"The Problem of Intertextuality in Peter Doherty's Art" by Elizaveta Minaeva

Forward to a dissertation on the art of Peter Doherty by Elizaveta Minaeva (Art historian)

The subject of the following work is “The problem of intertextuality in Peter Doherty's art”. This investigation features the first scientific attempt to explore Peter Doherty's art through the analysis of intertextual connections and references, widely represented in both graphic and lyrical works of the author.
Peter Doherty is a contemporary British poet, musician and artist who started his career in visual art in the beginning of the 2000's. The reason why we were interested primarily in the problem of intertextuality while investigating Doherty's art can be explained through the deep connections between his visual and poetical practices – it's obvious that art of a poet and a visual artist at the same time who bases his art upon the legacy of the past, will abound with quotes and allusions.
The subject seems relevant particularly in view of Doherty's works being in demand in the contemporary art market and the organisation of his personal exhibitions. Beyond that, Doherty's art itself represents a very interesting and unique cultural phenomenon. The fact that his works are filled with allusions and other types of intertextual connections determines the significance of the research due to continuing interest in intertext over the period of 40 years, on the one hand, and the weak conceptual framework of this phenomenon in the sphere of visual art, on the other hand.
The fact of total absence of scientific works dedicated to Doherty's visual art assigns academic novelty to the research. Without any doubt his art will undergo transformations with the course of time, giving the future researchers new material for academic pursuits.
Nevertheless, necessity of this work that should become the basis for the further researches of purer subject matters seems necessary and valuable, as the importance of scientific interpretation and critical assessment of the works of contemporary art doesn’t need to be proved.
As for researching intertextual connections and, therefore, the special literature used in the course of working on the subject, one significant fact should be marked here – it is the absence of any fundamental works dedicated to the analysis of intertextuality in visual art. Overwhelming majority of works on the problem of intertextuality touches on the territories of theory of literature and theory of poetry.
Therefore, during working on a study, 3 branches of special literature have been touched. First of all, these are theoretical works that anticipated an appearance of the term "intertextuality‟ and developed its conception: works by Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, Mikhail Bakhtin, Yuri Lotman, Gerard Genette. Secondly, these are works that provided the basis and a starting point for the practical analysis: Nathalie Piegay-Gros' monograph “Introduction a l'intertextualite”, Umberto Eco's article “Innovation and Repetition: Between Modern and Post-Modern Aesthetics”, Mikhail Yampolsky's monograph “Tiresias's memory: intertextuality and cinematography”, Krasimira Loukitcheva's article “Intertextuality and cultural memory in art of German symbolism” and Olga Semenischeva's dissertation “Transformation of the artist's image: from Renaissance to postmodernism (philosophically-culturological analysis)”.
Thirdly, this is the literature dedicated to the artist himself: above all the work  by  Victoria  Bazoeva  “Historically-cultural allusions in the lyrics by Carl  Barat  and  Peter  Doherty”, which has the immediate link with the studied subject.  Furthermore,  numerous  artist’s  biographies  have been explored as well.

The wide range of sources has been used during investigation. Some groups of sources should be marked:

•  artist’s  diaries  (both  published  and  unpublished);
•  the personal archive documenting biography of the author during last 15  years  and  being  in  disposal  of  Doherty’s  literary  and  art  agent  Paul Roundhill;
•  unpublished interviews, filmed and recorded during working on the research;
•  published interviews in text-audio-and video-formats that can help with the analysis of intertextual links;
•  paintings, drawings and sketches from private collections and gallery collections;
•  Doherty’s   songs   and   poems immediately related to the studied problem and touching upon the subject of intertextuality in one form or another;
• literary and music sources which had influence on the artist and have been subsequently represented in his art one way or another.

The intention of the research was to explore intertextual connections and references  in  Peter  Doherty’s  art.  In  the  course of writing the following tasks have been completed:
1. to describe artist’s  works  of  different  periods,  detect  their  main  themes and trace evolution of his art method;
2. to  examine  the  background  on  which  Doherty’s  personality had been set, roots and origins of his art;
3. to analyse intertextual links detected in lyrical and, above all, visual works of the artist, and make use of theory of intertextuality in such a manner in a sphere of visual art.
Considering object (Peter  Doherty’s  art)  and subject (intertextuality in his art) of the study and facing the current situation which marks the absence of generally accepted principles of studying intertextuality in visual art, interdisciplinary scientific approach along with the attempt to reveal intertextual links in 2 stages have been used. At the first stage intertextual connections in Doherty’s   poetry   have   been   researched   and   analysed.   At   the   second   stage,   considering received information, intertextuality in his visual artworks have been revealed and studied. At both stages we used intertextual method (applied by Nathalie Piegay-Gros as well), that suggests researching works in their cultural connections with other phenomena of culture and art. Furthermore, contextually-

interpretational method and method of comparative analysis have been used as well.

The following work consists of content, introduction, two chapters (each has two subparagraphs), concluding remarks, list of references, bibliography and appendix with graphic files and timeline chart.

The first chapter ("Artistic method and thematic features of  Peter  Doherty’s   art”)   contains   characteristics   of   the   author’s artistic method; description and analysis of key works of different periods; examination of the lead themes and motives detected in his art; tracing its evolution. The second  chapter  (“Creative   origins and the problem of intertextuality in   Peter   Doherty’s   art”)   contains the analysis  of  sources  for  Doherty’s  art; the deeper look into the cultural environment where  the  artist’s  personality  had  been  formed and his art has been based on later; the research of the problem touching intertextual links and connections in his artworks.

As a result after investigation of works created by the artist in the period from 2004 to 2013, his artistic method, most frequent themes and motives used in his art, the multilayer, intertextual character   of   Doherty’s   paintings   as   well   as   poetry  becomes  obvious.  The  listed  problems’  solving  let  us  afterwards detect and classify   intertextual   links   detected   in   the   author’s   works   through   the   examples   of   the quote, reference and allusion.

It is necessary to notice that questions touched in this work have been put into the primary research only, while many other interesting and important in this aspect themes have been left out of consideration. From these facts it emerges that there are lots of different paths for the further researching and developing of the subject. First of all, it’s   more detailed examination of the problem considering intercommunion   of   image   in   text,   usually   both   present   in   Doherty’s   works   at   the   same time; investigating the problem of co-authorship in his art; considering Doherty’s   art   in   the   context   of   contemporary   art practices and researching connections between his artistic method and methods of artists and movements of the past; continuation of the proposed theme considering the image of the artist and its cooperation with his own art in the context of the beginning of the 21st century.

It’s   obvious   that   the   evolution   of   the   artist   himself,   appearance   of   his   new   works will demand the constant attention of the researchers interested in this subject and having in this case possibility to work  with  art  being  created  in  “real-time  mode”, which gives them possibility to get the material first hand. Finally, the deeper and more detailed investigation of intertextual links, only primarily researched in this work is also the perspective way of the  subject’s  development.