Abstract
This paper explores Merleau-Ponty's notion of 'chair' ('flesh' or 'wild being') in Le Visible et l'Invisible by an ekphrastic engagement with four artworks by Louise Bourgeois. It confronts the analytic question, 'what is Merleau-Ponty's flesh?' by turning to a direct and personal experience of Bourgeois's artworks. Shifting between personal and analytic registers, the paper identifies a common desire, in Merleau-Ponty's philosophy and Bourgeois's sculpture, to get beyond the polarities of object-subject, male-female, and so on, that structure language and perception. The paper argues for the usefulness of Bourgeois's three-dimensional artwork in overcoming the problems involved in the linguistic exposition of Merleau-Ponty's ideas, given his aim of reaching a pre-discursive 'ultimate notion' through the term 'flesh'. Bourgeois's works present a psycho-drama of Merleau-Ponty's 'flesh' and inform this notion. Their intertwining here historicizes the timelessness of Merleau-Ponty's 'philosophy in the flesh', and analyzes how the aesthetic encounter can reconfigure perception and generate the transgression and 'encroachment' latent and intended within it.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
