W of Visualization The Aesthetics of Caprice: In the Circle

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200 v i s u a l l i t e r a c y

Magdalena Popiel

The Aesthetics of Caprice: In the Circle of Visualization

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hat is it to y o u ? ” Borrow ing a line from the n arra

tor o f Jacques the Fatalist, the scholar o f the caprice could respond, “W hat is it to y o u ?” Such a riposte w ould be b orn not o f the an ti-essen tialist stance o f the scholar, but m ore o f the frustration elicited b y the subject itself.

Caprice capable of speech would likely say the sam e thing as one o f M arivau xs allegorical characters:

I am the Je ne sais quoi that pleases in architecture, in furnishings, in gardens, in everything that can be the object of taste. Do not search for me under a certain form; I have a thousand, and not one w hich is fixed;

that's why one sees me without knowing me, without being able to seize me or define me. I am felt; one cannot lay one's hands on me.1

O bserving the undefined and intangible in other areas than furnishings and gardens is the forte o f both “liquid”

p o stm o d e rn ity an d “so lid ” m odern ity. A t th e daw n o f m odern art history, as w e ll as the b eg in n in g o f cultural

i Pierre d e M arivaux, Le Ca b inet du philosophe, q u o te d in Fran cis X.J.

C o le m a n , The Aesthetic Thought o f the French Enlightenm ent (P itts- burgh: U n ive rsity o f P ittsb u rg h P re ss, 19 7 1), 86.

Magdalena Popiel is a p ro fe sso r at th e D ep artm en t o f A nth ropology o f Literature and Cultural Stu dies in th e Faculty o f Polish S tu d ie s at th e Jagiellonian University. S h e is e n g ag e d in th e stu dy o f th e a e sth e tic s o f m o d ern ism , th e th eo ry and history o f th e novel and Italian literary criticism . A uthor o f th e follow ing books: Historia i metafora (1989), Oblicza wzniosłości Estetyka powieści młodopolskiej (1999), Wyspiański. Mitologia nowoczesnego artysty (2007, 2009); author o f c h ap ters published in V olum e 1 and 2 o f Kulturowa teoria literatury. A m e m b er o f th e editorial board of"P rzestrzen ie Teorii'" C hairw om an o f th e International A sso ciatio n o f Polish Stu d ies. C ontact:

m p op iel@ in teria.p l

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studies, lies the oeuvre of A b y Warburg, and w ithin its boundaries, his fascina- tion w ith the figure of the “unbeen,” or the N ym ph.2 Georges D idi-Huberm an's b ook Ninfa moderna3 opens w ith the ascertainm ent o f the intriguing analogy b etw een these in terests o f W arburg's and the p assio n w ith w h ich Sigm und Freud w rote about Gradiva.4 M ore than just a collection of essays paying hom - age to the m aster, the book is also an application o f m ethodology in spired by cultural anthropology. The Florentine R en aissan ce, w ith its gran d finale in the C lassicist-th em ed paintings o f B otticelli, gave W arburg a field in w hich to explore the “anim ated life” (bewegtes Leben), and the “anim ated accessories”

(bewegtesBeiwerk) o f the figures o f antiquity w h om he recognized in the art of the Q uattrocento. The w in dsw ept hair and flow ing robes along w ith the fluid and lively m ovem ents of the body form ed an instrum entarium of “form s evok- in g p ath os” (Pathosformeln). H uberm an continues this story: a beautiful, free goddess, suspended betw een fluid ity and solidity, betw een rock and air, light as the w ind, a N ym ph, G radiva, is subject to degradation in the m odern era, like Benjam in's aura; she falls figuratively and literally. H uberm an attem pts to show the im ages o f the fem ale body and dress as it changes “like the fTames o f a film ” throughout art and literature up to the P arisian tram ps and the tat- tered clothes dum ped on the street, im m ortalized in photographs o f the 20th urban landscape; these iconographic m otifs intertw ine w ith m ental im ages.5 Memory, desire and tim e assem ble into a configuration o f concepts into which this im aginarium is in scribed.6

The studies conducted b y W arburg, and later P anofsky w ith his concept of pseudom orphosis, w hich dealt w ith in terpenetration o f the C lassical m otifs o f antiquity w ith n e w m eanings derived from the C hristian cultural sphere, and finally D idi-H uberm an's w ritin gs on the im age o f the N ym ph all assum e a particular n on -lin ear continuity betw een cultural phenom ena. This conti- n u ity is possible across chronological and geographical b oundaries, despite radical or even paradoxical changes in the “visu al param eters” and aesthetic quality (for exam ple, the stripping o f pathos or the rem oval o f form ). H uber

m an em phasizes th at w e m u st open our eyes in order to see all th at passes,

2 A m o n g o th e rs, A b y W arburg, „La N ascita di Venere"e„ La P rim avera"di Sandro Botticelli (1893), N im fa fiorentina (1900), W arburg In stitu te A rch ive, London III, 118 , 1.

