Art in Crisis: The Lost Center 1412806070, 9781412806077

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RT CRISIS in

GOY A: DRAWING FOR TITLE PAGE OF LOS CAPRICHOS 'When reason dreams, monsters are born.' (See page 141.)

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With a new Introduction by Roger Kimball

Hans Sedlmayr

RT CRISIS 1n

The Lost Center Translated by Brian Battershaw

~~ ~~o~;~~~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK

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Originally published in 1957 by Hollis and Carter limited, London. Published 2007 by Transaction Publishers

Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business New material this edition copyright © 2007 by Taylor & Francis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2006050058 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sedlmayr, Hans, 1896[Verlust der Mitte. English] Art in crisis : the lost center / Hans Sedlmayr ; with a new introduction by Roger Kimball; translated by Brian Battershaw. p. cm. Translation of: Verlust der Mitte. Salzburg : O. Miiller, 1951. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-4128-0607-0 (alk. paper) 1. Art, European—19 century. 2. Art, European—20th century. 3. Art—Philosophy. I. Title. N66757.S4413 709'.03—dc22

2006 2006050058

ISBN 13: 978-1-4128-0607-7 (pbk) Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this book but points out that some imperfections from the original may be apparent.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold... W. B. Yeats

CONTENTS TRA..:~SACTION INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

xiii I

TheTheme . • Limitations of the Thesis

I

s

Part One SYMPTOMS

I. NEW

MASTER PROBLEMS •

The Withering of the old Composite W orlcs of Art The Landscape Garden The Architectural Monument . The Museum . . . . Utilitarian and Domestic Architecture Domestic Building . The Theatre . The Exhibition . Theatre and Exhibition The House of the Machine Summary

ll.

lll.

THE SEARCH FOR A LOST STYLE

All Tasks claim Equality of Status . . . . . The Egalitarianism of the first Architecture of the Revolution Stylistic Compromise: Neo-Hellenism and Neo-Gothic Pluralism of Styles . . . . The Neo-Renaissance as a total Restoration The Rise of Technical Architecture . Egalitarianism of the Second Revolution: The New Building Reaction: Neo-Classicism as a Mask . The Beginnings of a new Pluralism . Party Warfare of Style in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

9 I I

14

20

27 32

35

38 47 54 54

58

6o 62 65 66 68 70 72 73 75 76 77

THE ISOLATION OF THE ARTS

79

The 'Pure' Garden . Autonomous Architecture Pure Sculpture The Art of the Line Drawing

8o 8o 82 83

Contents The Art of Pure Drawing and the Silhouette Pure Painting . . . . . . . Extrusion from Painting of the Element of Architecture Pictures confined to the purely visible · . . . 'Absolute Painting', 'Absolute Drawing' and 'Absolute Sculpture' • . . . . . By-products of the Picture's disintegration The Death of the Composite Work of Art The Death of Iconology . The Death of the Ornament • The Dissolution of the Boundaries of Art

IV. THE ATTACK ON ARCHITECTURE The Garden Revolution, the Dethronement of Architecture . Artificial Ruins . The First (Unconscious) Revolution against Architecture The Revolution continues underground The Revolt of the Ornament against Architecture The Second Revolution against Architecture: The Denial of the Earth Base Unstable Architecture . The Abolition of Architecture .

v. THE

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRAGMENT

The Torso

VI. CHAOS UNLEASHED .

.

Page

83 84 85 86

95 95 96

97 102 102 104 108 109 II2

113 II6

The Revolution in Painting The Demons {Goya) . The Desolation of Man {C. D. Friedrich) Man Distorted (The Caricature) The Meaninglessness of the World {Grandville) Pure Seeing (Cezanne) . . Unfettered Painting and Chaos . The Chaos of Total Decay

116 117 121 124 127 129 135 141

Part Two DIAGNOSIS AND PROGRESS OF THE DISEASE VII. 'ANALOGIA MORBI' . The Loss of the Mean The Flight from Humanism Away from Man

147 152 153 156

Contents Descent to the Inorganic Descent to the Chaotic

'Analogia Morbi' VIII.

'AuTONOMous' MAN

AT THE ORIGINS OF THE PRESENT

Deism and its Consequences The Pantheism of Holderlin Anti-theism Causes of the Disturbance

X.

PRECURSORS oF MoDERN ART.

Demonism and the Late Romanesque Bosch and the Kingdom of Hell Mannerism and the Nearness of Death Bruegel and the Degradation of Man Summary

XI.

170 I7I

173 175 I77

177 178 r8r r8r

r84 84 86 189 I

I

192

194

THE THREE ARTISTIC REVOLUTIONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 196

Rococo . England's Role French Revolution Summary

XII.

r6o 165 167

170

The Problem of Causes The Disturbance is Total Autonomous Art and Autonomous Man Structure of the Disturbance

IX.

Page

197 199 200 200

FROM THE LIBERATION OF ART TO THE NEGATION OF ART 202

The Course of the Disease First Phase (r77D-1830) Second Phase (r83o-r84o) Third Phase (r84o-r885) . Fourth Phase (Latent from r885, Overt since 1900) The Agents of the Process The Present

203 204 205 205 206 206 207

Part Three TOWARDS A PROGNOSIS AND A FINAL JUDGEMENT

XIII.

AN EVALUATION OF THE EPOCH

2II

Contents Page XIV. TowARDs AN EvALUATION OF MoDERN ART •

Artistic Standards In Defence of the Extremists XV. MODERN ART AS THE FOURTH PHASE OF WESTERN ART

First Phase: God-Temporal Rule; Pre-Romanesque and Romanes