What does Botticelli’s Venus have in common with the contemporary Instagram stars? How did the influential renaissance concept of “figura serpentinata” become a pornographic backbone of contemporary sexual imagery? How did Michelangelo’s infernal orgies survive into the present time, disguised as the images of destruction? What does the adjective "PORNOGRAPHIC" mean, after all? While addressing these questions, the course will provide a practical introduction to iconology as it has been defined and practiced by Aby M. Warburg and Ernst Cassirer in the 1920s and 1930s (and is still highly influential today). Concerning their mutually influenced methodology, the course will interpret the critical aspects of the “nameless science” by exposing and analyzing complicated genealogy of the specific spectrum of surprisingly interrelated (and no less surprisingly PORNOGRAPHIC) images like selfies, underwear advertising, cloud imagery, abstract painting, war atrocities or hygiene-related illustrations.
Last update: Váša Ondřej, Mgr., Ph.D. (06.09.2024)
What does Botticelli’s Venus have in common with the contemporary Instagram stars? How did the influential renaissance concept of “figura serpentinata” become a pornographic backbone of contemporary sexual imagery? How did Michelangelo’s infernal orgies survive into the present time, disguised as the images of destruction? What does the adjective "PORNOGRAPHIC" mean, after all? While addressing these questions, the course will provide a practical introduction to iconology as it has been defined and practiced by Aby M. Warburg and Ernst Cassirer in the 1920s and 1930s (and is still highly influential today). Concerning their mutually influenced methodology, the course will interpret the critical aspects of the “nameless science” by exposing and analyzing complicated genealogy of the specific spectrum of surprisingly interrelated (and no less surprisingly PORNOGRAPHIC) images like selfies, underwear advertising, cloud imagery, abstract painting, war atrocities or hygiene-related illustrations.
Last update: Váša Ondřej, Mgr., Ph.D. (06.09.2024)
Course completion requirements -
75% attendance, active participation in discussions, final essay on an individually selected topic
Last update: Kučabová Veronika, Bc. (07.06.2024)
75% attendance, active participation in discussions, final essay on an individually selected topic
Last update: Kučabová Veronika, Bc. (07.06.2024)
Syllabus -
GENERAL OVERVIEW (selected topics):
Introduction: Representing Human Body
SECTION I.: From Renaissance to William Hogarth
Between Plato and Ficino: philosophical origins of “figura serpentinata”
Between Michelangelo and Lomazzo: (de)erotizing bodies
SECTION II.: From William Hogarth to hygienic imperatives
Lomazzo’s influence on Hogarth
Movement and eroticism in Hogarth’s “The Analysis of Beauty”
Unexpected consequences of Hogarth’s mistakes: William Hogarth as the father of the “modern line”
Hygienic discourse of the 18th century: clean outlines of the healthy bodies
Art Nouveau and its implications: “figura serpentinata” runs wild
SECTION III.: 20th and 21th Century Aftermaths
“Cloud turn” in art: the demise of the line and the victory of the flesh
Fascist reactions: individual erotic wilderness vs. hollow social bodies
Figura serpentinata and the contemporary anatomical imagination: spirituality held in check
Between war and pornography: contemporary survivals of the renaissance concepts
Last update: Kučabová Veronika, Bc. (07.06.2024)
GENERAL OVERVIEW (selected topics):
Introduction: Representing Human Body. What is PORN? (discussion)
SECTION I.: The Beginnings: From Renaissance to William Hogarth
Between Plato and Ficino: philosophical origins of “figura serpentinata” and the opposition to the "pornographic" wilderness Between Michelangelo and Lomazzo: (de)erotizing bodies
SECTION II.: From William Hogarth to hygienic imperatives
Lomazzo’s influence on Hogarth Movement and eroticism in Hogarth’s “The Analysis of Beauty” Unexpected consequences of Hogarth’s mistakes: William Hogarth as the father of the “modern line” Hygienic discourse of the 18th century: clean outlines of the healthy bodies Art Nouveau and its implications: “figura serpentinata” runs wild
SECTION III.: 20th and 21th Century Aftermaths
“Cloud turn” in art: the demise of the line and the victory of the flesh Uncomfortable bodies: architectural drawing imperatives Fascist reactions: individual erotic wilderness vs. hollow social bodies Figura serpentinata and the contemporary anatomical imagination: spirituality held in check Between war and pornography: contemporary survivals of the renaissance concepts
Last update: Váša Ondřej, Mgr., Ph.D. (06.09.2024)
Learning resources -
Selected Basic Literature:
CASSIRER, E.: The Logic of the Humanities (1961) C'LICKME. A netporn studies reader (https://www.networkcultures.org/_uploads/24.pdf) HESTER, H.: Beyond Explicit. Pornography and the Displacement of Sex. New York: SUNY Press, 2014, ISBN: 9781438449609. HOGARTH, W. The Analysis of Beauty. Ilkley: Scolar Press, 1969. ISBN: 0-85417-523-7 MAES, H. - LEVINSON, J.: Art and Pornography: philosophical essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN: 0198744080 MAURER, E.: Manierismus: figura serpentinata und andere Figurenideale des Manierismus. Studien, Essays, Berichte. Zürich: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2001, ISBN: 978385823791 PANOFSKY, ERWIN: Meaning in the Visual Arts (1955) RUTHERFORD, P.: World Made Sexy: Freud to Madonna. Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2018, DOI: 10.3138/9781442685628-005 WARBURG, A.: A Lecture on Serpent Ritual. Journal of the Warburg Institute, No. 4, 1939, pp. 277-292. ISSN: 09592024 / Hadí rituál – zpráva z jedné cest (Umění : časopis Ústavu dějin umění Akademie věd České republikyPraha : Ústav dějin umění AV ČR, Roč. 57, č. 4 (2009), s. 385-398)
Last update: Váša Ondřej, Mgr., Ph.D. (22.10.2024)
Selected Basic Literature:
CASSIRER, E.: The Logic of the Humanities (1961) C'LICKME. A netporn studies reader (https://www.networkcultures.org/_uploads/24.pdf) HESTER, H.: Beyond Explicit. Pornography and the Displacement of Sex. New York: SUNY Press, 2014, ISBN: 9781438449609. HOGARTH, W. The Analysis of Beauty. Ilkley: Scolar Press, 1969. ISBN: 0-85417-523-7 MAES, H. - LEVINSON, J.: Art and Pornography: philosophical essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN: 0198744080 MAURER, E.: Manierismus: figura serpentinata und andere Figurenideale des Manierismus. Studien, Essays, Berichte. Zürich: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2001, ISBN: 978385823791 PANOFSKY, ERWIN: Meaning in the Visual Arts (1955) RUTHERFORD, P.: World Made Sexy: Freud to Madonna. Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2018, DOI: 10.3138/9781442685628-005 WARBURG, A.: A Lecture on Serpent Ritual. Journal of the Warburg Institute, No. 4, 1939, pp. 277-292. ISSN: 09592024 / Hadí rituál – zpráva z jedné cest (Umění : časopis Ústavu dějin umění Akademie věd České republikyPraha : Ústav dějin umění AV ČR, Roč. 57, č. 4 (2009), s. 385-398)
Last update: Váša Ondřej, Mgr., Ph.D. (22.10.2024)
