Composing the decorative: Maurice Denis, music and the search for French cultural identity

创作装饰：莫里斯·丹尼斯、音乐和对法国文化身份的探索

• 批准号: 2104310
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2104310
• 关键词: Composing; decorative; Maurice; Denis; music

My project aims to investigate perceived affinities between the visual arts and music, as informing artistic production and theory in fin-de-siècle and early 20th-century France. It focuses on the decorative works of the painter Maurice Denis (1870-1943), a leading figure in the circle of painters known as the Nabis, and prominent in the French Catholic revival. Scholarly interest in the interaction between art and music has greatly increased in recent years (see Shephard and Leonard (2013)). But the work most considered in interdisciplinary studies has been 'modernist', in the sense of being characterized by such features as the self-conscious pursuit of experimentation, avant-gardisme or movement towards 'abstraction' (see, for example, Shaw-Miller (2002) and Albright (2000)). Neither the work of Denis and other Nabis nor its relationship to music fall comfortably within this scope of modernism, despite its art historical significance: Groom (2001) and Kuenzli (2010) insist on the centrality of the Nabis' decorations to fin-de-siècle culture. The importance for his painting of Denis's close involvement with composers, including Ernest Chausson, Vincent d'Indy and Claude Debussy, is a neglected area of research: only one largely biographical account exists on the subject (Grivel (2011)). Denis's early theoretical texts have absorbed art-historical attention to the neglect of his painting. But this painting was central to certain cultural currents at the fin-de-siècle, which have been somewhat side-lined within those narratives of 'modernism' that tend to historical linearity (see Thomson (2004)). My study will reassess Denis's art-historical significance, considering his decorative oeuvre and writings in their contemporaneous contexts of aesthetic theory and, specifically, of the widespread aspiration to renew the French classical tradition, at a time of anxiety over the loss of purportedly 'French' qualities of order and clarity- an aspiration which united Denis with a particular circle of musicians. Did their unity of purpose reflect a desire for cultural wholeness, and strengthen the importance of perceived affinities between painting and music? If so, the character of Denis's decorative oeuvre might be understood to reflect the quest to sustain French cultural continuity, informed by ambitions shared with his musical friends. Art historical and musicological studies, including Shaw (2002) and Pasler (2009) have described how, around the turn of the century, both art forms were co-opted in efforts to promote certain ideologies. Public decorative art in particular was discussed in politically polarized terms, and often understood as reflecting contemporary social values. Art historical appreciation of Denis's work may have suffered from simplistic association with the rhetoric of reactionary writers. But Bouillon (2006) suggests that Denis's own political attitude remained subordinate to his aesthetic sincerity.One topic of investigation will be the convergence of art and music through metaphors in contemporaneous critical writings on Denis. A further area of research will be specific moments of performance, such as the concert of Gregorian chant that Denis hosted with the composer Maurice Emmanuel, at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1920. This experience of synthesis of art and music 'in the moment' can be traced to the influence of the Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk ('total work of art'), an ideal which permeated fin-de-siècle cultural thought. Denis understood his art as being comparable to music, in its potential to induce prayerful reverie. He found a manifestation of his 'conservative modernism' (Marlais (1992)) in the Wagnerite Vincent d'Indy's ambition to re-establish religious tradition as a central inspiration for modern music. Comparing the activities of d'Indy's Schola Cantorum and Denis's Ateliers d'Art Sacré will be a useful way to understand commonalities between painter and musician.

我的项目旨在调查视觉艺术和音乐之间的感知亲和力，为19世纪末和20世纪初法国的艺术生产和理论提供信息。它重点介绍了画家莫里斯·丹尼斯（Maurice Denis，1870-1943年）的装饰作品，他是纳比派画家圈子中的领军人物，在法国天主教复兴中也很突出。近年来，学术界对艺术和音乐之间的互动的兴趣大大增加（见Shephard和伦纳德（2013））。但是，在跨学科研究中最受关注的作品是“现代主义”的，在某种意义上，其特征是自觉地追求实验、前卫主义或走向“抽象”（例如，参见Shaw-Miller（2002）和Albright（2000））。丹尼斯和其他纳比派的作品及其与音乐的关系都不属于现代主义的范畴，尽管它具有艺术史意义：Groom（2001）和Kuenzli（2010）坚持纳比派的装饰在世纪末文化中的中心地位。丹尼斯与作曲家，包括欧内斯特·肖松，文森特·德·印第和克劳德·德彪西的密切关系对他的绘画的重要性是一个被忽视的研究领域：只有一个主要的传记账户存在于这个主题（Grivel（2011））。丹尼斯的早期理论文本吸收了艺术史的关注，忽视了他的绘画。但这幅画是世纪末某些文化潮流的核心，而这些文化潮流在倾向于历史线性的“现代主义”叙事中有点靠边站（见汤姆森（2004））。我的研究将重新评估丹尼斯的艺术史意义，考虑他的装饰作品和著作在其同期的美学理论背景下，特别是广泛的愿望，以更新法国古典传统，在一个焦虑的时候，据称“法国”的质量损失的秩序和清晰度-一个愿望，其中团结丹尼斯与特定的音乐家圈子。他们的目标一致是否反映了对文化整体性的渴望，并加强了绘画和音乐之间感知的亲和力的重要性？如果是这样的话，丹尼斯的装饰作品的特点可能会被理解为反映了寻求维持法国文化的连续性，与他的音乐朋友分享的野心。艺术史和音乐学研究，包括Shaw（2002）和Pasler（2009），描述了在世纪之交，这两种艺术形式是如何被用来促进某些意识形态的。特别是公共装饰艺术在政治上被两极分化，通常被理解为反映当代社会价值观。艺术史上对丹尼斯作品的欣赏可能受到了与反动作家修辞的简单化联系的影响。但肉汤（2006）认为，丹尼斯自己的政治态度仍然从属于他的审美诚意。一个主题的调查将是艺术和音乐的融合，通过隐喻在同时期的批评著作丹尼斯。进一步的研究领域将是特定的表演时刻，例如丹尼斯与作曲家莫里斯·伊曼纽尔在1920年的国家美术协会沙龙上主持的格里高利圣歌音乐会。这种艺术与音乐“在当下”相结合的经验可以追溯到瓦格纳的Gesamtkunstwerk（“整体艺术作品”）的影响，这是一种渗透到世纪末文化思想的理想。丹尼斯认为他的艺术可以与音乐相媲美，因为它有可能引起祈祷的遐想。他发现了他的“保守的现代主义”（Marlais（1992））在瓦格纳主义者文森特·德·印第的野心，重新建立宗教传统作为现代音乐的核心灵感的表现。比较d 'Indy的Schola Cantorum和Denis的Ateliers d' Art Sacré的活动将是理解画家和音乐家之间共性的有用方法。