Without question, the tache (blot, patch, stain) is a central and recurring motif in nineteenth-century modernist painting. Manet's and the Impressionists’ rejection of academic finish produced a surface where the strokes of paint were presented directly, as patches or blots, then indirectly as legible signs. Cézanne, Seurat, and Signac painted exclusively with patches or dots. Through a series of close readings, this book looks at the tache as one of the most important features in nineteenth-century modernism. The tache is a potential meeting point between text and image and a pure trace of the artist’s body. Even though each manifestation of tacheism generates its own specific cultural effects, this book represents the first time a scholar has looked at tacheism as a hidden continuum within modern art.
With a methodological framework drawn from the semiotics of text and image, the author introduces a much-needed fine-tuning to the classic terms index, symbol, and icon. The concept of the tache as a ’crossing’ of sign-types enables finer distinctions and observations than have been available thus far within the Peircean tradition. The ’sign-crossing’ theory opens onto the whole terrain of interaction between visual art, art criticism, literature, philosophy, and psychology.
By:
Øystein Sjåstad Imprint: Routledge Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Weight: 272g ISBN:9780367432843 ISBN 10: 0367432846 Series:Studies in Art Historiography Pages: 192 Publication Date:11 September 2019 Audience:
College/higher education
,
General/trade
,
Primary
,
ELT Advanced
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
Øystein Sjåstad is a lecturer in art history at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo, Norway.