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The article presents the ambitious exhibition “Journey to Nowhere” of Australian-Latvian artist, appropriation master Imants Tillers' works organised at the Latvian National Museum of Art in 2018.
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The article introduces the memorial house of the Skulme family of artists in Mālpils, Latvia, its history and present exposition.
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In 1608 Count Péter Révay was elected guard of the Holy Crown of Hungary. In 1613 he published the first monograph about the Crown. Here he claims that he has seen an enamel portrait of Mary the Virgin on the backside of the Crown. No doubt, today you can see anotherenamel portrait there: it is about Michael Dukas the VIIth, Emperor of Byzantium. But this picture is too big for the place where it is fixed on by violence. So the portrait and Révay’s information seem to be two different sources not only independent of each other, but making each other complete. Nevertheless, a lot of prominent scholars of Hungary (Tamás Bogyay, Iván Bertényi and especially László Holler) have disputed Révay’s authenticity since 1983. This paper tries to consider if they are right or not.
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After reappearance of Poland on the map of Europe in 1918, the first major manifestation of the new country’s creative potential was at the 1925 International Exhibition of Applied Arts and Modern Industry in Paris. The Polish Pavilion, which had divided the opinion of critics at home, won the Grand Prix. The award of over 170 prizes to the Polish section in different areas and categories – from posters to art schools – gave ample reason to consider the exhibition an unquestionable success. The forms used in the architecture and interior design of the Polish Pavilion inspired various solutions applied in Polish public architecture of the 1920s. On the wave of the “Paris success” designers tried to translate the Polish variety of art deco into a type of national style which some scholars even came to refer to as the “style of regained independence” which manifested itself in architecture, particularly in interior design, bas reliefs, painted decorations textiles and furniture. Its emergence coincided with the introduction of new education methods in art and craft schools. The text discuss the Polish art deco style in context of two basic currents of interwar years: modernity and tradition. The problem of “Polishness” in art relates also to the concepts of interwar culture and visons of its progress or decadence.
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The is essay is focused on the analysis of the book Kamena otkrića (Discoveries in Stone) by the Serbian art historian and writer Milan Kašanin (born February 21,1895 in Beli Manastir, died November 22, 1981 in Belgrade). Kašanin was one of the leading scholars in the field of the Serbian medieval art and literature. His first texts on the topic date from the mid-1920s. His book on the Serbian medieval literature Srpska književnost u srednjem veku (Serbian Literature in the Middle Ages) was published in 1975 and his book on Serbian medieval visual arts, Discoveries in Stone, in 1978.
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Architectural Structures, Sculptural and Decorative Elements of the Parish Church in Fót An orientalising style with arabesque elements began to spread in European and North African architecture in the second quarter of the 19th century. The Parish Church of Fót – one of the major works of the romantic historicism in round-arch style (Rundbogenstil) in Hungary, commissioned by István Károlyi and built between 1845–1855 – shows this influence. The planning and execution testify to inspirations from the Western European Romanesque cathedrals in the structure. The painted and sculpted geometric and floral decorations are closely connected to Arabic and European Romanesque ornamental motifs.
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The aim of this study is to present the history of the church of Újpest based on contracts, plans and contemporary maps. $e church was founded by Count István Károlyi, and its construction was supported by his son, Count Sándor Károlyi. The author distinguishes four construction phases: 1. The church without tower and aisles (1874–1884); 2. Construction of the tower, bells and plot expansion (1887–1888); 3. The enlargement of the church (1891–1911); 4. Further developments: decoration, installation of the organ (1928–2015). The author’s research proves that the church of Újpest was designed by architect Antal Szvoboda on the model of Saint Bartholomew Church in Gyöngyös.
