The absent absence. Remarks on the discourse on absence, loss, and gaps in conservation, philosophy, and literature

Author(s): Elena Rădoi / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2019

The subject of this paper is the concept of absence, firstly in philosophy and literature, and then in conservation theory. The concept of absence is analysed together with the ones of loss and gap by selecting texts and thinkers who meditated on these concepts, and via a brief critique, with the aim of framing and naming the identified qualities, functions or specifics of absence. In the last part I shall focus on the concepts of absence and loss in the conservation discourse, on which grounds I shall draw the conclusions.

Less is more – Bauhauson innen és túl

Author(s): Gizella Horváth / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 07/2020

The “less is more” motto is one of the most successful cultural memes related to Bauhaus. This famous dictum, widely attributed to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, has first become popular within the discourse of architecture, and originally referred to a clean, functional and ornament-free approach. This study analyzes the antecedents and the afterlife of the motto, from its first written occurrence (in a line in a Robert Browning poem) until its interpretations which have come to define the 20th century (Clement Greenberg’s formalism, in which “less” points toward the autonomy of art, and A. C. Danto’s contextualism, where it cleans up the space of conceptual art). While the art historical consequences of the motto can hardly be overstated, the social effects of “less is more” also reveal the downsides of simplicity: “less”, as understood in Bauhaus, does not mean cheaper or more accessible. Hence, the question arises whether our aestheticized world, ultimately rooted in Bauhaus, is sustainable without endangering the environment.

Mariánská úcta a nástěnné malby v kostele Neposkvrněného početí Panny Marie a sv. Bernardina Sienského v Olomouci na Bělidlech

Author(s): Vladěna Pavlíková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2019

The text deals with the mural paintings at the end of the northern and southern nave of the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in Olomouc. They are connected with Marian piety and its expression in the rosary. These trends were supported by the mendicant orders and spread through the influence of the Franciscan-Observants. Among the Franciscans of the 15th century was the most popular version the one that was promoted by St Bernardino of Siena and his disciple St Giovanni of Capistrano, who has visited Olomouc in the fifties of the 15th century.

Symbolika námětu „Zvěstování Panně Marii“ v rámci strategie umělecké sebereprezentace nazarénských malířů. Koncepce Franze Pforra, Johanna Friedricha Overbecka a jejich pokračovatelů v Čechách: Josefa Vojtěcha Hellicha a Josefa Mánesa

Author(s): Jan Řezáč / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2019

This study deals with one of the key subject of the iconography of Christian art, as treated in the same early 19th century by members of the Nazarene Brotherhood, and around the middle of the same century by two leading painters in Bohemia. The author refers to the period reflection of the history of the treatment of this subject. He examines the aspect of the above-listed artists’ self-presentation in tackling the subject, in contexts ranging from the personal to the public.

Jana Skalická: tvorba a její reflexe ve fotografii

Author(s): Anna Davidová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2019

The contribution is focusing on the work of the Czech artist Jana Skalická (1957–2015), who was actively creating during the 1980s and the first half of 1990s. At the beginning of her career Skalická worked mainly with textiles, but later on she found a new material, which was better suited for her artistic expression – a plastic film. She was modifing the thin plastics with her own technique, using an iron or a sewing machine. Her art gradually developped from hanging plastic tapestries to three dimensional objects and installations, in which other materials, such as metal, wood, stones and other types of plastic, were incorporated. The majority of Skalická’s works was of an ephemere nature and was not conserved until today. The article is therefore dealing with their photographic depictionand its meaning.

Konec umění?

Author(s): Eva Drexlerová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2019

The essay is dedicated to the end of art topic from the perspective of one of the most important Anglo-American philosophers Arthur Danto. The first part is devoted to Danto’s end of art thesis that reinterprets Hegel’s prediction that art will end in its transmutation into philosophy. Having arrived at the limit of its innate drive for self-understanding, art is now recognised through the theories of the artworld, confirming Hegel’s vision. Art is set free to express itself in any possible style, yet such flexibility is bought at a price. For philosophy now takes over the responsibility of art’s definition and operates as an interlocutor, communicating the embodied meaning that is no longer recognised by the beholder. The second part defends art against the notion that it has come to an end and, by recalling Aristotle’s Poetics and Ernst Gombrich’s Art and Illusion, proposes an alternative theory that is able to explain art’s historic turns while circumventing the pitfalls encountered by Danto. Although the way art is produced has fundamentally shifted, its internal narrative, as will be demonstrated, has not changed in the manner Danto advocates.

