| Title | : | The Unknown Masterpiece |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0940322749 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780940322745 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 160 |
| Publication | : | First published August 1, 1831 |
Honoré De Balzac (1799-1850) is generally credited as the inventor of the modern realistic novel. In more than ninety novels, he set forth French society and life as he saw it. He created a cast of over two thousand individual and identifiable characters, some of whom reappear in different novels. He organized his works into his masterpiece, La Comedie Humaine,which was the final result of his attempt to grasp the whole of society and experience into one varied but unified work.
Richard Howard was born in Cleveland in 1929. He is the author of fourteen volumes of poetry and has published more than one hundred fifty translations from the French, including works by Gide, Stendhal, de Beauvoir, Baudelaire, and de Gaulle. Howard received a National Book Award for his translation of Fleurs du mal and a Pulitzer Prize for Untitled Subjects, a collection of poetry.
The Unknown Masterpiece Reviews
-
Artist and His Model (1926) - by Pablo Picasso
This New York Review Books edition is indeed a classic since it includes not only two highly philosophical works by French master Honoré de Balzac on the nature of art and music but also an illuminating introductory essay by philosopher of art/art critic Arthur C. Danto. For the purposes of my review I will focus on the author's tour de force, The Unknown Masterpiece.
The story revolves around three painters - Porbus, Poussin and Frenhofer. Porbus can be seen as the Flemish painter Frans Pourbus. Poussin, in turn, can be seen as the master Nicolas Poussin in his youth. As for Frenhofer, the true genius in the story, he's a creation of Balzac’s imagination. After reading and falling in loving with this short work, many are the artists who have linked themselves to Frenhofer, including Picasso, Matisse and Cézanne.
Rather than simply recapping events within the story, I will turn to a number of provocative philosophical questions raised by Balzac’s tale.
Firstly, there is the matter of art as a form of magic. In his essay on The Unknown Masterpiece included in this NYRB edition, Danto states: "From the perspective of magic, every image has the possibility of coming to life, and perhaps the first images every drawn, however crudely executed, were viewed with an awe that still remains a disposition of the most primitive regions of the human brain. This is why images have been forbidden in so many of the great religions of the world, and why they have been destroyed in the name of iconoclasm. It is why Plato was afraid of art, and drove artists from his Republic."
At one point Frenhofer judges a portrait painted by Probus: “You can see she’s pasted on the canvas – you could never walk around her.”
To paint in such a way that the viewer can mentally walk around a woman, man, animal, plant or other object painted on canvas requires rendering a two dimensional plane into three dimensions, technical expertise developed in the Western artistic tradition over centuries, reaching staggering heights beginning in the period of the Italian Renaissance.
Yet to really vitalize a painting, an added ingredient is needed. What shall we call it? Genius, perhaps?
At this juncture, we can make a critical point: if any image can come to life, even those first images created in the dawn of humanity as Danto notes, how powerful and magical is a painting infused by highly polished technique coupled with the spark of genius? Now institutions and champions of the status quo who fear the power of the image really have something to worry about.
Frans Pourbus the Younger - Portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia, around 1600-1615
Nicolas Poussin - detail from Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well, l648
We can move on to critical point number two: for the artists in the tale, as for nearly all artists, is it any accident hot-blooded passionate love for another person is so much a part of their lives and has such an influence on their art?
There’s something both inspiring and intoxicating about love, most especially erotic love, and how eroticism mixed in with the mystery of artistic creation is nothing less than explosive. Frenhofer exclaims, “Oh! I would give all I possess if just once, for a single moment, I could gaze upon that complete, that divine nature; if I could meet that ideal heavenly beauty, I would search for her in limbo itself!”
And the female nude? Oh, yes, as Balzac details in his story, the keg of dynamite that is erotic love becomes supercharged even further when an artist takes a woman’s nudity as the subject. Again, Frenhofer: “Poetry and women show themselves naked only to their lovers!”
And the female who poses nude for Frenhofer? The beautiful Gillette, the loving mistress of Poussin. You will have to read for yourself to find out exactly how Balzac’s story unfolds.
Shifting our focus to a slightly different topic, does the sense of place participate in this creative and artistic magic? In the spirit of his realistic prose, Balzac notes the exact locations of the artist’s studios – Rue des Grands-Augustins, Pont Saint-Michel, Rue de la Harpe. Ah, Paris! Such a magnet for artists. So inspired was Pablo Picasso by Balzac's story, he moved his studio to Nº 7 Rue des Grands-Augustins.
Lastly, at the very end of the story, along with Porbus and Poussin, we encounter the masterpiece Frenhofer has spent the last ten years of his life painting. From Balzac’s description, can you see what the artist wishes you to see? And what does it mean to know a masterpiece? Taking Picasso’s Artist and His Model pictured above, what would it mean to come to know this work of art? Or maybe a better question would be: Could we ever completely know such art? Does a measure of power derive from its mystery? And there’s that foot! Echoes of Frenhofer and Balzac? -
This is one of Balzac’s little jewels.
From the very start Balzac sets its date and location. We are in 1612, in the early Regency of Maria de Medici, since only a couple of years had elapsed from the assassination of her husband and King Henri IV. Their son Louis XIII was then only eight years old. And the location is, as we can expect, Paris. But not just any place in Paris. We are in the Rue des Grands-Augustins, which is a perpendicular to the Boulevard of the same name which runs parallel to the Seine just across from the Ile-de-la-Cité.
The significance of this street is that this is where the young Louis XIII was almost immediately enthroned when his father died.
And the significance of having chosen this earlier period is that Balzac wrote his work soon after the Bourbon Monarchy had fallen. It is as if in choosing this past framework Balzac wanted to go back to a period of France that for him should have not ended.
There are two main characters who are real and famous. There is a young painter who is none other than Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) and there is also the considerably older and now less well known painter François (Frans) Pourbus (1569-1622) who came from Flanders. As Balzac tells us, the latter had lost his place as court painter to his compatriot Rubens.
May be we are not surprised.
This is how Pourbus saw the Queen.
And this is how Rubens envisioned her husband welcoming her portrait.
