The Poetics of Memory: Cy Twombly's Roses and Peony Blossom Paintings

• Other Authors: McCullough, Justine Marie (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Art > History; Architecture > History; Archaeology > History
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-2590

My thesis seeks to examine three painting cycles by Cy Twombly (b. 1928)—The Roses and Untitled (Roses) of 2008 and Untitled (Peony Blossom Paintings) of 2007—as sites of memory. Each series consists of large-scale wood panels upon which painted flower forms co-exist with handwritten lines of poetry appropriated from stanzas penned by various Western poets as well as Japanese haikus. Scholarship dedicated to these paintings mostly ignores the textual components, which, as I argue, contain significant parallels to the painted elements. The poems and haikus provide additional layers of meaning to each work, compelling viewers to make multiple connections and simultaneous associations in a manner that is similar to the construction of memory. I begin by surveying Twombly's writing practice and presenting theories that validate how forms of writing construct cultural memory. Twombly has marked his canvases with written symbols since the early 1950s, but in later years, as evidenced by Roses and Peony Blossom Paintings, the artist's word evocations have become more cohesive, and now include entire lines of handwritten poetry. Next I utilize secondary literary sources to scrutinize the poems and haikus in order to suggest a more nuanced understanding of these paintings. Throughout the course of my textual discussion I connect the poetic forms to the layered painted representations. The visual parallels between the words and images, and the spatial dimensions among the two, evoke a shifting sense of meaning in the same way that memory is constructed. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. === Spring Semester, 2011. === April 4, 2011. === the nation === Includes bibliographical references. === Lauren S. Weingarden, Professor Directing Thesis; Roald Nasgaard, Committee Member; Adam Jolles, Committee Member.