Book of essays

Mirna Rudan Lisak

ABSTRACT REPRODUCTIVE AS PRODUCTIVE ART: Chromatic fantasies of the composer Alexander Scriabin, painter Alexej Jawlensky and pianist Ivo Pogorelich

Abstract reproductive art is a novelty in art terminology: it is an artistic reproduction that renders the original work completely unrecognizable, despite being completely unchanged

About the book

Editor: A. Tunjić, publisher: Matica hrvatska Sisak. The book is available in the Zagreb City Libraries and the Library of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It is featured on the official website of Alexej Jawlensky Archiv S.A. (Switzerland) and the official website of the legendary pianist Ivo Pogorelich.

In the book

Collection of essays on culture and arts in which the author, on the example of the chromatic fantasies of the composer Alexander Scriabin, painter Alexej Jawlensky and pianist Ivo Pogorelich, answers to the question of whether and when reproductive art can be considered as productive art.

From the book

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’s 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.

It is, in actuality, the reproductive art that acts as the link between the three apparently unrelated artists: Scriabin and Jawlensky lived and worked at the end of the 19th and in the early 20th century, and Pogorelich is our contemporary. To be more specific, Scriabin, the composer, was in fact a trained pianist, i.e. a reproductive artist, who invested all his energy into creating productive works of art, painter Jawlensky evolved his productive art, almost as a paradox, according to the concepts of reproductive art practice, and pianist Ivo Pogorelich never expressed a desire to leave the boundaries of reproductive art even though in his suggestive interpretations of original art works he strives to raise his performance to the heights of the productive art.

By pinpointing the connections between their artistic achievements it was possible to arrive at a synthesis of the modern productive and contemporary reproductive art practices instigating a dialogue between the two avenues of art—painting and music. By way of using innovative analogies it was possible to study the reproductive art from three independent perspectives, which I found necessary because I had observed that the writings of theoreticians and philosophers have so far primarily been focused on the productive and very little or not at all on the reproductive art. Even though a few authors have offered some discussion on the subject of the performing arts, the very limited extent of this writing gives the impression that the reproductive arts are regarded as less important and less valid form of art and are therefore not a topic deserving as thorough and comprehensive investigation as the productive art.

It is more an exception than a rule to find Theodor W. Adorno and Hans Sedlmayr touching in their theoretical and philosophical writings upon the problems of interpretation of art works. Equally untypical is Walter Benjamin writing about art in the era of technical reproduction, Boris Groys astutely noting that a copy can become an original, and Jean Baudrillard turning to the world of simulation and simulacrum. A rare example of a reproductive artist writing essays on reproductive art is the violinist Rudolf Kolisch whose manuscripts are stored in the Harvard University Library. Thus my intention in writing this collection of essays was to try to fill the vacancies in the relevant literature and to respond to some of the current controversies of opinion.

By Mirna Rudan Lisak, PhD

PhD from the Zagreb Arts Academy, Bachelor of Engineering in Architecture, Advisor at the Zagreb City Office for Culture, Fellow of the French Government, author of a book and numerous essays, gave a series of lectures on culture and arts, Honorary Member & Editor in Chief of the Croatian Society “Alexander Scriabin”

Jul 3, 2020

Music as the beginning and the end of my researches

During my childhood, I have always thought that once I grew up I would be a musician, but unfortunately (or luckily) life had a completely different path for me—I graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and I received my PhD from the Arts Academy (University of Zagreb). When I was accepted as a doctoral candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts, I thought “it is not music, but at least it is an academy,” and my proposed simultaneous research of the composer Alexander Scriabin and painter Alexej Jawlensky showed that interdisciplinary I wished to return to my first passion: music. My mentor, Prof. Igor Rončević, Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, told me that my research should be linked to the contemporary context as well, or otherwise I would not step into unexplored space nor create a new tread in the world knowledge. Thanks to that instruction, I introduced one more artist into my research, but not a productive artist like Scriabin and Jawlensky, but a reproductive one—the world-renowned pianist Ivo Pogorelich. I assumed that his art would help me transfer my research into contemporary highly reproductive era.

It is not necessary to point out that my proposal at the Academy of Fine Arts was considered “a little weird,” but I explained that the visual-art section of my research was applicable to all branches of art in general, thus also to Pogorelich’s pianism, which suited my thesis precisely because his interpretations are unusually rich in musical tone colours. Finally, my artwork (which was an inevitable final part of my research and a prerequisite for receiving a PhD from the Arts Academy) was allowed to have a foothold in anything, thus it was not unusual that my multidisciplinary virtual light installation was indeed a synthesis of all researched artists, as many as five selected branches of art (music, painting, literature, architecture and dance), theory and philosophy of art, which all I successfully linked to science as well.

I have always loved playing the piano, so it was a special experience to promote my first book at the Zagreb Academy of Music

Chromatic fantasies in the new building of the Zagreb Academy of Music

In the period from 2012 to 2014, I have already published my researches at a higher literary level in the award-winning journal for literature, culture and science Riječi (Words). But at one point I realized that I needed to unite my texts, because despite being readable independently, there was an unbroken connection between them, leading the reader to the conclusion of the whole research. As I was taught the writing style by Mr. Andrija Tunjić, the Editor of the journal Riječi and Croatian renowned theater critic at Vijenac (also the author of a series of books), I asked him kindly to be the Editor of my first book.

