Overture: The Narrow Path Toward the Whole
Author(s): Yves Bonnefoy and John T. Naughton
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Yale French Studies, No. 84, Boundaries: Writing & Drawing (1994), pp. 13-16
Published by: Yale University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930176 .
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YVES BONNEFOY
Overture:The NarrowPath
towardthe Wholel
Whatpulsingin thatline thatsometimesmovesaboutin the dabs,
ofa bitofcolor:thedrawing!
beneaththehighlights
Thatdrawingthatat firstsightcan seemless to onewhohas learnedto
love themagnificent
altarpieces,orthetransfiguration
ofmatterin a
Titian, a Vermeer,or the storms-lingering,or just about to burst
forth-in a Delacroix,but that sometimesshows thatit can be as
much ifnot even almostmore,in the nextto nothingofa line that
hesitates,that breaksoff.As thoughthe admissionof inadequacy,
whenitshowsitselfat thepeakofmastery,
werethetruthbeforewhich
all othersfade,but also an outpouring,
a source.
usedto say,"Drawingis all."
Giacometti,whowas also a greatpainter,
he
had
been
a
master
of the artisticvision,
Fromhis earliestyears,
todrawing,
buteventually
thanks,inparticular,
gaveup theideaofthis
andlaterhe
mastery,
and thenunderstoodthathe was at lasta drawer,
neverstoppedsearching,
destroying,
starting
over-livingitsabsolute
in thosefewlines thatweresometimesall butobliterated
byhis eratellsus,
sures,andhe was stilldrawing"withjusthiseyes," hisbrother
onlya fewhoursbeforehis death.
1. Thesenoteson drawing
areonepartofa three-part
essaycalledCommeallerloin
dans les pierrespublishedin 1992byJacquesClercwithlithographs
byHenriCartier
Bresson.
& Drawing,ed.M. Reid,? 1994byYaleUniversity.
YFS 84,Boundaries:Writing
13
14
Yale French Studies
II
Our experiencewith what is: on a whole firstlevel,it is only our
language.Ourwordsdrawfromwithoutthematerialwithwhichthey
will build,arrange,and interpretthings,and thus the worldis put
together,
thustheuniversesthateach civilizationhas dreamedofappearand disappear:sumptuousfigures,
richin dimensionand movement,butwhichare onlythepages,goneas soon as turned,ofa book
one has littlereasontherefore
to call reality.
Realitynonethelesssurvives,on thathorizonin thingsthatwordscan
neverreach,orin thespacebetweenthem:muchliketheleavesabove
thewalls ofenclosedgardens.Let'ssaythattherealis thetreeone sees
beforeourintellecttellsus it'sa tree;ortheslowswellingofthecloud,
thattightening,
thattearingin thesandofitscolorthatdefythepower
ofwords.
Andpoetryis whatspeechbecomeswhenonehas learnednottoforget
thatthereis a place,in manywords,where,despitewhathas justbeen
said ofthem,theymake contactwithwhattheycannotsay.
III
In speech,poetry;and beneaththepencil,thedrawing.
Whatis thepersonwhodrawsdoingifnot,in thefirstplace,encounteringthislevelwherelanguagedecides?IfMichelangelowantstounderstandthe musculatureofthe ephebe,Degas the postureofthe little
balletdancer,theremustbe a precisionin theirwayoflookingatthings
thatis notunliketheprecisionofthought.The muscles,furthermore,
have a name,and movementfollowslaws thatareknown.
Andin thiswaythedrawercan be "true,"and afford
truthto painters
who findin theircolors,theirvalues,in theiruse ofperspectivethat
in thefigurative
once was so important,
paintingthatonlyyesterday
was stilldominant,in theirthemesandallusions,thematerialtobuild
an image of the worldthat will enchanttheirera. But the drawer
possessesa power,a powerhe canfeel,whichis deniedtothesepainters
whose ambitionsare so vast.
