e1el-o161 10a Pablo Picasso returns his "borrowed! Iberian stone heads to the Louvre Museum in Paris, from which they had been stolen: he transforms his primitivist style and with Georges Braque begins to develop Analytical Cubism. Allie employed him a secretary, the young asc (Gery Beet woud rusty ask Apolnare’s artist and wrter-riems if they would ike anything fom the Louvre. Tey sumed of our, that he meant the Lowe Deparment Store Te fact he meant he Louvee Museum, from which he ad ake o stealing atous items displayed in uoderisitedglleris. Teas om his etu rom one of hese plfering rps that iret feed two arctic Heian sone heads to Pass, who had dis avered this ype of elt n 1906 in Spin and ad sed for “shisportatof the American witerGerae Stein Sabstiting tbe prismatic physiognomy of ts carving—the heavy ied, staring ‘yesithe continuo plan tht rans the forecad int he ridge at the noe the parle rides that form Une nouth—for the ster face, Peso wa convinced that thisimpasivemask as"tue” Stein’ likeness than any faihfilnss to her acta atures cou be He wa thas ol too happy to scquire thee talsmanic objets nd "Pieetsheads went onto serveas thes forthe features af she thre let-hand nudsin Les Demis Avignon tin 1911 whan Piet astouay popped bak up in he ves ‘often Apolnaie and Peso, primitive had bee ef bin in the ass development of Cubs, an has the heads ad ong since nied from he pictorl concen fot rom the back otis ‘pou, Plas’ iden problem was tat atthe end of August 191 Pista taken ists Lave “acquis” tothe fics of Pirislounalseingtenewspaprhistoryabouthow ewyitwasto Fich rr the mseu,Sinethe Loved just suffered; one week, eave, the thf ofits mt psi objet Leonardo's Mona Lis tnd ane was being up by the Pais police, Aplinaite pan {ek sere ics andthe tof thm handed ies’ hein heads over tothe newspaper tich, plshngthistoraewnts. swell Jheauthortis tooth poet and alter They weraken i {oe qcstoning, pliste being hel longer than Pi, bat sweeventaly released without hare B ing 1907, the year in whch the poetic Guioume “Therrise of analysis The atti distance tht separated Pics fn at 1911 from the rimtvsn for hich the ends had served him caer was enor mous, The Iberian heads nd Afcan masks that ics ad we {modes i 1907 and 1908 had been a means of "stortion,” to ausethe term ofarthistoran Cal Enstsn sehen, 1929, etre to understand the development of Cubism. Bt this"simplisic™ dis tortion, Einstein wrote, gave way "to a petod of analysis and fragmentation ant fall 10 period of sythess tls the word applic to the shattering ofthe suraces of objets fn their amalgamation to the space around ther when Daniel ene Kahne, Piss’ desler during Cobisms development, sat down trite the most sens cl account of he movement, The Rise of Cubism (1920). And 30 the tem analytical got appended to Cubist, and Analticl Cabin” became the rubric Under hich eo contemplate the tranormation Picasso and ‘Georges Braque had achieve in 1911 Fry that tne, they had sept aay the unfedpeespacive of centres of maturaitic psig nd a invented instead a pictorial angoge that would IMaslate clfocups and win ote, faces and torsos gutarsand seta tables into so many tiny, igh ited plans. “To lok at any work fom this “anal” phase of Cubism, Picasso's Dui! Hey Kahne of 1910 I fo stance, ot Brague’s The Pogue (Te Emigrant) fom 1911-12 2h ist Anal as serve several consistent characteristics. Fs, hee strange omtaction ofthe painters plete, rom she fl clor spectrum to an absemious monochrome—raque's picture i all ochers and umber like septtoned photographs Paso, manly ester and silver with ew hts of copper. Second thee fan xine fattening ofthe sual space as though a eller ha pressed al the wom out of the Bodies, bursting thei contours fen inthe process ott what ile surrounding space remains Could ow forest insde their rode boundaries. Tie there {ste val vxabulry used to describe the physical remains of this explosive proces Thi given prolvity fr the geometrical, supports the “cabi” appellation, Te consis, on the oe hand, of shallow Planes et moe es parle othe pete src, thei sight flea matier of the pcs of ight and shade that Hicker oer the tent fel darkening one edgeata given pane oly luminate {he other but not doing this in any way consistent wih a singe light source On the other, it estblishes a near network Hat scones the entre surface witha interment grid at eetain Point idetiiable af the edges of described objes—Kahn- ‘eler jacket lapels isle fr estunce or thePortuguese Sher'seereortheasckofhipitarat others, the eds planes thet ctl, oom marl tobe strato the ace sad at ‘siloters.avertal or horiznntalteac that attaches te sabingat AlN bt continues the grid’ repetiie network Final, these are the sal race-noes of naturalistic deals, suh ast singe are cof Kahnvelle’s mustache or the double one of his wah—Stéphane Malsmé Bat what Apolinaite was signaling was thatthe bac cade that Sybalim—and Malad inprticular—had tied to erect between newspaper journal and poetry had now broken ‘pen, Onc had onl to lok at Zone” tse this. "The handbils, ‘aalogs, posters that sing out loud and lear” proclaims, "that’s the mornings pote, and for prose there ate the newspapers tabloids ard with police reports” ‘Nevspapes which Zone” celebrated as source fo iterate, proved the torning-point for Cabs as well, patcuty cas’ absinthe all of 1912, he transformed Analytical Cubism int the new medium of collage. Wola terly means“ uing Pensa, ofcourse, already hegunthisproessarier inthe year «ith is Sul Life with Chair Canin, an Anaya Cli pioting ‘nto which hehad gluta swathe of mechaicly printed llth, But the mere attachment of foreign mater to ap unchanged sa pctocialconception—as inthe case ofthe Furr puter Gino Severin who in 1972, xs rel eqns onto his enetic dpi tion of dancers—was ute dnc from the ath Cubism was te fle ones rage inode 1 and Pies tok up the integration of rately age sale paper shapes onto the surfaces of Calis deaigs, With ths develpment—clled pie athe etre rab lary of Cubism suddenly changed. Gane were the ite canted Planes wth fractured putches of modeling sometimes attache a thai comers sometimes dean freely or grivitating toward 3 section ofthe pict’ gridded sure In thir place now were papesof various shapes and descriptions: wallpapers. newspapers, tot abel musa sors, even bits ofthe ats’ od discarded drawings: Overlaying each the