Michael Peppard
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300213997
- eISBN:
- 9780300216516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300213997.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter first summarizes the ancient history of Dura-Europos, its inhabitants, and its eventual destruction. It explains how the house-church came to be buried and preserved in the third ...
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This chapter first summarizes the ancient history of Dura-Europos, its inhabitants, and its eventual destruction. It explains how the house-church came to be buried and preserved in the third century. The narrative then turns to twentieth-century excavation and interpretation of the site. Finally, the chapter presents a method for studying the interaction between biblical narrative, visual art, and ritual behavior in the initiatory space of the baptistery. It offers a focused survey of previous scholarly approaches to sites of early Christian initiation in general, and this house-church in particular.Less
This chapter first summarizes the ancient history of Dura-Europos, its inhabitants, and its eventual destruction. It explains how the house-church came to be buried and preserved in the third century. The narrative then turns to twentieth-century excavation and interpretation of the site. Finally, the chapter presents a method for studying the interaction between biblical narrative, visual art, and ritual behavior in the initiatory space of the baptistery. It offers a focused survey of previous scholarly approaches to sites of early Christian initiation in general, and this house-church in particular.
Michael Peppard
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300213997
- eISBN:
- 9780300216516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300213997.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter concludes a procession around the baptistery at the southwest corner, arguing that the female figure drawing water from a well is not the Samaritan Woman, an infamously sinful convert, ...
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This chapter concludes a procession around the baptistery at the southwest corner, arguing that the female figure drawing water from a well is not the Samaritan Woman, an infamously sinful convert, but more likely the Virgin Mary, the famously holy mother of Jesus. Through detailed analysis of textual sources and an original, extensive survey of artistic depictions of the Annunciation in late ancient and Byzantine art, this chapter proposes that the earliest depiction of Mary outside of the Roman catacombs likely resides now at the Dura-Europos Collection. Sources from Syria and its environs corroborate the ritualization of spiritual pregnancy and new birth in Christian initiation. Like Mary, these initiates have a divine encounter at a water source and receive the illumination and incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Yet just as in chapter 4, polysemic interpretations may be appropriate in the end. Ancient authors blended their analyses of various virgins, brides, and water-well seekers from biblical narratives, such that the threads of purity, marriage, birth, and death were not often easy to separate.Less
This chapter concludes a procession around the baptistery at the southwest corner, arguing that the female figure drawing water from a well is not the Samaritan Woman, an infamously sinful convert, but more likely the Virgin Mary, the famously holy mother of Jesus. Through detailed analysis of textual sources and an original, extensive survey of artistic depictions of the Annunciation in late ancient and Byzantine art, this chapter proposes that the earliest depiction of Mary outside of the Roman catacombs likely resides now at the Dura-Europos Collection. Sources from Syria and its environs corroborate the ritualization of spiritual pregnancy and new birth in Christian initiation. Like Mary, these initiates have a divine encounter at a water source and receive the illumination and incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Yet just as in chapter 4, polysemic interpretations may be appropriate in the end. Ancient authors blended their analyses of various virgins, brides, and water-well seekers from biblical narratives, such that the threads of purity, marriage, birth, and death were not often easy to separate.
Judy Malloy
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034654
- eISBN:
- 9780262336871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034654.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
In the formative years of the Internet, researchers collaboratively connected computing systems with a goal of sharing research and computing resources. The model process with which they created the ...
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In the formative years of the Internet, researchers collaboratively connected computing systems with a goal of sharing research and computing resources. The model process with which they created the Internet and its forefather, the ARPANET, was echoed in early social media platforms, where creative computer scientists, artists, writers, musicians educators explored the promise of computer-based platforms to bring together communities of interest in what would be called “cyberspace.” With a focus on the arts and humanities, this introduction traces the development of social media affordances in applications such as email, mailing lists, BBSs, the Community Memory, PLATO, Usenet, mail art, telematic art, and video communication. The author outlines the early social media platforms documented in each chapter in this book and summarizes how the book's epilogues both explore differences between early and contemporary social media and look to the future of the arts in social media.Less
In the formative years of the Internet, researchers collaboratively connected computing systems with a goal of sharing research and computing resources. The model process with which they created the Internet and its forefather, the ARPANET, was echoed in early social media platforms, where creative computer scientists, artists, writers, musicians educators explored the promise of computer-based platforms to bring together communities of interest in what would be called “cyberspace.” With a focus on the arts and humanities, this introduction traces the development of social media affordances in applications such as email, mailing lists, BBSs, the Community Memory, PLATO, Usenet, mail art, telematic art, and video communication. The author outlines the early social media platforms documented in each chapter in this book and summarizes how the book's epilogues both explore differences between early and contemporary social media and look to the future of the arts in social media.
Roberta Wue
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888208463
- eISBN:
- 9789888313280
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208463.001.0001
- Subject:
- Art, Art History
The growth of Shanghai in the late nineteenth century gave rise to an exciting new art world in which a flourishing market in popular art became a highly visible part of the treaty port’s ...
