UHVMN503 Iconography I

Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Winter 2015
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Ing. Jaromír Olšovský, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Ing. Jaromír Olšovský, Ph.D.
Institute of Historical Sciences – Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Prerequisites
The fundamental knowledge of terms from art history, history of Christianity and the Antic mythology.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to give students basic knowledge and skills to enable them to handle with the works of art in the relation to its subject matter and content. In the introductory lectures, students will be informed about basic handbooks and dictionaries necessary to determine the theme and subject of artworks, to manage iconographic description of the artwork. Further the basic methodological and iconological approaches to works of art and to their individual protagonists (Aby Warburg, Erwin Panofsky, E. H. Gombrich). An integral part of the lectures will be the explanation of basic concepts and facts in the field of Biblical studies and biblical hermeneutics; the focus of lectures in the winter semester will lie in the interpretation of Christian iconography on selected topics from the Middle Ages until the late Baroque (especially the Christ and Marian iconography and basic saints relevant to art history in the Czech lands).
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction to the literature, the basic concepts of iconography and iconology, iconography and iconology theory as a discipline, iconography and iconology as an object of study, Anton Springer as a precursor of modern iconographic approach to artworks, Christian iconography of Emile Male, Louis Reaume and Karl Künstle; Ernst Cassirer and his philosophy of symbolic forms
    2. Main personalities and founders of modern iconography and iconology as specific art historical methods and their basic texts: Erwin Panofsky and his method
    3. Aby M. Warburg and his cultural-historical institute, the Warburg research topics and theme of problem of survival antiquity and his project of Mnemosyne (forms of pathos)
    4. Ernst H. Gombrich and his Symbolic Images
    5. Christian iconography, introduction to Christian and biblical iconography: the basics of Biblical studies and biblical hermeneutics; basic manuals, encyclopaedias, and compendia for the study of Biblical and Christian iconography
    6. Symbols and personalization (early Christian symbols, iconography of God the Father, Physiologus, Ecclesia and Synagogue)
    7. Historical excursus to the iconography of early Christianity, controversy over images in the 8th and 9th centuries, equipment of churches in the Middle Ages, a new concept of the image in the late Middle Ages, the role of image in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation
    8. Systematic excursion into Christian iconography: Biblical themes in wall paintings, book painting and printing, liturgical prayer books in the Middle Ages, the typology of the Old and New Testaments as exegetical method of interpreting the Bible
    9. Expansion of biblical canon (Jewish sources, Patristic and biblical commentaries, apocrypha, legends related to the true portrait of Christ, meditative literature, devotional paintings called Andachtsbilder)
    10. Iconography of Christ - typology of fundamental Christological themes and depictions of Jesus Christ from Late Antiquity and Early Christianity to the late Baroque
    11. Marian iconography - typology of basic themes and images of Marian iconography from the Carolingian period to the late Baroque
    12. Iconography of Saints - the iconography of saints and saints of the most important themes of the Baroque period: St John of Nepomuk, St Florian, St John Sarkander, St Wenceslaus, St Hedwig of Silesia, St Adalbert of Prague, exemplary life of the saints
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Frank Büttner ? Andrea Gottdank. Einführung in die Ikonographie. Wege zur Deutung von Bildinhalten. München, 2006. info
  • Petr Pokorný (ed.) a kol. Hermeneutika jako teorie porozumění. Od základních otázek jazyka k výkladu bible. Praha, 2005. info
  • Manfred Lurker. Slovník symbolů. Praha, 2005. info
  • Jiří Kroupa. Školy dějin umění. Metodologie dějin umění I. Brno, 1996. info
  • Petr Pokorný. Literární a teologický úvod do Nového Zákona. Praha, 1993. info
  • James Hall. Slovník námětů a symbolů ve výtvarném umění. Praha, 1991. info
  • Erwin Panofsky. Význam ve výtvarném umění. Praha, 1981. info
  • Ernst H. Gombrich. Introduction: Aims and Limits of Iconology. In: Gombrich on the Renaissance, Vol. 2: Symbolic Images. Phaidon, London, 1972. info
  • Karl Künstle. Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, Band I-II. Freiburg am Breisgau, 1928. info
Assessment methods
Grade
Written exam
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Teacher's information
* Active participation in the seminar
* the ability to work independently with literature
* writing a seminar paper (iconographic description and analysis of the selected work of art)
* passing the test of practical iconography, including the identification of themes selected examples of works of art (painting, sculpture)
The course is also listed under the following terms Winter 2014, Winter 2016, Winter 2017, Winter 2018, Winter 2019, Winter 2020, Winter 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Winter 2015, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fpf/winter2015/UHVMN503