the way papers would on a dsk for wrk able, these sheets gn themseles with the fontality of the supporting suas and bey sigaling the surfaces rota onion they alu dare ito be papershin, only asdeep asthe Alstanc from the opost set othe ones below Visually, howevee the operations of papier cll work against this simple Iris, as when, for instance, several papers ombine to force the background sheet to ead ashe fronamost ‘emt by defining it—aganet he ran ofits material position — ts the surface ofthe leading objet om the stl life's table, wine Tote, perhaps of mus insriment (2 The visual ply of such a igue-ground reves” had also been staple of much ‘tA Cubism, But collage aow went yond his ato the Aecration of «rupture eth what could Be called-—sing the Semialogicl ter or these" ‘Visual representation a lays presumed that its domain was the icon in the ens ofthe image's possessing some eel of revembance tothe thing it pores. A mater of “Tooking like,” Tesemblancecoull sursve many eves of sization ad remain inact ya coerent system of presentation: that square attached to that inverted tinge joined to those zag shapes producing Say the visual Mente of ead, toro and es. What seemed 0 Ine nothing todo wth he conic was the domain the semiologits call “symbol” by which they mean the wholly axbiuary signs Ceca in no way reembling the referent) that make up, fOr ‘example, language: the words so and ca Beating no vise or udibleconnection tothe meanings they repeesentor tothe objets tovhich those meanings eter wos by aopting jst hibit form ofthe “ymbolc™ hat cas’ alae dared its break wt a whole stem of repe= sentation based on Tooknglie” Theclezest example bring this aout by deploying wa newspaper shapes sn such away 38 kelate that they wer at jgatepuzae Fao, tom a single orignal shes 24 One of thes fragment sits within a passage of ‘harcol drawing to eablsh the sai ace of iki the pape’ lines of pe Faetoning sa stand-in fo the grained wood ofthe instrament The other, however, gravitating to the upper right of the collage declares eel mot the cootnustion of stn” bat, ingead, the contractor apposite since thi agmatine of ‘ype on appear to asim the kindof broken or cabled color through which punters have traditionally nase igh-ed stmosphere, thereby organizing the newsprint pice a2 sgn for ckgrouna?” in retin othe violin’ “gue 4-Using what seminlgists would cal "paradign’'—a binary ‘opposition through which cach half ofthe pai gains its meaning by mosigying the oter—thecollage'smaniplaion a this pair ecares that what any element ithe work wll ean wil be tottly function fase of tive contrasts rather han the pos itive identcation of looking like” Fr even ithe tao elements an literal cut from the same doth, the oppstional stem into tric hey are noe bound contrasts the meaning of ome—opagu, font objective—with hat ofthe ather—eansparet amino, morpho Paso collage thus makes the dents the work funtion acsording wo the sractual-lnguisic deiiton of the sign ie as "relative, oppoiive, and negative.” i doing 50, Callge aces aot ont ive taken on the visu aitar com lon oftingutic signs bt als to be participating in or acon sing the Rasin- born gust Ronin akabso, even niin) revolution in Western representation that goes beyond the visual toctend tothe ieray. amp hat into the pita economy Off the gold standara Forifthesmeaning fe aba sign seabed by convention rather than what might sem the natura wath of "ooking like,” it can. inten be likened to the token money of modern Banking systems, the vl of which ie function of aw aber than ois eal” worth asa gen mcasre of god or ser ofa not’ redemabl elton to prssous metal tera scholars have thas setup paral between naturalism as an aesthetic colton and ‘he gold standard stan economic system in which monetary signs Tie iterary ones were anderstond to be teaneparen othe eaiy that undererote them Tee psn ofp sto ppt he ear norte modernist deparcure fom the gold standard and its option of token” sgns—aritrary in therscves and ths converte to any value set by signifying mates ost of aws—no one tts this brsk with linguistic naturalism as radically or a ears did Stephane Mallarmé, within whee poetry and pose the Hinguistic orsi-orste1st-o16t sign was tected assy polpemi” productive of multiple andften opposed meanings Tas 0 tay with the term gold Male wsed i nt oly to cele the phenomenon ofthe metal and its ted concepts of dhe o fine bat lo to take mong th fr hat the word in French for gold (or) is ident 6 the conjunction teased “now's ts thus prodactv of the kind of emporat ‘ot log decton of te fw of guage thatthe poet went ont leit ot ju tthe evel of meaning (hatte sige bul ‘tht ofthe materi support forthe sgn the signfr)-Thas inthe Poort “Or” this element appar everywhere bah sanding fa ered within lrger igs, ignir tit sometimes folds ver onto i Sgnfist—"n6oe"—bat more fn one that does rota” “Fntnagniqus” “hewn” nj” “hos — secming thereby wo demonstrate hat it isthe very uncontrollably ‘ofthe physical spre fo that makes ita sir truly cut ie of ‘held sandsrd of events most shiing signed “Thereof couse 3 para i using this example within the Tanger account of moderity—ncuding har of Picsos alge — somthing else by the arbitrariness ofthe token-money eanomy- For Mallariné deploys the very maker of what token ‘money stout oreplsce, nal (outmoded) gold to eelebrae the fre circulating meaning othe new ste, Yet the vale he om tines to accord to gol is ot that ofthe ld auras bt rather that of the sensuous material of poe language in which nothing Ss transparent o meaning without pssng through the camalty ofthe signer’ es its sul outn, is mise: gl = sound: fr = sonore, This was the postic gol hat Mllamé explcily contrasted wth what he elle the mandi, orempry eas ae fewer jcnali insehich, i his eyes, lnguage had reached ts 20 point of Benga mere nsrument oF eperting Prospecting on the fringes ‘The interpretation of Picao's collage i, within ar-historial scholarship, ateground in which various parts of he orepong Aiscusion ae pit aginst one another Forontheonchandthere isthe bond between Piso and Apllinize, the pant’ great friend and most acne apologist which would support hemo of Peaso's having a make ew” (a, a Aponire called ia ‘spit nouveau tite toward jouralse and the newspaper— sos as ere, hering "he mornings poste” in Mallarme's face. Emphasizing Apolinar' evsttion