From Paintings In Proust
April 20th, 2014 - Ridgefield, CT
From Paintings in Proust
Suzanne Benton, 2014
“I still look at and learn from the art of the past, and enjoy making interpretations of works which I admire.” Henry Moore
Marcel Proust’s narration in À la rechercheé du temps perdu, merges past and present. By recasting images from the artworks he’s referenced throughout his novel into my own artworks, I’m placing the past in a contemporary framework that enlivens both spheres. The focus I bring to my art has commonalities with Proust’s as I too weave streams of consciousness and veins of symbolism into my work.
Proust’s chosen paintings (over 200) broadened his expressive voice. Re-examining his choices and carrying them into my art has been a invigorating process strengthening my own creative power. Perhaps the artworks I’ve done as a result will inspire others to make their own journeys through Proust’s eyes. No one, to my knowledge has done an interpretation by way of new and original art of artworks chosen by Proust in his lengthy novel. By exploring this new territory I’m providing a map that others may follow.
Proust’s novel recreates the huge social panorama of France before and during World War I. His chosen artworks represent the cannon of his time, moving backwards to Giotto, onward through the Renaissance, and lastly to Manet (PMW is showing several monoprints with Chine collé in with vignettes from the Monet Gardens), Turner, and Whistler. Proust lived on the cusp of revolutionary art movements that transformed artistic thought and consciousness into our present.
In July, 2013 I spent over two weeks in Paris, visiting the Louvre and the Musee d”Orsay and studying paintings that I chose from his broad selection. Paris and the many great museums I visited in my search heightened my focus and passion for this venture. During my stay, I created Olympia I, Olympia II and Another Mona. From late October to mid-December, I traveled to Italy, to Rome and then Asisisi as a resident artist at Arte Studio Ginestrelle where I focused on the Giotto frescos as the inspiration for the paintings Serpent Power; Asisi Night; Dreaming Tree I; Giotto Circles I, II, III; The Abbot, Mt Subasio II, Mt Subasio Dream that I created at the residency.
By weaving Proust’s vision into my art, I hope I’ve paved the way for others to further explore their awareness of this great novelist’s sagacity in the realm of art, and to enjoy the artworks I’ve created in the footsteps of this brilliant and dazzling author.
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