Mardi Gras and Carnival

"Be the magic power at the crossroads of your senses, be the purport of their strange meeting." - Rilke

I know the element of this season that you were missing most was a ridiculous image analysis I wrote in 2005. It's applicable because it's the season of Carnival! Thank you for indulging me!

Paul Cézanne's Mardi Gras

From bits and things

Cézanne’s "Mardi Gras," painted in 1888, portrays two figures, dressed for Mardi Gras festivities in clownish costumes denoting the tradition of the Comedia Del Arte. The two are set against a contrived background of thick, ornate drawn drapes, tapestried with a pattern of foliage in rich oranges, dusty reds and dark grayish blues. The drape framing the pair to the left is hanging, the drape to the right in pulled up and it's end dangles unseen past the edge of the painting. A blank, gray-blue wall, mottled with shadow is revealed behind the drapes. The line where the floor meets the wall runs with a slight downward slant to the right, giving the setting a sense of space.

The two figures occupying the painting are men, the one farthest to the left is dressed entirely in white; his clothes are oversized, his shirt hangs full to his knees, a wide, white ruffle bedecks his neck and a conal, wide-brimmed hat is perched with a rakish tilt on his head. His right arm is reaching up as he bends forward- he seems to be reaching up under the arm of the man in front of him.

The man farthest to the right is only a few steps in front of the man in white. This man's costume is a tight checked red-and-black suit. The suit completely covers his arms and legs and is held snugly at his waist with a thin belt. His shoes are black, decorated with a black flap or bloom at the top: they look like dancing shoes. In his right arm he cradles a thin white cane, its tip almost touching the head of the white-clad man following him. On the red-black man's head he wears a black, three-cornered hat and in his left hand he carries a small amount of black cloth, possibly gloves.

These two characters are on the move: the curtain before them has been drawn and the line of the baseboard shoots off to the right, leading the way. Behind them, the baseboard line disappears into a dark shadow behind the man in white and the heavy curtain seems to be blocking any retreat. Only the man in white has a substantial visible shadow- the man in red and black has only a tiny swipe of a shadow beneath his leading right foot. This mere hint of shadow makes it appear as if he is floating, not walking under the pressure of gravity, but skimming lightly over the floor.

The relationship between these two is ambiguous, mysterious. Cézanne has portrayed a relationship that does not exist in the space of everyday time but only in a time inside of time- in the rhythm of a ritual festival. While the one in front is walking upright, almost proudly, and the one behind is crouching, lurking after him, the white-clad man's arm that touches the man in front shows a gesture of control, as if the man behind is a puppet master and the man in front, the puppet. Both men are gazing warily, shiftily at the viewer of the painting. They know their actions are on display; they are dressed to participate in a festival, to perform yet the viewers’ gaze is unwanted. There seems to be an attempt between the two, under the scrutiny of objectification, to pass their relationship off as casual, nothing more than a hand brushing an arm, but the dependency that runs between the two is undeniable.

The interaction between the two men represents the relationship between dark and light, night and day, each figure holds within themselves and in their participation with each other the tendencies of the struggle between Apollo and Dionysus. The man in white is heavy and his throws a shadow. He is constructed like a pyramid, his dense and grounded foundation is cemented, his feet are rooted to the floor, and his knees are bent under his weight. He is a representation of the real, a being of the realm of the body and of the senses. The man in front is dark, slight, elongated and shadowless. He stands fully upright, his head drawn back, the black checks of his costume hold more substance than his body does. This man is a phantom, ethereal and momentarily immortal, a piece of fading night sky drifting before the coming of the light.

The two men are constructed with a faint lean toward the other, forming a rough triangle; together they make up two halves of a whole and their inward leans show that they provide each other with necessary support. These two men, properly dressed in the trappings of festival and abandon have taken on the characteristics of their costumes and their roles in the festivities. Whether outside of Mardi Gras these men depend on each other and exist for each other or not, all that matters at this moment is that they have accepted their roles and are compelled toward the festivities, toward the ritual.