ASHTON, D. a Fable of Modern Art

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Preferred Citation: Ashton, Dore.A Fable of Modern Art. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, c1991 1991. http://ark.cdlib.or/ark:/1!"!"/ft#$$9p1%!/

A Fable of Modern Art

Dore Ashton

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

Berkeley Los Angeles Oxford

1991 The Regents of the Universit of C!"iforni!

Preferred Citation: Ashton, Dore.A Fable of Modern Art. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, c1991 1991. http://ark.cdlib.or/ark:/1!"!"/ft#$$9p1%!/

Acknowledgments

& affectionately thank the follo'in:(. ). Pritchett for sendin *e to the riht place+ Professor -dolf

Arnhei* for his painstakin and inspired criticis* and s-estions+ Dr A. .a**acher for o-r fr-itf-l disc-ssions+ oer )hatt-ck for his -nflains-pport+ Andre' 0ore for his insihts and enco-rae*ent+ onald Christ forhis *any helpf-l est-res and his ood talk+ Ada 2-nkers for his specialresponse to ilke+ )ilvia 3ennenba-* for her 4er*an translatin+ Patrick56Brian for o-r correspondence+ Una 7. 8ohnson for her enth-sias* andhelp+ . . riht of the ational 4allery in ashinton for aid in research+atti eed, for his oadin and help 'ith ilke translations+ 5ctavio Pa;,

for everythin+ 5ctavio Ar*and for his confidence and his p-blication of theilke chapter in the *aa;ine Escandalar+ &na ester 3ri*ble for his kindreadin of the )choenber chapter.


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? $?Synopsis of Balzac's 'The Unknown Masterpiece'

Part I-'Gillette'

In 1612 young Poussin arrives at the studio of Porbus, Henry IV's painter abandonedby Marie de Mdicis. i!u"taneous"y, the o"d "egendarypainter #renhofer arrives. $oung Poussin "istens %hi"e the o"d !aster critici&es Porbus's painting !a(es a dra%ing %hich #renhofer praises, and

is invited to brea(fast at the o"d !aster's studio. )here he hears of #renhofer's secret painting,La Belle Noiseuse, on %hich he has %or(ed tenyears. ei&ed %ith the desire to "earn #renhofer's secret, Poussin returns to his young !istress *i""ette and proposes that she pose for 'another', inorder to assure his future reno%n. he %eeps, but fina""y consents.

Part II-'Catherine Lescault'

)hree !onths "ater Porbus visits #renhofer offering to '"end' Poussin's beautifu" young !istress in return for his "etting the! see his !asterpiece.)he o"d !an agitated"y de!urs, saying his portrait of +atherine escau"t, the courtesan (no%n as a -e""e oiseuse, %ou"d never be sub!itted

to the criticis! of foo"s. /t that point Poussin and *i""ette arrive. #renhofer fa"ters, and fina""y consents to co!pare the "iving beauty %ith hispainted !asterpiece. )hey go into the studio and a fe% !inutes "ater #renhofer ca""s in the other t%o painters, having deter!ined that no "ive%o!an riva"s his -e""e oiseuse. )he t%o enter, see( the painting but cannot find it. #renhofer indicates a painting on %hich they can see on"y

'co"ours pi"ed upon one another in confusion and he"d in restraint by a !u"titude of curious "ines %hich for! a %a"" of painting'. *radua""y theydiscern the on"y part of the painting %hich has escaped 'that !ost incredib"e, gradua" progressive destruction' 0 a foot. /fter so!e po"ite evasion,Poussin "ets s"ip that he can see nothing there. )he o"d !aster at first sub!its, and ca""s hi!se"f an idiot and !ad!an, but then ca""s the!

ea"ous, and turns the! out of the studio. ')he net day, Porbus ca""ed once !ore at his house and "earned that he had died during the night afterburning his pictures.'

? 9?

Chapter OneWho was Frenhofer?

I

Bal;ac6s literary bioraphers scarcely *ention The Unknown Masterpiece.0ro* 1#!1, 'hen it first appeared, thro-ho-t the rest of the cent-ry, there'ere scores of ill-strations of characters in Bal;ac6s 'orks, b-t in all thevol-*ino-s archives of prints, there appears to be no e*bodi*ent of0renhofer. 0or co-ntless artists, nonetheless, 0renhofer 'as and re*ainsleendary. 3hat parado%ical 'ord 6leendary6 is s-itable in the case of0renhofer6s reno'n a*on artists: it e*eres only part'ay fro* its root @ toread @ and then flies off into its opposite. 3he fact is that *any artists 'hofo-nd in the*selves the i*ae of 0renhofer 'ere not altoether fa*iliar 'ithBal;ac6s te%t. Picasso, 'hose ill-strations for The Unknown Masterpiecearecelebrated, *ay 'ell never have read it thro-h+ yet, as 'e kno' fro* his

fre=-ent references, 0renhofer e%cited hi*. >ike a tenacio-s *yth, 0renhoferathers aro-nd his na*e a host of c-lt-ral *eanins.As an inspirin *ythos, The Unknown Masterpieceacco*panies the

t-rb-lent fort-nes of *ode* art. 3he *ost dra*atic reference re*ains 7*ileBernard6s *e*ory of a certain niht late in C;anne6s life 'hen the oldpainter, already the solitary eccentric stoned by villae boys, -ne%pectedlyresponded to Bernard6s *ention of 0renhofer:5ne evenin 'hen & 'as speakin to hi* abo-t The Unknown Masterpieceand of 0renhofer, the hero of Bal;ac6sdra*a, he ot -p fro* the table, planted hi*self before *e, and, strikin his chest 'ith his inde% finer,


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desinated hi*self @ 'itho-t a 'ord, b-t thro-h this repeated est-re @ as the very person in the story. e 'asso *oved that tears filled his eyes.

C;anne6s e%citedly abbin his finer at hi*self, seein hi*self in0renhofer, leaves little do-bt of the sinificance of the fable. &n his t-rn,C;anne has beco*e leendary. ode* artists of reat stat-re, s-ch asPicasso and atisse, revered hi*. hat Picasso specifically ad*ired in

C;anne 'as the 0renhofer in hi*: 6hat forces o-r interest is C;anne6san%iety @ that6s C;anne6s lesson.6

3he Bal;ac to 'ho* C;anne responded so profo-ndly 'as hi*selfendo'ed 'ith bo-ndless an%iety. 7ven his *ost persistent criticsackno'leded the ele*ental positive force of his an%iety. Bal;ac spokerepeatedly, if obli=-ely, of his pestilential need to e%pend all his forces, andin several characters, *ost notably >o-is >a*bert, the reat stress ofa*bitio-s an%iety res-lts in co*plete breakdo'n. Bal;ac associated an%iety'ith the nat-re of

? 1"?the artist. The Unknown Masterpiecerepresents one of Bal;ac6s *ost intenseefforts to analyse the condition of bein an artist. Bal;ac6s vis-al artist0renhofer e*eres fro* certain specific historical circ-*stances and reflectsBal;ac6s e%periences in the volatile Parisian art 'orld+ b-t, *-ch *oreco*pellinly, 0renhofer is the archetypal artist for Bal;ac. is leende*braces the profo-nd, rec-rrent =-estions that artists have al'ays raised.Bal;ac took serio-sly the task of presentin 0renhofer6s proble*s, as isapparent fro* the n-*ber of revisions oft he story. &t 'as Bal;ac6s practice,as his conte*poraries repeatedly reported, to ret-rn obsessively to all his

'orks, *akin co-ntless revisions. 4a-tier tells -s ho'Bal;ac 'o-ld aain set to 'ork, a*plifyin, al'ays addin a feat-re, a detail, a description, an observation -pon*anners, a characteristic 'ord, a phrase for effect, -nitin the idea *ore closely 'ith the for*, al'aysapproachin nearer his interior desin, choosin like a painter, the definite o-tline fro* three or fo-r conto-rs.

0e' of Bal;ac6s 'orks -nder'ent s-ch *aor revisions and dilationsas The Unknown Masterpiecedid over a period of si% years. 3here are t'o*aor versions, the first p-blished in 1#!1 and the see*inly final version in1#!$, and several in bet'een. e apparently conceived the story so*eti*ein 1#!" or 1#!1, probably after havin read so*e of the tales of 7. 3. A.off*ann that first started appearin in Mercurein 1#9. &n the *anner ofoff*ann, Bal;ac called the first version of his story a 6conte fantasti=-e6,p-blishin it in t'o brief instal*ents: the first, s-btitled 64illette6, on !1 8-ly,

and the second, s-btitled 6Catherine >esca-lt6, on A--st. 3hey appeared inthe o-rnal L'Artiste, 'hich all the yo-n artists read.&n the first version, the tale ass-*es its 6fantastic6 di*ensions thro-h

Bal;ac6s sche*atic -%taposition of three artist types, the *ost broadlydra'n bein the *ad eni-s 0renhofer. By the ti*e Bal;ac settled on his finalversion, 0renhofer no loner see*ed -ne=-ivocally deraned. &n fact, hee*eres in his disco-rse as a credible personae, an artist Bal;ac createdfro* his o'n artistic e%perience, an artist 'hose attrib-tes *ade hi*


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instantly identifiable to Picasso, atisse, C;anne, ilke, de


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co*posers, sc-lptors and paintersJ are challenin e%a*inations of thereceived idea of eni-s. Bal;ac *editated constantly on the proble* ofeni-s and 'as not prepared to render it si*plistically. e so*eti*es dre'-pon earlier disc-ssion, as 'hen he posed eni-s in a dialectical relationshipto ind-stry Ian eihteenth@cent-ry habitJ, sho'in for instance that Po-ssin'orked hard 'hile 0renhofer s=-andered his art in theory spa'ned by hiseni-s. B-t so*eti*es, as in the final version, he do-bts the efficacy of s-che=-ations, and introd-ces a host of =-alifyin ar-*ents.

Bal;ac6s concern 'ith eni-s in the first version reflects his eneraled-cation rather than his ed-cation in art, 'hich, as 4a-tier pointed o-t after*eetin Bal;ac in 1#!F, 'as inco*plete. 3hat eneral ed-cation incl-ded theefforts of *any late eihteenth@cent-ry a-thors to define the notions ofeni-s and enth-sias*. Diderot in 0rance and


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broad bases. is ear for ti*ely conversation reistered snippets of st-dioossip arnered fro* his friend Achille Devria, 'ho* he had *et as early as1#E 'hen Devria *ade a 'atercolo-r portrait of hi*. 3hro-h Devria andhis circle of yo-n artists Bal;ac learned of vario-s disc-ssions in the st-diosand kne' of the reat debates over classicis* and ro*anticis*. o do-bt hehi*self had r-n into the sa*e bl-nt =-estionin that his character, >-cien de-be*pr, enco-nters 'hen he co*es to Paris to *ake his na*e. >-cien,arrivin in the *id@1#"s, is asked, 6Are yo- a classicist or a ro*anticL6hen >-cien betrays inorance of the state of affairs, his *entor e%clai*s:6y dear fello', yo- have arrived in the *iddle of a pitched battle and yo-*-st take sides i**ediately.6

Bal;ac6s side, as a yo-th in his t'enties, 'as obvio-sly the ro*antic. ecirc-lated a*on the yo-n 'riters and painters 'ho event-ally conreatedat the ho*e of the slihtly older (ictor -o. -o6s ac=-aintances, and hisf-t-re acco*plices in his rand pole*ic est-res, incl-ded *any art st-dents'ho, as 4a-tier re*arked, 'ere e=-ally interested in paintin and poetry.63he yo-n art st-dents loved literat-re.6 A*on the* 'ere Delacroi%, the

Devria brothers and yo-n 4a-tier hi*self 'ho at the ti*e 'as a st-dent ofa conventional painter, Pio-lt. hat these yo-n enth-siasts 'ere talkinabo-t 'hen Bal;ac kne' the* incl-ded the line@vers-s@colo-r controversy+4rica-lt6s a-dacity in the %aft of Medusa, 'hich 'as e%hibited in 1#19+Delacroi%6s ro'in disdain for acade*ic restraints+ 4er*an ro*antictheories as p-rveyed by *e de )taKl+ the lessons of 4oethe6s &ertherand

? 1!?his Faust, ne'ly translated by the yo-n 4rard de erval. any of these

preocc-pations are reflected in Bal;ac6s first version of The UnknownMasterpiece.

