This exposition is the culmination of four years of Harriet Carter’s doctoral research that articulates the complexity of transposition between the auditory and the visual. Specifically, she questions the extent that transposition operates between the intangible ephemera of an embodied birdsong encounter and tangible material processes in painting through an analysis of Olivier Messiaen’s birdsong transcriptions that inform his epic piano piece Catalogue d’oiseaux (Catalogue of Birds). By conceptualising mark-making as a site of embodied encounter, Harriet has explored the metaphysicality of transposition as embedded in process to propose new ways of conceiving encounter in the experience and materiality of painting practice. She presents drawings and paintings that expose the experimentation and material epistemologies embodied in the research process, reflecting the multifarious nature of painting as research, method and transpositional vehicle. Physical works are interspersed with auditory and visual fragments in the form of recordings and transcriptions gathered by Harriet during fieldwork in France in locations used by Messiaen to transcribe birdsong.

Full abstract:

Beyond Transposition? Exploring metaphysicality in birdsong and Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux through painting practice

This thesis interrogates the concept and practice of ‘transposition’ through exploring experiences of birdsong encounters as an embodied encounter between polysensory experiences in the landscape and the visual in painting practice. From a visual art perspective, I explore the auditory musical methodologies of French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992). Through using drawing to explore the metaphysicality of a birdsong encounter, I propose that Messiaen’s birdsong transcriptions (in his cahiers) and resulting piano cycle Catalogue d’oiseaux (1956 – 1958), demonstrate a transpositional methodology.

Through analysis of Messiaen’s cahiers and Catalogue d’oiseaux, I create a methodological framework to explore in painting practice. I question the extent to which transposition operates between the intangible ephemera of an embodied birdsong encounter and tangible material processes in mark-making (drawing and painting). By thinking through mark-making as a site of embodied encounter, I explore the metaphysicality of transposition as embedded in process. 

I present the complexity of transposing encounters between birdsong and painted surfaces through material thinking. Painting practice leads my enquiry and is supported largely in part by writing-thinking to explore the nuances of transposing in painted surfaces. I identify moments where transposition occurs when transcribing birdsong in the landscape and creating paintings in response. I explore how using painting practice as a tool, is considered a transpositional vehicle.

Departing from Yve Lomax’s theory of transposition as a moving device, I present the case that Messiaen’s cahiers and Catalogue d’oiseaux, and my field notebooks and paintings are transpositional objects. Through painting practice, I provide a way to explore metaphysicality through material inquiry. Aligning with Jacqueline Taylor’s concept of the ‘quasacle,’ I argue that transposition apprehends metaphysicality through materiality on the peripheries of language. In doing so, this thesis develops new ways of conceiving encounter in the experience and materiality of painting practice.