Art and the human adventure : André Malraux's theory of art

341 Pages·2009·93.24 MB·English

by  Allan

Art and the Human Adventure
FAUX TITRE
341
Etudes de langue et littérature françaises
publiées sous la direction de
Keith Busby, †M.J. Freeman,
Sjef Houppermans et Paul Pelckmans
Art and the Human Adventure

André Malraux’s Theory of Art
Derek Allan
AMSTERDAM - NEW YORK, NY 2009
Cover illustration: André Malraux with images from The Imaginary Museum
of World Sculpture, 1953. Photo M.Jarnoux © M.Jarnoux/Parismatch/Scoop
Cover design: Pier Post.
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of
‘ISO 9706: 1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents -
Requirements for permanence’.
Le papier sur lequel le présent ouvrage est imprimé remplit les prescriptions
de ‘ISO 9706: 1994, Information et documentation - Papier pour documents -
Prescriptions pour la permanence’.
ISBN: 978-90-420-2749-7
E-Book ISBN: 978-90-420-2750-3
© Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2009
Printed in The Netherlands
“A form of humanism is still possible but we need to be quite clear
that it is a tragic humanism.”

André Malraux, speech for UNESCO, 1946.

Contents

List of illustrations 9
Acknowledgements 11
English translations of titles of Malraux’s works 13
Introduction 15
Chapter 1 – The Years before 1934 31
Chapter 2 – The Human Adventure 47
Chapter 3 – Art: A Rival World 79
Chapter 4 – Art and Creation 95
Chapter 5 – The Emergence and Transformation of “Art” 131
Chapter 6 – Art and Time 193
Chapter 7 – The First Universal World of Art 231
Chapter 8 – The Anti-Arts 275
Chapter 9 – Art, History, and the Human Adventure 287
Conclusion 297
Bibliography 313
Index 331

List of Illustrations

Fig. 1. Georges de La Tour, Saints Sebastian and Irene.................................92

Fig. 2. Rembrandt, The Prophet Balaam and the Ass (1626)........................100

Fig. 3. Pieter Lastman, Balaam and the Ass (1622)......................................101

Fig. 4. Bull, Caves of Lascaux, France (c.17,000 B.C.)................................118

Fig. 5. Grünewald, Christ on the Cross, Isenheim Altarpiece.......................120
Fig. 6. Apsidal vault. Madonna and Child with Twelve Apostles, Torcello

Cathedral........................................................................................................139

Fig. 7. Giotto, Marriage of the Virgin, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua.................143

Fig. 8. Botticelli, Primavera, The Three Graces (detail)...............................145

Fig. 9. Watteau, Embarkation for Cythera (1717)........................................147

Fig. 10. Picasso, Woman with pram (detail).................................................149

Fig. 11. Oceanian art, Mask, Ambrym Is., Vanuatu archipelago..................150

Fig. 12. Titian, The Venus of Urbino.............................................................155

Fig. 13. Manet, Olympia................................................................................155

Fig. 14. Alexandre Cabanel, The Birth of Venus (1863)...............................170

Fig. 15. Goya, “This is worse”, The Disasters of War (1810-14).................170

Fig. 16. Section of the Odyssey frieze (Rome, c. 50 B.C.)............................178

Fig. 17. Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child with Angels (c.1455) (detail)....179

Fig. 18. Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa (c.1503-6) (detail)..........................179

Fig. 19. Gudea, Prince of Lagash (c. 2150 B.C.)..........................................228
Fig. 20. Buddha, Cambodia (7th/8th century).................................................234

Fig. 21. Biblical figure, Chartres...................................................................234

Fig. 22. Vermeer, The Lacemaker.................................................................235

Fig. 23. Warka (Uruk) Head..........................................................................242

Fig. 24. Titian, The Man with the Glove........................................................248