Balzac is rendering homage to the street where the young Bourbon King was declared King by situating the art studio of Pourbus in the address of Nº 7, Rue des Grands-Augustins. But if the context is seventeenth century Paris, Balzac develops a discourse on art that reads very much like a nineteenth century criticism of the Art Salons. We have a fully developed debate between the Disegno & Colore or the classicists and the Romantics epitomized during Balzac’s time by Ingres and Delacroix.
Colore
And Disegno
But even if Balzac also wrote regularly about the contemporary Salons, this is not just the writing of any art critic. This novella is couched in the very colorful, and rich and textured and delineated prose that is Balzac’s inimitable writing. A true delight to read.
And yet, the novella is not even about these two poles in painting. It is not about these people, nor their times. It is about something else. It is about the relationship of the painter and his representation, or to be more specific, about him and his (female) sitter. Creation and possession, and the limitations and impossibilities in these.
And this is precisely what Pablo Picasso chose to focus on when the gallerist Ambroise Vollard asked him to illustrate Balzac’s novel in 1931.
In his thirteen engravings we see Picasso exploring the role of artistic creation, its limitations and the ultimate goal of appropriation or possession.
For Picasso, his art and the implied window, a representational concept inherited from the Renaissance and through which he saw his world, was always framed by the female. We cannot be surprised then if he was fascinated by this Le chef-d'oeuvre inconnu, where Balzac says: Ce n’est pas une toile, c’est une femme! Une femme avec laquelle je pleure, je ris, je cause et je pens and cette femme nest pas une créature, c'est une création..
Picasso's framing women:
Illustrating the tale by Balzac was not enough. A few years after completing the series of etchings, Picasso moved his studio to Nº 7 Rue des Grands-Augustins.
To be able to photograph this warrants a new pilgrimage to my most beloved city.
And of course, Picasso also had to portray and render homage to his honored genius Honoré de Balzac.
-
“Hé! Hé! Malgré le malheur des temps, nous causerons peinture!”
One of those unforgettable, perfect stories on the purpose of art and literature!
Written by the master storyteller Balzac in the first half of the 19th century, recapturing a century of wild debates on the question: “What is art? And what is the role of the artist?”, it somehow offers a conclusion to the classical era and prophetically opens up the discussion that will dominate the century to come: should an artist be a Pygmalion, trying to make paints and canvas, or marble, come alive? Or is a piece of art something entirely different?
“La mission de l’art n’est pas de copier la nature mais de l’exprimer!”
This is a modernist take on the role of the artist, already leaving behind the “Querelle du dessin et des couleurs” which put Rubens and his school in one corner, and Poussin, who participates in the action of this short story, in the other. All of a sudden, the subjective ideas of the painter or sculptor gain dominance over the presumably objective rules of specific schools. Art and passion are interchangeable, model and painting belong to the same realm, thus turning Pygmalion’s process into its opposite: humans turn into art, rather than art into living and breathing women:
“Cette femme n’est pas une créature, c’est une création!”
Who decides what is art? Who decides if a work is a masterpiece or an act of self-destruction?
With the shifting of focus in the 19th century from a social, political function of art in the public sphere to a way of expressing either inner or outer life as interpreted through the artist-creator, something is set in motion that leads to the decomposition of traditional means of artistic expression at the beginning of the 20th century.
Balzac shows the first new, insecure, worried questions, arising at the moment in time when Rubenistes and Poussinistes seem to have made all the points they were capable of, over and and over again. When generations of painters in the styles of Boucher or David, Ingres or Delacroix have shown mastery in “dessin” and “coloris”, but still find no definitive answer to the nagging, devilish question:
“But is it Art?”
That is the question that recurs without answer in Kipling’s poem “The Conundrum of The Workshops”, written at the end of the process that starts with Balzac’s “Chef d’Oeuvre Inconnu”, when cubism and surrealism illustrated that the boundaries of art had been changed forever:
"When the flush of a newborn sun fell first on Eden's green and gold,
Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mold;
And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,
Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves: "It's pretty, but is it Art?"
Human beings try, and try, but whenever they create something new, the doubt of the devil’s voice rings in their ears:
“They builded a tower to shiver the sky and wrench the stars apart,
Till the Devil grunted behind the bricks: "It's striking, but is it Art?"
...
“And the Devil bubbled below the keel: "It's human, but is it Art?"
...
“And each man hears as the twilight nears, to the beat of his dying heart,
The Devil drum on the darkened pane: "You did it, but was it Art?"
...
“We know that the tail must wag the dog, as the horse is drawn by the cart;
But the Devil whoops, as he whooped of old: "It's clever, but is it Art?"
We are still waiting for the answer to the question, and each individual is left to judge for him- or herself. Balzac’s questioning artist despaired and destroyed his work in the effort to put everything he was capable of into it. In the end, only a trace of perfection was still visible in a beautifully rendered foot in the middle of chaotic lines and colours.
It’s pretty, but is it Art?
Yes, most definitely. Balzac’s short story is a work of art, a journey into the modern artist’s psyche in the making. And a pleasurable joyride to a time of change, when art was about to be redefined, and into the minds of creative people, and their driving forces!
Must-read for lovers of art and literature! -
..
ناشدَ الكمال...
فأحرقهُ المُحال...
هذه هي زُبدة هذا النص البديع الذي مهما كان جنسه الأدبيّ سواءاً رواية...نوفيلا أو قصة قصيرة إلا أنه تفوّق على نفسه من حيث أسلوب الكتابة والجوهر، لقد كان نصًّا ساحراً تفيض ينابيعه شاعريّةً وتتفجّر زهراتُه فلسفةً، الحدث الوحيد فيه لقاءٌ جمع مُرِيداً شاباً يُدعى نـيـكـولاس بـوسـان بأستاذ الرسم فـرونـسـوا بـوربـوس غير أن القدر أبى إلا أن يُلاقِيه عنده و في محراب مَرْسمِه بأب الرّسامين جـورجـياني العظيم...المدعوِّ بالأستاذ فـريـنـهـوفـر الشهير فرُبَّ صدفةٍ كانت ورُبَّ لقاءٍ كان...
