robert bresson, ghislain cloquet, de l'autre côté du miroir

through glass, au hasard balthazar 1966

though glass, mouchette (or, little fly), 1967

au hasard, balthazar & mouchette, through glass.
cinematography by ghislain cloquet (1924 - 1981), the belgian-born french cinematographer.
cloquet studied film at école national de photographie et cinématographie, and idhec (l'institut des hautes études cinématographiques).

"for au hasard, balthazar, bresson would begin his collaboration with ghislain cloquet, an adventurous cinematographer who also had done work in the united states (cloquet was just coming off the black-and-white pyrotechnics of arthur penn's mickey one). with cloquet, bresson would evolve a cinematic style of subtle, sun-dappled radiance; without extending the photography into extremes of chiaroscuro contrast, cloquet would heighten the lighting so that even the greys would glisten. (this was a style that cloquet would continue when he worked with marguerite duras on nathalie granger and with woody allen on love and death.) cloquet's mastery was such that he was able to accomplish this radiance with only the use of natural lighting. in this, of course, bresson and cloquet would be continuing the experiments of the new wave, particularly the work of the cinematographer raoul coutard with jacques demy (lola) and francois truffaut (the 400 blows, shoot the piano player, jules and jim), in which new film stocks were experimented with, as well as new camera equipment, for flexibility, naturalness, and vibrancy. with cloquet, bresson would create two of the most radiant black-and-white films of the 1960s, au hasard, balthazar and mouchette."
from the strange luck of au hasard, balthazar by daryl chin *

from mouchette

robert bresson & ghislain cloquet:
-au hasard balthazar 1966
-mouchette 1967
-une femme douce 1969

ghislain cloquet with other directors:
-nuit et brouillard 1955 (d. alain resnais)
-le trou 1960 (d. jacques becker)
-le demoiselles de rochefort 1967 (d. jacques demy agnès varda)
-love and death 1975 (d. woody allen)
-tess 1976 with geoffrey unsworth (d. roman polanski)

more info * ** ***

(title, lewis carroll. theartofmemory will exclusively represent bresson for the next 20 posts, approximately.....)

then be called ten times a donkey, and a mule, and an ass, and begone, or i’ll clear the world of thee!

classic books (number 4):

moby-dick; or, the whale by herman melville, 1851
(compiled with great assistance from the famed german librarian, herr t light)


such dreary streets! blocks of blackness, not houses, on either hand, and here and there a candle, like a candle moving about in a tomb. at this hour of the night, of the last day of the week, that quarter of the town proved all but deserted. but presently i came to a smoky light proceeding from a low, wide building, the door of which stood invitingly open. it had a careless look, as if it were meant for the uses of the public; so, entering, the first thing i did was to stumble over an ash-box in the porch. ha! thought i, ha, as the flying particles almost choked me, are these ashes from that destroyed city, gomorrah? but "the crossed harpoons," and "the sword-fish?" - this, then, must needs be the sign of "the trap". however, i picked myself up and hearing a loud voice within, pushed on and opened a second, interior door.


suddenly the waters around them slowly swelled in broad circles; then quickly upheaved, as if sideways sliding from a submerged berg of ice, swiftly rising to the surface. a low rumbling sound was heard; a subterraneous hum; and then all held their breaths; as bedraggled with trailing ropes, and harpoons, and lances, a vast form shot lengthwise, but obliquely from the sea. shrouded in a thin drooping veil of mist, it hovered for a moment in the rainbowed air; and then fell swamping back into the deep. crushed thirty feet upwards, the waters flashed for an instant like heaps of fountains, then brokenly sank in a shower of flakes, leaving the circling surface creamed like new milk round the marble trunk of the whale.




editions of note (with publisher and date):
-the whale, richard bentley 1851 (london, expurgated edition)
-moby-dick; or, the whale, harper and brothers 1851 (new york city)
-moby-dick; or, the whale, l.c. page & company publishers 1892
-moby-dick; or, the whale, lakeside press 1930 (three large volumes, with illustrations by rockwell kent)
-moby-dick; or, the whale, random house 1930 (illustrations by rockwell kent)
-moby-dick; or, the whale, norton critical edition 1967 (second edition 2001)
-moby-dick; or, the whale, arion press edition 1979 (illustrated by barry moser) reprinted by the university of california press 1981
-redburn, white-jacket, moby-dick, library of america 1983
-moby dick, or the whale: volume 6, scholarly edition, northwestern university press 1988
-unpainted to the last: moby-dick and twentieth-century american art by elizabeth a. schultz, university press of kansas 1995 (see images below)

