Le présent travail a pour objectif de montrer que les réflexions théoriques et les remarques à caractère technique suscitées au cours de l’histoire par le sublime permettent d’approfondir la question du sens de l’art abstrait. En retour, il vise à tracer les voies par lesquelles l’art abstrait porte à témoigner du sublime, à le penser et à le reconnaître. La relation que l’art abstrait entretient avec la tradition du sublime n’est pas univoque, car certaines parmi ses manifestations tendent à confluer dans la tradition du beau et à renouer avec la pratique de la mímēsis (dont la notion classique déborde les notions modernes d’imitation, de représentation et de figuration). Force est de constater que l’impression d’étrangeté provoquée par le sublime se distingue du plaisir de la reconnaissance qui accompagne le beau et qui est l’effet de la mímēsis accomplie. Ainsi il s’agira de départager l’abstraction, laquelle aurait pour objet l’harmonie sous sa forme abstraite, et l’art abstrait, lequel procurerait un émoi propice au sublime. Cet émoi ne constituera pas le seul critère discriminant en matière de choix des démarches à comparer. D’autres aspects seront pris en considération, à savoir la simplicité, la grandeur et l’obscurité, qui, sous certaines conditions et une fois réunies, peuvent prêter existence au sublime. L’intérêt de l’approche proposée consiste à considérer différentes pratiques abstraites sous un angle, celui du sublime, qui offre la possibilité de les relier à des pratiques figuratives, poétiques, oratoires ou architectoniques dans une perspective historique, mais aussi d’en reconnaître les enjeux et les difficultés spécifiques. / The objective of this thesis is, on the one hand, to show how the theoretical reflections and technical considerations raised throughout history by the sublime allow a deeper understanding of the meaning of abstract art. On the other hand, this thesis explores the way in which abstract art gives rise to the experience of the sublime and therefore to a reflection on it and to its recognition. The relation between abstract art and the tradition of the sublime is not unproblematic. Some of the manifestations of abstract art have a tendency to relate to the tradition of beauty and the practice of mímēsis (whose classical meaning goes beyond the modern notion of imitation, representation and figuration). It is important to note that the impression of strangeness provoked by the sublime differs from the pleasure gained from the recognition that accompanies beauty and is the effect of the accomplished mímēsis. Therefore, it is a question of distinguishing between abstraction, whose objective is harmony in its abstract form, and abstract art, which provokes an agitation that can generate the sublime. In addition to agitation, other aspects will be taken into consideration, namely simplicity, grandness and obscurity. These aspects can, under certain conditions and once they are brought together, give rise to the sublime. The approach of this thesis is important because it considers abstract practices from the angle of the sublime which offers the possibility (a) to link abstract practices with figurative, poetic, oratory or architectural practices in a historical perspective, and (b) to identify specific issues and problems of abstract practices.

L’objectif principal de ce travail est d’établir le sens attribué à la science de l’expression et de préciser comment elle est identifiée à la linguistique générale, dans l’Esthétique de Benedetto Croce. Adversaire de l’intellectualisme et du rationalisme, Croce a éprouvé au plus profond de lui-même les questions que l’homme se pose. C’est dans l’expérience du langage que l’homme expérimente la profondeur de son existence au monde. Il s’agit de l’essence du langage comprise comme expression dans laquelle l’intuition se réalise intégralement. D’où, le langage est le résultat de la création irremplaçable de chaque expression singulière. C’est le langage non répétitif et intraduisible de l’œuvre d’art. Le langage est un art, il prend son sens dans l’art et se comprend par rapport à l’art. Philosophie du langage et philosophie de l’art sont la même chose. C’est selon cette perspective que l’art pour Croce est expression. C’est l’expression de l’intuition comme faculté de la transposition esthétique qui occupe la première position de la vie de l’esprit. Il en sera différemment pour la place de l’oeuvre d’art. Débat qui se prolongera sur la question de l’art abstrait, contemporain de l’Esthétique de Croce. / The goal of my research is to establish the meaning given to the science of expression and specialy how it is identified to general linguistic, in Benedetto Croce’s Aesthetics. Against Intelectualism and rationalism, Croce felt deep inside him, the questioning of Man. It is in the experience of language that Man experiments the depth of his being to the world. The essence of language, understood as expression, is in which intuition realises itself, totaly. Therefore, language is the result of an irreplaceable creation of each single expression. It is a non repetitive and untranslatable language of the work of art. Language is art, it takes its meaning in art and is understood in regard to art. Philosophy of language and philosophy of art are alike. It is in this perspective that art for Croce is expression. It is the intuition’s expression as the faculty of aesthetic transposition that is in first position of the mind. It will be different for the work of art. This debate will continue on the question of abstract art, contemporary to the Aesthetics of Croce.

