Abstract

Our paper deals with the work of André Malraux on the illustrations for his Musée imaginaire from the point of view of visual and cognitive experimentation. This work is explicitly inspired by the Benjamin of the »technical reproducibility« and the »author as producer.« We examine the opening of the imaginary field, as it is suggested by the praxis of the art book – an album of images that is supported by a certain kind of expressivity of framing, illumination and montage – in Malraux. Through this praxis of montage, Malraux constructs the authority of his visual style and the closure of the literary field. Above all, however, we discuss critically the anti-historical and anti-political destiny of his aesthetics, which in the end is quite far from Benjamin’s, and we conclude with a comparison between two contemporary artworks, namely Malraux’ Le Musee imaginaire de la sculpture mondiale and Les Statues meurent aussi, a film by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais.