Naturalized Antiquity and Classical Graffiti at Dulwich

Follow @ArtHistoryToday

June 2018

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Art News & Commentary

Exhibitions, Conservation & Connoisseurship.

Museums and Galleries

Art Blogs

Art Market

Art Crime

Art Journals and Publications

Digital Art History & the Web

Art History Societies and Scholarly Institutions

Art History Teaching

Art Portals & Search Engines

Art and the Body

Misc

The Artist's Studio: Painters & Techniques

Art History Today

3 Following

150 Followers

08/01/2011

Naturalized Antiquity and Classical Graffiti at Dulwich

On the face of it what could Poussin (his Rinaldo and Armida pictured here) and the American abstract artist Cy Twombly possibly have in common? I didn’t go to this exhibition, but I’ve seen a few reviews, some favourable, some damning. Reading Brian Sewell’s caustic review of the show currently on at Dulwich, I can see that the minds behind this exhibition are seeking parallels between Poussin’s approach to mythology and Twombly, who is noted for labelling his works after myths like Leda and the Swan and Hercules and Patroclus. Yet, Sewell is surely right to observe that Twombly’s labelling system, with its scrawled, garbled letters has nothing in common with the classical lettering in the celebrated inscription ET IN ARCADIA EGO, despite efforts to read some archaeological gravitas into Twombly’s squiggles. This critic is also right to state that the only thing that Poussin and Twombly have in common is that they arrived in Rome, drawn by the classical tradition; in Poussin’s case, after seeing the “light of Italy” in Raphaelesque engravings in a patron’s collection; in Twombly’s, after repudiating the abstract turn in favour of the romanticised European past.

In a photograph by Robert Rauschenberg taken at the Capitoline Museum in Rome in 1952, a gangling Cy Twombly stands next to the famous Hand of Constantine, his form caught in profile. The image is perhaps meant to be read as Rauschenberg’s ironic attempt to cast Twombly in the mould of a philosopher, complete with obligatory book at his side, an interpretation suggested by the pointing finger of the monument which like Plato in Raphael’s School of Athens seems to be calling on the divine for inspiration. This recapturing and recovery of the classical tradition worked on very different levels for the two artists, despite claims that Twombly was a born-again classicist with a Homeric vision. Twombly superimposed his modernism over the classical heritage; Poussin completely immersed himself in it. That is the difference. In his marvellous description, Joshua Reynolds said that Poussin was a mind naturalized in antiquity.

“No works of any modern have so much of the air of Antique Painting as those of Poussin. His best performances have a remarkable dryness of manner, which by no means to be recommended for imitation, yet seems perfectly correspondent to that ancient simplicity which distinguishes his style. Like Polidoro he studied the ancients so much that he acquired a habit of thinking in their way, and seemed to know perfectly the actions and gestures they would use on every occasion.” [1]

Now compare Robert Hughes in a Time article on Twombly:

“The sight of all these orts and fragments in Twombly's pictures seems to have convinced his more ardent admirers that he's a classicist, saturated in the myths and literature of the ancient Mediterranean, exuding them from every pictorial pore. All he has to do is scrawl a wobbly triumph of Galatea or et in arcadia ego on a canvas, and suddenly he's up there with Roberto Calasso, if not Edward Gibbon. When an audience that has lost all touch with the classical background once considered indispensable in education sees Virgil written in a picture, it accepts it as a logo, like the alligator on a Lacoste shirt. The mere dropping of the name, or the citation of a tag, suggests that a classical past still lives, solid and whole, below the surface. But a toenail paring isn't a body.”^{^[2]}

Indeed: a toe nail certainly isn’t a whole body. As for the mind, it’s absurd to claim that Twombly can think like the ancients.