a what was moder, both inthesenueo whats mos ephemeral and what was mostat ‘os with waitonlfcns of experienc, this position wou aly Prcaso's we of newsprint an her cheap paper with 2 willl aftackon the fineartsmedir of pining and its defor both permanence snd compositional wy. The highly unstable con thon of nevoprine condemns collge fom the outset tthe transitory while the procedures for ying ott paning, and ing aes cole rseme commercial design states more han they dothe prtoclsothe ine arts “his postion woulda see Pica like Apolinaie 35 being aught up ina ive to find aesthetic experience at che margins what ws socal regulate, since twas oly om that place thatthe advanced ast cou construct an image af feedom, [As the art historian ‘Thomas Cre has argued, this dive has ‘constr ed the avant-garde toward “Tow” forms of enertin= ‘ment and untegimented spaces (or Heat de Toulouse-Lautree [1864-1901] hishadboen height sone nightclub fr Peas, it was the working man's cafe, eventhough, ironically, such Prospecting Is aways ended by opening up seh spaces for further sciaization and commodification by the ery forces the vanced ants sought tn scape Teieic arguments post Pcsso'sembrace ofboth the“low"” and. the madera” alse of the newspaper, tere ate also those om ‘mentaors who pcre his reasons For exploiting hs material as primarily pot isso, they c the colamas of newsprint that weean read heats seletd, many of which nthe al Of 1912eportdon the wa then aging he Balkans Tiss tr, ‘ofcourse ler othe headines—an cay collage presents ‘sith "Un Coup de Th dr, La Bai, La Seri, Le Mom ga sigrent)” (A Turn of Events, Bulgari, Sebia Montenegro Sign"I-bat als in the sal eye where batdtld reports are troupe around café table that faces accounts of soil antinar Fal in Pars an giving what he ses as Pcas's easons for 161-01616161-016 ‘his art historian Patrica Lighten has argued, avousy, that eis binging the veadevewer nto contact with a polity charge realty inthe Ballons tht Be is presenting the reaersewee vith the kind of ete dicssan tit would be gong on in 2 Parisian café where workers, unable o afford a newspaper sub scription, woul go fr tei ly news agin, that Piso is taking apart the managed cacophony ofthe newspuper—ith its ‘up news as 90 many Sjinted entra sndisung cole a means of “ountedicoure that ts have the power to rerrangetheseparsterorisintoa coherent scout of aitals manipulation othesocia ie With these propositions we have come progressively further ny fom the en of olage a performing rupture wih an older Datura, "conc" system of representation. For whether we imagine Paso deploying newspaper reports to pura aravay realy, or using them to depct people conversing in 3 café oF raking them into a coherent desloge pictre where previously there ad been nothinghutconfison, we sil think of visual igs asconnesing rect tothe things inthe word they ate supposed to be depicting. Piaso's only innovation woul be, tea, 0 replace his putas with spssh-alloons for their arguments as he eats them with perfst representational decorum around a ‘more or les conventionally drawn café table, We have, that i tnexample ofthe polity commited aris (hough Pcas's politics during this period are themselves open to pute, but we have lost Piss athe attic innovator athe eve ofimportance {0 the whole history of representation eth whom we were enga- Inga the outset. “Apoltinaire, even. the Apolinsire who seemed to respond 10 cass collie by inventing his ow Tason of the verbal and the vial in the aligrnnahe began to fthon in 1914. For const Taig writen signs int graphic images he cllramnesbecome doubly iconic”: the ees forming the graphic shape of pocket watch, for example, merely enforce atthe eve ofthe visual what they expesin textual for I's ve to noo a it” And they theteby take on the graphic excitement of advertisements ot produc logos, the calgon nonetheless betey whats most ada in lcs’ challenge to representation: hi refs ofthe tunambiguoas “icon” in fvor of he ends tational play of ‘he srmbol” ‘Uke Mallarmés mutational play, where nothing i evr ust one ‘hing when sgiiers divide, doubling “soror”(isorher gold) ‘wth "ow oe” (he sound “or” and y implication the smi of Posy Pies’ sgn mutate vs by folding over onto ane snoher to prodac the oppositions pr ofthe paradigm. Asin the ‘a Voie apparent in the Boe of Vw More, Gas and [Newspaper 6h where a toque shape, cut om a sheet of wal pape, eas nanny hy articlting bot he po the wine {Gas and ite liquid contents, while below, the upide down shove let by the toques excision fom the shet eit the pai of the stem and bse of the abot declaring ise gre {ao mater hove ghost) agaist the vallpaper’stbleoth ground The paral is peso exresd, nthe sigitiers—identiclin shape produce eachother’ meaning. thse opposition in space [rights upfupside down) echoing ie seman reves Tithe pay of ual mea inthe collages ths tation the textual play mobilized by Picasso neweprit ie ao cat free fom the fsity of any one “speaker” to whose voice, oF opinion, or Melogcal postion we might atibute it Forno soon da we die that Picasso hota item rom the financial pages to denounce the exploitation ofthe worker and thereby to speak through the means of this clipping, than we have toremember tat Apolinat, rom his perch a write or a al Fraudulent financial magazine, wat fous for banding out sro advice about the stock matket and thatthe voice the lg plants ere ould jst asus bei Peas ha indeed, let Mallarmé himself speak fom the surfaces of various ofthese collages, a when “AW Bon Marche” Ahoubles a voice lke Fernand Olive’ (Piass's exits) Speaking of white ses and trousiesn-vith the various Yost that Mallee usd ae pena in is egatfashion magazine La Derite Mods when the eadine Ue coup de sounds thet f Mllrm’s mos rac pom: "Un coup dedés” ‘Mach has buen rae of Pcso's recount the modes of dis tortionandsimpliation ofeed by Afican tribal a. Kabler : t } ‘ insted, however, that it asa patcuar maskin Passos ale: on tha "opened these painters eyes” This task fom the fry Comat ibe cil Grebo a cllection of “paradigms Pcaso's oon vente into contracted scalp shows the fit olthe Grebo example, Madeof sheet metal tea. adie, ssh Guar of 19126] etalishe the insument she thro 2 indole pj, mich Tike the ees ofthe Grabo mask Each plane hoves gains the cel pane se igureoginst round, aform of paradim eich the adie