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Après 1945, Auguste Herbin (Quiévy 1882 - Paris 1960) devient le maître en France de l’abstraction géométrique, une référence pour la seconde génération d’artistes abstraits, à la fois en Europe et dans le reste du monde. Les peintures d’Herbin réalisées à partir de son alphabet plastique, c’est-à-dire de 1942 à 1960 posèrent les jalons d’expérimentations nouvelles dans le domaine de l’art optique, de l’art cinétique, de l’art concret et de l’hard edge. La plupart des travaux réalisés par les artistes présents dans le Paris de l’après seconde guerre mondiale, tels Baertling, Agam, Dewasne, Vasarely, Soto, Fruhtrunk etc., n’auraient pu se concevoir sans la connaissance et l’assimilation du vocabulaire herbinien. Avait-on véritablement pris la mesure du rôle d’Auguste Herbin dans l’histoire et l’évolution de l’art abstrait ? / After 1945, Auguste Herbin (1882-1960) became the leading French abstract, geometric artist and an inspirational figure to abstract artists in both Europe and the Americas. Herbin’s Plastic Alphabet paintings are the forerunners of the wider experimentation in op’art, concrete art and hard edge painting. Much of the work by artists dominant in Paris in the 50’s and 60’s, such as Baertling, Agam, Dewasne, Vasarely, Soto, Fruhtrunk, is unimaginable without the advance wich Herbin represents.

La notion d’« abstraction perceptuelle (perceptual abstraction) » apparaît dans le domaine de la psychologie cognitive avant d’être associée à l’art optique et cinétique dans les pages du catalogue de l’exposition « The Responsive Eye » au Museum of Modern Art en 1965. Ce lien tissé entre abstraction et phénoménologie de la perception, bien qu’il ait connu une résonance historiographique modeste, traduit avec justesse certains enjeux et complète les catégories du mouvement et de l’effet, sur lesquelles le débat et la réflexion se sont le plus souvent orientés. À partir de ce cadre initial des années 1950 et 1960 est établi un second cadre, plus vaste, allant des avant-gardes historiques à nos jours, d’un « art perceptuel ». Au sein de ce corpus transhistorique sont rassemblées des oeuvres caractérisées par leur oscillation constante entre surface et volume, fait et effet, matière et vibration. Le phénomène de palpitation et de dissolution, qui se substitue à la composition et à la polychromie, rend impossible la saisie d’oeuvres tantôt incandescentes, tantôt évanescentes. Dans cette exploration constante des seuils du visible, la perception est traitée comme un médium à part entière. À travers oeuvres et textes, cette étude entend mettre en avant les résonances thématiques entre les époques et les courants afin, précisément, d’établir un panorama, le plus large possible, des pratiques relevant de ce que Jean Clay présenta comme « une prise de conscience de l’instabilité du réel ». / The term “perceptual abstraction” appears within the field of cognitive psychology before being associated, in the catalogue of the exhibition "The Responsive Eye" at the MoMA in New York in 1965, with Optical Art and Kinetic Art, two parallel trends around which debate and reception were focused for about a decade. At the same time, this link between abstraction et perception, despite the modest resonance of its term, is relevant for understanding these kinds of artistic practices with the potential of covering a wider historical and aesthetic field. Beyond this narrow chronological frame of the 1950s and 1960s, this concept describes a type of Perceptual Art that is based on an oscillation between fact and effect, matter and flux, surface and volume—an art in which composition and polychromy give way to vibration and dissolution, from the historical avant-gardes until today. Through an analysis of diverse artworks and texts, this study approaches perception beyond the commonly used categories of mechanical movement and optical effect. Considered as a medium in itself by some artists, perception is driven to its limits and the spectator’s capacity to grasp form and space is questioned. Thematic echoes between periods and trends are highlighted, precisely in order to define the field as broadly as possible—to reflect on what Jean Clay aptly described as “an awareness of the instability of the real.”

