George Roque - Writing/Drawing/Color

Writing/Drawing/Color
Author(s): Georges Roque and Caroline Weber
Source: Yale French Studies, No. 84, Boundaries: Writing & Drawing (1994), pp. 43-62
Published by: Yale University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930179 .
Accessed: 27/10/2011 09:51
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Yale University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Yale French
Studies.
http://www.jstor.org
GEORGES ROQUE
Color
Writing/Drawing/
I wantyoungpeoplestarting
outin paintingtodayto observewhatis
beingdonebyhandwriting
instructors;
thesemenstartoutby
teachingtheformofletterswhichtheAncientscalled"elements,"
and thentheyteachthesyllablesandfinallythecompositionof
words.May ourownpaintingstudentsfollowthisrulein orderto
learnhow to paint...
-Alberti, Treatiseon Painting
WhenI writetheword"wine"in ink,theinkdoesnotplaythemain
role;rather,
it allowsforthedurableinscription
oftheidea ofwine.
Thus inkfunctions
to guaranteeus ofa permanent
supplyofwine.
-Paul Klee,TheoryofModernArt
Insteadof adoptinga head-onapproachto the relationshipbetween
writingand drawing-an approachwhich would inevitablyinclude
the all too commonplaceetymologicalconsiderationofgraphein-I
will introducea thirdterm,color,in an effort
to analyzetheintersecting,triangularrelationsof writing,drawing,and color.Such an approachseems particularlyappropriatesince the drawing/color
relationshipis also a well-known
all
pairing,witha historicalsignificance
its own. By introducinga thirdterminto these dualisticrelations
and writingwith respectto
(colorwith respectto drawing/writing
I hope to exposeand perhapschallengethe arbitraridrawing/color),
nessandartificiality
ofsuchbinarydivisionsandregroupings
(textand
image,paintingand ... ).
Let's startwitha firstconfiguration-abanal one whichinitially
mightseem a bit obvious.Generallyspeaking,drawingand writing
alike appearto involvetheexclusionofcolor.Whenone thinksabout
drawing,one thinksabout black pencil,charcoal,stump,graphitenot colors.' Coloredpencilsalwaysstrikeone as somewhatchildish
1. The case ofwatercolor
andpastelis doubtlesssomewhatunusual;ifarthistothefactremainsthattheyscarcely
rianstendto associatethemwiththeartofdrawing,
look like drawing;in manycases,the commongroundis muchmorethesupporting
material-paper-thanthedrawingitself.
& Drawing,ed.M. Reid,? 1994byYaleUniversity.
YFS 84, Boundaries:Writing
43
44
Yale FrenchStudies
(butwhy?),justas a box ofwatercolorsalwaysseemssomewhatpuerile, and both lack the seriousness,and obviouslythe blackness,of
drawing.And so drawingis done, preferably,
in black,in black on
white-just like writing.Whencethe commongroundbetweenthe
twomedia: theexclusionofcolor.
Like drawing,writing-at leastprintedwriting-favorsblackand
seems to exclude color. (But what of writingdone by hand?Don't
peoplewritein blue,at leastas oftenas theywritein black?WhenI was
a student,the ball-pointpen was forbidden-itwas said to corrupt
youngsters'impressionablehandwriting-andthe ink pen was required,bluemoreoftenthanblack.As forthecolorred,itwas reserved
One underlinesin red,one "highsolelyfortheteacher'scorrections.
lights"in yellow,butone writesin blue orin black.The lattertwoare
not,however,
interchangeable.
Forall officialcorrespondence,
French
etiquetterequiresthat one writeby hand-the typewriter
and the
computerbeingtoo "impersonal"-andin suchinstances,blackinkis
a must.I am notcertainwhyit is impolitetowritein blue,butI myself
thisrule,andfeelcompelledtouse blackfora considhaveinternalized
erableportionofmycorrespondence).
I do notknow,tryAm I losingmyselfin speciousconsiderations?
ingas I am to understandthiscolorlesskinshipbetweenwritingand
drawing.Afterall, one does nottendto writewithcoloredpencilsand
use a varietyofcolors,unlessone is trying
to ventureintothedomain
ofartand to givewritinga plastic dimensionthatit does notusually
have.As fordrawingwithcoloredpencils,it mustbe understoodthat
such activitydoes not evenqualifyas drawing.Rather,it is an enterprisethatalmostnegatesdrawingas such: "I knowit's drawing,but
come on!"
One writes,like one draws,in blackon white."C'est 'critnoirsur
blanc -Robert [It'sall therein black and white],as the expression
goes,designating
somethingthatis clearlyvisible,undeniable.There
is thusa certainvisibilityor clarityofthewrittenword,and drawing
thecontrastcreated
sharesthesequalities.Indeed,in termsofclarity,
is optimal.Chevreul
by black letterson a whitepage or background
studiesthisissue in his famoustreatise:De la loi du contrastesimultanedes couleurs(1839),in whichhe evaluatesdifferent
possiblecombinationsofcoloredprinter'sink and paper.As one mightexpect,he
concludesthatthestandardcombinationofblackinkonwhitepaperis
the mostsatisfying
one, in termsofbothreadabilityand ease on the
thesethingshe makesa distinctionbetween
eyes(andin determining
GEORGES
ROQUE
45
readingforshortperiodsoftimeandreadingforlongperiodsoftime).2
The preference
forblack on whiteestablishedby Chevreulfindsfurtherjustification
in a property
whichhe attributes
to color,andwhich
is themostinteresting
ofhisfindings:
"a property
possessedinvariable
degreesby colours,-viz.:that of leavingupon the organwhich has
perceivedthemduringa certaintimetheimpression
oftheirrespective
complementaries."Such an impression,however,can only confuse
thingsand make readinguncomfortable:
"It is clear thatthe more
durablethisimpressionis, [all]otherthingsbeingequal, theless the
organwill be disposedto receivedistinctly
newimpressions,
forthere
mustnecessarilybe superpositions
ofdifferent
images,as in themixed
contrast,which,not beingcoincident,will tendto rendertheactual
effect
less markedthanit mightotherwisebe," (Chevreul,?519, 126).
Thus, Chevreulpresentsas harmfulto printedwritingthe very
property
whichplaysa centralrolein anyworkinvolvingcolor-and it
is withthisobservationin mindthata whole generationofpainters
will invokeChevreul'slaw.As we haveseen,thedemandforclarityor
immediatelegibility,
which color contradictsor compromises,is a
traitwhichdrawingandwritinghavein common.Claritymust,however,be understoodin two senses: theclarityofdrawingand writing
whicharereadilydistinguishable
fromtheirbackground,
andtheclarityofa lucidlyexpressedthought.
