sobre barrell-political theory of painting

7/30/2019 Sobre Barrell-Political Theory of Painting

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American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS)

The Political Theory of Painting From Reynolds to Hazlitt: The Body of the Public. by JohnBarrellReview by: W. J. T. MitchellEighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 91-95Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Sponsor: American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies(ASECS).Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2739028 .

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Reviews

JOHN BARRELL. The Political Theory fPainting romReynoldsto Hazlitt: TheBody ofthePublic.New Haven: Yale Univ.Press,1986. Pp. 366. 26 illustrations.30."ThisWhole ook,"wrote laken hemarginsfReynolds'iscourses,"Was WrittenoServePolitical urposes." ohn arrell's ookonthe"politicalheoryfpainting"nEngland uringhe ighteenthndearly

nineteenthenturiess writtenoreply,Of coursetwas" p. vii), ndtosuggest urtherhat nexplicitlyolitical genda s rather good hingfor rttheory.here s nothingspeciallyovel, iven hecurrentash-ionablenessf"demystifying"eadingsf deologynesthetics,bout hebasic hrustfthis rgument. hat soriginalboutBarrell's orksitsconcentrationn theclassicEnglish rttheoristsfthe ateeighteenthcentury,nd tsclaim hat heirheoriesspouse body fpoliticaldeasthat, arfromeingdeologicallyoncealed,requite onsciousnd ex-plicit. arrell,ollowing. G. A. Pocock'sead,calls thisbody f deas"thediscourse fcivichumanism," discourse hichnsists pon hepublic, olitical haracterfthe rtist'sesponsibility,he pectators'e-sponse,ndtheformaleaturesf theestheticbject.Arguinghat heartisticheoriesfShaftesbury,eynolds,arry, lake, ndFuseli havecome obe read romhe ositionfHazlitt ndhis uccessors,ho elievethat heonly egitimateatisfactionshatpaintinganofferreprivatesatisfactions"p. 340),Barrell eeksto restore hathe seesas a lostemphasisnthepainters "citizen" fa real or dealrepublic,nd onpaintings aninstrumento nstillivicvirtuesndtocreate "public"united ythese irtues.Barrell oesnotdocumenthe upposedprivatizing"nfluencefHaz-litt n ater eadingsfclassical ritishrt heory; azlitt's successors"arenotnamed,nd o the argetf hepolemics eft bitvague exceptfor nanonymousriterorheDaily Telegraphhosecravenistortion"ofRuskin's rtcriticisms turnedgainst im; ee p. 340). If wegrantBarrell is laim obeoverturningtraditionf rror,owever,he ewardstobe foundn hisreadingsrequite ubstantial. hateverriticsmayhave houghtptonow,twillno onger epossible othinkf ighteenthcenturyritish rttheory s purely ormalist,r even s "ethical" r"moralizing"nany rivate ense f hesewords. arrell hows uite on-91

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92 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYTUDIESvincinglyhat ll thetechnicalnd formaluestionshat xercised hetheoryfpainting-the aturendobjectsf mitation,he ules or om-position,heproper elationf"generalorm"ndparticularetail, hehierarchyfgenres, he nature f artisticoriginality"nd"individualgenius," herepresentationf characterndnarrative,hedeterminacy(or ndeterminacy)fmeaning-werell posed nd nsweredsexplicitlypoliticalssues.Thus,for haftesbury,'Particulars'mustyield o thegeneral esign'-just as, we may eflect,articularoodmust ivewayto universalnthe tate" p. 33).ForReynolds,the xtensiverospect"is "a metaphoror he xtensiveolitical, oral,nd ocial omprehensionthat haracterised.. the aristocratic emberfa civicrepublic"p.133).ForBarry,he lassificationfhuman iguress "situatednthe ateeighteenth-centuryiscoursef he ivisionf abour"p. 173).ForBlake,"original"means authentic"r"genuine,"nd does nothavethecon-notationsf"novelty"r"singularity"hatBarrell races o the ndivid-ualist hetoricfcommercialismndart-as-commodity.lake'svaunted"romanticndividualism"s alsocorrected,nBarrell's eading, romtsbourgeoisense f"unique ersonality"oa notion fthe ndividuals a"class," species,"r"genericdentity"ithinn idealreligious/politicalorderpp.238-9).I pick utthese xamples lmost trandomo give ome ense fthekind f nsightsarrell's ook rovides.omeof hemwillnodoubt eemobvious,nd t is oneofthevirtuesf Barrell's ook hat t laysbeforeus a body f materialhat, nce een, eems lwayso havebeenthere.I foundmyselfskingwhy book ofull fplain ruthshould othavebeenwrittenefore. utthese andomxamplesonotdo ustice othesubtletynd careof Barrell's resentation,isways fcomplicatingheequationfpoliticalnd estheticheory ith ainstakingxpositionsfthedifferencesetween arious heorists,ndhishighlyuggestivexpla-nationsfthose ifferences.he book onductswo orts fargumentssimultaneously,ne"narrative"ndhistorical,heothernalyticnd ex-pository.n theone hand, s Barrell uts t, this ook ells story"fthe stablishmentfa political heoryfpaintingnthe arly ighteenthcenturynEngland,he"attenuation"f this heoryinthemiddle e-cades"ofthecentury,n attempto reconstitutehetheory ith hefoundingf theRoyalAcademyn 1768, nd thefinal ollapse fthepolitical heoryfpaintingnthefirsthirtyears fthenineteenthen-tury.While his torys sustainedya kind f"base" neconomicndpolitical istorytheGlorious evolutionrovidingrationaleor spe-cificallyEnglish"heoryf ivic umanismn rt ndpolitics,he merg-enceofcommerces thedeep auseof he ttenuationf his heory,heFrench evolutions the ause f crisisnEnglishrepublican"hetoric),themain action"fBarrell'storyscarriedn nthe exts f rt heoryitself. his s definitelyot "historyithout eroes," uta story f afew mportantnglish heorists-Shaftesbury,eynolds, arry, lake,Fuseli,Haydon, ndHazlitt-whosewritingsboutpaintingttempto



