Jacques Lacan first delivered this paper as a talk in 1949, two years prior to the beginning of the seminars when he developed the thought that we now identify with him (The Mirror Phase as formative of the function of the I). Lacan argues that infants acquire their 1st sense of self-identity (the formation of an ego) though the experience of looking in a mirror and relating to their image this experience captures the stage in the child's development when they anticipate a mastery of the body that they lack in reality (in other words an infant is not aware of the movement it makes until they see their reflection)? The body though the mirror image becomes a whole. When Lacan refers to " The body of Gestalt" (1949) he is referring to the fact that we are presented with an image that we identify with but are unsure which is figure and which is ground. Until we start to move and watch ourselves do we see that the actual self is, less than perfect and even accentuates the difference between who we are and what we think we are. ( We think and maybe at times feel 21 then see our refection are realise that it is not so).
Examples of Surrealist Work that might echo the Mirror phase
Rene Magritte (1933) The Human Condition Oil on Canvas Washington D C National Gallery of Art
Here we see a pleasant landscape framed by a window. In front of which is a painting on an easel that "completes" the very landscape it blocks from view. The problem of the real space versus the spatial illusion is as old as painting itself, but it is imaginatively treated in this picture within a picture. Magritte's play on illusion implies that the painting is less real than the landscape when in fact both are painted fictions. The tree, as the artist explained (somewhat confusing in the view of the illusory nature of the "real" landscape as he define it) exists for the spectating "both inside the room in the painting and outside in the real world" i.e. we see is as being outside ourselves even though it is only a mental representation of it that we experience inside ourselves.
Magritte drew freely on the Freudian repertoire of sexual anxiety, occasionally creating works that foil a male heterosexual viewers erotic interest.
My second examples is also by Rene Magritte called "The Interpretation of Dreams 1930 Munich Germany Oil on canvas
We are confronted with 6 images of familiar objects together with verbal labels - (which are familiar in the language - learning context) suggested by the blackboard like background. But we soon realise that the words do not match the images under which they appear. If we try to rearrange them we find that the words do not correspond to any of the images. In order to be able to operate with symbols it is necessary to 1st be able to distinguish between the sign and the object it signifies (Leach 1970 43). Jerome Bruner observed that pre-school children thought and the object of thought seemed to be the same thing, but once at school they learn to separate word and thing (Bruner 1966) The child soon discovers the apparently magical power of words for referring to things in there absence.
Personal Values 1952 Rene Magritte 1952 San Francisco U.S.A. Oil on canvas
In the painting Personal Values the objects of vanity suddenly take on great importance. The painting is based on a simple but very effective visual trick, objects from daily life are blown up to a monumental scale, and then placed back into a personal setting where they completely dominate and become shocking. Magritte presents the room with these familiar things but brings human proportions to the props of everyday life creating a sense of disorientation and incongruity (the inside and outside are inverted) by his rendering of a sky scape on the interior walls of the room. The familiar becomes the unfamiliar, the normal strange. Magritte creates a paradoxical world that is in his words " defiance of common sense"
Salvador Dali The Persistence of Memory 1931 Oil on Canvas New York
The beach and rocky terrain shown at the top of the painting were likely influenced by Dali's childhood experiences hence the single apparently dead olive tree underlines the dreamlike and desolate character of this landscape. (Traditionally the olive branch is a symbol of peace, purification and plenty). The foreground represents a timeless and nameless inner space. The watch could allude to time passing memory and decay. The softness of the instruments for measuring time however renders them unreliable. The limp head in the centre is thought to be Dali's own face, its shape deriving from a large standing rock near the Coast of Cadaques, with the long eyelashes and tongue like protuberance which could heighten the erotic feel of this creature- the insects are associated with decay - together with a fly- could the meaning be an experience of seeing a dead animal being eaten.
Two examples of contemporary media - making use of Jacques Lacan's idea of Mirror Phase.
The film Curse of the Cat People -This has Amy the young daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed as a very imaginative child who has trouble differentiating fantasy from reality, has no friends of her own age so makes an imaginary friend through her father's 1st wife at the same time she befriends an ageing reclusive actress who is alienated from her own daughter.
The Per Capital Principle poster by Morgan Slade and Alex Gross.
A film director - who directs actors and film crew alike, control artistic and dramatic aspects.
The gaze is a psychoanalytical term used by Jacques Lacon it describes the relationship of the subject with the desire to look and the awareness that one can be viewed. The love story, Titanic (1997) a fictional account of the tragic sinking of RMS Titanic (director James Cameron), involoved a fictional love story of Jack ( who dreams of a new life in Amercia) and Rose (the daughter of a once rich family who is being forced to marry into a rich family) This is played out along side the traumatic sinking of the Titanic and the loss of so many lives. Their love story sustains the viewers enjoyment.
