Moving Beauty: A Review - Hampshire Art and Crafts Magazine - Artlit

Moving Beauty: A Review - Hampshire Art and Crafts Magazine
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Moving Beauty: A Review
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Feb 10th, 2011 | By admin | Category: Features
In this penultimate chapter of her book, The Aesthetic Development:
The Poetic Spirit of Psychoanalysis, the author, taking the view that
there is a sense in which psychoanalysis can be seen as an art form,
discusses the possibility that, in spite of apparent distance between art
forms, it is possible that experiencing and thinking about a different
artistic discipline may help psychotherapists improve observational skills
and sensitivity to subtle, non-verbal aspects of communication in twoperson
relationships.
The discipline in question is life-drawing, and a particular kind of lifedrawing
class, which combines features of dance and music together
with the human body as aesthetic object. The author acknowledges that
this non-verbal, practical and visual way of working may seem at first
glance very different from the practice of adult psychoanalysis or
psychotherapy, which avoids eye-contact and depends heavily on the
use and understanding of words. Yet she argues for congruences
between the two, especially perhaps in terms of the quality of attention which must be paid to both material and
life model in order for patterns to be perceived and truthful and lively outcomes achieved. Thus we might expect
that therapists could be encouraged to develop greater empathetic understanding of personality by studying
physical manifestations such as posture and gesture.
For Meg Harris-Williams, it seems, life drawing can also be useful in helping therapists make contact with
creative aspects of themselves, which could otherwise be subsumed by omnipotent desires to control or produce
too theoretical interpretations. By focusing on the process of drawing with its links to prehistory, its use by
children as a means towards symbolisation, and its freedom from verbal obscurity, the drawer is invited to
participate in a ‘dynamic situation in which lines of tension are established between model and drawer.’ These
involve not only marks on paper but also difficult emotions, such as uncertainty, questioning, even fear, but lead
eventually to identification and ultimately self exploration – a kind of transference-countertransference.
The sense of space around the model is seen to contribute to various tensions, which also enable the drawers to
manage a complicated situation, one which might otherwise involve feelings of curiosity, intrusiveness or
embarrassment and certainly the challenge of tolerating contrary emotions. Thus, the model ‘takes on an ideal
role, modelling the Nude’ rather as an actor would. So the drawer is placed in a position similar to watching a
performance, and from this viewpoint experiences feelings of respect, fear and wonder, as he acknowledges the
service performed for the class by the model – the Nude – representing the idea of the aesthetic object.
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But fear, Harris-Williams argues, is experienced by the drawer, not only in terms of a sense of awe, but also in
relation to beginning a drawing. The first marks made on a blank sheet of paper may be anticipated by the
drawer as a possible attack, rather than the initial stage of a creative process – the hope of achieving a truthful
representation of reality, ‘discovering a congruence… matching the image to his own inner voice.’ This reference
to a fear of the unknown ahead may remind readers of Dr Bion’s assertion that both analyst and patient /
analysand should approach each session in a state of fear which, together with love, forms the basis for
symbolisation, change and development. So too, in the life-drawing class, those first marks on paper may be
understood as both an invitation to the drawer and a commitment by him to ‘search for the symbolic resolution of
the impact of the aesthetic object.’ Harris-William’s thesis is that this is the work which has to take place
between model and drawer: the development of a relationship which ‘can survive aggression and turbulence’ in
order to reach a point where both participants are enriched by the experience.
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Moving Beauty: A Review - Hampshire Art and Crafts Magazine
The ideas in this chapter are complex and we found the text often dense
and challenging, both intellectually and personally. Harris-Williams
argues from a position of considerable literary, philosophical and
psychoanalytical knowledge, referring frequently to the thoughts, ideas
and writings of her own cultural ancestors and internal good objects,
some of whom will be more or less well known to or read by her
readers. Yet it is precisely the scope of her creative attempt to explore
and develop these ideas, which must encourage the reader to
persevere, in spite of sometimes stumbling when trying to understand.
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By chance, as we were considering the possibility of reviewing this
chapter, we heard a radio programme, entitled Inside the Life Drawing
Class. During the programme, the presenter Anneka Rice interviewed
both drawers and models in a North London class, inviting them to
speak about their experience of life drawing. Although the class
featured neither dance nor music, the participants touched on several of
the themes raised in Harris-William’s chapter. For example, drawers
spoke about their feelings of responsibility towards, and empathy for,
the model; the fear of ‘messing up’ or producing a ‘bad’ drawing, one
the model would not like; the fear of making the first mark on their paper, and the question whether they could
achieve what they wanted. Others described a sense of privilege in being given permission to look, some seeing
it as an extension of the study of their own bodies or an opportunity to reconnect with their real selves by
responding in a direct and creative way to another human body. A model spoke about discovering himself
though the eyes of others. The class was described as an interaction, an ‘unravelling theatre of the moment’
where drawers could be in their own worlds yet connected and involved in a ‘voiceless conversation led by the
model’ where what is valid is in the moment.
These thoughts and experiences of ordinary drawers in an ordinary class connected considerably in our minds
with the thesis proposed by Harris-Williams and encouraged us to put pen to paper to recommend this most
thought-provoking chapter to both psychotherapists and those interested in life drawing.
Anne Bloom and Wendy Hatto
Glossary
Good object: an object in this context usually refers to a person who is loved by the subject and experienced as
benevolent.
Internal good object: this refers to a person who has been experienced by the subject as important and
benevolent, to the extent that he/she/the experience is ‘taken in’ and becomes part of the subject’s mental
structure.
