Animal art is one of the more mystical aspects of Scandinavian Iron Age culture. It has foremost been regarded in the light of art and style history. Interpretation has also – mainly from the 1990s and onwards – been made through iconographic analysis. But the problem here is that iconography requires textual analogy, something that the Scandinavian Iron Age lacks. The purpose of this paper is to lift some of the ”mystical fog” that engulfs the scandinavian animal art, by developing a method for interpretation of pre-historic images that evades the flaws in the iconographic method. This by doing an interpretation of the gripping beast motif on Gotlandic Viking Age animal-head brooches. The study is divided into three parts. Part one focuses on reception within research history and how the use of language and methodological approaches shapes the perception of animal art within it's own time, it also discusses animal art in the light of style, motif and communication. Part two aims to outline a method for pre-historic image interpretation, a structuralistic iconology with addition of contextualization and anthropological theories of agency. The chapter also discusses the cosmological order through means of ”structuralistic iconology”. Finally part three contextualizes the gripping beast to the object – the animal head-brooch – through notions of use, combination and age. Concluding that the gripping beast should be understood as a hybrid creature closely linked to ancestry, odal and the fatalistic worldview of Iron Age Scandinavia.

Las relaciones existentes entre el cinematógrafo y las artes plásticas durante las primeras décadas del siglo XX son una de las señas de identidad de un período artístico protagonizado por los movimientos vanguardistas. En efecto, fotografía y cine se unen a pintura y escultura en el maremagno de creatividad y experimentación que vivió el arte al calor de las vanguardias históricas. Pese a ser numerosas y evidentes las influencias que el cine recibió de las artes plásticas en esas primeras décadas del siglo, lo que se quiere abordar en esta investigación no es esta vinculación sino, precisamente, su inversa. De lo que se trata, pues, es de investigar, evidenciar y explicar las influencias del medio cinematográfico en las artes plásticas, a nivel formal, expresivo o iconográfico, influencias que, como es lógico, resultan especialmente significativas en la pintura. / The existing relations between the cinematograph and the plastic arts during the first decades of the 20th century are one of the identity signs of an artistic period led by the avant-garde movements. In fact, photography and cinema join painting and sculpture in the maremagnum of creativity and experimentation that art lived with the historical avant-garde. In spite of the fact that the influences that cinema received from plastic arts in these first decades of the century are numerous and evident, what must be faced in this investigation is not this link but, precisely, his opposite. What we are dealing with, thus, is investigating, demonstrating and explaining the influences of the cinematographic means in the plastic arts, at a formal, expressive or iconographic level, influences that, naturally, turn out to be specially significant on painting.

This study is about the artist Monica Sjoo’s (1938-2005) painting God giving birth (1968) that was accused of being blasphemous and obscene in the early 1970s. God giving birth could have had much in common with Niki de Saint-Phalle’s She – a cathedral (1966), both works suggesting a mother goddess image. The main difference however can be found in the fact that Monica Sjoo’s painting had connection to the women’s movement in the 1970s. Monica Sjoo’s artwork responded to other feminist artwork of that period. Among several feminist artists during the period about 1968-1985, an iconography was in use that focused on vulvar imagery, experience of childbirth and goddess images. In particulary the mother goddess was embraced. The female body in art was re-sacred and invested with meaning connected with women’s cycles of birth-death and rebirth and the earth as a mother goddess.

This study is a research on how dystopian features are expressed within different genres. The purpose is to discuss films that contain dystopian features in relation to genre and to examine if there are shared conventions in the films that can make dystopia a film genre on its own. The theoretical base includes genre theory and Rick Altman’s semantic/syntactic approach to film genre. Five films from different genres, all produced within the time period of 2000-2010, are analyzed with a semantic/syntactic approach to genre and then discussed in relation to dystopia and prior research. By using a semantic/syntactic approach to film genre it is possible to identify shared conventions. Only by using a co-ordinate semantic/syntactic approach is it possible to fully understand the interaction between conventions within a genre. The result shows that there are conventions that are characteristic for dystopia and dystopia can thus be considered a subgenre. The films analyzed in this essay share conventions characteristic for dystopia but also offer variation in form of, for example, theme. The subgenre dystopia therefore offers something familiar but also variation which is central in film genre. The analysis also shows that there are symbols that carry meaning within these films which implies that they have a common iconography.