Now ifthereis one aspectofdrawinguponwhichcriticsandartists
are constantly
insisting,it is thatdrawingallowsfortheclearexpression of thought.This conceptionis, moreover,
sharedby thosewho
defendcoloragainstdrawing:Rogerde Piles,forinstance,statesthat
l'on appelledessinla penseed'un tableau"3 drawingis thethought
ofa painting"],and explainsthat"[le dessin]represente
la penseede
toutl'ouvrageavec les lumiereset les ombres,et quelquefoisavec les
couleursmemes,et pourlorsil n'estpas regardecommeune des par2. "Contrastof tone is the mostfavourableconditionfordistinctvision,ifwe
considerWhiteandBlackas thetwoextremesofa scale comprehending
thegradation
fromnormalGrey:in fact,Blacklettersupona Whitegroundpresentthemaximumof
contrastoftone,andthereadingis donein a perfectly
distinctmanner,
withoutfatigue,
bydiffused
daylight,
affording
theproofofwhatI advance."M.-E.Chevreul,ThePrinciples ofHarmonyand ContrastofColorsand TheirApplicationsto theArts,ed. Faber
Birren,
newlyrevisededition(Westchester,
PA:Schiffer
Publishing,
1987),?6, 125.Inour
Chevreul's"contrast
oftone"wouldactuallybe "contrast
of
contemporary
terminology,
lightness"[contrastsde clarteJ.
3. Rogerde Piles, Cours de peinturepar principes(1708) (Nimes:EditionsJacquelineChambon,1990),150.
46
Yale FrenchStudies
ties de la peinture,mais comme l'idee du tableau que le peintre medite," (de Piles, 79) [drawing"representsthe thoughtupon which the
workas a whole is based, with its lightand its shadows, and sometimes
with its verycolors. Forthatreason,drawingis not held to be one ofthe
painting's components, but rather the idea of the painting that the
artisthas in his mind."] Obviously,this statementassumes thatdrawing provides not only the sketch of a painting,but also the painting's
veryessence; that drawing-not color-gives paintingits great,forceful,over-archinglines. One mighteven go so faras to say thatdrawing,
according to this definition,encompasses all aspects of a painting,
including its color.
A drawing done in black, with its clear vision of the "idea of a
painting" also relies on the complicitybetween the idea and the hand
and between the hand and its tracings.Such a notion also reinforcesor
overdeterminesthe relationship between drawing and writing,as if
there were some kind of correspondence between the hand and the
mind, or, as de Piles writes, between "le caractere de la main" [the
hand's character]and "le caracterede l'esprit" [the mind's character]:
On connailtde qui est un Tableaucommevous connaissezde qui est
une Lettreque vous recevezd'unepersonnequi vousa d6ja6crit
plusieursfois.Et il y a deuxchosesqui fontconnaitreces sortesde
lettres,le caracterede la main,et celui de l'esprit.-Il est vrai,
interrompit
Damon, que sans ouvrirune lettre,l'on jugesouventde
qui elle estparle dessus.-C'est justementcommevousjugezdes
Tableaux,ditPamphilie.4
You knowwho has donea Paintingjustas youknowwho has
writtena Letteryoureceivefromsomeonewho has alreadywritten
to you severaltimes.Andthereare twothingsthatenableyouto
ofthehand,and that
knowor to recognizesuchletters:thecharacter
ofthemind.-It is true,interrupted
Damon,thatwithoutopeninga
who sentit bytheoutside.-That is
letter,one oftendetermines
said Pamphile.
exactlyhow one judgesPaintings,
And de Piles adds that the hand's character"n'est autre chose qu'une
habitude toute singuliereque chacun prendde formerses lettres,et le
caracterede l'esprit est le style du discours, et le tourque l'on donne a
ses pensees" [is simply a unique and individualized habit thatdictates
how people formtheirletters,and the mind's characteris the discur4. Rogerde Piles,PremiereConversation
Teyssedre,
Roger
(1676),citedbyBernard
de Piles etles debatssurle colors au sieclede LouisXIV (Paris:Bibliotheque
desArts,
1957),n. 3, 250.
GEORGES
ROQUE
47
sive style, the turn of a phrase that people use in expressing their
thoughts.]
There is thus a sortoftruthofthe hand, which neverlies and which
reveals the state of mind of the person who is writingor tracing5-a
truthof the hand which drawing and writinghave in common. This
privilegedrelationshipbetween drawingand the hand helps to explain
the frequency with which the medium is compared to writing.
Matisse, forexample, speaks ofthe exhaustingworkhe does in orderto
let himself be penetratedby his model's essence or character,by the
model's human expressivenessand by "all that can only be expressed
by drawing." Only aftermaking such an effort
is he able to take up the
pen with some measure of confidence: "J'ai alors le sentiment evident" [I now get the distinct feeling],"he continues."
que mon 6motions'exprimeparle moyende l'6criture
plastique.
Aussitotque mon traitemu a model6la lumierede ma feuille
blanche,sans en enleversa qualit6de blancheurattendrissante,
je ne
La pageest 6crite;
puis plus rienlui ajouter,ni rienen reprendre.
aucune correction
n'estpossible.6
thatmyemotionexpressesitselfbymeansofa plasticwriting.As
soon as thezealous strokeofmypenhas shapedthelightofmy
whitepage,withouttakingawaythelatter'stenderwhiteness,there
is nothingmoreI can add or takeaway.The pagehas beenwritten;
no further
is possible.
correction
And so we have a toned down analogy with writing,ifwe take into
consideration, as Matisse invites us to do, the whiteness of the background(which has become [a] common place),and theunwillingnessto
repent ("the page has been written"). There thus emerges a sort of
ethics of drawing,which forbidsthe use of an eraser,and which re5. This idea resurfaces
in thewritings
ofJeanDubuffet,
L'Hommedu communa
l'ouvrage (Paris:Gallimard,1973),36-37: "Respecter
les impulsions,les spontaneites
ancestralesde la mainhumainequandelle traceses signes.Parexempleune certaine
verticalite
lgerementpencheequi estde 1'ecriture
etde touttracehumainperpetre
avec
application,en tirantun peu de langue... Plus la main de l'artistesera dans tout
l'ouvrageapparenteet plus emouvante,
plus humain,plusparlantil sera.Fuirtousles
modesmecaniqueset impersonnels.
