Saturday, November 21, 2009

Eternal secrets

. . . le style, pour l'écrivain, aussi bien que pour le peintre, est une question non de technique,
. . style, for the writer, as well as for the painter, is a question not of technique,

mais de vision.
but of vision.

Il est la révélation, qui serait impossible par des moyens directs et conscients, de la différence qualitative qu'il y a dans la facon dont nous apparait le monde, différence qui, s'il n'y avait pas l'art, resterait le secret éternel de chacun.It is the revelation, that would be impossible through direct and conscious methods, of the qualitative difference in the way the world appears to us - difference that, if art did not exist, would remain the eternal secret within each of us.

Par l'art seulement nous pouvons sortir de nous, savoir ce que voit un autre de cet univers qui n'est pas le meme que le notre, et dont les paysages nous serait restés aussi inconnus que ceux qu'il peut avoir dans la lune.
Through art only we may come out of ourselves, to learn what others see of the universe - for theirs is not the same as ours, and its landscapes would have remained as unknown to us as those of the moon.

Grace à l'art, au lieu de voir un seul monde, le notre, nous le voyons se multiplier, et, autant qu'il y a d'artistes originaux, autant nous avons de mondes à notre disposition, plus différent les uns des autres -Thanks to art, instead of seeing one lone world, ours, we see it multiplied with as many different worlds at our disposition as there are original artists -



et bien des siècles après que c'est éteint le foyer dont ils émanaient,qu'il s'appelat Rembrandt ou Vermeer, nous envoient encore leur rayon spécial.
and many centuries later, after their emanating fire has been extinguished, from now Rembrandt, now Vermeer, we still receive their special light.

JEAN PAVANS
From his essay on Proust's character Bergotte and Vermeer's View of Delft
Les écarts d'une vision
Zao Wou-Ki, Samuel Van Hoogstraaten, Marc Rothko, Nicholas de Stael, Vermeer

7 comments:

  1. Art is what remains when civilizations disappear. Paintings on caves remind us that art is in our DNA. I think of it as our personal decoder ring! Beautiful post.

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  2. What an interesting post. The very first good painting I ever did was a copy of VERMEER. They had us coping old masters.

    Adieu,
    Yvonne

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  3. Beautiful post, you described what many in the world do not understand about artists and their genre.What is inside must be expressed in one's own way and technique, be it art, music, dance, or performance. Love your blog!

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  4. when i paint....

    there is no question that art takes you further from yourself,
    and deeper into yourself all at the same time.

    it can be ' heady stuff.'

    xxx happy holidays

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  5. Exquisite!

    "Thanks to art, instead of seeing one lone world, ours, we see it multiplied ..."

    Sublime images, thought-provoking prose.

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  6. Thank You,

    It is all so very elegante.


    Yvonne

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