Absent Look. Edouard Manet and Timothy Clark’s Theory of Modernism

Abstract

The paper considers issues of interpretation of Edouard Manet’s oeuvre in the context of the Modernist theory of art. The focus is on the Anglo-American theoretical tradition. The author traces the evolution of Modernist conceptions in the American study of art (from Formalism to “New Art History”). Emphasis is given to Timothy Clark’s “Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers” (1984) and its evaluation from the Post-Structuralist point of view. The author concentrates on the key metaphors and mythological constructs of Clark’s text (flatness, literalness, the society of the spectacle, ideology, class, uncertainty, and resistance to interpretation). T. J. Clark’s theory of modernism is analyzed in connection with reductionist and negativist strategies in the modern humanities. T. J. Clark’s attitude to the Formalist tradition and Clement Greenberg’s heritage is examined. The main Marxist conceptions, developed in the works of Marx, Benjamin, and Adorno (alienation, reification, fetishism), have their analogies in aestheticism, formalism and modernism. This is the reason why Clark’s interpretation quite naturally supplements the existing scientific literature on the subject. Specific attention is given to the semiotic element in Clark’s Marxism. The author speaks of the advantages of Manet’s interpretation in Jacques Derrida’s vocabulary of notions (absence / presence, différance, and deconstruction). Particular importance is paid to Manet’s links to Primitivist strategies and eighteenth-century art. The author comes to the conclusion that Marxism can be interpreted as a cultural phenomenon and Modernist hypertext. According to this logic, Clark transforms Marxist theory into a system of metaphors projecting it onto concrete artistic material. The paper is part of the author’s project investigating the origins of modernist / avant-garde art.