Les typographies
et calligraphies
les plus appliqueesontmoinsd'attraitque quelquesmotsmanuscrits
maistracessansintentions
par
unemainloyale.On doitsentirl'hommeetles faiblessesetles maladresses
de l'homme
danstousles detailsdu tableau... Ainsidansl'ecrituremanuscrite
la barred'un t, le
pointd'uni, se trouventdeportes,le troisiemejambaged'unm portela marqued'un
mouvement
d'impatienceou de lassitude."
6. Henri Matisse,Ecritset propossur Part, ed. D. Fourcade(Paris:Hermann,
1972),160.
48
Yale FrenchStudies
quires drawing to show everythingwithout dissimulation, without
cheating, without trickery.This notion recalls Ingres's famous, oftquoted assertion that "le dessin est la probitede Part" [drawingis the
probityof art].
This ethical dimension places drawingand writingin opposition to
color, which is conceived of as unstable, immoral, and deceptive. For
instance, it seems significantthatwhen the authorofan artanthology
introduces the subject of color, he definesit in contrastto its age-old
rival: "'Le dessin est la probitede l'art.' La couleur en est le charmeet la
seduction-une personne sage doit s'en mefier,comme d'une sirene"7
[Drawing is the probityofart.Color is art'scharmand its seduction-a
siren ofwhom the prudentperson should beware].In the faceofcolor's
seductiveness, a concept to which we will return,the probityofdrawing is affirmed,as is the probityof writingand of all that they both
reveal.8Thus, a certaintruthofthe pen strokewould stand to reinforce
the analogy between writingand drawing.
The truthofthe pen strokethatmanifestsitselfin drawinghas long
been construedas fidelityto the idea which drawingaims to expressas if there were a perfectequivalence between drawingand the idea,
established by the intermediaryof the hand. In addition to its fidelity,
obediance, and honesty,good drawingmust possess one othercharacteristic,common to all good servants: discretion. It is in referenceto
this characteristic,in fact, that Rodin proposes yet another analogy
between drawingand writing,and particularlyliterarystyle:
Il en est du dessinen artcommedu styleen littdrature.
Le stylequi
se maniere,qui se guindepourse faireremarquer,
est mauvais.Il n'y
a de bon styleque celui qui se faitoublierpourconcentrer
surle
du
sur
l'6motion
rendue
l'attention
lecteur.
toute
trait6,
sujet
L'artistequi faitparadede son dessin,l'6crivainqui veutattirerla
louangesurson styleressemblent
a des soldatsqui se pavaneraient
sous leuruniforme,
mais refuseraient
d'allera la bataille,ou biena
des cultivateurs
le soc de leurcharrue
constamment
qui fourbiraient
dansla terre.Le dessin,le
pourle fairebriller,au lieu de l'enfoncer
stylevraimentbeauxsontceux qu'on ne pensememepas a louer,
tanton est prisparl'int6retde ce qu'ils expriment.9
7. HenriGuerlin,L'Artenseign6parles maitres:la couleur(Paris:HenriLaurens,
n.d.), 1.
to thevolume:TheHand and theTrace:Some
8. Cf.severalofthecontributions
VisibleLanguage2, vol. 19 (Spring1990).
Issues in Handwriting,
9. AugusteRodin,L'Art.Entretiensreunispar Paul Gsell (Paris: Gallimard,
1967),78.
GEORGES
ROQUE
49
The same principleholdstruefordrawingin artand forstylein
literature.
Stylethatbearsthemarksofaffectation,
thatputson airs
in orderto call attentionto itself,is bad. Stylecan onlybe good
insofaras it allows itselfto be forgotten
so thatthereaderwill focus
on thework'ssubjectmatterand emotionalcontent.The artistwho
showsoffwithhis drawingand thewriterwho seekspraiseforhis
style,are like soldierswho wouldparadearoundin theiruniform,
butrefuseto go intobattle;theyarelike farmers
who constantly
insteadofdiggingit
polishtheirplow to makeit shinebrilliantly,
intotheground.Trulybeautifuldrawingand stylearethosewhich
one does noteventhinkto praise,so takenis one bywhatthey
express.
It would be banal to repeat the sayingthatstyleis above all a "poinqon servanta ecrire[an engraver'spoint forwriting]-and thereforean
instrumentcommon to drawingand writing-were it not forRodin's
agriculturalmetaphor that absolutely insists on such a comparison,
with his emphasis on the plow's shinybrilliance (do we not speak of a
writer's"brilliant" style?).As forthe militarymetaphor,it says exactly
what it means: drawingand style alike are soldiers who should serve
theirarmyratherthan "parade around." In clear contradistinctionto
drawing,however,color is a bad soldier thatdoes parade around,showing offinstead of being content to serve,seeking to show its own brilliance. Color, in otherwords, tends to express itself.10
Perhaps now we are beginningto sense the reason forthe longtime
complicity between drawing and writing: both effacethemselves for
the sake ofthatwhich theyseek to express,whereas color resistsbeing
reduced to such a function. In this light, the artists' and critics' frequent analogies between drawing and writing can be seen to derive
froma desire to emphasize drawing'sinstrumentalfunction:drawing
as an instrumentof the hand whose tracingsare governedby the dictates of the idea, drawingas a faithfuland trustworthy
intermediary.It
is as ifdrawing,like writing,has to be as discreetas possible, in orderto
convey meaning effectively.The signifiershould be transparent,so
that it in no way detractfromthe signified.
This notion finds confirmation in the theories developed by
Charles Blanc in the second thirdof the nineteenth century,particularly in his eloquently titled book, Grammaire des arts du dessin
(1867). The analogy with alphabetical writing, and its attendant
Rodin'sposition-whichis in facta rareoneforhis time,
10. Suchis not,however,
sincehe placescoloron thesame levelas drawing.At theendoftheabove-cited
statement,he adds: "de mrmepourla couleur"[thesameholdstrueforcolor].
50
Yale FrenchStudies
"grammatical" rules, becomes even more explicit in the introduction
to Blanc's subsequent work, the Grammaire des arts decoratifs."
Blanc's position is important and symptomatic because it figuresa
whole classical tradition at the very moment when this tradition,
which subordinated color to drawing, was being challenged by the
Romantics, the Orientalists,and then the Impressionists,all ofwhom
assign a central role to color. Charles Blanc's work thus constitutes a
turningpoint ofsorts,and it is forthisreason thathis conception ofthe
relationship between color and drawing deserves examination (such
examination appears all the more important,in fact,when we realize
that his thought influenced a considerable number of painters).'2
"Tout dessin," Blanc explains
et parcela memeil
est l'expressiond'unepens6eou d'un sentiment,
est chargede nous fairevoirquelque chosede superieura la verit6
aucune
apparente,
lorsquecelle-cine r6veleaucun sentiment,
Elle est tantotle
pens6e.Mais quelle est cettev6rit6superieure?
caracterede l'objetdessine,tantotle caracteredu dessinateur,
et,
dansle grandart,elle estjustementce qu'on appellele style.13
All drawingis theexpressionofa thoughtora feeling,and as such,
its roleis to showus somethingsuperiorto theapparenttruth,
whichoftenrevealsno thoughtand no feeling.Butwhatis this
superiortruth?Sometimesit is thecharacter
ofthedrawnobjet,
sometimesthecharacterofthepersondrawing.In greatart,
moreover,
thissuperiortruthis whatwe call style.