Vion hal 0 rian explored, The ei ole to fell he lesion ofthe Grebo mask is Gitar, Shee Muse, and {Gass in which ach collage pice reads as hovering against the single plane of metal fom which che fat sheet ofthe background, the Back czesceat othe guita’'s Fowet edge doubling a it shadow easton the supporting able ‘is sour-hole seeming to project a solid tbe it font ofthe instrument's body Ey s16t-a1st1913 ober! Delaunay extibils his Windows" paintings in Bettn of abstraction are elaborated across Europe. franne broke the fruit dis (1395-1941) nce remarked, a tote Dey Gc inde sh stro tions, methods nd modes, Some atts deepened the painterly spect of Impression, others, the expressive dimension of «Postmpresionism; til others, the nea design of At Nouve, “The fragmented “rut ih” of Cezanne and Picasso was nue tal to many painters onthe verge of nonrepresentatinal ae the broad color fs of Matse were inspirational to other sd the bod gent forms of African sculpture alto served a+ tant provocation, somtimes replaced or supplemented ty ft at (an, in Russa, byeligous kon). hn 19 sh reedent ad provoations converged allow the recognition of byraton)as awl, even a necessity, is en ight. Since abrir to the ars of several cules, thee is ‘no question of single origin or at bstrcton: inthis sense Ateteastion was found as mich etwas invented na anious anecdote Wasly Kandinsky told how, when he returned one ight to hi sto sm Marna, Germany the dated the event 1910), ef oeesognive one of hi pantngs upside the dim light—only t dicover the expresive potential of abstract forms trough hi experience there was no one parent of absaton,dhve were seer mhives in pric the Frenchman Delaunay the Rusia Sons Teck (1885-1979 she married Delany n 1910), the Dtchman 1 Pe Monsra, and the Russians Kandinsky and Karimi Malevich 1478-1935). The thee areofen gen pride of place asthe most commited, but other cay abtactonist include the Cash Franti Kupla (1871-1857), the Penchman Fernand Léger 151-1955), the Rasim Rayos Mikal Larionov (1881-1964) nd Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962), ‘Wynuham Levis thea Pts Gico tii the Gert Svs Paul Klee (1879-1940), the Asian Han ‘Asp (188-1966), the Swiss Sophie Taeuber (1889-194; she mace Arp in 1921) the American Sychromiss Morgan Resell (1886-1959) and Stanton Macdonald Wright (1890-173), and sill thers ike the American thu Dove (1880-1946), wo aed the intial problems and paradigms his nearabsratons “enractons.” This lt makes 40 pots ‘obvious a once: abstraction ws international, and may of is innovators were not formed in aant garde Pris Why would this beso Although Matise and Paso opened the way to abstraction, they were ow investa inthe world febjets— more precisely inthe ial ply of gues and signs that this world afforded—0 center into abstraction fly On the othe nd, Kandy, Male Mond. Kl is snd Kula were formed ia cates Rusia, Dut, German, Cech) whose metaphysical imperatives andlor ‘Konocsicimpules might have made sburacton ex alin Tn this respect Rast wis pecially important a tube for abstraction. There were inporast collions of avant gude Painting (the Shehukin Collection alone boasted tiry-Seven + Matisses and forty Pass), vigorous exhibitions of interntinal ut ot only in St.Petersburg and Moscow bat in provincial ter oad range of group age to assimilate the ssons of Sym tris, Fauvism, Futian Cabin, aswel as to laborate on folk art children's drawing and madieal cons (an exhibition of ‘nee song in Laviono, tho was draw to the poplar wood ‘ving known ub and Goncharov whose ery pining peasant Me als elect the simple forms and strong outlines Of pestnt carving and enamel. Lavonoy and CGonchacoea were very active i exibition king too ("Knave ‘of Diamonds" in 1910 an “The Bony’ Tail in 1912 were the bre smost important) and inspired by Cubist and Furst orks they moved away fom primi experiments toward form of abtracion muked by feared fines and luminous colons—a Sip that Laronor dubbed Rayon fr the manner wich the surface of the pining seems to be atuck by maple ay flight hat ros expt and somtimes dole there, The struct ‘of thse paintings owes much to Cubism, but the dynamism is Futur (ae the ehtorie hat supported ther), and his comb tion of Cubist fring and Futurist movement resulted in Paintings that are among the estat abstractions anywhere Oni afew such works were made, however, before Larionov ad chaova led the war for Paris whee they were often commis sone o design ets and costumes forthe Blt Ruse pode ‘by Sergei Dighle vem as ation moved ay fom 4 mimetic ation the wrk it id not exes embrace the arbiter” ate of he sal ign as exponen Cubist collage nd consrucion Abszact sists might have declined co depict worldly thing. but they van amie in evoke tamcendental concep—auch a “eeling pit" oF "puritan inthis way the grounding, one for of ator, with another. (insoch nflsetal cerning the pial in Ar” (191), Karinsky called this new authority “internal ase” aid other ame up with mila oinages) Soc insistence on ranscndental uth betrays fn ansiety that abstraction might be arbitrary in to atonal senses Fi itary the ene of sain 3 BL etre in (Cologne Kandinsky cautioned tht ornamenta” abstraction might impede rather than produce the egusite transcendental elect of ar Ar secondarbitayinthesens of matings: aed withthe ‘hare actual or anticipated, tht abstraction had no rang a all, mipensited with tendents css of velar for is proponents on over avolute mesnings—vanscendenal for Kaneinsky, «+ Malevich topian fr Mondrian, and so on, When ro defined in sac grande terms, abstraction was oflen Famed negatively — pint act based in mimes which was regards acadeic ais sign intended decoration which waseeard a2 Tow or api orn). Bat many esepions quali thi tle. For carl, how re we to categorize he gris of Soph Taeuber (3h, ‘shoots hse hese works (hich predate heist modu ahsractons by Monran on the qussspontanous rangement sof olga squats of Hans Arp? For hie pet Arp elle them pebably the Bist examples of concrete at,” a once “pare and independent” and "lementaryandspontancous” Arete high ar? Tow? Transcendental in ambition? Decorative? Programmatic? ANeatory? Thee works complicit sich hierchclopposons almost before they were in place Definitions and debates Standard defini ‘The Orfo! Engl Dictionary eller “separated om sate, fv the ids f abstraction a