and land that for such a sensitive and poetic soul was nothing less than a prison of perpetual torture.

"As the photographic industry became the refuge of all failed painters with too little talent, or too lazy to complete their studies, this universal craze not only assumed the air of blind and imbecile infatuation, but took on the aspect of revenge." ------ Baudelaire’s piece on photography from this collection foreshadows Walter Benjamin’s famous essay on the effects of mechanization and modern technology on the traditional expressions within the visual arts – all painting in general and specifically portrait painting. Ironically, we have so many great photos of Charles Baudelaire. Thank goodness!

"For sketches of manners, for the portrayal of bourgeois life and the fashion scene, the quickest and the cheapest technical means will evidently be the best. The more beauty the artist puts into it, the more valuable will the work be; but there is in the trivial things of life, in the daily changing of external things, a speed of movement that imposes upon the artist an equal speed of execution." ---------- Ha! If you are after a "team picture," no need to fuss, just grab your camera (or iphone) and take your shot.

"From that moment Madame Bovary - a wager, a real wager, a bet, like all works of art - was born. To accomplish this feat in full, nothing remained for the author to do but to divest himself (as far as possible) of his sex and to be a woman. The result is a miracle; for in spite of all his actor's zeal, he could not avoid injecting virile blood into the veins of his character, or prevent Madame Bovary herself from being a man, in the most vigorous, ambitious and also the most imaginative side of her nature." ---------- Please let this quote whet your literary appetite to read the entire twelve-page essay. It's a humdinger.


The young French critic much admired the mastery of Corot.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

How convenient it is to declare that everything is totally ugly within the habit of the époque, rather than applying oneself to extract from it the dark and cryptic beauty, however faint and invisible it is.

This wasn't as great as I would have hoped. The quality of translation likely wasn't the issue. There were certain peaks. Baudelaire on Poe is transcendent criticism, an epic homage. The poet on Gautier was actually a monument to Balzac by other means. His treatise on Delacroix was wonderful, though the reader might quake imagining such in a longer form.

This great symphony of today, which is the eternally renewed variation of the symphony of yesterday, this succession of melodies, where the variety comes always from the infinite, this complex hymn is called color.

I had hoped to finish this last night, but alas I failed to anticipate a nascent civil war. Alas I awoke at four and fitfully read to the conclusion. The highlight of such was the citation from Stendhal: "The beautiful is but the promise of happiness."

This collection deserves further praise and scrutiny. Perhaps, if we can step away from the Beltway intifada?

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The consummate artist at the the peak of his critical power. Anyone interested in aesthetics and form should keep this within arm's reach.

[Eric Byrd · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's all here. See one man--one sick, ravaged man--singlehandedly formulating the dominant aesthetic ideals of the subsequent hundred years. "L'infirme qui volait," truly.

[James Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

"An artist is an artist only because of his exquisite sense of beauty, a sense which shows him intoxicating pleasures, but which at the same time implies and contains an equally exquisite sense of all deformities and all disproportion."
Baudelaire's essays and commentary on art and literature make superbly inspired reading. He is provocative and prescient on art and writing and, especially, Edgar Allan Poe. Also the music of Wagner, art of Delacroix, just wonderful prose.

[Maximus · Rating 4 out of 5]

'In the beginning of things, imagination created analogy and metaphor. It decomposes all creation, and, with the wealth of materials amassed and ordered according to rules whose origins can be found only in the deepest recesses of the soul, it creates a new world, it produces the sensation of something new. Since imagination created the world (I think we are entitled to say that much even in a religious sense), it is right that imagination should govern the world.' C.B., Salon 1858

[Dora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really informative :) I can see why he was (and still is) thought of as one of the leading art critics of the time. Although it's a shame that I can't find many artists and works mentioned in the book. You can only find the "big fish" like Delacroix or Goya, but that doesn't matter. Baudelaire still gives a few wonderful statements on what he thinks art is and what it should be.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Further Notes on Edgar Poe"

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this reads like catalogues for various exhibitions, and a lot of it was clearly commissioned and lacks spark. It is only when CB launches out into his own proclivities that the writing begins to take on a life of its own. There are relatively few insights that surprise, and the choice of artists is heavily French oriented and dated.

[Stephanie Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crumbs that was hard work. I only read it because I love Charles Baudelaire's poetry and I've not tackled his prose before. I'm fairly sure he lost me in a few places, but his two articles on Edgar Allen Poe reminded me why I think he's a genius. Not for everyone.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviews and writings on art and literature every bit as beautifully written and charged with intent as Baudelaire poetry a must read for fans of his work. My personal favourites were the pieces on Edgar Allan Poe

[Zac Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The errantly handsome reviewer leaned back in his chair, the thin shaft of a hashish danced daintily in his callused fingers. Puffing on its opulent mists, he exultated in that one true truth known to all men.

"You know what lads, I think that Charlie B. knows his shit."

[Bill Sikes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good selection of Baudelaire's literary criticism. Far superior to Poe, though it doesn't hold a candle to Pater.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

what can I say, c'est Baudelaire.

[Bruce Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughts on art, genius, laughter, writing, from an incisive critic. His thoughts on Edgar Allen Poe are particularly illuminating. Highly recommended.

[sweet orange books · Rating 3 out of 5]

* I did not finished this book. *

[Ivva Tadiashvili · Rating 3 out of 5]

წარმართთა სკოლა კაი იყო

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Order! How unromantic! Such a cold and diffident regime to impose upon art! Yet why should it be so? The painters I look up to continually show me that there is a way through the nonsensical mess if one pays attention and works systematically, and their work grows in depth and facility day by day, in embarrassing contrast to the stagnation of those who deny it. Richard Wagner’s musical abilities were mistrusted for ‘the very breadth of his faculties and his high critical intelligence,’ (Baudelaire 1972: 340). ‘“A man who reasons so much about his art cannot produce beautiful works naturally,”’ it was complained (Baudelaire 1972: 340). But it is this blind trust in nature that thwarts the intelligent production of art.

Continue reading: https://duchessyork.wordpress.com/201...

[Jeanette Leuers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't think I have ever found any book so​ immediately engrossing as this one.