The form of life and the motif: How to think the genealogy of paintings?

ABSTRACT:

In this article, we ask ourselves how one can associate a form of life, duly theorized (BASSO FOSSALI; COLAS-BLAISE; FONTANILLE; WITTGENSTEIN), to one or several images, by studying the form of life of a painting as well as the form(s) of life ("cultural games") associated to a painting. It is a question, more particularly, of approaching the filiations between paintings - the genealogy of paintings - under the angle of the migrations and mutations of the motif (figurative, plastic, figura l). The objective is not only to identify the modes of constitution of the forms of life (by concentric enlargements, by paradigmatic reseizure...), but also to show that the form of life of a painting can accommodate pictorial forms in becoming (genesis). The hypotheses are put to the test with selected paintings of the Limoges painter Georges Laurent.

Keywords:
life form; Genealogy; Motif; Figure; Genesis