ization, and “theoreti” forthe acces and "det. femoxe," and “disengage” forthe verb. Appropate for some ats who evkil del states through disengagement fromthe orl, these mesning did not uit others who privileged the opp ste ttms—the materi of paint on canas ote vines of sltarian designs, This tension between ieaist ad materi imperatives runs throughout moderns abstraction and it snot solved rl terms sucha “nonobjectve” 6p.” Abt ‘Gon appraiches the nonobective by defnonson te ober and, many arts sought concre” anda "real aban objet in the word Indeed, ay Léger ljectiviy” above all—to make an at af Malevich and Monin al dear abtrsction the most reali of mos for this ery Feason So, 10, bs ‘soften promoted as “pur,” the Bil refinemen ofa he other hand, parity rolustion othe consent sates of misium, the stuf of Paint an canes, which are dificult to ae a pure. In the end these tensions are itera to abstraction, which i best defined as category that manages sch coneaictions-—hols thers ‘sspenson, or pusthem into desta ply. The maleriidealist opposition governed discourses around abstraction swell Some atts were guide by Platonic, Hegelian, spiritult philosophies, For instance, Malevich, Kandinsy, Mondrian, and Kup were al influenced by Theosophy, which hel (among other Bl) that man cold rom physical opi tual tats in a series of tages tht could be evo by geometric rms in Brinton (191), Mondrian imaged the geomet sub mation of female figure inhi way erp paradoxical, some tis ao ok to suppor the deat version of ‘Shatastion. "Why shuld weconins follow nature” Mondrian Ske stound 1919, “when many other fields have left nature Thin?” kn this egal non-Eucieangeomctry intrested otis 5 vere Mleich nel Marcel Dacha forts nonperspctia conception of space al its analogies were made to other arts, epecially musi“Alla the Eas aesthetician Water Pate Famous remark sar Kandinsy, 10 te-Romanie and modern emusic, especialy Richard Wagner and Arnold Schoenberg. Inod, Kandy pat tered the citegris of his eal abstrastions—"Improvstions, mpesions”"Compositions—on ms, hich lo infianced his emphasis on color tone, near rythm, “thorough-bas (a noton derived fom Goethe), rst often he ehibited publicly ugh it was ispized in apthing ftheplanets aswel the celestial (oi had also informed hs previous Diss of Newton panting ‘+ Forhisprt Mondvanadordjan-hefounditssmcopted hth 6161-016 the oly mode adequate tothe becoming Inaworld uansigueedby new modes fof commodity praduton, public transportation, and image on. The poet to cape the increased mobility of products, people, rt images inthe modern ctr wasn ty ‘Futurity it also provokod atts such as Leger toa paradoxical typeof realist absteaction. In is Comat of syrblods of an and mechani ons we se a tracted 8 the geomet specications ofthe canvas. Indeed by the en of the decade Leger would conceive pining, in analogy with the machine, as device of interrelated parts Yet already in 1913 he refer the abst his pining aswel athe separation ofall modernist ats, oa apts dsion of hbor—a moder onion that he sought to makes modernist vine : objects the (Consett) organization Frecaaes ieee eal Detnunsy in wooksuch as Fores sian suave Simala- ments the Russian Liboy Popova (1889-1924 rote in 91922 ovement neo Windows onthe Ci 8. If Mondsian expt thrid ina suo aot, ifthis developmen were sea caehis, ‘+ Cab waste ft 1 his ptadox ofa ar that ay tht exceeded the aed plnes of Cb, Delany inten Inst instances one element of appeats both absact an eerie he crac fr fedeolorinamanner that wasalen ois rte pate Meanwhile, even turned into a medium of mea aspectofCabiss he lat shapes privileging of verte and horizontals in M ros abtrac ait, Yet "Cub didnot cp he lagi conse cater artis push the" mtha1ei- ou ight in Delaunay, of monochrome geometries in Malevich. Soon ee elements were fined farts na two relatively able pra signe of abstract paining: the grid and the mo test eaten they became fed ecausethe rid worked to undo the Zn ra it wasthe genius of Mondrian explore these possi ites: and the monochrome wocke 19 aa the two dominant paradigms of Westen paiting since the Renasance: the window and the mitror (i was the hubris of Malevich to announce the end thse old rds) [in 19134 they advance toward the grid andthe monochrome respectively, Delaunay and Malevich provide an instructive ow trast Delaunay mos sclld at models extrinsic 1 pining never speskof mathematics and aver othe with psi’ "lam horrid by misc and noite” Cos alone he rad with" pictorial eater” to coor to carry all aspects of plating “colo ves depth (not perspective, nonsequssi ut simultaneous) and Tothisend, Delaunay declped "thew of simultaneous cones” which French ants from Delacroix ‘Seurat had adapted rom a 1839 teatie By the chemist Michel gine Cherreuh into his own nation af simultane. Besides color cote, thissimlaniy” pertains othe immediacy of Pictorial image to retinal image, indeed to the transcendental Simultanity ofthe visu ars oppose to the mundane tempo tality of the verbal arts (tis opposition is persistent one in ‘modem esthetics fom the Geran Enlightenment pilosopher ‘Gotha Ephraim Lessing [1729-1] t he ate modern critcs ‘Clement Greenberg and Michael Fried) In some ofthese interes Delaunay was joined by Morgan Resell an Stanton Macdonald Wright who wee also active in Pass in thse years. They t treated light in teas of prismatic color, though they allowed fe xo eis they ako purus esi analogies for shstraction that Delnay tend to diss [Delay nade is breakthrough in is “Windows” series. some twenty-three pings nd drasings executed in 1912, hie of which were shove to gett in Bertin in Fay 1913 (he had + previously exhibited withthe Blue Retr in Munich), Ta coincide mith the show, Klee trandated text y Delaunay tied "Light that rset sere of equations among oer Hiht, ee bain and ‘oul nis aesthetic th punting isthe "window" ofal thee "ans prences"—a meds abcd ino immedi, dwaved ito nha it mediates inthis way Delaunay ary eet the old pr. Aig of punting -indow: on the cootary, be puri th rely of ison is delivered in the abstraction of painting. Consider Simro Windows onthe Cit which set the compositional ype for theses, Th Ei Tower, thecental moiofhisentre neue ismow vestigial is geen ace caught up in a lay of opaque and teanparent coer planes pushed beyond Cubist faceting toward 2 post-Cobis ri hi inthe nos