>ake the yo-n artists, Bal;ac 'as *-ch attracted to (ictor -o, 'ho,in the late 1#"s, had *anaed to a'e the art st-dents. 3he yo-nest ofthe*, the 6rapins6, stood at their easels fervently disc-ssin the iss-es heraised. 3he cli*a% of these e%cited e%plorations of ne' ideas 'as finally-o6s rioto-s openin niht kno'n as the Battle of ernani, b-t it see*slikely that it 'as his earlier readin of the preface to !rowellto his yo-nacolytes, incl-din 4rard de erval, that shaped the character of theirro*anticis*. 4a-tier tells -s of the art st-dents6 response to the readin:63ho-h not yet affiliated to the o*antic troop, 'e had already been 'on

over in o-r hearts. 3he preface to !rowell'as as radiant in o-r eyes as the3ables of the >a' on o-nt )inai, and its ar-*ents see*ed to -s beyondcontradiction.6

&t is not hard to i*aine the -nr-ly 6rapins6 revellin in the darinphrases p-nct-atin -o6s po'erf-l *anifesto. 6&t6s ti*e to say lo-dly thateverythin that is in nat-re is in art.6 3he *odern *-ses, he said, 'o-ld seethins at a lance as hiher and rander, and poetry 'o-ld bein to 'ork asdoes nat-re, *i%in in her creations liht and shado', the rotes=-e and the


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s-bli*e. e attacked 6pedants6 and their 6scholastic labyrinths6, -rin hislisteners to bypass their r-les. Art, he declared, leafs rapidly thro-h thecent-ries, thro-h nat-re+ it interroates chronicles and restores 'hatannalists have tr-ncated, divinin their o*issions. 3he *odern poet, he toldthe*, *-st even incl-de the v-lar and trivial, for nothin *-st beabandoned. 6>ake 4od, the tr-e poet is present every'here at once in his'ork.6

)-ch 'as the ne's in the st-dios of 1#$. Bal;ac, 'ho 'as franticallytryin to shore -p his failin printin b-siness, had little ti*e to fre=-entst-dios and cafs, b-t he al'ays kne' ho' to keep in to-ch 'ith theslihtest alterations in a*biance. e 'as nat-rally on hand for the inspirinchaos of the openin of ernanion E 0ebr-ary 1#!", and did not fail tonotice the e%traordinary array of rebellio-s bohe*ian yo-ths 'ith theiro-tlandish cost-*es, p-nacio-s attit-des, and e%aerated enth-sias*. &nApril he p-blished an article abo-t ernaniand -o, sayin: 6his na*e is abanner+ his 'ork the e%pression of a doctrine, and he hi*self a soverein.6

any of the yo-ths 'ho had fo-ht the sy*bolic battle of ernani'ereon the real barricades si% *onths later d-rin the so@called lorio-s days @the three days of fihtin that preceded the fliht of Charles M and theinstallation of >o-is@Philippe as 6o-is@Philippe, for all his previo-s liberalis*, 'as, as thecaricat-rists =-ickly declared, a philistine kin. e 'as the acco*plice of the'orst bo-reois e%ploiters, those 'ho* the anry caricat-rists pict-redco*fortably ensconced in their dra'in roo*s conrat-latin the*selvesthat the poor and the yo-n 'ere fihtin their battles for the* on the

? 1?barricades. Bal;ac6s reaction to >o-is@Philippe6s treachery 'as co-ched in thelan-ae of deepest sarcas*. is printed 'ords paralleled the f-ry of hisfriend Philippon 'hose caricat-re of >o-is@Philippe as a pear bro-ht -pon his'eekly, La !aricature, the police raiders. Bal;ac 'rote several editorialsfor !aricature-nder a pse-dony*. is opinion of the ne' rei*e 'asconsonant 'ith that of o-is@Philippe and his*inisters for*ed a stock co*pany, of 'hich he 'as the director, for the

e%ploitation of 0rance6s 'ealth. 3he cr-de rocers and a*bitio-s phar*acists'ho peopled Bal;ac6s h-*an co*edy 'ere stockholders, for*in the casteof nouveaux(richesthat so enraed the ep-blican veterans of thebarricades.

&n the co-rse of establishin his policy, broadly based on the sloan6enrichisse;@vo-s6, >o-is@Philippe had anno-nced: 6As reards do*esticpolicy, 'e 'ill endeavo-r to *aintain a)uste ilieu.6 3hat fatef-l phrase 'asto beco*e a characteristic epithet in the art 'orld 'hich, as Albert Boi*e has


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pointed o-t, 'as deeply affected by >o-is@Philippe6s politics. At first, >o-is@Philippe6s *inistrations to art see*ed to offer lon@a'aited liberali;ation.5ne of the first *oves of the ne' rei*e 'as to placate the independentartists 'ho chafed -nder the r-les of the Acade*y. 3he ann-al )alon 'asopened to artists of both the ro*antic and classic positions, and the ne'landscape painters 'ere ad*itted to p-blic scr-tiny. >o-is@Philippe led thebo-reoisie in his initial *onths in office by steppin -p the overn*ent6sofficial interest in artists 'ith co**issions, and by callin attention to thepositive ood of keepin artists on the p-blic payroll. 3he ne' patronae ofthe bo-reoisie affected artists directly and, in *any cases, adversely. 3hep-blic, lonin to be 6*ode*6, b-t findin Delacroi%@infl-encedpainterstoo*odern, 'as only too happy to follo' the bo-reois kin in histaste for the)uste ilieu. A revie'er of the )prin )alon of 1#!1, 'ritinin L'Artiste, sa' a school of 6transition6 for*in, its characteristics bein6conscientio-s dra'in, b-t not of the ansenistic kind practised by &nres+the effect, b-t 'itho-t everythin havin been sacrificed in its behalf+ colo-r,b-t 'hich 'ill appro%i*ate as closely as possible the tones of nat-re, and not

res-lt fro* bi;arre tones veilin the real 'ith the fantastic . . .6 &n short,the)uste ilieu.

Bal;ac follo'ed the ar-*ents in L'Artisteand other o-rnals. ereconi;ed instinctively, and early in >o-is@Philippe6s rein, that theopport-nistic propensities of the)uste(ilieuphilosophy boded ill for art. ehad had al*ost a year to absorb the ne' a*biance 'hen he started TheUnknown Masterpiece, and by that ti*e the overn*ent had *oveddecisively to ne-trali;e the e%tre*es in the vis-al arts. 3he stratey 'as toharness the eneries of the restive painters by p-ttin the* to 'ork in theinterest of the state. &t 'as an effective policy. 7ven Delacroi% 'as eaer to'in a co**ission, and others in the ro*antic circle did not hesitate to alter,

-st a little, their habit-al styles in the hope of sharin in the pro*isedprosperity and state hono-rs. Bal;ac noticed all this 'ith profo-nd distaste.hen the *iddle@of@the@road bo-reois bean really to *atter, in *atters oftaste, so*ethin 'as a*iss. e sensed, as he de*onstrated in *any of hisstories, the beinnin of the fatef-l breach bet'een bo-reois and *odernartist, and located it in those first *onths of the 8-ly onarchy.

? 1E?5f the three artists Bal;ac selected for characteri;ation in The Unknown

Masterpiece, t'o 'ere o-tcasts and one potentially an o-tcast. Porb-s, asBal;ac states in the openin lines, had been 6abandoned6 in favo-r of -bensby arie de dicis after enry &(6s assassination in 1F1". is *asterpiece'as to be seen only 6by those self@'illed individ-als to 'ho* 'e o'e thepreservation of the sacred fire in evil days6. 0renhofer, by his o'n eccentricchoice and innate eni-s, is also far beyond the rane of the ordinary)uste(ilieuciti;en. 3he yo-n Po-ssin is destined by his very sensitivity to asi*ilar role. e is one of those 6self@'illed6 independent eni-ses 'ho finds


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his 'ay to the *aster Porb-s altho-h the 'orld has t-rned its back on itsfor*er favo-rite. ot one of Bal;ac6s trio co-ld possibly acco**odate thebrihtly lit 'orld of the)uste ilieu. Bal;ac stresses the solitary,introspective character of his artists by settin the* in the chiarosc-roat*osphere of their northern conte*porary @ another distinctly isolatedeni-s @ e*brandt. 3he st-dio Po-ssin enters is ill-*inated di*ly by a veryhih skyliht, leavin corners in blackness. A fe' stray lea*s liht -p ac-irass hanin on the 'all and an old@fashioned dresser laden 'ith c-rio-svessels st-dded 'ith briht specks. 3here are heavy draperies and n-*ero-sbottles. &n the di* liht Bal;ac depicts 0renhofer, styled after e*brandt.3he first 6conte fantasti=-e6 *odels hi* as a off*annes=-e *aician: apainted


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Bo-laner had shared a st-dio 'ith 7-Hne Devria, 'hose brother Achillehad *ade one of the earliest portraits of Bal;ac. Bo-laner had been at'enty@fo-r@year@old rebel fro* the classic tradition of David 'hen he *etboth Delacroi% and -o. >ike Delacroi%, he ad*ired 3itian, (eronese and-bens, and he 'as eaer to enter the ranks of ro*antic rebels led by -o.is reat fondness for ro*antic literat-re endeared hi* to the 'riters. -oaddressed hi* in a letter of 1#!" as 6A*i, *es de-% a*is, *on peintre, *onpoHte6+ 4a-tier 'rote tercets on his 'ork, and )ainte@Be-ve rearded hi* asthe best of travellin co*panions. I2ears later, Ba-delaire 'as to say that-o r-ined Bo-laner as a painter.J At the ti*e Bal;ac enco-nteredBo-laner, he 'as ackno'leded as an intellient, skilf-l and 'ell@endo'edro*antic painter 'hose portraits, in partic-lar, 'ere e%cellent. 3he fact that,as 4a-tier 'rote, his 'ork 'as f-ll of re*iniscences of 4iorione, 3itian,4-ido, ibera, aphael, Bonninton and >a'rence did not detract fro* hisstat-re.

Bal;ac 'as 'ell pleased 'ith his choice. 3'o 'eeks after the first*ention of the portrait to ine anska, he 'rote to say that Bo-laner had

-st left 'ith the intention of *akin of the portrait a 6rande oe-vre6. D-rinthe ne%t nine *onths Bal;ac contin-ed to *ention his sittins 'ith Bo-lanerand on 1 Dece*ber he 'rote: 6there is a bit of 3itian and a bit of -bens*i%ed . . . 2o- 'ill have a 'ork in 'hich Bo-laner has p-t all his forces, andfor 'hich & posed thirty days.6 D-rin the *any sittins Bal;ac had a*pleti*e to note the techni=-es of an acco*plished painter. e 'atched ho'Bo-laner *i%ed his paints, ho' he altered the portrait fro* sittin tosittin, and ho' he b-ilt -p the bea-tif-l s-rfaces to i*pasto depths. is'ell@trained ear attended the lan-ae of his portrayer. Perhaps here*e*bered 0libien6s boast of his access to Po-ssin: 6e *ade *e see ashe 'orked, by visible de*onstration, the tr-th of the thins he ta-ht *e in

his conversation.6 D-rin all those *onths of sittins Bal;ac =-estionedBo-laner abo-t the lively disp-tes in the art 'orld. Undo-btedly he p-*pedBo-laner, 'ho sa' Delacroi% fre=-ently, for ne's of the reat painter andhis c-rrent opinions.

&n both versions Bal;ac has 0renhofer take -p a br-sh. B-t in 1#!$ hetakes it -p 'ith real paint on it. 3he odo-r of t-rpentine pervades the finalversion. &f Bal;ac6s ed-cation in the technical aspects of *ode* paintin tookplace in Bo-laner6s st-dio, his ed-cation in theory 'as enriched thro-h hisclose association 'ith one of the *ost i*portant yo-n art critics of the day,3hophile 4a-tier. 3he for*er art st-dent 'as still closely allied to the 'orldof *odern painters tho-h he had already *ade his literary sensation 'ith

the ro*antic novel Madeoiselle de Maupin, p-blished in 1#!E. Bal;ac readit i**ediately and 'as so deeply i*pressed that he sent 8-les )andea-, 'ho'as his assistant for a fe' *onths in 1#!E@!F, to in=-ire if 4a-tier 'o-ldcollaborate 'ith hi* on his ne' vent-re, La !hroni"ue de $aris.