فـريـنـهـوفـر ذاك العجوز العبقري الذي كانت له رؤية أبعد وأعمق مما يراه أيّ فنانٍ آخر في الأعمال الفنية...عبقريٌّ مزّق مفهوم نسخ الأشياء والكائنات من خلال إعتصار أرواحها و سقي اللوحات بها فتَيْنعُ عليها أصالة الطبيعة الحقيقية من حركةٍ وحياةٍ...ويتجسّد النبض وتُزفر الأنفاس ويسري الدم وتتمايل النّسمات...ورغم أعماله العظيمة التي تجحظُ الأعين أمامها وتخرس الأفواه...راح يشتغل ويكدحُ لعشر سنوات على بورتريهٍ تزاوج معه وتلبّسه كشيطانٍ صغيرٍ...بورتريه سمع صوته وتحادث معه...عانقه وعشقه...بذل فيه كل عزيزٍ وغار عليه من كل غِرٍّ...إمرأته الفاتنة كـاتـريـن لـيـسـكـو...وكما أحبّ مناداتها بالجميلة المِغناج...والتي عند حافّة قدمها الصغيرة اللّذيذة الهامسة تحرّر اللّبُ فيها من قشوره والقماش من إمتداده والنظر من منطقه فهل يمكن للعبقرية والأحاسيس الخارجة عن المألوف أن تصبح قضباناً ؟ وهل يمكن للجمال أن يُحال ركاماً ؟ وهل يمكن للتُّحف أن تبقى مجهولة ؟!
☀︎︎فلسفة عبثيّة حاكها المبدع أونـوريـه دي بـلـزاك وزيّنها بخطوط وألوان الفن التجريديِّ والجمال والحب والطبيعة...يُشار إلى أن قصته سحرت وأثّرت بشكل هائل على الفيلسوف والمفكر السياسي والإقتصادي كـارل مـاركـس فقد كانت جزئيًّا بمثابة تعبيرٍ عما كان يشعر به هو نفسه إتجاه مُسودّات كتابه « رأس المال » مزيجٌ نادرٌ من الثقة العنيفة بالنفس والشكّ المؤلم بها...وإنضمّ بالنهاية المفتوحة التي تركها في كتابه إلى حركة الحداثة التي تبناها
فرينهوفر المدهش من دون أن يدري هذا الأخير بذلك.
" ثمّة من بين المشاعر الإنسانية كلّها زهرةٌ فتيَّةٌ، يُفتِّحها في دواخلنا ذاك الحماس النبيل الذي نشعرُ به في شبابِنا، والذي يتضاءلُ شيئاً فشيئاً حتّى تستحيل السعادةُ مُجرَّد ذكرى، ويستحيل المجدُ مُجرَّد وهمٍ " -
Έχετε πιει ποτέ καφέ, με ένα μικρό φύλλο χρυσού από πάνω; Εγώ ναι, στο παλάτι Τσιραάν στην Κωνσταντινούπολη, στις όχθες του Βοσπόρου ανάμεσα στο Μπεσίκτας και το Ορτάκιοϊ. Τον χρυσοπλήρωσα. Όμως το ευχαριστήθηκα. Η θέα στο σημείο αυτό κλυδωνίζει τις αισθήσεις έτσι που απλώς σωπαίνεις και ευφραίνεσαι.
Κάπως έτσι λοιπόν, με το άγνωστο αριστούργημα, μπήκε άλλο ένα φυλλαράκι χρυσού στον λογοτεχνικό μου βωμό, να το’ χω εκεί να το χαίρομαι.
Ο έρωτας ήρθε σχεδόν κατακλυσμιαία με το αριστούργημα αυτό. Μέσα σε μια θολή, ασαφή ατμόσφαιρα αιωρούμενων ερωτικών σωματιδίων που εκπέμπονται από τη φύση του ανθρώπου από καταβολής κόσμου, και που γονιμοποιούνται με την πρώτη κατάλληλη συγκυρία μέσα στην τυχαιότητα, η στιγμή πρόσκρουσης με ένα τέτοιο έργο δημιουργεί στατικό ηλεκτρισμό και εντείνει την προαναγγελθείσα ψυχοτρόπα διάθεση.
Μαθητευόμενος και γέρος ζωγράφος συναντιούνται δια μέσου ενός συνδετικού κρίκου, ενός ακόμα ζωγράφου. Ο μαθητευόμενος ονομάζεται Poussin. Poussin, δηλαδή νεοσσός, κοτοπουλάκι. Πόση ευστοχία και εκεί. Εραστές της τέχνης και οι δυο, με ύστατη ευχή και αγωνία το απόλυτο, το τέλειο δημιούργημα, με λίγα λόγια αυτό που λέμε αριστούργημα. Κοινωνούμε την περηφάνια και ανωτερότητα που νιώθει ο δάσκαλος για το δημιούργημά του, αυτό που του κόστισε την πιο κοπιαστική εργασία, πνευματική και σωματική, μέχρι να το ανυψώσει στο βάθρο της τελειότητας, να το φτάσει στο επιθυμητό Ωραίο και Υψηλό. Εκπτώσεις δε γίνονται δεκτές από έναν Δάσκαλο. Πίνουμε από το γλυκό κρασί του έρωτα του μαθητευόμενου για την κοπέλα του Gillette, αναριγώντας πότε άραγε ήταν η τελευταία φορά που νιώσαμε κάτι τέτοιο, περίλυποι για το άφαντο, το ξεγλιστρημένο μέσα από τα χέρια μας αίσθημα αυτό που διαρκεί τόσο λιγοστά λίγο. Και τα αντικείμενα του πόθου και του έρωτα του καθενός, φαινομενικά άψυχο του ενός, έμψυχο του άλλου, κινδυνεύουν να βεβηλωθούν και να μιανθούν μπρος στον φόβο της αποκάλυψής τους στη ματιά ενός ξένου.
Πίστη, αφοσίωση, ολοκληρωτικό δόσιμο. Πάθος και σιγουριά για τον εαυτό, από τον γέρο καλλιτέχνη, ορμή και θαυμασμός για τον Δάσκαλο, από τον μαθητή.