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The growth of Shanghai in the late nineteenth century gave rise to an exciting new art world in which a flourishing market in popular art became a highly visible part of the treaty port’s commercialized culture. Art Worlds examines the relationship between the city’s visual artists and their urban audiences. Through a discussion of images ranging from fashionable painted fans to lithograph-illustrated magazines, the book explores how popular art intersected with broader cultural trends. It also investigates the multiple roles played by the modern Chinese artist as image-maker, entrepreneur, celebrity, and urban sojourner. Focusing on industrially produced images, mass advertisements, and other hitherto neglected sources, the book offers a new interpretation of late Qing visual culture at a watershed moment in the history of modern Chinese art.Less
The growth of Shanghai in the late nineteenth century gave rise to an exciting new art world in which a flourishing market in popular art became a highly visible part of the treaty port’s commercialized culture. Art Worlds examines the relationship between the city’s visual artists and their urban audiences. Through a discussion of images ranging from fashionable painted fans to lithograph-illustrated magazines, the book explores how popular art intersected with broader cultural trends. It also investigates the multiple roles played by the modern Chinese artist as image-maker, entrepreneur, celebrity, and urban sojourner. Focusing on industrially produced images, mass advertisements, and other hitherto neglected sources, the book offers a new interpretation of late Qing visual culture at a watershed moment in the history of modern Chinese art.
Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628460391
- eISBN:
- 9781626740846
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628460391.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This transitional section takes stock of the contributions of traditional white, Western jazz criticism. It has reproduced in this specific field the alienation of African American culture at large ...
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This transitional section takes stock of the contributions of traditional white, Western jazz criticism. It has reproduced in this specific field the alienation of African American culture at large and music specifically from Western society. First scorned, African American music was assimilated with the help of critics. They notably contributed to an understanding of the music that eschewed social, historical and economic context in which the music was originally created. Promoting a classically Western understanding of art as distinct from social life, it allowed for a consumption of jazz devoid of political critique. This would change with the advent of black jazz criticism.Less
This transitional section takes stock of the contributions of traditional white, Western jazz criticism. It has reproduced in this specific field the alienation of African American culture at large and music specifically from Western society. First scorned, African American music was assimilated with the help of critics. They notably contributed to an understanding of the music that eschewed social, historical and economic context in which the music was originally created. Promoting a classically Western understanding of art as distinct from social life, it allowed for a consumption of jazz devoid of political critique. This would change with the advent of black jazz criticism.
Rebecca A. Adelman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823281671
- eISBN:
- 9780823284788
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823281671.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
In its depictions of Guantánamo Bay detainees, the state’s agenda is obvious. But the state is not the only entity that mediates detainees’ voices: so, too, do the individuals and organizations that ...
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In its depictions of Guantánamo Bay detainees, the state’s agenda is obvious. But the state is not the only entity that mediates detainees’ voices: so, too, do the individuals and organizations that work on their behalf. Reading the history of anti-Guantánamo activism, the chapter demonstrates that it often relies on an erasure of detainee political subjectivity and a refusal of the possibility of detainee anger. Three case studies bear this out. First, a set of city-council resolutions from Massachusetts and California that extended hypothetical welcomes to select detainees on their hypothetical release; the chapter queries the politics of this deeply conditional hospitality and the presumptions of American exceptionalism underpinning it. American exceptionalism is central to the analysis of the next object, the Witness to Guantánamo documentary project, which collects testimonies from former detainees. W2G does crucial documentary work, but its structure also compels the detainees to offer forgiveness and recuperative visions of American goodness. Next, the chapter explores the politics of detainee creative production, with a particular attention to practices of circulation and consumption, and the fictive experiences of intimacy that they promise their audiences. The chapter ends with a critique of a fanciful renarration of Guantánamo’s past and future.Less
In its depictions of Guantánamo Bay detainees, the state’s agenda is obvious. But the state is not the only entity that mediates detainees’ voices: so, too, do the individuals and organizations that work on their behalf. Reading the history of anti-Guantánamo activism, the chapter demonstrates that it often relies on an erasure of detainee political subjectivity and a refusal of the possibility of detainee anger. Three case studies bear this out. First, a set of city-council resolutions from Massachusetts and California that extended hypothetical welcomes to select detainees on their hypothetical release; the chapter queries the politics of this deeply conditional hospitality and the presumptions of American exceptionalism underpinning it. American exceptionalism is central to the analysis of the next object, the Witness to Guantánamo documentary project, which collects testimonies from former detainees. W2G does crucial documentary work, but its structure also compels the detainees to offer forgiveness and recuperative visions of American goodness. Next, the chapter explores the politics of detainee creative production, with a particular attention to practices of circulation and consumption, and the fictive experiences of intimacy that they promise their audiences. The chapter ends with a critique of a fanciful renarration of Guantánamo’s past and future.
Francis Halsall
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474421041
- eISBN:
- 9781474438605
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421041.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
My speculation in this paper is to consider, in short, what if art history is a system? In other words what does it means to think about art through the systems-thinking. To do so would mean ...
