Collaborative form : studies in the relations of the arts / Thomas Jensen Hines.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Collaborative Form attempts to show the nature and limits of works of art that are made up of two or more artistic forms. The first task of this book is to analyze and interpret a set of such combinations. Each chapter treats one collaborative work and attempts to show that the principles of collaboration are the same, whether the components are poetry and graphic works as in Lettera Amorosa by Rene Char and George Braque, poetry and music as in Herzgewachse by Maurice Maeterlinck and Arnold Schoenberg, or more complex sets that include painting, music, dance, lighting, and drama as in Der gelbe Klang by Wassily Kandinsky, Morder, Hoffnung der frauen by Oskar Kokoschka, and Triad by Alwin Nikolais.

Hines breaks down disciplinary barriers and then emphasizes the effects of the interactions between the arts. The first step, in methodology, is that of refusing to make a priori commitments to the critical methodologies of the arts involved. Each art is treated from its own perspective, and each interpretation attends to interactions of the arts rather than to the contribution of any one art. Once the collaborative works are examined, the book shows that such works are similar to other art forms. They obey the laws of temporal necessity, non-addition, multiple interpretation, and unity that any poem, painting, or musical composition might be said to obey. Unlike other arts though, collaborative forms are unique examples of the combinative effects of the arts. In the process of interpreting individual works and attempting to summarize this form, we are forced to see beyond the conventions of the constituent arts.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The two or more arts, like two lovers, are brought together in visual action as well as in formal fusion, states Hines in one of his seven scholarly chapters dealing with collaborative form in the arts. He stresses that collaboration involves not only the relations of the arts but the cooperation of the artists. Hines examines, analyzes, discusses and debates different kinds of attentions that are required by conventional artworks. Viewers' perspectives are expanded by the interaction that make up the whole, in a constant quest for the essential and sincere qualities. When the arts (i.e. poetry, painting, music, dance, drama, choreography) are synthesized one approaches the state of illuminated existence. Each chapter stands alone, well documented with explanatory footnotes and black-and-white illustrations. Hines brings forth unique and logical insights clearly written in a philosophical manner. He has a deep concern for the form and the spirit of the "total work," known as Gesamtkunstwerk. Hines's thoughtful and rational aesthetic maintains that every collaboration is a complete work; in the center there always exists a maze of possibilities. Recommended.-I. Spalatin, East Texas State University