Then there’s this argument about Twombly and signification. I recall a book where one art historian within a discussion of representation in the western tradition, said that it was too easy to view Twombly’s art as ‘a refusal to signify’.[3] I admire this scholar but I’m not buying this idea of signification in Twombly. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind comparisons between Poussin and modern artists. There have a been a number of shows in the last few years that have paired emulations of Poussin’s work with the original, like Leon Kossoff’s version of the Triumph of Pan in a National Gallery exhibition held in 2007. Yet Kossoff managed to convince me as an interpreter of Poussin because he is a real painter, seeking the spirit of Poussin’s art in the materiality of the work, not some dubious parallel between image and text, which a lot of Twombly scholarship stresses. I think Robert Hughes nailed it perfectly when he said that Twombly was one of America’s first graffiti artists, long before Basquiat started spraying SAMO on New York walls.That’s not to demean graffiti artists whose work I like, but Twombly’s classical graffiti for me is just full of sound and fury, ultimately signifying nothing. I don’t know if I’d go as far as Sewell in calling CT a charlatan- that’s for you to decide.

What I do know is that a great opportunity has been lost. How much more impressive and good for Dulwich to have paired Poussin with Poussin- his paintings with his drawings! Or we could have had a whole exhibition of drawings, maybe somewhere in the provinces like Oxford or Birmingham, charting the evolution of naturalized antiquity in this incomparable artist. I wish someone had asked me to curate an exhibition like this- I’ve have jumped at it! It’s long overdue as we haven’t had a Poussin exhibition in the U.K. since the 1990s. Sadly, we get this daft exhibition. Once again Poussin is in the news for all the wrong reasons.

[1] Joshua Reynolds, Discourse V.

[2] Robert Hughes, ‘The Graffiti of Loss’, Time Magazine, October 17^th, 1994,

[3] Stephen Bann, The True Vine: On Visual Representation and the Western Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 1989, 2.

Posted at 09:29 PM in 17th Century Painting, Cy Twombly, Dulwich Picture Gallery, modern art, Poussin | Permalink

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Excellent post. Such forced interpretations don't serve our understanding of Poussin or Twombly.

Posted by: pranogajec | 08/01/2011 at 11:52 PM

Hi Pranogajec,

Yes, you're right. Both artists are cancelled out by this contrived display.

I'll stick a link to your blog on my site. I'm not an expert on architecture. I do have Banham's brilliant book on LA, and I keep meaning to read Damisch's book on architecture. Have you read it?

David

Posted by: David Packwood | 08/02/2011 at 10:16 AM

Many thanks for this write-up David.

Perhaps I'm old fashioned - I have been curious about the motivation for this exhibition too. There's so much more to being a classical painter than a soundbyte equivalent of classical quotes. There's a rich iconographical heritage for starters, which Twombly discards in his very approach.

I'm even jarred that I agree with Hughes' 'logo' observation. It's quite apt. Perhaps the point of this exhibition is to highlight the contrast between approaches to a broad theme, rather than being a direct comparison, and cause the type of discussion as is happening here and elsewhere?

In related news, I wonder if the compositional unity of a Twombly piece has ever been disrupted by a crazed spray painter?!

Kind Regards
H

Posted by: H Niyazi | 08/05/2011 at 12:59 PM

I thought Hughes was spot on too, with his logo remark.

I'm sure they weren't going for a direct comparison, as anybody can see these painters are totally incompatible. Somebody suggested that they might be using Twombly to attract a younger crowd more oriented towards modern art. If so, I doubt if it will succeed. Would they want to look at Poussin as well?

David

Posted by: David Packwood | 08/05/2011 at 07:52 PM

Georges Seurat was very interested in art from antiquity, in Greek and Roman sculptures. In his works there is a tension between the contemporary, popular culture and references to elite high art of Egyptian, Greek and Romans.

Posted by: first aid training | 08/12/2011 at 11:32 PM

I take your point, but I think Seurat is a far better artist than Twombly. Also, unlike Twombly, Seurat was very knowledgeable about post-classical art including Poussin, Piero della Francesca and he knew how to blend classical, renaissance, and the modern art of his time together.As I said in the post Twombly just superimposes the classical over the modern without any finesse, while Poussin was thoroughly versed in ancient art and is able to combine the two seamlessly.

Thanks for commenting- David

Posted by: David Packwood | 08/13/2011 at 12:04 AM

The newly proposed sandblast method may be superior in practical applications.

