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Picasso's Night Fishing at Antibes
Author(s): Rudolf ArnheimSource: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Winter, 1963), pp. 165-167Published by: Wiley on behalf of The American Society for AestheticsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/427750 .
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P i c a s s o
N i g h t
F i s h i n g
t
Antibes :
n e
Painting
h r e e
Approaches
On
Thursday
evening,
October
25,
1962,
a
symposium
on
Picasso's
Night
Fishing
at Antibeswas
held for the American
Society
for
Aesthetics,
which
was
holding
its
20th annual
meeting
in Boston.
The
participants
were
Rudolf
Arnheim,
psy-
chologist,
Douglas
Morgan,
philosopher, George
Levitine,
art
historian,
and
Gyorgy
Kepes,
painter.
In combination
the
papers
offered a
noteworthy
example
of
the
criticism
of
a
single
work
of art from
several
points
of
view,
an
example,
as
it
were,
of
pluralism
on
display.
The
symposium
is
presented
here,
though
of
necessity
the
discussion
which
followed
is
wanting.
Lacking
too
is the contribution
of
Gyorgy
Kepes,
who
spoke
spontaneously
but
whose
words
it has been
impossible
to record.
Though printed separately, three
of
the
papers
are
presented
here
as
the unit
they
form.
H.
M.
S.
PICASSO'S
NIGHT
FISHING
AT
ANTIBES
RUDOLF
ARNHEIM
Works of art
have been
investigated
mainly
in
three areas
of
psychology.
The
student
of motivation asks
why
the
work
was
made at
all and
why
in
its
particular
fashion.
The
social
psychologist
considers
the function
and
effect
of
art
in
its
setting.
Finally,
those
of us interested in
perception
and
expression
ask:
Why
does
the work
look
RUDOLF ARNHEIM
teaches
at Sarah
Lawrence Col-
lege
and
is a
trustee
of
this
Society.
His
article,
Perceptual
Analysis
of
a
Cosmological
Symbol,
appeared in the Summer 1961 issue of this jour-
nal.
the
way
it
looks
and
say
what it
says?
It
is
this
last
approach
of
which
I
shall
try
to
give
a
sample.
The
examination
takes
the form of a
de-
scriptive
inventory.
We
cling
as
closely
as
possible
to what
is
directly given
to
the
eyes,
on
the
assumption
that
in
a
successful
paint-
ing
the
essential
meaning
is
directly
ex-
pressed
in
the
properties
of the
visual
form.
Picasso's
painting
is
composed
of
three main
areas.
The
narrow
panel
on
the
left
presents
the town and medieval castle of Antibes and
continues
as a
vertical
string
of
rocks
which
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166
ARNHEIM,
MORGAN,
AND
LEVITINE
frame the water
of
the
harbor. There is the
central medallion
of the
two
fishermen in
their
boat,
surrounded
by lights
and
fishes.
And
the
panel
on the
right
shows
two
girls
on a stone jetty. In the projective frontal
plane
of
the canvas the fishermen
hold
the
center
of
an
approximately
symmetrical
composition.
In
three-dimensional
space
we
are led
diagonally
from
the distant
castle
on
the
upper
left
through
the
fishing
scene
to
the
jetty
in
the
foreground,
closest to
us
and
directly
related
to us
through
the
firm foun-
dation
of
the
walls on the
base
of the frame.
After
we have
traveled
through
the
picture
from
the
left
to the
right
we
are
caught
and
held
by
the
company
of the
girls,
who with
their bicycle, ice cream cone, and outgoing
hair
and
bosom
represent
the
unconcerned,
aesthetically
entertained
spectators.
We
ourselves
are
pointedly
identified
by
the
company
we
keep.
The
base
of observation
in
the
foreground
serves
also
as a
repoussoir;
it
deprives
the
fishermen
in
the
boat of
some
of
the direct
communication
with
the
beholder,
which
they
would
have
if
their
central
position
were
as
uncontestedly
prominent
as
it
is,
for
example,
in
Raph-
ael's
Miraculous
Draught of
Fishes
in
the
Vatican.
Picasso
presents
the central
scene
as
something
looked
at
rather than as
some-
thing
that is.