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REVIEWS 93articulatehe omplex elationetweenoliticalndartisticheory.t is,then,mainly series fclose readingsriven ya master arrativefdecline ndfall.The heroesfthis toryrethosewriters ho eekways(always ubject o tragic r ronic ailures)opreserve public, oliticalrolefor ainting;he villains"most otably azlitt) re thosewho uc-cumb o the endencyo "privatize"ainting,nd reduce ttoa matterofsubjective leasure.It is not urprising,hen, hat hemain ocusf hebook s onthe hreepainters hose ecturest theRoyalAcademy ttemptedo re-articulatea rationaleorhistoryaintingntheface of thecommercialfacts flife"-the real demand y bourgeoisonsumersor lower" enresikeportraiturend andscape. eadingsfReynolds,arry,ndFuseli ccupyabout wo-thirdsfthebook,with lake,Haydon,nd Hazlitt iven el-atively hort hrift. eynolds mergess the principal igure,he Dis-courses arning microscopiceadinghat asts lmost 00pages, thirdofthebook.Barrell rovideshebestreadingf theDiscourses haveever een,describing eynolds' rojects an attempto shift aintingfrom "rhetorical"o a "philosophical"esthetic,rom n "active" oa"contemplative"nderstandingfthe pectator'sole, nd from notionofpainting'sublic ole s a "political" atter,ooneof communal"nd"social"value.Barrys presenteds themost ogged roponentf the"pure" epublicanheoryfpainting, aintainingutopian aithn areligious/politicaltate-now nderstoods democratic,nti-monarchist,and nti-aristocratic-inhich aintingould lay norganicole. useliemergess a double-voicedigure,"stoic uardianfpublic irtue"p.260)onthe nehand, ratherentimentalvictimfhistory"n he ther.Haydon s treated s the ast hold-outor he civichumanistheory fpainting,ut nhismouth arrell indshis hetoricuitehollow,educedto a "simplifiedomanticism"fgenius-cultsnd false elevation,"s-pousing politics hat s purelycademicsee p. 314).Withmost f hese eadings,arrells nthe nviableositionf implypointingutwhat as been ffacedr gnorednthe exts t hand.WithBlakehe has a slightlyifferentroblem,nd that s the challenge foverturningvenerableraditionfreading lake s a "Romantic,"om-mittedo the cult of unique, ersonal enius. arrell's BlakewithoutRomanticism"urns ut obe muchmore ligned ith eynolds,nd venmore loselywith arry,hanwithHazlitt r the raditionsmposed nhimby iterary omanticists.arrell rovides, think, decisive nter-ventionntheunderstandingf Blake.He is not ttemptingwholesalereinterpretation,ndhis electionndcharacterizationfevidence ouldbequestioned.is claim, ornstance,hatBlake'shostilemarginaliaoReynolds' iscourses an be bracketedff s a "private" iscourse,ncontrasto the public" iscoursef hiscommentaryn Chaucer, eemsto mequitemistaken.hemarginaliarebetter nderstood,n myview,as a kind fgraffiti,deliberateefacementf a publicmonumenthatBlake ntendeds a counter-manifesto.The bracketingf thismaterial