3 Freu d's s tu d y o f W ilhelm J e n s e n 's novel Gradiva w a s p u b lish ed in 19 07.

4 G e o rg e s D idi-H ub erm an, N infa Moderna. E ssa isu r le drape tom be (Paris: G allim ard, 2002).

5 M o st o f th e im a g e s a n alyzed by D idi-H ub erm an are p h o to g ra p h s o f s tr e e t s s tr e w n w ith s c ra p s o f fo o d and c lo th e s ; th eir a u th o rs includ e Nadar, T h ib au lt, M arville, A tg e t, L. M oholy- N a g y 's Paris and Berlin s e rie s , G. Krull, A. Fleisch er, D. C o lo m b and S. M cQ ueen .

6 D idi-H ub erm an , N in fa Moderna, 12 -13 .

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2 0 2 V I S U A L L I T E R A C Y

and w e m u st close our eyes to see all the relatio n sh ip s, correspon d en ces and sh ifts. In th is sen se, the an th ro p o lo gy o f a rt/im ages b ec o m es poetic knowledge.

A t som e poin t th is ren d ition o f the sto ry o f the N ym ph encou nters the story o f caprice; the w atershed m om ent is the b irth o f m odernity.

The N ym ph in th e C la s s ic a l tra d itio n could take the fo rm o f a C h a ris (G race). In th e a e sth e tic o f the R e n a issa n ce , for e xam p le in th e tre a tise Libro della belta egrazia (15 9 0 ) b y B en ed etto V archi, it is grace th a t b eg in s to function as a category characterized b y the fam ed non so che, different from the kin d o f b ea u ty th at is the d om ain o f re a so n an d n o rm s.7 16 th centu ry cou rtlin ess and its carefree dem eanor com bin ed w ith sprezzatura, or “ stud- ied care le ssn e ss” introduce the caprice into the m odern aestheticization o f everyday life.

A Few R em inders

“C a p ric e :” th is w ord h as retain ed the so n o rity o f its R om ance origin. A c- cording to Italian dictionaries o f art, one m ight regard caprice as an aesthetic concept that is distinguished by its strong anthropological connotations.8 Its large sem antic capacity com bined w ith the diversity o f visualizations associated w ith the w ord m ake caprice an attractive neighbor for m elancholy and grandeur, am ong others.

The exception al breadth o f m ean in g found in the w ord “ cap rice” can be illustrated b y three exam ples o f its diam etrically different sem antic values:

- in the slightly archaic discourse o f love, caprice can appear in the passive or active aspect: to be capricious or to be the victim o f som eone else's capriciousness;9

- caprice can be light or dark: som etim es it is cheerful, sophisticated and light, but it can also be paired w ith negative context, tinged w ith dark- ness, suffering and death; it is the space that divides A lfred de M usset's Un Caprice and de Laclos' LesLiaisons dangereuses;

- there is also the caprice in its w e ak and stron g form s, th at is the c a price o f a child, a w om an or an ill person, or the caprice o f Fate or God.

“A capricious God,” how ever, is an anthropom orphically m arked term .

7 W ła d y s ła w T a tark iew icz, History ofA esthetics, vo l. 3 , t ra n s. C h e s te r A . Kisiel (The H ague: M ou- ton , 1974).

8 A m o n g o th e rs, Dizionario enciclopedico dell'arte, e d . Flavio Caroli (Milan: M on dad ori 2008);

Dizionario di estetica, e d . Gianni C arch ia, e t al (Rom e, Bari: GLF Editori, 2005); Enciclopedia delfArte Z an ich elli (B o logn a: Zan ich elli, 2004).

9 S e e "T resor d e L an g u e F ra n c a ise In fo rm a tise,” h ttp ://atilf.atilf.fr.

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Is the caprice o f G od thus an anthropom orphization o f the concept o f Fate in teleological philosophy, or contrarily, is the caprice o f a person the con sequen ce o f the h u m an experience o f the caprices o f Fate, the fickleness and random ness o f the outside w orld that becom es interior- ized by the hum an?

In the artistic term inology used in the Polish tradition, caprice m ost com - m only refers to a m usical genre: a capriccio is a fan tasia build on an im itative structure, a kind o f scherzo, a m asterly etude (the in ternational m aster being Pagan ini, and G rażyn a B acew icz in Poland). In Italian and French culture, capriccio takes the foreground as a genre o f pain tin g as w e ll as an extrava- gant or frivolous architectural form (such as the villa in C om illas designed by A nton io Gaudi).

