Nation and Memory in Eastern Europe
Lecture 11History Painting
Week 12, Spring Term
Outline
1. Images as historical sources2. What is history painting?3. Legitimising power 4. Mobilising the nation5. Subversive paintings6. Conclusion
Images are part of the culture and cannot be understood without a knowledge of this culture
Panofsky’s theory of iconographyStages of iconographical research
1. Pre-iconographical descriptionthe primary (natural) subject-matter – what is it? – world of objects, events – knowledge of history of style
2. Iconographical analysis the secondary (conventional) subject-matter – what is it specifically? – world of images, stories, allegories – knowledge of history of types
3. Iconological interpretation – the intrinsic meaning or content – what does it mean? – world of symbolic values – knowledge of history and symbols
Critics
Panofsky doesn’t distinguish between the intended and unintended symbolic meanings of an artwork
Too much emphasis on intuition: to explain the unintended meaning we must have deep knowledge of cultural history
Neglect of paintings which do not reflect presupposed view of spirit of epoch
Tendency towards over-interpretation
Disregard of social history of art Neglect of reception and Wirkungsgeschichte (history of
effects)
Political Iconography
asks about the Wirkungsgeschichte (history of effects) of art as carrier of
political messages
What can you get from analysing images?
Information about material culture Essence of an epoch Interpretation of specific events Gestures and facial expressions History of emotions And many other things
What should you know?
Who? – Who created the image? For whom? – Who ordered or bought the painting? Who
was expected to look at this image? When? When was the image created? What? – Topic of painting, symbols, Why? – Aim of the painter and client How does the image compare with other evidence
available? Could it be a fake or intended to deceive the viewer?
How was it perceived? Reception and Wirkungsgeschichte (history of effects)
Literature
Peter Burke, Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images as Historical Evidence (London, 2001)
Roelof van Straten, Iconography, indexing, ICONCLASS: A handbook (Leiden, 1994)
Outline
1. Images as historical sources2. What is history painting?3. Legitimising power4. Mobilising the nation5. Hidden meaning6. Conclusion
History painting
The painting of scenes from the past
Very often the painting of scenes from classical and Christian history and mythology, but also contemporary scenes
The painter as historian
Was the painter an eyewitness?If not: Where did he get his information from?
- eyewitnesses- literary sources- earlier paintings or illustrations?
What are the conventions?
- Did the painter include conventional motives from other paintings? Did he use tropes?- How far does the painting reflect the individual scene, how far is it a topical scene?
Outline
1. Images as historical sources2. What is History painting?3. Legitimizing power 4. Mobilization for the nation5. Subversive painting6. Conclusion
Louis Caravaque, Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava (1709), 1718
Johann Gottfried Tannauer. Peter the Great During the Battle of Poltava. 1710s.
Nikolai S. Shustov, Ivan III tearing the Khans letter, 1862
Icon of Alexander Nevsky (Saint and Prince), 1879
Prince Alexander Nevsky, painting by Pavel Knorin, 1942
Outline
1. Images as historical sources2. What is History painting?3. Legitimizing power 4. Mobilization for the nation5. Subversive painting6. Conclusion
Franz A. Rubo (1856-1928)The Battle of Borodino. Panorama
115 x 15 mThe Battle at 12:30 on the 7th of September 1812
Jan MatejkoThe Battle of Grunwald
14101878
Jan Matejko (1838-1893), Self-portrait
Jan Matejko, The jester Stanczyk during a Ball at the Court of Queen Bona after the Loss of Smolensk (1512), 1862
The Battle of Grunwald 1410, (Jan Matejko, 1878)
Grand prince Vytautas (Witold), representing
Lithuania
Zyndram of Maszkowice, representing the nobility (szlachta)
The Grand Master (Hochmeister) of the Teutonic Order Ulrich von Jungingen, representing the „German“ enemy
Two soldiers, representing the people
Saint Stanislav, representing the Church
Exhibition of the Grunwald painting in Warsaw
Jan MatejkoThe Battle of Raclawice 1794
Jan Styka and Wojciech KossakPanorama of the Battle of Raclawice
Mobilizing for the nation and foreign propaganda
Jan Matejko, Sobieski at Vienna (1683), 1883
Jan Matejko, Rejtan – The Fall of Poland (1773), 1866
Cossacks
Jan Matejko, Khmelnytsky and Tuhaj Bej at Lwow (L‘viv) (1650), 1885
Ilja Repin: The letter of the Zaporizhian cossacks to Sultan Mahmud IV (1880-1891)
Outline
1. Images as historical sources2. What is History painting?3. Legitimizing power 4. Mobilization for the nation5. Subversive painting6. Conclusion
Vasily V. Vereshchagin (1842-1904), The Patriotic War of 1812. Series of Canvasses
"The horrors of war, brutality and wild frenzy of battles; inexpressible sufferings of innocent victims sent to be killed; voluntariness and naivety of those victims that are performing War like any other employment… heroism and simplicity of soul; entire fields of killed and mutilated; thousands of wounded plunged at the aid points in such an infernal sufferings that have no name; wagon trains of mutilated… dozens of miles of snow plains where hundreds and thousands of abandoned and wounded were freezing to slow and terrible death; and all these painted with inimitable fire and skill with enthusiasm coming from the depth of the shocked soul - that's what created the canvases that no one had ever painted in Europe".
V.V.Stasov "Twenty five years of Russian art".
Henryk Siemiradzki, Nero’s Torches, 1876
Outline
1. Images as historical sources2. What is History painting?3. Legitimizing power 4. Mobilization for the nation5. Subversive painting6. Conclusion
Conclusion
Images do not offer a direct view in the social reality of the past
Images offer specific contemporary views of the past
Images have to be contextualized (cultural, political, material context)
Images as sources have to be assessed critically