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In 1993 in Dharamsala, the Indian centre of Tibetan exile, a young Tibetan thangka-painter named Chomphel (Chos ’phel) introduced me to the diff erent phases of thangka painting and gave me detailed explanations of them. Moreover, he even put in writing the summary of the oral tradition of thangka painting that he learned from his master. Th e text briefly – sometimes especially sketchily – describes the important technical phases of grounding, iconometry and painting, some aspects of which are still unknown even in special literature on this subject. I attach two lists to his text, in which Chomphel included the method of mixing various colours (Appendix I) and the abbreviated names of colours by which he referred to them in the text (Appendix II).
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Former guidebooks are an important category of historical source that allows for the reconstruction of many aspects of the history of tourism. The dynamic development of guidebook literature began in the 19th century when a modern type with descriptions according to routes and containing much practical information was developed. The guidebooks also presented a lot of other information of a general nature, such as geography, ethnology, natural science, as well as descriptions of monuments and works of art. The importance of Polish guidebooks for writing about art is very high yet underestimated. The aim of this paper is to define the role that these publications played in the field of artistic historiography, and to indicate the relationships between the guidebooks and the development of academic research on art. These problems are undoubtedly an interesting area of interdisciplinary relation between the historical development of tourism and academia, with a particular focus on art history in this case.
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Former guidebooks are an important category of historical source that allows for the reconstruction of many aspects of the history of tourism. The dynamic development of guidebook literature began in the 19th century when a modern type with descriptions according to routes and containing much practical information was developed. The guidebooks also presented a lot of other information of a general nature, such as geography, ethnology, natural science, as well as descriptions of monuments and works of art. The importance of Polish guidebooks for writing about art is very high yet underestimated. The aim of this paper is to define the role that these publications played in the field of artistic historiography, and to indicate the relationships between the guidebooks and the development of academic research on art. These problems are undoubtedly an interesting area of interdisciplinary relation between the historical development of tourism and academia, with a particular focus on art history in this case.
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Statua Marii z Dzieciątkiem, odnaleziona w Goźlicach na początku XX w. (przed 1907 r.), zaś przechowywana obecnie w Muzeum Diecezjalnym w Sandomierzu stanowi rzadką egzemplifikację kamiennej rzeźby z frontalnie usytuowanym Jezusem. Jej wieloaspektowa enigmatyczność w zakresie proweniencji, wykonawcy i historii sprawia, iż po-mimo dogłębnych badań archiwalno-bibliotecznych oraz stylistyczno-porównawczych w odpowiedzi na nurtujące kwestie należy postawić więcej pytań i hipotez niż niepodważalnych tez. Masywność, frontalizm ujęcia, ścisła symetria kompozycji oraz charaktery-styczne tęczówki zalane ołowiem wiążą ją z Owernią i Burgundią. Niewątpliwy jest także wpływ rzeźb z Dijon oraz w tympanonie w Chartres. Wspominane cechy pozwalają wskazać 2 poł. XII w. jako dolną granicę powstania rzeźby. Górna jest o wiele mniej uchwytna. Stosunkowo dobry stan zachowania oraz szczegółowo opracowany detal sugerują, iż obiekt oryginalnie znajdował się we wnętrzu. Ewentualnym miejscem jego umieszczenia mogła być empora lub ołtarz główny. Brak wzmianek w archiwaliach każe przypuszczać, iż rzeźba była przeznaczona do innego niż kościół w Goźlicach obiektu, którym mógł być klasztor cystersów w pobliskiej Koprzywnicy. Dla wyjaśnienia wielu frapujących kwestii niezbędne jest przeprowadzenie badań laboratoryjnych materiału zabytku.
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The 20th century is a period in which many art movements emerged one after the other in art history. This dizzying speed in art was a result of science and technique. The works, which began with the examination of Freud's subconscious, also found an echo in art. He intended to descend into the subconscious of people, to discover them, to bring out the paranoid image of man in the light of day. The subject of art was now individual (person). The Surrealists had to make the choice of an unconsciousness in which space and time disappeared beyond the reactive, reassuring reality. The surrealists claimed an irrational approach by opposing the whole art understanding of the past. Surrealism once again made use of traditional materials instead of Dadaism. Surrealist artists Joan Miro, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali have become the artists of dreams by using all the possibilities of the subconscious. These artists who have been successful in creating a new language of language have made a synthesis of these concepts by eliminating all obstacles between dream and reality. They performed this synthesis with all the paranoid experience with the purest subconscious. Surrealism, which opened the door of artistic formations that are different from the previous art movements, created a new sense of its own. The artist has developed a free understanding of art by keeping his freedom above all else.
