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