The Legacy of Henry Corbin: L'ONTOLOGIE DU LIEU

"...the Imagination (or love, or sympathy, or any other sentiment) induces knowledge, and knowledge of an 'object' which is proper to it..."

Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was a scholar, philosopher and theologian. He was a champion of the transformative power of the Imagination and of the transcendent reality of the individual in a world threatened by totalitarianisms of all kinds. One of the 20th century’s most prolific scholars of Islamic mysticism, Corbin was Professor of Islam & Islamic Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Teheran. He was a major figure at the Eranos Conferences in Switzerland. He introduced the concept of the mundus imaginalis into contemporary thought. His work has provided a foundation for archetypal psychology as developed by James Hillman and influenced countless poets and artists worldwide. But Corbin’s central project was to provide a framework for understanding the unity of the religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His great work Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi is a classic initiatory text of visionary spirituality that transcends the tragic divisions among the three great monotheisms. Corbin’s life was devoted to the struggle to free the religious imagination from fundamentalisms of every kind. His work marks a watershed in our understanding of the religions of the West and makes a profound contribution to the study of the place of the imagination in human life.

Monday, December 6, 2010

L'ONTOLOGIE DU LIEU

L'ONTOLOGIE DU LIEU: Voyage au pays du "non-où"
Rouhi Katayoun
Preface de Christian Jambet
Arts et Sciences de l'art
BEAUX ARTS PEINTURE, DESSIN, 2010

L'ontologie du lieu, Voyage au pays du "non-où" comme le titre l'indique, est une initiation au voyage, au sens avicénien du terme. Une tentative de répondre au pourquoi de l'acte de création en général et en peinture en particulier, ceci en invitant le lecteur à s'interroger sur le sens premier du lieu où l'indicible de l'art habite. L'espace de l'acte créateur est mis en résonance avec le "monde imaginal", fondement de la pensée du philosophe iranien du XIIe siècle Sohravardi.