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My speculation in this paper is to consider, in short, what if art history is a system? In other words what does it means to think about art through the systems-thinking. To do so would mean understanding both art as a system and how art is also a part of other systems. It is my overall claim that to do so would require a rethinking of particular ideas about art and art history in ways that are both radical and effective.
I begin by introducing some key feature of the systems-thinking approach. In short, systems thinking emerged in the mid 20th century along with related theories such as Cybernetics and Information Theory. Recently it expanded to incorporate the developments of 2nd order cybernetics (Bateson) and dynamical systems theory (von Bertalanffy); examples of such developments include the Social Systems Theory of Niklas Luhmann and the use of systems by Bruno Latour and Gilles Deleuze. Whilst often very different these theories share an interest in: self-organizing systems; their behaviour and how they are defined by their interactions with their immediate environment. Systems-theory understands phenomena in terms of the systems of which they are part. A system is constituted by a number of interrelated elements that form a ‘whole’ different from the sum of its individual parts. When applied to art discourse it means considering not only works of art but also art museums, art markets, and art histories as systems that are autonomous, complex, distributed and self-organising. Examples of these types of speculations are offered.
I conclude with two key speculations as to what the adoption of the systems-theoretical approach within art history might entail. Firstly, I argue that it is particularly effective in dealing with art after modernism, which is characterised by, amongst other things: non-visual qualities; unstable, or de-materialised physicality and an engagement (often politicised) with the institutional systems of support. By prioritising the systems of support over the individual work of art, or the agency of the individual artist such an approach is not tied by an umbilical cord of vision to an analysis based on traditional art historical categories such as medium, style and iconography. Secondly, I identify a tradition within art historical writing – Podro called it the Critical Historians of Art – that is known in the German tradition as Kunstwissenschaft (the systematic, or rigorous study of art.) I do so both as a means of clarifying what I mean when I say art history; but also as a means of identifying a tradition within art history of self-reflexivity and systematic investigation of methods and limits.
From a systems-theoretical perspective it is an interesting question in its own right to ask why model of Kunstwissenschaft has become the dominant mode of historiography (since the 1980s at least). As a discourse it has become, in systems-theoretical terms, ‘locked-in’ (via positive feedback). It is my view that the systems theoretical approach to art discourse places it within the art historical tradition of Kunstwissenschaft, and is not in opposition to it. In summary, it is not my intention to either attack or defend a straw-man, or flimsy stereotype of what art history is. I am rather, seeking a body of work, a canon, or discursive system, with which to engage. Overall my claim is that the systems theoretical approach to art discourse is a continuation of this rich and worthy heritage (of finding historical models to match the art under scrutiny)—not a break from it.Less
My speculation in this paper is to consider, in short, what if art history is a system? In other words what does it means to think about art through the systems-thinking. To do so would mean understanding both art as a system and how art is also a part of other systems. It is my overall claim that to do so would require a rethinking of particular ideas about art and art history in ways that are both radical and effective.
I begin by introducing some key feature of the systems-thinking approach. In short, systems thinking emerged in the mid 20th century along with related theories such as Cybernetics and Information Theory. Recently it expanded to incorporate the developments of 2nd order cybernetics (Bateson) and dynamical systems theory (von Bertalanffy); examples of such developments include the Social Systems Theory of Niklas Luhmann and the use of systems by Bruno Latour and Gilles Deleuze. Whilst often very different these theories share an interest in: self-organizing systems; their behaviour and how they are defined by their interactions with their immediate environment. Systems-theory understands phenomena in terms of the systems of which they are part. A system is constituted by a number of interrelated elements that form a ‘whole’ different from the sum of its individual parts. When applied to art discourse it means considering not only works of art but also art museums, art markets, and art histories as systems that are autonomous, complex, distributed and self-organising. Examples of these types of speculations are offered.
I conclude with two key speculations as to what the adoption of the systems-theoretical approach within art history might entail. Firstly, I argue that it is particularly effective in dealing with art after modernism, which is characterised by, amongst other things: non-visual qualities; unstable, or de-materialised physicality and an engagement (often politicised) with the institutional systems of support. By prioritising the systems of support over the individual work of art, or the agency of the individual artist such an approach is not tied by an umbilical cord of vision to an analysis based on traditional art historical categories such as medium, style and iconography. Secondly, I identify a tradition within art historical writing – Podro called it the Critical Historians of Art – that is known in the German tradition as Kunstwissenschaft (the systematic, or rigorous study of art.) I do so both as a means of clarifying what I mean when I say art history; but also as a means of identifying a tradition within art history of self-reflexivity and systematic investigation of methods and limits.
From a systems-theoretical perspective it is an interesting question in its own right to ask why model of Kunstwissenschaft has become the dominant mode of historiography (since the 1980s at least). As a discourse it has become, in systems-theoretical terms, ‘locked-in’ (via positive feedback). It is my view that the systems theoretical approach to art discourse places it within the art historical tradition of Kunstwissenschaft, and is not in opposition to it. In summary, it is not my intention to either attack or defend a straw-man, or flimsy stereotype of what art history is. I am rather, seeking a body of work, a canon, or discursive system, with which to engage. Overall my claim is that the systems theoretical approach to art discourse is a continuation of this rich and worthy heritage (of finding historical models to match the art under scrutiny)—not a break from it.
