When a Work of Art Is Whole
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UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN HUMANITIES FACULTY DEPARTMENT FOR ART HISTORY Nomeda Repsyte When a Work of Art is Whole An Attempt to Introduce the Early Philosophical Essays (1919-24) of 0LFKDLO0LFKDLORYLþ%DFKWLQ (1895-1975) into the Discipline of Art History through their Analysis and Actual Application for an Interpretation of the Self-Portraits (c. 1917-8) by Chaim Soutine (1893–1943) thesis for a cand. phil. degree in art history Supervisor: dr. Nicoletta Isar September 2004 “There is no point in philosophizing," declared the Unknown Poet evasively. "Both of us - you through literature, I through art - have experienced every kind of death. Therefore, death can never really surprise us. Spiritually speaking, a man of culture inhabits not one but many countries. He lives not in one epoch but in many. He can elect any form of death and does not grieve when death at last catches up with him. Overcome by ennui, he pronounces: 'So, we meet again!' It all seems so ridiculous to him. Konstantin Vaginov. Kozlinaja pesn’. 1928. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 5 1. INTRODUCTION 9 2. THE RAVE AROUND THE RUSSIAN 13 The Bachtin Industry and the Belated Newcomer 3. THE SEQUENCE PROBLEM 23 Mismatching the Interpretative with the Historical 4. THE TRI-PARTITE ANALYSIS OF A WORK OF ART 33 Towards Systematic Studying of Works of Art 5. “THE PAINTINGS OF MERIT” 68 The Unstable Self-Portraits 6. CONCLUSION 81 RÉSUMÉ PÅ DANSK 87 ILLUSTRATIONS 89 APENDICES 104 1. M. M. Bachtin and Ch. Soutine: Biographical Data 2. Publications of the Early Texts in Russian and their Translations 3. Ch. Soutine’s Paintings: Statistical Data BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PHILMOGRAPHY 123 3 ABBREVIATIONS AG $YWRULJHURMYHVWHWLþeskoj dejatel’nosti [Author and Hero in Aesthetic Activity] IO Iskusstvo i otvetstvennost’ [Art and Answerability] KFP K filosofii postupka [Towards a Philosophy of the Act] KVM K voprosam metodologii estetiki slRYHVQRJRWYRUþHVWYD [Towards Questions of Methodology of Aesthetics of Verbal Creativity] L Landscape, number indicating the plate in the catalogue raisonné P Portrait, number indicating the plate in the catalogue raisonné SL Still-life, number indicating the plate in the catalogue raisonné 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND THEIR SOURCES No. Picture Page Source 1. Anonymous. M. M. Bachtin in spring of 1974 in his 2 Holquist& Moscow Flat. Black and white photograph. Size unknown. Clark 1984: Moscow. 342 2. Anonymous. Ch. Soutine in Paris in c. 1934-5. Black and 2 CR1: 54 white photograph. Size unknown. The Madeleine Castaign Collection, Paris. 3. Ernst Neizvestnyj. An Illustration from the Cycle for Crime 89 Dostoevskij and Punishment by F. M. Dostoevskij. Late 1960s. Inks on 1970: paper. Size unknown. unpaginated 4. Sakalauskas, M. Vilnius University: the Petras Skarga 89 Maciulyte- Courtyard. Colour photograph. 1970s. Size unknown. Kasperaviciene et al. (1979): ill. 110. 5. Anonymous. M. M. Bachtin in Nevel’. Black and white 89 Holquist & photograph. C. 1923-4. Size unknown. Moscow. Clark 1984: 41 6. M. M. Bachtin. K voprosam metogologii estetiki slovesnogo 89 Bachtin 2003: tvorþHVWYD [Towards Questions of Methodology of 264 Aesthetics of Verbal Creativity]. A fragment of the title page of KVM. 1924. M. M. Bachtin’s Archive, Moscow. 7. Soutine, Chaim. La jeune femme. C. 1915. Oil on canvas. 90 CR2 : P1 73 x 46 cm. Private collection, Paris. 8. Soutine, Chaim. La femme qu chien (Portrait de Mme. 90 CR2 : P2 Ascher).C. 1915-6. Oil on canvas. 64.8 x 49.8 cm. University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City. 9. Soutine, Chaim. L’homme à la pipe (Portrait de M. 90 CR2 : P3 Chauveau). C. 1916. Oil on canvas. 54.9 x 46 cm. Private collection, Paris. 10. Soutine, Chaim. Le violoncelliste (M. Serevitsch), c. 1916. 90 CR2 : P4 Oil on canvas. 81 x 44.8 cm. Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas. 11. Soutine, Chaim. Le jeune homme au petit chapeau. C. 91 CR2 : P5 1916. Oil on canvas. 81 x 50 cm. Private collection. 12. Soutine, Chaim. Portrait d’homme. C. 1916. Oil on 91 CR2 : P6 canvas. 60.5 x 50 cm. Private collection, Paris. 13. Soutine, Chaim. Femme couchée sur un divan rouge. Oil 91 CR2 : P7 on canvas. C. 1916. 54 x 81.3 cm. Private collection, USA. 5 14. Soutine, Chaim. Femme couchée. 1916. Oil on canvas. 91 CR2 : P8 59.1 x 92.7 cm. Stanley E. Stern Collection, New York. 15. Soutine, Chaim. La femme au rocking-chair. C. 1916. oil 92 CR2 : P9 on canvas. 60.6 x 45.1 cm. Private collection. 16. Soutine, Chaim. Les trois paysans. C. 1917. Oil on canvas. 