Anthony W.Auerbach Structural Constellations Excursus on the drawings ofJosefAlbers c.1950–1960 I Constellation and Interpretation: Walter Benjamin and T.W.Adorno II Constellation and Drawing: the semiotics ofstar maps III Structure and Representation: epistemological wish-images With a catalogue ofunpublished drawings in the collection ofthe Josefand Anni Albers Foundation,Connecticut. Thesis submitted for the Degree ofDoctor ofPhilosophy Slade School ofFine Art University College London 2003 How to read Structural Constellations Ostensibly a monograph on the drawings ofJosefAlbers,the reader will find under the head- ing ‘excursus’a series ofinvestigations_into the concept ofconstellation in the writings of Walter Benjamin and Theodor W.Adorno,the semiotics ofstar maps,the rhetorics ofgeom- etry and the structure ofrepresentation_in which JosefAlbers’s Structural Constellations are not discussed directly for almost 200 pages.Although it departs from its subject matter,this group of essays may be regarded as tending towards an interpretation of Structural Constellations,as Benjamin would say,‘returning in a roundabout way to its original object.’ The main themes ofthe dissertation are addressed to specific objects: texts by Benjamin and Adorno, star maps in the tradition which stretches between Ptolemy’s Almagest and Argelander’s Bonner Durchmustering,geometry lessons,the gossip about Cubism,works and manifestos by Alberti,Dürer,van Doesburg,Lissitsky and Albers.The aim is to broaden the terms ofreference and develop more precise interpretative tools for an assessment ofAlbers’s Structural Constellations,to place these works in a more accurate historical context and provide the basis for a reassessment of some of the products and rhetorics of twentieth century modernism. The reader should not expect the dissertation to reach a climax with Albers’s Structural Constellations.Albers emerges,even as he dissppears in the elucidation ofhis works,as a late modernist and practitioner of negative dialectics. His works emerge as a configuration of these dialectics and offer a reflection on the topics and ideas explored in the dissertation. The historical and theoretical discussion ofthe metaphorical and graphic praxis ofconstel- lation and what I have called the ‘epistemological wish-images’ mediated by geometry is counterbalanced by a companion volume cataloguing some 1,500 drawings by JosefAlbers. Anthony Auerbach Structural Constellations: Excursus on the drawings ofJosefAlbers c.1950–1960 I On Constellation and Interpretation: An exchange between Walter Benjamin and Theodor W.Adorno My opening chapter traces the modalities ofthe term Konstellationas it changed hands between the two writers,from its evocation in Benjamin’s study ofGermanTrauerspiel (1925) through its adoption by Adorno in his programme ‘Die Aktualität der Philosophie’ (1931) to its role in the epistemology ofthe Passagen-Werk (1935–40) and Adorno’s and Benjamin’s controversies ofthe same period.I also consider the legacy ofthis unfin- ished discussion in Adorno’s late work. II On Constellation and Drawing: the semiotics ofstar maps In this chapter I propose a semiotic analysis ofstar maps.I examine the graphic expression ofthe negotiation between knowledge and signification in the post- Ptolemaic tradition ofcelestial cartography by means ofa selection ofhistorical examples.I advance a semiotic theory in order to form an assessment ofboth innovative and conservative features ofcelestial cartography.This study includes a treatment of previously neglected nineteenth-century maps. II On Structure and