Conferencia abierta: The Einstein-Picasso Question: The Relevance of Abstraction in the Decorative Arts
El Área de Filosofía del Ciffyh invita a una nueva edición de su Seminario Permanente. En este caso, el día jueves 8 de marzo, a las 16 hs, en el Aula A del Pabellón Residencial, se llevará a cabo la conferencia abierta “The Einstein-Picasso Question: The Relevance of Abstraction in the Decorative Arts”, a cargo de Lewis Pyenson (Western Michigan University).
Scholars have long pointed to similarities between Einstein’s relativity and Picasso’s Cubism, even though few personal connections existed between highly creative, young scientists and pioneering, young artists in the Belle Epoque. Less commonly observed is the fact that, by 1914, both of these revolutionary innovations were received favorably by the scientific world and the artistic world. I am interested in understanding the climate that allowed for this rapid assimilation of strikingly new work. Beginning with Walter Benjamin’s notions of modernity and Alois Riegl’s formulation of artistic style, I examine the environment in bourgeois, European homes which promoted a familiarity with abstraction, contributing to an acceptance of Neo-idealism and an appetite for investigating symbolic forms. I speak in favor of the importance of abstract ideas during this time, and I contend that the impact of Positivism on early twentieth-century developments in theoretical physics and painting has been exaggerated.