Jacob Ruchti, a modernidade e a arquitetura paulista (1940-1970) analisa individualmente, pela primeira vez, o envolvimento do personagem Jacob Ruchti no movimento estéticosócio- cultural paulista. Nascido na Suíça em 1917, Ruchti formou-se arquiteto pela Universidade Mackenzie em 1940. A abordagem destaca sua contribuição pioneira para a semeadura e consolidação do pensamento moderno na sociedade paulista, no que se refere ao surgimento da arte abstrata, ao nascimento do design e à criação do campo de arquitetura de interiores. Arquiteto, designer e professor, foi um estudante ousado e em grande parte autodidata. Dentro de um contexto social em busca de valores modernizantes, desde jovem defendeu uma visão além da mera funcionalidade na arquitetura ou do simples formalismo na arte, enriquecendo suas idéias pela vivência e aspectos culturais, sociais, psicológicos e, mais tarde, envolvendo a consideração simbólica. Com ampla formação cultural, esteve entre os fundadores do Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil (IAB), do Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM) e do Instituto de Arte Contemporânea (IAC), a primeira escola de design do Brasil, ao lado de Lina e Pietro Maria Bardi (1951). Articulador no movimento artístico paulista atuou nas primeiras bienais de São Paulo, nas montagens ou como membro do júri internacional. Como professor da FAU/USP, de Composição Decorativa (1954-1961), desenvolveu conceitos bauhausianos fundidos à idéia do design moderno brasileiro, o que significou um avanço, também no nome da Cadeira, que passou a chamar-se Desenho Industrial, em 1962. Ao questionar os valores modernistas, antes de seus colegas, combinou a fluência orgânica de Frank Lloyd Wright com a contemporaneidade industrial de Richard Neutra e Marcel Breuer, que aplicou em projetos de arquitetura. Nos anos 50, ao lado de arquitetos igualmente de menor visibilidade no cenário paulista do período (Aflalo, Chen, Croce, Forte, Millan), destacou-se na criação de um mobiliário moderno, e de alta qualidade com a loja Branco & Preto, inovador à época. Finalmente, permeada por um olhar peculiar, será levantada e recuperada, a partir dos anos 60, sua fase projetual arquitetônica, enfocando principalmente os interiores, momento em que projetou para segmentos diversos como bancos, lojas, restaurante, hotéis, escritórios, consultório e dezenas de espaços internos residenciais. Aprimorando-se na exploração máxima dos materiais e de novas tecnologias, utilizando o espírito investigativo nos campos existencial e psicológico como parte integrante do processo da elaboração arquitetônica, passou a introduzir expressividade formal e introspectiva, com base em André Bloc e Frederick Kiesler combinada à arte concreta, na criação de espaços escultóricos internos. Esta pesquisa apresenta a trajetória do universo profissional e acadêmico do arquiteto. / Jacob Ruchti, the modernity and architecture of São Paulo (1940-1970), offers a firsthand individual analysis of the architects involvement as a character in the esthetic, social and cultural movement in the state of São Paulo. Born in Switzerland in 1917, Ruchti graduated from Mackenzie University in 1940. This paper highlights his pioneering contribution to the inspiration and consolidation of modern thought in the São Paulo society, in relation to the rise of abstract art, the birth of design, and to the creation of interior architecture. Ruchti was an architect, designer and professor, a bold student, and mostly self-taught. Within a social context in search of modernizing values, he defended a view beyond the mere functionality of architecture or of the plain formalisms of art, enhancing his ideas through experience and cultural, social and psychological aspects and, later, by including symbolic considerations. Due to his extensive cultural background, Ruchti was amongst the founders of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil - IAB), the Modern Art Museum (Museu de Arte Moderna - MAM), as well as of the Institute of Contemporary Art (Instituto de Arte Contemporânea - ICA), the latter being the first design school in Brazil, together with Lina and Pietro Maria Bardi (1951). As an articulate representative of the São Paulo art scene, he took part in the first Biennial exhibits in the city, either in the setting up of the events or as an international judge member. As a professor of Decoration Composition for FAU/USP (School of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of São Paulo) from 1954 to 1961, Ruchti developed Bauhaus concepts, integrating them to the idea of modern Brazilian design, which represented a breakthrough, also in relation to the name of the course, later termed Industrial Design, in 1962. By questioning modernistic values prior to his colleagues, he combined Frank Lloyd Wrights organic style with the industrial contemporaneity of Richard Neutra and Marcel Breuer, and then applied the results to architectural projects. In the fifties, alongside architects equally unknown in the São Paulo scene at that time (such as Aflalo, Chen, Croce, Forte and Millan), Ruchti stood out with the creation of highquality and modern furniture for his store Branco & Preto (White & Black), clearly innovative for its time. Lastly, from a particular standpoint, Ruchtis architectural project phase from the sixties onwards will be examined and recovered, focusing mainly on interior design, which was when he switched to projects for various commercial sectors such as banks, stores, restaurants, hotels, offices, medical offices, as well as for dozens of interior home spaces. Ruchtis inquisitive mind in the existential and psychological fields as part of the architectural elaboration process developed his skills through the maximum use of materials and new technologies, and consequently introduced formal and introspective expressiveness based on André Bloc and Frederick Kiesler, combined with concrete art, in the creation of sculptural internal spaces. This paper addresses the development of the architects professional and academic career.