En 1993, l’église du monastère Humor et six autres églises du nord de la Moldavie (Roumanie) ont été classifiés comme patrimoine de l'UNESCO, en particulier en raison de leurs caractéristiques iconographiques et architecturales uniques. Construit au seizième siècle, le monastère Humor est devenu un riche centre religieux et culturel sous le patronage du prince Petru Rares de Moldavie. Ce centre a encouragé les innovations architecturales ecclésiales, ainsi qu’un programme très prolifique de fresques, extérieures et intérieures, exprimant une créativité au-delà du canon de la peinture de l'époque. La présente thèse est concentrée sur ces innovations architecturales et iconographiques, comprises à la lumière du contexte historique de ce moment unique dans l'histoire de la Moldavie, dans le siècle qui suivit la chute de Constantinople (1453). Tandis que la première partie de la thèse est concentrée sur ces circonstances historiques, et plus précisément sur l'impact du patronage du Prince Rares, la deuxième partie de la recherche est concentrée sur l'analyse des sources littéraires et de la théologie d’une série unique de fresques, placé dans la gropnita (chambre funéraire) de l’église monastique d’Humor, évoquant la vie de la Mère de Dieu. La série est un exemple extraordinaire d’interaction des textes, le Protévangile de Jacques et le Synaxarion, avec l'iconographie. Une attention particulière à l'iconographie du monastère Humor démontre le besoin de la corrélation entre texte et icône d'une part, ainsi que la nécessité d’une corrélation entre les études théologiques, l'art et l’histoire d’autre part. Un autre avantage de la recherche est de contribuer à une appréciation plus riche des trésors culturels et religieux des communautés chrétiennes de l'Europe de l'Est aux points de vue religieux et culturel, en réponse à leur reconnaissance comme patrimoine de l’UNESCO. / In 1993, the church of Humor Monastery and six other churches from northern Moldavia (Romania) were classified as UNESCO Patrimony, due to their unique iconographical and architectural features. Built in the sixteenth-century, Humor Monastery became a rich and vital cultural religious center under the patronage of Prince Petru Rares of Moldavia. This center encouraged ecclesial architectural innovations, as well as an extraordinarily prolific program of frescoes, both internally and externally, expressing creativity beyond the canon of painting of the time. This dissertation focuses on understanding these architectural and iconographical innovations, in the light of the historical context that gave rise to this unique moment in Moldavian history, in the century following the Fall of Constantinople (1453). While the first part of the dissertation focuses on these historical circumstances, and more precisely on the impact of the patronage of Prince Rares, the second part of the research concentrates on the literary sources and the theology of a unique fresco series depicting the “Life of the Mother of God,” which has been painted on the walls of the gropnita (burial chamber) of Humor monastic church. The fresco series is an extraordinary example of the interaction between texts, the apocryphon Protogospel of James and the Synaxarion, and the iconographic narration of the “Life of the Mother of God.” Careful attention to the iconography of the Humor monastic church demonstrates the need for the correlation between text and icon, as well as the need for a correlation between theological studies, art and history. This methodological perspective will foster a richer appreciation of the abundant cultural and religious treasures of the Christian communities of Eastern Europe, both from a cultural as well as a specifically theological perspective as a further response to their prestigious recognition of being included in the UNESCO’s Patrimony in the closing decade of the twentieth - century.

La présente thèse étudie la production et la consommation d’images par les révolutionnaires russes avant 1917. L’auteur soutient que l’iconographie révolutionnaire russe émane d’un long processus au cours duquel les révolutionnaires se sont appropriés et ont subverti certaines images et stratégies visuelles, ainsi que leurs moyens de production, déjà disponibles au sein de la culture qu’ils avaient entrepris de transformer. Cette appropriation est comprise comme une tentative d'insuffler une cohérence idéologique à un mouvement révolutionnaire en émergence et, ce faisant, en proie à une relative désorganisation. L’auteur montre comment l’usage de portraits et de stéréotypes visuels joua un rôle important dans la construction de l’identité et de la conscience révolutionnaires, d’une part, et comment un certain imaginaire révolutionnaire fut cristallisé dans la culture visuelle contemporaine, d’autre part. / This dissertation studies the production and consumption of images by Russian revolutionaries prior to 1917. The author argues that Russian revolutionary iconography emanates from a long-term process in which revolutionaries appropriated and subverted the images, means of production and visual strategies already available in their surrounding cultural context. This cultural borrowing is analyzed as an attempt of the revolutionaries to give an ideological coherence to an emerging but still disorganized political movement. The author shows how portraits and visual stereotypes have been fundamental in the construction of the revolutionary identity and consciousness, on one hand, and how a certain revolutionary imagination have been crystallized in the contemporary visual culture, on the other hand.