Figurative D epictions o f C aprice

C aprice, like grace, w as p art o f the v isu a l dom ain. W ła d ysła w T atarkiew icz referred to Lord K am es, or H e n ry H om e, w ho argued th at “grace is acces- sible only to the eye.”1° A n allegorical visualization o f C aprice can be found in C esare R ip a s Iconologia, w h ich is both a su m m ary o f the earlier allegori- cal trad itio n and a m od el for the n ext tw o centuries. C ap rice is presen ted alongside m any other representations o f feelings: Fear, A nger, Wonder. The em blem atic rep resen tation o f caprice clearly em phasizes such qualities as w eird n ess, v a riab ility and fantasy. The allegorical figure o f caprice is a b oy in colorful garb, w earing a hat adorned w ith feathers. R ipa thus explains the m eaning of this garm ent: “His youth shows his inconstancy; his habit his fick

leness. H is cap show s that such variety o f unaccountable actions are princi- pally in the Fancy.”” The transfer o f these qualities onto our knowledge of m an leads to the follow ing characterization: “A capricious person is he w ho follows ideas that differ from those com m only found am ong people, w ho indulge in different actions, only to jum p from one to the other, even i f th ey are o f the sam e type.”i2 A lon g w ith the concepts o f caprice in the allegorical tradition, there are also im ages o f caprice created in the l6 th century that em phasize the im agination and craftsm anship o f the artist.13

10 W ła d y s ła w T a ta rk ie w icz , A H istory o f Six Ideas: An E ssay in A esthetics, tra n s. C h risto p h e r K as- parek (The H ague: Njihoff, 19 8 0 ), 170.

11 C e s a re Ripa, Iconologia, tra n s. P ierce T e m p e st (London: B en jam in M o tte , 1709), 11.

12 C e s a re Ripa, Iconologia (Rom e: A p p re s so Lepido Facij, 159 3), 48.

1 3 O ne o f th e s o u rc e s o f A rcim b o ld o 's a rt w a s his in te re st in th e w eird c re a tio n s o f n atu re and h u m an s. T h eir e x tra o rd in a rin e ss o fte n s te m s fro m th e fa c t o f th eir b e in g liminal fo rm s, hy-

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C aprice becom es an in alien able com ponent o f the R enaissance m annerism , one o f the m ost in triguin g fruits o f w h ich w as the w ork o f A rcim boldo and later A rcim b o ld ian art. A lle g o ric al portraits such as The Librarian, The Lawyer and R udolf IIa s Vertumnus re ly on a sim ple gam e o f an alo g ies b ased on the shapes and sym bolism of objects, as w ell as the m asterful craftsm an- ship o f the artist. R eversible pain tin gs such as LOrtolano (The Vegetable Gar- dener) b elong to an em erging art tren d o f em ployin g optical illu sio n s.14 The p e rm eatio n o f m ate rial objects, p lan ts, an im als and h u m an form s creates a capricious w orld o f variab le im ages and m ean in gs. T h is ph en om en on is also a p p aren t in th e anth ropom orph ic lan d scap e th a t em erges in the lat- ter h a lf o f the l6 th century, lead in g to the d evelop m en t o f the trompe-lteil.

Bizarre anthropom orphic form s found in nature th en becom e the subject of visu al creativity. It is no w onder that th is form o f fan tasy caught the interest o f 20th century surrealists (Andre Breton and Salvador D ali); it em phasizes w e ird n e ss and pecu liarity, w o n d e rfu ln e ss tin ged w ith w on d er, m en acin g g ro tesq u e and m ag ic - m ag ic th a t co m es from e so teric k n o w le d g e, as in the art o f A rcim b oldo, or the m agic o f the m ystery o f the sub conscious discovered b y Freud.

T he co n n ectio n b e tw e e n M a n n e rism an d S u rre a lism w a s poin ted out n ot only b y the French founders o f the avan t-gard e m ovem ent, but also by art h istorian s and literary scholars. Jan M ukarovsky observed th at a sim ilar m ontage technique w as u sed b y A rcim b oldo and b y N ezval in The Absolute Gravedigger.15 In the tre a tise U ber Greco und den Manierismus, M a x D vorak reveals p re m ise s an alog ou s to the d o w n fall o f culture in M a n n e rism and in the 2 0 th ce n tu ry in te rw a r p erio d . R e ca llin g th is in te rp reta tive correspon den ces, Jo s e f V ojvodik links th ese b o d y -in cru sta tio n s or body/h ead- lan d scap es to the eradication o f the b ou n d ary b etw een the m icrocosm and the m acrocosm , and nature and m an in the pain tin gs o f Salvador D ali, M ax E rn st and Rene M agritte.™

brids or m o n ste rs o f th e s o rt th a t ca n be fo u n d in th e s tu d ie s o f g ro te s q u e fig u re s by B osch and G ia m b a ttista Della P o rta 's H u m an a Physiognom ia (1586); t h e y are , in a n u m b e r o f w a y s , an illu stration o f th e i6 th c e n tu ry h um an im a g in a tio n 's te n d e n c y to p ro je c t m e ta m o rp h o s e s .

