Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is an investigation into the relationship between photorealistic painting and specific devices used to aid the artist in mediating the real. The term 'reality' is negotiated and a hybrid theoretical approach to photorealism, including mimesis and semiotics, is suggested. Through careful analysis of Vermeer's suspected use of the camera obscura, I argue that camera vision already started in the 17th century, thus signalling the dramatic shift from the classical Cartesian perspective scopic regime to the model of vision offered by the camera long before the advent of photography. I suggest that contemporary photorealist painters do not just merely and objectively copy, but use photographic source material with a sophisticated awareness in response to a rapidly changing world. Through an examination of the way in which the camera obscura and photographic camera are used in the works of four artists, I suggest that a symbiotic relationship of subtle tensions between painting and photographic technology emerges. This results in visions of the painted real that may be meaningful to contemporary society and have the ability to emotionally affect the viewer. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die verhouding tussen fotorealistiese skilderkuns en die spesifieke metodes wat die kunstenaar se vertolking van die werklikheid vergemaklik. Die term, 'realiteit' word krities oorweeg te midde van 'n saamgestelde teoretiese aanslag tot fotorealisme wat mimesis en semiotiek insluit. Deur 'n noukeurige analise van Vermeer se oënskynlike gebruik van die camera obscura, hou ek voor dat fotografiese sig reeds sedert die 17e eeu teenwoordig is. Hierdie gewaarwording dui op 'n dramatiese skuif vanaf 'n klassieke, Kartesiaanse perspektief en skopiese regime tot die model van visie gebied deur die kamera, lank voor die ontwikkeling van fotografie. Ek stel voor dat kontemporêre fotorealistiese skilders nie bloot objektief kopieër nie, maar fotografiese verwysings met 'n gesofistikeerde bewussyn in reaksie tot 'n vinnigveranderende wêreld gebruik. Deur 'n ondersoek na die wyse waarop die camera obscura en fotografiese kamera in die werke van vier kunstenaars gebruik word, stel ek voor dat 'n simbiotiese verhouding die subtiele spanning tussen skilderkuns en fotografiese tegnologie meemaak. Dit lei tot visionêre weergawes van 'n geskilderde realiteit wat 'n betekenisvolle posisie in die kontemporêre samelewing beklee en die moontlikheid besit om die toeskouer op 'n emosionele vlak te affekteer.

A fortuna crítica de À la recherche du temps perdu sempre teve como um dos seus principais motes a relação da obra com outras artes, ou seja, uma construção estética baseada em uma relação de homologia estrutural com outros sistemas artísticos, dentre eles a música, a arquitetura, a própria literatura e a pintura. Essa construção faz com que a obra venha constantemente acompanhada do epíteto de museu imaginário. Especificamente, o nome do pintor holandês Johannes Ver Meer tem um lugar privilegiado na estética proustiana. Entretanto, nem todas as telas são mencionadas ao longo da narrativa. Somada a isso, a tessitura da escritura de Marcel Proust revela-se como um saber fortemente indiciário. Assim, a partir de índices que percorrem epístolas de Proust, textos críticos e a própria narrativa de À la recherche du temps perdu, esta tese cujo recorte de leitura é especificamente o episódio da lanterna mágica e seus desdobramentos defende que uma das telas de Ver Meer, a saber, A arte da pintura, é uma ausência epistêmica que, no entanto, faz-se presente, deixando inscritos na obra seus efeitos de significação. A fim de compreendermos essa presença-ausente, esta tese recorre ao conceito de letra, conforme o ensino de Jacques Lacan, os textos freudianos nos quais esse conceito estava em latência e os esclarecimentos e avanços feitos por Jacques Derrida, especificamente em seus textos da década de sessenta do século passado. Por efeitos de significação, concebe-se a ideia de que A arte da pintura realiza-se como uma ideia ausente, mas pungente no que tange aos efeitos estéticos de esmero do detalhe e dos processos descritivos, implicando uma relação de similitude entre o narrador em seu quarto, em lincipit de À la recherche du temps perdu e no episódio da lanterna mágica, e um artista em seu ateliê, presente na tela de Ver Meer, que incidirá em uma poética do detalhe. / The critical fortune of À la Recherche du Temps Perdu has always had, as one of its main threads, the relationship of work with other art forms, in other words, an aesthetic construction based on a relationship of structural homology with other Arts, including music, architecture, literature itself and painting. This ensures that the work is constantly accompanied by the epithet of the imaginary museum. Specifically, the name of the Dutch painter Johannes Ver Meer has a privileged place in the Proustian aesthetic. Nevertheless, not all canvases are mentioned during the narrative. Added to this, the tone of the Marcel Proust text reveals itself as a clear, evidentiary wisdom. Therefore, from indices that permeate the Proust missives, critical texts and the narrative of À la Recherche du Temps Perdu, this thesis, the scope of which is limited specifically to the episode of the Magic Lantern and its ramifications, argues that one of Ver Meers canvases, namely that of the Art of Painting, is epistemically absent, however it makes its presence felt through its effects of significance on the piece. In order to understand this absent-presence, this thesis uses the concept of the letter, according to the teachings of Jacques Lacan, Freudian texts in which this concept was latent, and in the clarifications and advances made by Jacques Derrida in his writings of the 1960s. For purpose of meaning, one has conceived the idea that The Art of Painting be like a missing yet poignant idea touching the aesthetic effects of minute detail and of the descriptive processes, implying an affinity in relationship between the narrator in his chamber, in l\'incipit of la Recherche du Temps Perdu and the episode of the Magic Lantern, and the artist in his studio, present on Ver Meers canvas, reflected in a poetic detail.