? 1$?


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4a-tier 'as only t'enty@fo-r at the ti*e, and eaer to *eet Bal;ac. e stillspent his ti*e 'ith the yo-n circle of poets and painters 'ho had fo-ht thebattle of ernaniand 'as, like the*, in f-ll reaction aainst the stanation,after so *-ch pro*ise, of the)uste ilieu.

4a-tier and the other *e*bers of -o6s band had *anaed to stay

toether for several years after the heroic evenin at the theatre. 3o'ardsthe end of 1#!1 they for*ed a version of -o6s 6cnacle6 and called it 6lepetit cnacle6. 3he ro-p 'as hih@spirited, *-ch iven to scandali;in thebo-reoisie thro-h their e%travaant *odes of dress and behavio-r. &n thefall of 1#!, 4a-tier, erval and several others settled in the Doyenne, anold, sl-*like section of Paris behind the >o-vre, 'here they led a life 4a-tierlater described as 6'ild and tr-c-lent6. 3heir hair flo'ed over their sho-lders,he 'rote, like the *anes of lions, and they looked 6*ore than erovinian6.e looked back affectionately to this 6ypsy enca*p*ent6 'here he, erval,ArsHne o-ssaye and assorted others lived 'hat he called the life ofobinson Cr-soe, and 'here they held spectac-lar parties. 0or one of theserand affairs the roo*s 'ere painted 'ith decorations by Corot, ante-il and

Chassria-, a*on others. 4a-tier6s all-sion to the life of obinson Cr-soe'as not playf-l. e and his friends sa' the*selves ship'recked in a*onstro-sly co**ercial society. 3he 'orld that appeared so s-ddenly, andso bra;enly, 'ith the advent of >o-is@Philippe deeply shocked the*. 3heirco*ple% attit-des, 'hich in histories of the period are too neatly sealed off inthe phrase 6l6art po-r l6art6, 'ere consonant in *any details 'ith the attit-deof the slihtly older novelist, Bal;ac.

0ro* his early yo-th 4a-tier had de*onstrated a enero-s nat-re,capable of friendship and e%ceedinly tolerant of others 'ho, like hi*self,had devoted the*selves passionately to the arts. 3his led hi* to soften his

-d*ents, and he 'as critici;ed fre=-ently for his over@enero-s co**ents

and his eclecticis*. B-t even so acerbic a critic as )ainte@Be-ve, 'ho 'ascertainly not notable for his enerosity to fello' 'riters, 'rote ad*irinly of4a-tier6s tact as a critic in his +ouveaux Lundis, and called attention to4a-tier6s *ost i*portant basic attit-des. )ainte@Be-ve cites a passae fro*an article 4a-tier had 'ritten on Casi*ir Delavine, to prove 4a-tier6s ac-ityas a critic despite the ostensible *ildness of his 'ritins. 4a-tier had'ritten: 6&n the 'orld of art there stands al'ays, belo' each eni-s, a *anof talent, preferred to hi*. 4eni-s is -nc-ltivated, violent, te*pest-o-s+ itseeks only to satisfy itself, and cares *ore for the f-t-re than the present.63he *an 'ho co-ld 'rite this 'as 'ell e=-ipped to -nderstand Bal;ac+ infact 4a-tier -nderstood Bal;ac better than any of his conte*poraries. 3he

*e*oir he 'rote of hi* in 1#E# is still the *ost vivid acco-nt.3he *e*oir beins in 1#!E @ perhaps *akin an -nconscio-s referenceto The Unknown Masterpiece@ 'ith the yo-n 4a-tier arrivin 'ith a co-pleof friends for breakfast. 6y heart beat violently, for never have & approached'itho-t tre*blin a *aster of tho-ht . . .6 Bal;ac =-ickly p-t his yo-nfriends at ease. 0ro* that day a close friendship developed bet'een thenovelist and the yo-n painter@poet@novelist 'ho 'o-ld, event-ally, callBal;ac a 6seer6. 4a-tier 'as =-ick to reconi;e in Bal;ac 'hat fe' others at


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? 1#?the ti*e 'o-ld rant: the te*pest-o-s eni-s that seeks only to satisfy itselfand cares *ore for the f-t-re than the present.

4iven the close association for*ed by these t'o 'riters, and Bal;ac6srespect for his yo-n collea-e, it see*s certain that Bal;ac, 'ho 'asthinkin abo-t the revision of 3he Unknown Masterpiece, called -pon4a-tier6s kno'lede as an erst'hile painter and art critic. Bal;ac no' had achance to st-dy not -st the painters6 *an-als and acade*ic te%tbooks that'ere 'idely cons-lted in nineteenth@cent-ry 0rance, b-t the *inds and*ores of livin artists. 4a-tier s-ests that he and his friends, 'ho 'ere atthat ti*e *ostly painters and poets, ed-cated Bal;ac. 3heir task 'as notdiffic-lt. Bal;ac had already sho'n a certain aptit-de in his enth-sias* fortheir hero Delacroi%. hen Delacroi% sho'ed his Fees d'Algerin the )alonof 1#!, Bal;ac had loned to p-rchase it. )ince 4a-tier prided hi*self onhavin 'ritten as early as 1#! of Delacroi%6s eni-s, he and Bal;ac ot off

to a ood start. 0ort-nately for Bal;ac6s ed-cation, 4a-tier 'as not only adiscri*inatin art critic, b-t a broad@*inded one. e had been sensitiveeno-h to praise, in his )alon of 1#!!, not only Delacroi%, b-t also his chiefrival, &nres. is reat enth-sias*s d-rin his ter* as an art st-dent hadbeen aphael, 3eniers, 3iepolo, ichelanelo and e*brandt I'ho re*aineda *aor interestJ. >ater, as a yo-n art critic he had been one of the first'riters to reconi;e the deeper sinificance of )panish paintin @ he had*entioned 4oya6s !aprichosas early as 1#! and 'as larely credited 'ithi*pressin the p-blic 'ith the i*portance of both 4oya and 7l 4reco.

Bal;ac had *et *any painters in passin, incl-din the on before Ba-delaire, 4a-tier had said that nat-re 'as adictionary, and that copyin nat-re 'as 6only stenoraphy6.

By the ti*e he breakfasted 'ith Bal;ac, 4a-tier6s vie' 'as already 'ell@for*-lated, despite his yo-th. e already believed, as he p-t it years later,

that 6the painter carries his paintin 'ithin hi*self, and bet'een nat-re andhi* the canvas serves as inter*ediary6. e tho-ht that 'hen a painter'anted to *ake a landscape, it 'as not the desire to copy this tree or thatrock or hori;on that i*pelled hi*, b-t a certain drea* of areeablefreshness, co-ntry repose, a*oro-s *elancholy: in short, an ideal bea-tythat he so-ht to translate into the lan-ae proper to hi*. e chided theartist 'ho 6closed his *icrocos* and painted fro* the e%terior *odel6, andhe repeatedly stressed the 6interior *odel6. Above all, he bro-ht into reliefthe cr-cial role of int-ition. Bal;ac *ade 0renhofer reflect this aesthetic in his


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obsessive advent-rin into his interior vision. B-t, as Bal;ac -nderscored inthe final version, 0renhofer lost the a*e 'hen he no loner allo'ed the freeplay of

? 19?his int-ition. -ch of 4a-tier6s ar-*ent can be fo-nd in the dialo-e of thisversion. >ike *ost ro*antic art st-dents, 4a-tier had learned to cherish thefirst i*p-lse and to tr-st its faithf-lness to the interior vision. )ince the lateeihteenth cent-ry ar-*ents for the -nfinished =-alities of the sketch asopposed to the e%cessive finish of the acade*ically refined paintin had beenpro*-lated. By the 1#!"s the vie' had 'on 'ide acceptance. Delacroi%6s'ell@kno'n letter on overn*ent co*petitions s-**ed -p the eneralattit-de:3he artist, closeted in his st-dio, at first inspired by his 'ork and b-oyed by that s-pre*e confidence 'hich aloneprod-ces *asterpieces, arrives by chance to cast his lance o-t'ard on the stae 'here it 'ill be -ded. e

*odifies it, he spoils it, he over'orks it, all this civili;in and polishin in order not to displease.ore than once in his portraits of artists Bal;ac e%pressed his conte*pt

for the painter 'ho ives 'ay to the cro'd. &n Les ,llusions $erdusthepainter 8oseph Brida- reflects Delacroi%. 6is friends have kno'n hi* todestroy a pict-re beca-se he tho-ht it looked too hihly finished. N&t is toolabo-red,N he 'ill say, Nart@school 'ork.N6 3he sketch, Bal;ac had learned in4a-tier6s circle, 'as the er*, and a certain =-ality of ro-hness even in*ore a*bitio-s 'orks left roo* for the i*aination. 3he n-ance andabstraction available in the int-itive to-ch 'ere hihly val-ed. 3hese vie'sand their co-nter@ar-*ents find a*ple e%pression in the final version of TheUnknown Masterpiece, 'here the painters ar-e fro* several points of vie'.

3he inf-sions of art talk enhancin the final version bein 'hen Bal;acsho's the *iddle@aed *aster Porb-s deferrin to the i*passioned criticis*sof the old *aster 0renhofer. 0renhofer critici;es Porb-s6s fi-re of a fe*alesaint in ter*s that are s-rprisinly fa*iliar even to painters today. )he isl-ed to the canvas, he says, yo- cannot 'alk aro-nd her. )he is a silho-ette'ith a sinle face, a c-t@o-t fi-re. 6& feel no air blo'in bet'een that ar*and the backro-nd6, he tells Porb-s, sparin hi* little in his copio-sco**ents. e co*es to the essential point @ the point on 'hich yo-npainters of Bal;ac6s ac=-aintance 'ere =-ite insistent @ 'hen hecharacteri;es the snare of the)uste ilieu: 62o- have 'avered -ncertainlybet'een t'o syste*s, bet'een dra'in and colo-rin, bet'een thepainstakin phle*, the stiff precision, of the old 4er*an *asters and thatda;;lin ardo-r, the happy fertility of the &talian painters.6

&t is this 6-nfort-nate indecision6 that hinders Porb-s, 0renhofer states.3he yo-ner *aster atte*pts to defend hi*self, sayin there are effects innat-re that see* i*probable on canvas, to 'hich 0renhofer replies Iin thevoice of 4a-tierLJ, 63he *ission of art is not to copy nat-re b-t to ivee%pression to it.6 3his is one of 0renhofer6s *ost -nco*pro*isin positions.Altho-h in the rane of his disco-rse 0renhofer enco*passes the ar-*entsof both the ro*antics and the classicists, he holds to a fe' principles that,


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iven his ae, distance hi* fro* the t'o yo-ner painters. Perhaps beca-se4a-tier ad*ired both &nres and Delacroi%, Bal;ac can have 0renhofer reflectthe partisans of &nres 'ith their idealis* 'hen he scoffs at Porb-s6s*ention of the 6effects6 in nat-re. 6e have to rasp the spirit, the so-l, inthe feat-res of

? "?thins and beins. 7ffectsO 7ffectsO 'hy, they are the accidents of life, andnot life itself.6 e oes on to e%tol aphael for his instinctive sense,'hich in ha* see*s to desire to shatter for*. 0or* is, in his fi-res, 'hat it is in o-rselves, an interpreter forthe co**-nication of ideas and sensations, an ine%ha-stible so-rce of poetic inspiration. 7very fi-re is a 'orldin itself, a portrait of 'hich the oriinal appeared in a s-bli*e vision, in a flood of liht, pointed to by an in'ardvoice, laid bare by a divine finer 'hich sho'ed 'hat the so-rces of e%pression had been in the 'hole past life ofthe s-bect.