Representation: epistemological wish-images That geometry could be both the guarantee and the abyss ofrepresentation calls for an historical as much as a structural explanation.In this chapter I consider drawing as the site ofthe entanglement ofart and geometry.By means ofa set ofhistorical episodes, I consider what role geometry,mediated by drawing,has played in art and beyond that, what ideological claims,mediated by geometry,have been made by or for art.I discuss the changing role ofdrawing in geometry,ancient and modern; and role ofgeometry in a series ofart-historical episodes: Alberti,Dürer,Monge,Farish,Necker,van Doesburg, Lissitzky,Albers. Method is a digression.Representation as digression_such is the methodological nature of the treatise.The absence ofan uninterrupted purposeful structure is its primary character- istic.Tirelessly the process ofthinking makes new beginnings,returning in a roundabout way to its original object. Walter Benjamin,The Origin ofGerman Tragic Drama Structural Constellations Excursus on the drawings ofJosefAlbers c.1950–1960 volume one List ofIllustrationsiv I Constellation and Interpretation: An exchange between Walter Benjamin and T.W.Adorno 1 II Constellation and Drawing: the semiotics ofstar maps 31 III Structure and Representation: epistemological wish-images 88 1 Geometry and Drawing 88 2 Dürer and Alberti: Veils 101 3 Monge: Descriptive Geometry 117 4 Farish: Isometrical Perspective 122 5 Haüy: Crystallography 129 6 Necker: An Optical Phenomenon 133 7 Cubism: The Gossip 137 8 Van Doesburg: ANew Dimension 152 9 Lissitzky: The Constructor 168 10 Albers: Structural Constellations 198 I Reprise: Aesthetic Theory 217 Appendices 221 A Original texts oftranslations from the German cited in Part I 222 B Original texts oftranslations from the French cited in Part II 236 C AComparison ofConstellation Boundaries 240 D AComparison ofConstellation Figures 246 E Original texts oftranslations from the French cited in Part III 253 Thanks 262 volume two Appendix F Structural Constellations: Catalogue ofUnpublished Drawings in the Collection ofthe Josefand Anni Albers Foundation,Connecticut v List ofIllustrations 1 Walter Benjamin,Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels,book design by Willy Fleckhaus,1963 (drawing by JosefAlbers) 2 Theodor W.Adorno,Minima Moralia: Reflexionen aus dem beschädigten Leben,book design by Willy Fleckhaus,1962 (drawing by JosefAlbers) 3 The northern hemisphere from Eugène Delporte,Délimitation Scientifique des Constellations, Cambridge,1930 4 The delimitation ofGemini from Eugène Delporte,Délimitation Scientifique des Constellations, Cambridge,1930 5 The IAU abbreviated constellation nomenclature (computer generated chart) 6 An armillary sphere from Giovanni Paolo Gallucci,Theatrum Mundi,Venice,1588 7 The Farnese Globe from G.B.Passeri,Atlas Farnesianus,Florence,1750 8 Drawing ofan Arab celestial globe from Adolph Dreschler,Der Arabische Himmelsglobus des Mohammed ben Muyîd el-’Ordhi vom Jahre 1279,Dresden,1922 9 Albrecht Dürer,Imagines coeli septrionales cum dudecim imaginibus zodiaci,Nuremburg,1515 10 The constellation ofEridanus from Johann Bayer,Uranometria,Augsburg,1603 11 Böotes from C.Julius Hyginus,Poeticon Astronomicon,Venice 1482 12 The constellation ofBöotes from Johann Bayer,Uranometria,Augsburg,1603 13 The constellation ofGemini from Giovanni Paolo Gallucci,Theatrum Mundi,Venice,1588 14 The constellation ofCorvus from Johann Bayer,Uranometria,Augsburg,1603 15 Sanctus Tribus Regibus (Hercules) from Julius Schiller,Coelum Stellatum Christianum, Augsburg,1627 16 The Holy Sepuchre (Andromeda) from