14 S e e Roland B a rth e s, Arcim boldo ou rhetotiqueur et m agicien , in Oeuvres com pletes, vo l. 3 , ed.

Eric M a rty (Paris: Seuil, 19 9 5), 4 9 3 - 5 11.

15 Jan M uk arovsk y, "S e m a n tic k y rozbor b a sn ic k e h o dfla: N e z va lu v A b so lutni hrobar" in Kapitoly z c e s k e poetiky, vo l. 2 (P ragu e: S v o b o d a , 19 48). T h e a u th o r o m its, h o w ev er, th e key link in this tra d itio n , n a m e ly th e 1 8th c e n tu ry im a g e s o f va rio u s p ro fe ss io n s th a t d e p ic te d th e co m p o sition o f to o ls c o rre sp o n d in g to p articu lar tra d e s.

16 J o s e f V ojvodik, " Ś w ia t strac h u i s tra c h przed ś w ia te m w c z esk im su rre a liz m ie lat trz y d z ie sty c h i c z te rd z ie s ty c h ,” Teksty Drugie 6 (2007).

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C aprices and V edute. Toward th e Em ancipation o f A rt

The term “caprice” first appeared in the w ritin g o f V asari and, as is often the case w ith w ords that go dow n in the h istory o f culture, its original m eaning w a s negative, sim ilar to “grotesq u e” (from raccpriccio: shock, terror). V asari u ses the w ord to describe ancient and m odern artists w ho violate the rules o f m im ickin g nature. The C o u n ter-R eform ation , during w h ich artists w ho m ade capricious w orks o f art w ere accused o f ignorance and lies, entrenched the negative m eaning o f the word.

C a p ric io u sn e ss in p ain tin g , or, p u t b riefly, a fa n ta stic lan d sca p e , w a s born out o f the ved u ta.17 The veduta, or a picture o f place p ain ted in nature, w as enorm ously popular in the visu al arts in the unique circum stan ces that arose during Europe's cultural opening and w ere tie d to the in creased m o- b ility o f its in h abitan ts. C reatin g a n e w cu stom k n ow n as the G rand Tour, th e E n g lish , S c a n d in a v ia n s, G e rm a n s and th e F ren ch se t o ff on vo yages to the South. It w a s for th ese educated trav e le rs th a t the first g u id e s and collections o f vedute w ere w ritte n and painted. T h is genre o f pain tin g w as thus b orn out o f a specific social need, and its in form ative function - w hich stem m ed from the requ irem en t th at the artist rem ain faith fu l to nature - appears dom inant.

The p eculiar aesthetic te n sio n b etw een vedute and caprices, or betw een the realism o f depiction and attem pts to disrupt it, p erfectly illustrates cer- ta in paths fo llo w ed b y art. W h en lookin g at a p ain tin g, it is often difficult to d iscern w h ether it is a ved u ta or a fan tastic lan d scap e, p articu larly i f it lacks any e asily recognizable architectural form s. So m etim es it is only the title con tain in g the term “ cap rice” that conveys to the vie w er the fact that th e a rtist h a s d isp e n se d w ith the ru le s o f s im p ly m im ick in g natu re. It is a sig n o f the stan ce o f the artist, w h o w is h e s to e xercise h is righ t to free im ag in atio n on th at sp ecific can vas. A n in te re stin g 17 6 6 p ain tin g b y B e- lotto titled Architectural Capriccio with a Self-Portrait sh ow s th at th e genre o f the caprice w as a typ e o f m anifesto o f artistic freedom . The p iece is a rather extraord in ary com b in ation o f a se lf-p o rtrait w ith a capriccio. In the back- ground, on one o f the w alls o f an odd b uilding, the pain ter h as placed part o f a poem b y H orace that p raises the freedom o f the artist/18

17 Early fo rm s o f c a p ric c io are visib le in th e w o rk o f B aro q u e a rtis ts su c h a s S a lv a to re Rosa, G iovanni P aolo Pannini and M arco Ricci, a s w ell a s S te fa n o della Bella, w h o is m e n tio n e d in Ja c q u e s C allo t's M icrocosm o d ellap ittu ra (1657).