La question de recherche à la base de cette étude soulève le point de la nature paradoxale du canon de représentation égyptien qui démontre, simultanément, une certaine rigidité dans l’application de règles stylistiques et iconographiques établies, particulièrement dans l’art non commandité par l’État, et des preuves de transformation et d’intégration de motifs nouveaux. Partant de cette problématique, l’étude vise à identifier les mécanismes par lesquels ce canon permet, à la fois, l’innovation et le maintien d’une certaine tradition. L’approche est de nature double et consiste tout d’abord à identifier de grandes tendances et discontinuités stylistiques et iconographiques sur les bols de faïence du Moyen au Nouvel Empire. De plus, elle tente de déterminer si les transformations d’ordre sociopolitique et idéologique, survenant à ces périodes, peuvent être lues dans les variations stylistiques et iconographiques trouvées sur les bols de faïence. Après une description du champ conceptuel de la « représentation » en contexte égyptien, l’auteur effectue l’analyse iconographique exhaustive de ce qui constitue l’apport majeur de son étude, un corpus de 500 bols et fragments de faïence provenant de divers sites égyptiens du Moyen au Nouvel Empire. Les données ont été traitées par le biais de la méthode d’analyse iconologique proposée par Panofsky, qui lui permet de dévoiler un grand nombre de continuités et de transformations d’ordre stylistique et iconographique pour les différentes périodes. Plusieurs facteurs semblent avoir été à l’origine de ces transformations, dont la fluctuation entre un contexte de centralisation et de décentralisation politique de l’État, ainsi que l’intégration de motifs étrangers (proche-orientaux et égéens) résultant d’un contact accru entre l’Égypte et les régions voisines. De plus, les transformations idéologiques apportées par le règne d’Akhénaton et par la « contre-réforme » idéologique à la période ramesside, semblent avoir également contribué à des innovations au sein du canon, même si ce dernier maintient une certaine continuité légitimée par le pouvoir étatique. Le canon de représentation, devient ainsi une forme de langage dont l’État se sert et qui, parfois malgré lui, se transforme et fluctue selon les réalités des différentes périodes. / This study’s research question raises the issue of the paradoxical nature of the Egyptian canon of representation which shows, simultaneously, a certain rigidity in the application of established stylistic and iconographic rules, especially in non-state commissioned art, and evidence for the transformation and integration of new iconographical motifs. The study aims to identify the mechanisms by which the canon permits, at the same time, transformative processes and the maintenance of tradition. The approach is twofold and consists primarily in identifying trends and stylistic/iconographical discontinuities in the iconography found on the faience bowls from the Middle to the New Kingdoms. Furthermore, it aims to determine if the socio-political and ideological transformations taking place in these periods can be discerned in the stylistic and iconographical variations found on the bowls of the Middle to the New Kingdoms. The author discusses the theoretical model of “representation” in Egyptian context, followed by an analysis of what constitutes the major contribution of this study: an exhaustive iconographical analysis of 500 faience bowls and fragments originating from various Egyptian sites dating to the New Kingdom. The data was evaluated by means of the method of iconological analysis proposed by Panofsky, which permits the identification of a number of stylistic and iconographic continuities and changes for all periods. These transformations seem to be the result of a variety of factors, including fluctuations in the centralization and decentralization of the state, as well as the integration of foreign motifs (Near-Eastern and Aegean), which results from increased contacts between Egypt and its neighbouring regions. Furthermore, the ideological transformations taking place under Akhenaton’s reign and the ones resulting from the ideological “counter-reformation” occurring during the Ramessid period, equally seem to contribute to the changes in the representational canon, even though the latter maintained a certain continuity that was legitimized by the state. The canon thus emerges as a form of language used by the state, and sometimes despite it, which can fluctuate and be altered depending on the realities of the different periods.