<p>Texten jämför det analoga- och digitalafotografiet. Disskutioner kring arbetssättet, uttrycket i fotografiet, uppfattningen av det, de olika tekniska asspekterna och känslan i fotografiet är områden som berörs i texten. Även kamerans och fotografiets historia i allmänhet tas upp.</p>

Before the publication of David Hockney’s book Secret Knowledge: rediscovering the lost techniques of the Old Masters in 2001, it was commonly believed that the first artist to use an optical aid in painting was the seventeenth-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Hockney, however, believes that the use of projected images started much earlier, as early as the fifteenth-century, claiming that evidence can be found in the work of the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. Without rejecting Hockney’s pioneering work in this field, I nevertheless make the perhaps bolder claim that Italian artists were using the aid of image projections even before the time of Jan van Eyck, that is, as early as 1270. Although much of the information required to make an earlier claim for the use of optics can be found in Hockney’s publication, the key to linking all the information together has been missing. It is my unique contention that this key is a letter that has always been believed to have been European in origin. More commonly referred to as Roger Bacon’s Letter I show in detail how this letter was, in fact, not written by Roger Bacon, but addressed to him, and that this letter originated in China. Chinese knowledge about projected images, that is the concept that light-pictures could be received onto appropriate supports, came directly to Europe around 1250. This knowledge was expanded upon by Roger Bacon in his Opus Majus, a document which arrived in Italy in 1268 for the special consideration of Pope Clement IV. The medieval Italian painter Cimabue was able to benefit directly from this information about optical systems, when he himself was in Rome in 1272. He immediately began to copy optical projections, which stimulated the creation of a new, more individualistic, mode of representation in Italian painting from this time forward. The notion that projected images greatly contributed towards the development of naturalism in medieval Italian painting replaces the previously weak supposition that the stimulation was classical or humanist theory, and shows that it was, in fact, far likely something more technical as well. / Art History / D.Litt. et Phil. (Art History)