18 N o te th a t th e fa n ta stic s p a c e is c o m p le te d by th e u su rp in g g e s tu re o f th e a rtist, w h o d e p ic ts h im s e lf d r e s se d in th e fin e g a rm e n ts o f a V en etian n o b lem an . It is n ot on ly th e s p a c e th a t has b e e n sh a p e d by th e p ainter, b u t a lso th e m ain c h a ra c te r o f th e p iece.

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In the l8 th century, artists becam e “ depositaries and som etim es proph- ets o f the freed o m d isgraced on th e b attlefie ld s.’”19 The im p o rta n ce o f art th a t strive s to e scap e th e rig id co n fin es o f c la ssic a l d iscip lin e in cre a se s sign ifican tly. No lon ger u n d e rsto o d in te rm s o f th e lan g u age o f p ow er, it ach ieves a statu s eq uated w ith the in cre a sin g ly in d ep en d en t lan gu age o f the artist.

The departure from the faithful im age o f space occurred in variou s w ays in the l8 th century. U rban lan d scapes w ere o f particular in terest. The p ic tu re cou ld d ep ict a fa n ta stic sy n th e sis o f a ctu al u rb an a rch itectu ral ele- m en ts, or rep resen tatio n s o f re a l buildin gs com b in ed w ith in vented frag- m ents. The form er typ e o f capriccio w as a kin d o f m u seu m collection that encom passed w ith in the pain tin g a set o f ch aracteristic architectural form s found m ain ly in Rom e, Padua and V enice.2° The space o f capricious w orks is a chessb oard in w h ich the m ovem ent o f re alistically treated form s is the b asic gesture o f a player creating a n ew reality. The p ain tings conjured up by the artist rem ain w ith in the bou n d aries o f p ro bab ility in the contem porary u rban landscape.21

Capricious paintings use the fram ew ork o f the landscape convention as an em pty form that can often be filled w ith various elem ents u sing a technique sim ilar to that o f the collage. In the l8 th century, the m ain current o f this style o f pain tin g w a s h ead ed in tw o directions. O ne em ph asized the decorative value o f art, u sin g it as an orn am en tal m o tif in in terio rs and on furniture.

A n entire school o f fu rn itu re-m akin g em erges that specializes in im agined landscape-them ed intarsia.22 Other artists aim ed to fill the space o f the lan d scape w ith new sem antics associated w ith the key m o tif o f the ruin. Betw een the sentim ental painterliness o f the m ain ly Italian ruins and the freneticism discovered in them b y G erm an Rom anticism , there is room for the aesthetic of

19 Je a n S ta ro b in sk i, W ynalezienie w olności 1700-1789, tra n s. M aryna O ch ab (G dańsk: sło w o /o b ra z te ry to ria , 2006), 15 .

20 M ore c o m m o n are c a p ricci th a t c o m b in e re a listic and fa n t a s t ic e le m e n ts ; in a p ain tin g by C a n a le tto , fo r e x a m p le , th e b a ck g rou n d o f th e p an o ra m a o f a fic titio u s c ity in clu d e s th e V icen - za c a th e d ra l and th e to w e r s o f P ad u a, w h ile F ra n c e sc o Guardi in tro d u ced Rom an arc h ite c tu re into th e b a ck g rou n d o f a n o n d e sc rip t c ity. T h e a rtist's im ag in atio n w o u ld c h a n g e th e location o f c e rta in sp atial e le m e n ts , a s in C a n a le tto 's Capriccio (1743), in w h ic h th e fa m o u s q u ad rig a o f S t. M a rk s B asilica is t ra n sfe re d to individual p e d e s t a ls sta n d in g in fro n t o f th e D oge's Palace.

21 S e e Roland Kanz, D ie Kunst des Capriccio. Kreativer Eigensinn in R e n aissan ce und Barok (Mu- nich: D e u tsc h e r K u n stverla g , 2002); C olin Eisler "La T e m p e sta di G io rg io n e. Il prim o „c a p ric c io ” della p ittu ra v e n e z ia n a ,” Arte Veneta 59 (2002): 85-97.

22 S e e , a m o n g o th e rs, "S c e n a e c a p ric c io nelle ta rsie del lab o rato rio di Ignazio e Ligi Ravelli e b a n - isti,” Studi Piem ontesi 26 (1997): 38 3-39 0 .

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caprice in the w ork of such painters as Alessandro M agnasco, Luca Carlevaris, C analetto, A nton io and Francesco Guardi.

R uins w ith elem ents typ ical o f an cien t and ren aissan ce b uildings, such as colonnades, terraces, galleries, p orticoes and arcades are dow nright em - b lem atic departu res from the h arm o n y and sym m e try o f cla ssica l beauty.

