Merleau-Ponty at the Gallery: Questioning Art beyond His Reach (SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological ontology engages deeply with visual art, and this aspect of his work remains significant not only to philosophers, but also to artists, art theorists, and critics. Until recently, scholarly attention has been focused on the artists he himself was inspired by and wrote about, chiefly Cézanne, Klee, Matisse, and Rodin. Merleau-Ponty at the Gallery expands and shifts the focus to address a range of artists (Giorgio Morandi, Kiki Smith, Cy Twombly, Joan Mitchell, and Ellsworth Kelly) whose work came to prominence in the second half of the twentieth century and thus primarily after the philosopher's death. Véronique M. Fóti does not confine her analyses to Merleau-Ponty's texts (which now importantly include his late lecture courses), but also engages directly with the art. Of particular concern to her is the art's ethical bearing, especially as related to animal and vegetal life. The book's concluding chapter addresses the still-widespread rejection of beauty as an aesthetic value. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: A Plethora of Issues Interweaving Dualities Image and Writ Artworks and Things The Artist within Her or His Time The Question of Beauty Chapter 1 Transcending Profane Vision: The Art of Giorgio Morandi The Humble Thing in Focus Vision, Memory, and Perceptual Nonresolution Responding to Adversity Forms Eroded by Light Chapter 2: At Vision’s Crossroads: Body, Animality, and Cosmos in the Art of Kiki Smith Modalities of Inter-Being Incarnation Play, Beauty Flesh, Continuity, and Event Chapter 3 Image and Writ in Cy Twombly’s Visual Poetics Quasi-Writing, Inscription, Erasure Myrtle, Rose, Sparrow . . . / Laurel, Snake, Grasshopper . . . Addressing War The Elements Chapter 4 Resonances of Silence and the Dimension of Color: The Art of Joan Mitchell Color, Whiteness, and Light Mortal Flesh Carnal Essences Chapter 5 Plant Drawing, Abstraction, and the Philosophy of Nature: The Art of Ellsworth Kelly Practices of Plant Drawing Edge, Line, and Space Excursus: Plant Drawing in the Context of Botanical Art Plant-Being, Plant Drawing, and the Philosophy of Nature Chapter 6 Strong Beauty and Structures of Exclusion On Strong Beauty Nature and Art Strong Beauty in Art The Resilience of Strong Beauty Conclusion More Ethereal Bodies Transmuting Materiality into Light Traces at the Verge Transparencies of Line Prospect Notes Selected Bibliography Index of Topics Index of Persons "Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological ontology engages deeply with visual art, and this aspect of his work remains significant not only to philosophers, but also to artists, art theorists, and critics. Until recently, scholarly attention has been focused on the artists he himself was inspired by and wrote about, chiefly Cézanne, Klee, Matisse, and Rodin. Merleau-Ponty at the Gallery expands and shifts the focus to address a range of artists (Giorgio Morandi, Kiki Smith, Cy Twombly, Joan Mitchell, and Ellsworth Kelly) whose work came to prominence in the second half of the twentieth century and thus primarily after the philosopher's death. Véronique M. Fóti does not confine her analyses to Merleau-Ponty's texts (which now importantly include his late lecture courses), but also engages directly with the art. Of particular concern to her is the art's ethical bearing, especially as related to animal and vegetal life. The book's concluding chapter addresses the still-widespread rejection of beauty as an aesthetic value."-- Provided by publisher