Λαμπύριζαν οι προτάσεις, μειδίασα πολλάκις θαυμάζοντας την τόση ομορφιά της έκφρασης. Μέσα σε αυτές, αισθανόμουν dépaysée, σαν να βρισκόμουν δηλαδή σε μια άλλη χώρα, σε μια χώρα όπου η ομορφιά βασιλεύει, σε έναν χαμένο για πάντα κήπο της Εδέμ που ευτυχείς μερικές φορές από καθαρή τύχη να τον συναντήσεις.
Πόσο όμως αυτές οι στιγμές της υπέρτατης ευδαιμονίας και ευτυχίας και έρωτα είναι δυνατό να κρατήσουν; Διαλύονται ξάφνου όπως ένα σύννεφο ξεμπροστιάζει την καθαρή ατμόσφαιρα, ξελεκιάζει το τοπίο, ρίχνοντας τη φυλαγμένη του βροχή.
Την ατυχή και άχαρη στιγμή που βρίσκεις ξανά τις αισθήσεις σου, αντιλαμβάνεσαι, σαν λαβωμένος, τη θλιβερή ασχήμια μέσα στην οποία ζεις και από την οποία περιβάλλεσαι. Χωρίς αμφιβολία, είναι αυτή η έκτη αίσθηση που αναπτύσσεις μέσα από την ομορφιά της τέχνης που κάνει τη ζωή υποφερτή. Αυτή την αίσθηση που σου δίνεται η ευκαιρία να κλωθογυρίζεις στο μυαλό σου μέσα από τ��ς σελίδες, και την αφήνεις για λίγο να παίξει μαζί σου όπως ένα κουβάρι αφήνεται στο έλεος ενός γατιού,
για να το κάνει ό,τι θέλει.
Η λογοτεχνία έρχεται στο φως, θάλπει, θέλγει και ερωτοτροπεί με τον αναγνώστη που η ίριδά του και το κλείστρο της καλαισθησίας του είναι τόσο ανοιχτά ώστε να ανιχνεύσει αυτό το φως και τελικά να το μεταλάβει.
Συμβουλή: Μην εμπιστεύεστε τα μικρά βιβλία. Είναι τα πιο ύπουλα μερικές φορές. -
Easily the best entry point into Balzac's impressive oeuvre, these two short novellas display the key features of this literary master's ability. The first feature is astounding, complex description, and the second is dramatic, intelligent dialogue. The latter is worthy of a grandiose stage play and the former is often as striking as a prose poem. Combining these approaches, Balzac allows the characters take on intense life during the simple dramatic context he constructs.
"The Unknown Masterpiece" provides the perfect setup for Balzac to discus (or show off) what he knows about artistic form and composition. At the same time, he displays these very architecturally sound qualities in his own writing. The characters are vivid in the extreme and the descriptions are superb. Balzac casually casts aphorisms and pithy pronouncements into intricate tapestries of sentences until it takes effort and concentration to grasp the far-reaching concepts he's simultaneously lassoing in amid the interplay of ideas. Though he argues there is often an unbridgeable gap between conception and execution, he proves the exception to the rule by expressing with utter perfection lucid concepts and splendid thematic irony. Many artists have few affinity with the historical figures from the 17th century depicted in this story including Picasso and Cézanne.
This edition includes an excellent, if not essential, introduction providing additional historical context.
"Gambara" is the second, longer novella. Its focus pertains to music, though many of the pronouncements made by the eccentric characters echo those of the first piece. Taken together, they are both complementary and contrasting. With playful humor, the author contrives basic scenes to give his disproportionately ingenious characters a soapbox, and it is a joy to read their sinuous arguments and philosophical rants. Balzac is a consummate stylist, who with grand gestures and crystal clarity deepens verisimilitude. In this quick read, the expression of intelligence is everywhere in evidence. -
"Vurduğum her fırçada bana gülümsemedi mi? Bir ruhu var onun, benim ona verdiğim bir ruh! Benden başka birinin bakışları onu utandırıp kızartabilir."
"Benim resmim bir resim değil, bir duygudur, bir tutkudur."
🌟
Kitabın önsözünü yazan Samih Rifat; "Bu olağanüstü metni ilk kez okuyacakları kıskanıyorum!" diyor... -
Ten years in the making but seen by no one, aspiring artist Nicolas Poussin and established artist Francois Porbus attempt to catch a glimpse of legendary artist Frenhofer’s so called masterpiece after being invited to his studio, where Nicolas is awestruck by Frenhofer’s talent.
Nicolas is young, confident, and full of passion, and believes he can conquer the world. He studies under the established royal court artist Porbus, but one such meeting is interrupted by the appearance of the elderly and legendary master painter Frenhofer. He is as quick to paint as he is to talk philosophically about art, and launches into a speech about the nature of art, arguing that painting must involve a love of the subject and a love of the craft itself. Art, he argues, is not merely about copying life, but expressing it and finding the beauty and love in it.
Nicolas, determined to find a way to see the painting, has a plan - he will offer his lover and muse, the stunningly beautiful Gillette as a model for Frenhofer in exchange for a glimpse of his masterpiece. Gillette, a sensitive young woman, is unfailingly loyal, gentle, and loving, and is hurt that Nicolas would offer her up in such a way, but accepts this out of love for Nicolas.
Honore de Balzac makes the argument through the character Frenhofer that art is more than merely copying life, insisting it's about expressing life, love, and beauty–the things of which Porbus lacks, and which Frenhofer’s own masterpiece contains. He also emphasises that art combines the love of the subject, and love of the painting itself. And only when both forms of love are combined is a true work of art made in it's purest form.
A decent enough read, but one I couldn't help think would have been better in the hands of de Maupassant. -
The Unknown Masterpiece (Le Chef-D'Œuvre Inconnu) was first published in August 1831 in the journal "L'Artiste" and shortly thereafter, in the third volume of the collection "Romans et Contes philosophiques".