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The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 61 (2013), issue 4.Analysis of the mutual relations between the main intellectual and spiritual authority of the Plato Academy—Marsilio Ficino on the one hand, and Girolamo Savonarola, whose activity was a reaction to the secularization of de Medici times on the other, and a thorough study of their argument that turned into a ruthless struggle, are possible on the basis of selected sources and studies of the subject. The most significant are the following: Savonarola, Prediche e scritti; Guida Spirituale—Vita Christiana; Apologetico: indole e natura dell'arte poetica; De contempt mundi as well as Ficino’s letters and Apologia contra Savonarolam; and also Giovanni Pica della Mirandoli’s De hominis dignitate.The two adversaries’ mutual relations were both surprisingly similar and contradictory. They both came from families of court doctors, which gave them access to broad knowledge of man’s nature that was available to doctors at those times and let them grow up in the circles of sophisticated Renaissance elites. Ficino lived in de Medicis' residences in Florence, and Savonarola in the palace belonging to d’Este family in Ferrara. Ficino eagerly used the benefits of such a situation, whereas Savonarola became an implacable enemy of the oligarchy that limited the citizens’ freedom they had at that time, and a determined supporter of the republic, to whose revival in Florence he contributed a lot. This situated them in opposing political camps. They were similarly educated and had broad intellectual horizons. They left impressive works of literature concerned with the domain of spirituality, philosophy, religion, literature and arts, and their texts contain fewer contradictions than it could be supposed.Being priests, they aimed at defending the Christian religion. Ficino wanted to reconcile the religious doctrine with the world of ancient philosophy and in order to do this he did a formidable work to make a translation of Plato’s works. He wanted to fish souls in the intellectual net of Plato’s philosophy and to convert them. And it is here that they differed from each other. Savonarola’s attitude towards the antiquity was hostile; he struggled for the purity of the Christian doctrine and for the simplicity of its followers’ lives. He called upon people to repent and convert. He first of all noticed an urgent need to deeply reform the Church, which led him to an immediate conflict with Pope Alexander VI Borgia.In accordance with the spirit of the era, he was interested in astrology and prepared accurate horoscopes. Savonarola rejected astrology, and he believed that God, like in the past, sends prophets to the believers. His sermons, which had an immense impact on the listeners, were based on prophetic visions, especially ones concerning the future of Florence, Italy and the Church. His moral authority and his predictions that came true, were one of the reasons why his influence increased so much that after the fall of the House of Medici he could be considered an informal head of the Republic of Florence. It was then that he carried out the strict reforms, whose part were the famous “Bonfires of the Vanities.” Ficino only seemingly passively observed the preacher’s work. Nevertheless, over the years a conflict arose between the two great personalities. It had the character of political struggle. It was accompanied by a rivalry for intellectual and spiritual influence, as well as by a deepening mutual hostility. Ficino expressed it in Apologia contra Savonarolam written soon after Savonarola’s tragic death; the monk was executed according to Alexander VI Borgia’s judgment. The sensible neo-Platonist did not hesitate to thank the Pope for liberating Florence from Savonarola’s influence and he called his opponent a demon and the antichrist deceiving the believers.How deep must the conflict have been since it led Ficino to formulating his thoughts in this way, and how must it have divided Florence's community? The dispute between the leading moralizers of those times must have caused anxiety in their contemporaries. Both the antagonists died within a year, one after the other, and their ideas had impact even long after their deaths, finding their reflection in the next century’s thought and arts.
