Art and transference: a comparative study of psychoanalytic transference and art and documentation of the exhibition Memory, Mammary, Mummery

Interpretations of the psychic contents of art, their means of transmission, the motivations of the artist, the viewer's response and a personal documentation of an artist's major exhibition are linked in this thesis. In Chapter One an examination is made of definitions of transference, transference-neurosis and counter-transference and these terms are put into a developmental and historic context. In Chapter Two consideration is given to the importance of transference in psychoanalysis and of the clear linking of art with transference from the earliest days of the development of psychoanalysis. Data is referred to that connects Freud's interest in art with a deliberate attempt at manipulation of art to serve his needs. Material is then put forward, both contemporary and historical, that compares psychoanalysis to an artform, the psychoanalyst to an artist and psychoanalytic consultations to artworks. What emerges is the centrahty of transference to both art and psychoanalysis.