Although described by Satiat as a "hastily written version of a fairy tale" by ETA Hoffmann entitled "La Leçon de violon", translated by Loève-Veimars for the aforementioned magazine in April of the same year, the two stories have little to nothing in common. Hoffmann's short, humoristic story (from the Die Serapionsbrüder collection) speaks of an eccentric patron who thinks himself a musical genius, while Le Chef-D'Œuvre Inconnu talks about the struggle of an artistic genius (a painter) to achieve the ultimate perfection.
Το Άγνωστο Αριστούργημα (Le Chef-D'Œuvre Inconnu) δημοσιεύτηκε για πρώτη φορά τον Αύγουστο 1831 στο περιοδικό L'Artiste και λίγο αργότερα, το ίδιο έτος κυκλοφόρησε στον τρίτο τόμο της συλλογής "Romans et contes philosophiques".
Παρόλο που χαρακτηρίζεται από τ�� Satiat ως μια "βιαστικά γραμμένη παραλλαγή ενός παραμυθιού" του E. T. A. Hoffmann με τίτλο La Leçon de violon (το μάθημα του βιολιού) το οποίο είχε μεταφράσει o Loève-Veimars για το προαναφερθέν περιοδικό τον Απρίλιο της ίδιας χρονιάς, οι δύο ιστορίες δεν έχουν καμία σχέση, ούτε ως προς το περιεχόμενο, ούτε ως προς την θεματολογία. Το διήγημα του Hoffmann (από τη συλλογή Die Serapionsbrüder (Η αδελφότητα του Σεραπίωνα) κάνει λόγο για έναν εκκεντρικό μαικήνα που νομίζει πως είναι μουσική ιδιοφυΐα και έχει χιουμοριστικό ύφος, ενώ το Le Chef-D'Œuvre Inconnu μιλάει για τον αγώνα ενός καλλιτέχνη (ζωγράφου) για την επίτευξη της απόλυτης τελειότητας.
Ένα από τα πιο σημαντικά ζητήματα που θέτει το έργο του Balzac αφορά το κόστος της καλλιτεχνικής δημιουργίας. Ο έρωτας για ένα ζωντανό πλάσμα και ο έρωτας για ένα δημιούργημα. Αν τα δυο αυτά μπουν σε μία ζυγαριά προς τα πού θα κλίνει η πλάστιγγα; Το μεγάλο πρόβλημα ξεκινάει όταν κάποιος υποχρεώνεται να αφοσιωθεί σε κάτι με όλες τις σωματικές και ψυχικές του δυνάμεις. Ο άνθρωπος που προκειμένου να διαπρέψει σε έναν τομέα καλείται να θυσιάσει όλα τα υπόλοιπα, είναι κατά γενικό κανόνα ένας άνθρωπος δυστυχισμένος. Καταδικασμένος σε μια μοναχική ύπαρξη, εξαντλεί τον εαυτό του σε σημείο που πέρα από το έργο του δεν έχει κάτι περισσότερο να προσφέρει.
Η τελειότητα όπως την εκλαμβάνουν οι ζωγράφοι του διηγήματος, που εκτυλίσσεται στα 1612, συνίσταται στην ρεαλιστική, πιστή απεικόνιση της πραγματικότητας, έτσι ώστε το τελικό αποτέλεσμα επάνω στον καμβά να μοιάζει ζωντανό. Θρυλείται όταν ο ιμπρεσιονιστής Cézanne διάβασε αυτό το διήγημα αναφώνησε "Frenhofer, c'est moi!" Γιατί ο ηλικιωμένος ζωγράφος Frenhofer είναι σε θέση να γνωρίζει πως:
"Ο σκοπός της τέχνης δεν είναι να αντιγράφει τη φύση αλλά να την εκφράζει. Δεν είσαι ένας χυδαίος αντιγράφος αλλά ένας ποιητής!
(La mission de l’art n’est pas de copier la nature, mais de l’exprimer ! Tu n’es pas un vil copiste, mais un poète!)
Το ερώτημα που απασχολεί κυρίως τον Balzac είναι το πού μπορεί να φτάσει ένας καλλιτέχνης για το έργο του. Όντας και ο ίδιος τελειομανής, διόρθωνε αδιάκοπα τα γραπτά του γεγονός που αποτελούσε αιτία για συχνούς καβγάδες με τους εκδότες του, καθώς δεν κατάφερνε να τηρεί τις συμφωνημένες προθεσμίες. Δεν μπορούσε να αισθανθεί ικανοποιημένος, γιατί εκλάμβανε αυτό που έκανε ως ένα έργο σε διαρκή εξέλιξη. Σε όλη του τη ζωή έπρεπε να επιστρέφει, να αναθεωρεί, να προσθέτει και να αναδιαμορφώνει τη δουλειά του έτσι ώστε όλα να χωράνε σε ένα ενιαίο πλαίσιο. Τα όρια του οποίου διευρύνονταν με το πέρασμα του χρόνου.
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As I read the story, I knew Nicolas Poussin was a real artist, but I didn't realize Frans Porbus was until afterward. Not that that changes anything. I can only guess Balzac used the names of two real artists to give his tale and the fictional Frenhofer even more authenticity than his words already seem to do.
A.S. Byatt's
Portraits in Fiction has a breakdown and interpretation of this story that says it all (except that I found Frenhofer's 'lectures' a bit boring, like, well, lectures). -
Ovo je bio jedan mali blistavi čas estetike, gde su šćućurene viševekovne teorijske opsesije: od pitanja podražavanja (mimezisa), teorije (likovne) kritike, odnosa forme i sadržaja, linije, valera, oblika i boje, sve do anatomije sujete i pitanja talenta i stvaralačkog genija. Vrlo je zanimljiv Balzakov verbalni iluzionizam u kome tekstualno sugestivnošću pretiče vizuelno i čak mi je drago što mnoga svoja dela nije brusio onoliko koliko bi neko od njega to mogao očekivati, jer taj spisateljski jurišni neizdrž u svim svojim šarmantnim nedostacima čini delo divno životnim, čak i kada je vidno artificijalno.