Homosexualita a staré umění: poznámky k interpretaci mužských renesančních portrétů

Author(s): Liubov Marsova / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2019

The paper is concerned with the problematic of one of the aspects of the perception of the male portrait of the Renaissance. The article is a separate chapter of the master’s thesis devoted to the male portrait of friends in Italian Renaissance painting. The contemporary (current) viewer can perceive old masters portraits rather ambiguously, including as images of homosexuals. However, for such statements is necessary to realize very confidently what exactly “homosexuality” means and whether such a concept existed in the past. In addition, it is necessary to have as much knowledge as possible about the most varied aspects of the period under study, while always be aware that our knowledge is very mediocre and limited. The author critically analyzes the studies, in which the problem of the representation of homosexuality in old art is touched upon, and tries to identify methodological warnings for further interpretations. In conclusion, the author proposes new open discourses for future research in this field, encourages researchers to take a fresh look at not only the portraits of the Renaissance, but also at their own interpretations.

СОВРЕМЕНОСТА ВО ТЕОРИЈАТА КАКО ИСТОРИСКИ ПРОБЛЕМСКА КАТЕГОРИЈА

Author(s): Natalija Rajčinovska Pavleska / Language(s): Macedonian Issue: 21/2020

This paper aims to provide insight into several relevant works of prominent researchers who challenge the term ‘contemporary’ trying to understand the time in which we live and the time in which we create. By presenting a comparative study of texts, this article seeks to understand the concept of time and shape (of representation/manifestation) in the context of contemporariness. from different points of view regardless of the perspective chosen in art or philosophy, etc. As a linguistic form, the term ‘contemporary art’ originates from the 20th century. However, in terms of its meaning, art has always been ‘contemporary’ at the time in which it was generated. We can only observe the works of the past as artefacts, with a contemporary point of view, trying to put them in the right place today.

Malarka dusz

Author(s): Katarzyna Bik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 787/2020

Twórcza nostalgia

Author(s): Ewa Borysiewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 787/2020

Avantgárd metatörténet

Author(s): Imre József Balázs / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 04/2021

Emanuel Modoc: Internaþionala periferiilor. Rețeaua avangardelor din Europa Centrală și de Est. Editura Muzeul Literaturii Române, Buc., 2020.

Татьяна Валериановна Ильина (21.01.1934 – 26.10.2020)

Author(s): Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Skvortcova,Ekaterina Yuryevna Stanyukovich-Denisova,Andrey Aleksandrovich Karev / Language(s): Russian Issue: 2 (28)/2020

Memoirs of Tatyana Valerianovna Ilyina, Doctor of Art History, Honorary Professor of St. Petersburg State University, a renowned scholar who made an outstanding contribution to the studies of 18th century Russian art.

Srebrny relikwiarz św. Sebastiana z 1499 r.

Author(s): Magdalena Adamska,Dariusz Nowacki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2004

Johannes Herman (ca 1435-1504), canon of the Wrocław Cathedral Chapter has been known so far from references included in the records of the Chapter’s meetings. An entry of September 16, 1502 reads that Herman presented the Cathedral with a beautifully embellished reliquary of St. Sebastian’s hand, made of gilded silver, with the intention of redeeming his soul and celebrating the Saint’s relics. Simultaneously, he was asking the Chapter to establish St. Sebastian’s feast (January 20) as dupliciter (with three readings), and proposed that the offering on that day be used to cover students’ scholarship expenses. Canons accepted the gift and promised to co-operate with bishop Johann Roth, whose duty was to establish the rite. At the Chapter’s meetings of December 22, 1503 and January 5, 1504, Herman followed up the cause. He confirmed his wish to support the students of the Cathedral School and finally stated that he would sell the reliquary to meet additional financial demands made by the Chapter. Both sides remained devided on the issue. The reason why there are no more records on the matter was Herman’s forthcoming death. The above-mentioned reliquary was kept in the Cathedral treasury; the fact mentioned in the records on the occasion of Maximilian II’ visit, then the Czech and Hungarian king, to Wrocław in December 1563. The monarch asked the Chapter to show the relics to his wife, Mary. Canons decided to show St. Jadwiga’s hand and St. Sebastian’s arm relics. In a letter of February 9, 1564 written by Wrocław bishop Caspar von Logau to the Chapter deans we read about Maximilian’s wish to purchase the relics. Other relics or a financial compensation were considered to pay for the transaction. There are no records on actual negotiations, the transaction, however, was completed as the reliquary of St. Sebastian was given by queen (later empress) Mary to Spain. Among ostensories presented by the empress as gifts and preserved at Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales in Madrid is a splendid hand reliquary in the late Gothic style which turns out to be identical with the one mentioned in the records of the Wrocław Chapter. The inscription bears the name Herman and date 1499. Cruz Valdovinos had already pointed at its two closest analogies preserved in the Cathedral treasury in Wrocław - St. Sebastian’s and St. John the Baptist’s hand reliquaries. The paper describes interdependencies of the three works of art and calls for further research, especially on tlie relation of the Silesian Gothic goldsmith’s work others primarily central European.

Niezrealizowana fundacja biskupa Konstantego Felicjana Szaniawskiego

Author(s): Krzysztof Czyżewski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2004

The article presents bishop Konstanty Felicjan Szaniawski's failed attempts to fund the Wawel Cathedral.