Julius Schiller,Coelum Stellatum Christianum, Augsburg,1627 17 The constellation ofDraco from Richard A.Proctor,Easy Star Lessons,London,1881 18 The head ofa serpent from Richard A.Proctor,Easy Star Lessons,London,1881 19 Amonstrous winged serpent from Richard A.Proctor,Easy Star Lessons,London,1881 20 Orion’s belt and sword from Galileo Galilei,Siderius Nuncius,Venice,1610 21 The southern hemisphere from Nicolas Louis de Lacaille,Coelum Australe Stelliferum,Paris,1763 22 The Painter’s Easel from Johann Elert Bode,Uranographia,Berlin,1801 (photo: Royal Astronomical Society) 23 The northern hemisphere from Robert de Vaugondy,Uranographie,Paris,1763 (photo: British Library) 24 The pattern ofconstellation boundaries after M.Wollaston,Celestial Hemispheres,London 1809 25 Lynx and Anviga from F.W.A.Argelander,Uranometria Nova,Berlin,1843 26 The Microscope from Johann Elert Bode,Uranographia,Berlin,1801 (photo: Royal Astronomical Society) 27 Table Mountain from Johann Elert Bode,Uranographia,Berlin,1801 (photo: Royal Astronomical Society) 28 Gemini,Cancer and Canus Minor from Charles Dien,Atlas Céleste,Paris,1865 29 Charles Dien,Uranographie(detail),Paris,1830 30 F.W.A.Argelander,Atlas des Nördlichen Gesternten Himmels(detail),Bonn,1863 31 IRAS PSC Redshift Survey plotted as real space density and velocity fields shown in a slice along the Supergalactic plane. 32 The northern hemisphere from Jacob Bartsch,Planisphaeri Stellati,Strasbourg,1624 33 The southern hemisphere from Maria Francesco Grimaldi,Chinese Star Chart,Beijing,1711 vi List ofIllustrations 34 The ‘finder chart’from C.F.Goldbach,Neuester Himmels-Atlas,Weimar,1799 35 The northern hemisphere from Janet Taylor,Mrs Janet Taylor’s Planisphere ofthe Stars, London,1846 36 The Nautical Log and Compass from Johann Elert Bode,Uranographia,Berlin,1801 (photo: Royal Astronomical Society) 37 An inscribed tomb lid from Nantong,Jiangsu province (Southern Tang Dynasty) from Album ofAncient Chinese Astronomical Relics,Beijing,1980 38 Atypical Chinese star map,drawing ofa star map from Longfu Temple,1453,from Album ofAncient Chinese Astronomical Relics,Beijing,1980 39 Alexandre Ruelle,Nouvelle Uranographie: ou Methode très facile pour apprendre à connoître les constellations par les configurations des principales étoiles entre-elles,Paris,1786 (photo: British Library) 40 Sagittarius,Ophiuchus,Serpens,Scorpius from F.W.A.Argelander,Uranometria Nova, Berlin,1843 41 North polar region from Louis-Benjamin Francœur,Uranographie: ou traité élémentaire d’astronomie à l’usage des personnes peu versées dans les mathématiques,Paris,1812 42 Index chart from Vincent de Callataÿ, Atlas du Ciel,Brussels,1955 43 The stars ofGemini from H.A.Rey,The Stars: ANew Way to See Them,Boston,1952 44 The ‘allegorical’figure ofGemini from H.A.Rey,The Stars: ANew Way to See Them,Boston,1952 45 The ‘geometrical’figure ofGemini from H.A.Rey,The Stars: ANew Way to See Them,Boston,1952 46 The ‘graphic’figure ofGemini from H.A.Rey,The Stars: ANew Way to See Them,Boston,1952 47 The ‘Old Way’and the ‘New Way’from H.A.Rey,The Stars: ANew Way to See Them,Boston,1952 48 Paul Klee,The Truth about PalmleafFans,1923 49 The notion ofparallelism in hyperbolic geometry from Nikolaj Iwanowitsch Lobatschefskij, Zwei Geometrische Abhandlungen,Leipzig,1898 50 Beltrami’s model ofhyperbolic geometry from Jeremy Gray,Ideas ofSpace,Euclidean, Non-Euclidean and Relativistic,Oxford,1989 51 Poincaré’s model ofhyperbolic geometry from B.A.Rosenfeld,AHistory ofNon-Euclidean Geometry: Evolution ofthe Concept ofa Geometric Space,New York,1988 52 Diagram illustrating latitude