In the intersection of the angles of a table, there is more truth than in all the tangle of muscles: Futurism as anti-humanist critique

The recent celebrations of the centenary of the publication of the Futurist manifesto led to a renewed discussion of the ideas and artworks of the Italian artists’ group. Jacques Rancière related the Futurist ethos with the modernist project of liberating art from representation. Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi, in his post-Futurist manifesto, also identified a historical irony at play in the emptying out of Futurism’s promise: a liberated mechanical humanity did indeed materialize, in a global economic system premised on financial servitude to the future via debt. However, these models continue to assess Futurism against an unchallenged humanism, finding it either supporting ideals of freedom and human rights despite itself, or else lacking in these areas. But Futurism is potentially more relevant than ever not in spite of its anti-humanist agenda, precisely because of it. Tom McCarthy annexes not Futurist art but Futurist writing to an emerging object oriented ontology that seeks to challenge the primacy of the human. If Futurism is to be repurposed as a critical concept, it can only do so by countering the humanist myth the liberal subject that underlies the current cultural and political hegemony of neo-liberalism.

Le livre de messire Lancelot du Lac" : présentation matérielle et composition des manuscrits arthuriens de Jacques d'Armagnac (BNF fr. 117-120 et 113-116)

L'organisation des manuscrits arthuriens du cycle du Graal de Jacques d'Armagnac (BNF fr. 117-120 qu'il a hérité de son arrière-grand-père le duc Jean de Berry et dont il a fait retoucher les peintures et BNF fr. 113-116 qu'il a fait exécuter entre 1470 et 1475), leur agencement, leur illustration et leurs subdivisions sont un indice précieux de la conception et de la réception de ces compilations. Ils soulignent l'effort de constitution d'un ensemble romanesque cohérent centré sur la figure de Lancelot.

Surviving without leading: Jacques Chirac

The presidency of Jacques Chirac in France (1995-2007) was scarred by two crushing defeats: the parliamentary elections of 25 May and 1 June 1997, and the referendum on the European Constitution of 29 May 2005. As both were highly personal setbacks, since both votes were taken at Chirac’s initiative they suggest that a dominant presidential position, twice won, was twice squandered owing to a failure of leadership. This chapter argues, firstly, that the weaknesses of the presidency arose chiefly from the three decades of Chirac’s career before the 1995 election – and, secondly, that Chirac’s record of presidential leadership, though limited, is more substantial than these two major failures suggest.

A newly discovered portrait of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

This article establishes the authenticity of a half length portrait of Napoleon, long thought to be a copy.