Impresionst ishio of Surat, ‘Delaunay extended tthe ame). The windows are thus eee, Pictorial and objesive alla ances they reconcile the “subie objeto ars with these struct” of aiming the s poc-rtc Guillaume Apolaies, great Delaunay supporter. once ‘emake, Denunay rendered the median opague, onto make it dapper again inthe inert of ansparet imma In eect, Simalaous Windows onthe Cy are windows without curtis, los jes without Is color a ight i ner binding here The et step wat to do say altogether with the windows in ode 0 resent the puting in ect analogy with the tins, Tis i what Delaunay din Di (6 the purest of abseactions at this ime, circular ping of seven concentric and of void cols divide noua withthe moe inens primaries sn complerentres loser tothe center. hough somtimes dkmied asa mere ‘lemonstationecolor then sor chart fct—Dik contains rescues for abotaton (ater nonefetalty and optialiy, structured cans an compotion) that would ne be develope ful for another ify ysrsor more The year 1913 was also asi ‘ant one for Sonia Tesk Delaunay, who already activ in design primarily books and embroiery),ilstated Te Pro of te Tharsieron an of he Lite Jane of rane by te avant gade post Bie Cenrars (7) Published om a ingle shet of paper two totes long folded ito twee pane, this objec-book combined vate abstraction and ypogrphy (esac text wassetinten typefaces and road map winched) in oder o evoke the prismatic dmsltaney of modern ie, Of exhibit dhe Terk may have a ep the book cover st widely influential affected German mevderiss anos as mucha er husband di), tnd ite sucess encouraged he wo apply the same "simulans ys of ct oles o oer designs—elohes,sosters een eleticlanps devise to dite ightinto aor on Parte Malevich tok diferent course: not to pif pining window but pain om. He refered heist total abstraction ‘Blak yuar915), to sketch fora backdrop tht hedged or 2 Four ops, Vicor 0 sito Symbols ae "eo, cept concept of the eau su,” is the Sin (1913) a ope oppo Composer VN. Matxshin once sed) 8 well ao atualt theater He in.» propetin! be ive diagonally int 3 lak ingle above an whe i below in oder to evoke the “victory over the sun” the ecu of light by dark, perhaps the overcoming of empire son and per spestal pace transcendental vision and moder infinity (8) In thieshtch the eountdown to hie private tbl tgs mth ther sie of hie of form the supremacy of pure elngin tstve ae? hence ister for hivabstractamls, Suprema, hus Deunay ane Malechappearto be oposed-the fis po clams the transparency ofthe window clo light the econ thevicory ve the sm inthe triumph ofthe back squae ot both6161-0161 _chigh press of pure vison and hisrendesthem oppositsthat tong together, Even ax Delay stomizes the mot ia his olor ws gh, while Malevich darkens it through his lps ofthe son, both cancel one elton tort ony to afm another, higher relation, an inthis tansormation they ar joined bothers sac ‘+ Kannsy snd Mondrian fr whom abstaction sth apotheo {6 of the rsh, not ts downill Thy may ender the medium ‘pasa, sePevidenty materi x anrss apd paint but they dos inondert render igtansparent agin to feng spit, x purity, Al of which those abstactions ate asked to sig at one time canother. Intheend abstraction fa parol mode that spends such ‘opostions-between spirits effect and. decorative design, ‘between material sufie and ideal windows beaween singular work andere septton (ett eternal referents absta: paintings tendo be read nternlly ners fone another nse and they ste offen designated inthis manner too: "Uo # 12.3 “The mateialstealst contradiction might be the most profound fl pinting ea plane covered with pia, the mdium dislsed initsemprkal materi, vers panting asa map of wanscen dental order, 2 window to a word of spin. For the French _plosoper Mice! Foucul, however, thi rlton es cone Airy than complementary: modern thought, he argues often ‘comprehend both kins of nvetgtions empire and tan Seendentl and bth kinds of dispositions, matrist and ideas. onetheles this tensioniseperincalasa contraction not only inmoderiat but alo in modern cutest large, and tsuggets ne reson why this elute has privleged ais who, hike Mom tian, are able hold onto bath pes once whofe aesthetic ‘eslution to this apparentcontadiction, 1914 Viadimir Tatlin develops his conatructions and Marcol Duchamp proposes hie readymades, the first as a transformation of Cubism, the second as a break with it; in doing so, they offer complementary critiques of the traditional mediums of art. poset tne ie, 90h mca ws dpe new orotate Ikan ommesta pects Te dope ere ‘omodema bth ea ie eal ey tree os ence aoa Stic tet Dahon ra he comedy ‘Shetty om hs gen Meher yh concn ad em Danny. peel bm een wh Cab pining Ne evens N= i oe on es tapos espn 9 host ‘lt The sm scat ty ere spe Duchamp Tai we ogo nile wo in prcnaton de by Cae ond cba {Seo ch two ats neigh Prevodi ean ra cal nts invented the avant-garde movements” dae Geran ri Peter161-0161 singer wets in Theory ofthe Avan Garde (197). “Buti only became recognizable after the avant-garde movements had ee ined the autonomy stats of ti developed bourgeois ce ‘Once valued a the sign of aif, cording to Barger, this autonomy had become the mark of ts soci netfee” snd this in tur prompted “the self-riqae ofa” advanced par ‘ignatcalyby Duchamp and atin ‘The materia dictates the form Tatlin was born inthe Ukrainian ty f Kharkov toa poet-modher and an enginer-fater who was a exert on Amescin toads. Although active inthe Cubo-Faturs stat garde 1907, Takin rere sonetine slr si’ scapenter) unl 914-15, “Those fic re more han anecdotal parental poles af poets and engnering, and directed by is een sens ofcrated teria, His 1914 sojourn she probably sie such Pcaso conseuctions a5 G work was crete by the Paria pphanic— —sithough he was aready sequined wi Cubism Shchukin Calton in Moscow tings The Silo ASE Pont 191-12) which showssome onthe get This evident fom sich ery ‘qu Cult fcting Yet his ft monumental igre are psa Pictures than contemporry Cubist onee—not ony the Folklore Woodpins that wee populs in hi Cubo-Fuurst milieu but abo ‘eligius fons whose muted plete of elo, it appction of Paint an sheer materiality appealed to Tallin. eur and rie Vlainie Markov sugges why as ara 914 "et ws remember icons they are elisa wih metal alos, mal asings the Shoulders rings and inerstations the punting its is decorated wih presous