)ince the basic oal of independent artists in Bal;ac6s day 'as thesi*plification of *asses in favo-r of the effect, Bal;ac has 0renhofer r-nco-nter to the ro*antic position. 3he acade*ics stressed the raded a*-tof val-es @ the half@tones @ 'hile the rebels fro* the acade*y tended toeli*inate -n'anted details in favo-r of a broad, eneral effect of chiarosc-ro.Despite his o'n 'ar* appreciation of Delacroi%, Bal;ac apparently co-ld notshake his earliest conviction that aphael 'as the 6kin of the painters6 andthat he 'as the kin beca-se he kne' nothin of the ro-h nat-ralis* of thero*antics and only so-ht the ideal. 0renhofer scolds Porb-s for stoppinshort before appearances+ he doesn6t 6o far eno-h into the inti*atekno'lede of for*6. Unvan=-ished painters, he says, 6persevere -ntil nat-reis driven to sho' itself to the* all naked and in its tr-e -ise6.

3o prove his point that 'hat the paintin lacks is a *ere nothin, 6b-t

that nothin is everythin6, 0renhofer t-rns -p his sleeves and calls for apalette and br-shes. &n a scene that benefited fro* Bal;ac6s thirty sittins toBo-laner, 0renhofer sets to 'ork, *-tterin darkly abo-t the poor =-ality ofthe colo-rs. 5nce aain Bal;ac con-res the old vision of e*brandt, artf-llydescribin the behavio-r of the old painter 'ho, 6'ith feverish ani*ation6,dipped the end of the br-sh in the different *o-nds of colo-r, so*eti*es6r-nnin over the 'hole assort*ent *ore rapidly than a cathedral oranist6.oldin forth in a r-nnin co**entary, the old artist 6to-ched all thedifferent parts of the pict-re: here t'o strokes of the br-sh, there a sinleone, b-t al'ays so aptly that the res-lt 'as al*ost a ne' paintin, b-t apaintin dipped in liht6. As Bal;ac contin-es this inti*ate description of the

old *aster at 'ork his pen =-ickens and the off*ann 6fantasti=-e6 appearsin the description of 0renhofer 'ho 6'orked 'ith s-ch passionate ardo-r thatthe perspiration stood on his bald head+ all his *otions 'ere so i*patientand abr-pt, that it see*ed to yo-n Po-ssin that there *-st be a devil in hisbody, actin thro-h his hands and forcin the* to perfor* all sorts offantastic antics aainst the *an6s 'ill6. earin the end of his feverishperfor*ance, 0renhofer tells yo-n Po-ssin, 62o- see, *y boy, it is only thelast stroke of the br-sh that co-nts.6


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Altho-h Bal;ac sees so*ethin diabolic in 0renhofer6s ardo-r, he kno'sartists @ that is, hi*self @ 'ell eno-h to add a se=-ence of rad-al deflation+that kind of slo' drift to'ards depression that artists so often feel afterhavin 'orked at a hih pitch. Do-bt, the artist6s ene*y, enters. 3his side of0renhofer6s psychic life is revealed 'hen the t'o yo-ner artists acco*panyhi* to his o'n st-dio. 3here Porb-s tries, as he has often tried before, to et0renhofer to sho' hi* his fabled portrait of the co-rtesan Catherine >esca-lt,

? 1?kno'n as >a Belle oise-se. 3he old *an e%citedly resists. e still has a fe'last to-ches, he says. 3he niht before, he had tho-ht he 'as finished, b-tin the *ornin he reali;ed his error. ith visible pert-rbation 0renhoferla-nches into a desperate peroration e%plainin that he has st-died,analysed, dissected, layer by layer, paintins by 3itian, the kin of liht+ thathe has st-died shado's to the point that the shado' of flesh 'as not likethat of other painters @ 'ood or brass @ b-t p-re liht+ and in one of the *ostsinificant passaes in the story, he disc-sses the nat-re of dra'in:& have not, like a *-ltit-de of inorant fools 'ho i*aine that they dra' correctly beca-se they *ake a sharp,s*ooth stroke, *arked the o-tlines of *y fi-re 'ith absol-te e%actness, and bro-ht o-t in relief every triflinanato*ical detail, for the h-*an body is not bo-nded by lines. &n that respect, sc-lptors can approach reality*ore nearly than 'e painters. at-re provides a s-ccession of ro-nded o-tlines 'hich r-n into one another.)trictly speakin, dra'in does not e%ist O @ Do not la-h, yo-n *anO )trane as that state*ent *ay appear,yo- 'ill so*e day reali;e its tr-th. 3he line is the *ethod by 'hich *an e%presses the effect of liht -ponobects+ b-t there are no lines in nat-re, 'here everythin is ro-nded+ it is in *odellin that one dra's, that is tosay, one takes thins a'ay fro* their s-rro-ndins . . .

After contin-in 'ith a detailed description of his *ethod, 0renhoferabr-ptly re*inds hi*self of his an%iety:B-t & a* not content as yet, & have *y do-bts. &t *ay be 'e o-ht not to dra' a sinle line, perhaps it 'o-ld bebetter to attack a fi-re in the *iddle, ivin one6s attention first to the parts that stand o-t *ost pro*inently inthe liht and to pass thence to the darker portions . . . 5 at-re, at-reO 'ho has ever follo'ed thee in thyflihtL 5bserve that too *-ch kno'lede, like inorance, leads to a neation. & do-bt *y o'n 'orkO

)o sayin, the old *an falls into a profo-nd reverie, playin*echanically 'ith iris knife. 3he i*plications of this key speech rane far.Bal;ac faithf-lly reflects the preocc-pations of his 'idened circle of artisticac=-aintances, as 'ell as his o'n tho-hts as an artist. 3he yo-ner acolytesof Delacroi% 'ere fa*iliar 'ith his tho-hts and kne' he *aintained thatthere are no lines in nat-re. 5ther artists of the period had also *ade si*ilarobservations. 4oya asked, 6here do they find lines in nat-reL As for *e, &can distin-ish only l-*ino-s and dark bodies6+ to 'hich &nres responded,6here do yo- see to-ch in nat-reL6 3he challene in the t'o positions lay in

'ait for every yo-n painter. Bal;ac, ho'ever, carries the ar-*ent to itsinenio-s e%tre*e 'hen he concl-des that, strictly speakin, dra'in itselfdoes not e%ist.

Bal;ac also reflects the r-*inations of his friend 4a-tier in thes-estion that sc-lptors can approach reality *ore nearly than painters. B-there Bal;ac 'as prescient, for it 'as not -ntil the late 1#"s that Delacroi%hi*self co-ld state clearly his vie' of the sc-lptor as he relates to thepainter, 'ho 6does not bein his 'ork 'ith a conto-r+ 'ith his *aterials, he


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b-ilds -p an appearance of an obect 'hich, ro-h at first, i**ediatelypresents the principal condition of sc-lpt-re: act-al relief and solidity. 3hecolo-rists, those 'ho -nite all the aspects of paintin, *-st establish fro*the o-tset everythin that is proper and essential to their art. 3hey have to*ass in 'ith colo-r e%actly as the sc-lptor does 'ith clay, *arble or stone+their sketch, like that of the

? ?sc-lptor, *-st also render proportion, perspective, effect and colo-r.6 &n lateryears 4a-tier fir*ly *aintained that 6la plasti=-e est l6art s-prie-re6.Possibly inspired by 4a-tier, the i*portant observation e%pressed by0renhofer, that nat-re provides a s-ccession of ro-nded o-tlines 'hich r-ninto each other, 'as to have serio-s conse=-ences for C;anne and thef-t-re of both *ode* paintin and sc-lpt-re.

III

hen 0renhofer, e%ha-sted by his passion, falls into a profo-nd reverie,Porb-s tells yo-n Po-ssin: 6e is conversin 'ith his spirit.6 At that 'ord,Bal;ac tells -s, Po-ssin is conscio-s of the press-re of an ine%plicable artist6sc-riosity. 3he old painter ass-*es 6the proportions of a s-pernat-ral eni-s,livin in an -nkno'n sphere6. 3he spirit-al ar-*ent of the fable beins here.3hro-ho-t the t'o parts, Bal;ac has 'oven the s-bthe*e of love, slihtlye*phasi;in the sens-o-s, earthly aspects of passion. &n the first part4illette, Po-ssin6s s-b*issive yo-n *istress, is offered by Po-ssin as a*odel to 0renhofer in the hope that, thro-h her sacrifice, he 'ill learn the

secrets of the old artist. &n the second part, 4illette6s -nearthly co-nterpart,Catherine >esca-lt, overshado's the yo-n, livin *odel. 3his creation of thes-pernat-ral old painter is ideal, as 0renhofer sardonically points o-t 'hen4illette is first offered to hi*. o' can a livin, yo-thf-l bein co*pare 'ithhis creationL )ooner or later, he says, 4illette 'ill betray Po-ssin, 'hile >aBelie oise-se . . . ever O &n the first version, this the*e of passionass-*es at least as *-ch i*portance as the the*e of the nat-re of art. &nthe final version, the story of the sacrifice of 4illette serves only to brin intorelief Bal;ac6s preocc-pation 'ith the spirit-al. hen Po-ssin senses that heis in the presence of so*eone livin in an -nkno'n sphere, 'e areintrod-ced to one of Bal;ac6s *ost persistent *otifs: the assertion of the

ascendancy of the spirit-al ele*ent in tr-e 'orks of art.3he prono-nced *aterialis* of the 8-ly evol-tion e*phasi;ed the needfor s-ch assertions. ever had 0rench society so blatantly declared its*aterialistic bias, and never had artists felt the loss of the spirit-al sokeenly. Painters, poets, and novelists deplored the deradin conditions-nder 'hich they 'orked. 3he)uste ilieu'as visibly *ediocre and therand the*es debased. &ncreasinly the *ost independent spirits in thenineteenth cent-ry t-rned their tho-hts to *atters of the spirit. 0ro* the


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1#!"s on, thro-ho-t the cent-ry, there 'ere res-rences of interest in thespirit-al on the part of 'riters, so*eti*es *anifested in the practice ofalleory, as in the case of 0la-bert, or in the act-al st-dy of *ysticis*, as inthe case of Ba-delaire and, later, i*ba-d. hile Bal;ac and his s-ccessorscast side lances at science, and atte*pted to coordinate van-ard scientifictho-ht 'ith strands of creative *ysticis*, their repeated state*ents ofan%iety centred larely on the loss of dinity of the arts thro-h the loss ofthe spirit-al base. 3he *ost inconsolable 'ere the adherents of the principleof art pour l'art. 0ro* the beinnin of the 1#!"s the little *aa;ines andne'spapers 'ere filled 'ith an%io-s observations that the ae ofindivid-alis* had robbed art of its

? !?rande-r. 3he rene'ed vio-r of the )aint@)i*onians, 'hose *ysticis* didnot apply to the arts I'hich they insisted *-st be 6-sef-l6J, dist-rbedobservers in the press, and i*pelled the* to call, as did 4-stave Planche in1#!E, for 6a spirit-alist reaction in art6. 5thers, s-ch as einrich eine,avoided the e*barrassin 'ord 6spirit-al6, b-t took care constantly to re*indtheir readers of the daners of 6-sef-l6 art. 62o- kno'6, eine 'rote to afriend in 1#!$, 6that & stand for the a-tono*y of art 'hich *-st not be thevalet of either reliion or politics, b-t on the contrary its o'n end, like the'orld itself.6

3he i*pression of 0renhofer as reistered by the yo-n Po-ssin is anarchetypal portrait of the spirit-al artist. Po-ssin lons to penetrate the-nkno'n sphere. is enco-nter 'ith 0renhofer 6aro-sed a tho-sand conf-sedideas in his *ind6. 3he one point that 'as clearly perceptible to Po-ssin 'as @

and this is Bal;ac6s *ost constant perception of artists @ a 6co*plete i*ae ofthe artist6s nat-re, of the erratic nat-re to 'hich so *any po'ers areentr-sted, and 'hich too often *is-ses the*, leadin sober reason, andbo-reois intellects, and even so*e connoisse-rs into a stony 'ilderness'here they see nothin+ 'hereas the 'ined *aiden, in her sportive fantasy,discovers epics there, and castles, and 'orks of art . . .6 3h-s to theenth-siastic Po-ssin 6the old *an had beco*e, by a s-dden transfor*ation,the personification of art, art 'ith its secrets, its i*p-lses, its reveries6.

