293

ART NOUVEAU
WORD and IMAGE
Summary

Interdisciplinary comparative research has a l o n g tradition, f r o m A r i s t o t l e

via Lessing, A l e x a n d r Veselovsky and others up to the structuralists. A r t nou-
veau — a characteristic synthetic style of the t u r n of the twentieth century —
provides abundant material for an investigation into the relations between
literature, the fine arts and architecture.
The present study began w i t h an investigation of literary texts, especially
Russian literature, analysed i n comparison w i t h important C z e c h texts other
European, as w e l l as A m e r i c a n literature. F o r easier orientation i n the com­
plex terrain of the literature and arts of the given period, the author has
chosen to use the genological (genre) principle. T h e A r i s t o t e l i a n t r i c h o t o m y
has, however, been enlarged by a l o o k at the materialized image i n architec­
ture and painting. A similarly complex method, along the lines of the
Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk and its development by O t o k a r H o s t i n s k y
and Stefania Skwarczynska is used. These t w o emphasized the importance of
stage performance for the interpretation of drama and theatre. Parallel phe­
nomena both i n literature and the fine arts, w h i c h are compared i n the
chapter " M o d e r n i s m and A r t N o u v e a u " , corroborate the fact that all the
movements, trends and styles that emerged f r o m the last t h i r d of the nine­
teenth century, culminating at the t u r n of the century and gradually ending
by the first t h i r d of the twentieth century, drew o n the same philosophical,
aesthetic and psychological sources. These developments can be seen i n tran­
scendental natural p h i l o s o p h y (Schelling, the brothers Schlegel, Schopen­
hauer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Soloviev, important for Russian, i n the theo-
sophical teaching of e. g. Blavatsky), anthroposophy ( R u d o l f Steiner) and
psychology (Freud, Jung). T h e aesthetics of that time reveals the remarkable
fact of the virtually simultaneous appearance of leading E u r o p e a n phenome-
nologists - H u s s e r l , Pfander, Scheler and the leading aesthetician of Russian
symbolism, A n d r e i Bely. T h i s results i n conspicuous semantic and iconic
congruities. T h e phases of art nouveau corrrespond w i t h the evolution of
modernism and its accompanying phenomena, namely w i t h the dualistic
trend of neoromanticism, decadence, p r o t o s y m b o l i s m , s y m b o l i s m and i m ­
pressionism. There is a close l i n k w i t h vitalism, w i t h o p p o s i t i o n a l monistic
trends: neoclassicism (Russian acmeism, clarism and adamism) and w i t h the
early avant-garde.
294

A genological study of the novella, drama and theatre, including interior

iconography and scenography, of architecture, religious painting and poetry,
has s h o w n that art nouveau was applied i n them o n b o t h h o r i z o n t a l and ver­
tical levels. N u m e r o u s phenomena i n semantics and poetics developed along
parallel lines, w i t h modifications o n l y i n accordance w i t h the rules of specific
literary and artistic genres. The vertical movement, i . e. the development of
these phenomena, manifested itself i n an intensive interest i n discovering
new thematic fields and the consequent innovation of the structural means.
A r t nouveau's attraction to oriental themes w i t h stylization, can already be
seen i n novellas of the early 1880s (Turgenev, A Song of Triumphant
Love).The dominant theme i n prose and drama was that of a catastrophic
U t o p i a , stylized as reportage and document (Briusov). T h e theme of tramps
(bosiakij and the gypsy m y t h led to a chronotopically free art-nouveau ges­
ture, w i t h analogous manifestations i n the fine arts ( G o r k i j — K l i m t ) . The
death of a close friend or relative was treated i n novellas as a psychological
and ethical problem (Chekhov's Rotshild's Fiddle). In the folkloristic or bud-
dhist conception, it was a theme of perpetual return in the endless cycle of
life, resulting i n the union of love and death (Turgenev, Klima).
A c o m m o n feature of all these novellas was a variety of stylization types,
ranked as they were by different time zones and territorial and social levels.
A number of stylistic signs were used, from a narrative reminiscent of the
oriental magic fairy-tale to reports of U t o p i a n horrors. Art-nouveau struc­
tured prose portrayed characters i n their momentary state m u c h as paintings
do. T h e y have neither a past nor a future, and if their life is c o m i n g to an
end, that life appears as a monotonous melody or dream f r o m w h i c h they
have just awakened (Chekhov). Such novellas express their essence by means
of an expressive gesture, as do allegorical paintings. T h e expression of the
author's narrative subject ( G o r k y ' s early prose w o r k s ) refutes Roland
Barthes's claim that the author i n modernism was dead. It d i d so w i t h the
same vehemence as Mallarme's theatre performances. T h e leitmotif of the
majority of the prose w o r k s analysed was the u n i o n of love and death, an
appropriate theme for both decadence and art nouveau.
Similar existential problems were tackled i n turn-of-the-century drama,
w h i c h , like set design, took delight i n folkloristic or mythical stylization
(Aleksandr O s t r o v s k y , T h e Snow Maiden, Jaroslav K v a p i l , Princess Dande­
lion). T h e iconography of festive theatre curtains turned from allegory to
m y t h (the K l i m t brothers, M a t c h , Hynais). T h e art-nouveau set design of the
Russian opera and ballet concentrates o n w o r k s b y G l i n k a , B o r o d i n , M u s o r g -
sky, Tchaikovsky, C h e r e p n i n , but mainly R i m s k y - K o r s a k o v and the y o u n g
Stravinsky. Folkloristic, historical and mythical themes became fruitful in-
 295