Nevertheless,
the
theme
of the fishermen
carries
considerable
weight
not
only
because
of its size
and central
position
but
also
by
its
almost
architectonic
stability,
which
makes
the
busy
men
in
the
floating
boat
look,
paradoxically,
more solid
than
the
stone
constructions
to their
left and
right.
In
the boulder
shapes
of the
town,
verticals
and parallels are avoided: the cubes and
pyramids
are
heaped
in
emphatic
disorder.
Similarly,
the
large
cube
of
the
jetty
to
the
right
deviates
from
the stable framework
in
all
three
dimensions
and tilts
obliquely
to-
wards
the
back.
In
the two
girls,
the
vertical
is
also
underplayed
and
crossed
by
powerful
shapes-representing
perhaps
the
play
of
lights
and shadows.
In
comparison,
the
cen-
tral scene
has
the
frontality
and flatness
of
a
facade.
The
upright
figure
displays
its
ac-
tion
without
impediment,
and the
crouch-
ing man, although somewhat foreshortened,
also
unfolds
freely
from the
feet to
the
head.
At
the
same
time,
this
central
edifice
is,
as
it
were,
written
on water.
Rather than
being
firmly
based
on
the
frame,
it
floats
on the
crescent of
the
boat,
surrounded
by
the
im-
material water, like an apparition. This
sense
of
unreality
is
strengthened by
the
distribution of
the colors.
The
warm
purple
shades
are reserved
mostly
for the
surround-
ings-the
surrounding
world,
which
spans
the
whole
range
from the
inorganic
stones
on
the
left
to the
bodies
of
the
young
women
on the
right-while
the chill
and
remote-
ness of
the
blues
all
but
monopolize
the
center.
The
strangeness
of
the
apparition
is
fur-
ther
emphasized
and
explained
when
we
no-
tice a paradoxical difference between the
figures
of the
two
fishermen.
The one to the
left,
bending
overboard,
stares
into
the
wa-
ter.
Although
his stare
is
intent,
he
is
pas-
sive,
contemplative.
The
one to the
right
is
most
actively engaged
in
the
spearing
of
the
fish.
However,
if
we
now
look at
the
shapes
by
which
the
two
figures
are
rendered,
we
notice
that the
distribution
of motionless-
ness
and
motion
is
reversed.
The
figure
of
the
standing
man
is
fitted
into the most
static directions
of
space:
the horizontals
of
the
body
and the
head,
paralleled
by
the
left
arm,
and
the
verticals
of
the
leg,
right
arm,
and
spear
are
fitted into
a
stable
post-
and-lintel construction.
The
balanced
spa-
tial
orientation
of the left
arm
and
the
right
angle
that
estranges
the arm from the
spear
deprive
the thrust
of
its
power.
On
the
contrary,
the
physically
inactive
partner
is
alive
with
the
turmoil
of
active
shapes.
He
is
placed
upside
down,
top-
heavy
and with his
feet
sprawling
in
the
air, along an oblique axis, both in the fron-
tal
plane
and
in three-dimensional
space.
But the
axis
is
not
explicitly
given.
No
sys-
tem
of basic
lines sustains
either the inter-
nal
skeleton
of the
figure
or
its
outer con-
tours.
The
body
is
broken
up
into
short,
strongly
bent
curves which
intercept
each
other
irrationally.
Now
such
a
paradoxical
contradiction be-
tween
the
nature of the action
represented
and
the
dynamics
of the
shapes
representing
it
is
not
rare
in the arts.
It
often
expresses
the contrast between physical behavior and
its
spiritual
meaning.
Thus in Piero della
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Night
Fishing
at
Antibes
167
Francesca's
Resurrection
the
figure
of the
rising
Christ is
fitted to
a
serene
framework
of
verticals
and
horizontals
in frontal
pres-
entation,
whereas
the motionless
sleepers
are scattered about in the most restless, ir-
rationally
overlapping
diagonals.
For what
purpose
is the
device
used
in
Night Fishing
at
Antibes?
It seems
legitimate
to remember
here that the
painting
was
done in
August
1939,
when
the
imminence
of
World War
II
darkened the
horizon.
In this
ominous
light,
the murder
of the
fishes,
portrayed
in
our
painting,
acquires
a
particular
mean-
ing.
