From Icon to Punk Portrait: The Iconicity of the Ruler Image in the Context of the Transformation of the Idea of the Serbian State
From Icon to Punk Portrait: The Iconicity of the Ruler Image in the Context of the Transformation of the Idea of the Serbian State

Summary/Abstract: The article describes transformation in the iconographic forms of power representations in Serbian culture as determinants of the evolution of the idea of the State and Serbian political culture. In visual terms, the key stages of their development correspond to the genealogical dynastic image of the religious character (loza) in the middle ages, and the “disenchanted” historical and representative portrait of a ruler that was subordinated to the national idea on the threshold of modernity. These forms not only participate in the establishment of political leadership and the creation of the field of power, but they also stimulate their change. The author examines these issues from the perspective of visual studies, which problematize the phenomenon of the performativity of the image. A particular variation of the performativity of the image is iconicity, understood as drafting and making present reality using esthetic and visual values. The aim of the analysis is to show how the local, namely Serbian, pattern of culture of power models the universal mechanisms of forming and legitimizing the authority of the State.

• Details
• Contents