spirations for a number of outstanding painters and sculptors: V i c t o r Vas-

netsov, B i l i b i n , Bakst, Benois, Anisfeld, R e r i k h , D o b u z h i n s k y and others,
whose w o r k s soon became w e l l - k n o w n abroad.
A n important part of the Russian theatre was the Parisian seasons of
Russian opera and ballet, organized by Diaghilev and the painter Benois.
Russian set designers were also k n o w n i n the C z e c h lands; the author of the
present b o o k has managed to find some unique, previously unpublished
w o r k s by B i l i b i n , showing the painter's development f r o m its very begin­
nings to the final stage. T h e comparison of B i l i b i n ' s previously u n k n o w n
early designs for R i m s k y - K o r s a k o v ' s opera The Snow Maiden with an
analogical stage scenery by Vasnetsov shovs that B i l i b i n had already found
his o w n specific brushwork style b y that time. In the w o r k s of such pro­
nounced stylizers as B i l i b i n , remnant art-nouveau features can be followed
up to the 1930s, the more so because some of the w o r k s consciously draw o n
some designs realized as early as the 1910s. It is remarkable that the art-
nouveau sign nature, w h i c h can be expressed graphically by an isosceles triangle
w i t h the three vertexes connecting stylization w i t h symbolism and naturalism,
was characteristic both of set and costume design and of drama. It found its
expression not only i n symbolistic drama, w h i c h mostly remained unperformed
(Soloviev, Gippius, Balmont, Ivanov, Annensky, Briusov, Wyspiariski, H u g o
v o n Hofmannsthal, Andreyev, B l o k et al.), but also i n the w o r k s of A n t o n
C h e k h o v and M a x i m G o r k y . A r t nouveau's themes were not o n l y serious or
tragic. A n important aspect was i r o n y and grotesque, often even resulting i n
absurdity. T h e representatives of this approach i n the field of drama included
V l a d i m i r Solovyov (The White Lily), A r t h u r Schnitzler (The Green Parrot,
The Brave Kassian) and A l e k s a n d r B l o k (Panopticon).

The crisis situations w h i c h troubled people at the end of the nineteenth

century and w h i c h led to the development of clinical psychology and psy­
chiatry (see the B r i u s y o v ' s prose w o r k s analysed here) also required expres­
sion i n the field of architecture. T h e great accumulation o f people i n large
cities led the rich to escape to garden houses and expensive villas w i t h green
all around. These requirements were met b y w o r k s of the Russian art-
nouveau architect F y o d o r Shekhtel, the Scottish architect M a c k i n t o s h and
the Slovak architect Jurkovic, w h o was close to M a c k i n t o s h stylistically.
Jurkovic w o r k e d i n M o r a v i a and B o h e m i a t i l l 1918. T h e seclusion of their
villas, inspiring meditation, corresponded w i t h contemporary symbolistic
poetry, leading from a real landscape to the landscape of the soul. F r o m
here, o n l y one step further is quiet repose i n a graveyard garden; such is the
place of the orthodox C h u r c h of the A s s u m p t i o n i n Prague. A lesser k n o w n
chapter of Russian-Czech cultural relations is connected w i t h that church:
296