Yumi Park Huntington, Dean E. Arnold, and Johanna Minich (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780813056067
- eISBN:
- 9780813053820
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813056067.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
Ceramics of Ancient America analyzes ceramics specifically from ancient America to add new layers to our understanding by emphasizing new perspectives and a multidisciplinary approach from the fields ...
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Ceramics of Ancient America analyzes ceramics specifically from ancient America to add new layers to our understanding by emphasizing new perspectives and a multidisciplinary approach from the fields of archaeology, art history, and anthropology. Scholars have studied ceramic objects in these disciplines using various methodologies. So far, however, no publication has combined these different scholarly approaches to analyze Pre-Columbian ceramics to understand aspects of many different ancient societies across the Americas. This book thus will provide a much-needed compendium, survey, and synthesis of current scholarship of New World ceramics by drawing on a combination of three different disciplines. This volume will help students and scholars alike better understand and appreciate ceramics as one of the vital forms of communication within small social units, and across cultural and political boundaries. Although three different disciplines have approached the study of ceramics using different methodologies, this book will be the first to utilize them in a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary way to contribute to a more complete picture of Pre-Columbian ceramics and their place in society. The study of ceramics has already been recognized as a fundamental tool for understanding Pre-Columbian beliefs about daily life, reconstructing social systems, and assessing inter- and intra- cultural political relationships. The contributors to this book, however, explore social implications, iconography, trade, variations of regional style, innovation, ritual, and political meanings from numerous cultures in North, Central, and South America that are relevant to the study of ceramics anywhere, but particularly in ancient America.Less
Ceramics of Ancient America analyzes ceramics specifically from ancient America to add new layers to our understanding by emphasizing new perspectives and a multidisciplinary approach from the fields of archaeology, art history, and anthropology. Scholars have studied ceramic objects in these disciplines using various methodologies. So far, however, no publication has combined these different scholarly approaches to analyze Pre-Columbian ceramics to understand aspects of many different ancient societies across the Americas. This book thus will provide a much-needed compendium, survey, and synthesis of current scholarship of New World ceramics by drawing on a combination of three different disciplines. This volume will help students and scholars alike better understand and appreciate ceramics as one of the vital forms of communication within small social units, and across cultural and political boundaries. Although three different disciplines have approached the study of ceramics using different methodologies, this book will be the first to utilize them in a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary way to contribute to a more complete picture of Pre-Columbian ceramics and their place in society. The study of ceramics has already been recognized as a fundamental tool for understanding Pre-Columbian beliefs about daily life, reconstructing social systems, and assessing inter- and intra- cultural political relationships. The contributors to this book, however, explore social implications, iconography, trade, variations of regional style, innovation, ritual, and political meanings from numerous cultures in North, Central, and South America that are relevant to the study of ceramics anywhere, but particularly in ancient America.
Alexandra Green
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9789888390885
- eISBN:
- 9789882204850
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390885.001.0001
- Subject:
- Art, Art History
This volume draws upon art historical, anthropological, and religious studies methodologies to delineate the structures and details of late Burmese wall paintings and elucidate the religious, ...
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This volume draws upon art historical, anthropological, and religious studies methodologies to delineate the structures and details of late Burmese wall paintings and elucidate the religious, political, and social concepts driving the creation of this art form. The combination of architecture, paintings, sculpture, and literary traditions created a complete space in which devotees could interact with the Buddha through his biography. Through the standardization of a repertoire of specific forms, codes, and themes, the murals were themselves activating agents, spurring devotees to merit-making, worship, and other ritual practices, partially by establishing normative religious behavior and partly through visual incentives. Much of this was accomplished through the manipulation of space, and the volume contributes to the analysis of visual narratives by examining how the relationships between word and image, layouts, story and scene selection, and narrative themes both demonstrate and confirm social structures and changes, economic activities, and religious practices of seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth century Burma. The visual material of the wall painting sites worked together with the sculpture and the architecture to create unified spaces in which devotees could interact with the Buddha. This analysis takes the narrative field beyond the concept that pictures are to be “read” and shows the multifarious and holistic ways in which they can be viewed. To enter temples of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries was to enter a coherent space created by a visually articulated Burmese Buddhist world to which the devotee belonged by performing ritual activities within it.Less
This volume draws upon art historical, anthropological, and religious studies methodologies to delineate the structures and details of late Burmese wall paintings and elucidate the religious, political, and social concepts driving the creation of this art form. The combination of architecture, paintings, sculpture, and literary traditions created a complete space in which devotees could interact with the Buddha through his biography. Through the standardization of a repertoire of specific forms, codes, and themes, the murals were themselves activating agents, spurring devotees to merit-making, worship, and other ritual practices, partially by establishing normative religious behavior and partly through visual incentives. Much of this was accomplished through the manipulation of space, and the volume contributes to the analysis of visual narratives by examining how the relationships between word and image, layouts, story and scene selection, and narrative themes both demonstrate and confirm social structures and changes, economic activities, and religious practices of seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth century Burma. The visual material of the wall painting sites worked together with the sculpture and the architecture to create unified spaces in which devotees could interact with the Buddha. This analysis takes the narrative field beyond the concept that pictures are to be “read” and shows the multifarious and holistic ways in which they can be viewed. To enter temples of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries was to enter a coherent space created by a visually articulated Burmese Buddhist world to which the devotee belonged by performing ritual activities within it.
