Chapter 4 Psychology and perception in art How the viewer experiences art inart history. ‘There is a great, and ancient, , called ekplrasis, in people describe works of at (among other things) and record ns today also investigate various theories of reception and the gaze. Because of the complex tertelations of these theoretical approaches, and the need to pres- enta lot of background mate directly used in the prac- ice of art history tod analysis for the end of the chapter, rather than intersp with each section. Arthistory and psychoanalysis Happy people have no sto 5 both therapeutic method for the unconscious through the interpretation of dreams, ips, jokes, ete, and through the use of fiee association self, and many after him, applied the theory and practice lysis to works ofart and literature and to society at large. is is also an enormous field of inquiry in its own sspects or branches of sss some basic concepts ideas here before delving i Freud's theory rests on the observation repressed desires is a difficult sud named that place in ourselves Where we store sublimation, directing them towai ce so many other psychoanalytic ideas, for sexual frustration, Frew pointed out that sometimes the realityterested in che sequence of childhood development. In 1 focused on the harnessing of the hie (aot mer ‘energy. As the chi process child takes a sadistic pleasure in defecation; at the same time, the child is anarchic and aggressive, As the erotogenic zone shifts from the anus to allic stage. Freud delibersvely e girls had to be to the penis. At desire to possess the oppo- seme-sexed one. The boy no penises, and he fears that his father will remove his penis, too. He only resolves the conflict by realizing that he can possess hi by identifying wich the father, chereby assum ‘men possess. Her love for her father then becomes both exotic and envious, as she yearhs for penis of her own. She comes to blame fher mother for her perceived castration, and is struck by penis: envy, the counterpattto the boy's castration anxiety. ‘As the child grows, the pressure of dealing with conflicting and repressed desires splits the mind into three aspects: fd, ego, and superego. The id is grasp on the reality principl referable, even safer, to delay gratification. Because of this, eg0 offen has to repress the id. The ego's efforts to satisfy these (projection, rationalization, and displacemend, and sradually becomes aware ofthe ego, the individual becomes a s arges and needs. While the € fear of punishment, eventual ent are internalized. The superego uses roach to enforce these rules and repress the id ible into two pars: conscience and ego ideal. Conscience right and wrong, and forces the ego to inhibit che din pursuit of mo discussed in Chapter 3 up fortheloss ofthe pec ‘he idea that the out the promise that the ego, the sense of self, can be strengtltened enough to manage repressed desires and achie just stored in the unconscious like unwanted files in an office warehou like nuclear wast, they always seem to have a way of leaking 0 itakes, misteadings, 1gs (you can never seem to find your keys on weekday mornings), and the odd misspeakings we call “Freudian slips.” repressed desires are very strong, the ego will have to work extra hard to reroute them, and this internal conflict results in neurosis,paranoia, or schizophrenia (t's important to remember here that Freud was working before any real understanding ofthe impact of ics, biochemisty, and envico tions). Freud developed psychoanalysis, ‘way to heal psychic conflicts, For Freud, human society operated like the individual psy- che, but on a grand scale. Culture provides a way to express and manage desires in co ith one another and with society, and is atthe same time the product of impulses denied a more directly sexual or aggressive satisfaction, Because social life originates in these irresolvable confficts, civilization is always vulnerable to rad- tions. Erom the First World War until his death in 1939, asthe Second World War be lentsocial erises, which he interpreted as izrational these primal conflicts. In Giviliztion and its Discontents (1930), he explored the consequences of repressing impulses in order t in society, He argued pessi that civilization must curta the death instinct, but, if people are denied the satisfactions of aggression, they turn against themselves.2 Freud on art ‘Only in art does it sill happen that « man wi consumed by desires performs something resembling the accomplishment of those destes and that what he dass play produces emotional efsts—thanks to artiste lusion-—Just as though it were something real. Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo (1912-13) ‘rated his writings with examples drawn from art and literature and of course such names as the Oedipus complex derive from Greek mythology. In fac, he kepta copy of Ingres’s Osdipus and the is office and avidly collected art and antiquities. an essay on Michelangelo's Moses lavities in the ways that art history and overlooked, figure’s posture and gestures. Freud argued that Michelangelo depicted Moses just at the moment when he stops himself from breaking the tablets. Thus Michelangelo represented an 92] CHAPTER_ PSYCHOLOGY ANO PERCSPHION IN AAT action, Moses's triumph over his passionate anger forthe sake ofa higher cause.* In Lemard da Vine and a Memory of his Childhood (i910), Freud developed the pathographical approach, applying the methods of is to the artists life and work, trying to “explain” the artist the slowness with which he worked, even his use of certain forms and motifs. Freud focused ‘on Leonardo's early childhood, which he spent with his unmarried ‘mother, only moving to his father’s house later. One of Leonardo's childhood memories concerned a vulture that came to him in his cradle, opened his mouth with its tail, and repeatedly struck his lips with it. Strange! ‘out that “vulture” was a mistransla- tion ofthe Italian: the bird was actually a kite, a raptor that doesn’t hhave neatly the same degree of cultural resonance.) Freud argued that this was actually a fantasy, transposed to childhood, that con- cealed Leonardo's memories of nursing at his mother’s breast and also expressed his unconscious desire for fellatio The replace- ment of his mother by the vulture indicates that the child was aware of his father’s absence and found himself alone with his intensely affectionate mother. Freud draws a range of implications Jungian archetypes ne of Tres sometime collaborators, the that peoplewho experience mental Sis psycheanayst Carl ng (875-1061), disturbances ilesses ar haunted by argued that them. Psycheanaisis, fr Jung, isan individual humanity. The co ind ofknowedgeweaeall bo thoyghwearenever conscious ands Syl (1969 and other writings, Jung discussed the archetypes, key synbols images, which he argued, apperinthe arts histories, flosopies, myths, and ofr. Today, ures Archetypesinclde interested in co te animus and anima, the pretationsofimages, rather than cross- ral comparisons and anaogiesthat andthe maiden, amongothers._maywork erase cultura difference and Because archetypes are not under conscieus strc pec. contre, wera er them, andJung argued ceaploation ofthe archetypes, so that we ‘anal by understanding how they shape ——_—_—_—_————