So narrowis his stroke,so surrounded
bygreatemptyshores!
YVES
BONNEFOY
15
Andso easythenforhimto feelintuitively
thatthatwhitepageis the
unknowingwhich surpasseshis abilityto know,a lightquite other
thanthatsun whichhe has perhapsalreadyplacedon therightin his
drawing,behindthatclusterof trees.A lightthatis morethan the
simplephysicalsun, since it wells up fromthe depthsofall things,
sinceit is theradianceofthatunitythatwordsfragment.
Afterwhich he will surelybe able to sense thatdrawingis less
defining
contours,finding
theirtruth,thanventuring
intothatwhiteness and discovering
theretheprecarity
ofall thathas beenacquired,
the vanityofwants,and thusdrawingnearto thatreality-unity
that
languagerobsus of.In thisway,thedrawing,
the"great"drawing,
will
be poetry."Pure"poetry,
alreadymodern,nextto paintingswhichare
worksmadeup ofnarrative,
sermon,science-and ofcoursemaderich
as wellbythatpoetrytheysometimesgatherfromdrawing,
andwhich
theyintensify
or dilute.
IV
Wherethedrawingoflittlemeritis theone thatseemsweighteddown
byundiscarded"painting,"greatpaintingpreserves,
on all its levels,
thebold strokethaterases,thatrenewstheworld.
Butletus be careful:thisstrokeis no longerthelinemadebypencilor
charcoalthatcolorwould enhance;it can be thepurplestripeofthe
sunsetin a Constableora Hodleras muchorevenmorethantheline
reducedto itselfthatthe word"disegno"suggestsin the Florentine
tradition.
The drawinginpaintingis thekerneloftheinvisible,notthe
quintessence,howeversupreme,ofintelligible
forms.Letus say,"This
paintinghas no drawing,"as we used to say ofcertainforms,"They
have no life."
V
in theWest?Because oftheIdea that
Whyis the drawingso difficult
dominatesso manyPlatonicminds,andbecausealso oftheChristian
notionofa Wordthathas producedtheuniverse:proof,in bothcases,
thatrealityis identifiedwithlanguage.Our civilizationsof the eveofthemindin words,which
ningsun arebornfromthisconfinement
allowsthemindtorunheadlongintohistory
withouta handrail,at the
riskofdisaster.The Chinesepainter,on theotherhand,was totallya
16
Yale FrenchStudies
drawer,
onlypaintingthecrabwhenithadbecomeso close tohimthat
he no longerneededtolookat it,andin brushstrokesthatcapturednot
itsformbutsimplythegentlebreathing
ofone crabamongothercrabs.
In theWest,thedrawingis obviouslyas rare,as unusualas poetry.
ofconceptualthought,
itmanages
Butsqueezedbetweenthehighcliffs
to move along morefrothyand clear,and even,because of this,to
followpaths more variedthan in the orientalwashdrawing:unexbesideus
pectedpathsthatforgefaraheadandthatnowpasspeacefully
at theverymomentandin theveryplacewherewe mighthavethought
ourselveslost.
Forinstancea certainTriumphofGalatea byPoussin,as a suddenflow
andBlunt.The spiralofthe
oflightfroma pageturnedin Friedlaender
in Raphaelrisingup in thebodyofhis own Galatea-in the
rhythms
chordsofan earthmademusic-toward thatinvisiblepointwhichis
in us thecenterofgravitythatwill helpus to survive.
VI
Drawing,de-signifying:2
breakingtheseal,openingtheenvelope-but
it remainssealed.
Painting,then: lettingthe world-all its shores,all its suns, all its
ships gliding"in the gold and in the purplesilk ofwater13-be reflectedin thewindowpane.
TranslatedbyJohnT. Naughton
2. Dessiner,d6-signer
in theFrench.
3. Bonnefoyis citing line eighteenof Baudelaire's"La Chevelure":"Oui les
vaisseaux,glissantdanslor et dansla moire."