stones and met te Al thisdestoy pray conception of pining” In this mort rereading ofthe Ines icons very matey allows any liso ofthe eat trod a instead conduct the people to ben, 9 region, to CG In his consrutons Tatlin reves the thrust ofthis nt Alusonism in order to det the vewer not to a transcendental sl of God bu to an iimanent ray of mates net he tut the Rasa fon as Piso faded the Aan mask: as “ies” t his own anata development of modernist pce ents asa gid toanat His ist known elie The Cui tl swith iflerent materials we o signify diferent jst (eg ls for bot) Set within a ame, i til more longer governed by semblance Bate (1913, aw lst) eins Pictorial composkion than material construction, though his basi reese of wor, tl, and gsi place. In Seaton of Moria ro, Sn, Glas, Aspal, Tain is lead om the threshold of Constructivism, The rae enn, bt the materials ‘rena longer composed pictorial. Anion angle projects into Sue in contrast witha wooden ro st tan angle ithe st Surface below and above ae two further jastpostions of curved neal nc gs. Selo hath character of demonstration itt ists materi, then allows inwinsc properties to sogest appropri forms. "The mater dies the fans nd not the siti Niko Tarabukin wrote in 31916 definition of "Wood, rt gas, For Tatlin, machined wood ws Constructivists Basson sac works impose dierent constrictions square snd plana, and so sugusted recliner forms metal could be ut and bent, and so sugested curvilinear someere in betwcen, with 3 transparency that might also ‘mali between interior and exterior sefices. How dite this materials fom the ambiguity of Cubist constructions! Fat from the esthetic that teed ao tbe a ethics and afer the Rasian Revolution, pls eve Yer ths was not mee a poss eduction to tra, sity,” Tatlin sought to make his consrations woul fen be the casein posta serons ofthe aesthetic Fe along with Cubist constructions and Russian cosa third mode ‘rs in play here—the contemporancos ngage experiments of or (1912) "taneational” poets suchas Abksei Krucesith and Velemit f 1 \ Klebikor. whose play Zangst Tati dest a designed in 1923. KRlebikow not only shattered stax bt ao rckeinguage dwninto phones thebasic units ofspesch He dd, however sanot wth Futuris oe Dadaist delight in dstetion ba in ode 10 easel these pieces af sound and exp int new “word Constructions” suggestive of new meanings. Iwas onstrate st that Tat ames: “Pall to his word-onsructions, 1 Aided to make material onsructions ‘After 1914 Tala adopted the term “counter rine” as ito signal daletcl advance in bie consections jst the ist punter bet crended painting the nw "courte ri” whic extended from the wall exceeded the panty rei Sometimes these counterrles were suspended sist corners seth axl wires and reds [8 These "corner counter-ais" were Complex constructions af metal planes, squared and carved pee pendiculr and angulr. Not punting sculpture, or architecture, thay wete “counters” to all hee are that atvated materia spaces and viewers inne ways. First shown in Derbi 1915 at 0110s The Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings” in Petopad {once St.Petersburg, Soon to be Leningrad), where Tati wi Kaiir Malevich for adership ofthe Ressian sant garde, the counter drew young artists into the experimental {Caborstor") phase of Constritvsm. the pir ei shanced the Constectivs notion of fk, which in cont dinincion wo Western Tate” sessed he mechanalaypectof the painety mark eather tha its subjective side, the counter rei advanced the Constructivist notion of const in opposition t Wester “composition, rent witha rather han contemplative reflection oft Yet tobe nich, reso acve eng developed ws the tint notion of Constructivism, ecto the Alsecial connection of Constructivist formnslexpeimentation trth Communit principles of socioeconoraie orgieaton, but ‘hime tcl step inthe Constraint programy dt at ‘he Revoaton Works of art without the artist Son of 3 supportive ntary-ather, Duchamp had tne siblings Iho were als atte His too older brothers, faces Villon 1875-1963) and Raymond Duchamp. Villon (1876-198), ds Marc int the Puteux Group” of Cubists around Abert Gzes nd Jean Metznge. This cle had begun to tu Cais ino 2 hoctrne by 1912, and Duchamp withlew ove it ejton of his ‘Nue Decentng 4 Sica No. 2 Stang by the controversy Duchamp would never again be its victims om the conta, he became a mater ofthe att of provocation one f hit mone froohis Cubist paintings wbichare mostly "nudes," gin” atid aides” rinctared with personal erotic, to his wadymades, hich ore mostly anal products distanced frm abject Femsin ronoaton initsown ight Wehave only kw piecesof this puzzle tn he summer af 1912 Duchamp livin Munich sshich he later elle “the scene of my complet liberstin”— perhaps from the strictly “retinal” concerns of the Parsn avant-garde retinal” washisterm fr punting that dd not ngage the" gray matter” of the mind). Ea, a 191, be ad beled she wealthy France Pkbia (1879-1959), who ad inochi to the Mes ofthe att as dandyish “nega Duchamp would later adopt and develop. Aso in 1918 be had atendd play by Raymond Ross! (1877-1933) bass on hi rove resins of Afric (1910). Extremely eccentric, Roussel ‘made method out ofthe acbitay: be woul selec phrase con struta homophone fit tht phrtesilarin sand bl not ‘nse, se one ofthe phrases to bin the story athe other to fend it an then concoct a marae to connet the two. Wing herebscame a dysfunctional kind of machine. ‘he way." Duchamp insisted, notonlytthehomophonic pus rid el ahowed me psfuncionl machine of ht “rotorei" but more generally 6 his various stratagems hat combined chance and choi, the ti teary and the given. Tse stratagems, such a his mechanical rains and readymade objects, put conventional notions of at and arts alike int acl doubt they were "works of without ona to makethemn,“he once emake. Two further anecdotes are teling in this regan In 1911 Duchamp painted an “exploded” coffee grinder: nits igr ‘mate ape he commented ater, “Thegan think coud ako al ontat with train pictorial paeting” The, in 1912 at the Solon dela locomotion arene, he remark ois fend the sculptor Constantin Brancs:"aiting is ove. Who'd do beter than this propeller? Tell me, could you do that that interested Duchamp were dsinctional figures of Frustrated Asie ikethe ones that popula his The rie Sips Bary her Bachelor, Eve also Koon a6 the Lang Glas 