The Meaning Behind the Notion of Transposition D’art

Transposition d’art was a term used for the first time by Théophile Gautier, a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist and an art and literary critic; who lived between 1811 and 1872. The critics classify his works in the literary movements of Parnassianism, symbolism and modernism. Gautier used the term Transposition d’art to indicate a transformation of arts. This transformation consists in bringing to word an already artistic (or aesthetized object) – it could be a painting, a sculpture, a piece of music, any kind of artistic object – and by doing so, the object becomes doubly artistic (or aesthetic). It would be easier to understand this concept by looking at the painting of Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) called Galatée, painted in 1880 and it’s Transposition in the form of a sonnet written by Julián del Casal in 1976. Casal, inspired by the painting, reinterpreted it and transformed it into a poem.

There are essential differences between the modernist movement in Europe and the one in South America, nevertheless, the example of the Transposition d’Art is fundamental to understand what this research will be about. In fact, Casal’s sonnet is yet another proof, that art is constantly influencing other forms of arts. Knowing how the Transposition d’Art operates, one could ask him or herself if there is also an inverse procedure. If one considers that art is continuously evolving, changing, and moving from one artist to another in form of inspiration, then it should be possible to start from a literary work and transforming it into something else, something new.

It could be very interesting to apply this theory to the European Modernist movement. It is important to consider all the new experimental techniques used by the European modernist writers (as for instance, the stream of consciousness, the internal monologue, or the epiphany) and then ask ourselves how other artists were influenced by these techniques and, above all, how they could transform this new form of writing into a new artistic form of art.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Paris was considered the intellectual capital of Europe. Many different artists (like Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, and Ernest Hemingway) visited the city or settled there, inspired by the intellectual environment of the capital and influenced one another. In this stimulating atmosphere, James Joyce published in 1922 what would later be considered his masterpiece, Ulysses. The novel was revolutionary in a literary sense, because of Joyce’s experimentation with the writing technique. Obviously, Joyce’s novel would influence, many artists across the years.