Łaskami słynący wizerunek Chrystusa niosącego krzyż z kościoła karmelitów bosych we Lwowie. Z badań nad recepcją grafiki w malarstwie polskim XVII w.

Author(s): Beata Frey-Stec / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2004

In one of the side altars in the Cracow church of the Calced Carmelites ‘Na Piasku’ there is a miraculous image of Christ carrying a crucifix, brought after World War II from the Discalced Carmelites church in Lviv. The painting is one of the many examples o f using graphic models by painters as it was painted from a drawing made according to a composition of Peter de Witte, called Candid (born ca 1548 in Bruges, died in 1628 in Munich) by Raphael Sadeler I (born 1561 in Antwerp, died 1632 in Prague).

Lwowska kopia zaginionego obrazu pędzla Iacomo Negrettiego zwanego Palma Il Vecchio

Author(s): Marta Giżyńska-Matecka,Tomasz Węcławowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2004

For over a hundred years in a private collection in Cracow there has been a distemper painting on parchment with an image of the Holy Family. Dark letters show through the faded front as the back was originally a document written in the Roman type. When the document expired, the other side of the parchment was used for a painting and the format was moved by 90 degrees. The document is a decorated copy of a church fair privilege given by pope Pius VI to the Bemardine Nuns in Lviv in 1777. At the bottom there is an authentication issued in the Obroszyn castle by a Lviv archbishop Waclaw Hieronim Sierakowski. Thus, both the copy and the authentication were issued jointly in Lviv Archbishop Curia in Lviv.

Odbicie idei krucjatowych w sztuce średniowiecznej w XII i XIII wieku ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem motywów w sztuce polskiej

Author(s): Katarzyna Kabulak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2004

Literary inheritance of the Middle Ages has always been an invaluable source for researchers o f this epoch. It is the most valuable word for us. It needs to be mentioned, however, that a medieval recipient of literature was doubtlessly a member of a small elite. Few could claim to possess the ability to read and write. What appealed to the masses was an image – the most influential carrier of ideas. Wall paintings, sculptures, portals at the entrance to churches, coins with iconography best appealed to imagination. Symbolic representations affected the senses. “Pictorial system of communication played a role much more important for societies of the past than contemporary Polish historical literature acknowledges.” Touching upon a subject as vast as the crusade movement and the idea of fighting for every piece o f the Holy Land, one cannot let any information that was engraved or painted go unnoticed. Art, along site historical information, shows us a huge amount of propaganda material. Tiny details, the quality of outcome, the nicety of presentation are of no importance;what counts are the contents of depictions and the message. Art was therefore an educational factor used to show a certain model, in our considerations an ideal model, o f a Christ’s knight. The idea of crusades, both the Jerusalem crusade and the one broadly understood as a war against paganism, was also propagated through art.

Prowieniencja niektórych schematów ikonograficznych pasji Chrystusa w malarstwie ściennym średniowiecza na Słowacji i w Czechach

Author(s): Zdzisław Kliś / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2004

In the depictions presented in the article the gesture of raised hands expresses either Mourning or the feelings connected with Entombing, whose image is supplemented by the gesture of raised hands from the scene of Mourning, among others. The main source of illustration in these works seems to be Italian art, present in Western European painting. Its basis are iconographic solutions of the Byzantine art.

Fundacje XV-wiecznych ołtarzy w kościele Mariackim w Krakowie i ich uposażenie do roku 1529

Author(s): Elżbieta Piwowarczyk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2004

The altars described in the article were the last - according to the preserved records – to be funded in the 15th century inside St. Mary’s Church. Procuring a new main altar for the church in Cracow testified, as it were, to the standing that this church gained at the end of the century. There is no doubt whatsoever that Cracow burghers treated the basilica with exceptional care manifested through their generosity when it came to funding altars and providing for ministers at the altars. Unquestionably, the most magnificent of all 15th century altars - and one that was at the same time an expression o f care of all burghers for the interior decoration of the church - was the main altar of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1477-1489), made by Wit Stwosz. At the end of the 15th century Cracow burghers were able to participate in services held at the main altar or any of the 32 side altars (11 of which were funded in the 14th and 21 in the 15thcentury) or in services in chapels. The altars were religious or votive offerings by Cracowburghers, who provided for the old and made new provisions in their legacies as well asmaintained the existing ones and made provisions for new ministers.

Treści i symbolika polichromii w kościele cystersów w Jędrzejowie (zarys problematyki)

Author(s): Lucyna Rotter / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2004

A close theological and artistic co-operation has been observed in religious art since the Middle Ages. In the Baroque this co-operation was best revealed in monumental decorations inside churches. An example of it is the polychromy in the abbot church in Jędrzejów, whose author was Andrzej Radwański. Intention plan includes both theological content and issues connected with spirituality and activity of the Cistercian order. The history of the Jędrzejów Abbey was particularly emphasized and so was the person of the Blessed Wincenty Kadłubek, who was connected with it. A correlation between historical and symbolical depictions is very interesting; a method often used by Radwański in his monumental decorative painting.