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Art et technique aux XIXᵉ et XXᵉ siècles
Depuis un siècle, les arts plastiques ont accompli leur révolution. Durant la même periode, les progrès des sciences et des techniques ont abouti à une transformation complète de notre connaissance de l'homme et de l'univers.
Comprendre cette période, en décrire les différentes phases et en dénombrer les forces créatrices, telle est l'ambition profonde d'Art et technique.
Qu'il s'agisse d'esthétique industrielle ou d'architecture, de sculpture, de peinture abstraite, l'ouvrage de Pierre Francastel est irremplaçable.
Comprendre cette période, en décrire les différentes phases et en dénombrer les forces créatrices, telle est l'ambition profonde d'Art et technique.
Qu'il s'agisse d'esthétique industrielle ou d'architecture, de sculpture, de peinture abstraite, l'ouvrage de Pierre Francastel est irremplaçable.
308 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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March 31, 2020
Though clearly dated by its unabashed chauvinism, this overlooked study nevertheless succeeds in critiquing the vulgar materialist notion that technology strictly determines the aesthetic style of a period. Artists, claims Francastel, are not the metaphysical substrate for a transhistorical wellspring of absolute 'Art' filtered through the technical capacity of an era, as many theorists then implicitly maintained. Technology instead profoundly structures the symbolic representation of the real in a given period, and it is this semi-autonomous space of representation -- not the conditions allowing for its manifestation -- which should be the primary ground for any art-historical undertaking.
Indeed, the most significant art is that which not merely reflects an era's mode of comportment but anticipates it altogether. Wartime developments in aerodynamic engineering, for example, provided the technical-economic structuration for the mid-century design style of curvilinear, polished forms which proliferated across legion consumer objects; yet, the underlying technique (a crucial and delicate term originating in French anthropology, roughly meaning "generalized productive style") may be traced back to the early 20th century sculptures of Bracusci and Lipschitz, who in turn were shaped by modernist currents to focus their efforts on the tactile, objective qualities of plastic material. In this manner, Francastel arrives at a rich, holistic understanding of how aesthetic forms arise from and dissolve into the productive forces of society.
Sidenote: a resonance between Francastel's thought and that of fellow contemporary Gilbert Simondon is apparent (yet curiously never made explicit), and there seems to be potential in incorporating the former's ideas of aesthetic morphogenesis with the latter's notion of "technical milieu" towards an understanding of contemporary art.
Indeed, the most significant art is that which not merely reflects an era's mode of comportment but anticipates it altogether. Wartime developments in aerodynamic engineering, for example, provided the technical-economic structuration for the mid-century design style of curvilinear, polished forms which proliferated across legion consumer objects; yet, the underlying technique (a crucial and delicate term originating in French anthropology, roughly meaning "generalized productive style") may be traced back to the early 20th century sculptures of Bracusci and Lipschitz, who in turn were shaped by modernist currents to focus their efforts on the tactile, objective qualities of plastic material. In this manner, Francastel arrives at a rich, holistic understanding of how aesthetic forms arise from and dissolve into the productive forces of society.
Sidenote: a resonance between Francastel's thought and that of fellow contemporary Gilbert Simondon is apparent (yet curiously never made explicit), and there seems to be potential in incorporating the former's ideas of aesthetic morphogenesis with the latter's notion of "technical milieu" towards an understanding of contemporary art.
Displaying 1 of 1 review