1915-23). Bat the question does punt to the queries som posed in his own work ‘hati the tlaton of ttarian objeto aesthetic objets, af1st 616: rede, perpe oe han ier a Fm expt thecimplistl atop hereon standthe matt nthe one andexdnsngan bet ees Daca ‘hove ma prduced one acai) ithe ‘ale inte pie om oly work to mare Oa ie ote eying eng of tac pee wart bat thesamenmicarearhe matting fan aerate thos wernt bjt etc pking tele of nyo anand Hone th sane ide ound trpped shins etrtaacondsin wich wai clea rice wih be veryaptallaptse spo “That avn woud ponte an exe ‘sn wathe ie hatbasiboama Ace evel aden 1804 when wh sober seats ound the Pea eT Qan”(sefthe Bas oar buy een de ‘ns ol hm en yea then alten fat auction. Pn hen int erste Pass omy Saline det forthe wit or 0 rnc (captding thc holo budget or the en) When tame Mech2, 194 thecal As ms cng rina faut end Ci ors wen undrtbehanmer Tes aera the eet hay daning eerie eale ction andthe ration mig tendon aan gue et Intro th Fay of Suing ice ofthe crening- mesa or 12450 Gao vine ickealeer lates ioe ‘eof ental of 7.500 Pano euing ss mprese ol o16545 fans conti o are? Cana picture be made as nonymos, 8 non snbjectv, a “perfec” propeller” From this point on he did prefer objets that were given, not mad and images tat were scripted, not invented (noe wal {Chote Grinders diagramed in projection in 1913 nd 1914 Sip allusions to sex and scitolgy, hee grinders of colored sb ‘ances also parodied punting, reduced i to the status ofan rein sch as his two indestiatdiagram—which, at at historian Molly Nesbit has shen, informed the teaching dain in enc schools when Duchamp eas acid He choseit Duchamp used chance t dente uthorship, this quntesen ia device this respect was the readymade, an appropriated provi postoned as at. Ths device allan hin 1 ap paso static question of eat mim, ad ast ("si good or bad Painting or scuptre™) to new questions that were potently ‘nlological what iar", episemlegcal how do we know it) andiasttatonal who determines ie") Two of his notesare specially important here The fist writen in 19138. program nai qustion:*Can one make work that are not ‘wor’ fa The secon, rom (9, san obscure fragment" kn of itr mots sugpst that Dachamp had began to ‘construe nanny et—thats, nominating iienimageor objet as {vas tantamount to malig at. Akt the erm nso et in plc, the it “eadymade” was aicyle wel et upside dow ‘ons stool [4 He woul find the name for his ne techie, prs readyade onl when he moved to New Yor in 1915 for ‘he war-a abel or clothing bought off he ac, potentially mass producedsndconsumed.Howareweto scadthiswhadl? Asan at at indo a3 12 rishi whe! hat pins rely nothing at work noth but tanesion? Borla) psd the question of as Fares. work” al Grivel slot labora hi Although ight ‘remain both uti objet and simple commodity and 39 compas sto conser the complex relationship between sexthetic jt an abstract sculpture, his bate dryer ‘alas seal and exhangeale ‘The rest notorious exlymade was urinal mee Fontan, which compounded the provocative questions ofthe other rs Trades with ¢ scandalous evocation ofthe bathoon, Duchamp ‘hoe the urinal from 2 New York showroom of. Matt row ‘Mors. » manufacture of uch Fates, rotted it inet dere, signed Re Mut °R" for Richard slang ora rch man and to refer both 9 Mist and to Mutt, a popu atoon character of the time), set ona petal and submit 0 be Amercan Society of Independent Arist for its fist exhibion in Api 1917 Duchamp was the chair ofthe hanging commits, but the show ‘ea unre, tat it aesepted all 2125 works by 1.235 artis ‘sep for Foisainby the wnknaen R. Mit. that were oer Te was rejected 0 grounds that Duchamp rebutted through his roy Beatrice Wood ia defense lsd The Richard Mure Case ule in the May sue ofthe shoe lived magi The lad ‘Man. readin fl ‘Thy sy nats payin sic lar ay ex Mr Ricard Must sem i fountain, Without dsoson thi erie dappearsond ever was exhibit. What were th round for ein i fr 1 Sone conto wasn 2 ters as plagarin plain piceo Now ME Mut than abr png in isnot inmorl, hiss, no mre ition a itr that ous ey dyin pombe’ show indo Whether Me Mac ith ison had made he rein or at fas importance, He coi He to an ora ar of plac 0 hrs al signee ew tile point ofviewcretd anew thong ppsiel under the at obi As for plumbing. hai ard. The ony work oft meron agen are plumbing and he bride, “The principal questions here—ofimmorliy and ity, of org ality and ntentonality—are contested nat to this dy. So, oo, sete elated problems of “cic, Domistiony the authority ofthe artis Were the eymades at teciune Duchamp declared them tobe oF were they based on 2 restion of vss inference, a total absence of gd or bad ste, complete anesthesia” ashe argued much at, a 0.4 tallenge to such author? Never shown in Re ti guise nt was suspended in ime, questions deed t ater moments In this way it became one ofthe mont objets intwenteh-cetary at well after he at. ln the dominant tradition of bourgeois aexhetis fom the talghtenment to the presen, at camer be utara because is ale depends on i autonomy, on is “purponvees without ‘purpre (in the famous phrase ofthe philosopher Immanuel Kant), presely omits elements tein, ose ati almost iii point that Duchamp dramatize in ante ote rom 1913 where he proposed to “wie a Rembeande38 an ironing-boa" In this regard the eadymade may bona gesture of ourgeoisradicaliy asthe German cri Theodor Adorno once remarked (36 though he had the Rembrandt rosin board in tol border on aarchinm to evoke the ection of 2 atest work of at in the spit of immediate we-vacs." This the ars dfrence betwcen the tgs ofthe isitution of at ‘vanced by Duchamp and Tan, which i luo to ay, the reat ference between the contentsin which hey worked Inbourgeos Paris and NewYork, Duchamp cool nly tack the institton of sutonomngs a, somtimes dandy, sometimes ikl ‘hile in revolutionary Rosia, Tatlin could hope, atest fr & ‘ime, to see this institution transformed. Like the dandy Charles Baudelite and the engage Gustave Couet in mk-ninetenh century France, Duchamp and Tain posed two eomplementry ‘model ofthe ats: the ambialent consomer who seks o rename art within ahorizon of comedy cule versus the ative pr dacer who seeks to reposition art vis--vis industrial production ‘within a horzan of Connmunist revoiion, What others would make ofthese possiblities, within ee own strc, 2 ostimportnt tryin twentieth cet a