and longitude from J.A.Steers,An Introduction to the Study ofMap Projections,London,1927 53 The Psuedosphere from Roberto Bonola,Non-Euclidean Geometry,Chicago,1912 54 The construction ofthe oblique case ofthe gnomonic projection from J.A.Steers, An Introduction to the Study ofMap Projections,London,1927 55 Diagram illustrating Poincaré’s projection ofthe hyperbolic plane from B.A.Rosenfeld, AHistory ofNon-Euclidean Geometry: Evolution ofthe Concept ofa Geometric Space,New York,1988 56 Intrinsic and extrinsic descriptions ofa surface from Jeremy Gray,Ideas ofSpace,Euclidean, Non-Euclidean and Relativistic,Oxford,1989 57 ‘The first four fields and their perpendiculars’from E.Jouffret,Triaté elementaire de géométrie à quartre dimensions,Paris,1903 58 Represenation ofa hypercube by William Stringham from American Journal ofMathematics,1880 59 Mark Newbold,stereoscopic projection ofa hypercube,Java applet,1996 60 Hypercube from Henry Parker Manning (ed.),The Fourth Dimension Simply Explained, New York,1910 61 ‘Plane projection ofsixteen fundamental octahedra’from E.Jouffret,Triaté elementaire de géométrie à quartre dimensions,Paris,1903 62 ‘Cavalier perspective ofsixteen fundamental octahedra’from E.Jouffret,Triaté elementaire de géométrie à quartre dimensions,Paris,1903 vii List ofIllustrations 63 Two-dimensional development ofa cube from Henry Parker Manning (ed.), The Fourth Dimension Simply Explained,New York,1910 64 Three-dimensional development ofa hypercube from Henry Parker Manning (ed.), The Fourth Dimension Simply Explained,New York,1910 65 Albrecht Dürer,‘Yet another method’from Underweysung der Messung,2nd edition, Nuremburg,1538 66 Albrecht Dürer,‘Another method’from Underweysung der Messung,Nuremburg,1525 67 David Allan,The Origin ofPainting (‘The Maid ofCorinth’),1775,National Galleries ofScotland 68 Joseph-Benoit Suvée,The Invention ofthe Art ofDrawing,1791,Groeninge Museum,Bruges 69 Karl Friedrich Schinkel,The Invention ofthe Art ofDrawing,1830, Von der Heydt-Museum,Wuppertal 70 Paul Klee,‘Rythmic Structuring with flexible base’(1922) from Das Bildnerische Denken, Basle,1956 71 Albrecht Dürer,‘Fiteen constructed heads,studies in physiognomy’,undated study for Four Books on Human Proportion 72 Planes ofprojection from Gaspard Monge,Géométrie descriptive,Paris,1799 73 Parallel and central projection from P.J.Booker,AHistory ofEngineering Drawing,London,1963 74 Drawing ofmachine parts from William Farish,‘On Isometrical Perspective’,Cambridge,1822 75 Isometric drawing from William Farish,‘On Isometrical Perspective’,Cambridge,1822 76 Classification ofdrawing systems from Alois Nedoluha,Kulturgeschichte des technischen Zeichens, Vienna,1957 77 René Just Haüy,‘Partie de Raisonnement’,plate I from Traité de la Minéralogie,Paris,1801 78 René Just Haüy,‘Partie Géométrique’,plate IX from Traité de la Minéralogie,Paris,1801 79 René Just Haüy,‘Substances Acidiferes’,plate XXXIX from Traité de la Minéralogie,Paris,1801 80 René Just Haüy,‘Substances Metalliques’,plate LXXI from Traité de la Minéralogie,Paris,1801 81 Crystals (sketches) from Linneaus,Systema Naturae,Stockholm,1768 82 Crystals (nets) from Linneaus,Systema Naturae,Stockholm,1768 83 Stereographic projection ofa crystal form from B.Gossner,Kristallberechnung und Kristallzeichnung,Leipzig and Berlin,1914 84 Rhomboid from L.ANecker,‘Observations on some Remarkable Phænomena seen in Switzerland; and an Optical Phænomenon which Occurs on Viewing a Figure ofa Crystal or Geometrical Solid’,London and Endinburgh,1832 85 Zöllner’s illusion from Hermann von Helmholtz,Handbuch der Physiologischen Optik, Hamburg