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Arts & Communication Geographical-artistic horizons

and drawings of the New Universal Geography; by Léon The experience and life of authors such as Reclus
Benett (1839–1916), designer for Júlio Verne, who show us that art can be a fertile gateway to understand
illustrated the History of a mountain and the History of contemporary spatial dynamics; expand creative
a stream; by František Kupka (1871–1957), one of the approaches; improve methodological procedures,
fathers of abstraction, who also illustrated Man and the conceptual, and cartographic representations; and to
Earth. The second is his direct contact with painters allow a better understanding of spaces.
who shared his scientific and political approaches, In this sense, the possibility of a pluridisciplinarity is
especially Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), activist of unfolded, which has led to new themes, categories, and
the Paris Commune of 1871, Camille Pissarro (1830– theoretical-methodological approaches that are nourished
1903), sympathizer of anarchism, Auguste Baud–Bovy by these various branches of research directly related to
(1848–1899), participant of the sociability networks of the arts, and end up fostering the questioning about the
Reclus and his colleagues in Switzerland. The third is extreme objective scientificity sometimes proposed by
his influence on neo-Impressionist painters who were contemporary geography.
inspired by both his geography and his anarchism,
such as Paul Signac (1863–1935) and Maximilien Luce Expanding on this idea, we consider that art acts
(1858–1941) (FERRETTI, 2014, P.1; our translation). through representations that instruct us sensibly about the
2
modus operandi of a society and participates vigorously in
Ferretti relates the passage of Élisée Reclus at an event
at the Royal Geographical Society in London in 1903, the construction of representations of spaces.
when the geographer-artist presented the Globular Atlas By taking it as a research theme, art, or more precisely
conceived in partnership with the Belgian cartographer the spatialities of the art world, we can consider them
Émile Patesson, composed of maps on painted and as a way of seeing and understanding the socio-spatial
curved aluminum plates, and began his lecture with the dimensions related to the positioning and role established
statement: “I speak here not as a geographer, but as an by art and artists, especially in urban contexts (BOICHOT,
artist” (RECLUS et al., 1903, p. 298) cited by Ferretti 2014). 5
3
3
(2014, p. 11). Reading the texts published in the journal
Geogracidade and the discussions held in these 10 years
2 Dans sa longue carrière de géographe et de militant, Élisée of SEGHUM, we found the diversity and complexity of
Reclus (1830–1905) a été concerné par les arts figuratifs, the interrelationships between arts and spaces. That is
et notamment par la peinture, sous trois aspects au moins. why we are convinced that art and science are unfinished
Le premier, sa collaboration avec plusieurs artistes pour narratives of the world, not hierarchical, enabling the
la construction du riche appareil iconographique de ses expansion of a horizon of spatial knowledge, as John
ouvrages. C’est le cas de Charles Perron (1837–1909) et Wright (1947) and Carlos Augusto Figueiredo Monteiro
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André Słomczynski (1844–1910), chargés respectivement (2009) have already warned us. As Eduardo Marandola
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des cartes et des dessins de la Nouvelle Géographie Junior (2010) also warned us in interlocution with
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universelle; de Léon Benett (1839–1916), dessinateur de 9
Jules Verne, qui a illustré Histoire d’une montagne et Histoire Adauto Novaes (1994), when pondering that “reason,
d’un ruisseau; de František Kupka (1871–1957), l’un des logic, emotion, sensation, and imagination are present
pères de l’abstraction, qui a illustré L’Homme et la Terre. both in artistic manifestation and in scientific work”
Le deuxième, sa fréquentation directe avec des peintres (MARANDOLA JR., 2010, p. 23).
qui partageaient ses démarches scientifiques et politiques,
notamment Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), militant de la 3. Dialogs between geography and art:
Commune de Paris de 1871, Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), between the intelligible and the sensitive
sympathisant anarchiste, Auguste Baud-Bovy (1848–1899),
participant des réseaux de sociabilité de Reclus et de ses The arts allow the configuration of an existential and
collègues en Suisse. Le troisième, son influence sur des subjective geography, through the elaboration of a sensitive
peintres néo-impressionnistes qui se sont inspirés à la fois knowledge of the territories, which calls into question
de sa géographie et de son anarchisme, comme Paul Signac the oppositions between the real and the imaginary, and
(1863–1935) et Maximilien Luce (1858–1941). between knowledge and fiction.
3 “I speak here not as a geographer, but as an artist.” For further
details of this conference call, see: Reclus et al. (1903), In the same way, the arts allow us to reach the
“On spherical maps and reliefs” and “Discussion”, In: the researched evidence through shorter paths. By activating
Geographical Journal, 3, p. 290–299. Available at: https:// the imaginaries, we have an analog reference: reality,
www.jstor.org/stable/1775189?seq=4#metadata_info_tab_ which is never a perfectly faithful pair. In addition, it is
contents [Last accessed: 2023 Nov 5 in the essence of the link “between the real and the image,

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 3 doi: 10.36922/ac.1870