According to Blanc, this definitionofdrawinggives us a clear indication ofits origins: "Le dessin est un projetde l'esprit,comme l'indique si bien l'orthographede nos peres qui ecrivaientdessein" (Blanc,
ibid.) [Drawing is a design,plan or projectofthe mind,as we can see in
the spelling ofour forefathers
who wrote dessein] This goes back to the
Renaissance conception ofdrawingas idea (thefamous designo) which
we findin the writingsof Vasari: "This design is nothingbut a visual
11. CharlesBlanc,Grammairedes arts decoratifs, 2nd edition(Paris:1992),III.
"Justas the twenty-five
lettersof the alphabethave been,and will continueto be,
sufficient
fortheformation
ofwordsnecessary
toexpressall humanthought,
so tooa few
elementssusceptibleto multiplecombinationshave been,and will continueto be,
sufficient
forthecreationofan infinite
numberofornaments."
12. I havealreadydiscussedotheraspectsofCharlesBlanc'sviewson color.Cf.,my
" Art& Fact(Universit6
deLiege)10:(1991),4ff.;
"Portrait
de la couleurenfemmefatale,
55 ff.
and "Couleuret sacrifice,"
Athanor2 (1991),Artee sacrificio,
13. CharlesBlanc,Grammairedes artsdu dessin,1stedition1867 (Paris:Henri
Laurens,n.d.<1880>), 531.
GEORGES
ROQUE
51
expressionandclarification
ofthatconceptwhichonehas in theintellect,and thatwhichone imaginesin the mindand buildsup in the
idea."'4 In TheIdea in Painting,Sculpture,and Architecture,
Zuccari
makesthisdefinition
ofdrawingevenmoreprecisebyelaboratingon
thenotionofan "innerdesign"(designointerno),
whichhe too identifieswiththeidea.15
If CharlesBlanc'sconceptionofdrawingthusremainsmarkedby
Renaissanceandclassicalthought,16we mightnevertheless
thinkthat
such a view has had its day,and thatit is no longerconsideredvalid.
However,thisis not the case. We can findthisverysame notion,for
instance,in Matisse'swritings:"Dessiner,c'est preciserune idee. Le
dessin est la precisionde la pensee. Par le dessin les sentimentset
l'ame du peintrepassentsans difficulte
dans l'espritdu spectateur"
ofan idea.
(Matisse,n. 8, 162).[To drawis to givea preciserendering
Drawingis theprecisionofthought.Drawingtransmitsthepainter's
feelingsand soul directlyintotheviewer'smind].Evenmorerecently,
conceptualarthas once againattemptedto radicalizethisconception
of drawingas the expressionof an idea-a conceptwhich has profoundlyinfluencedcontemporary
drawingandwhichconstitutestwo
ofits greattrends.17
But one pointis strikingin thisformulationof the relationship
betweendrawingandwriting.Forin theabove-cited
text("Drawingis
a design,planorprojectofthemind,as we can see in thespellingofour
forefathers
who wrotedessein"),CharlesBlanc legitimatesthisconnotto theRenaissance,butto etymolceptionofdrawingbyreferring
14. GiorgioVasari,
Proemioofthesecondedition
ofLe Vite. . ., 1568,citedbyErwin
Panofsky,
Idea: A Conceptin ArtTheory(NewYork/London:
Harper& Row,1968),62.
15. As Panofsky
notes,"On Zuccari'sterminology
it shouldbe remarked
that,although. . . he heavilyreproached
Vasariforusingtheterm'idea' in thesenseof'imaginativeability'insteadofin thesenseof'imaginative
content,'
he himselfuses theterm
designo(= idea) in exactlythesame doublesignificance;
he designated
theprocessas
well as theobjectoftheact of'designing'as designo,"op. cit.,n. 30, 227.
16. In Blanc's view,drawingencompassesarchitecture,
sculpture,and painting
(whereascoloris onlynecessaryto painting):"drawingis so essentialto each ofthese
" op.cit.,21. Blancthusstays
threeartsthattheyareproperly
termedtheartsofdrawing,
toVasari,forwhomdrawing
ofourthreearts,"an ideatakenup by
faithful
is "thefather
Le Brunwho annexesarchitecture
to theAcademy,
andwho commissionsthisinscriptionfortheInstitute's
pediment:"Ecolede dessin."On Blanc'sclassicaltastes,cf.,M. F.
Zimmermann,
Les Mondesde Seurat:sonueuvreetles debatsartistiquesde sontemps
FondsMercator/Albin
Michel,1991),28ff.
(Anvers/Paris:
17. Cf.,Daniel Dezeuze, "Elementsde reponsea la question:pourquoile dessin?"
in Le Dessinpourquoi?,
Actesdu colloquedel'Ecole d'artdeMarseille,publishedbythe
Ecole d'artde Marseille-Luminy,
1991,39-40.
52
Yale French Studies
ogy. It is difficultnot to see in this referencea collusion between
drawing and writing,especially since the author makes a similar attempt at etymological legitimation in the introductionto his book:
Le motdessina deuxsignifications.
Dessinerun objet,c'est le
reprdsenter
avec des traits,des clairset des ombres.Dessinerun
tableau,un 6difice,un groupe,c'est y exprimer
sa pens6e.Voila
desseinet cetteorthographe
pourquoinos peres6crivaient
intelligente
disaitclairementque toutdessinest un projetde
18
l'esprit.
The worddrawinghas twomeanings.To drawan objectis to
represent
it withpen-strokes,
patchesoflightand shadow.To drawa
scene,a building,a groupis to expressone's thoughtthroughthese
wrotedessein,and this
objects.That is whyourforefathers
intelligent
spellingmadeit clearthatall drawingis a design,plan,or
projectofthemind.