&n this secret 'orld heded by reverie, Bal;ac foraes for *eanin. 0ro*his earliest 'orks he had pondered the nat-re of the creative principle, andtested it aainst the *ost varied approaches. e had sco-red scientific

treatises of s-ch nineteenth@cent-ry fi-res as C-vier and >avater for ane%planation of his o'n e%perience as an artist. And, -st as assid-o-sly, hehad searched the hori;ons of the i*ainative philosophers and theoloians.3here is hardly a 'ork by Bal;ac, no *atter ho' specifically co**itted tothe faithf-l reflection of the h-*an co*edy, no *atter ho' boldly andobectively reported, that does not have so*e to-ch, so*e fra*ent, ofspec-lation abo-t the deepest *ystery he kne': the *ystery of the created'ork. 3he secrets, i*p-lses and reveries of art 'ere Bal;ac6s *ost insistent


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challene. is search for their oriins led hi* to consider the *oste%travaant e%planations and to reach the very ede of a psycholoicalabyss. 6Ab*ssus ab*ssu,6 >o-is >a*bert e%clai*s. 65-r *inds are abysses'hich deliht in abysses. Children, *en, old *en, are al'ays reedy for*ysteries -nder 'hatever for* they present the*selves.6

3here are repeated all-sions to the nat-re of the abyss in Bal;ac6s 'ork.e 'as a*on the first to see in its depths the positive val-e of 'hat laterenerations 'ere to celebrate as the 6void6 or 6nothinness6. 3he narratorin Louis Labert, 'ho 'as closely *odelled on Bal;ac hi*self, tells -s:& loved to pl-ne into that *ysterio-s 'orld, invisible to the senses, 'herein everyone takes pleas-re in livin,'hether he pict-res it to hiself underthe indefinite for* of the f-t-re or clothes it 'ith the potent for*s of thefable. 3hese violent reactions of the *ind -pon itself ta-ht *e -n'ittinly to reali;e its po'er and acc-sto*ed*e to the labo-rs of tho-ht.

Bal;ac, 'ho had trained hi*self so caref-lly as an observer, *ade it ahabit

? ?to observe 6these violent reactions of the *ind -pon itself6, and in hisintensity prefi-red the -lti*ate e%ercise -ndertaken by Pa-l (alryinMonsieur Teste.

Bal;ac shared his attraction to the abyss 'ith several of his *oresensitive conte*poraries. 3hey all 'ent to the sa*e so-rces. 3he tenets of)'edenbor, for instance, 'ere repeatedly e%a*ined by artists and 'ritersthro-ho-t the nineteenth cent-ry, each eneration findin solace or *atterfor e%trapolation, fro* Bal;ac to Poe to Ba-delaire and into the t'entiethcent-ry to ike 7. 3. A. off*ann,'ho* he ad*ired, Bal;ac 'as interested in psycholoical details that co-ldill-*inate the old ar-*ent over the dichoto*y of spirit and *atter. Both'riters e%plored est-res, h-*an tics, and the events occ-rrin in sleep orhalf@sleep for keys to artistic behavio-r. Both sa' the artist as the *ostsensitive baro*eter of e*otional cli*ate, and as a fraile bein al'ays indaner fro* the assa-lts of the philistines.

&n *any 'orks Bal;ac set hi*self the task of describingas precisely aspossible ho' an artist felt and 'hat i*pelled hi* d-rin the cr-cial *o*entsof creation. is belief in the furor'as fo-nded in his o'n e%perience 'henhis i*aination va-lted into the 6spaces of tho-ht6. e checked aainst thee%periences of close friends s-ch as 4a-tier. 3he principal in=-iry in 'hatBal;ac calls his 6philosophical6 'orks is into the f-nctionin of his o'ni*aination, 'hich he describes thro-h vario-s characters. >o-is >a*bert,destined to beco*e insane, is overendo'ed 'ith 'hat Bal;ac tho-ht of asthe creative principle @ as is 0renhofer. 3he necessary ability to observe theviolent reactions of the *ind -pon itself is, in the*, too hihly developed.Before his breakdo'n, >a*bert6s capacity to i*aine is clearly a reflection ofBal;ac6s o'n process, al'ays directed to'ards 6the spaces of tho-ht6. 3here


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are *any passaes in Louis Labertin 'hich Bal;ac atte*pts to characteri;ethe psycholoical e%perience+ for e%a*ple:6hen & choose,6 he said in his pec-liar lan-ae . . . 6& dra' a veil over *y eyes. & s-ddenly enter 'ithin *yselfand find there a dark cha*ber 'here the accidents of nat-re are reprod-ced in a p-rer for* than that -nder'hich they first appeared to *y e%ternal senses.

Bal;ac e%plains that >o-is >a*bert6s i*aination 'as already hihly

developed at the ae of t'elve, 6either beca-se he proceeded by analoy orbeca-se he 'as endo'ed 'ith a species of second siht by virt-e of 'hich hee*braced all nat-re.6 3he 6second siht6 theory is f-nda*ental to Bal;ac6saesthetic convictions. &n another passae in Louis Laberthe elaborates:hen he th-s p-t forth all his po'ers in readin he lost, in a certain sense, the conscio-sness of his physical life,and no loner e%isted save thro-h the all@po'erf-l 'orkin of his interior orans, 'hose scope of action 'asi**eas-rably e%tended+ as he hi*self e%pressed it, he left space behind hi.

4a-tier, 'ho 'rote in his *e*oir on Bal;ac that, 6altho-h it *ay besin-lar to say it in the f-ll liht of this nineteenth cent-ry, Bal;ac 'asa seerO6,

? E?stressed the i*portance of second siht Ia concept a shade *ore co*ple%than that of int-itionJ. e cites the story Facino !ane, p-blished in arch1#!F, in 'hich Bal;ac describes his follo'in 'orkin people in the streetsand listenin to their talk of the price of potatoes and the risin cost of coal:& felt their ras -pon *y back, & 'alked in their dilapidated shoes+ their desires, their needs all passed into *yso-l and *y so-l passed into theirs+ it 'as the drea* of an a'akened *an. 3o abandon *y o'n habits, tobeco*e another than *yself thro-h this transport of the *oral fac-lties, to play this a*e at 'ill, s-ch 'as *yrecreation. 3o 'hat do & o'e this iftL 3o a second sihtL &t is one of those fac-lties 'hose ab-se 'o-ld lead to*adness: & have never so-ht the so-rces of this po'er+ & possess it, and & avail *yself of it, that is all.

&n the preface to $eau de !hagrinhe tells -s that this fac-lty is a *oral

pheno*enon that science finds diffic-lt to acco-nt for. &t is a po'er 'hichtransports poets and artists to 'here they *-st or 'ish to be, and 'hich 'illperhaps per*it the* to abolish the la's of ti*e and space.

Bal;ac speaks of the 6drea* of an a'akened *an6 @ in short, of reverie @fro* his o'n e%perience. is one specifically )'edenborianstory, -raphita, oes to the li*it of the *ystical aspect of the =-estion, b-tthere are other stories in 'hich Bal;ac6s insihts are offered in less arcaneter*s. is )'edenbor advent-re 'as an e%ercise in *ysticis*, an approachto the observation of the violence of the *ind -pon itself. 4a-tier clai*s thatBal;ac6s pheno*enal readin capacity allo'ed hi* to absorb his *other6sentire set of the vol-*ino-s 'orks of )'edenbor in a fe' days. Andr

a-rois, on the contrary, says Bal;ac kne' )'edenbor only thro-h a0rench o-tline of his 'ritins. &t is also possible that Bal;ac ca*e to)'edenbor thro-h the 'ritins of Charles 0o-rier, 'hich in the late 1#"sand early 1#!"s 'ere beco*in 'ell kno'n. 0irst in 1#"! and *ore definitelyin 1#"#, 0o-rier had already p-t for'ard his doctrine of -niversal analoy, in'hich he likened the la's of the ani*al kindo* to the la's of the cos*os.0o-rier6s belief that he co-ld scientifically analyse the *ove*ents of thespirit-al and *aterial 'orlds, and that 6h-*an passions are ani*ated*athe*atics6, is reflected in n-*ero-s passaes in Louis Labert. hatever


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Bal;ac6s so-rces, in -raphitahe 'as chiefly -sin )'edenbor as ane%e*plar of the *ystical principle, -st as he -sed 0renhofer as the e%e*plarof the creative principle. Bal;ac hi*self said of )'edenbor, 6&n readin hi*one *-st either lose one6s *ind or beco*e a seer.6

&n -raphita, Bal;ac paraphrases )'edenbor so deftly that Ba-delaire

co-ld lean *ore on Bal;ac than the oriinal so-rce for his o'n advent-re in)'edenboris*. Bal;ac6s para*o-nt interest in -raphitais the =-estion ofanelis*. e speaks of 6the correspondences that e%ist bet'een the visibleand tanible thins of the earthly 'orld6, and he describes anelis*: 6ith*en, the nat-ral passed into the spirit-al, they vie'ed the 'orld in its visiblefor* and in an at*osphere of reality adapted to their senses. B-t 'ith theanelic spirit, the spirit-al passes into the nat-ral, it vie's the 'orld in itsin'ard spirit and not in its for*.6 3he correspondences that Ba-delaire *adeso *e*orable 'ere en-nciated by Bal;ac in 1#!: 6)peech is the ift of all

? F?*ankind. oe to hi* 'ho sho-ld re*ain silent in the *idst of the desertthinkin that no one co-ld hear hi*+ everythin speaks and everythinlistens here belo'. )peech *oves 'orlds.6

hile Bal;ac 'as 'orkin on -raphitahe *ay have been thinkin aainof his revision of The Unknown Masterpiece, for in that story 'e find thephrase: 6like the painter 'ho 'ants to p-t life itself on the canvas and isdashed to pieces even 'ith all the reso-rces of art in this vain atte*pt.6 3heold Py*alion *yth is revived and 0renhofer6s t'o collea-es are 'ell a'areof its *oral. Bal;ac6s shift to the *ytholoical voice is heralded by 0renhoferhi*self 'hen he e%clai*s: 63o the abode of the departed & 'o-ld o to seekthee, 5 celestial bea-ty O >ike 5rphe-s, & 'o-ld o do'n into the hell of art,to brin back life fro* there.6

ith reat -nderstandin Porb-s e%plains to the yo-ner artist that0renhofer is a *an passionately devoted to art, 6'ho looks hiher and f-rtherthan other painters6. 2et, for all his -nderstandin, Porb-s feels oblied toive a practical criti=-e of the older *an6s theory. &ts chief fla' lies in theconse=-ence: 6e has *editated deeply on colo-r, on the absol-te acc-racyof line, b-t he has investiated so *-ch that he has at last reached the pointof do-btin the very obect of his investiations.6 3o spare the yo-n artistthe *o*ents of despair that led 0renhofer to insist that there is no s-chthin as dra'in, and that only eo*etrical fi-res can be *ade 'ith lines,

Porb-s tells hi* that art is, like nat-re, co*posed of an infinit-de ofele*ents, all of 'hich can be -sed. o'ever,3here is so*ethin tr-er than all of this+ na*ely that practice and observation are everythin to a painter, andthat, if rhetoric and poetry =-arrel 'ith the br-sh, 'e reach the do-btin stae like this ood *an 'ho is as*-ch a *ad*an as a painter.

e -res Po-ssin to 'ork, for 6painters o-ht to *editate only 'ith abr-sh in hand6.


