Musical Instruments and Their Symbolism in Western Art: Studies in Musical Iconology by Emanuel Winternitz (review)

Books 73 by writing a decidedly unsympathetic reconstruction himself. For example, at the mere outset of his Introduction he leaps to the conclusion that 'modem art has plunged into the currents of the sub-rational to the detriment of art itself which in the process has become increasingly incoherent and devoid of meaning'. 'On a more positive note', as if self-conscious of his attitude, he goes on to say, 'abstract art has undeniably fulfilled a salutary function. While not exactly communicating the spirit or the music of the spheres, its sensual richness has effectively acted as a kind of visual therapy heightening our perceptual awareness.' Yet, at another point, he contradicts himself: 'While primitivism [his euphemism for expressionism] may have been necessary to throw into sharp relief forgotten aspects of man's being, its promise to revitalize art remains but a dream.' If 'primitivism' effectively heightened perceptual awareness, then it follows that its promise to revitalize visual art remains more than a dream. Intensely judgemental to the end, Wiedmann sums up: 'Primitivism negates the greater part of man's cultural and intellectual achievements. It has succeeded to the extent that in art we have instinctively learned to prefer an African fertility god to the Apollo of Belvedere, the paintings of ancient caves to the compositions of the Renaissance, a bloated, sightless prehistoric Venus to that other Venus of classical Greece whose humanity stands clearly opposed to the non-human forces of nature.' His strident tones reach their peak when he relates Expressionism to Nazism: 'Nazism serves as a blunt reminder of the evils implicit in primitivism [which he saw was the common basis of Expressionism and National Socialism], the threat that arises once man begins to court the primordial with a passion blind to reason.' I question the scholarship that indicates the cause and effect relationship here. Is it accurate to say that some 'pantheistic element of Expressionism helped to create conditions favorable to the rise of National Socialism' without also noting other historical factors in pre-Nazi Germany? Nonetheless, I found it refreshing to read such a controversial treatise on aesthetics. Wiedmann's views can be appreciated , even enjoyed by practicing artists (especially if they are classicists), provided they are not accepted on the whole as objective truths. Images of Horror and Fantasy. Gert Schiff. Harry W. Abrams, New York, 1978. 159 pp., illus. Reviewed by Peter Fingesten* Artists can be likened to seismographs of a society's submerged , psychic rumblings and safety valves for the release of its suppressed fears and dreams. Sensitive artists can imagine all sorts of horrors, pains and rages without necessarily having to experience them. Only in rare, documented cases can one deduce from an artwork the emotions that gave rise to it. As Goethe said, but only said: 'There is no crime I could not commit.' In short, in this book there is the danger of the author's falling into the trap of the 'intentional fallacy', namely, to read from a painting backwards to the soul of its painter. It is well known that allegorical paintings can be further allegories for a painter's hidden feelings. The paintings of apples by Cezanne are an outstanding example of this, for to him they were erotic allegories for women's breasts, as has been pointed out by Meyer Shapiro [Modern Art, 19th and 20th Centuries (New York: Braziller, 1978) Ch. I]. The same applies to the more or less dramatic titles artists tend to give to their paintings that, in themselves, are poetic metaphors. Magritte stated, explicitly, that his titles do not relate to his paintings-but Schiff refuses to believe him! Schiff looks at the selection of artworks in his book, some of which are fascinating, from the outside in. He is less interested in their intrinsic, aesthetic quality than in the illustrative aspects of subject matter and some of its background. The reason for this is that his book is an expanded commentary on an art exhibition by the same title that the author organized 'Pace University, Pace Plaza, New York, NY 10038, U.S.A. for the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York in 1974. It is like...