More interestinglystill, Zuccari too invokes this "intelligent spelling" in order to justifythe Italian designo (a term which lies at the
originof the French desseinldessin): forhim, etymologyjustifiesthe
proposition that drawingis a sign ofdivine ressemblance: "designo =
segno di dio in noi" (cited by Panofsky,88) [designo - the sign of God
in us]. Without gettinginto the etymological justification fora link
between drawingand the idea, let us simplyaccept that this argument
can help us to understandwhy color is excluded fromsuch a project;
ideas, thoughts,or concepts would seem to be more "naturally"linked
to drawing than to color. And this characteristicwould seem to bring
writingand drawingeven closer together,both of them being charged
with the expression of thought.To returnto Charles Blanc, we finda
neat formulation of the problem in these terms: "Je suppose que le
peintre etende sur sa toile le ton juste de la chair humaine: ce ton ne
nous donnerapoint l'idee de l'homme, tandis qu'il nous suffirades plus
grossiers contours pour nous rappeler cette idee" (Blanc, op. cit., 22)
[Suppose that the artistpaints his canvas using theverycolor ofhuman
flesh: this color will not give us the idea of a man, unless we have the
crudestofcontours to remindus ofthis idea]. Color,unlike drawing,is
18. CharlesBlanc,Grammairedes arts du dessin,op. cit.,22-23. Accordingto
theterms
de la languefran!Paise,
BlochandvonWartburg's
Dictionnaire6tymologique
dessin [drawing]
and dessein[design,plan,project],basedon themodeloftheItalian
century.
designo,haveonlyhad theirmodemmeaningssincetheendoftheeighteenth
Beforethen,desseinwas morecommonlyused thandessinforbothmeanings.
GEORGES
ROQUE
53
patently incapable of expressingan idea. To develop this hypothesis
further,
Blanc proceeds to give the example ofthe black man, whom he
presentsin black and white: "Tous les negressont noirs,comment les
distinguerautrementque par la proportionde leur membres,la hauteur de leur taille ou les lignes de leurs demarche?" (ibid.)[All black men
are black: how can you tell them apartifnot by the proportionof their
limbs, by theirheight,by the lines of theirstride?].From this he concludes that "la natures'est donc serviedu dessin pour definirles objets,
de la couleur pour les nuancer" [nature relies on drawing to define
objects, and on color to nuance them].
And so we keep coming back to drawing's power to express an
idea-a power which color does not possess. It is hardlysurprising,in
this context,that Charles Blanc condemns color fornot submittingto
an instrumental role, and that he exhorts it to remain a slave to
drawing.
Le coloristepassionn6,avons-nousdit,inventesa formepoursa
couleur:rienn'estplus vrai.Tout,chez lui, est subordonn6
a l'eclat
de la teinte.Non seulementle dessinflechit,doitflechir,
mais la
compositionest commandee,genee,violentee,parla couleur.Pour
amenagerici une teinteviolettequi surexcitera
telledraperiejaune,
il faudramenagera cetteteinteun espace,inventer
un accessoire,
inutile.[Blanc,op.cit.,573]
peut-etre
The enthusiasticcolorist,we havesaid,inventsformsforhis colors:
nothingcould be moretrue.The coloristsubordinates
everything
to
theradianceoftintsand hues. Colornotonlyrequiresdrawing's
submission;it also commands,compromises,
and does violenceto
compositionitself.In orderto accommodatea violethue whichwill
offset
someyellowdrape- orother,it is oftennecessaryto createa
spaceforthishue,orinventan unnecessary
accessoryforit.
The odd tone adopted by Blanc in this passage can be explained, at
least in part,by his historical context: the age ofOrientalism and ofan
ever-increasingemphasis on the importance of color. According to
Blanc, color is a force which must be reined in, for "en poursuivant
avec passion le triomphe de la couleur, le peintre court le risque de
sacrifierl'action au spectacle" [ifthe painter passionately strivesfor
the triumphofcolor,he runs the riskofsacrificingaction to spectacle.]
And here, of course, we are back to the parade evoked by Rodin.
Based on these arguments,we mightpropose the followinghypothesis for the second half of the nineteenth century,if not earlier: the
54
Yale FrenchStudies
instrumentalfunctionofdrawing,and its potential autonomy,must be
safeguardedagainst the threatposed by color. Furthermore,it is in an
effortto reinforcethis instrumentality,to which both drawing and
writingostensibly can be reduced, that the analogy between the two
media develops. Whence Blanc's recourse to literature,this time in an
almost pathetic peroration:
inclinenta leurdecadencequandles
De memeque les litt6ratures
imagesl'emportent
surles idees,de memel'artse mat6rialiseet
declineinfailliblement
lorsquel'espritqui dessineestvaincuparla
au lieu
sensationqui colore;lorsqu'enun motl'orchestre,
d'accompagner
le chant,devienta lui seul le poeme.[Blanc,573]
Justas literature
movestowarddecadencewhenimagestake
precedenceoverideas,so mustartinevitably
beginto declineonce
themindthatdrawsis conqueredbythesensationthatcolors;once
thesong,itselfbecomesthe
theorchestra,
insteadofaccompanying
poem.
Such considerations undoubtedlyshed some lighton the exact natureofcolor's "immorality,"which consists both in a refusalto submit
to discipline and to drawing,and in a willfulattemptto be seductive on
its own terms. For color is faulted with becoming a sign of nothing
otherthan itself,whereas drawingremains the sign of somethingelse
(be it an object, a thought, or anything else that moves the artist).
Whence the ubiquitous allusions to and analogies with writing,which
is held to be another instrumentalmode of thought,obediently submittingto that which it expresses.
This provisional conclusion mightrightlybe deemed a bit flatand
uninspired,if its only thrustwere to affirmthat drawingand writing
are both signs. It might even be accused of neglecting Damisch's famous advice that the question ofwritingand ofthe sign be dissociated
in any study of the relations between painting and writing.'9 To nuance thingssomewhat,however,the importantpoint to be made hereis
that a certain conception ofpaintingwhich prevailedin the West ever
since the Renaissance, depended, if not on the exclusion of color, at
least on its vassalization or enslavement. In otherwords,it was necessaryto reduce color's potential autonomy,its refusalto become a sign,
a vehicle or an intermediaryforothermeanings,fromthe moment that
19. HubertDamisch,lecturegivenat theroundtableon "La Peintureet l'dcriture
1'ceuvre
dessignes," reprinted
in La Sociologiede 1'artetsa vocationinterdisciplinaire:
et 1'influence
de PierreFrancastel(Paris:Denoel/Gonthier,
1976),198.
GEORGES
ROQUE
55
it breaksfreeofdrawingandis no longerpadding,illumination.It is of
courseon thesegrounds,and on thesegroundsalone,thattheanalogy
the role of
with writingis put into place-it functionsto reinforce
drawing.