Posted by: wireless security systems | 06/19/2012 at 05:25 PM

very nice post, i surely love this site, keep on it

jordans shoes for sale

Posted by: Dypeinhette | 05/15/2013 at 07:50 PM

Naturalized Antiquity and Classical Graffiti at Dulwich - Art History Today

Posted by: dai dai hua | 07/30/2013 at 11:18 PM

Naturalized Antiquity and Classical Graffiti at Dulwich - Art History Today

Posted by: Fruta Planta | 08/01/2013 at 10:53 PM

Posted by: Super Slim | 08/01/2013 at 10:54 PM

Naturalized Antiquity and Classical Graffiti at Dulwich - Art History Today

Posted by: lida daidaihua | 08/05/2013 at 11:42 AM

Sneaker News toonde je een pakje van Air Max 1 Premies weekend dat krassen het oppervlak van de camouflage thema qua model belang, de verscheidenheid van modellen en internationale signeersessies. Deze nieuwe Nike Air Max camouflage tien-pakket bevat vijf elk voor Duitsland, Frankrijk, Japan, het Verenigd Koninkrijk en een vijfde natie later te noemen. Spread twee AM1S twee Nike Air Max 90, een klassieke bw lucht, lucht 180, twee en een AM95s 97 is het grootste pakket haak handtekening van de huidige serie die we hebben gezien sinds de 2010 Air Attack Pack , die stijlen een sterke eerste indruk op je
[url=http://www.fivepoundschool.org/images/manolo-blahnik.html]Manolo Blahnik Swan[/url]
Manolo Blahnik Swan

Posted by: Manolo Blahnik Swan | 08/08/2013 at 05:24 PM

Early life: Born in Spain in 1943 Manolo Canary Islands banana seed orchards, my mother is Spanish, his father is Czech. He and his sister into Iraq Jie Lin (Evangeline) grew up under strict tutor, from their demeanor feel this good old-fashioned parenting. He had to learn the language and the arts in Geneva, in 1968, Manolo came to Paris, determined to become a stage designer.
manolo blahnik sale http://www.islandartscentre.com/news/manolo-blahnik-shoes.html
manolo blahnik sale

Posted by: manolo blahnik sale | 08/08/2013 at 07:35 PM

die Absurde Situation hat sich ergeben
jameeMn bb4arg48

Posted by: jameeMn | 08/10/2013 at 03:47 PM

Si sbaglia. Sono sicuro. Dobbiamo discutere.
chuckMn bb4arg48

Posted by: chuckMn | 08/14/2013 at 02:44 PM

Marvelous Post.thanks for share..far more wait .. cheap louis vuitton outlet http://cheaplvbagspld.liveblog.at/ cheap louis vuitton outlet

Posted by: cheap louis vuitton outlet | 08/21/2013 at 01:33 AM

E che cosa?
celicaMn bb4arg48

Posted by: celicaMn | 08/24/2013 at 07:51 PM

Si gravi?
gaussMn bb4arg48

Posted by: gaussMn | 08/28/2013 at 06:09 AM

高知大腕時計ロレックス協での部屋探しってどうなんでしょう高知大学の卒業生です。カラー：フェアウェイｘビビッドイエローメーカーサイズレンジ：22.5〜29.5cm（1ｃｍ刻み）対象：ユニセックスメーカー型番：Q26058adidas oiginas ロレックス時計オリジナルススニーカーアディコートモデル ADICOURT AS (アディコート) 国内では非常に流通の少ないロレックス専門店の限定ライン。福島第一原子力発言所では、ロレックスレプリカ発生時、６機ある原子炉のうち１号機から3号機までが運転中であったが、制御棒の挿入で自動停止した。

Posted by: 日本ロレックス | 08/29/2013 at 06:58 PM

kenevbkz http://www.gg49l8kj59399seaf6143spshbe9i907s.org/
[url=http://www.gg49l8kj59399seaf6143spshbe9i907s.org/]ukenevbkz[/url]
akenevbkz

Posted by: kenevbkz | 08/29/2013 at 07:03 PM