“Cinema can fill in the empty spaces of your life and your loneliness.” - Pedro Almodovar
Have you heard of film and the movies referred to as the “Seventh Art”? It is certainly more common to see this characterisation in many European languages (French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, etc), than it is in English. It is a term that came into being in the early days of cinema when people realised the rich possibilities of the medium in producing not only entertainment, but also works of art.
Ricciotto Canudo (2 January 1877, Gioia del Colle – 10 November 1923, Paris) was an early Italian film theoretician who lived primarily in France. He saw cinema as “plastic art in motion” and is the one responsible for calling it the “Seventh Art”. In his manifesto “The Birth of the Sixth Art”, published in 1911, Canudo argued that cinema was a new art, “a superb conciliation of the Rhythms of Space (the Plastic Arts) and the Rhythms of Time (Music and Poetry)”, a synthesis of the five ancient arts: Architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and poetry (cf. Hegel’s ‘Lectures on Aesthetics’).
Canudo also provided a platform for Cubism and Orphism, in his publications entitled ‘Montjoie’. The first issue was published on 10 February 1913. According to Canudo this was the only avant-garde magazine. Participating artists included Guillaume Apollinaire, Maurice Raynal, Albert Gleizes and Joseph Csaky. The magazine paid special attention to poetry, prose, articles on art, literature, music and history. The staff included André Salmon, Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Fernand Léger, Guillaume Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars, Raoul Dufy, Stefan Zweig, Robert Delaunay, Max Jacob, and Emile Verhaeren.
The third issue of the second volume of Montjoie, published March 18, 1914, was devoted entirely to the 30th Salon des Indépendants. The article written by André Salmon included photographs of works by Joseph Csaky, Robert Delaunay, Marc Chagall, Alice Bailly, Jacques Villon, Sonia Delaunay, André Lhote, Roger de La Fresnaye, Moise Kisling, Ossip Zadkine, Lucien Laforge and Valentine de Saint-Point. Publication of the magazine stopped on the eve of the First World War.
Canudo later added dance as a sixth precursor, a third rhythmic art with music and poetry, making cinema the seventh art. In Paris, he established an avant-garde magazine ‘Le Gazette de sept arts’ in 1920, and a film club, CASA (Club des amis du septième art), in 1921. His best-known essay ‘Reflections on the Seventh Art’ was published in 1923 after a number of earlier drafts, all published in Italy or France.
So in summary, the Seven Arts are:
Have you heard of film and the movies referred to as the “Seventh Art”? It is certainly more common to see this characterisation in many European languages (French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, etc), than it is in English. It is a term that came into being in the early days of cinema when people realised the rich possibilities of the medium in producing not only entertainment, but also works of art.
Ricciotto Canudo (2 January 1877, Gioia del Colle – 10 November 1923, Paris) was an early Italian film theoretician who lived primarily in France. He saw cinema as “plastic art in motion” and is the one responsible for calling it the “Seventh Art”. In his manifesto “The Birth of the Sixth Art”, published in 1911, Canudo argued that cinema was a new art, “a superb conciliation of the Rhythms of Space (the Plastic Arts) and the Rhythms of Time (Music and Poetry)”, a synthesis of the five ancient arts: Architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and poetry (cf. Hegel’s ‘Lectures on Aesthetics’).
Canudo also provided a platform for Cubism and Orphism, in his publications entitled ‘Montjoie’. The first issue was published on 10 February 1913. According to Canudo this was the only avant-garde magazine. Participating artists included Guillaume Apollinaire, Maurice Raynal, Albert Gleizes and Joseph Csaky. The magazine paid special attention to poetry, prose, articles on art, literature, music and history. The staff included André Salmon, Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Fernand Léger, Guillaume Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars, Raoul Dufy, Stefan Zweig, Robert Delaunay, Max Jacob, and Emile Verhaeren.
The third issue of the second volume of Montjoie, published March 18, 1914, was devoted entirely to the 30th Salon des Indépendants. The article written by André Salmon included photographs of works by Joseph Csaky, Robert Delaunay, Marc Chagall, Alice Bailly, Jacques Villon, Sonia Delaunay, André Lhote, Roger de La Fresnaye, Moise Kisling, Ossip Zadkine, Lucien Laforge and Valentine de Saint-Point. Publication of the magazine stopped on the eve of the First World War.
Canudo later added dance as a sixth precursor, a third rhythmic art with music and poetry, making cinema the seventh art. In Paris, he established an avant-garde magazine ‘Le Gazette de sept arts’ in 1920, and a film club, CASA (Club des amis du septième art), in 1921. His best-known essay ‘Reflections on the Seventh Art’ was published in 1923 after a number of earlier drafts, all published in Italy or France.
So in summary, the Seven Arts are:
1. Architecture
2. Sculpture
3. Painting
4. Music
5. Poetry
6. Dance
7. Cinema
What a roll call!! André Salmon, Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Fernand Léger, Guillaume Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars, Raoul Dufy, Stefan Zweig, Robert Delaunay, Max Jacob and Emile Verhaeren. Plus works by Joseph Csaky, Robert Delaunay, Marc Chagall, Alice Bailly, Jacques Villon, Sonia Delaunay, André Lhote, Roger de La Fresnaye, Moise Kisling, Ossip Zadkine, Lucien Laforge and Valentine de Saint-Point. Apart from four people I don't know at all, this could be a round up of my students' favourite poets, artists and musicians.
ReplyDeleteBlogs are really helpful. Now I will have to chase up Montjoie.