Suchwouldhavebeenthelotofcolor:nottobe uniqueandrare,but
onceand
to be subordinate
orsubjecttodrawing.To setthingsstraight
forall, CharlesBlancputsit bluntly,
summingup an entiretradition:
"Non, la couleurn'estpas plus rareque le dessin,mais elle joue dans
l'artle rolefeminin,
le roledu sentiment;soumiseau dessincommele
sentimentdoit etresoumis a la raison,elle y ajoute du charme,de
l'expressionet de la grace"(Blanc,23) [No, coloris no moreuniqueor
rarethandrawing,
buttheformer
playsthefeminine
roleinart,therole
offeeling;subjecttodrawingjustas feelingshouldbe subjecttoreason,
color bringsto the marriageits shareof charm,expressiveness,
and
grace].
In keepingwithan age-olddivisionwhichis stillwidelyaccepted
and ofwhichwe arenot evenentirelyconscious,coloris relegatedto
therealmofemotion,sentiment-a positionwhichmakesit all the
an idea.Accordingto thetradition
which
moreincapableofexpressing
Blancbothsummarizesand exacerbates,
coloris feminine.20
The imattributed
towoman,and
moralityofcoloris thusalso theimmorality
the same gendercodingapplies to its wiles, its persuasiveness,its
deceptiveness.In its relationto drawing,coloris a mereornamentaddedto drawingas a typeofsupplebut also necessary,
superfluous,
ment.
All of thesetraits,however,are also thosewhich,as Derridahas
andsubsequentworks,characterize
shownin theGrammatology
writingin its relationto speech(la parole).Such a realizationnecessarily
ofalliances,ifit is indeedtruethatcolorshares
bringsabouta shifting
commongroundwithwriting!How is it possible,fromthismoment
aimed
on,to insistupona "complicity"betweendrawingandwriting,
at keepingcolorin line?Perhapsat thispointit is necessaryto introducea fourthterm,speech(la parole),in orderto obtainan equivalence
whichwouldlook like this:coloris to drawingas writingis to speech.
Let's see ifthisnewformulastandsup to analysis.
Indeed,itis byno meansdifficult
to showthatcolor,in itsrelationan ornament,
which
shipto drawing,actsas a supplement,
something
is added, and which plays the contradictory
role of being simul20. Cf.my"Portrait
de la couleuren femmefatale,"in loc. cit.
56
Yale FrenchStudies
taneously superfluousand necessary.The idea ofcolor as make-up,for
example, dovetails quite nicely with Derridean analyses of writing.2'
Besides, make-up, like color, is one of the definitions of the pharmakon.22 In most cases, then,color functionsto appear alongside and
in opposition to drawing,like a supplement-it serves ratherto color
in the outlines tracedby drawing,or else to enhance them. Obviously
enough, this last term is of tremendous interestto us here. Drawing
does not exclude color, but demands its subjection or subjugation;
color is forcedto remain, in keeping with Ingres'sorders,the lady-inwaiting, the one in charge of costumes and makeup. In the formof
wash or watercolor,forexample, color is clearlypresent,but as a typeof
embellishment or enhancement. To enhance is to bringout, to bring
up, to sublate [relever],"fard qui rehausse l'6clat du teint," Robert
[make-upthatenhances one's skin-tone].It is ofcourse in a similarway
that writingconstitutes the sublation [la releve] of speech.
Furthermore,the privilege which speech enjoys as presence-toitself, and compared to which writing appears secondary or supplementary,recalls the privilegeaccorded to drawingas an apt expression
of the idea, as the truthof the idea. This parallel is particularlyfitting
given the fact that the voice has always enjoyed a special relationship
with the idea. All one has to do is thinkof Charles Le Brun,presiding
over the Academy as its master,or ratheras its "dictator," (L. Venturi).
When called upon to pronounce his verdict on the relationship between drawing and color, he plays skillfullyon the polysemy of the
word "design" (dessein), insisting upon that "intelligent spelling"
which Charles Blanc will later invoke once again:
On doitsavoirqu'il y a deuxsortesde desseins,l'un qui est
intellectuelou theorique,et l'autrepratique.Que le premierdepend
purementde l'imagination,
qu'il s'exprimepardes paroleset se
repanddans toutesles productions
de l'Esprit.Que le dessein
pratiqueest produitparl'intellectuelet d6pendparconsequentde
l'imaginationet de la main,il peutaussi s'exprimer
pardes paroles.
C'est ce demierqui avec un crayondonnela formeet la proportion
et
les passionsde
qui imitetoutesles chosesvisibles,jusqu'a exprimer
l'ame,sans qu'il ait besoinpourcela de la Couleur,si ce n'estpour
la rougeuret la paleur.23
representer
21. For more on this topic,cf. the studyof make-upproposedby Jean-Claude
Lebensztejn,"A BeautyParlour,"Traverses#7,Le Maquillage (February
1977): 74 ff.
22. Cf.JacquesDerrida,"La Pharmaciede Platon,"La Diss6mination(Paris:Editionsde Minuit,1972).
23. CharlesLe Brun,addressto the Academy,1672,citedby BernardTeyssedre,
Rogerde Piles etles d6batssurle colorisau sicle de LouisXIV,op. cit.,n. 1, 178.
GEORGES
ROQUE
57
It is important
to realizethattherearetwotypesofdesign,one
whichis intellectualor theoretical,
and one whichis practical.That
thefirstone dependspurelyon theimagination,
thatit is expressed
in speechand thatit is manifestin all productions
oftheMind.That
thepracticaldesignis producedbytheintellectualone and
consequentlydependson theimaginationand on thehand.That the
lattertypeofdesigntoo can be expressedin speech.It is thissecond
typewhich,withthehelpofa pencil,producesformand proportion,
and whichimitatesall visiblethings,to thepointofexpressing
the
verypassionsofthesoul,withoutneedingcolorto do anyofthis,
ofrednessand pallor.
exceptfortherepresentation
This defense of drawingcontains a good number of the ideas we have
already encountered. First of all, the semantic play on the word "design" establishes a connection between drawingand design while endowingit, bymeans ofa theory/practiceopposition,with considerable
breadth and legitimacy.Given Le Brun's intellectualization of drawing,it is clear thatthe medium indeed depends on thehand, but also on
the imagination-just like design. From this it is possible to conclude
that drawingand design alike are prone to being expressedin speech,
with the latter functioningas the transparentinstrumentof the expression ofthought.But it is clearlyassured by the legitimationwhich
states that drawing can take pride in its ability to imitate all visible
things,without recourse to color; the latter,an ornament or supplement, added to drawingwithout necessity,is neverthelessindispensable forthe representationof redness.24Thus, Le Brun's textsums up
much ofthe thoughtwe have alreadyexamined, but with a twist-the
differencebeing its introductionofspeech as the privilegedexpression
of design and, consequently,of drawing.Whence the new parallel we
have proposed in the formof an equivalence: color is to drawing as
writingis to speech.