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94 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYSTUDIESalso helps considerablyn Barrell'sattempt o minimize he differencesbetweenBlake and Reynolds.)Barrelldoes not take any account of thechanges n Blake'sviews, s he does for ll the othermajor figuresn hisnarrative; e seems nsensitive o Blake's dialectic, o his ironies, nd tothefigurativeharacter fmanyofBlake's religious laims Blake andBarry omeoutsounding lmost he same, withno accounttakenof thedifferencesetweenBlake's position s a radical dissenter, arry's s aRoman Catholic).But thesereservationsside,this hapter s a refreshingchallenge o thedominant iew of Blake's art theory as formulated yMorrisEaves) and shouldbe required eading or ll Blake scholars.A much argerproblemnBarrell's rgument merges, think, n hisconcluding ages as hesummarizes he"process" nfoldedn his narrativeone last timeand draws ts moral: [ulnthatprocess,"he says, paintingitself ecame steadilymoremarginal,fnotto the private, hen ertainlytoa public ifeevermoredifficultolocate anddefine"pp. 339-40). Myquestion s basicallyoneofgrammar: ow can we speakofsomething s"marginal" o somethinglse thatno longer xists?Barrell ertainly asno desireto bringback the sortof "public ife" that sustained, ither sa realityran ideal,eighteenth-centuryheoriesfpainting. is statementmakes enseonly s kind fprospective,topiannostalgia: e wants newpolitical heory fpainting; e thinks hatwe havenothad any politicaltheory f painting inceHazlitt,so he writes hehistoryf thistheorywith combinationfaffectionnddistaste.He likes hefact hatpaintingwas organically onnectedwithpoliticsnthosedays,but he deplores heactual politics t espousedalmostas much as the "privatization"hatsucceeded t.ThelargeproblemwithBarrell's istory,hen,sits sense f nending,"a closurewhich elescopes verythingfterHazlitt nto heprivate lea-sures f thebourgeois ubject.Thisbecomes learestnthe final entenceswhichbringus downto the present:

At a timewhen here asemerged new all for epresentationalainting,odeliver s fromhefree-for-allfan artwhosemeanings whatevere choose osay tis,and whose alue s a functionf thenumberf nterpretationst doesnot pecificallyrohibit,hewriters e havebeendiscussingfferome ort famodel f how he commonmeaningshat representationalaintingeeks oachievemay e directedowardsublic nds;nd heirrgumentsreworthakingseriously,fonly o that heywillnot e repeated.p. 341)This s historicalmyopianreverse. arrell an see thedistant ast clearly,butonlyfrom perspective hich s utterly lindto the closerpast andpresent) hat ntervenes.he idea that herewasnoarticulationf public,political heory or ny nineteenth-centuryaintingthe pre-Raphaelites?Courbet?)or forModernismVorticism?uturism? uprematism?ur-realism?) s exceeded n implausibilitynlybytheassumptionhat"rep-resentationalainting"will"deliver s" fromnarchy. hisunhappy nd-ingcasts a shadowof doubt over the wholestory hat Barrellhas told.



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REVIEWS 95But t lso uggestsmore isquietinguestion:ow s thatuch ersuasiveand pparentlyccurate istoricalndcriticalnsightsanbeconstructedon uch dubiousmasterarrative?owhat xtentre he ruthsnearthedbyBarrell otmerelyndermined,ut ctuallynabled nd constitutedbythemythhat ringshem o ight?

W J. T. MITCHELLUniversityf Chicago

MORTON D. PALEY. The Apocalyptic ublime.New Haven andLondon:Yale Univ.Press,1986.Pp. xii, 196; 85 b. & w. lls.,7 col.pls. $35.In recent ears, heart of the ate eighteenthndearlynineteenthcenturiesasbeen he ubject fproductiveew pproachesyMichaelFried nd Norman ryson,or rance,nd Ronald aulson or ngland,who ntheir ifferentayshave ooked t paintingsrom he tandpointof inguistic,emantic,ndpsychoanalyticswell s estheticheorynd,inPaulson's ase,ofparallelswith iterature.n his newbook,MortonPaley urns o a theoryhat elongedo theperiodtself,he stheticfthe sublime"ndspecificallyurke'sonceptf terrors a passion p-eratingina mannerhat esemblesctualpain": Whatevers terrible,therefore,ith egardosight,s sublime,oo."Paley's oncerns withanaspect f he ublimef errorhat ecalls he apocalypticublime,"ina selectionfpaintingsmainly,noilorwatercolor;ome rawingsndprintsre lso ncluded)f pisodes romheBook fRevelationnd, essoften,vents fpropheticision r egendaryestructionntheOldTes-tament.he artistsovered ange rom ohn amilton ortimer,hoseDeath on a Pale Horse 1775) Paleyconsidershefirstxample f thegenre or,histerm, he"mode"); hrough enjaminWest, hilippe eLoutherbourg,nd Blake;to Turner, ohnMartin, rancis anby, ndSamuelColman,ll ofwhom ontinuedorkingnto he arlyVictorianperiod.n hisEpilogue aley arries ispursuitsfar sthe ateVictorianLordLeighton.Paley's tudy s focused n the ndividualrtistsnd theirworks,nchronologicalrder,ndthe mountf nformatione s able to marshaland ompressithinfew ages orach n urns mpressive,he roductof extensivecholarlyesearchnthemanyibrariesnd artcollectionslistednhis cknowledgments.owever,n book f ess han wo undredpages he onsequencesfhis electivitynd compressionre not lwayspositive. uestionsaised ntheminds f hisreaders ythevery atureof thetopic emain nanswered,nd the argermplicationsf some fthediscussionsrenot xplored,erhaps ydeliberateecision. ecauseoftherole fBurkeanategoriesnPaley's ormulationfhis hesis, ne

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