Reading Cy Twombly
Poetry in Paint
Published on 16. August 2016
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-691-17072-5 (ISBN)
Description
Many of Cy Twombly's paintings and drawings include handwritten words and phrases--naming or quoting poets ranging from Sappho, Homer, and Virgil to Mallarme, Rilke, and Cavafy. Enigmatic and sometimes hard to decipher, these inscriptions are a distinctive feature of his work. Reading Cy Twombly poses both literary and art historical questions. How does poetic reference in largely abstract works affect their interpretation? Reading Cy Twombly is the first book to focus specifically on the artist's use of poetry. Twombly's library formed an extension of his studio and he sometimes painted with a book open in front of him. Drawing on original research in an archive that includes his paint-stained and annotated books, Mary Jacobus's account--richly illustrated with more than 125 color and black-and-white images--unlocks an important aspect of Twombly's practice. Jacobus shows that poetry was an indispensable source of reference throughout Twombly's career; as he said, he "never really separated painting and literature."
Among much else, she explores the influence of Ezra Pound and Charles Olson; Twombly's fondness for Greek pastoral poetry and Virgil's Eclogues; the inspiration of the Iliad and Ovid's Metamorphoses; and Twombly's love of Keats and his collaboration with Octavio Paz. Twombly's art reveals both his distinctive relationship to poetry and his use of quotation to solve formal problems. A modern painter, he belongs in a critical tradition that goes back, by way of Roland Barthes, to Baudelaire. Reading Cy Twombly opens up fascinating new readings of some of the most important paintings and drawings of the twentieth century.
Among much else, she explores the influence of Ezra Pound and Charles Olson; Twombly's fondness for Greek pastoral poetry and Virgil's Eclogues; the inspiration of the Iliad and Ovid's Metamorphoses; and Twombly's love of Keats and his collaboration with Octavio Paz. Twombly's art reveals both his distinctive relationship to poetry and his use of quotation to solve formal problems. A modern painter, he belongs in a critical tradition that goes back, by way of Roland Barthes, to Baudelaire. Reading Cy Twombly opens up fascinating new readings of some of the most important paintings and drawings of the twentieth century.
Reviews / Votes
One of The Times Literary Supplement's Books of the Year 2016, chosen by Andrew Motion "A gripping and revelatory study."--Andrew Motion, Times Literary Supplement "Jacobus ... assesses with great acumen what Twombly's aims were, and shows brilliantly how he combines the various poetic motifs in his painting."--Marjorie Perloff, Times Literary Supplement "Mary Jacobus ... carries us on a marvellous voyage through the artist's mind and beyond."--Marina Warner, Observer "Through unprecedented access to his notebooks and annotated sources--a vast pool encompassing everything from Homer to Pound--Jacobus elegantly illuminates the complex relationship between word and image in an oeuvre that teems with potentiality and impropriety."--Lucy Watson, Financial Times "Jacobus' careful reading and broad learning, her understanding of Twombly's art and the poetry he included in it, and her synthetic discussion of literature and art in various periods and genres--her chapter on pastoral is especially breathtaking--all make this a complex, stunningly memorable book."--Elizabeth Greene, Times Higher Education "A highly original study."--Apollo Magazine "A fine example of literary scholarship inspired by art."--Michael Bird, The Telegraph "[A] fresh and intricate study of Twombly's citations and overall engagement with verse... [Jacobus] profitably confronts Twombly's work as a literary critic ... enriching the work with themes of memory, time, concealment, sexuality, translation, and what she describes at one point as, 'the inexhaustible relation of image and text--distinct, yet propped on one another.'"--James Miller, Hyperallergic "[D]azzles both visually and intellectually... A fascinating exercise in elucidation."--Bill Marx, Arts Fuse "In this erudite book, Jacobus focuses on the poetic and literary allusions and the depth of thinking that went into Twombly's work... The book includes excellent color reproductions, though they are small so do not communicate the impact of Twombly's huge paintings. Jacobus's book will be valuable for those interested in the literary sources for Twombly's art."--Choice "In the book, erudite and descriptive passages show how poetry became central to Twombly. Jacobus illuminates the import of one medium on another, going beyond drawing an affinity between art and poetry to reveal Twombly as an artist engaged in deep study who sought not just correspondences between the mediums, but unity."--Michael Abatemarco, Santa Fe New MexicanMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
96 color + 37 b/w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 261 mm
Width: 184 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
1173 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-17072-5 (9780691170725)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2017
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
from
€105.95
Available for download
Person
Mary Jacobus is professor emerita of English at the University of Cambridge and Cornell University, and an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. She has written widely on visual art, Romanticism, feminism, and psychoanalysis. Her recent books include The Poetics of Psychoanalysis and Romantic Things. She lives in Ithaca, New York, and Cambridge, UK.
Content
Preface and Acknowledgements ix Introduction: Twombly's Books 1 1 Mediterranean Passages: Retrospect 24 2 Psychogram and Parnassus: How (Not) to Read a Twombly 51 3 Twombly's Vagueness: The Poetics of Abstraction 78 4 Achilles' Horses, Twombly's War 103 5 Romantic Twombly 133 6 The Pastoral Stain 160 7 Psyche: The Double Door 186 8 Twombly's Lapse 210 Postscript: Writing in Light 234 Notes 243 Bibliography 285 Index 299