Tako je „Nepoznato remek-delo” jedna nakinđurena bombonjera preslatkih pralina sa gorkim punjenjem, sastavljena od dve pregrade. Pažljivim degustatorima kvrcnuće u toj kutiji i duplo dno, jer više je osumljičenih remek-dela prizvanih u naslovu. Ali da ne otkrivam šta se sve (još) može otkriti, moram istaći da nipošto nije nezanimljivo zalaziti u pariske ateljee početkom 17. veka, naročito ukoliko vam je pratilac tada još mladi Nikola Pusen, koji, kao svaka ambiciozna pridošlica, pokušava da pronađe svoje mesto u umetničkom svetu. Još kada mu se putevi ukrste sa jednim zelenookim starčićem magnetskog pogleda... -
Όμορφη μικρή νουβέλα για την τέχνη.Πολύτιμο διαμαντάκι.
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“The aim of art is not to copy nature, but to express it.”
This is a line taken from
The Unknown Masterpiece by
Honoré de Balzac. The work is too short to even classify as a novella. It was first published in 1831. Praised by artists such as Pablo Picasso and Paul Cézanne, I was curious, and so I had to give it a try.
The story is about art. In my view, the one line quoted above is its central tenet. So much is said with just a few words. This I like.
The story goes on to explore how a person creates great art. Is art a matter of learning the right techniques? The answer is a resounding – No! And I do agree.
The book focuses upon the exaltation and the agony tied to the creation of art. An artist is drawn over the coals, battling incessantly with envisioned dreams and paltry results. Frustration and dissatisfaction are constants. What keeps and artist going and when do they finally give up?
The relationship between an artist and his muse further enhances the story.
All these questions are tackled in the few pages of the story. The questions give the reader food for thought. This is what I want a book to do.
Published in 1831, you might hesitate to pick the work up, fearing that the prose style will be dated, wordy or florid. It isn’t. The wording is clear and precise, never hard to understand.
There is one more detail I might add. The book has four protagonists, three artists and one’s muse. Of the three artists, one is fictional and two are real. The latter two are Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) and Frans Pourbus (1569-1622). Poussin became quite famous.
Now it is up to you to pick up the story and see what you think! If art interests you, I think you will like it a lot.
Katie Haigh reads the audiobook. The reading flows well and each word is distinct. Her narration I have given four stars.
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*
Père Goriot 4 stars
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The Unknown Masterpiece 4 stars
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Cousin Bette 3 stars
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Eugénie Grandet 3 stars
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La Rabouilleuse TBR
*
The Magic Skin TBR -
Όπως το λέει και ο τίτλος: αριστούργημα! (ευελπιστώ όχι άγνωστο). Και η έκδοση της Άγρας είναι πραγματικό κομψοτέχνημα!
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Τι είναι Τέχνη ?? Υπάρχει το Τέλειο ?? Και αν υπάρχει πως, με ποια μορφή θα το παρουσιάσεις. Πως να αποδώσεις την φύση όταν είναι τοσο χαοτική, όταν το μονο που σου μένει είναι να την μιμηθείς. Ο μαιτρ Frenhofer έχει διδαχτεί τα μυστικά της σωστής χρήσης του φωτός από τον δάσκαλο Mabuse. Βγάζει πύρινους λόγους σχετικά με την τέχνη της ζωγραφικής και οι νεαροί Πόρμπις και Πουσέν τον ακούν αντιδρώντας διαφορετικά. Ο πρώτος είναι ένας καταξιωμένος ζωγράφος οπότε είναι πιο κυνικός και σκεπτικιστής, ο άλλος φλέγεται από επιθυμία να μυηθεί στα βαθύτερα μυστικά της Τέχνης. Ο μαιτρ λοιπόν δουλεύει επι δέκα χρόνια το άγνωστ�� αριστουργημα του που δεν το αφήνει να το δεί κανείς έχοντας αναπτύξει μια σχέση ερωτική με αυτό που πλάθει λίγο λίγο. Το έργο αυτό που δεν ανταποκρίνεται σαφώς στις ενθουσιώδεις και εκστατικές περιγραφές του ίδιου του ζωγράφου εσωκλείει όλη την βάναυση εσωτερική πάλη του καλλιτέχνη που προσπαθεί να ξεπεράσει τον εαυτό του, αλλα μονο τυχαία κομμάτια είναι ικανά να ξεγλιστρήσουν στον μουσαμά. Ο Πικάσο θα αγαπήσει το συγκεκριμένο έργο και θα εγκατασταθεί στο σπίτι της οδού De Grand- Augustins οπου και θα φιλοτεχνήσει την διάσημη Guernica του. Ένα μικρό διαμαντάκι στο πληθωρικό έργο του Μπαλζάκ.
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“Missione dell’arte non è copiare la natura, è esprimerla! Non sei un vigliacco che copia, sei un poeta.”
In questo romanzo del 1831 Balzac compie un favoloso viaggio nel mondo dell’arte, più precisamente della pittura.
”Verso la fine dell’anno 1612, in una fredda mattina di dicembre, un giovane vestito molto dimessamente passeggiava dinnanzi alla porta di una casa di rue des Grands-Augustins, a Parigi.”
Lo squattrinato pittore Poussin (realmente vissuto) tentenna impaurito di fronte alla porta del maestro Porbus (realmente vissuto) quando irrompe una figura enigmatica.
E’ Frenhofer (personaggio di fantasia) il quale dichiara che l’unica Arte concepibile è quella che sa giocare con luci, ombre e spessori così che le figure respirino come se fatte di vita vera.
Nel suo veemente discorso fa riferimento a una tela meravigliosa a cui sta lavorando da anni; perché sia portata a termine manca, però, un riferimento visivo: precisamente una modella che rappresenti quella perfezione che da così tanto sta cercando.
Coincidenza vuole che il giovane Poussin abbia una fidanzata bellissima….
Il viaggio che Balzac compie in questo racconto si tiene in bilico sul quel sottile confine tra il genio e la follia.
Un racconto che è esso stesso dipinto in quanto in modo analogo può essere interpretato diversamente a seconda della luce che lo illumina e dello sguardo che gli si rivolge.