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The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 64 (2016), issue 4.In Polish museum collections there are a few objects made of coral or decorated with it. They are, among others, altars, holy water fonts, crucifixes and other liturgical items. Most often they were bought during Poles’ travels to Italy in the Mannerism and Baroque epochs. St Mary’s Basilica’s treasury boasts of a portable coral altar dated to the middle of the 17th century, a gift from Maria Josepha, the wife of King Augustus III. It has a golden frame and is embellished with enamel and coral. Its centre features the figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary standing on a crescent, in a radiant coral glory, surrounded by Marian symbols. It is an apotheosis of the Blessed Virgin Mary based on a fragment of the Apocalypse of St John. The figure of Mary is presented with her cosmic attributes: twelve stars around her head; she is clothed with a radiant glory; and she has a crescent under her feet. Around her seven symbolic biblical signs are presented, ones connected in the exegetic tradition with her being the mother of the Messiah. The term Cedrus exaltata—is perceived as the symbol of majesty, sublimity, loftiness, paradisaical beauty, safety. Fons signatus is a sealed spring, an enclosed one, accessible only to the Mother of God’s Son, chosen by God. Hortus conclusus is the symbol of St Mary’s virginity. Oliva speciosa points to St Mary’s charity, her extraordinary fertility, inner peace, the gift of relieving sufferings. Rosa plantata is a metaphor of wisdom, love, medicine for sinners. Puteus aquarum viventium, a well of living waters, indicates St Mary’s mediation for people redeemed by Jesus. Turris eburnea—the ivory tower is another feature of the Virgin Mary’s beauty, of her immaculate body and fortitude.
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The Polish version of the article was published in Roczniki Humanistyczne vol. 60, issue 4 (2012). Ludomir Sleńdziński was the main representative of classicism in Polish art in the period between the two World Wars. The article discusses his two trips to Italy in 1922/24 and 1924/25. They have not been yet researched in the context of the origin and character of his work, albeit impulses coming from Italy were thought to have been an important catalyst for the birth of the so-called “return to order.”Sleńdziński was Dmitry Kardovsky’s student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sankt Petersburg, and it was in his class that he acquired a worship of the old masters and a perfect command of his trade, first of all perfect drawing skills. Apart from the Sankt Petersburg school, classicist trends came to Polish art from Paris where they were first noticed in the circles connected with the Museion magazine (1911-1913) and among artists belonging to the Polish colony, such as Henryk Kuna, Edward Wittig and Eugeniusz Żak.In the article, I reconstruct Sleńdziński’s tour of Italy, and I remind about the exhibition of Polish modern art that he staged in 1925 as part of the 3rd Roman Biennale. His personal contact with old and modern Italian art became an important moment in his artistic formation, stimulating his departure from academic towards modern classicism, in which the artist starts playing a game with the present day and with tradition, consciously using stylistic elements that belong to different epochs.In conclusion it must be said that Ludomir’s trips inclined him to introduce many new solutions (sometimes surprisingly close to works by well-known Italian artists of similar outlook) and determined the final shape of his mature work.
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The Polish version of the article was published in Roczniki Humanistyczne vol. 65, issue 4 (2017). The article presents, apart from the well-known facts concerning Malczewski’s connections with Viennese institutions and art circles, unknown archive materials, including: 1. letters exchanged between the artist and Juliusz Twardowski (a ministerial official) regarding the lease of a workshop at the Prater district of Vienna (letters were written between 1900–1913 and in 1925); 2. photographic documentation (19 items from the years 1890–1911) of the XXXIX. Ausstellung der Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs Secession in Vienna that featured 40 paintings by Malczewski and the sculpture Procession to Wawel by Wacław Szymanowski. The manuscripts indicate that Malczewski kept a secret atelier abroad and he most definitely worked there (it was either during one prolonged period, or two periods each lasting a few years). It contradicts the naïve opinions that Malczewski, being a patriot, could not stand separation from his homeland.Photographs with dates and signatures complete the information from the catalogue; they allow for the matching of the ambiguous titles with photographs, and consequently help to identify the paintings shown at the exhibition. Some paintings presented in the photos are not known today, therefore the photographs constitute valuable iconographic material. The documents prove, for instance, that Spring. Landscape with Tobias (1904) was presented in Vienna. It is startling that the painting’s synthetic form was not acknowledged by the critics in Vienna. Just after the World War I, Malczewski wrote a letter to the President of the Wiener Secession in which he stated that the war had not been beneficial to any of the martyred and agitated nations and he had hoped for cooperation between the artists in the time of peace that would not be shaped by national interests or politics.