barry moser

rockwell kent: whale beneath the sea

rockwell kent: moby dick trancendent

rockwell kent: moby dick the ungraspable squid

rockwell kent: moby dick rises

raymond bishop: ahab

gilbert wilson: moby dick arises from the deep

paul jenkins: homage a melville

robert motherwell: the tomb of captain ahab

sam francis: the whiteness of the whale

charles olson's melville project *:






















notecards from charles olson's 1930's master’s thesis, the growth of herman melville, prose writer and poetic thinker, completed in 1933. these cards mainly dealt with melville's reading and marginalia and the "lost five hundred" (melville's books sold to a brooklyn dealer in 1892 by his widow, pursued by olson).
"as a young scholar, olson was indefatigable in his research; when he located a volume from melville's library in a grand-daughter's home, in a private collector's hands, or on a public library's shelves, olson carefully transcribed onto 5 x 7-inch note cards complete bibliographic information on the volume, as well as the content and location of melville’s annotations and reading marks".
these cards ended up being severely water damaged, but were preserved by the university of connecticut.
(more information found here)

links:
-covers for rockwell kent editions **
-rockwell kent info **
-plattsburgh state art museum rockwell kent gallery **
-charles olson **
-publishing history **
-library of america **
-arion press **
-washington state university selected bibliography **
-first edition info **
-facsimile dust jackets **
-collecting melville **
-princeton moby-dick word search **

le magasin de ventre citroën à paris

le magasin de ventre citroën à paris, 1927-29 avec léon émile bazin
(détruit 1954)

albert laprade: architecte, jardinier, urbaniste,
dessinateur, serviteur du patrimoine,
norma editions, 2007

d'autres livres d'intérêt:

-le jardin et la maison arabes au maroc, editions albert levy, 1926
-l'exposition de paris, librairie des arts décoratif, 1937
-architectures de france à travers les croquis, berger-levrault, 1980
-les rues de paris à travers les croquis, berger-levrault, 1988
-architecture de la méditerranée à travers les croquis d'albert laprade, berger-levrault, 1998

village of corruption

akira kurosawa: yojimbo, 1961

indian melancholia & a knock on the window pane

ali akbar khan

(melancholia since 01/2008)


(music):

-sundaram balachander: magic music of india, 1963 (indian veena player)
-sundaram balachander: sounds of the veena, 1967
-sundaram balachander: man from madras, 1968
-pandit vishwa mohan bhatt: saltanah (with simon shaheen), 1997 (hindustani guitar player [guitar is modified with the addition of several drone strings and eight sympathetic strings and called a mohan veena], disciple of ravi shankar)
-pandit vishwa mohan bhatt: saradamani, 1996
-pandit vishwa mohan bhatt & ry cooder: a meeting by the river, 1993
-hariprasad chaurasia: rag bhimpalasi, 1991
-ali akbar khan: the eighty minute raga, 1969 (rag kanara prakaar is a late evening raga, usually performed between 9 pm and midnight)
-ali akbar khan & dr. l. subramaniam: ethereal duet, 1976 (violin & sarod)
-ali akbar khan: peerless, 2002 (ali akbar khan [sarod] & swapan chaudhry [tabla], recorded in switzerland in the 1990's)
-budhaditya mukherjee: budhaditya mukherjee, 1980
-ravi shankar: in london, 1964
-kunnakkudi vaidhyanathan: violin, 1977 (carnatic)
-tanjore viswanathan: south indian flute, 1968 (carnatic)
-the anthology of indian music volume one, 3lp box set, 1967 (includes ravi shankar / alla rakha, ali akbar khan / shankar ghosh, balachander / sivaram, ramani / ramabhadran, janardan abhyankar / arjun shejwal, alla rakha / a. das gupta, kanai dutta and ravi shankar)

(thanks to this great site for posting many of these recordings)

(plus)