Transference-countertransference: in this context the term refers to the relationship between a therapist and
patient, or any ordinary two-person relationship, in which one person (the patient) relates to the other (the
therapist) as though he/she were some formerly important object, usually from his/her early life. By contrast, the
countertransference refers to the emotional response of the second person (the therapist) to the behaviour of the
first person (the patient). These are perfectly ordinary interactions which occur in relationships but usually we are
not aware of what is happening at the time.
Analysand: a person who is being analysed but is also a student of psychoanalysis.
2 COMMENTS TO “MOVING BEAUTY: A REVIEW”
1. cecilia macagno says:
March 7, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I can’t write englishvery well. I’m an art psycotherapist, I read e and appreciate Meg Harris Williams. I
wonder if she Knows anything about Authentic Movement and psicodinamic art therapy.
But this is not the right way to ask her about, I suppose.
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Moving Beauty: A Review - Hampshire Art and Crafts Magazine
2. Jillian McLaren says:
March 14, 2011 at 11:57 am
Congratulations Meg. Very inspiring, inviting me to follow up by reading the whole book, even though
I found I had to re-read some of the above in order to make sense, but totally agree with, the depth
of dialogue and interaction between the artist and the nude model. It is possible that Art college
tutors and technicians would glean a great deal from reading your book.
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Spring Update 1 - Ham pshire Art and Crafts Magazine 07/03/2011 15:12
Review of Lifedrawing chapter in The Aesthetic Development
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Spring Update 1
Feb 10th, 2011 I By admin I Category: Editorial
There are two new features in this update, the first a review of a chapter from a book written by
the distinguished artist and writer Meg Harris Williams who has of course written for this
magazine on life drawing. The chapter comes from The Aesthetic Development: The Poetic
Spirit of Psychoanalysis and it is reviewed by two senior figures in the field of psychoanalytic
psychotherapy: Anne Bloom, who has worked extensively with adults and families, and Wendy
Hatto, a retired child and adolescent psychotherapist. Wendy Hatto has an interest in lifedrawing
that goes back to when she was 19 years old. Whilst some of the language of
psychoanalysis has entered everyday discourse, they have included a short glossary at the end
of the review for less familiar terms.
Freud's contribution to Western thought and culture is of course well documented. His
articulation of the existence of the unconscious, its architecture and processes, has had a
profound affect on all the arts. However, according to his biographer Peter Gay, Freud's views
on the arts in relation to psychoanalysis were ambivalent, in that, while he was prepared to
claim a great deal for the psychoanalytic study of an artist's character and of his reasons for
choosing certain themes or fastening on certain metaphors, to say nothing of his effect on his
audiences .. . he conceded that ... the nature of artistic achievement is indeed psychoanalyticaffy
inaccessible to us. Freud, who had a formal scientific training in neurology, regarded
psychoanalysis as in reality a method of research, an impartial instrument, rather like the
infinitesimal calculus.
In contrast to Freud, Meg Harris Williams works from the premise that psychoanalysis can be
both a science and an art. In another chapter of her book she quotes the psychoanalyst Donald
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Spring Update 1 - Hampshire Art and Crafts Magazine 07/03/2011 15:12
Meltzer as saying - The great artist and scientist has always been the same person. Harris
Williams goes on to describe what art, science and religion share as they search for truth.
Science and art merge into one another through observation and exploration of the sensuous
world; art and religion through reverie and inner focus; religion and science through their respect
for the idea of a reality that is neither invented nor imagined, but that exists beyond our desire
and control. For those interested in discovering more, there is a workshop in Winchester on 21
May led by Meg Harris Williams and the artist Morag Donnelly. Click here for the electronic flier
giving more details of the event and an application form. (Just click on the bottom right hand
corner to turn pages.)
A synthesis of art and science, and possibly religion, is also the subject of the second article.
Written by Andrew Carnie, who is based in Winchester, it follows the course of his exhibitions
and his developing ideas across America, Holland and England over the last two years. Carnie
has studied chemistry, zoology and psychology as well as obtaining a BA in Fine Art from
Goldsmiths and an MA in painting from The Royal College of Art. He has this to say about his
work:
The content of my work, the ideas for it, are sourced from science and interactions with
scientists. I suppose a blending together of two interests, one an interest in the natural world the
environment our biological make up and our behaviour and a strong interest in the arts; they
were both areas that were cultivated in my childhood. I think art should have a subject and the
field of science and scientific imagery and ideas to me is a very intriguing one. I have become
very attracted to how we see our selves through scientific discovery and the theories it
produces, trying to use this information to explore the ideas visually.
A dialogue between art and science is of course not something new. As Richard Holmes has
shown in his book The Age of Wonder, 19 th century scientists absorbed the notion of genius
from the Romantic movement, and added a poetic, almost mystical sensibility to their search for
knowledge. Wordsworth, writing of Sir Isaac Newton in The Prelude (or at least his statue,
which stands in Trinity College Cambridge), turned him, according to Holmes, into ahaunted
and restless Romantic traveller amidst the stars. This I suppose should not be so surprising: the
Portsmouth born historian Dame Francis A Yates has identified the roots of our rational post­
enlightenment science in the magical thinking of the Renaissance.
There is news from the Isle of Wight Pottery Exhibition, now in its third year at the Ventnor
Botanic Garden. Also from the Millais Gallery who until 27 March are showing an exhibition
concerning British and Irish volunteers who fought against Franco during the Spanish Civil War.
I've tweeted this appeal from the Southampton Hospital Charity already. You can read their
press release by clicking here: The appeal is in aid of sufferers from blood cancer, among them
the New Forest artist Anthony Lawrence who has a form of this condition known as Light Chain
Multiple Myeloma. You can read about his progress on his website by clicking here. The charity
has designated tomorrow Friday March 4 as Red and White Appeal Day: cl ick here for more
information if you want to participate or make a donation.
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Review of Lifedrawing chapter in The Aesthetic Development
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