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E-mail: C.Chong-2@sms.ed.ac.uk
Research Field:
19th Century French Art
Thesis Title:
Invoking the language of the musical vague in
the art and criticism of Henri Fantin-Latour.
Abstract:
The early nineteenth century saw the emancipation
of music from mimeticism and the aspiration towards
absolute music. This ideological shift
fuelled the meteoric rise of instrumental music
to its exalted status as the paradigmatic expressive
art. Music became a model of emulation for all
the arts. But it was not until the end of
the 1860s that Henri Fantin-Latour (1839-1903)
deserted the concrete terrain of Realism in his
pursuit of the more elusive in music. This decisive
moment in his career initiated an unwavering allegiance
to music that would exercise an enduring influence
on his art and its critical reception. In my dissertation,
Invoking the Language of the Musical Vague
in the Art and Criticism of Henri-Fantin Latour
, I posit that the artist developed a unique
pictorial style of art-making that aspired to
evoke and simulate music's inherent vagueness.
For Fantin, the vague or abstract in music
materialized in the form of amorphous masses and
diaphanous textures that cast a pervasive haze
over his musical genre: a score of lush and ambient
lithographs, pastels and paintings inspired by
Berlioz, Wagner and Schumann. In short, the artist's
musical aspirations translated into an aesthetic
of vagueness.
Comparative studies on the sister arts in the
nineteenth century have generally been inclined
towards iconographic readings or have adopted
a broader approach that explores the cultural
impact of Beethovenism and Wagnerism. However,
I find that the most compelling aspect of what
I described as an aesthetic of vagueness is the
emergence of a vocabulary of the vague in
art and music criticism. My dissertation will
be guided by an intertextual methodology:
an original interpretative strategy that contributes
to the new "transdisciplinary" approach
in art history but remains unprecedented in regard
to scholarship on Fantin's musicality. By reconciling
my intertextual investigation with traditional
achievements and older methods of inquiry, I hope
to forge new disciplinary idioms and instigate
meaningful exchanges between relevant disciplines.
Supervisors:
Dr. Frances Fowle
Professor Peter Dayan (School of LLC: Word and
Music studies)
Awards:
Giles Robertson Scholarship
École Normale Superieure Étrangère
pensionnaire Residency (Jan-June 2010)
Publications:
Picasso and Ceramics: A Teacher's Resource
Guide, [online] (Toronto: Gardiner Museum
of Ceramic Art, 2003)
Forthcoming 'The Transposition of the Musical
Vague: Theme and Variations by Henri Fantin-Latour',
to be published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Research Interests:
The musical world of Eugène Delacroix,
George Sand and Frederic Chopin; Oscar Wilde's
theory of art; literary adaptations of nineteenth
century works in film; philosophy of aesthetics
Other:
Corrinne is a secondary school teacher by profession
and specializes in cross-curricular programming.
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