92 CR2 : P10 92.7 x 73 cm. Private collection. 17. Soutine, Chaim. Potrait d’homme (Emile Lejeune). C. 92 CR2 : P59 1922-3. Oil on canvas. 54.9 x 46.5 cm. Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. 18. Soutine, Chaim. L’idiot du village. C. 1919. Oil on 92 CR2: P19 canvas. 92 x 65 cm. Musée Calvet, Avignon. 19. Soutine, Chaim. Autoportrait au rideau. c. 1917. Oil on 93 CR2 : P11 canvas. 72,5 x 53,5 cm. Private collection, Paris. 20. Soutine, Chaim. Autoportrait. c. 1918. Oil on canvas. 54,6 94 CR2 : P12 x 45,7 cm. Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, New York. 21. Soutine, Chaim. Autoportrait à la barbe. c. 1917. Oil on 95 CR2 : P13 canvas. 81 x 65,1 cm. Private collection. 22. Soutine, Chaim. L’atelier de l’artiste à la Cité Falguière. 96 CR1 : L1 C. 1915-6. Oil on canvas. 65.1 x 50 cm. Private collection, Paris. 23. Soutine, Chaim. Paysage de banlieue aux maisons rouges. 96 CR1 : L2 C. 1917. Oil on canvas. 60 x 73 cm. Private collection. 24. Soutine, Chaim. Les maisons rouges. C. 1917. Oil on 96 CR1 : L3 canvas. 54.3 x 65.1 cm. Private collection, Paris. 25. Soutine, Chaim. Les maisons. C. 1917. Oil on canvas. 61 96 CR1 : L4 x 50 cm. Private collection, Paris. 26. Soutine, Chaim. La Cité Falguière à Montparnasse. C. 97 CR1 : L5 1918. Oil on canvas. 81 x 54 cm. Private collection, Israel. 27. Soutine, Chaim. Maison et jardin aux environs de Paris. 07 CR1 : L6 C. 1918. Oil on canvas. 55.2 x 38.1 cm. Leona Cantor Palmer Collection, Beverly Hills, California. 28. Soutine, Chaim. Paysage. C.1918. Oil on canvas. 55.9 x 97 CR1 : L7 68.1 cm. Private collection, San Francisco, California. 29. Soutine, Chaim. La maison blanche sur la colline. 1918. 98 CR1 : L8 Oil on canvas. 52.4 x 63.5 cm. Earlier the Colin Collection, New York. 30. Soutine, Chaim. La fôret. C. 1918. Oil on canvas. 60 x 73 98 CR1 : L9 cm. Private collection, Geneva. 6 31. Soutine, Chaim. Paysage avec maisons. C. 1918. Oil on 98 CR1 : L10 canvas. 54 x 65.1 cm. Kunstmuseum Luzern. 32. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte aux harengs. C. 1916. Oil 99 CR1: SL1 on canvas. 64.5 x 48.6 cm. Private collection, Paris. 33. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte à la soupière. C. 1916. Oil 99 CR1: SL2 on canvas. 61 x 73.7 cm. Earlier the Colin Collection, New York. 34. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte à la lampe. C. 1916. Oil on 99 CR1: SL3 canvas. 54 x 64.8 cm. Galerie Yoshii, Tokyo. 35. Soutine, Chaim. Les pommes. C. 1916. Oil on canvas. 99 CR1: SL4 38.4 x 79.1 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 36. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte aux citrons. C. 1916. Oil on 100 CR1: SL5 canvas. 63 x 54 cm. Gustav Zumsteg Collection, Zürich. 37. Soutine, Chaim. Les oranges sur fond vert. C. 1916. Oil 100 CR1: SL6 on canvas. 41 x 63 cm. Private collection, Paris. 38. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte à la pipe. C. 1916. Oil on 100 CR1: SL7 canvas. 54 x 94 cm. Musée d’Art Moderne de Troyes. 39. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte aux harengs avec plat ovale. 101 CR1: SL8 C. 1917. Oil on canvas. 50 x 73 cm. Private collection. 40. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte à la table ronde. C. 1917. 101 CR1: SL9 Oil on canvas. 61 x 50 cm. Private collection, Paris. 41. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte aux harengs et aux oignions. 101 CR1: SL10 C. 1917. Oil on canvas. 38.1 x 61 cm. Private collection. 42. Soutine, Chaim. Les harengs et la bouteille de Chianti. C. 101 CR1: SL11 1917. Oil on canvas. 67.9 x 40 cm. The Madeleine Castaing Collection, Paris. 43. Soutine, Chaim. Les poissons. C. 1917. Oil on canvas. 102 CR1: SL12 45.1 x 64 cm. Private collection, Paris. 44. Soutine, Chaim. Le poulet à la table. C. 1918. Oil on 102 CR1: SL13 canvas. 65.1 x 81 cm. Private collection, Paris. 45. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte aux poivrons et aux carottes. 102 CR1: SL14 C. 1918. Oil on canvas. 61 x 46 cm. Private collection, Paris. 46. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte à la volaille. C. 1918-9. Oil 103 CR1: SL15 on canvas. 58.4 x 79.1 cm. Private collection, Australia. 47. Soutine, Chaim. Nature morte au chou rouge. C. 1918. 103 CR1: SL16 Oil on canvas. 53.3 x 44.5 cm. Earlier of the Collin Collection, New York. 48. Cézanne, Paul. Cézanne at the Palette. c. 1890. Oil on 103 Kleeblatt & 7 canvas. 92 x 73 cm. Sammlung E. G. Bührle, Zürich. Silver (1998): 23 49. Gogh, Vincent van. Portrait in Front of the Easel. 1888. 103 Kleeblatt & Oil on canvas. 65 x 50.5 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Silver (1998): Amsterdam. 23 8 1. INTRODUCTION Life can be consciously comprehended only in concrete answerability.