The Artist's Mind: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Creativity, Modern Art and Modern Artists

190 Pages·2010·1.57 MB·English

by  George Hagman

The Artist’s Mind
For the past century psychoanalysts have attempted to understand the
psychologyofart,artistsandaestheticexperience.Thisbookexamineshow
contemporary psychoanalytic theory provides insight into understanding
the psychological sources of creativity, modern art and modern artists.
The Artist’s Mind revisits the lives of eight modern artists, including
HenriMatisse,MarcelDuchamp,JacksonPollockandAndyWarhol,from
a psychoanalytical viewpoint. It looks at how opportunities for a new
approachtoartattheturnofthetwentiethcenturyofferedartistsachance
to explore different forms of creativity and artistic ambition. Key areas of
discussion include:
• developmental sources of the aesthetic sense
• psychological functions of creativity and art
• psychology of beauty, ugliness and the Sublime
• co-evolution of the modern self, modernism and art
• cultural context of creativity, artistic identity and aesthetic experience.
Throughtheexaminationofgreatartists’livesandpsychologicaldynamics,
the author articulates a new psychoanalytic aesthetic model that has both
clinical and historical significance. This book is essential reading for all
those with an interest in the origins and fate of modern art.
George Hagman, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst and clinical social worker
practicinginbothNewYorkCityandConnecticut.Heisalsoamemberof
the faculty of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis.
‘‘Hagman invites the reader to join him on a fascinating and audacious
psychoanalytic tour of the minds of significant artists of the 19th and
20th Centuries. Tracing their personal histories he demonstrates how
psychological factors contribute to the aesthetic resonance in works of art
and architecture. An innovative contribution to the dual fields of art and
psychoanalysis, The Artist’s Mind is an engaging read.’’
Joy Schaverien, Jungian Analyst and Visiting Professor in Art
Psychotherapy at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. Author of
The Revealing Image
‘‘In his second book Hagman pursues the development of a novel theory
about aesthetics and creativity from self psychology and relational per-
spectives. He sees aesthetic experience as rooted in idealization of early
attachment of the infant to his mother. In the present work he expands his
ingenious formulations to Modern art which encourages personal idio-
syncrasies, subjective expression, and aggressive abandonment of tradition.
In this thoughtful and well researched text, he illustrates his theory by a
detailedexaminationofanumberofwellknownpaintersincluding,Degas,
Bonnard, Duchamp, Pollock and Warhol. The list is extensive enough to
enrich our understanding and appreciation of varied and attimesopposing
attitudes towards the process of artistic creation.’’
Francis Baudry, faculty New York Psychoanalytic Institute
‘‘The author’s psychoanalytic readings of the eight artists are compelling
likeprincessesinafairytale,eachofwhomis‘morebeautifulthanthelast,’
I found each treatment to seem more fascinating than the other.’’
Ellen Dissanayake, author, Art and Intimacy: How the Arts Began and
Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes From and Why
‘‘The Artist’s Mind offers a vitalizing, new analytic perspective on the
importance of aesthetics and art as a ‘dialogue with the world’, shedding
light on the evolution of modern art through the lives and works of major
20th century artists, and expanding our understanding of art into the 21st
century.’’
Carol M. Press, Ed.D., author, The Dancing Self: Creativity, Modern
Dance, Self Psychology, and Transformative Education
The Artist’s Mind
A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Creativity,
Modern Art and Modern Artists
George Hagman
Firstpublished2010
byRoutledge
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SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
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(cid:216)2010GeorgeHagman
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Hagman,George.
Theartist’smind:apsychoanalyticperspectiveoncreativity,modernart
andmodernartists/GeorgeHagman.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN978-0-415-46705-6(hardback) – ISBN978-0-415-46706-3(pbk.)
1.Artists–Psychology.2.Art–Psychology.3.Creation(Literary,artistic,
etc.)4.Art,Modern–19thcentury.5.Art,Modern–20thcentury.I.Title.
N71.H2282010
701'.15–dc22
2010000076
ISBN 0-203-84112-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN:978-0-415-46705-6(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-46706-3(pbk)
To my wonderful children
Peter Davila Hagman and Elena Christine Hagman

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction 1
2 A new psychoanalytic model of aesthetic experience 6
3 Art and the artist’s mind 18
4 Modern art and modern artists 33
5 Edgar Degas: The psychological edge of modernism 37
6 Pierre Bonnard: The seduction of beauty 47
7 The creative anxiety of Henri Matisse 58
8 The beauty of indifference: The art of Marcel Duchamp 72
9 Modern art in America 87
10 Joseph Cornell’s quest for beauty 91
11 Form follows function: The selfobject function of Frank Lloyd
Wright’s art and architecture 107
12 Jackson Pollock: An American’s triumph and the death of
modernism 128
13 The birth of postmodernism: Andy Warhol’s perverse
aesthetics 142
viii Contents
14 Postscript: The world after Warhol 161
References 167
Index 171
Acknowledgements
As I wrote this book I was supported and encouraged by a number of
people: Carol Press, the late Carl Rotenberg, David Shaddock, Leslie
Hogan, Karen Schwartz, Julia Schwartz, and members of the Self Psycho-
logical and Psychoanalytic communities who read my papers, reviewed my
earlier book, and attended workshops and paper presentations. Most
importantly, Carol has supported my work and me over the years, and I
owe much to her and our friendship. I also acknowledge my friend and
collaborator the late Carl Rotenberg, M.D., with whom I discussed several
of these papers and who supported my initial ambitions in this area of
study. In addition, I want to thank Jon Mills, Ph.D. and Eric van
Brooekthuizen at Rodopi Press for publishing my first book Aesthetic
Experience: Beauty, Creativity and the Search for the Ideal as part of the
seriesContemporaryPsychoanalyticStudies.Thatbookisthefoundationof
the present one, so I am grateful for their interest and support. Some
chapters in this book were written for and presented at a series of work-
shops that Carol, Carl and I have conducted over the past ten years at the
Annual Meetings on the Psychology of the Self. I also want to thank
the members of the Connecticut Self Psychology Study Group for their
friendships and stimulating discussions: Allison Brownlow, Nancy
Boksenbaum, Larry Ludwig, Lois Fox, Alexis Johnson, Nancy Bronson,
Mikey Silverman, Grete Lane and Susanne Weil; and the membership of
the Connecticut Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology, an organization I
have been proud to serve as the Scientific Program Chair for the past five
years. I would like to thank my children, Elena and Peter, to whom this
bookisdedicated – theyarethejoyandprideofmylife.Finally,thankyou
to my wife Moira, whom I will love forever.