Theory of the film : (character and growth of a new art) (1952)

Page scan 000204 from Theory of the film : (character and growth of a new art)

Record Details:

Title:
Theory of the film : (character and growth of a new art)
Date:
1952
Publisher:
London : Dennis Dobson Ltd.
Volume:
Theory of the film : (character and growth of a new art)
Leaf #:
000204
Language:
English
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
September 12, 2024
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184 FORMALISM OF THE AVANT-GARDE Nor is it an abstraction of natural noises, for those are of an entirely heterogeneous order. The circle is the abstract form of a spherical apple. But of what existing thing is music an abstraction? A tune is no more abstract than is an expressive gesture of the limbs. It is an expressive gesture in sound. It is no more abstract than is architecture. The tones of the scale provide the concrete material out of which musical constructions are built. Music has its abstraction though — the written music, the score. This abstract, merely visible and thinkable music shows that there is a corresponding concrete, i.e. audible music. Abstract symbols have another remarkable quality which should be mentioned here. Even a minature of Mount Everest or of the ocean can convey the immensity of these objects. That is a matter for the inherent monumentality of the presentation. But abstract forms cannot possess such inherent monumentality, they cannot convey dimensions greater than their own. A circle or a triangle conveys an impression of its own actual size only, and not of any greater. For if a picture depicts something, the depicted object may be a thousand times larger than the picture itself. If it depicts nothing, just exists, then the picture can show only itself, its own size.