Watched with non-committal
curiosity
by
the
girls,
whom we
described
as
creatures
of
pleasure
and
luxury,
the
prospect
of
slaughter appears unreal, paralyzed in its
impact
by
its
remoteness,
by
the
incompati-
bility
of
violence with the
gay setting
of
the
Mediterranean
harbor.
The
apparition
on
the crescent
floats
at a
distance,
flat
and
cold,
separated
by
a
stretch
of water from
the
beholder,
who
is
visually
connected and
thus
symbolically
associated with the
stone
jetty,
the
dwelling
place
of
the
carefree
spectators.
The
contemplative companion
of
the
up-
right
fisherman
serves
as
a
bridge
between
the
threatening,
unreal
image
and
the
be-
holder.
Leaning
forward,
this second man
is
not
contained
in
the remote frontal
plane
but
sprawls
toward
us. It
is he
also
whom
we
meet first
as
we
enter the
picture
at
the
lower
left
corner,
stumbling
over the
crab
and
the rocks. Whereas
the
facial
features
of the upright man are narrowed in re-
strictive
concentration,
the
leaning
man's
eyes
are
open
and
far
apart,
and
his nose
reaches
probingly
down into
the
water,
which looks
empty
but
may
hide
anything.
The
pregnancy
of water is
familiar to the
student
of
dreams,
who
speaks
of water
as
a
maternal
symbol.
In
comparison
with the
three-dimensionality
of the fisherman
help-
lessly
scrutinizing
the
future,
everything
else loses
reality.
The
spearman
is
stopped
in
a
frozen
gesture,
the stones
of
the his-
torical
castle
recede,
the
girls
flatten out.
The
foreboding
of
violent,
but
unknown,
things
to
come
emerges
as the
dominant
theme of
the
painting.
The
perceptual
features
that
have
been
mentioned
in
this
analysis
could
be
spelled
out in more technical terms.
The
quick
ref-
erences
that have been
given
may
suffice
to
illustrate
the
fundamental
unity
of
percep-
tion
and
expression.
The
meaning
of a
work
of
visual
art
is
contained
in
the
properties
of its
shapes
and colors. And there is no
sense
to those
shapes
and
colors other
than
the
meaning they
proclaim.
PICASSO'S PEOPLE:
A
LESSON IN
MAKING
SENSE
DOUGLAS
N.
MORGAN
Philosophy
begins,
as it
always
has,
in
wonder: a
wonder
at
the
world
as
a
whole,
at
everything
in
it,
and at
our
curious
ways
of
talking
about
our
world. Our
way
out of
wonder
is
usually
circuitous,
and
new won-
ders
are
perennially
popping
up
to
waylay
us in
our
quest
for
comprehensive
clarity.
Pictorial
criticism
always
properly
be-
gins,
and often
best
ends,
with
the word
DOUGLAS
N.
MORGAN
is
professor
of
philosophy
at
the
University
of
Texas.
His
article,
Art Pure
and
Simple, appeared
in the Winter 1961 issue
of
this
journal.
Beholdl
Consider
Alfred Barr's
charac-
terization of our
painting:
In the
Night
Fishing
at
Antibes
we see two
men
spearing
fish
by
the
light
of
large
lanterns. One of
them in
a
striped jersey,
with a
four-tined
spear
pierces
a sole
(most
Picassoid of
fishesl) lying
on
the bottom. The other
fisherman
leans
over the
side of the
boat
as
refraction
bends
the
shaft of
his
spear.
His
face,
close to
the
water,
is
tense
with
eagerness
and
anxiety.
At the
right,
on
the
stone sea
wall,
two
girls
stand
watching,
one
with
a
bicycle
and
a
double ice
cream cone.
The
rocky
shore to the left is
surmounted
by
the
two towers
of the town.
Above,
the
shining
moon
casts its
spi-
ral
reflection
on
the
water. All
these
circumstan-
Beholdl
Consider
Alfred Barr's
charac-
terization of our
painting:
In the
Night
Fishing
at
Antibes
we see two
men
spearing
fish
by
the
light
of
large
lanterns. One of
them in
a
striped jersey,
with a
four-tined
spear
pierces
a sole
(most
Picassoid of
fishesl) lying
on
the bottom. The other
fisherman
leans
over the
side of the
boat
as
refraction
bends
the
shaft of
his
spear.
