Exercices par l’informe

From Leonardo da Vinci’s Treatise on Painting to Alexander Cozens’ New Method and Paul Valéry’s Degas Danse Dessin, some artists have shown interest in formlessness. They all propose what Paul Valéry names “exercise[s] through formlessness”. These “exercises” are first designed for painters and meant to be repeated in order to enhance mental faculties and prepare them for artistic creation. Formlessness is rather a means than an aim in itself, hence the expression “exercise through formlessness”. Much like “spiritual exercises” in ancient philosophy studied by Pierre Hadot, these exercises rest on a practice rather than on a theory and require the commitment of the whole spirit. Each of these exercises has to be repeated in order to play its critical part and break the painters’ routine in order to create something new. These artistic exercises differ from “spiritual exercises” since they aim at creating a work of art rather than reforming the subject himself. Leonardo’s and Cozens’ exercises focus on the first step of artistic creation: invention. As Valéry shows, what is at stake here is not only how to create, but how to see.

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