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The Death of the Image

Summary/Abstract: Death” is not only apopular iconographic motif but also acategory conceptually defining the ”image” it- self. The presented text is aconcise discussion of two dominating and, simultaneously, contradictory strate- gies of defining the relation between image and death. In accordance with the first (exemplified by the con- ception expounded by Hans Belting) the image in cultural praxis realises the principle of substitution and thus fills the gap caused by the impact of death. The second strategy (here the example is Maurice Blanchot, to whom Belting, as the author of the text proves, referred mistakenly), shows that ”death” (Blanchot's la ressemblance cadavérique) is an irremo- vable property of the ”image” as such. The text serves as an introduction to ablock of material on Death of Images The title contains an ambiguous function of the genetivus (obiectivus/subiectivus): the metaphor of ”death” can refer both to the existence of the images and suggest the mortifying effect of their activity.

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