"The present contains nothing more than the past and what is found in the effect was already in the cause."--Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, 1907. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man.

Edgard Pillet, "The present contains nothing more than the past and what is found in the effect was already in the cause."--Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, 1907. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man., 1966, acrylic, epoxy: relief cast and painted, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.238

Luce Center Label

Edgard Pillet created this piece for the advertising campaign “Great Ideas of Western Man” for the Container Corporation of America. The arrangement of lines and geometric shapes evokes a modern cityscape. A large circle floats above the “city,” inside which a complex pattern of smaller circles resembles the inner workings of a machine. Pillet evokes the image of a clockwork universe, suggesting that the present is simply an outcome of processes that were set in motion before history.

Title

"The present contains nothing more than the past and what is found in the effect was already in the cause."--Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, 1907. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man.

Artist

Edgard Pillet

Date

1966

Location

Dimensions