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Figured ornaments have a special place in the development of Turkish art and architectural decoration. Many researchers have studied the figurative ornaments commonly used in Turkish art and architectural decoration as well as their symbolic meanings found in Turkish culture of shamanism, Buddhism, Manichaeism and finally Islam. These studies, however, replicate each other and have very controversial opinions. This study analyzes the lion figured ornaments seen in the Turkish-Islamic works in Azerbaijan and examines their styles from a material and technical point of view. Thus, by focusing on the context of geography of Turkish ornament art, it offers a perspective to evaluate the nature and symbolic meanings of ornaments, which have often been perceived as a part of other artistic worlds. By doing so, the study scrutinizes the importance of these ornaments in art history and compares them with similar examples of Turkish art in other geographies.
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The abandonment of urban built heritage has recentlybecome an acute phenomenon that parasites importanthistorical areas within European cities and Bucharest isno exception. Against the backdrop of political reformationsand nuances, the gradual reduction of economicactivity, the closure of many local services or commercialunits, and the disappearance of former landmarksin the centre of the historic city, led to a visible economicand social vacuum, a generator of stagnation and ruin.At the same time, more seriously, a certain identity ofthe place was lost all along with the disappearance ofsome aspects of daily use, urban elements generatingsocial interaction and communication, testimonies ofa way of life that generated them. In time, the gradualloss of landmarks and meaningful spaces accentuatesthe dysfunctionality and the phenomena linked to aprecarious economic background. The reactivation ofsuch zones and finding appropriate viable – functionalsolutions of urban planning – reconnecting the localcommunity with a highly valuable construction fund is,perhaps, one of the most important challenges of ourtimes.
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Calea Moșilor, also known as the Road of the OutsideFair, – was and should once again become a significantroute in the Historic Center of Bucharest. Its culturalvalue, set clear by buildings with an enormous historicalsignificance (such as New St. George`s Church, theSaints` Church, Răzvan Church and Old St. George`sChurch), is obvious. The traditional commercial routethat tied the buildings that still exist, even though theyare severely damaged, had the main function of accommodation(inns) for merchants and traders that came tothe Obor Market.Identifying historically valuable elements and developmentopportunities in this traditional route could bepossible with the involvement of the political elementwhich is responsible for managing the salvaging buildingsthat hold historical significance for the community.For this specific area whose main route is Calea Moșilor,the major intervention should concern its inclusion inthe tourist route of the city by developing noise-reducingfunctions that complement residual spaces from theexisting building inventory, thus rejuvenating its pastaccommodation purpose and bringing back to life aspecific local atmosphere and its continuity throughoutthe city.
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This article examines the problems of temporality in narrative theory within the specific frame of Chinese pictorial narratives in handscroll format. This particular focus on handscrolls and on the Chinese tradition of representational painting— as opposed to other media of production and other traditions of representational art—is motivated by the privileged status of Chinese painting in art history, and the invaluable insights offered by the handscroll format to the field of narrative theory. Chinese painting constitutes one of the two oldest traditions of representational painting in the world, along with the amply studied European tradition, and it significantly differs from the European tradition due to the value it places on deixis; while one of the goals of the European representational tradition has been to perfect techniques that would erase all signs of the artist’s brushwork, so that a full illusion of three-dimensional reality could be created on a two-dimensional surface.
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