History of Art
* Book: The History of Art. By Elie Faure.
- L'Art antique (Ancient Art; 1909),
- L'Art médiéval (Medieval Art; 1911),
- L'Art renaissant (Renaissance Art; 1914),
- L'Art moderne (Modern Art; 1921),
- L'Esprit des formes (The Spirit of Forms) from 1927
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Discussion
Faure's History of Art and Theories of Evolution
by Serena Keshavjee:
"For many French and American artists and art historians who came of age around the Second World War, Elie Faure's (1873–1937; fig. 1) Histoire de l'art (History of Art) was mandatory reading. Faure trained and graduated as a medical doctor at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, but at the turn of the century began writing about art for Parisian journals, including L'Aurore, and after the middle of the decade increasingly turned his attention to the arts.
In 1903 Faure helped found the Université Populaire in Paris and presented at that school for adults a course of weekly public lectures on art history that lasted until 1914. These lectures were the basis for his survey of global art, Histoire de l'art, composed of five volumes: L'Art antique (Ancient Art; 1909), L'Art médiéval (Medieval Art; 1911), L'Art renaissant (Renaissance Art; 1914), L'Art moderne (Modern Art; 1921), and the final volume entitled L'Esprit des formes (The Spirit of Forms) from 1927.So popular were the History of Art books that they were republished in France well into the 1990s. Through Walter Pach's translations, which were republished into the 1940s, they made an impact in the English-speaking world as well.
Pach suggested that Faure's survey was highly regarded because it moved beyond art and chronicled the development of humanity. He also stated that the History of Art was the first global art survey, and although this is not true, Faure's optimism and his open-minded attitude towards non-western art did attract many readers. Certainly, some of the condescending and racist attitudes towards "primitive art" so prevalent in fin-de-siècle France are part of the History of Art, but Faure was not interested in pointing out racial and cultural differences through art; on the contrary, he wanted to demonstrate that the correspondences in global art reflected the parallels in global culture.[4] Faure theorized that all art shared a "unity of plan," and expressed formal analogies of "structure, rhythm and accent."[5] While "accent" was associated with historical and social determiners, structure and rhythm much more profoundly revealed universal correspondences, which expressed the unitary nature of the universe: "Whether one feels it or not, whether one wishes it or not, a universal solidarity unites all the acts and all the images of men, not only in space but also and especially in time."[6] For Faure, art from different periods and from different peoples was progressing towards a unified style that signified a unitary universe (fig. 2).
Faure's History of Art is most notable for his effort to reconcile his two interests—science and art. Faure applied evolutionary theory to the development of art styles. Forms, natural or manmade, organic or inorganic, are, he claimed, shaped by evolutionary laws. He proposed that evolutionary forces directed both species transformation and cultural transformation. When Faure discussed the formal element of rhythm, for example, he went far beyond describing a repeating pattern, and saw instead a reflection of the "great rhythm" of the universe. He emphasized that common patterns and styles in art from around the world indicated a united universal movement. This universal movement or "great rhythm" in art provided a visual representation of the driving force of evolution, and thus of the cosmic order.[7] Faure likened art forms to natural forms in that both types of forms provided evidence of a "universal language."[8] As Faure succinctly put it: "Art is only the humble and marvelous image of the cosmic order itself."[9] The formal elements of art demonstrated the fundamental unity of all species and all forms.
Faure's conception of a developmental evolution, driven by a force and heading towards a state of unification, is not based on Darwinian evolutionary theory, which emphasizes the randomness of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Instead, the progressive elements in Faure's theory are neo-Lamarckian."