Tikashi Fukushima, um sonho em quatro estações Estudo sobre o Ma no processo de criação do artista nipo-brasileiro apresenta a vida e obra do pintor Tikashi Fukushima (Fukushima, Japão, 1920 - São Paulo, SP, 2001). Esta dissertação tem como proposta investigar a influência da arte e do pensamento japonês na trajetória do artista no Brasil através do preceito Ma elemento cultural que surgiu como vocábulo no século XII , presente na vida e no cotidiano do Japão. O Ma está correlacionado ao kû do budismo que significa o vazio. Porém, um vazio prenhe de possibilidades. Neste trabalho, apresentamos a possibilidade desse fenômeno ser uma das características que diferenciam o abstracionismo de Tikashi Fukushima na arte brasileira. Na travessia da cultura japonesa em mares do Brasil, uma das respostas possíveis do Ocidente sobre o questionamento do Ma, que este trabalho pretende apresentar, é analisada pelo estudo das essências do pensador francês Maurice Mearleau-Ponty. / Tikashi Fukushima, a dream in four seasons - Study of Ma in the creative process of this Nipo-Brazilian artist, presents the life and work of the painter Tikashi Fukushima (Fukushima, Japan, 1920 - São Paulo, Brazil, 2001). This dissertation proposes to investigate the influence of Japanese art and thought on the trajectory of the artist in Brazil according to the Ma principle a cultural element that emerged as a word in the twelfth century , part of Japanese life and everyday activities. Ma is correlated to the Kû of Buddhism that means empty. However, an emptiness loaded with possibilities. In this study we considered that this phenomenon may be one of the characteristics that sets apart the abstract work of Tikashi Fukushima in Brazilian art. In the crossing of Brazilian seas by the Japanese culture, one of the possible answers of the West about the issue of Ma that this dissertation intends to present, is analyzed by studying the essence of the French philosopher Maurice Mearleau-Ponty.

I wished to present a body of work that visually represented my own meditative process of managing stress and anxiety. Towards the end of studying for my undergraduate, I began preparing for my Final Exhibition Show, and with these preparations, my life, as well as my work, changed drastically. Within the past two years, my drawings began to take on a meditative therapeutic process. It was this development that then helped manage my growing stress levels and well as the symptoms that stemmed from high levels of anxiety and bloomed from losing control in my day to day life. It was then conceived, through this carefully crafted systematic means of creation, the notion that my mind could relax and take time to resolve the matters that plagued it, while at the same time, construct something artistically productive. While drawing, I achieved a juxtaposition of varying means of visually representing the idea of control and order within my work as well as within my mind and body. It was this, the creation of these drawings, that hence became my meditative escape in managing my stress and anxieties as well as my obsessive compulsive tendencies, where; without structure, had the potential to turn self-hindering and painful.

<p>This paper presents an approach in contemporary, abstract art for a new way of experiencing modernist abstraction. This has not been possible until now, about 40 years after the postmodern turn against modernism in art, and the closely connected formalism. This new approach is represented in this paper by the Swedish contemporary artists Ann Edholm and Jacob Dahlgren. Modernist artists such as Kasimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian receives a new relevance to contemporary abstract art. This opens up for a new, more complex and more dialectical understanding and re-evaluation of modernism and its abstract art.This is shown by a historical and chronological investigation which highlights modernist abstract art, formalism, and the critical and post-modern Neo-geometric ‘abstraction’ of the eighties. This background has been a way of proving how modernist abstraction still can possess a validity for contemporary art today, and even vitalize a continuation for abstract art as a contemporary practice.</p>

This paper presents an approach in contemporary, abstract art for a new way of experiencing modernist abstraction. This has not been possible until now, about 40 years after the postmodern turn against modernism in art, and the closely connected formalism. This new approach is represented in this paper by the Swedish contemporary artists Ann Edholm and Jacob Dahlgren. Modernist artists such as Kasimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian receives a new relevance to contemporary abstract art. This opens up for a new, more complex and more dialectical understanding and re-evaluation of modernism and its abstract art.This is shown by a historical and chronological investigation which highlights modernist abstract art, formalism, and the critical and post-modern Neo-geometric ‘abstraction’ of the eighties. This background has been a way of proving how modernist abstraction still can possess a validity for contemporary art today, and even vitalize a continuation for abstract art as a contemporary practice.