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Bal;ac6s conviction that 'ork and 'orks are everythin is not entirelytri-*phant in this story. e hi*self never ceased to str-le 'ith 'hat heconsidered the debilitatin role of tho-ht, i*aination and theory in thecreative act. Do-bt 'as -st as indispensable to Bal;ac hi*self as 'ase%ha-stive 'ork. 5n the one side he 'as convinced that e%cessive reflectiondissipates into do-bt+ on the other, that no a-thentic *asterpiece co-ld beborn 'itho-t do-bt. 3his is the essential conflict in The UnknownMasterpiece, and in *any s-bse=-ent 'orks of i*aination in the nineteenthcent-ry. 3he proble* of do-bt is linked in Bal;ac6s *ind 'ith the proble* ofabstraction. 0renhofer says that nat-re provides a s-ccession of ro-ndedo-tlines that r-n into one another, b-t that there are no lines in nat-re. 3heartist, then, is faced 'ith the proble* of abstractin fro* nat-re its essentialfor*s. 3hese, Bal;ac believed in an al*ost Platonic *ode, 'ere accessibleonly in that abstract real* of second siht. 3he abyss 'as infinity, fearedand yet loned for by artists. 6one of yo-r savants has dra'n this si*pleind-ction6, he 'rites in -'raphita, 6that the c-rve is the la' of *aterial'orlds, and the straiht line that of spirit-al 'orlds: the one is the theory of

finite creations, the other is the theory of the infinite.6 I&*possible not to bestr-ck 'ith the

? $?'orld that ondrian and alevich created 'ith these very principles, al*osta cent-ry later.J

3hro-h his h-ner for *ystery, an artist s-ch as 0renhofer can bete*pted into other 'orlds, -nintelliible to his confreres. 0renhofer hi*selfreconi;es this in his description to his t'o friends of La /elle +oiseuse. 6y

paintin is not a paintin, it is a senti*ent, a passion O6 Porb-s finds hi*selfat a loss. &s 0renhofer sane or *adL 6as he -nder the spell of an artist6scaprice, or 'ere the ideas he e%pressed attrib-table to the strane fanaticis*prod-ced in -s by the lon and painf-l delivery of a reat 'orkL6 Clearly0renhofer had one to 'hat Bal;ac called in -raphitathe hiher abysses,6the sphere to 'hich *editation leads the scholar, to 'hich prayer transportsthe reliio-s *ind, to 'hich his visions entice an artist, to 'hich sleep carriesso*e *en+ for every *an has his voice to beckon hi* to the hiherabysses6. )o*e t'enty years later Ba-delaire 'as to identify this voice as6*odern6 'hen he characteri;ed *odern art as reflectin inti*acy,spirit-ality, colo-r and aspiration to the absol-te.

3he i*placable thirst for the absol-te *ade Bal;ac 'ary and he ar-ed'ith hi*self, *arshallin all his e%perience. e associated it 'ith the state oftrance in 'hich an artist6s hihest *o*ents occ-r. 2et aain, he confir*s hiso'n do-bts in the face of Porb-s6s practical s-estions and presses hisnotion that the artist is beside hi*self, o-tside hi*self, beyond hi*self as hecreates. 0renhofer 'as not finally *ad in Bal;ac6s eyes, at least notincontestably *ad. is vie' of the artist and his 6rioto-s nat-re6 'as al'ays


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tined 'ith a sense of *ystery he co-ld not e%p-ne in his o'n f-nctioninas an artist. &n notes for 0es Artistes, be-n in 1#!F, he 'rites of the artist:e has reconi;ed that he is not hi*self in the secret of his intellience. e operates -nder the e*pire of certaincirc-*stances of 'hich the co*in toether is a *ystery. e doesn6t belon to hi*self. e is the playthin of ane*inently capricio-s force . . . )-ch is the artist: h-*ble instr-*ent of a despotic vol-pt-o-sness, he obeys a*aster.

And:either >ord Byron, nor 4oethe, nor alter )cott, nor C-vier, nor the inventor belons to hi*self+ they areslaves to their idea+ and this *ysterio-s po'er is *ore ealo-s than a 'o*an+ she absorbs the*, *akes the*live and kills the* for her o'n benefit.

A fe' years later, in 1#!, in Les Mart*res ,gnors, Bal;ac reiterates thethe*e:& 'anted to tell yo- a secret: 3ho-ht is *ore po'erf-l than the body+ tho-ht devo-rs it, absorbs it anddestroys it+ tho-ht is the *ost violent of all aents of destr-ction+ it is the veritable e%ter*inatin anel ofh-*anity that kills and ani*ates, beca-se it doesani*ate and kill. y e%periences have been eared to resolvethis proble*, and & a* convinced that the span of life is in relation to the force that the individ-al can oppose totho-ht+ the basis is te*pera*ent. . . . Do yo- kno' 'hat & *ean by tho-htL 3he passions, the vices, e%tre*eocc-pations, sorro's, pleas-res are torrents of tho-ht.

And in Masshnilla 0oni, 'ritten in 1#!$:hen an artist has the *isfort-ne to be carried a'ay by the e*otion he seeks to e%press, he cannot do so,

beca-se he has beco*e the thin itself instead of bein its

? #?instr-*ent. Art proceeds fro* the brain, not fro* the heart. hen yo- are do*inated by a s-bect, yo- are itsslave and not its *aster.

0inally, Bal;ac clearly tells -s his artistic intentions in his 6philosophic6'orks in a letter to *e anska of ay 1#!$:Massiilla 0oniand 1abaraare, in the Philosophic )t-dies, the apparition of *-sic -nder the do-ble for*ofexecutionand coposition, s-b*itted to the sa*e test as thoughtin Louis Labert+ that is to say, the 'orkand its e%ec-tion are killed by the too reat ab-ndance of the creative principle @ that 'hich dictated to *eTheUnknown Masterpiecein respect to paintin.

B-t 'ere 0renhofer6s ten years of 'ork s=-anderedL as he s-fferindel-sionsL &t is here that the 'isdo* of Bal;ac6s state*ent that 6it is theproperty of a ood fable that the a-thor hi*self does not kno' all the richesit contains6 is *ost pertinent. hat has ha-nted the i*ainations of so *anyartists s-bse=-ently is the cli*a% of the fable, open to so *anyinterpretations. hen 0renhofer in a fren;ied state finally reveals his*asterpiece, he e%clai*s:6here is artL lost, vanishedO 3hose are the o-tlines of a real yo-n 'o*an. ave & not . . . ca-ht the livin t-rnof the line that see*s to *ark the li*its of the bodyL &s it not the sa*e pheno*enon presented by obects thats'i* in the at*osphere like fish in the 'aterL6

B-t the other painters sa' 6nothin there b-t colo-rs piled -pon one

another in conf-sion, and held in restraint by a *-ltit-de of c-rio-s lines'hich for* a 'all of paintin.6&t is this description that liners in the *e*ory of *odern artists. )o*e,

s-ch as de


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3here is yet another revelation in 0renhofer6s paintin. 5nce they haveseen it as a 'all of paintin, Porb-s and Po-ssin step closer:&n co*in closer they noticed in a co*er of the canvas the tip of a bare foot 'hich e*ered fro* this chaos ofcolo-rs, tones, va-e n-ances, a kind of *ist 'itho-t for*+ b-t a *arvello-s foot, a livin foot O . . . 3his footappeared there like the torso of so*e (en-s in Parian *arble risin -p a*on the r-ins of a b-rned city.

Bal;ac6s paintin harbo-rs the so-rces of the dialectical conflict of all

*ode* paintin. 3he presence of that foot, that livin foot 'ithin the 'all ofpaint, the 'eb of line @ the abstraction that floated 0renhofer beyond therane of co**-nication 'ith his conte*poraries @ calls -p the other side ofthe =-estion. Bal;ac says that the t'o yo-ner painters 'ere beinnin to-nderstand, b-t only va-ely, the 6trance6 in 'hich 0renhofer lived. e kno'6fro* Lords Labertthat the trance 'as a necessary state for certain kinds ofcreation. &n disc-ssin theApocal*pse>o-is calls it 6a 'ritten trance6. 2et,re*e*berin the risks of anelis*, Bal;ac has Porb-s say, 63hat *arks theend of o-r art on earth.6 0inally, 0renhofer is discovered dead the follo'in*ornin, havin b-rned his pict-res.

? 9?3he =-estion, 'here is the pict-reL see*s to -s a *odern =-estion, and it'as i*plicit in the dialo-es of the nineteenth cent-ry. 4a-tier6s descriptionof Bal;ac6s ho-se at 8ardies re*inds -s that for hi* and his circle a pict-ree%isted as *-ch in the i*aination as on canvas:3he *anificence of 8ardies had sliht e%istence save in drea*s. All Bal;ac6s friends re*e*ber havin 'ritten-pon the bare 'alls or rey paper hanins 6Palissandrian 'ainscottin, 4obelin tapestry, (enetian lass, pict-resby aphael6. 4rard de erval had already decorated an apart*ent in the sa*e *anner.

(ictor -o, describin his visit to Bal;ac6s last ho-se, also re*arks onthe i*ainary decor of his old abode as distinct fro* the final ho-se 'here

there 'ere real paintins. At 8ardies, -o re*e*bers, there 'ere*anificent inscriptions on the 'alls indicatin the fictive presence ofpaintins by aphael, 3itian and e*brandt. I-o also s-pplies -s 'ith thena*es of a fe' of the painters Bal;ac finally *anaed to collect, a*onthe* Porb-s, olbein, Cranach, Bo-cher and a Drer portrait ofelanchthon. e also kno' fro* the sales catalo-e of Bal;ac6s 'ido' thatin 1#$ there 'ere t'o Chardins and t'o paintins attrib-ted to e*brandt.)o*e historians spec-late that the paintins na*ed in Le !ousin $orts*ayat one ti*e have been in Bal;ac6s collection @ 'orks said to be by 4iorione,)ebastiano dePio*bo, obbe*a, and 4rica-lt.J

Bal;ac6s fable, or his inspirin *yth, re*ains alive for *odern art

beca-se, as (alry intoned, 6&n the beinnin 'as the 0able O6 e conc-rred'ith Bal;ac6s vie' of a 'orld 'itho-t la's of ti*e and space, the 'orldinvented by eccentric eni-ses s-ch as 0renhofer, abstract to the vere of*ystery. 6hat 'o-ld 'e be6, (alry asks, 6'itho-t the help of 'hat does note%istL ot very *-ch, and o-r very -nocc-pied *inds 'o-ld pine a'ay if*yths, fables, *is-nderstandins, abstractions, beliefs and *onsters,hypotheses and the so@called proble*s of *etaphysics did not people thedarkness and the depths of o-r nat-res 'ith abstract creations and i*aes.6


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0renhofer6s last coent 'ords to his t'o ad*irers, 6one *-st have faith,faith in art, and live a lon, lon 'hile 'ith one6s 'ork, to prod-ce s-ch acreation6, speak to the spirit-ally deprived *odern so-l. 3he necessity for*yth has not retreated and certain *yths are indispensable. 3he *yth of0renhofer6s -nkno'n *asterpiece I'hich 'as -nkno'n or -nreconi;ed notonly in the physical sense b-t in the *oral sense as 'ellJ 'ill contin-e to beastonishin and inspirational beca-se the con-ndr-*s i*plicit in it are still'ith -s. 0renhofer is the archetypal *odern artist, e%istin in a constantstate of an%iety, pla-ed by *etaphysical do-bt. e is reconi;able to*odern painters 'ho have p-shed beyond appearances, as Porb-s says0renhofer did, to hiher and f-rther reaches than *ost painters. 3hey arereions 'here loneliness, or 6alienation6, is the co**on condition+ 'here noco*pro*ises are per*itted+ 'here there can be no)uste ilieu. ankind,says Bal;ac loo*ily in -raphita, contin-es to live as it lived yesterday, asit lived in the first 5ly*piad, as it lived on the date after the Creation of theday before the reat catastrophe: 6Do-bt covers everythin 'ith its 'aves.6

? !"?

