Light and Obscurity in Symbolism

413 Pages·2016·6.153 MB·English

by  Rosina Neginsky and Deborah Cibelli

Light and Obscurity
in Symbolism

Light and Obscurity
in Symbolism
Edited by
Rosina Neginsky and Deborah Cibelli
Light and Obscurity in Symbolism

Edited by Rosina Neginsky and Deborah Cibelli

This book first published 2016

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2016 by Rosina Neginsky, Deborah Cibelli and contributors

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-8512-6
ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-8512-6
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ..................................................................................... ix
Introduction................................................................................................. 1
Rosina Neginsky
PART ONE: Architecture and Stained Glass
Chapter One ............................................................................................... 10
Symbolist Aspects of Macintosh’s Architecture
Larry Shiner
Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 18
Symbolist Interiors: Figures, Light, and Colors in Early Twentieth-
Century Italian Stained Glass
Lucia Mannini
PART TWO: Visual Arts
Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 36
The Symbolist Path of Armand Point
Robert Dore
Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 53
Light and Shadow in The Dream by Odilon Redon
Joelle Joffe
Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 62
A Flight from Colour: the Aesthetics of Black and White in Polish
Symbolism
Irena Kossowska
Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 87
Fantastic Nature: Associations Between Paul Klee and Odilon Redon
Jonathan Perkins
vi Table of Contents

PART THREE: Visual Arts, Literature and Philosophy
Chapter Seven .......................................................................................... 100
The Duality of Light in Rossetti’s Ekphrastic Poems and Paintings
Deborah H. Cibelli

Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 117
The Ideal and Matter: Gustave Moreau’s Ambiguous Dualities
Peter Cooke

Chapter Nine ............................................................................................ 132
Edward Burne-Jones’ The Sirens: Sea Muses of Enchanted Music
Liana De Girolami Cheney

Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 156
The Soul of Things: Henri De Brakeleer as a Forerunner of the Treatment
of Light in Belgian Symbolism
Alison Hokanson

Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 175
Isis’ Fingertips: A Symbolist Reading of Lévy-Dhurmer’s Silence
Liesbeth Grotenhuis

Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 209
Apollo’s Triumph. The Notion of Art for Art’s Sake at the Center of
Nietzsche and Redon’s Parallel Shifts from Darkness to Light
François Lachance-Provençal

Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 218
The Androgyne, the Transvestite and the Herm: Aubrey Beardsley’s
Hybrid Forms for the Yellow Book, Volume III
Britten LaRue

Chapter Fourteen .................................................................................... 252
Reflections of Mallarmé: A Comparative Study of Manet’s A Bar at the
Folies-Bergère
Marguerite Li Bassi
Light and Obscurity in Symbolism vii
Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 270
From “Fuoco” to “Notturno” The Interpretation of Light and Shade in
D’Annunzio’s Work by his Friends Among Italian Symbolist Illustrators
Anna Mazzanti
Chapter Sixteen ....................................................................................... 294
A Double Nature of Beheadings: Moreau and Redon
Rosina Neginsky
PART FOUR: Sculpture
Chapter Seventeen .................................................................................. 306
Art Between Luminous Fluidity and Expressionist Shading: Defining
Symbolist Sculpture Using Modeling
Dominique Jarrassé
Chapter Eighteen ..................................................................................... 327
Light, Obscurity and Symbolist Themes in American Sculpture, 1890-
1920
Susan Martis
PART FIVE: Literature
Chapter Nineteen ..................................................................................... 340
Light and Darkness in Dostoevsky’s White Nights
and Kafka’s “Hunger Artist”
Brent R. Judd
Chapter Twenty ....................................................................................... 348
Colored Lighting in the Poetry of Innokentij Annenskij
Natalia Gamalova
Chapter Twenty-One ............................................................................... 371
Anguish and Modernist Aesthetics
Luba Jurgenson
viii Table of Contents

PART SIX: Music

Chapter Twenty-Two ............................................................................... 384
Symbolic Touch in the Playing of Debussy’s Piano Music
Jean-Pierre Armengaud