Nancy Duvall Hargrove
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034010
- eISBN:
- 9780813039367
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034010.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
Before Eliot went to Paris, he was already endowed with some basic knowledge of the visual arts as he had been able to take courses such as the History of Ancient Art and Florentine Painting when he ...
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Before Eliot went to Paris, he was already endowed with some basic knowledge of the visual arts as he had been able to take courses such as the History of Ancient Art and Florentine Painting when he was still at Harvard. Paris, with a combination of past and future, was also big in the visual arts scene since the city housed many works of art that ranged from those of the ancient Greeks to those of the more recent nineteenth century. Also, the city was recognized for accommodating developing new movements. Eliot was engrossed with the Parisian art scene and in addition he visited various exhibits and museums in London, Bergamo, Venice, and Munich. This chapter attempts to provide descriptions of classical art works as well as the contemporary art movements that influenced Eliot's immediate and future works.Less
Before Eliot went to Paris, he was already endowed with some basic knowledge of the visual arts as he had been able to take courses such as the History of Ancient Art and Florentine Painting when he was still at Harvard. Paris, with a combination of past and future, was also big in the visual arts scene since the city housed many works of art that ranged from those of the ancient Greeks to those of the more recent nineteenth century. Also, the city was recognized for accommodating developing new movements. Eliot was engrossed with the Parisian art scene and in addition he visited various exhibits and museums in London, Bergamo, Venice, and Munich. This chapter attempts to provide descriptions of classical art works as well as the contemporary art movements that influenced Eliot's immediate and future works.
Cynthia Kristan-Graham and Linnea Wren
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813054964
- eISBN:
- 9780813053417
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813054964.003.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
The introduction discusses the importance of Chichen Itza as a Maya capital, hub of a trading network, and home to a unique art tradition. Landscape is a unifying theme, and its geographical, ...
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The introduction discusses the importance of Chichen Itza as a Maya capital, hub of a trading network, and home to a unique art tradition. Landscape is a unifying theme, and its geographical, philosophical, and theoretical associations are explored. Some chapters focus on recent archaeology of Chichen Itza and related sites in Yucatan while others offer new interpretations of the Castillo-sub, Osario, Mercado, and Upper Temple of the Jaguars. Each chapter is summarized, with specific attention paid to points of interconnection between chapters, historiography, chronology, visual culture, social interaction, ritual, rulership, and the disciplines of archaeology and art history.Less
The introduction discusses the importance of Chichen Itza as a Maya capital, hub of a trading network, and home to a unique art tradition. Landscape is a unifying theme, and its geographical, philosophical, and theoretical associations are explored. Some chapters focus on recent archaeology of Chichen Itza and related sites in Yucatan while others offer new interpretations of the Castillo-sub, Osario, Mercado, and Upper Temple of the Jaguars. Each chapter is summarized, with specific attention paid to points of interconnection between chapters, historiography, chronology, visual culture, social interaction, ritual, rulership, and the disciplines of archaeology and art history.
Marilina Cesario and Hugh Magennis (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780719097843
- eISBN:
- 9781526135896
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097843.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This edited collection explores how knowledge was preserved and reinvented in the Middle Ages. Unlike previous publications, which are predominantly focused either on a specific historical period or ...
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This edited collection explores how knowledge was preserved and reinvented in the Middle Ages. Unlike previous publications, which are predominantly focused either on a specific historical period or on precise cultural and historical events, this volume, which includes essays spanning from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, is intended to eschew traditional categorisations of periodisation and disciplines and to enable the establishment of connections and cross-sections between different departments of knowledge, including the history of science (computus, prognostication), the history of art, literature, theology (homilies, prayers, hagiography, contemplative texts), music, historiography and geography. As suggested by its title, the collection does not pretend to aim at inclusiveness or comprehensiveness but is intended to highlight suggestive strands of what is a very wide topic. The chapters in this volume are grouped into four sections: I, Anthologies of Knowledge; II Transmission of Christian Traditions; III, Past and Present; and IV, Knowledge and Materiality, which are intended to provide the reader with a further thematic framework for approaching aspects of knowledge. Aspects of knowledge is mainly aimed to an academic readership, including advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, and specialists of medieval literature, history of science, history of knowledge, history, geography, theology, music, philosophy, intellectual history, history of the language and material culture.Less
This edited collection explores how knowledge was preserved and reinvented in the Middle Ages. Unlike previous publications, which are predominantly focused either on a specific historical period or on precise cultural and historical events, this volume, which includes essays spanning from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, is intended to eschew traditional categorisations of periodisation and disciplines and to enable the establishment of connections and cross-sections between different departments of knowledge, including the history of science (computus, prognostication), the history of art, literature, theology (homilies, prayers, hagiography, contemplative texts), music, historiography and geography. As suggested by its title, the collection does not pretend to aim at inclusiveness or comprehensiveness but is intended to highlight suggestive strands of what is a very wide topic. The chapters in this volume are grouped into four sections: I, Anthologies of Knowledge; II Transmission of Christian Traditions; III, Past and Present; and IV, Knowledge and Materiality, which are intended to provide the reader with a further thematic framework for approaching aspects of knowledge. Aspects of knowledge is mainly aimed to an academic readership, including advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, and specialists of medieval literature, history of science, history of knowledge, history, geography, theology, music, philosophy, intellectual history, history of the language and material culture.
