The Sounding Image. About the relationship between art and music—an art-historical retrospective view
Barbara John

In the early days of Modernism, interaction between art and music gave considerable impetus to the further development of new art forms. A short look back at European art history describes the changeable relationship between the two arts since the Middle Ages. Theoretical statements by the most important artists involved in this process provide a connecting thread. Richard Wagner's «Gesamtkunstwerk» and his synaesthetic ideas are the starting-point for the development of abstraction at the beginning of the 20th century. The loss of central perspective in abstract painting corresponds with that of a binding key system. Time, and thus also the moving image, become a new category of artistic creation. This development lead to multi-media performances in image and sound. [more]

Art and music - an unequal start Medieval sacred art and music Renaissance - the arts in competition Baroque - secularization and illusionism Early Modernism - Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk Classical Modernism - the early days of abstraction From painting to the moving picture Abstract sounds - multi-media performances