Grade 11/12 Art - Day 17

The next methodology in Visual Art that we will study is Psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis was created by Sigmund Freud.  Here are the basic tenets of psychoanalysis:

• a person's development is determined by often forgotten events in early childhood besides inherited traits
• human attitude, mannerism, experience, and thought is largely influenced by irrational drives that are rooted in the unconscious
• it is necessary to bypass psychological resistance in the form of defense mechanisms when bringing drives into awareness
• conflicts between the conscious and the unconscious, or with repressed material can materialize in the form of mental or emotional disturbances, for example: neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, depression etc.
• liberating the elements of the unconscious is achieved through bringing this material into the conscious mind (via e.g. skilled guidance, i.e. therapeutic intervention). (wikipedia)

Our text, Art Across Time, tells us that "...like art, psychoanalysis deals with imagery, history, and creativity.  Like archeology, it reconstructs the past and interprets its relevance to the present.  The imagery examined by psychoanalysts is found in dreams, waking fantasies, jokes, slips of the tongue, and neurotic symptoms, and it reveals the subconscious mind" (Adams).  

A good example of psychoanalysis applied to art was when Freud psychoanalyzed Leonardo da Vinci through the catalogue of his work. He are two excerpts from Deborah Feller's book review of Freud's "Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood": 

"Before he tackles the childhood memory, Freud describes Leonardo’s struggles with his art, beginning with the perfectionism that made each painting a major endeavor of upwards of several years and left more than a few unfinished. He cites Vasari and later art historians who quote Leonardo’s contemporaries on the subject, and mentions several specific paintings as examples, including the Last Supper, where the artist’s frustration with the rapid execution required of fresco painting resulted in the technical disaster that has challenged conservationists ever since."

"In the final chapter of the book, feigning humility, Freud addresses possible objections to his “pathographical review of a great man,” admitting the limitations of applying psychoanalysis to the biography of someone about whose early life so little is known. He nonetheless confidently asserts that he has accomplished what he set out to do, showing how the circumstances of Leonardo’s childhood, combined with his inherent capacity to repress and sublimate his primitive instincts, resulted in a celibate artist-scientist forever torn between his art and science. Although Freud was well satisfied with his conclusions, their unfavorable reception seems to have discouraged him from tackling other art historical subjects."

Even though Freud's findings have been refuted historically, it does allow for an interesting attempt at understanding artists through psychoanalysis.  This methodology is certainly worthy of our consideration and may serve as a catalyst for future study!