As a startinghypothesis,then,we mightsay that speech and drawing alike hold certain privileges: that of the expressionof thought,of
clarity,of black on white. And, just as writingis considered, in its
"25 so color,in its
relation to speech, the "instrumentofan instrument,
subordination to drawing,is also conceived of as the instrumentof an
instrument.
24. This concessionto colorhas enjoyedtremendous
favoreversincePhilostrates;
mostnotably,
it appearsin thewritings
ofDiderotand CharlesBlanc.I havediscussed
thisissue in my"Portrait
de la couleuren femmefatale,"in loc. cit.
25. RolandBarthes,"Semiographied'AndrdMasson," L'Obvie et 1'obtus:essais
critiquesIII (Paris:Editionsdu Seuil, 1982),144.
58
Yale FrenchStudies
As soonas itis formulated,
thisattractive
calls
however,
symmetry
forthan objection,forit is not certainthatspeechis an instrument,
sincemetaphysicians
have-to go quicklyhere-thoughtofspeechas
the"natural"expressionofthought.Drawing,on theotherhand,may
be constantlydefinedas the expressionof thought,as the accurate
expressionoftheidea,butit also remainsan instrumental
expression,
a trace.Le Brun's"practicaldesign," evenifitcanbe expressedaloudin
speech,nevertheless
essentiallydependson thehand.
andleavingthequestionof
Thus,emboldenedbythisdevelopment,
relations
speech aside, we can now approachwriting/drawing/color
froma different
angle.Up untilnow,indeed,we haveinsistedon drawing'scomplicitywithwriting,aimedat keepingcolorin line,subservient.But havingtakenintoaccountall the traitswhichunitecolor
andwriting-supplement,
seduction-in oppositiontothe
ornament,
probityofdrawing,we findourselvesobligedto reexamineourinitial
outline,or at least to nuance it. The analogybetweendrawingand
in all theexampleswehavegiven,has alwaysreliedon thelink
writing,
betweendrawingand imitation,betweendrawingand theexpression
oftheidea,and so has soughtto establishitslegitimacybymeansofa
certainconceptionof"instrumental"
writing.It is notwithoutintertonotethathistorically,
itis on theverysamemetaphysiest,however,
cal basisthatdrawinghas beenpromoted,
as a supposedlyclearexpression of the idea, whereascolor (like writing)has been consistently
reducedto theambiguousstatusofthesupplement.
to coloris not,however,
Drawing'sallegedsuperiority
necessarily
based on imitation,forifone wereto takeintoaccountthiscriterion
alone,one couldreversetheentireargument,
as Rogerde Pilesdoesin
thisunequivocalstatement:"Le peintrequi estun parfait
imitateur
de
la nature,pourvude l'habituded'un excellentdessin,commenous le
la couleurcommeson objetprincipal,
supposons,doitdoncconsiderer
puisqu'il ne regardecettememenatureque commeimitable,qu'elle
ne lui estimitableque parcequ'elle estvisible,et qu'elle n'estvisible
que parcequ'elle est coloriee"(de Piles, 145) [The painter,who imitatesnatureperfectly
andis,we assume,endowedwithexcellentdrawing skills,musttherefore
take coloras his principalobject,since he
onlylooks at natureas somethinghe can imitate,since he can only
imitateit insofaras it is visible,andsinceit is onlyvisibleinsofaras it
is colored].
What,then,is thebasis fordrawing'sprivileged
status,ifit is true
thatcolorimitatesbetterthandrawing?Perhapsa littledetourinto
GEORGES
ROQUE
59
semioticswill provehelpfulhere. In orderto transposethe color/
drawingdebate,we mightsaythatdrawingas signifier
directly
refers
or
corresponds
to thesignified(idea,concept),whereascolor'splasticity
takesprecedenceoverits iconic dimension.But when we formulate
thingsin this way,the source of the dissymmetry
becomes immediatelyapparent:theplasticdimensionofdrawingis erasedforthesole
benefitofitsiconicdimension.26
Fordrawing,
likecolor,also possesses
a plan of expression.In the classical drawing/color
debate,however,
thetwoelementsarenoton equal footing:drawingis nottheelementarystrokeor traitwhichconstitutesits "plan ofexpression,"as the
semioticianswouldsay,butis almostalwaysconceivedofas representationaldrawing,whereascoloris rightly
conceivedofin termsofits
to
"plan of expression"alone. Fromthispointon, it is not difficult
show thatcolor,deprivedofits "plan ofcontent,"is incapableofexpressinga signified-a taskwhichdrawingaccomplishesall themore
easilysince it has alreadybeenpositedas a vehicleforcontent.
The factthat drawingis made up of strokes[traits]27 suggests
anotherrelationto writing,
a relationwhichwouldalso includecolor,
since color too is composedof elementarystrokesor traits.And so
thereemerges,beyondthe tiredold oppositionbetweendrawingand
color,anotherrelationship
whichconnectwritingtobothdrawingand
color.
In thissense,the"grammar
ofdrawing"is a deceptivenotion,foras
it
soonas itpositsdrawingas themereexpressionofan idea,confining
to thelevelofcontentalone,andthusneglecting
themedium'sconstitutivetraitsorstrokes.It is notwithoutimportanceto note,however,
thataround1880othergrammars
comeintobeingwhichactas kindof
a cruciblefor"abstraction,"as do certaingrammarsof the traitor
ofcolor.
stroke,whichdo notdeal withdrawing,as well as grammars
forinstance,deBourgoin'sGrammaire6lementairede 1'ornement,
finesthe elementarytraitsor strokesof the "graphicalphabet,"and
"les
thenproceedsto studyits "rulesofconjugation,"byconsidering
figuresde l'alphabet<graphique> non plus commedes signesou des
figurations
graphiquesdestineesa ecrireles formescommeles lettres
ou desobjectsdistincts
ecriventles mots,maisbiencommedesfigures
cf.GroupeM, TraitW
du signevisuel:
26. Forfurther
elaborationofthisdistinction,
de 1image(Paris:Editionsdu Seuil,1992),113ff.
pourunerh6torique
27. The authoris playingon thedoublemeaningoftheFrenchword"trait,"which
meansboth"stroke"(as in penstroke)
and "trait"(as in character
trait).-Translator's
note.
