Book ”Abstract reproductive as productive art”

Photo from the book promotion at the Zagreb Academy of Music

Mirna Rudan Lisak author

By Mirna Rudan Lisak, PhD

PhD from the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts, Advisor at the Zagreb City Office for Culture, Fellow of the French Government, author of three books and numerous essays on culture and arts (published in Forum, The Wreath, Words, The Evening Paper, and Telegram), some of which have been translated and published abroad. Member of the Editorial Board of ”Words,” and Honorary Member and Chief Editor of the Croatian Society “Alexander Scriabin.”

Jul 3, 2020

The first original book on Scriabin in Croatia

The book of essays entitled Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art: Chromatic Fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich is the result of interdisciplinary research of previously unrelated artists in order to create a dialogue between two branches of art—painting and music, but also productive and reproductive artistic practice. Abstract reproductive art is a novelty in artistic terminology: it is an artistic reproduction that renders the original work completely unrecognizable, despite keeping it completely unchanged. The term arose from the search for an answer to the question of whether and when reproductive art can be considered as productive art, about which I wrote in the introduction: “Two modern productive artists and a contemporary reproductive one—at first glance there do not seem to be any common characteristics in the work of the composer Alexander Scriabin, painter Alexej Jawlensky and pianist Ivo Pogorelich. However, when the chosen subject matter is approached in a multidisciplinary fashion, perception is no longer conditioned by a single absolute focus and all perspectives suddenly open up, offering many possibilities where new relations and connections are not only the result of observation but of imagination as well. That is the moment when the past, the present and the future intermingle and no obstacles stand in the way of synthesizing diverse epochs and branches of art undertaken to establish an analytical counterpoint among the three seemingly independent but nevertheless deeply connected essays, aiming to identify contemporary tendencies in art in order to find the answer to the question as to whether and when the reproductive art may be regarded as productive art.

PROF. LJUBOMIR GAŠPAROVIĆ, PIANIST: “I read Mirna Rudan Lisak's book with great interest. Today, there are very few people who have an original idea, and although doctors of science or art should have original ideas for their theses, they are mostly taken from others, and then refined with new researches. The idea of Dr. Rudan Lisak is completely original and very interesting.”

Promotion at the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb

The book was presented at the Zagreb Academy of Music by editor Andrija Tunjić, Prof. Zlatko Kauzlarić Atač (painter) and Prof. Ljubomir Gašparović (musician), while Mrs. Đurđica Vuković, president of Matica hrvatska Sisak, greeted the audience. The speech of Prof. Atač was published in the magazine Riječi (Words), and as I wanted to prove that reproductive artists, like productive artists, can achieve the unrecognizability of the original, Prof. Gašparović played Scriabin’s composition Feuillet d’album Op 58 twice—at the beginning and at the end of the promotion—to show that the same composition can be played so originally that the impression of completely different works were played would be created. Along with Scriabin’s music, electronic music was composed for the promotion by Robert Selimović, and we listened to it upon entering the hall and as an accompaniment to my video-work Music iconostasis of the painter Alexej Jawlensky.

Years of work and effort led to the publication of the book

Prof. Gašparović plays Scriabin’s composition Feuillet d’album Op. 58

Editor Andrija Tunjić presents my work

Prof. Zlatko Kauzlarić Atač was the reviewer of the art section, while the reviewer of the music section was prof. Bogdan Gagić

I compare Pogorelich’s music interpretations with Picasso’s painting

Prof. Gašparović played and spoke equally interestingly

I present my work

Prof. Gašparović plays the same Scriabin’s composition in a completely different manner

Thank you all for coming!

Dedication to friends and business associates

Acknowledgments to the people and institutions that supported me, and I dedicated the book to my mother, Tatjana Valić Rudan, who was a concert pianist

There is no real joy without family and friends—my book in the hand of Robert Selimović, author of the premiered electronic music

Blog-Promocija-plakat

From the book to the founding of the Scriabin Society

Our famous pianist, Ivo Pogorelić was the first to buy the book, and it is featured on the official website of Alexej von Jawlensky Archiv S.A. from Locarno (Switzerland). It is kept in the Zagreb Libraries, the Library of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Alexej von Jawlensky-Archive S.A. in Locarno (Switzerland), Memorial Museum of A. N. Scriabin in Moscow (Russia), Museum Wiesbaden (Germany) and Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (USA). After the book was noticed by Alexander Serafimovich Scriabin, a descendant of the famous composer’s family, I responded to the invitation of the Memorial Museum of A. N. Scriabin and presented my work in Moscow in 2018, as part of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Museum’s foundation. Then my essay on the mystic chord was translated and published in Russian, and the networking of professionals from the two countries led to the foundation of the Croatian Society Alexander Scriabin.

The famous Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelich was the first to buy the book

Blog-Promocija-plakat

The famous Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelich was the first to buy the book

From the book to the founding of the Scriabin Society

Our famous pianist, Ivo Pogorelić was the first to buy the book, and it is featured on the official website of Alexej von Jawlensky Archiv S.A. from Locarno (Switzerland). It is kept in the Zagreb Libraries, the Library of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Alexej von Jawlensky-Archive S.A. in Locarno (Switzerland), Memorial Museum of A. N. Scriabin in Moscow (Russia), Museum Wiesbaden (Germany) and Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (USA). After the book was noticed by Alexander Serafimovich Scriabin, a descendant of the famous composer’s family, I responded to the invitation of the Memorial Museum of A. N. Scriabin and presented my work in Moscow in 2018, as part of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Museum’s foundation. Then my essay on the mystic chord was translated and published in Russian, and the networking of professionals from the two countries led to the foundation of the Croatian Society Alexander Scriabin.

You may also like our other publications…

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This