Chapter TwoCzanne in the hadow of Frenhofer

3he po'er of the fable of 0renhofer 'as -nre*ittin in C;anne6s life. D-rinthe period 'hen he 'as still e%plorin diverent approaches to paintin,

bet'een his t'enty@seventh and thirtieth years I1#FF@F9J, he a*-sedhi*self by ans'erin =-estions in a little eiht@pae booklet entitled M*!onfidences. 3he alb-*, probably provided by a friend in Ai% and decorated'ith the f-rbelo's dear to the nineteenth@cent-ry *iddle classes, posedt'enty@fo-r =-estions of preferences ranin fro* favo-rite s*ells, flo'ersand food to favo-rite painters and 'riters. 3o the =-estion: hat characterfro* literat-re or the theatre are yo- *ost dra'n toL C;anne had replied0renhofer. At aro-nd the sa*e period, he *ade t'o s*all sketches of aseventeenth@cent-ry artist before an easel bearin a paintin of a fe*alen-de. &n one of the sketches the cast of the painter6s head s-ests thatC;anne 'as thinkin of e*brandt, 'hile in the other, the painter indicates

his paintin to a yo-n onlooker 'ho *iht 'ell have been Po-ssin. TheUnknown Masterpiece'as on C;anne6s *ind.e 'as even *ore po'erf-lly dra'n to the 0renhofer fable in his old

ae. &f he co-ld identify hi*self 'ith 0renhofer 'ith s-ch over'hel*ine*otion as he did in the scene reported by 7*ile Bernard, it 'as evidently ac-l*ination of a lifeti*e of serio-s attention to the story. &n his o'n co*ple%nat-re C;anne bore traits of all three of the painters Bal;ac had portrayed.>ike Po-ssin he had been intrepidly rebellio-s in his yo-th. >ater, he had


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learned the i*portance of direct e%perience, as had the *iddle@aed Porb-s.0inally, like 0renhofer, he had secretly co**itted hi*self to an i*possibleideal @ to 'hat he had called, in a letter to onet, the 6chi*erical p-rs-it ofart6. 5f these three painters, it 'as 0renhofer to 'ho* C;anne 'as *ostdra'n, as he said in the alb-*, and 'hose e%a*ple he *ost feared.0renhofer6s e%cessive idealis*, so fa*iliar to C;anne, 'as to be a constant'arnin+ a 'orriso*e tendency in hi*self that he 'atched 'ith an%iety.C;anne not only sa' hi*self in 0renhofer, b-t he also reistered thear-*ents in Bal;ac6s fable as poles or referents to 'hich he ret-rnedthro-ho-t his life. e easily -nderstood Bal;ac6s depressin co**ent thatdo-bt covers everythin 'ith its 'aves. 3o the =-estion in the alb-*: hatis yo-r reatest aspirationL he ans'ered 6certainty6. B-t do-bt 'as hislifelon co*panion, and it 'as that aspect of his personality that per*ittedlater enerations to reconi;e hi* as a thoro-hly *odern artist. Picassoidentified the 0renhofer in C;anne 'hen

? !1?he told -s, 6&t6s not 'hat an artist doesthat co-nts, b-t 'hat he is. C;anne'o-ld never have interested *e a bit if he had lived and tho-ht like 8ac=-es7*ile Blanche, even if the apple he painted had been ten ti*es as bea-tif-l.hat forces o-r interest is C;anne6s an%iety @ that6s C;anne6s lesson.6

any 'riters have echoed Picasso6s observation b-t have offereddifferent e%planations of its so-rce and *eanin. 3o the fre=-ent s-estionthat C;anne 'as an%io-s to discover the -nderlyin str-ct-re of for*s,eyer )chapiro responded that 'e *-st see 'hat is there. 3oo *-ch stresson the invisible str-ct-res distorts C;anne6s an%io-s =-est for an acc-rate

renderin of 'hat he sa'. 4a--in, on the other hand, 'as convinced thatC;anne 'as a *ystic: 6>ook at C;anne, that *is-nderstood *an 'hosenat-re is essentially *ystical and oriental . . .6 4a--in instinctively sei;ed-pon the 0renhofer conflict 'hen he 'rote to Pissarro: 6&f he discovers theprescription for co*pressin the intense e%pression of all his sensations intoa -ni=-e proced-re, try to *ake hi* talk in his sleep.6 )chapiro seesC;anne as a *an in 'ho* 6the self is al'ays present, poised bet'eensensin and kno'in, or bet'een his perceptions and a practical orderinactivity, *asterin its inner 'orld by *asterin so*ethin beyond itself6.4a--in sa' hi* as a *ystic seekin, like an alche*ist, a -ni=-esynthesi;in proced-re. Both vie's hold, for the hihest for*s of parado%

f-nctioned in C;anne. &f, in the end, he see*ed to have achieved thebalance )chapiro perceived bet'een sensin and kno'in, he hi*self 'asnever convinced. is early enco-nter 'ith 0renhofer re*ained para*o-nt.3he te*pted idealist hoverin on the brink of the abyss 'as as *-ch a partof hi* as the 'ork*anlike painter of the *otif.

C;anne6s irre-lar develop*ent as a painter 'as one of the so-rces ofhis an%iety. is restlessness, his 'ild e%ploratory tendencies, his-n'illinness to adopt the received ideas of his day 'ere traits that he


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reconi;ed early and fretted abo-t, as 'e kno' fro* his letters. At the sa*eti*e, he reconi;ed that his character, his 6te*pera*ent6, 'as his richestreso-rce. -ch of his behavio-r as a yo-n painter ne'ly arrived in Paris canbe attrib-ted to the stron e%periences of his adolescence 'hich, inC;anne6s case, al'ays see* to have been vivid in his *e*ory, and al'aysserved hi* as oads in his later years. 3hose e%periences incl-ded not onlythe active life of the ra*blin ro*antic schoolboy forain a*on the r-ralsplendo-rs of Ai% 'ith his friend Qola, b-t also the conte*plative life of thereader. C;anne 'as an attentive, serio-s reader to 'ho* the sinificantphrases that had *oved hi* in his yo-th ret-rned aain and aain in his life.e 'as not, as the 0rench like to say, b2te coe un peintre, b-t ratherso-ht confir*ation of his te*pera*ent in a 'ide spectr-* of readin. henvery yo-n he had been stirred by the poetry of (ictor -o and Alfred de-sset, the ro*antics 'ho 'ere the *odern poets of his ti*e. B-t he 'asalso an enth-siastic >atinist, readin >-creti-s and (iril and tryin in hiso'n vol-*ino-s schoolboy verses to capt-re (iril6s style. hen hediscovered Ba-delaire he reconi;ed his reatness, and thro-ho-t his life

reread both the poetry and the essays.

? !?C;anne6s periodical ret-rns to te%ts that 'ere once i*portant to hi* are'ell doc-*ented, not only by those to 'ho* he spoke in cas-alconversation, b-t in his letters. &n 1#9F he reported that he 'as rereadin(iril and >-creti-s. &n the last year of his life he 'rote to his son that he'as rereadin Ba-delaire6s L'Art %oanti"ueand re*arked, 6one of the reatones is Ba-delaire6. hen he e%perienced intense *o*ents of -nhappiness

C;anne often retrieved =-otations+ after fallin in love 'ith his *other6s*aid in 1##E, he re*e*bered (iril6s 63rahit s-a =-e*=-e vol-ptas6. 3hose'ho had *ore than a passin ac=-aintance 'ith C;anne al'ays *arvelledat his ability to =-ote lon passaes fro* the ancients and to recite entirepoe*s by Ba-delaire. 4iven his serio-s attention to 'hat he read as a yo-th,it is reasonable to ass-*e that The Unknown Masterpiece, to 'hich hereferred so often in conversation, had enraved itself deeply on his *ind.3he voices of the eneration that Bal;ac had so deftly recorded enteredC;anne6s spirit and participated in his o'n ac-te ar-*ent 'ith paintinand nat-re.

hen an e%perience c-t deep 'ith C;anne, as happened so often in his

adolescence and yo-th, he kept it alive. As a boy in Ai%, for e%a*ple, he hadbeen attracted to a paintin in the *-se-* attrib-ted to >o-is >e aincalled The !ard $la*ers. >ate in life, he hi*self -ndertook to paint thes-bect in several versions, and 'as still talkin ad*irinly of >e ain toBernard in 19"F. hen he sa' anet6s0)euner sur l'herbeand his 3l*pia,he 'as s-fficiently dist-rbed to -ndertake parodic variations of bothpaintins, and referred to anet6s 'orks fre=-ently all the rest of his life. &nhis conversations 'ith yo-n painters at the end, he often referred to the


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shock anet had ad*inistered, both to C;anne hi*self and to theestablish*ent. )o*eti*es he spoke *ockinly, b-t *ost often 'ith a respectthat indicated the po'erf-l i*pression anet had *ade on hi*.

5f all his enco-nters 'ith paintins d-rin his early years in Paris, it 'ashis e%perience of Delacroi% that *ost *oved and challened hi*. 3he vision

of Delacroi% both as painter and as *editator on paintin never di**ed forC;anne. 3he palpable reflection of Delacroi% in Bal;ac6s fable strenthenedhis co**it*ent. C;anne 'as no fool, as he 'as fond of re*indin hiscorrespondents and ac=-aintances. e kne' =-ite 'ell that the idealsDelacroi% represented had iven 'ay before the vioro-s assa-lts of thene'ly selfconscio-s avant@arde @ first, Co-rbet6s assertions concerninrealis* and then the &*pressionists the*selves, a*on 'ho* C;anneoccasionally located hi*self. e 'as 'ell a'are that, as Ba-delaire had saidin The $ainter of Modern Lifeand other 'orks, an artist *-st be 6*odern6and he f-lly accepted the principle. B-t the e%a*ple of Delacroi%, and hisattit-des to'ards paintin, so*e of 'hich C;anne fo-nd reflected in TheUnknown Masterpiece, 'ere conenial to C;anne6s te*pera*ent, 'hich

co-ld not be satisfied 'ith the *aterialistic e*phases of his o'n epoch.-rt-red in the ro*antic tradition, 'ith its conf-sed b-t nonethelessprincipled point of vie', he 'as loath to part 'ith the f-nda*ental ideals no*atter ho' often he *ade forays into the 6*odern6 vie'.

D-rin the t-rb-lent early years in Paris 'hen C;anne 'averedbet'een a violent ro*anticis* and the *ore 6analytic6 Ias Qola called the*Jattit-des of

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1A sheet of scribbles by Bal;ac Ic. 1#EJ, containin inscriptions,

acco-nts, sketches, and possibly a self@portrait at the botto*.ICollection >oveno-lJ

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A sketch of Bal;ac by Delacroi%, c. 1#!.

ICollection >oveno-lJ

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!An oil portrait of Bal;ac I1#!FJ by >o-is Bo-laner, anartist 'ho 'as in the centre of the ro*antic *ove*ent.

I-se de 3o-rsJ

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ead of Bal;ac by Picasso, 19E+ lithoraph printed in black.

I3he -se-* of odern Art, e' 2ork, Abby Aldrich ockefeller 0-ndJ

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EC;anne, Bather on the ock, one of the paintins 'hich

ill-strate C;anne6s ad*iration for the 'ork and ideas of Delacroi%.IChrysler -se-* at orfolk, (a., 4ift of alter P. Chrysler, 8r.J

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3'o pencil sketches by C;anne, the one referred to as 60renhofer sho'in his

'ork6 and the other as 63he Painter6, b-t s-estin that C;anne had e*brandt in *ind.

IiverpoolJ

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1"C;anne6s paintin of the Chatea- oir, an e%a*ple of his late

style 'ith its characteristic rhyth* of shapes and broad e%panses.IPrivate collection, BerneJ

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11,13'o late paintins by C;anne: )till@life 'ith 3eapot I1#9F@19""J and )till@

life 'ith Apples

and Peaches Ic. 19"EJ, in 'hich he can be seen to be 6reali;in6 his spatial 6sensations6.Iational -se-* of ales, Cardiff+ ational 4allery of Art, ashinton, D.C

., ift of 7-ene and Anes eyerJ

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1!C;anne, ont )ainte@(ictoire, 19"/"F.

I


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1C;anne, >e Cabanon d- 8o-rdan, 19"F.

ICollection iccardo 8-cker, ilanJ

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1EC;anne, portrait of the ardener (allier, c. 19"E.

Iational 4allery of Art, ashinton, D.C., ift of 7-ene and Anes eyer 19E9J

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1Fodin6s *on-*ent to Bal;ac, 1#9#.

Iational 4allery of (ictoria, elbo-rneJ

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1$odin: a n-de st-dy of Bal;ac, c. 1#91@9.

I-se odin, ParisJ

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1#odin6 s head of Ba-delaire, 1#9#. Ba-delaire and Dante 'ere

the t'o literary fi-res 'ho *ost affected odin6s intellect-al life.I3he )olo*on . 4-enhei* -se-*, e' 2orkJ

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19odin in his atelier in 19"E.

&t 'as here that ilke first visited the sc-lptor in 19".IPhoto oer (iolletJ

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"5ne of odin6s *ost fa*o-s sc-lpt-res, 3he and of 4od, 1#9#.

I-se odin, ParisJ

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1Pa-la odersohn@Becker: )elf@portrait 'ith Ca*ellia. ilke*et this artist and others of the ro-p at orps'ede in 19"".