A partire dai personaggi Balzac mette in scena un teatrale gioco tra il vero e il falso, tra la vita e la morte.
Una curiosità il racconto è ambientato in una casa in rue des Grands –Augustin al numero 7, luogo in cui visse per un periodo Picasso e dove dipinse “Guernica”.
Nel 1931 fu pubblicato poi un’edizione de “Il capolavoro sconosciuto” illustrata da Picasso. -
Vadideki Zambaktan beri yollarımızı kesişmiyordu kendisiyle.
Sanatsal çerçevede anlatılmış güzel mikro bir öykü olmuş.
Eser ve yapılış süreçlerine ilişkin bakış açılarını çok beğendim. -
Ευτυχώς όχι και τόσο άγνωστο το συγκεκριμένο αριστούργημα. Καταπληκτικός ο Μπαλζάκ, άργησα αλλά το έμαθα. Δεν είναι μόνο οι περιγραφές του, αλλά και η σκιαγράφηση που κάνει στους χαρακτήρες που τον κάνουν ξεχωριστό. Έχουμε πει και ξαναπεί για την ικανότητα του Ντόστο στην ψυχογράφηση των χαρακτήρων του, το ίδιο και για του Τολστόι και του Τσβάιχ και του Ντίκενς και πάει λέγοντας. Όμως, όπως ο καθένας από αυτούς έχει τον δικό του τρόπο, έτσι και ο Μπαλζάκ σε συγκλονίζει με τον λόγο του χωρίς να μπορείς να διακρίνεις τι τον κάνει να ξεχωρίζει από άλλους συγγραφείς. Ό,τι κι αν είναι, είναι κάτι πολύ λεπτό αλλά αναμφισβήτητα υπαρκτό.
Για την ιστορία καλό είναι ο αναγνώστης να μην ξέρει τίποτα πριν την διαβάσει. Ο τρόπος που αναπτύσσεται και κορυφώνεται είναι μία ευχάριστη έκπληξη που στο τέλος σε αφήνει να σκέφτεσαι και αποτελεί έναυσμα για προβληματισμούς και φιλοσοφήσεις.
Καταπληκτικός Μπαλζάκ και 4/5. -
Balzac focuses on the fine line between genius and madness. Frenhofer is an interesting character and I loved the scene in which he alters Porbus' portrait while discussing the virtues of 'true art'. The second story, Gambara, is similar thematically, although I didn't enjoy the discussion of musical composition as much. A good little book and I can see why artists such as Picasso held it in such high regard. Strong three stars.
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Πόσο το λάτρεψα αυτό το διαμαντάκι!!!!
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I must say that I greatly enjoyed Balzac's exploration of the idea that in art, it is not enough to simply copy reality. There is a reason that 'art' shares its root with 'artificial'. When we take the form of life and reproduce it on the page, or in sculpture, it becomes reduced and limited by the medium, losing its vitality and becoming corpselike. When we reduce a breathing, three-dimensional figure to the unmoving, flat plane of the canvas, depth is inevitably lost. So, as artists, we must replace that true vitality with some other energy, with creative energy, producing forms that are stylized, idealized, more beautiful, more grotesque, and more meaningful than can exist in nature. Mimicry of life without purpose and direction is the least form of art, if indeed it can be called art at all--the only style which the that author lends to his work is only the result of his flaws as a craftsman.
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Short Story by Balzac.
Unknown masterpiece is about the thing that is unknowable, noncommunicable, and undescriptive in nature. When Two painters Porbus and Poussin(they exist in real life) met maitre Frenhofer while he is showing errors in his drawing technique on why his drawing is not alive? He took a shine on these two guys.
The definition of art was totally different for Frenhofer and these two guys. For Frenhofer, the Female figure is not only bound by contours but also with color and lighting, and many other things. Even love is not only bound by the physical form but it has a special connection with his art piece. In that last moment, Porbus and Poussin lost their credibility as artists cause they are not able to see beyond the splatters of colors and true artist engulfed in flame with his unknown masterpiece.
As Balzac words
Fruits of love withers quickly, those of arts are immortal -
Frenhofer is a brilliant artist, he brings life in just a few strokes to a portrait by Porbus, watched by young Poussin. The masterwork Frenhofer is working on (for 10 years) is hidden away but he agrees to show it after Poussin offers his mistress as the model.
The tormented artist Frenhofer is very much like Claude Lantier in Zola’s The Masterpiece. Both are willing to spend years on perfecting their art in an uncompromising way except Frenhofer is rich and so can afford to live. Their art torments them and in the end leads to similar madness.
“But there is something else truer still, and it is this—f or painters, practise and observation are everything; and when theories and poetical ideas begin to quarrel with the brushes, the end is doubt, as has happened with our good friend, who is half crack-brained enthusiast, half painter. A sublime painter!”
This story was mentioned in the book on Cezanne I’m reading. Cezanne is said to have recognised himself in Frenhofer. -
Balzac eserde, duayen bir ressam üzerinden mükemmeliyetçiliği işlemiş. Şahsen eseri beğenmek ve beğenmemek arasında kaldım ama ne kadarını anladığım konusunda da emin olamadığım kitaplardan birisi oldu(ileriki bir süreçte tekrar okumam gerekecek). Öykünün sanat üzerinden ilerlemesi ayrı bir hava katmış.
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Προτιμώ τον Μπαλζάκ στη μικρή φόρμα. Τελεία και παύλα.
Αυτά που στα μεγάλα του μυθιστορήματα προσπαθεί να τα πει μέσα από χιλιάδες λέξεις και σελίδες, τα είπε σε αυτό το μικρό διήγημα ευσύνοπτα και εξαιρετικά εύστοχα.
Μέσα σε αυτό το διήγημα βρίσκεται η φράση - κλειδί του έρωτα.
Ψάξτε το και δεν θα χάσετε! -
“Ressam elinde ancak fırçalarıyla düşünür”
Balzac’dan kısa ama çarpıcı bir eser. Sanata tutkuyla bağlı bir sanatçı konu edilmiş kısacık bir kitap.