Hank Bull
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034654
- eISBN:
- 9780262336871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034654.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Canada, with its vast distances, was an early adopter of communications technologies. Starting in the 1970s, Canadian artists pursued the aesthetic strategies of correspondence art, video, ...
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Canada, with its vast distances, was an early adopter of communications technologies. Starting in the 1970s, Canadian artists pursued the aesthetic strategies of correspondence art, video, telecommunications, and artist-run centers. Beginning with Bill Bartlett's Brechtian credo that real communication must be interactive, and noting Robert Filliou's influential concept of the “Eternal Network,” Hank Bull tells the story of a small group of artists who tested the potentials and implications of telecommunications art. He discusses radio, slowscan video, electronic mail and fax art, referring to specific projects produced for Ars Electronica (1983), Electra (Paris, 1983) and the Venice Biennale (1986). More recently, Shanghai Fax (1996), staged by Bull, with artists Shen Fan, Ding Yi, and Shi Yong, was one of the first international group exhibitions to take place in China since the revolution. In conclusion Bull emphasizes sympathetic listening in this new territory, where unfamiliar noises clash as new rhythms sound.Less
Canada, with its vast distances, was an early adopter of communications technologies. Starting in the 1970s, Canadian artists pursued the aesthetic strategies of correspondence art, video, telecommunications, and artist-run centers. Beginning with Bill Bartlett's Brechtian credo that real communication must be interactive, and noting Robert Filliou's influential concept of the “Eternal Network,” Hank Bull tells the story of a small group of artists who tested the potentials and implications of telecommunications art. He discusses radio, slowscan video, electronic mail and fax art, referring to specific projects produced for Ars Electronica (1983), Electra (Paris, 1983) and the Venice Biennale (1986). More recently, Shanghai Fax (1996), staged by Bull, with artists Shen Fan, Ding Yi, and Shi Yong, was one of the first international group exhibitions to take place in China since the revolution. In conclusion Bull emphasizes sympathetic listening in this new territory, where unfamiliar noises clash as new rhythms sound.
Adi Efal-Lautenschläger
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474423632
- eISBN:
- 9781474438520
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474423632.003.0023
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
One preliminary point which must be stated regarding Agamben’s relation to the art historian Abraham (‘Aby’) Moritz Warburg (1866–1929) is that this line of questioning is not reducible to problems ...
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One preliminary point which must be stated regarding Agamben’s relation to the art historian Abraham (‘Aby’) Moritz Warburg (1866–1929) is that this line of questioning is not reducible to problems regarding imagery or ‘visual’ art. Agamben says explicitly that ‘only the myopia of a psychologizing history of Art could have defined [Warburg’s art history] as a “science of the image”’ (ME 53). Although most scholarship on Warburg has indeed viewed the latter’s work as laying the foundations for image and visual studies, in Agamben’s account Warburg ushers the humanities towards another kind of inquiry, one having more to do with the concept of time than with any sort of imagery or visual phenomena. In this, Agamben’s reading of Warburg differs substantially from those of major art historians influenced by Warburg, such as Horst Bredekamp (Bildakt)1 or Georges Didi-Huberman (images malgré tout).2 In fact, Agamben’s reading of Warburg’s art historical inquiries can be elaborated as a fruitful critique of the recent ‘imagist’ turn in the history of art, viewing visual artworks as being primary and essentially ‘images’.Less
One preliminary point which must be stated regarding Agamben’s relation to the art historian Abraham (‘Aby’) Moritz Warburg (1866–1929) is that this line of questioning is not reducible to problems regarding imagery or ‘visual’ art. Agamben says explicitly that ‘only the myopia of a psychologizing history of Art could have defined [Warburg’s art history] as a “science of the image”’ (ME 53). Although most scholarship on Warburg has indeed viewed the latter’s work as laying the foundations for image and visual studies, in Agamben’s account Warburg ushers the humanities towards another kind of inquiry, one having more to do with the concept of time than with any sort of imagery or visual phenomena. In this, Agamben’s reading of Warburg differs substantially from those of major art historians influenced by Warburg, such as Horst Bredekamp (Bildakt)1 or Georges Didi-Huberman (images malgré tout).2 In fact, Agamben’s reading of Warburg’s art historical inquiries can be elaborated as a fruitful critique of the recent ‘imagist’ turn in the history of art, viewing visual artworks as being primary and essentially ‘images’.
