Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch, Band 27

Contribution to Publishing Costs D 3159 Kunst/Geschichte. Zwischen historischer Reflexion u. ästhetischer Distanz Götz POCHAT 29.11.1999 The following statements are meant as an abstract of the papers held at the symposium Art / History, 1997, at the Institute of History of Art, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz: W. Brassat, "Credas" - "cernas". Paradoxale Seinsfiguration in Werken Raffaels als blinde Flecken kunsthistorischer Wahmehmung Brassat discusses the problem of historical philosophy with regard to the History of Art, i. e. the fiction of Raphaels`s historical paintings and frescoes and their historical bias. The projective >imaginatio< recommended by Cicero and Quintiliah may serve as a starting point for the interpretation of the Pala Baglione of 1507, which has a clearly double referentiat structure to the biblical content and the contemporary historical situation as well. This is also the case in the Stanza d`Eliodoro - the historical intimation may serve as an >exemplum< in rhetorical sense. A similar structure of >antitheton< and >amplification< is found in the fresco in the Stanza dell`Incendio -the latter also being interpretated in the Christian, eschatological way. The problem of the contemporality of several instances, culminating in the >Peripethie< is here replaced by the paradoxon of simultaneous scenes which normally exclude each other. The irreality of the definitive in Raphael`s representation was criticized in the 17th century and had to leave the field to Raphael`s alleged >simplicity< in art critic at the end of the 19th century. Th. Kirchner, Facetten der Historie. Konzepte von Geschichte und ihre Darstellungsformen Kirchner discusses the strategy of communicating historical subjects not only within the realm of >historical painting< but also with regard to other forms of representation, such as portraits and cartography. In the Les triomphes de Louis le iuste XIII. 1649 we can discern these different levels of communication, all using different codes in order to visualize the historical circumstances. As a late example where these stratas converge Kirchner discusses the battle-scenes by J. A. Gros from the beginning of the 19th century. W. Telesko, Friedrich Schlegel und die "Frühgeschichte " des Historismus Zum Verhältnis von Religion und Geschichte in der bildenden Kunst des 19. Jahrhunderts In the beginning of the 19th century >history< or historicism< pervades all fields of cultural activities at the same time a secularization takes place - history is released from Christian teleological aspects and a mixture of various contents and formal types emerges. Werner Telesko has investigated these new formulas and the interrelation of iconography, history of art and philosophyheology. The Art as a reflection of objective historical conditions was proposed by Friedrich Schlegel, thus paving the way for historicism also with regard to the visual arts. C A. Grewe, Historie ohne Handlung - zur Transzendierung von Zeitlichkeit und Geschichte Grewe has dealt with the phenomenon of historical representations without a subject in the ordinary sense. This is especially the case in the 19th century where religious art also tended to be static and showed very reduced action. In spite of the secularization, religious art still reflected the wish for eternal values as exemplified by the Nazarenes in the first half of the century. Special focus is laid on W. v. Schadow who rated religious painting highest of all genres. The results are ut most static configurations. In order to bridge the gap between idealization and spectator, realistic details and portraits are embedded in the representations - the action, however, remains apart from temporal connotations of historical processes. S. Fastert, "Ein Muster der Kraft und Ergebung, der Frömmigkeit und Tugend" - Zur Rezeption Rudolfs von Habsburg in der deutschen Malerei des 19. Jahrhunderts Fastert has discussed, once more, the reception of the encounter between Rudolf of Habsburg and the priest, as represented in the painting of Pforr (1809/1810) in relation the ballad of Schiller. A typical mixture of facts and fiction was the result. In the 1830er the episode extended, based on a wider range of historical literature and with acute references to medieval monuments. According to Friedrich Schlegel`s symbiotic view on Christianity and History (Philosophie der Geschichte, 1828), significant moments had to serve as non-temporal signs of divine providence. Empirism and speculation thus had to be combined. U. Schiniegelt, Geschichtsschreibung als Fonn politischer Kritik? - Zum Historienbild bei Il`ja Repin und Vasilij Surikov Schmiegelt is a specialist in Russian historical painting. Starting with Brulljovs "The last day of Pompeji" 1883, this tradition is traced down to Surikov and Repin. The social bias in Surikov`s "Morning after the execution of the Strelitzen" gives a good idea of the artist`s social endeavour, and this is even more the case in Repin`s art. The latter modified his representation towards a more Christian attitude due to the influence of Tolstoi, and the themes acquire a more general, human tenor. E. Mai, Entmythologisierung und Allegorie - Überlegungen zur Venus-Olympia von Cabanel bis Cézanne Mai investigates the contradictory positions of avant-garde and salon-painting, and as a "test-picture" he uses Cabanel`s famous Venus-Olympia, a subject which in fact attracted artists o both categories. Apart from the main road of >Le grand got< the secularization an emancipation of pure painting undermined the mythological subjects and paved the way for the abstract rigidity in Cezanne`s treatment of the subject. Ch. Bertsch, Österreich weint über seine Söhne. Die Erste Republik im Spiegel der Kunst Bertsch deals with the theme >power and violence< in Austrian art in the period between world wars. As much as the art itself he also deals with the problems of their reception and instrumentalization. In fact, he can also trace the old pathos-formulas so cherished by Aby Warburg which are incorporated in the representations of anguish and aggression. A lot of artists, well and less well known are presentated, and very often autobiographic aspects an dealt with. The problem of the various possibilities of interpretation is shown by Steffer`s "Die Entarteten" (1929) which was connotated in a most contradictory way. Political iconography here opens up a wide range of question still to be investigated by the historious of art. J K Eberlein, Die Berliner Bildhauerschule und die deutsche Geschichte The sculptors in Berlin of the 20th century have been quite neglected by art-historians so far, and J. K. Eberlein proves a very consistent development from the academic tradition of Schadow (ca. 1800) over Hildebrandt to modern times. The impact of the Nazi-artists is much less than one would assume-in fact, many of the Berlin sculptors took a deliberate opposite position. They abstain from the heroic and the pathetic, and try to keep the human dignity intact. The further development after the Second World war, abstractionism in the West and social realism in the East, made the position of the Berlin-school obsolete, but the fact that Blumenthal`s "Große Kniende" from 1937 was given to the USA as a gesture of gratitude after the war may serve as proof that German art still possessed the quality to reflect a stringent, non-political tradition. W. Fenz, Geschichtsräume der Gegenwart Fenz is a specialist in contemporary art, sites of historical implication as hosts of a collective memory, space reflecting mental processes in society. Installations in public space have been organized by Fenz himself (Munich/Graz) and by artists, as for instance the Gertz-Project for the Nazi Concentration Camp Feliferhof near Graz, where the army itself was involved in a memorial of a processual kind. The new wave of conceptual and neo-conceptual >art< with regard to politics, society and history is further discussed and stress laid on the performative events in Graz and Munich. Analysis of the media in quest and the processes of reception lead to a sort of >referential grammar<; the conceptual installation hereby assumes the role of a compass, leading the way through a complex network of social stratas and structures.