I0olk'an -se-*, 7ssenJ

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irresistible aspect of te*pera*ent 'hich he 'o-ld later try to reconcile 'iththe need for 'hat ilke called 6'ork of the hand6. 3he conflicts so -rentlydescribed in The Unknown Masterpiece'ere intense in C;anne6s yo-th andrevisited hi* in his last years.

C;anne 'as in his late t'enties 'hen he did little sketches pres-*ed to

be of 0renhofer. D-rin the sa*e period I1#FF@F9J, he sketched ill-strationsfor his other s-pre*ely i*portant readin e%perience @ Ba-delaire6s poe*in Les Fleurs du Mal, 6Une Charone6. 3he poe* @ one of the *ost violent,searin i*aes in Ba-delaire6s entire R-vre @ 'as to re*ain 'ith C;anne.&n his old ae he so*eti*es recited it to yo-thf-l ad*irers, al'ays 'ithe*otion. &t is not diffic-lt to -nderstand C;anne6s initial response to thepoe*. Preocc-pied as he 'as d-rin those years 'ith fearf-l visions, therotes=-e description in Ba-delaire6s poe* of a rottin, *aot@riddencarrion in the hot s-n 'o-ld have e%cited hi*. is little sketch of a ratherdandyish top@hatted yo-n *an IBa-delaire hi*selfJ inerly pokin thecarcass 'ith his cane, 'hile a yo-n 'o*an leans a'ay, shieldin herselffro* the stench, sho's his interest in co*in to ter*s 'ith s-ch *onstro-s

e%periences. B-t there 'as *ore for C;anne in Ba-delaire6s poe*. Certainlythe openin stan;as, 'ith their sharp -%taposition of a beautifuls-**er*ornin and the s-dden vie' of 6a filthy carrion . . . les in the air, like alascivio-s 'o*an, b-rnin and s'eatin poisons6, appealed to C;anne6s

? !?sense of *elodra*a d-rin those early years. 3he *ordant realis* in thedescription, on the other hand, satisfied the eneral feelin C;anne shared'ith his conte*poraries that the old ro*antic poetry 'as too re*ote and

refined, lackin, as he *iht have said, 6=-el=-e chose dans l6esto*ac6. &nhis earlier readin of the poe*, perhaps the al*ost vindictive tone of thepoet 'ho addresses his co*panion as his so-l, his anel, b-t nonethelessconcl-des by re*indin her that she, too, 'ill one day be s-ch p-trid ord-re,spoke to C;anne. A certain savae tone that recalls Ba-delaire6s hadinvaded one of his o'n verses. 5n the back of a sketch for his oage to0elacroix, probably aro-nd 1#$E, he had echoed Ba-delaire6s acrid ironies ina scra'led verse:ere is the yo-n 'o*an 'ith ro-nded b-ttockso' nicely she stretches o-t in the *iddle of the *eado'er s-pple body, splendidly e%tended.3he adder is not *ore sin-o-sly c-rved.And the bea*in s-n ently castsA fe' olden rays on this lovely *eat.

2et Ba-delaire6s poe*, as C;anne certainly kne' later, 'as i*portantin another *ore philosophical sense. 3he *essae of (ictor -o, relayedthro-h The Unknown Masterpiece, 'as that everythin in nat-re, even therotes=-e, *-st be reckoned 'ith by the artist. Ba-delaire confir*s -o6sattit-de, b-t oes f-rther. &n a stan;a 'hich *-st certainly have co**endeditself especially to C;anne, Ba-delaire, after havin described the tee*in


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'orld of flies and larvae in the horse6s belly, a 'orld 'hich 6ave o-t astrane *-sic, like flo'in 'ater and 'ind6, contin-es:3he for*s faded and 'ere no *ore than a drea*, A sketch slo' to co*e5n the forotten canvas, and 'hich the artist co*pletes 5nly by *e*ory.

&n his later years, these lines probably s-**oned for C;anne hisstr-le 'ith both nat-re and the nat-re of paintin. 5nce havin perceivedthe for*s @ all those *in-sc-le details a*on 'hich C;anne foraed for theessences @ he too fo-nd his sketch slo' to co*e. Paintin =-ite often str-ckhi* as no *ore than a drea*, or 6chi*erical6. All the 'hile, d-rin his *iddleperiod, 'hen he 'as painstakinly developin his *ethod, restrainin hishand and peerin at nat-re -ntil, as he said, his eyeballs see*ed afire, hebore the dark lesson of 6Une Charone6 in *ind. is alternately e%alted anddisconsolate re*arks late in his life co-ld 'ell have resolved the*selves inBa-delaire6s final line: 6& have kept the for* and the divine essence of *ydeco*posed loves.6

0inally Ba-delaire6s insiht, and C;anne6s, deposited the* in that real*so*eti*es called obective, in 'hich an heroic and -nflinchin a;e at the-nthinkable res-lts in a transcendin vision of the -niverse. hile C;anne6svision 'as intensifyin d-rin the last years, the yo-n poet ilke 'asreactin si*ilarly. &n The +otebooks of Malte Laurids /riggehe 'rote abo-tBa-delaire and 6Une Charone6: 6hat sho-ld he have done after thathappened to hi*L &t 'as his task to see in this terrible thin, see*in to be

? !E?only rep-lsive, that e%istence 'hich is valid a*on all that e%ists. Choice orref-sal there is none.6

C;anne6s need, not only to a;e at the 'orld -nflinchinly, b-t also toco*pose a vision of the -niverse, separated hi* fro* his conte*poraries,and at ti*es thre' hi* back @ 'ith an%io-s lances @ to the past. econtin-ally checked hi*self aainst the past, sensin the li*itations of latenineteenth@cent-ry attit-des. Aside fro* his s-stained reverence forDelacroi% and the (enetians, C;anne fre=-ently e%pressed interest in scoresof painters of the past. e 'as consistently attracted to the ideas that haddo*inated the period in 'hich Bal;ac 'rote The Unknown Masterpieceandad-sted his reactions to his o'n ti*es 'ith -dicio-s salvain fro* thero*antic past. 3he attit-de of the *aor artists of the &*pressionist

*ove*ent d-rin the 1#$"s and 1##"s 'as one of irritation aainst then-*ero-s epiones 'ho had *anaed to *ake a)uste(ilieu&*pressionis*.onet and enoir r-*bled, and Deas said, 63hey are flyin 'ith o-r 'ins.6C;anne, 'ho 'as al'ays ealo-s of his independence, distanced hi*self.Altho-h he re*ained ratef-l to Pissarro 'ho had so enero-sly pro*ptedhi*, he had already e*barked on his =-est in 'hich the ideals of theprevio-s epoch 'ere to be s-stained. ot only did he contin-e to scan the'ork of the painterly (enetians and little *asters of the etherlands, b-t he


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also noted caref-lly the ro*antic or e%pressionist tendencies in 0renchpaintin of his period. 6e often talked of the caricat-rists 4avarni, 0orainand above all Da-*ier,6 a-rice Denis said. 6e liked the e%-berance of*ove*ent, relief of *-sc-lar for*s, i*pet-osity of hand, brav-ra ofhandlin.6 &n his ar-*ents 'ith both realis* and &*pressionis*, C;anneheld in *ind the e*otional alternatives.

C;anne6s heroic spirit-al develop*ent 'as as dra*atic as thes-bstance of Bal;ac6s fable. 0or C;anne, the reat proble* 'as to avoid thesin of pride IabstractionJ 'hich 'as yet i*plicit in his te*pera*ental -re tothe absol-te. 0renhofer6s hubris'as a frihtenin 'arnin to C;anne, 'hononetheless deeply respected the obsessions that *otivated 0renhofer. 3helesson of real@life Po-ssin, repeated by Porb-s, 'as never to pass beyond thebo-nds of nat-re, and C;anne 'as convinced of the fatef-l tr-th of thatdict-*. 2et the ain C;anne, as he tre*blinly indicated to Bernard, 'asalso 0renhofer. 3here are inn-*erable =-otations fro* C;anne hi*self bothabo-t practical or technical paintin *atters and abo-t *oral attit-des 'hichecho Bal;ac6s te%t. hen the yo-n >o >ar-ier visited hi* in 19"" and

dined in the a-stere dinin roo* in 'hich, he said, there 'ere no bibelots, nospecial a*enities, he reported that C;anne spoke only of his 6perpet-altor*ent6, and that *any of his re*arks abo-t his 'ork see*ed paraphrasesof 0renhofer.

e*arkable parallels can be fo-nd bet'een C;anne6s position ondra'in and 0renhofer6s i*passioned lect-re. 0renhofer says the h-*anbody is not bo-nded by lines and that, strictly speakin, dra'in does note%ist. 63he line is the *ethod by 'hich *an e%presses the effect of liht -ponobects+ b-t there are no lines in nat-re, 'here everythin is ro-nded+ it is in*odellin that one dra's . . .6 >ar-ier =-otes several si*ilar co**ents byC;anne:

? !F?3o the deree that one paints, one dra's. 3he precision of tone ives at once the liht and the *odellin of theobect.

>ine and *odellin don6t e%ist. Dra'in is a rapport of contrasts, or si*ply the rapport of t'o tones, black and'hite.

P-re dra'in is abstraction. 3he dra'in and the colo-r are not distinct, everythin in nat-re bein colo-red.

3here are still *ore startlin correspondences bet'een 0renhofer6stheory and C;anne6s. 5ne of C;anne6s *ost fre=-ently cited letters toBernard points o-t that in an orane, an apple, a ball, a head, there is a

c-l*inatin point and this point is al'ays, despite the tre*endo-s effect ofliht and shade and sensation of colo-r, the closest to o-r eye. 0renhofer,after his initial lect-re on dra'in, says: 6&t *ay be 'e o-ht not to dra' asinle line, perhaps it 'o-ld be better to attack a fi-re in the *iddle, ivinone6s attention first to the parts that stand o-t *ost pro*inently in the liht .. .6

Bernard =-otes C;anne:


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3here is no s-ch thin as line or *odellin: there are only contrasts. 3hese are not contrasts of liht and dark,b-t the contrasts iven by the sensation of colo-r. odellin is the o-tco*e of the e%act relationship of tones.hen they are har*onio-sly -%taposed and co*plete, the pict-re develops *odellin of its o'n accord.

And in the sa*e passae C;anne6s 'ords recall the final 'ords of0renhofer6s lect-re on dra'in: 65bserve that too *-ch kno'lede, likeinorance, leads to neation.6 C;anne: 65ne *-st esche' the literary spirit

'hich is so often diverent fro* the tr-e voice of paintin: the concretest-dy of nat-re in order not to et lost too lon in inter*inable spec-lations.6Porb-s6s cal* voice also pro*pted C;anne. Porb-s had told yo-n

Po-ssin: 63here is so*ethin tr-er than all of this+ na*ely, that practice andobservation are everythin to a painter, and that, if rhetoric and poetry=-arrel 'ith the br-sh, 'e reach the do-btin stae like this ood *an 'hois as *-ch a *ad*an as a painter.6

ot only technical *atters in The Unknown Masterpiecepoint to itssinificance for C;anne+ there are also te*pera*ental co**it*ents.C;anne6s early reconition of Delacroi%6s eni-s *ay 'ell have coincided'ith his readin of the Bal;ac tale. o' deeply he revered Delacroi% is

apparent in the story of his enco-nter 'ith (ictor Cho=-et aro-nd 1#$E or1#$F. Cho=-et o'ned so*e t'enty canvases by Delacroi%, and inn-*erable'atercolo-rs. e invited C;anne to see his collection, and spread the'atercolo-rs on the floor. C;anne, 'e are told, 'ept 'ith Cho=-et overthe*. Altho-h C;anne 'as fre=-ently reported to have 'ept in his lastyears, a trait 'hich co**entators attrib-ted to his obsessive 'ork habits,his isolation and his illness, he had al'ays had the ift of deep e*otions. 3hei*portant *o*ents of insiht in his life 'ere al'ays acco*panied by-ncontrollable e*otion. e 'as iven to e%cesses of despair, d-rin 'hich hedestroyed his canvases or thre' the* into his arde

ASHTON, D. a Fable of Modern Art

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Transcript of ASHTON, D. a Fable of Modern Art