and Leipzig,1910 86 Poggendorff’s illusion from M.Luckiesh,Visual Illusions: Their Causes,Characteristics and Applications,London,1922 87 Hering’s illusion from H.von Helmholtz,Handbuch der Physiologischen Optik, Hamburg and Leipzig,1910 88 Müller-lyer’s illusion from H.von Helmholtz,Handbuch der Physiologischen Optik, Hamburg and Leipzig,1910 89 Thiery’s illusion from M.Luckiesh,Visual Illusions: Their Causes,Characteristics and Applications, London,1922 90 Theo van Doesburg,‘Une nouvelle dimension pénètre notre conscience scientifique et plastique’from De Stijl,1927 91 Theo van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren,Maison particulière,1923 92 Theo van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren,Maison particulière,1923 93 Theo van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren,Maison particulière,1923 viii List ofIllustrations 94 Theo van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren,Maison particulière,1923 95 Theo van Doesburg,Architectural Analysis,1923,(a.ka.‘Architecture: Private House, Counter-Construction’in De Stijl,1924,a.k.a.‘Elementary Expressional Means ofArchitechture’ in Principles ofNeo-Plastic Art,1925) 96 Theo van Doesburg,Fundamental ofArchitecture,1922 (a.ka.‘The Elementary Expressional Means ofSculpture’in Principles ofNeo-Plastic Art,1925) 97 Bart van der Leck,Composition No.5 (Donkey Riders)from De Stijl,1917 98 Charles Howard Hinton,‘Six Cubic Sections ofthe Tesseract’from The Fourth Dimension, London,1904 99 ‘Six Surrounding Cubes’from Charles Howard Hinton,The Fourth Dimension,London,1904 100 An arrangement ofseven cubes from Claude Bragdon,Projective Ornament,Rochester NY,1915 101 ‘Corresponding developments and projections ofa cube and ofa tesseract in lower spaces’ from Claude Bragdon,Projective Ornament,Rochester NY,1915 102 Theo van Doesburg,‘From Neo-plasticisme to Elementarisme’from De Stijl,1927 103 El Lissitzky,SelfPortrait (The Constructor),photomontage,1924 104 El Lissitzky,letterhead,1924 105 El Lissitzky,Geometric Composition (Proun 88),1925 106 El Lissitzky,magazine cover for Veshch,Berlin,1922 107 El Lissitzky,Kestner Portfolio,title page,1923 108 El Lissitzky,advertisement design for Pelikan ink,photomontage,1924 109 El Lissitzky,‘Vitrion’from Six Tales with Easy Endingsby Ilya Ehrenburg,Berlin,1922 110 El Lissitzky,formula for Nasci,from Merz,1924 111 El Lissitzky,Kestner Portfolio,cover,1923 112 El Lissitzky,Self-portrait,photomontage,1924 113 El Lissitzky,design for ‘Schifs Karta’from Six Tales with Easy Endingsby Ilya Ehrenburg, Berlin,1922 114 El Lissitzky,‘Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge’,lithograph,1919 115 Albrecht Dürer,Melencolia I,engraving,1514 116 Ernst Mössel’s interpretation ofAlbrecht Dürer’s woodcut St Michael Fighting the Dragon (Apocalypse,c.1497) from Vom Geheimnis der Form und der Urform des Seins,Stuttgart,1938 117 Ernst Mössel’s interpretation ofAlbrecht Dürer’s woodcut The Beast with Two Horns like a Lamb (Apocalypse,c.1497) from Vom Geheimnis der Form und der Urform des Seins,Stuttgart,1938 118 JosefAlbers,Two Supraportas (Structural Constellations),stainless steel, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kultur,1972 119 JosefAlbers,drawing (sc1257),not dated 120 JosefAlbers working on Transformations ofa Scheme,New Haven,1950 (photo: Rudy Burkhardt) 121 JosefAlbers,index to an album ofStructural Constellations(sc665),not dated 122 JosefAlbers,Scheme for Transformations ofa Scheme(sc311),not dated 123 JosefAlbers,study for Structural Constellation(sc604),not dated 124 Schematic diagrams ofStructural Constellations 