Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks· 2012· Book chapter
Representation, Presentation, Presence: Tracing the Homo Pictor
- 31citations
- 2012year
Short summary
Ancient cultural practices viewed images as having a 'power spirit,' charisma, and the ability to look, akin to living beings, influencing their reverence or fear.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Ancient image practices involved craftsmanship and harnessing perceived powers of images.
- Ethnological, archaeological, and religious history support the idea of images having mysterious effects.
- Myths and stories suggest images were conceived as living beings with a 'power spirit' and the ability to look.
- These perceptions led to images being respected, revered, or feared.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Cultural practices related to images have always been both about craftsmanship and about the domestication of powers assigned to images. We were concerned with the mysterious effects of images way before we started to celebrate the genius and glory of artists. This is supported by ethnological and archaeological findings as well the history of religion. Myths, fairy tales, and stories of living and punitive images also give way to the reconstruction of old assessments. If we take these sources literally, they seem to conceive of images in analogy to living beings: they attribute something like a "power spirit," emanation, and charisma to the physical body of the artifact. And, not least, they seem to endow images with the ability of a benevolent or vicious look. These kinds of images were respected, revered, or even feared.KeywordsFairy TaleDeceased PersonDistant ViewDivine PowerPunitive ImageThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2012 · DOI ↗
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Field: General Arts and Humanities
General Arts and HumanitiesArts and Humanities