the remarkable frescos, made during W o r l d W a r II using unique, previously

unpublished designs by Ivan B i l i b i n , the originals of w h i c h have been pre­
served i n Prague. T h e y make a set of eight sketches o n w h i c h the painter
w o r k e d , partly w i t h the help of his son f r o m his first marriage, A l e k s a n d r
Ivanovich B i l i b i n , i n the years 1926-1928. T h e artist put into them all his
many years' experience of religious painting, w h i c h follows the tradition of
Russian medieval icon painting, but also availed himself of his rich practice in
illustrating children's books and making many set designs for fairy-tale op­
eras. The orthodox church at the Olsanske hfbitovy (Olsany Cemetery) i n
Prague houses one of the most remarkable sets of twentieth century fresco.
The fifth, most comprehensive part of the monograph, deals w i t h poetry,
w h i c h is always highly sensitive to new philosophical and aesthetic impressions.
A n excursion into the Amielian landscape of the soul brings us to Antonfn
Sova's w o r l d of imagination and to that of O t o k a r Bfezina, whose animated gar­
dens make a completely unexpected overture to the metaphor of the younger
Russian symbolists, although a direct contact must certainly be excluded.
The philosophical level of O t o k a r Bfezina's poetry is compared w i t h the
w o r k of his close friend, the sculptor Frantisek Bflek, w h o was guided by the
same philosophy of life, w h i c h resulted i n existentialism. T h e organic interrela­
tions between art nouveau and impressionism are corroborated by an analysis
of Konstantin Balmont's poetry; he overcame the depression of his decadent
beginings and came to be the most characteristic representative of Russian
vitalism. T h r o u g h his translations of Edgar A l l a n Poe's w o r k s , B a l m o n t ap­
peared to be a link between romanticism and s y m b o l i s m . T h e futurist
V e l e m i r K h l e b n i k o v ' s early w o r k also shows some connection w i t h symbol­
ism. A comparison of K h l e b n i k o v , the symbolist A l e x a n d r B l o k and his con­
temporary Guillaume Apollinaire indicates that i n all the three poets' works,
the phenomenon of beauty was modelled by means of sign i n a typically art-
nouveau style, although the system of imagination of the two representatives of
the European avant-garde was based o n configuration. T h e spiritual closeness
of symbolism and the avant-garde follows from an analysis of the aesthetic
system of the main representative of the Russian symbolism theory, A n d r e i
Bely, a follower of C h r i s t i a n Morgenstern, w i t h w h o m he was also connected
by R u d o l f Steiner's anthroposophical teaching. W h e n analysed, both A n d r e i
Bely's collection of poems The Star and the preserved water-colours accom­
panying Bely's poetic message addressed to the A u s t r i a n poet show that the
poetic text was intentionally structured along the lines of R. Steiner's philo­
sophical system. T h e spirit of this system equally underlies the centre of an-
throposophy at D o r n a c h , Switzerland, as w e l l as Steiner's o w n activity as a
sculptor. The folkloristic sources of the art nouveau are analysed i n A n n a
 297

Akhmatova's early works; she seems to have drawn o n sources outside Russia.
A hypothesis might be assumed that she was inspired by songs of an U g r i g
ethnic group w h o originally inhabited what is now the region of St. Petersburg.
The u n i o n of talent for painting and w r i t i n g , as was found i n quite
a number of the turn-of-the-century artists, enables us to study the natural
relations of various types of art. T h e original painting and poetry of N i k o l a i
R e r i k h , due to their philosophical depth and stylistic simplicity, make a sort
of epilogue i n the genealogy of art nouveau.
T h e chosen genological principle has brought some important findings.
O n e of them is the fact that some characteristic features of art nouveau go
horizontally through all literary and fine art genres. T h i s can be seen i n the
fields of philosophy, psychology and aesthetics. E v e n poetics involves some
congruities (the frequent use of the s y m b o l of mask o r serpent, of the motifs
of birds and precious stones, functioning as signs w i t h their original m y t h o ­
logical meaning, an escape f r o m the heavy existential pressures of reality to
the past, to exotic places or to i r o n y o r even absurd grotesque). Congruence
can also be found i n the field of structure. Literature, the fine arts and archi­
tecture show an interest i n a certain type of c o l o u r scheme and i n the struc­
tural expression of ancient cults, especially the cult of the sun; they aim to
express the desire for height, opening new horizons, have a l i k i n g for vegeta­
ble sectioning of space and for the iconic character of text, gradually re­
placed by an emphasis o n linearity and the antimetaphoric simplicity of
text. A l l these features, dependent o n the nature of the creative individual,
are often parallel. M u s i c , w h i c h i n m o d e r n i s m reaches the highest position i n
the hierarchy of values, penetrates into the incipits of literary w o r k s and into
their poetics (it is used both as a theme and as a means of structuring texts
into the form of various musical genres, exerts influence o n the r h y t h m i c a l
and acoustic aspect of poetry, etc.). Schlegel's perception of music as f l o w i n g
architecture becomes another model example of the synthesis of art. Linear­
ity, characteristic of the late art-nouveau fine arts and architecture, has its
analogy i n poetic text: it is the symbolic character of line o r the antimeta­
phoric simplicity, as w e l l as the raising of complex existential problems
(Blok, Bely, A k h m a t o v a , R e r i k h , Bryusov, K l i m a ) .
It was not only through their mutual influence that art nouveau poetics
penetrated various types of art. T h e decisive factor was above all an agreement
between philosophical premises and the aesthetic code. B o t h the dualistic
trends and the monistic neoclassicism were oriented towards the same ideals of
beauty and harmony. Even the disharmonic avant-garde based its anti-
traditionalist protest o n a deep knowledge of tradition. Its programme of anti-
-aestheticism was only aimed at a rather configurated form of the same beauty.