Contributors ............................................................................................. 392
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Chapter Two
Fig. 2-1. Historical photograph of a stained glass created by Jacques
Gruber, ca. 1900.
Fig. 2-2. Historical photograph of the Otto Wagner House in Vienna, ca.
1900 with stained glass, titled Vienna Woods in the Autumn, by Adolf
Böhm.
Fig. 2-3. Duilio Cambellotti, Fireflies, ca. 1920. Rome, Private Collection.
Fig. 2-4. Photograph from an Italian stained glass manufacturer’s
catalogue, early 20th century.
Fig. 2-5. Title page of the magazine La Casa.
Fig. 2-6. Illustration of a villino from the magazine La Casa.
Fig. 2-7. Duilio Cambellotti, Grapevines, 1914-1915. Rome, Museo della
Casina delle Civette.
Fig. 2-8. Illustration of a Roman exterior with wisteria, from the magazine
La Casa.
Fig. 2-9. Umberto Bottazzi, Butterflies in a photograph. Location
unknown.
Fig. 2-10. Vittorio Grassi, Fish in an historical photograph. Rome, private
Collection.
Fig. 2-11. Vittorio Grassi, Chopin Nocturno op. 48, n°1, ca. 1908. Sketch
for the stained glass.
Chapter Three
Fig. 3-1. Armand Point, Self-portrait, 1882, charcoal on paper, 41 x 34
cm. Exhibition, Cincinnati, Ohio, The artist Face to Face, Self-
portraits from Paris collection of Gérald Schurr, 1989. Robert Doré
Collection.
Fig. 3-2. Armand Point, Portrait d’Elémir Bourges, 1890, drawing with
charcoal on cardboard, 37 x 27 cm. Exhibition Esthètes et Magiciens,
Paris, Musée Galliéra, 1970. Private Collection (Photo Credit: Private
owner).
Fig. 3-3. Armand Point, Tête de rêve, drawing, circa 1892, 32 x 25 cm.
Salon de la Rose+Croix 1893, Sale, London, Sotheby's, XIXth century-
x List of Illustrations

European paintings, drawings, 2nd March 1987 (Photo Credit: Private
owner).
Fig. 3-4. Armand Point, Virginité, 1893, pastel, 70 x 50 cm. Exposition
internationale de Peinture et Sculpture, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit,
1893. Private Collection (Photo Credit: Private owner).
Fig. 3-5. Armand Point, Jeune femme à la toque verte, 1905, painting, 56 x
46 cm. Sale, London, Sotheby's, 20th June 1984. Courtesy of
Sotheby’s, Inc. 1984.
Fig. 3-6. Armand Point, Salomé [dansant] (crayon noir), drawing with
black pencil, circa 1898, 92 x 73 cm. Vente judiciaire, Fontainebleau,
Atelier du peintre Armand Point, 6 et 7 novembre 1932. Exposition
Armand Point, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 1899. Exposition Armand
Point, Paris, Galerie Coligny, 1981. Exposition, Paris, de Bayser,
Dessins tableaux sculptures, 4 novembre 2011. Private Collection
(Photo Credit: Private owner).
Fig. 3-7. Armand Point, Symphonie du soir, 1893, oil on canvas, 87 x 5
cm. Exposition internationale de Peinture et Sculpture, Paris, Galerie
Georges Petit, 1893.
Fig. 3-8. Armand Point, La Sirène, 1897, oil on canvas, frame designed by
the artist, 92 x 73 cm. Salon de l'Art idéaliste, Bruxelles, 1898.
Exposition Armand Point, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 1899.
Exposition, Les Salons de la Rose+Croix, London, 1968.
Exposition, Toronto, The sacred and profane in Symbolist art, 1969.
Exposition, Symbolists, New York, Spencer A. Samuels and Company,
1970. Exposition French Symbolist Painters, London, 1972.
Fig. 3-9.Armand Point, La rose des ruines (peinture), 1928, oil on canvas,
121 x 97 cm. Exposition Armand Point, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit,
1929.
Fig. 3-10. Armand Point, Ancilla Domini, 1895, egg painting on panel, 99
x 51 cm. Salon de la Rose+Croix, 1896. Exposition Armand Point,
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 1899. Courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc. 1989.
Fig. 3-11.Armand Point, La Fée du lac, 1895, charcoal and pastel, 54 x 37
cm. Exposition Armand Point, Paris, Galerie Coligny, 1981.
Fig. 3-12.Armand Point, Légende dorée (chromolithographie), 1897, 30 x
39 cm. Appeared in L’Estampe moderne, September 1897.
Fig. 3-13.Armand Point, Psyché [au bain], 1916, oil on canvas, 98 x 71
cm. Mairie-musée de Bourron-Marlotte. Photograph Courtesy of Les
Amis de Bourron-Marlotte.
Fig. 3-14.Armand Point, L’Effort humain, 1913, oil on canvas, 400 x 800
cm. Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1914.