125 ‘The eight limiting cases ofthe octahedroid’from E.Jouffret,Triaté elementaire de géométrie à quartre dimensions,Paris,1903 126 ‘Sinbad Pushes Asunder the Tesseract Cubes Trying to Find the Fourth Dimension’from Claude Bragdon,The Frozen Fountain: essays on architecture and the art ofdesign in space, New York,1932 ix I On Constellation and Interpretation: An exchange between Walter Benjamin and Theodor W.Adorno Universal history has no theoretical armature.Its method is additive; it musters a mass ofdata to fill the homogeneous,empty time.Materialistic historiography,on the other hand,is based on a constructive principle.Thinking involves not only the flow of thoughts,but their arrest [Stillstellung] as well.Where thinking suddenly stops in a configuration [Konstellation] pregnant with tensions,it gives that configuration a shock, by which it crystallises into a monad.Ahistorical materialist approaches a subject only where he encounters it as a monad.In this structure he recognises the sign ofa Messianic cessation [Stillstellung] ofhappening,or,put differently,a revolutionary chance in the fight for the oppressed past.He takes cognisance ofit in order to blast a specific era out ofthe homogeneous course ofhistory_blasting a specific life out ofthe era,or a specific work out ofthe lifework.1 This startling passage from Walter Benjamin’s ‘Theses on the Philosophy ofHistory’,the last piece he wrote (1940),can be regarded as a memorandum for the work he never achieved. With the invocation ofcessation,Benjamin formulates not his methodology but its criterion: that by which the work is translated into a task; a criterion, moreover, which makes clear what he felt was at stake.The burden ofmethodology falls on Konstellation,making it more than a mere metaphor.Indeed,the very object ofhistoriography,here named ‘monad’,is pre- cipitated from the constellation and not otherwise. In a different formulation, from a draft found among Benjamin’s materials for the Arcades Project in the folder labelled ‘On the Theory of Knowledge, Theory of Progress’, monad is substituted by the term ‘dialectical image’,a notion apparently elaborated during conversations between Benjamin and Theodor W.Adorno in 1929.2 The immobilisation ofthought is as much a part ofthinking as its movement.When thought comes to a standstill in a constellation [Konstellation] saturated with tensions, there appears the dialectical image.It is the caesura [Zäsur] in the movement ofthought. Its place is certainly not arbitrary.In a word,one must seek out where the tension between dialectical opposites is the greatest.The object thus constructed in the materialist presen- tation ofhistory is therefore the dialectical image.This is identical with the historical object; it is the justification ofits being blasted from the continuum ofhistory.3 1 Walter Benjamin,‘Theses on the Philosophy ofHistory’,in Illuminations,ed.by Hannah Arendt,trans.by Harry Zohn (New York: Schocken Books,1968),p.262–263.See Appendix A: original texts oftransla- tions from the German cited in Part I. 2 See RolfTiedemann,‘Dialectics at a Standstill’,trans.by Gary Smith and André Lefevere in On Walter Benjamin: critical essays and recollections,ed.by Gary Smith (Cambridge MAand London: MITPress,1988),pp.132–33 and Susan Buck-Morss,The Origin ofNegative Dialectics (New York: Macmillan Free Press,1977),p.22. 3 Modified translation,cf.Walter Benjamin,Arcades Project,ed.by RolfTiedemann,trans.by Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin (Cambridge,MAand London: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press,1999) p.494. 1