Kusursuzluğu arayan Frenhofer’in öyküsünü okuyoruz, bir tablo üzerinde yıllarca çalışıyor. Hiç kimsenin fark etmediği detayları bile kusursuzlaştırmak, gerçeğe yakın, doğanın yansıması olan bir eser yaratmaya çalışan bir sanatçı. Yıllarca uğraştığı başyapıtını görücüye çıkardığında aldığı tepkiler ise çok sarsıcı.. Bu öykü okuyucuya, tutkulu bir sanatçıdan çok daha fazlasını anlatıyor. Sanat ve sanatçı nedir? Beceri mi yoksa teori mi? Okurken bunlar gibi pek çok soruyla karşılaşıyorsunuz. Son zamanlarda sanatla ilgilendiğim ve sanat tarihi ile ilgili okumalar yaptığım için çok büyük bir keyifle okudum. Her sanatseverin keyifle okuyacağını düşünüyorum. Balzac’ın Gizli Başyapıt’ı yazıldığı dönemden beri birçok sanatçıyı etkilemiştir. Hatta Picasso ve Cezanne bu eserden fazlasıyla sanatçılardan.
Merak edenlere kesinlikle öneririm, kitapla kalın🕊 -
A haunting story that I didn't quite understand but loved anyway. What is real? What is art? Which is more important, love or art? It seemed to be about the power of the act of art as even greater than the product. Is the old man's work a masterpiece or a disaster? Has he lost his mind in the pursuit of a beauty more real than reality, more perfect than is humanly possible to portray? This is certainly a story I will read again.
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In his essay 'The Death of the Author,' William Gass fires off a machine gun at Roland Barthes, and Balzac, thanks to Barthes's "S/Z", is taken out as collateral damage. "Balzac relishes [bourgeois] stereotypes and pat phrases and vulgar elegancies; his taste is that of the turtle which has found itself in a robust soup; he, too, would flatter the reader, the public, the world which receives him until it receives him well and warmly; and Roland Barthes, for all his fripperies like like on a sleeve, for all his textual pleasures... is no better, accepting a pseudoradical role as if it were the last one left in the basket... Balzac is more moral the way more money is more money; his is the ultimate hosanna of utility; however hard his eye, his look will land light."
I thought that was harsh, but really, this is pretty mediocre stuff, saved by the fact that it's fun to think about. These are two stories ("Gambara" is the second) about artists who fail in their art because they try to make the art too theoretically sound, too philosophically reflective, too didactic.
That is, these are two philosophically reflective, didactic stories about how artists who are philosophically reflective and didactic ultimately fail as artists. Really, Honore? Well yes, really, because *if he had noticed that his stories insist that these particular stories must be garbage, he would have broken his own rules.* The only way to write stories is unconsciously, with genius, which means no caring about things like internal intellectual consistency, form, or craft. So although the stories themselves are intellectually incoherent, they are *also* intellectually coherent.
This is the kind of paradox that you only get from people like Balzac, whose greatness is due entirely to his being willing to write constantly, whether he has anything to say or not. Balzac is a drudge. These two stories are about geniuses who, through an excess of drudgery, have betrayed their genius.
Perhaps, in these stories, an excess of genius led Balzac to betray the drudgery that makes him great.
So, fun to talk about, but pretty dull reading, especially when the artists start talking about their art. I'll take James' stories about artists any day. -
I am yet to discover a story that deals with artistic obsession so overtly and dramatically. The masterpiece at the center is a teasing device used by Balzac to play with the idea of perception, and to ultimately question the many interpretations of the "ideal" an artist aspires to. There is a lore that the house in Paris where this story is set was purchased by Picasso because he saw a parallel of himself in the central character. It is not unbelievable if you think about it. The old painter Frenhofer, takes 10 years to represent air in his painting. That he is either ridiculed or is taken for a misunderstood genius (however you like it) is another matter.
But I was so happy to read this book because Balzac made a beautiful observation about youth and its relation to art. Something anyone who has written or painted or made some art would feel at one point, but hardly think through the way it is done here:
"There is a first bloom in all human feelings, the result of a noble enthusiasm which fades till happiness is no more than a memory, glory a lie. Among such fragile sentiments, none so resembles love as a youthful passion of a artist first suffering that delicious torture which will be his destiny of glory and of woe, a passion brimming with boldness and fear, vague hopes and inevitable frustrations. The youth who, short of cash but long on talent, fails to tremble upon first encountering a master, must always lack at least one heartstring, some sensitivity in his brushstroke, a certain poetic expressiveness. There may be conceited boasters prematurely convinced that the future is theirs, but only fools believe them."
Both the stories in this collection (the other being "Gambara") are about dangerous obsessions that consume artists and how they affect the people around them, but they are more about the individual search for the sublime. There is no way to represent that search in a story. It can be the most consuming of fictions in theory but results in irony: how do you show a masterpiece in the making? Because that is not consumable in execution. A painter toiling over his painting all day long, for months, years, decades, is not drama. The same is with any art. So you zoom out a little, focus on people around the artist, have them talk about the art in the making, create myths about the artist, focus on how they are ultimately affected. What stake do they have? Is it a good gamble on their part? What if they end up wasting their lives for nothing? That introduces ethical questions in the mix, a possibility of conflict. Some drama at last!
That is what Balzac relies on to structure his tales, but what he seems to be saying is akin to an observation made in "Gambara": Too much knowledge, like too much ignorance, leads to negation. -
3,5 🌟
Una pequeña novela de Balzac que nos habla de la ansiedad del artista que busca hacer su obra maestra, una ansiedad que puede llevarle al bloqueo y al fracaso...
Nos presenta a un pintor ya entrado en años y de gran talento, Frenhofer, que lleva trabajando en una obra durante diez años sin considerarla lo suficientemente perfecta para darla por finalizada; cuando decide que ya está y la muestra a otros dos pintores (personajes estos basados en pintores reales) se encuentran con algo muy diferente a lo que esperaban.
Un tema interesante que da para reflexionar, centrada en el sacrificio del artista y su obsesión por conseguir algo perfecto, su obra maestra inalcanzable.