-autistic daughters: uneasy flowers, 2008 (trio of dean roberts [guitar, vocals], martin brandlmayr [percussion, computer] and werner dafeldecker [guitar, bass])
-tony bennett: the movie song album, 1966 (includes the lovely the trolley song from meet me in st. louis)
-keith berry vs. fessenden: bleu: résultat, 2006 (includes floating weeds [for yasujiro ozu])
-fourm remixes keith berry, 2007 (quite beautiful little 3" cd)
-anouar brahem: vague, 2003 (ecm french release)
-anouar brahem: conte de l'incroyable amour, 1992
-andrew chalk: time of hayfield, 2007 (recorded in 2005)
-loren chasse: green laughter, 2003 (jewelled antler library vol. 1, documents the reverie of frogs, birds, cicadas and locusts)
-of (loren chasse): the buried stream, 2005 (jewelled antler)
-yannick dauby: la rivière penchée, 2003 (compositions made up of recordings taken at the river's banks, the manipulation of found objects, and some electronic elements)
-yannick dauby: alisen, 2004 (mini cloud of statics disc)
-ostad elahi: cascade - l'art du luth tambur (3 discs from the iranian tanbour player)
-ostad elahi: celestial harmonies
-ostad elahi: mystical orison
-morton feldman: triadic memories, 2004 (played by marilyn nonken)
-morton feldman: last pieces, 2001 (played by stephane ginsburgh)
-alastair galbraith & matt de gennaro: wires music, 1998 (live wire music recorded at the chip shop)
-henryk mikołaj górecki: symphony no. 3, 1994 (philips version with warsaw philharmonic)
-jonny greenwood: there will be blood, 2007 (threnody to the victims of hiroshima tren ofiarom hiroszimy, krzysztof penderecki 1960 in the wild west)
-john hudak: brooklyn bridge, 1998 (stretched, magnified timbres and textures of the bridge)
-jason kahn: plurabelle, 2001 (bell tone related)
-komitas: divine liturgy, 2006 (komitas’ divine liturgy features a quartet of duduks [winds of passion])
-gregg kowalsky: tendrils in vigne, 2007 (music for an ensemble of 25 people)
-bj nilsen & z'ev: 22' 22", 2007 (prefer nilsen's others)
-adam pacione: heat, 2004 (stunning)
-adam pacione: from stills to motion, 2007 (on virb.com thanks to d. granahan, lovely melodies)
-radiohead: jigsaw falling into place (acoustic songs including videotape & last flowers)
-giacinto scelsi: suono rotondo, 2005 (with stefano scodanibbio, michael kiedaisch, michael svoboda)
-seaworthy: map in hand, 2006 (music to explore melodic and experimental approaches to the construction of minimalist sound scapes from looped guitar, warm drones, piano, electronics and field recordings)
-steven r. smith: gehenna belvedere, 1996
-steven r. smith: from ashes come, 1999
-steven r. smith: slate branches, 2000
-steven r. smith: kohl, 2002/2005
-steven r. smith: antimony, 2004
-hala strana: karst, 2003 (jewelled antler library, includes musical contributions from glenn donaldson and loren chasse)
-thuja: fable, 2003 (jewelled antler library, with loren chasse, rob reger, steven r. smith, and glenn donaldson)
-stars of the lid: music for nitrous oxide, 1995
-stars of the lid: gravitational pull vs. the desire for an aquatic life, 1996
-stars of the lid: the ballasted orchestra, 1997
-stars of the lid: per aspera ad astra, 1998
-stars of the lid: avec laudenum, 1999


(films, mostly old favourites):

-woody allen: broadway danny rose, 1984
-woody allen: crimes and misdemeanors, 1989
-p.t. anderson: there will be blood, 2007
-kenneth anger: rabbit's moon, 1979 (later version, a gift for one of brakhage's children)
-michelangelo antonioni: the passenger, 1975 (a.k.a. professione: reporter)
-ingmar bergman: sawdust and tinsel, 1953
-frank capra: arsenic and old lace, 1944
-william friedkin: the exorcist, 1973 (the power of christ compels you)
-tony gilroy: michael clayton, 2007
-john grzinich: mimema, 2008 (in progress)
-alexander hall: here comes mr. jordan, 1941
-david hand walt disney: bambi, 1942
-wojciech has: the saragossa manuscript, 1965 (more useless than beckett's 3-legged giraffe)
-howard hawks: rio bravo, 1958
-alfred hitchcock: the lady vanishes, 1938
-alfred hitchcock: shadow of a doubt, 1943
-alfred hitchcock: lifeboat, 1944
-alfred hitchcock: rebecca, 1940
-john huston: the treasure of the sierra madre, 1948
-john huston: under the volcano, 1984
-norman jewison: in the heat of the night, 1967 (new dvd)
-krzysztof kieslowski: trois couleurs: rouge, 1984
-henry koster: no highway in the sky, 1951 (jimmy stewart and marlene dietrich)
-postwar kurosawa, 1946-1955 (criterion/eclipse set, with no regrets for our youth, one wonderful sunday, scandal, the idiot, i live in fear)
-james mangold: 3:10 to yuma, 2007 (stick with the original)
-oscar michaeux: body and soul, 1925
-vincente minnelli: meet me in st. louis, 1944 (tony bennet influence)
-f.w. murnau: sunrise, 1927
-roy william neill: sherlock holmes, in pursuit to algiers, 1945
-leighton pierce: 37th & lex, 2002
-leighton pierce: a private happiness, 2003
-leighton pierce: viscera, 2004
-leighton pierce: hammock, 2005
-leighton pierce: mr person in the water, 2006
-herbert ross: play it again sam, 1972
-erik skjoldbjærg: insomnia, 1997
-františek vláčil: valley of the bees, 1967
-wim wenders: paris, texas, 1984