The h egem ony o f order w a s to be replaced b y an in distin ct dyn am ic o f lines fo rm in g the outline o f an irregu lar shape. The rocks o f a ru in grad u ally give w a y to vegetatio n , th u s in te n sify in g the se n sa tio n o f rag ge d form . In The Analysis o f Beauty, W illia m H ogarth p ra ises the line, capab le o f “lead[in g]

the eye [into] a k in d o f ch ase.” A t tim e s the p ecu liar lan d scap e resem b les the effect o f an arabesque. The accu m ulation o f architectural elem ents and p la n ts w ith in th e sp ace o f the p a in tin g d oes n o t elim in a te th e se m an tic level; on the contrary, it o ften falls into grandiloquence. The m ost im portant sentence uttered in this capricious narrative pertain s to the special m arriage o f culture and nature, perm eatin g each other in con stan t m etam orph osis.

In its fu lly co n scio u s artificiality, cap rice is close to th e th eater; con n ectio n s b e tw e e n th is style o f p a in tin g and se t d e sign w e re rem ark ed upon b y con tem porary aesthetes. The capriccio is a form th at affects the view er w ith the oddity o f its ju xtap osition s, som etim es its disproportions, and the am bigu ity o f its shapes and m eanings.

The genre, w h ich ow es m uch to the extravagance o f M annerism , finds its e xten sion in the w ork s o f G iovan n i B attista Piran esi. In Carceri d'Invenzione, the arch itectu ral caprice ach ieves the level o f a m asterp iece an d m ystery.

G eo rg e s P ou let devoted an e xten siv e stu d y to th e in flu en ce o f P iran esi's caprices on the im ag in ation o f French R om antic poets.23 From De Q uincey w ith h is Confessions o f an English Opium-Eater, through B audelaire, A lfre d de M u sset, V icto r H ugo an d T h e o p h ile G au tier, to M a lla rm e as w e ll as Ku- b in an d K afk a after him , literatu re is fu ll o f v is io n s o f e n d le ss sta irca ses and scaffoldings, a sp id erw eb o f ruins and m ach in es. P iran esi is likely the first pain ter to apply the form o f capriccio to the exploration o f the hum an psyche so evocatively and pow erfully. The exten sio n o f this a rtistic current s e e s th e ap p earan ce o f one m ore w o rk o f art: G o ya's Caprichos. Th e date o f th eir pub lication , 17 9 9 , can be con sidered sym bo lic. The concept o f the caprice is separated from the trad itio n s asso ciated w ith vedute, putting at the center o f the m ean in g the artist's clear right to u n bridled im agination;

a fully individualized system o f em otions com bines w ith a m oral sen sib ility and a sense o f resp on sib ility for the fate o f the com m unity. C aprice rem ains a gesture o f em an cipation for the artist, y e t it is tin ged w ith fear, suffering,

23 G e o rg e s P ou le t, "P ira n ese e t les p o e t e s ro m a n tiq u e s fra n ę a is,” L a N o u v elleR ev u eFranęaise 160 (1966), 6 6 0 -6 71.

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evil and death, not unlike the entire l8 th century, w h ich ends w ith cries of freedom and the clank o f the gu illotin e.24

The C aprice o f th e Eye

The h isto ry o f caprice as it developed in the genre o f pain tin g d epicts the entire d iversity and ficklen ess o f m ean in gs ascribed to the term . A w eirdly m ean d erin g aesthetic aw aren ess com p elled a rtists over several centuries to u se the w ord to b ind together pain tings th at reached into different parts o f the im agination. N ot only w as the choice o f figurative and landscape forms captured in the process o f m etam orphosis, fluid tran sition from one reality to another, interpreted b y the notion o f caprice, but so w as the very process by w hich paintings w ere perceived and created.

In his concept o f the im age, H ans Belting assum es a special p rim ariness o f pictures in the lives o f people: “We live w ith pictures and w e un derstand the w orld through pictures.” 25 Pictures that are in divisib ly dual: the external and internal im age rem ains both a product o f our perception and the fruit of personal or collection sym bolization.

This w ay o f thinking about people through w hat H uberm an calls an “epi- dem ic o f im ages” can be found in the w ork o f G aston Bachelard. H is absolu- tization o f the im age applied to m ore th an ju st the poetic im agin ation that evokes the four elem ents. Earlier, in 19 3 3 , Bachelard published a study titled