60
Yale FrenchStudies
existanten propreet par eux-memes"28[thefiguresof the 'graphic'
alphabetno longeras signsofgraphicfigurations,
designedto write
formsas letterswritewords,but ratheras distinctfigures,objects
whichexistin and ofthemselves].And whatis truefordrawingalso
holds trueforcolor.A grammarofcoloris therefore
possible,ifit is
based on themodelofdrawing'selementary
traits:"As bythedeflectionofa pointin space maybe generated
all theelementary
and
figures
formsofgeometricaland constructive
science,so froma like deflection ofa spotin place maybe generatedall theelementary
and compoundhues ofcolors;thesciencewhichis called Chromatics."29
Thus,ifit is truethatcoloris notdrawing'sother,relegatedto the
realmofemotion,beyondlanguage,or,as we mightsaytoday,associatedwith[libidinal]drives,arewe notjustifiedin thinkingthatcolor
has wonits "autonomy"onlywiththehelpofa "scienceofpainting,"
a chromatics,or rathera grammar,whichbreakscolordownintoalphabet,syntaxand conjugations,in orderto establishtherulesofits
harmony?30
Andso themediationofwritinghas taughtus, at theveryleast,to
relativizetheoppositionbetweendrawingandcolor,to emphasizethe
factthat theyare both susceptibleto "grammatical"analysis,to a
break-downinto elementarytraitsor strokes,whichhave a notable
bothin the decorative
impacton the developmentof nonfiguration,
artsand in chromatics.
We can findconfirmation
ofthisifwe take a look at the current
situationof the arts.The "eternalconflict,"as Matisse called it, betweendrawingand colorappearsto be waning-althoughnot disap-in thatcoloron theone hand,and drawingon
pearingaltogether3
the other,have both liberatedthemselvesfromthe once-dominant
in ordertostandon theirown
instrumental-representational
function,
and asserttheirindependentvalue. Henceforth,
any examinationof
28. Jules Bourgoin,Grammaire6l6mentairede 1'ornement(Paris: Delgrave,
1880), 33.
29. GeorgeField,A GrammarofcoloringAppliedto DecorativePaintingand the
Arts,newedition(London:Lockwood& Co., 1875),2.
30. In France,cf.also E. Guichard,La Grammairede la couleur(Paris:H. Cagnon,
1882).
31. Therenevertheless
remains,beyondtheage-oldconflict,
a lastingtraitwhichis
surelyone ofthemainreasonsfortheconflict,and thatis thatcolortendsto parade
around,in oppositionto drawing.As Titus-Carmel
noted:"Temperer
l'clat de la couleurparle travaildela minedeplomb,la laisserseulementfiltrer
a travers
les maillesde
ce filetdehachuresgrisesqui en dteintles feux,"takenfromhis "Notesd'ateliers(197374),"in Le Dessin pourquoi?,op. cit.,15.
GEORGES
ROQUE
61
drawingand writingmustno longerpositeach mediumas an instrument,butratheras a trace(or,toputit anotherway,no longeras a plan
ofcontent,butratheras a plan ofexpression).
It is significant,
in this
context,thatBartheswas onlyable to addressthequestionofdrawing
totheidea thattheessenceofwritingis unreadability.32
byresorting
It
thusseemsnecessaryto abandontheidea ofwriting's
instrumentality,
so thatwritingcan appearas a traceand so thatanotherconnection
betweenwritingand drawingcan emerge.
Whencethe different
stakesthatsurfacebeyondtheinstrumental
function.Whencealso therediscovery
ofthevalueandvirtueofdrawingas stroke.As Daniel Dezeuze notes,afterreferring
to theworkof
Derridaand Barthes:"II y a donc une sortede procesen defensede
l'ecriturequi est aussi la defensedu dessin" (Dezeuze, 42) [Thereis
thus a sortof trial,a defenseof writingwhich is also a defenseof
drawing].
The importancethatis henceforth
attachedto thestrokeortraitin
andlikewiseto thespotorpatchin color,leadsus, in concludrawing,
sion,to reconsiderthe elementthatservedas ourpointofdeparture:
the black/whiteoppositionwhich we identifiedas the common
groundbetweenwritinganddrawing,
andwhichseemedtoinvolvean
exclusionofcolor.On thispoint,too,we mustnowbe moreprudent,
more subtle. For this constructis based on the idea of black as
noncolor-an idea whichwe mustcall intoquestion.Justas theblack
traceacquiresa certainlegitimacy[itslettresde noblesse]whenit is
freedfroma purelyinstrumental
orrepresentational
so black
function,
as a color can affirmitselfand triumph.It does so in the workof
Matisse,forexample-Matisse whosetalent,as Renoironcetoldhim,
residessolelyin his use ofthe colorblack (Matisse,Ecritset propos,
202). Soulages also rehabilitatesblack, even more brilliantlythan
Matisse.Evenfora painterlikeAlbertAyme,who does notuse black,
but sticksto different
combinationsofthe threeprimarycolors,the
workof colorand its dynamism,are clearlyconceivedofas moving
fromwhiteto black-like writing,whichis an important
partofhis
art.33Fromthiswe mightmoveoffin anotherdirection,turningour
32. Cf.forexampleone ofhis remarksat theroundtable"La Peintureet l'dcriture
des signes,"in La Sociologiede Partet sa vocationinterdisciplinaire,
op.cit.,191,and
L'Obvie etl'obtus,op. cit.,144.
33. Cf.thecatalogue,AlbertAyme:R6trospective
1960-1992 (Paris:Ecole nationale supdrieure
desBeaux-Arts,
tothecata1992).I raisedthisissuein mycontribution
logue,"Notessurla partitiondes couleurs,"52-54.
62
Yale FrenchStudies
attentionto the importanceof writingfor'color' painterslike Van
Gogh or Delacroix,in whose workcolorindeedseems to go hand in
handwithwriting.34
In thefinalanalysis,then,theantimonybetween
color and drawingno longerseems so pronounced,thanksto their
commonlinks to writing.Henceforthotherconfigurations
may be
emerging...
TranslatedbyCarolineWeber
view ofthelinksbetweentheworkof
34. Jean-Pierre
Guillermgivesa synthetic
Des Motset
colorandtheworkofwritingin Delacroix'sart,in his essay"Blanc/Noir,"
de Lille,1986),7 ff.Cf.,
des couleurs/2,
ed. J.-P.Guillerm(Lille:PressesUniversitaires
de
de Delacroix(Lille:PressesUniversitaires
also hisbook:Couleursde noir.Le Journal
Lille, 1990).