(books):

-joseph conrad: youth, 1902
-alain fournier: le grand meaulnes, 1913
-emma kunz - artist, researcher, natural healer, 1998 (emma kunz zentrum, thanks to mr. roden's recommendation)
-b. traven: the treasure of the sierra madre, 1927

a sketch by komitas: and this is me...

drifting upward due to a slight increase in the magnetic field

spiraling electron
from an atlas of typical expansion chamber photographs, 1954
by wolfgang gentner, heinzmaier-leibnitz and walther bothe
found in the book objectivity, 2007 by lorraine daston and peter galison

it was a scarcely human presence-rather that of a peculiar bat fluttering here in the twilight that rose over the earth

julien gracq: balcony in the forest,
1958 (librarie jose corti) & 1959 (george braziller, inc.)
jacket design by william and caroline harris

half dozing already, he listened calmly to the forest growing.
(page 106)

there was a subtle silence in the blockhouse now, the silence of keen eyes, which weighs less than that of straining ears - it was the silence of a workroom absorbed in delicate needlework.
(page 194)


(title from page 181)

there is something going on in the sky like a decomposition, like a corruption of the air, which remains as still as ever

john ford: the long voyage home, 1940
(dp: gregg toland)

the only spot of light in the ship at night was that of the compass-lamps, lighting up the faces of the succeeding helmsmen; for the rest we were lost in the darkness, i walking the poop and the men lying about the decks. they were all so reduced by sickness that no watches could be kept. those who were able to walk remained all the time on duty, lying about in the shadows of the main deck, till my voice raised for an order would bring them to their enfeebled feet, a tottering little group, moving patiently about the ship, with hardly a murmur, a whisper amongst them all. and every time i had to raise my voice it was with a pang of remorse and pity.
(page 94)

for myself, neither my soul was highly tempered, nor my imagination properly under control. there were moments when i felt, not only that i would go mad, but that i had gone mad already; so that i dared not open my lips for fear of betraying myself by some insane shriek. luckily i had only orders to give, and an order had a steadying influence upon him who has to give it. moreover, the seaman, the officer of the watch, in me was sufficiently sane.....
what i feared was a shrill note escaping me involuntarily and upsetting my balance. luckily again, there was no necessity to raise one's voice. the brooding stillness of the world seemed sensitive to the slightest sound like a whispering gallery. the conversational tone would almost carry a word from one end of the ship to the other. the terrible thing was that the only voice that i ever heard was my own. at night especially it reverberated very lonely amongst the planes of the unstirring sails.
(page 96)

it seems to me that all my life before that momentous day is infinitely remote, a fading memory of light-hearted youth, something on the other side of a shadow.
(page 102)

how does it look outside? i asked him.
very black indeed, sir. there is something in it for certain.
....
the impenetrable blackness beset the ship so close that it seemed that by thrusting one's hand over the side one could touch some unearthly substance. there was in it an effect of inconceivable terror and of inexpressible mystery. the few stars overhead shed a dim light upon the ship alone, with no gleams of any kind upon the water, in detached shafts piercing an atmosphere which had turned to soot..........
(pages 103-104)

we were an hour at it at least, and all the time the black universe made no sound.
(page 105)

(from the shadow-line: a confession by jósef teodor konrad korzeniowski, 1917)
((title, page 101))

the sea: void, darkness, mysterious, not a sound

the bay of arcachon and lighthouse on cape ferret, 1871

seascape by moonlight, 1873-76

(both images from manet and the sea, by juliet wilson-bareau and david degener
yale university press 2003)

after sunset i came out on deck again to meet only a still void. the thin, featureless crust of the coast could not be distinguished. the darkness had risen around the ship like a mysterious emanation from the dumb and lonely waters. i leaned on the rail and turned my ear to the shadows of the night. not a sound. my command might have been a planet flying vertiginously on its appointed path in a space of infinite silence. i clung to the rail as if my sense of balance were leaving me for good. how absurd. i hailed nervously.

(page 71 from the shadow-line: a confession by jósef teodor konrad korzeniowski, 1917)