24 In th e la te 1 8th c en tu ry , in 17 9 3 , Friedrich Sch iller p u b lish ed th e e s s a y "On G ra c e and D ignity,”

w h ic h e x am in ed th e re latio n sh ip b e tw e e n t h e s e tw o c a te g o r ie s in a m a n n e r c h a ra c te ristic o f th e a n th ro p o lo g ica l a e s t h e t ic o f R o m a n ticism . Sch iller w rite s th a t "G ra ce , th e re fo re , can on ly c h a ra c te riz e w illful m o v e m e n ts , b u t also , a m o n g t h e s e , on ly th o s e w h ic h e x p re ss moral s e n tim e n ts . (...) T h e b eau tifu l soul h as no o th e r m e rit, th an th a t it is. With su c h e a s e , a s if m ere in stin ct w e re a c tin g o u t o f it, it ca rrie s o u t th e m o st painful d u tie s o f h u m an ity, and th e m o st heroic sa c rific e w h ic h it e x a c t s fro m n atural im p u lse c o m e s to v ie w like a v o lu n ta ry e ffe c t o f ju s t th is im p u lse . H en ce, th e b e a u tifu l soul k n o w s n oth in g o f th e b e a u ty o f its d e e d s ” ("On G ra c e and D ignity,” tra n s. G e o rg e G reg o ry, in Friedrich Schiller: Poet o f Freedom (W ash in gton DC: S c h iller In stitu te, 19 92), 34 0 , 368). S c h iller a n a ly z e s th e m e a n in g o f th e b e lt o f g ra c e - an a ttrib u te o f V en us w h ic h s h e , in h er b e n e v o le n c e , ca n g ra n t to o th e r g o d d e s s e s or m o rta ls (recall th e m u ltiple m e a n in g s o f th e w o rd "g ra c e ”). A c c o rd in g to his in te rp reta tio n , g ra c e has five q u alities: 1. it is a c h a n g e a b le b e a u ty ; 2. it is a fo rtu ito u s b e a u ty ; 3. it is th e b e a u ty o f m o ve- m e n t; 4. it o p e ra te s m agically; 5. it is c o m p a re d to o b je c ts t h a t are le ss b eau tifu l or e ve n th o se th a t a re n o t b e a u tifu l. O n e c a n n o t help b u t o b se rv e th a t S c h iller's g ra c e h a s m u ch in co m m o n w ith B au d elaire's m o d e rn b e a u ty . It a p p e a r s in b o th in s ta n c e s a s an o p p o sin g m e m b e r to p er

m a n e n t, a b s o lu te b e a u ty , w h ic h Sch iller re fe rs to a s "arc h ite cto n ic b e a u ty .” In an in te re stin g c o in c id e n c e , in bo th c a s e s th e im a g e o f w o m e n 's c lo th in g s e r v e s a s a p oin t o f d e p a rtu re for th e im ag in atio n .

25 H ans B eltin g , An A n th ro po lo g yo f Im ages, (P rinceton : P rin ceton U n ive rsity P re ss, 2011).

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The World as Caprice and Miniaturek6 This “philosopher o f the m om ent and the u n end in g,” as B ło ń ski d escribed h im ,27 could only find h is w ay, in the end, to the realm o f caprice. “The psyche is hun gry for im ages, and the w orld is the appetite o f m an,” said the author o f The Poetics o f Reverie. R everie can n ot be described w ithout reference to the m echanism o f desire; the im age is a “m e- diation b etw e e n ou rselves and our w an tin g.”28 The in stru m en t th a t is the m iniaturization o f the w orld takes part in the creation o f this im age.

The fact that our sight is the interpretation o f reality through the fTame of a w in dow has been know n since the discovery o f linear perspective in the Re- naissan ce. T his type o f perspective, w h ich Pan ofsky describes as a sym bolic form,29 constructs a space that is ordered and hom ogeneous. The reality that is subject to the rational rules of geometrization is a product of the “im mobile eye.”

Bachelard, in describing his w orld as a caprice, refers back to a diam etrically opposite tradition. The capricious gaze that shapes a flickering, m oving, changing im age stem s from tw o sources: the direct rooting o f visualization in the m atter o f the body and the sphere o f desire. C aprice is a p rim ary form of the subject's intuition in its traum atic, m iraculous and m agical dim ensions;

it is the w ill to visu alize objects in a w a y th at m iracu lo u sly su sp en d s their in ertia: “it is the com m an d in g pow er th at en tertain s its e lf b y ro tatin g the kaleidoscope of distant m iniatures [...] Long before hum ans incarnated Homo faber, it w as Puer lusor w ho p ossessed the w orld w ith his toy.”3°

The n otion o f caprice in Bachelard's con cept has a v a rie ty o f anthropological im p lication s. The author con trasts caprice w ith the force o f action, a vo lu n tary activity th at evalu ates it in an am biguous, am bivalen t way. He em phasizes that it is the youthful energy o f caprice, and not the pow er o f ac

tivity, that shapes the self-aw areness in its plurality and freedom . The fantasy o f caprice allow s us a chance to abandon the d istan t and in differen t world.

