Nation and Memory in Eastern Europe (19 th and 20 th century) Christoph Mick Lecture 9 History Painting - Only text slides - Week 1, Spring Term

Outline 1. Images as historical sources 2. What is history painting? 3. Legitimising power 4. Mobilising the nation 5. Subversive paintings 6. Conclusion

Panofsky’s theory of iconography Stages of iconographical research 1. Pre-iconographical description the 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 is 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 sources 2. What is history painting? 3. Legitimising power 4. Mobilising the nation 5. Hidden meaning 6. 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 sources 2. What is History painting? 3. Legitimizing power 4. Mobilization for the nation 5. Subversive painting 6. Conclusion

Louis Caravaque, Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava (1709), 1718

Outline 1. Images as historical sources 2. What is History painting? 3. Legitimizing power 4. Mobilization for the nation 5. Subversive painting 6. Conclusion

Franz A. Rubo ( ) The Battle of Borodino. Panorama 115 x 15 m The Battle at 12:30 on the 7th of September 1812

Jan Matejko The Battle of Grunwald

Jan Styka and Wojciech Kossak Panorama 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 Mykola Ivasiuk, Khmelnytskyi’s entry into Kiev, 1649 (1912) Ilja Repin: The letter of the Zaporizhian cossacks to Sultan Mahmud IV ( )

Outline 1. Images as historical sources 2. What is History painting? 3. Legitimizing power 4. Mobilization for the nation 5. Subversive painting 6. Conclusion

"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". Vasily V. Vereshchagin ( ), The Patriotic War of Series of Canvasses

Henryk Siemiradzki, Nero’s Torches, 1876

Outline 1. Images as historical sources 2. What is History painting? 3. Legitimizing power 4. Mobilization for the nation 5. Subversive painting 6. 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