Lacan's Smile
[excerpt]

François Cheng

translated by Asunción Alvarez

 

[...]

One day, looking joyful, Lacan told me about his interest for Thoughts on the Painting of the Monk Bitter Gourd, a treatise written by the painter Shitao (17th century). He wanted to learn more about some notions put forward by this great artist.[...]

In this treatise, Shitao develops his view of a living, changing world, and of the accomplishments of the human spirit in this changing. In this context, the artist, through the art of the brush stroke, has the mission of establishing the link between the human soul and the soul of the living universe, bringing together man's drives and the pulse of the world.

We started by examining for quite some time the notion of the Single brush stroke. On this occasion, Lacan displayed his fascination with Chinese calligraphy. His primary question: how can the brush stroke be the link between man's becoming and that of the universe? The stroke constitutes a living being, with flesh and bones: it must be animated by the breath spirit, like the universe itself. The horizontal stroke, standing for the word one, which is the basis for the other strokes, is perceived as the image of the primordial breath separating Heaven and Earth.

[...]

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