Denna uppsats gör med hjälp av Erwin Panofskys ikonologiska metod en analys av en serie på nitton porträtt av kända 1600-tals män. Dessa porträtt, vilka idag är placerade i biblioteket på Skoklosters slott utreds i sin ikonografi och sätts in i ett större ikonografiskt sammanhang. Porträtten har ett unikt utseende då de är målade på furupannå och sedan kontursågade kring den porträtterades huvud. Avsikten med uppsatsen är att förstå deras syfte och ursprung. Uppsatsen behandlar frågor som varför man har valt att göra dessa porträtt och om det finns en koppling mellan dessa och bibliotekskonst i stort. Likväl vilka som är avporträtterade, varför just dessa personer är det och vem som låtit göra porträtten undersöks. Det är en uppsats som till stora delar handlar om det adliga idealet på 1600-talet och hur det gav sitt uttryck i konsten. / This essay does, with the help of Erwin Panofsky’s iconological method, provide an analysis of a series of nineteen portraits of famous men of the 17th century. These portraits, which today are placed in the library of Skokloster castle, are analysed in their iconography, and placed in a larger iconographic context. The portraits all have unique appearances, since they are painted on pine panel and then sawed after the contour of the head of the portrayed. The aim with the essay is to understand purpose and origin of the portraits. The essay deals with questions such as why these portraits were chosen to be made, and if a connection exists between these works and library art in a bigger context. Who is being portrayed, why these people in particular, and who has taken the initiative of making the portraits are questions that are investigated as well. It is an essay that to a large extent treats the noble ideal of the 17th century, and how it gave its expression to art.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This Master Degree Thesis aims to identify how a small set taken from a series of contemporary artworks, considered by some authors as "contemporary Vanitas" is characterized formal, symbolic and thematically, delving to evidence how the today s art can incorporate its historical past and especially the Vanitas traditional theme. The study, using an iconographic approach based on the method of Erwin Panofsky, primarily noted that the analyzed group of artworks, besides incorporating other themes with that of traditional Vanitas, showed a great formal distance from the ancient Vanitas paintings. The survey also verified that these artworks do not take the traditional Vanitas only by displaying the same symbolic motifs of the theme, but in fact, by the apprehension of its idea, which can be summarized as the confrontation between the man's vanity and the transience of his earthly life. / Esta pesquisa de mestrado se propõe a identificar como um pequeno conjunto retirado de uma série de obras de arte contemporânea, consideradas por alguns autores como Vanitas contemporâneas se caracteriza formal, simbólica e tematicamente, buscando evidenciar como a arte atual pode incorporar seu passado histórico e, especialmente, o tradicional tema da Vanitas. O estudo, por meio de uma abordagem iconográfica baseada no método de Erwin Panofsky, constatou principalmente que o grupo de obras analisado, além de incorporar outros temas junto ao da Vanitas tradicional, apresentou uma grande distância formal das Vanitas antigas. A pesquisa também verificou que estas obras não assumem a Vanitas tradicional apenas pela exibição dos mesmos motivos simbólicos da temática, mas sim pela apreensão de sua ideia, que pode ser sintetizada como o confronto entre as vaidades do homem e a efemeridade de sua vida terrena.

Qu’est-ce que la représentation honorifique ? Cette simple question guide l’exploration de la pratique, née au IVe siècle et développée à l’époque hellénistique, qui consiste à offrir aux bienfaiteurs un monument à leur image. Fondée sur les décrets honorifiques et les sources archéologiques, l’analyse est d’abord matérielle. Sont ainsi examinées les contraintes et les attentes qui déterminent le choix du support de la représentation, de son matériau et de son emplacement. Dans le cas des statues, la forme de la base, les dimensions de l’œuvre et son mode de fixation sont étudiés. La vie des œuvres ne s’arrête cependant pas avec leur installation : plusieurs chapitres analysent leur entretien et, à rebours, leur mutilation, leur destruction et leur remploi. Une étude iconographique de la représentation honorifique est ensuite proposée. La description des œuvres conservées permet de brosser le portrait de la cité idéale que reflète la représentation honorifique, des stratèges vainqueurs aux femmes. Les marges du genre sont aussi explorées, à travers les représentations de héros et de souverains, mais aussi d’enfants. Ces études matérielle et iconographique sont le fondement de l’analyse historique. L’élucidation des origines de la représentation honorifique, qui remontent à l’époque archaïque, permet ainsi de dégager les spécificités de la représentation honorifique publique. Celle-ci sert ensuite de référence dans l’analyse des représentations honorifiques privées et commémoratives. Forte de cette exploration large, l’étude se clôt sur un examen des fonctions politiques et sociales de la représentation honorifique et de leur évolution à la basse époque hellénistique. / What does honorific representation stand for? Starting from this apparently simple question, the present study explores the many aspects of the habit, beginning in the 4th century B.C. and developing through the Hellenistic period, of granting the benefactors a representation of themselves. Based on the honorific decrees and the archaeological evidence, the analysis is primarily material. Thus, the expectations and constraints guiding the choice of a medium, of a material and of a place of erection are first examined. In the case of a statue, its size, the type of its base and the way it is fixed are thoroughly studied. But with their erection, the life of the representations just begins: a few chapters are devoted to their cleaning and also to their mutilation, destruction and reuse. Iconography is the second main topic of the study. Through a description of the remaining works of art, a portrait of the ideal city reflected by the honorific representation is drawn, from the victorious generals to the women. The limits of the genre are also explored, through a study of the representations of heroes and kings, but also of children. Both material and iconographic studies support the historical analysis. An introductory focus on the origins of the honorific representation allows a determination of the specific aspects of public representation. Keeping those in mind as a reference, the analysis turns then to the less studied private honorific and commemorative representations. This large scope exploration leads finally to an examination of the social and political role of the honorific representation and of its evolution through the late Hellenistic period.