Aesthetics of desire -The Unconscious and the problem of "expression"

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In this project, we carried out researches into the possibility of an aesthetics based on the concept of desire.We (Hara) focused on the theoretic aspect of this problem, and examined Lacanian psychoanalysis in which the concept had been fully revised. It is shown that the concept of desire was articulated in the late 1950s by the triad of need, demand and desire, which would be re-organized around 1960 in a new configuration that centered on the concept of drive. It is also shown that by introducing the concept of signifying chain Lacan intended to reveal a certain infinite inherent in every relation to the other but hidden by the traditional understanding of language, and that Beauty is defined by him in terms of the fall the subject cannot avoid when confronted with this infinite. On the basis of these theoretical arguments, the evolution of his visual apparatus was finally traced ; from the mirror stage by way of the anamorphosis to Las Meninas, Lacanian analysis of these systems of representation could be considered as a precursive form of our "aesthetics of desire.The existence of all kinds of art works proves the diversity of desire which is determined not only by the individual history of artist but also by the social and cultural context in which he lived and created. That is why we (Sakai) attempted on the other hand to investigate the problem from the socio-historical point of view. We selected four painters representing their epoch, Leonardo da Vinci, Hans Holbein, Francisco de Goya and Vincent van Gogh, and tried to restitute their lives and works in their original context of history and society, in order to show how profoundly it marked their desire as well as their creation.