Abstract
Artworks reflect the motion inherent to our experience of objects through the way they can depict the unity of disparate perceptual moments. Merleau-Ponty’s discussion of Cézanne highlights how art can represent the aspect of motion in perceptual synthesis by displaying the multiple vantage points of an object on a single canvas. While Merleau-Ponty focuses on the way in which the depiction of motor intentionality in Cézanne contributes to his artistic rendering of perceptual synthesis, I contend that the use of blank spaces in Cézanne’s work represents an additional, previously unnoted aspect of perceptual synthesis and motor intentionality: the absolute object. Merleau-Ponty claims that if there is an absolute object, then it would be “an infinity of different perspectives condensed into a strict coexistence” and “must be given as if through a single act of vision comprising a thousand gazes.” John Berger’s description of the role that blank spaces play in Cézanne’s work implies that Cézanne depicts the multiplicity of gazes that constitute the absolute object: “the blank white spaces give the eye a chance to add imaginatively to the variations already.” By adding blank spaces, Cézanne portrays the infinity of possible, currently unseen viewpoints in addition to the multiplicity of vantage points already present in perceptual synthesis. I argue that through the absences found in Cézanne’s paintings, one can see that it is possible for art to depict the absolute object that is otherwise impossible to perceive.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Art, Movement, Perception, Merleau-Ponty, Cezanne