Jack A. Josephson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9789774166181
- eISBN:
- 9781617975448
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774166181.003.0003
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter considers the difficulties of dating uninscribed and unprovenanced ancient Egyptian sculpture, by examining stylistic characteristics. The author explores this issue through the example ...
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This chapter considers the difficulties of dating uninscribed and unprovenanced ancient Egyptian sculpture, by examining stylistic characteristics. The author explores this issue through the example of a small three-dimensional head, which he compares to an inscribed relief representation and thus dates to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. He seeks to demonstrate the importance of art history in Egyptology, making the case for it as a principle tool for study of this field.Less
This chapter considers the difficulties of dating uninscribed and unprovenanced ancient Egyptian sculpture, by examining stylistic characteristics. The author explores this issue through the example of a small three-dimensional head, which he compares to an inscribed relief representation and thus dates to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. He seeks to demonstrate the importance of art history in Egyptology, making the case for it as a principle tool for study of this field.
Lorien Foote and Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823264476
- eISBN:
- 9780823266609
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823264476.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This edited collection of essays brings together the work of senior and junior scholars to demonstrate how social and cultural tools complement intellectual history. George Fredrickson’s pioneering ...
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This edited collection of essays brings together the work of senior and junior scholars to demonstrate how social and cultural tools complement intellectual history. George Fredrickson’s pioneering work, The Inner Civil War (1965), has long been the seminal text for scholars interested in the intellectual history of the American Civil War Era. The historians in this volume broaden the scope of what has traditionally been considered intellectual history. By including works about the history of medicine, art history, Catholic history, education, ethnicity, and identity, these contributions demonstrate how intellectual history informs many different fields within the study of nineteenth-century U.S. history. Additionally, the volume expands the definition of which individuals in society are considered intellectuals: Health reformers, sketch artists, college professors, lawyers, and religious leaders are considered alongside Fredrickson’s writers and business leaders. Following up on Fredrickson’s queries, this volume examines whether the Civil War forced out or strengthened old notions and ideas, supported or suppressed democratic individualism, and challenged or maintained ideas about nationalism. In short, the essays in this collection ponder whether the Civil War changed how northerners viewed themselves, others, and individuals’ roles in American society.Less
This edited collection of essays brings together the work of senior and junior scholars to demonstrate how social and cultural tools complement intellectual history. George Fredrickson’s pioneering work, The Inner Civil War (1965), has long been the seminal text for scholars interested in the intellectual history of the American Civil War Era. The historians in this volume broaden the scope of what has traditionally been considered intellectual history. By including works about the history of medicine, art history, Catholic history, education, ethnicity, and identity, these contributions demonstrate how intellectual history informs many different fields within the study of nineteenth-century U.S. history. Additionally, the volume expands the definition of which individuals in society are considered intellectuals: Health reformers, sketch artists, college professors, lawyers, and religious leaders are considered alongside Fredrickson’s writers and business leaders. Following up on Fredrickson’s queries, this volume examines whether the Civil War forced out or strengthened old notions and ideas, supported or suppressed democratic individualism, and challenged or maintained ideas about nationalism. In short, the essays in this collection ponder whether the Civil War changed how northerners viewed themselves, others, and individuals’ roles in American society.
Alexandra Green
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9789888390885
- eISBN:
- 9789882204850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390885.003.0002
- Subject:
- Art, Art History
This chapter establishes the standardization of the wall paintings in terms of painting style, subject matter, and detail, and determine the major social, political, and religious ideas that ...
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This chapter establishes the standardization of the wall paintings in terms of painting style, subject matter, and detail, and determine the major social, political, and religious ideas that contributed to the production of the wall paintings and provided a rationale for the standardized format. The murals evince exceptional consistency in choice of subject matter, representation of imagery, and arrangement within an architectural space across the central zone from the late seventeenth to early nineteenth centuries. Each temple contains variations in style, modes of representation, and design, yet all sites draw upon an established group of structures and material so that the differences reveal continuities in subject matter and organization diachronically and synchronically. Although the subject matter of the wall paintings appears to comprise an extensive body of material, the focus upon a specific repertoire for more than a century and the fact that it falls within narrow thematic parameters – the centrality of Gotama, how to worship him, and the power that emanates from spiritual awakening – demonstrates the religious and social constraints placed upon it.Less
This chapter establishes the standardization of the wall paintings in terms of painting style, subject matter, and detail, and determine the major social, political, and religious ideas that contributed to the production of the wall paintings and provided a rationale for the standardized format. The murals evince exceptional consistency in choice of subject matter, representation of imagery, and arrangement within an architectural space across the central zone from the late seventeenth to early nineteenth centuries. Each temple contains variations in style, modes of representation, and design, yet all sites draw upon an established group of structures and material so that the differences reveal continuities in subject matter and organization diachronically and synchronically. Although the subject matter of the wall paintings appears to comprise an extensive body of material, the focus upon a specific repertoire for more than a century and the fact that it falls within narrow thematic parameters – the centrality of Gotama, how to worship him, and the power that emanates from spiritual awakening – demonstrates the religious and social constraints placed upon it.