His
face,
close to
the
water,
is
tense
with
eagerness
and
anxiety.
At the
right,
on
the
stone sea
wall,
two
girls
stand
watching,
one
with
a
bicycle
and
a
double ice
cream cone.
The
rocky
shore to the left is
surmounted
by
the
two towers
of the town.
Above,
the
shining
moon
casts its
spi-
ral
reflection
on
the
water. All
these
circumstan-
PICASSO'S PEOPLE:
A
LESSON IN
MAKING
SENSE
DOUGLAS
N.
MORGAN
Night
Fishing
at
Antibes
167
but
sprawls
toward
us. It
is he
also
whom
we
meet first
as
we
enter the
picture
at
the
lower
left
corner,
stumbling
over the
crab
and
the rocks. Whereas
the
facial
features
of the upright man are narrowed in re-
strictive
concentration,
the
leaning
man's
eyes
are
open
and
far
apart,
and
his nose
reaches
probingly
down into
the
water,
which looks
empty
but
may
hide
anything.
The
pregnancy
of water is
familiar to the
student
of
dreams,
who
speaks
of water
as
a
maternal
symbol.
In
comparison
with the
three-dimensionality
of the fisherman
help-
lessly
scrutinizing
the
future,
everything
else loses
reality.
The
spearman
is
stopped
in
a
frozen
gesture,
the stones
of
the his-
torical
castle
recede,
the
girls
flatten out.
The
foreboding
of
violent,
but
unknown,
things
to
come
emerges
as the
dominant
theme of
the
painting.
The
perceptual
features
that
have
been
mentioned
in
this
analysis
could
be
spelled
out in more technical terms.
The
quick
ref-
erences
that have been
given
may
suffice
to
illustrate
the
fundamental
unity
of
percep-
tion
and
expression.
The
meaning
of a
work
of
visual
art
is
contained
in
the
properties
of its
shapes
and colors. And there is no
sense
to those
shapes
and
colors other
than
the
meaning they
proclaim.
Francesca's
Resurrection
the
figure
of the
rising
Christ is
fitted to
a
serene
framework
of
verticals
and
horizontals
in frontal
pres-
entation,
whereas
the motionless
sleepers
are scattered about in the most restless, ir-
rationally
overlapping
diagonals.
For what
purpose
is the
device
used
in
Night Fishing
at
Antibes?
It seems
legitimate
to remember
here that the
painting
was
done in
August
1939,
when
the
imminence
of
World War
II
darkened the
horizon.
In this
ominous
light,
the murder
of the
fishes,
portrayed
in
our
painting,
acquires
a
particular
mean-
ing.
Watched with non-committal
curiosity
by
the
girls,
whom we
described
as
creatures
of
pleasure
and
luxury,
the
prospect
of
slaughter appears unreal, paralyzed in its
impact
by
its
remoteness,
by
the
incompati-
bility
of
violence with the
gay setting
of
the
Mediterranean
harbor.
The
apparition
on
the crescent
floats
at a
distance,
flat
and
cold,
separated
by
a
stretch
of water from
the
beholder,
who
is
visually
connected and
thus
symbolically
associated with the
stone
jetty,
the
dwelling
place
of
the
carefree
spectators.
The
contemplative companion
of
the
up-
right
fisherman
serves
as
a
bridge
between
the
threatening,
unreal
image
and
the
be-
holder.
Leaning
forward,
this second man
is
not
contained
in
the remote frontal
plane
Philosophy
begins,
as it
always
has,
in
wonder: a
wonder
at
the
world
as
a
whole,
at
everything
in
it,
and at
our
curious
ways
of
talking
about
our
world. Our
way
out of
wonder
is
usually
circuitous,
and
new won-
ders
are
perennially
popping
up
to
waylay
us in
our
quest
for
comprehensive
clarity.
Pictorial
criticism
always
properly
be-
gins,
and often
best
ends,
with
the word
DOUGLAS
N.
MORGAN
is
professor
of
philosophy
at
the
University
of
Texas.
His
article,
Art Pure
and
Simple, appeared
in the Winter 1961 issue
of
this
journal.
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