In my book I finally managed to achieve a satisfactory literary expression by my own criteria, adding some new insights and connections between various branches of art and previously unrelated art works and their authors. The main theme were chromatic fantasies of Scriabin, Jawlensky and Pogorelich, and the researched three artists helped me to show that the reproductive artist just like the productive one is capable of achieving abstract expression. Following this idea, it was wonderful to organize the book promotion in the new building of the Zagreb Academy of Music, which has a rainbow-coloured installation on its roof—it is the same colour spectrum I used to “overpaint” the black and white piano keys on the cover of my book. This design showed that Scriabin’s light organ was the leitmotif of all of my researches, while the silhouette of the piano provided a refuge for the very long subtitle of my book.

PROF. GAŠPAROVIĆ: “I met Mirna Rudan Lisak by chance and I had no idea that on that occasion she would give me her book, which I read 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.”

speakers provided original interpretations of the same work

My book is entitled Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art: Chromatic Fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich, and with it I wanted to show that reproductive artists, just like productive artists, can render the original work unrecognizable, despite being obliged to respect the written work in its entirety. Once artists begin to dissolve the original work, they have endless shades of musical tones at their disposal, and precisely this aspect was followed by Prof. Ljubomir Gašparović while playing Scriabin’s composition Feuillet d’Album, Op. 58, at the beginning and the end of the promotion. He managed to show that the same composition could be played to such an extent differently that the listener would almost not be able to recognize that the same piece was performed.

In addition to Scriabin’s music, Robert Selimović composed electronic music for this occasion, and we listened to it while entering the hall and as an accompaniment to my video-work entitled Music Iconostasis of the Painter Alexej Jawlensky. The audience was greeted by the publisher representative Mrs. Đurđica Vuković, and the Editor Andrija Tunjić was the first to speak about my book, while remembering my beginnings. Prof. Zlatko Kauzlarić Atač was the book reviewer and he followed (he was also the current Director of the Postgraduate Studies at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and the President of my Doctoral Dissertation Evaluation and Defense Committee) and Prof. Gašparović was the last to present my book—it is worth mentioning that his speech was as interesting as his playing the piano. After all presenters, I could hardly wait for a moment to say something as well, because I finally found myself in the favorite situation when like reproductive artist I could interpret my own work. Prof. Atač’s speech was later published in the journal Riječi, while the news of the promotion was conveyed by the magazine Vijenac.

Years of work and effort were needed for the book to be published—I was thrilled how many people came to hear about my researches

Before the beginning Prof. Gašparović plays Scriabin’s composition Feuillet d’album

After the representative of the publisher Đurđica Vuković welcomed the audience, the editor Andrija Tunjić was the first to speak about my work

Prof. Zlatko Kauzlarić Atač was the reviewer of my book, and his speech was published by the journal Words (the second reviewer was Prof. Bogdan Gagić)

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

Prof. Gašparović read my book with interest and gave a very interesting speech

As I have always wanted to be a reproductive artist, it was a pleasure to present my work

Prof. Gašparović plays the same Scriabin’s composition in a completely different manner, so it was announced that the music would be the same

Hanging out with family, colleagues and friends—thank you all for coming!

I was surprised how many people wanted my dedication—I didn’t expect it because it was my first book

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

In the audience family, colleagues, friends and art lovers

It amazed me how many people came to the promotion because I was aware that this was my first book, hoping that the hall would be at least comfortably filled. So I could not believe it when I saw that there were not enough chairs and that a part of the audience would be standing! I had a wonderful time with my family and friends, but also my professors and colleagues; even one Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts expressed interest in my book by joining us. I thank everyone for coming, I have never felt so much good energy in my entire professional life!

“A poster designed for the promotion once again reminded me that in life nothing can be done on your own—I am immensely grateful to my editor and publisher, as well as to the presenters of my book; the sponsor of the promotional material was LASER-PLUS Ltd., and the first person who bought the book was great Ivo Pogorelich”

“A poster designed for the promotion once again reminded me that in life nothing can be done on your own—I am immensely grateful to my editor and publisher, as well as to the presenters of my book; the sponsor of the promotional material was LASER-PLUS Ltd., and the first person who bought the book was great Ivo Pogorelich”

In the audience family, colleagues, friends and art lovers

It amazed me how many people came to the promotion because I was aware that this was my first book, hoping that the hall would be at least comfortably filled. So I could not believe it when I saw that there were not enough chairs and that a part of the audience would be standing! I had a wonderful time with my family and friends, but also my professors and colleagues; even one Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts expressed interest in my book by joining us. I thank everyone for coming, I have never felt so much good energy in my entire professional life!

{

On Abstraction

Abstraction is a longing
for infinity and perfection.

– Mirna Rudan Lisak

On interpretations

Original interpretations can create
a completely new work of art from
an existing one.

– Mirna Rudan Lisak

On tones and colours

In painting nuance is the tone of the colour, while in music the opposite is true—nuance is the colour of the tone.

– Mirna Rudan Lisak

On the end of art

The final end of Western art is
an echo of itself in the reproduction
of its own production.

– Mirna Rudan Lisak

{

With her book, Mirna Rudan Lisak raises a number of questions about the relationship between productive and reproductive art. In addition, she gives excellent examples that turn everything upside down, without actually breaking the order. The reader necessarily asks himself the eternal question: the chicken or the egg?

– PROF. ZLATKO KAUZLARIĆ ATAČ, REVIEWER

Thanks to Mirna Rudan Lisak for writing an article for Telegram.hr on our great artist, the recently deceased professor Bogdan Gagić. Take your time to read it, it is worth it.

– CROATIAN COMPOSERS’ SOCIETY

I am glad that someone in Croatia also explores the complicated and difficult to understand connections between color and sound. Thus I think that the exhibition of Josef and Anni Albers in the year when we mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of Bauhaus is the ideal framework for Mirna Rudan Lisak’s lecture.

– SNJEŽANA PINTARIĆ, PHD, THE DIRECTOR OF THE
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART ZAGREB

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