Brett M. Rogers and Benjamin Eldon Stevens (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- February 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190610050
- eISBN:
- 9780190610081
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190610050.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Classical Traditions in Modern Fantasy is the first collection of essays in English focusing on how fantasy draws deeply on ancient Greek and Roman myth, philosophy, literature, history, art, and ...
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Classical Traditions in Modern Fantasy is the first collection of essays in English focusing on how fantasy draws deeply on ancient Greek and Roman myth, philosophy, literature, history, art, and cult practice. Presenting 15 all-new essays intended for both scholars and other readers of fantasy, this volume explores many of the most significant examples of the modern genre—including the works of H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series, and more—in relation to important ancient texts such as Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Aristotle’s Poetics, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Apuleius’ The Golden Ass. These varied studies raise fascinating questions about genre, literary and artistic histories, and the suspension of disbelief required not only of readers of fantasy but also of students of antiquity. Ranging from harpies to hobbits, from Cyclopes to Cthulhu, the comparative study of Classics and fantasy reveals deep similarities between ancient and modern ways of imagining the world. Although antiquity and the present day differ in many ways, at its base, ancient literature resonates deeply with modern fantasy's image of worlds in flux and bodies in motion.Less
Classical Traditions in Modern Fantasy is the first collection of essays in English focusing on how fantasy draws deeply on ancient Greek and Roman myth, philosophy, literature, history, art, and cult practice. Presenting 15 all-new essays intended for both scholars and other readers of fantasy, this volume explores many of the most significant examples of the modern genre—including the works of H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series, and more—in relation to important ancient texts such as Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Aristotle’s Poetics, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Apuleius’ The Golden Ass. These varied studies raise fascinating questions about genre, literary and artistic histories, and the suspension of disbelief required not only of readers of fantasy but also of students of antiquity. Ranging from harpies to hobbits, from Cyclopes to Cthulhu, the comparative study of Classics and fantasy reveals deep similarities between ancient and modern ways of imagining the world. Although antiquity and the present day differ in many ways, at its base, ancient literature resonates deeply with modern fantasy's image of worlds in flux and bodies in motion.
Samantha Baskind
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496819215
- eISBN:
- 9781496819253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496819215.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
In analyzing Joe Kubert'sYossel: April 19, 1943, this essay argues that the 1943 Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto only peripherally propels the story forward, despite the book’s title. Nor does ...
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In analyzing Joe Kubert'sYossel: April 19, 1943, this essay argues that the 1943 Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto only peripherally propels the story forward, despite the book’s title. Nor does Kubert’s tale about his alter ego reign solely supreme, even as concern about Yossel’s welfare in the festering ghetto factors into how readers receive the story. This essay centers on a third theme that runs through the graphic narrative, as important but more subtly conveyed: one of faith during the Holocaust, and consequently how Kubert employs tropes from art history’s history to make points about the challenges of belief and the agony of its loss. While doing so, this essay argues that Kubert upends those visual tropes in order to expose how the Holocaust mercilessly upended humanity, transforming and displacing even the most devout.Less
In analyzing Joe Kubert'sYossel: April 19, 1943, this essay argues that the 1943 Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto only peripherally propels the story forward, despite the book’s title. Nor does Kubert’s tale about his alter ego reign solely supreme, even as concern about Yossel’s welfare in the festering ghetto factors into how readers receive the story. This essay centers on a third theme that runs through the graphic narrative, as important but more subtly conveyed: one of faith during the Holocaust, and consequently how Kubert employs tropes from art history’s history to make points about the challenges of belief and the agony of its loss. While doing so, this essay argues that Kubert upends those visual tropes in order to expose how the Holocaust mercilessly upended humanity, transforming and displacing even the most devout.
Marilina Cesario and Hugh Magennis
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780719097843
- eISBN:
- 9781526135896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097843.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The Introduction begins by placing the present volume in the context of previous and current work on the subject of medieval knowledge. It goes on to give an outline of medieval perspectives on the ...
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The Introduction begins by placing the present volume in the context of previous and current work on the subject of medieval knowledge. It goes on to give an outline of medieval perspectives on the meaning, value and transmission of knowledge, noting the influence of classical authors and tracing the development of ideas about knowledge through the writings of key Christian thinkers. Isidore of Seville is identified as the key influence of the medieval encyclopaedic tradition and particular attention is paid to the authoritative work of Augustine, Bede and Aquinas. The introduction relates aspects of these medieval perspectives to specific chapters of the book and also highlights the relationship between religious and secular traditions. It ends with a succinct outline of each chapter.Less
The Introduction begins by placing the present volume in the context of previous and current work on the subject of medieval knowledge. It goes on to give an outline of medieval perspectives on the meaning, value and transmission of knowledge, noting the influence of classical authors and tracing the development of ideas about knowledge through the writings of key Christian thinkers. Isidore of Seville is identified as the key influence of the medieval encyclopaedic tradition and particular attention is paid to the authoritative work of Augustine, Bede and Aquinas. The introduction relates aspects of these medieval perspectives to specific chapters of the book and also highlights the relationship between religious and secular traditions. It ends with a succinct outline of each chapter.
