The kaleidoscopic image as the first abstract representation in the beginnings of modern art

Abstract

This paper proposes a different discourse from the predominant one, allowing the creation of a new paradigm associated with kaleidoscopic methodologies of artistic creation that culminated in postmodernity. This fact is evidenced through the research on the presence that kaleidoscopic image has had in the beginnings of modern art, presenting the critical position of Baudelaire, Proust, Marx, Engels and Benjamin regarding the kaleidoscope. After this brief contextualization and also by analysing the position that the infinite notion had in “the way of seeing” of society in 19th century, the kaleidoscopic image would be categorized into the context of the Eugenio Trías’ aesthetic constellations. This proposal is due to the simultaneous correlation between the apparent beauty and at the same time the sinister side hidden in the kaleidoscopic image –dualities reality/fiction and original/copy–. The kaleidoscope influenced different creation areas –visual arts (painting, photography, film), architecture or literature– during the beginnings of modernity. Therefore, different artistic proposals that have a kaleidoscopic background are analysed and presented as the first abstract representations in modern art –made between 19th century and early 20th century–. Except in some cases, these abstractions were produced thanks to the influence given by the invention of the kaleidoscope in 1815 and its impact in the artworks of different artists. It also happened due to the performance of the artistic subject as medium, mainly in relation to the creation of kaleidoscopic images. In both cases, it is shown an authorship that is different from the traditional one, as well as the production of new artistic proposals that have connections with the kaleidoscopic perspective.

Keywords

• imagen caleidoscópica
• caleidoscopio
• abstracción
• modernidad
• posmodernidad
• proceso creativo