184
PARTISAN REVIEW
ter of sacred spectacles." Whether inspired by the demonic or the divine,
these dehumanized styles are suitable vehicles for what Malraux calls
"the anti-humanism of our century."
How, it may well be asked, does Malraux reconcile all this with his
view that modern art is controlled only by the pure value of art as the
transformer of a given world of forms? The answer is that he fails to do
so: he abandons this theme with two irrelevant comments, and an un–
convincing assertion. His comments are "that the photographs of fetishes
have as yet invaded neither the factories nor the farms-nor even the
salons," and that, "however profound the passion for primitivism may
be among certain artists, they are not strangers to the simple desire to
extend their ownership." By these somewhat enigmatic phrases, he un–
expectedly reduces the influence of primitivism to a personal whim of a
few artists; it is no longer a significant historical phenomenon, reflecting
a profound shift in the
Weltanschauung
of modern culture. But Mal–
raux feels compelled, nonetheless, to juxtapose against this "barbaric
Renaissance" another resurrection, whose historical symbols are
Piero
della Francesca, El Greco, Georges de Latour and Vermeer. These
painters, now ranked among the greatest, were considered minor or
eccentric at the beginning of the century; their elevation, Malraux
asserts, is due to the presence in their works of the style that modern art
has made its own- the style of "the classicism of our century ... the
domain of works that suggest to us that their creators dominate them."
This style "has ordered our Imaginary Museum almost entirely in op–
position to the barbaric Renaissance," placing "the art of mastery face
to face with that of miracle."
With the exception of El Greco, however, three of the names men–
tioned by Malraux have had little influence on modern artists, however
great their rise in critical estimation; while the influence of El Greco,
with his tortured spirituality, in no way conflicts with the predominant
non-naturalistic influence of the primitives. Doubtless, as Malraux re–
marks elsewhere, no style is ever "reborn without metamorphosis"; and
it would be premature to conclude-from the influence of dehumanized
styles on modern art-that modern culture is totally reverting to the
extra-aesthetic values in which these styles have their origin:* After
*
The dangers even in a partial reversion, however, should not be overlooked.
It is no accident that, in addition to Malraux, Thomas Mann should also be
preoccupied with this dialectic of modern culture, which he has dramatized in
the musical symbolism of his latest novel,
Dr. Faustus.
The present writer has
discussed
Dr. Faustus
from this point of view in the
Hudson Review,
Spring,
1949.