The distance th at form s in the im m obile structure o f the “v ie w through the w in d o w ” is elim inated, and w e can once again experience individual objects and find ourselves in side the cosm os.

26 G a sto n B ach elard "Le M o n d e c o m m e c a p ric e e t m in iatu re,” R e cherchesPhilo sop hiq u es3 (19 33

19 34 ), q u o ted in B ach e lard , "Il m o n d o c o m e c a p ric c io e m in iatu re,” e d . Flavia C o n te (Milano:

C laudio G allon e, 1997).

27 Jan B ło ń sk i Introduction to G a sto n B ach elard , W yobraźnia poetycka. Wybór pism , ed. H enryk C hu dak, tra n s. H enryk C hu dak and A n na T a ta rk ie w icz (W arszaw a: PIW, 19 75), 15 .

28 B ach e lard , W yobraźnia poetycka.

29 Erw in P an ofsk y, "D ie P e rsp e k tiv e a ls 'sy m b o lisc h e Form ',” Vortrage der Bibliotek Warburg, vo l. 4, (1924 -1925), 25 8 -330 .

30 B ach e lard , Il mondo com e capriccio e m iniature, 8.

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2 1 0 v i s u a l l i t e r a c y

The World a s C aprice - G eorg Sim m el's A e sth etic o f Lightness

Traditional depictions o f caprice are stron gly linked to the im age o f a place that is som etim es regarded at once as the caprice o f nature and civilization:

Venice. In his description o f Venice and the surrounding islan ds in Iconologia, C esare Ripa used the term capricci lagunari. The ragged, irregular line that m e- anderingly and un certainly m arks the b oundary betw een sea and land m ade the association w ith the caprice o f nature unavoidable. This bizarre quirk of nature posed a challenge to the im agination, w hich, at the tim e, w as preoccupied w ith so lid ifyin g im ages o f the rad ical separatio n b etw een land and w ater in the landscape o f our planet.

In later n arratives about V enice, caprice b eco m es a C assire ria n w a y o f sym bolically perceiving the city, an aspect o f descriptions striving to uncov- er its m ystery. G eorg Sim m el also searches for his ow n truth about Venice.3i To h im the c ity h as the am bigu ou s b ea u ty o f adventure and ro o tlessn ess;

a o ne-dim ensional superficiality, a fickle and at once seem ingly illusory vari- ability at the defining features of capricious Venice. The unnoticeable overlap- ping o f the seasons, “the green o f its few gardens rooted som ew here in stone or in the air, or perhaps rootless, is n ot subject to change,” “the city belongs n eith er to the land or the w a te r;” its n u m erous b rid ges n eith er divide nor connect anything, and the “narrow Venetian streets slither over the countless bridges as if they w ere flat roads.” A ll o f this m akes Venice an

“artificial city” w here everyone m oves as if on stage; preoccupied w ith vain dreams or endeavors that lead to nothing, they incessantly emerge from behind corners, only to im m ediately disappear around the next one, and they always have in them som ething of an actor who is nothing off stage, as it is only on stage that the gam e is played, with no cause in the reality o f the previous m om ent and no effect in the reality o f the next m om ent.32

S im m e ls capriccio, describin g an alm ost fan tastic V en etian land scape, contains a crucial conclusion. Venice

has becom e a sym bol o f exceptional order about the form s o f our understanding of the world: here is a surface that has abandoned the soil,

31 G e o rg Sim m el, "W en e cja ,” in S im m el, M ost i drzwi. Wybór esejów, tra n s. M a łg o rz a ta Ł u k asie - w ic z (W arszaw a: O ficyn a N au k o w a, 2006).

32 Ibid., 18 0 .

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a pretense in w hich there is no being, and yet it presents itself as som e- thing com plete and substantial, as the contents o f a life actually being lived.33

Sim m el does n o t like V enice, but he is captivated by Florence, because “art is perfect, far from an y artificiality o n ly w h en it b eco m es som ething m ore than art” - such is Florence. A n d yet it is Venice that becom es the discovery o f a n ew w ay o f understanding the w orld. A surface that does not refer to any depth, but creates instead the autonom ous and real content o f life. Capricious Venice, Sim m el's capriccio veneziano becom es a prefiguration o f the aesthetic o f lightness and o f the fluid p ostm odern world.

A ccording to G eorges D idi-H uberm an, w e m ust open our eyes to feel ca

price. It is then that w e w ill see h ow caprice builds the fan tastic landscape of nature and architecture, h ow it assum es hum an form s, h ow it draws the map o f the world. But w e m ust then close our eyes so that it m ay give rise to w hat M ilan Kundera called “a capricious cluster,” at once light and unbearable.

Translation: Arthur Barys

33 Ibid., 18 2 .