The Cohesion of an Object

A reading from Sartre.

Alberto Giacometti, Jean-Paul Sartre Leaning on his Elbow, circa 1949, medium pencil on micro-perforated sheet of a drawing pad, 11.73 x 9.05 inches (source)

Jean-Paul Sartre, “The Paintings of Giacometti,” 1954:

But how can the artist place a figure on his canvas without confining it? Will it not explode in the empty space like a fish from the depths on the surface of the water? Not at all. A line represents arrested flight, a balance between the external and the internal; it fastens itself around the shape adopted by an object under the pressure of outside forces; it is a symbol of inertia, of passivity.

Giacometti does not think of finitude as an arbitrary limitation, however. For him the cohesion of an object, its plenitude and its determination are but one and the same effect of its inner power of affirmation. “Apparitions” affirm and confine themselves while defining themselves. Somewhat as the strange curves studied by mathematicians are both encompassing and encompassed, the object encompasses itself.

Content at DMJ is free but paid subscriptions keep it coming. Please consider one for yourself and thank you for reading.

We are about to begin an Asynchronous Studio Book Club reading of The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. Obtain your copy and jump in. See the ASBC schedule.

Dissident Muse’s first publication, Backseat Driver by James Croak, is available now at Amazon.

Aphorisms for Artists: 100 Ways Toward Better Art by Walter Darby Bannard is out now at Allworth Press. More information is available at the site for the book. If you own it already, thank you; please consider reviewing the book at Amazon, B&N, or Goodreads.