以毕加索之名.InTheNameOfPicasso[英文]

-~ 22 ModernistMyths iMondrian,toAlbers,toKelly,to LeWitt-to thinkaboutthegridin bothwaysat lance. In discussingtheoperationandcharacterof thegridwithin thegeneralfield pf modernart I havehadrecoursetowordslike repressionorschizophrenia.Since thesetermsarebeingappliedto a cultur.alphenomenonandnot to individuals, theyareobviouslynot intendedin theirliteral,medicalsense,butonly analogi- cally:to~omparethestructureof onethingto thestructureof another.The terms ::>fthisanalogywereclear,I hope,fromthediscussionof theparallelstructures md functionsof bothgridsasaestheticobjectsandmyths. . Butonefurtheraspectof thisanalogystill needstobebroughtout,andthat is theway in which thispsychologicalterminologyfunctiol\s-atsomedistance fromthatof history.WhatI meanis thatwespeakof theetiologyofapsychologi- calcondition,not thehistoryof it. History,aswenormallyuseit, impliesthe :onnectionof eventsthroughtime,a senseof inevitablechang~aswemovefrom )ne eventto the next, and the cumulativeeffectof changewhich is itself lualitative,so that we tendto view historyas developmental.Etiology is not ievelopmental.It is ratheran investigationinto theconditionsfor onespecific =hange-theacquisitionof disease-to takeplace.In thatsenseetiologyis more ikelookinginto thebackgroundofachemicalexperiment,askingwhenandhow I given group of elementscame togetherto effecta new compoundor to )recipitatesomethingoutof a liquid. For theetiologyof neuroses,wemaytakea 'history" of the individual, to explorewhat went into the formationof the leuroticstructure;but oncetheneurosisis formed,we arespecificallyenjoined romthinking in termsof "development,"andinsteadwespeakof repetition. With regardto theadventof thegrid in twentieth-centuryart,thereis the leedto think etiologicallyratherthanhistorically.Certainconditionscombined a.precipitatethegrid into apositionof aestheticpreeminence.Wecanspeakof "hat thosethings areand how theycametogetherthroughoutthenineteenth enturyand thenspotthemomentof chemicalcombination,asit were,in the arlydecadesof thetwentieth.But oncethegridappearsit seemsquiteresistantto hange.The maturecareersof Mondrianor Albersareexamplesof this.No one lOuld characterizethe courseof decadeafter decadeof their later work as :evelopmental.But bydeprivingtheirworldofdevelopment,oneisobviouslynot eprivingit of quality.Therei~no necessaryconnectionbetweengoodartand hange,no matterhowconditionedwemaybetothinkthatthereis.Indeed,aswe aveamoreandmoreextendedexperienceof thegrid,wehavediscoveredthatone f themostmodernistthingsaboutit is its capacityto serveasa paradigmor wdelfor theantidevelopmental,theantinarrative,theantihistorical. This hasoccurredin thetemporalaswell asthevisualans:in music,for (ample,andin dance.It is no surprisethen,thataswecontemplatethissubject, ~ereshoulcthavebeenannouncedfor nextseasonaperformanceprojectbasedon ,ecombinedeffortsof Phil Glass,LucindaChilds,andSolLeWitt:music,dance, Ildsculpture,projectedasthemutuallyaccessiblespaceof thegrid. kwYork,1978 ,... l ... In theNameof Picasso Exhibit A: Picasso'sSeatedBather,1930.Againstan azurewall of water, fragmentsof boneand bleachedcarapaceassemblethemonumentalimageof isolated,predatorywoman.Woman-as-insect,with gre