A fortuna crítica de À la recherche du temps perdu sempre teve como um dos seus principais motes a relação da obra com outras artes, ou seja, uma construção estética baseada em uma relação de homologia estrutural com outros sistemas artísticos, dentre eles a música, a arquitetura, a própria literatura e a pintura. Essa construção faz com que a obra venha constantemente acompanhada do epíteto de museu imaginário. Especificamente, o nome do pintor holandês Johannes Ver Meer tem um lugar privilegiado na estética proustiana. Entretanto, nem todas as telas são mencionadas ao longo da narrativa. Somada a isso, a tessitura da escritura de Marcel Proust revela-se como um saber fortemente indiciário. Assim, a partir de índices que percorrem epístolas de Proust, textos críticos e a própria narrativa de À la recherche du temps perdu, esta tese cujo recorte de leitura é especificamente o episódio da lanterna mágica e seus desdobramentos defende que uma das telas de Ver Meer, a saber, A arte da pintura, é uma ausência epistêmica que, no entanto, faz-se presente, deixando inscritos na obra seus efeitos de significação. A fim de compreendermos essa presença-ausente, esta tese recorre ao conceito de letra, conforme o ensino de Jacques Lacan, os textos freudianos nos quais esse conceito estava em latência e os esclarecimentos e avanços feitos por Jacques Derrida, especificamente em seus textos da década de sessenta do século passado. Por efeitos de significação, concebe-se a ideia de que A arte da pintura realiza-se como uma ideia ausente, mas pungente no que tange aos efeitos estéticos de esmero do detalhe e dos processos descritivos, implicando uma relação de similitude entre o narrador em seu quarto, em lincipit de À la recherche du temps perdu e no episódio da lanterna mágica, e um artista em seu ateliê, presente na tela de Ver Meer, que incidirá em uma poética do detalhe. / The critical fortune of À la Recherche du Temps Perdu has always had, as one of its main threads, the relationship of work with other art forms, in other words, an aesthetic construction based on a relationship of structural homology with other Arts, including music, architecture, literature itself and painting. This ensures that the work is constantly accompanied by the epithet of the imaginary museum. Specifically, the name of the Dutch painter Johannes Ver Meer has a privileged place in the Proustian aesthetic. Nevertheless, not all canvases are mentioned during the narrative. Added to this, the tone of the Marcel Proust text reveals itself as a clear, evidentiary wisdom. Therefore, from indices that permeate the Proust missives, critical texts and the narrative of À la Recherche du Temps Perdu, this thesis, the scope of which is limited specifically to the episode of the Magic Lantern and its ramifications, argues that one of Ver Meers canvases, namely that of the Art of Painting, is epistemically absent, however it makes its presence felt through its effects of significance on the piece. In order to understand this absent-presence, this thesis uses the concept of the letter, according to the teachings of Jacques Lacan, Freudian texts in which this concept was latent, and in the clarifications and advances made by Jacques Derrida in his writings of the 1960s. For purpose of meaning, one has conceived the idea that The Art of Painting be like a missing yet poignant idea touching the aesthetic effects of minute detail and of the descriptive processes, implying an affinity in relationship between the narrator in his chamber, in l\'incipit of la Recherche du Temps Perdu and the episode of the Magic Lantern, and the artist in his studio, present on Ver Meers canvas, reflected in a poetic detail.

Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio's Looking Glass is an ironic allusion to both the concave mirror and the biconvex lens. It was these simple objects, in colloquial terms a shaving mirror and a magnifying glass, which Artemisia Gentileschi and her father Orazio, learned from Caravaggio how to use to enhance the natural phenomenon of the camera obscura effect. Painting from a projection meant that Artemisia could achieve an extreme form of realism and detail in her work. This knowledge, which was of necessity kept hidden, spooked the Inquisition and also gave artists, who knew how to manipulate the technology, an extreme competitive edge over their rivals. This dissertation challenges the naive assumptions that have been made about Artemisia's working practices, effectively ignoring the strong causal links between art and science in Seicento Italian painting. Introducing the use of optical aids by Artemisia opens up her story to a whole new generation of scholarship. / Art History / M.A. (Art history)

This historical work focuses on the theory of photography. It is divided into three autonomous episodes chronologically correspond to three historical stages. These parts are connected with one genealogies of one possible reading of the photography. The first part deals with the historical circumstances and causes of the birth of photography. The second phase describes the later period of history of the Weimar Republic and photographic movement of Neue Sachlichkeit. The last part concentrates on Düsseldorf School of Photography and its current followers. These historical eras combines the aesthetic issues of cult and conceptual values, which is demonstrated on the way how read the photographic medium as a specific aesthetic phenomenon.

Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio's Looking Glass is an ironic allusion to both the concave mirror and the biconvex lens. It was these simple objects, in colloquial terms a shaving mirror and a magnifying glass, which Artemisia Gentileschi and her father Orazio, learned from Caravaggio how to use to enhance the natural phenomenon of the camera obscura effect. Painting from a projection meant that Artemisia could achieve an extreme form of realism and detail in her work. This knowledge, which was of necessity kept hidden, spooked the Inquisition and also gave artists, who knew how to manipulate the technology, an extreme competitive edge over their rivals. This dissertation challenges the naive assumptions that have been made about Artemisia's working practices, effectively ignoring the strong causal links between art and science in Seicento Italian painting. Introducing the use of optical aids by Artemisia opens up her story to a whole new generation of scholarship. / Art History / M.A. (Art history)

The subject of the thesis Live images of VJing is an aesthetic activity, based on visual projections and on work with new media in real-time, known as VJing, or more generally "live audiovisual performance". As these performances usually complement auditory events or are supplemented by music. The first part follows the origins of VJing out of three angles: First the historical development of projected image, electronic music and the discourse of synaesthesia principle as an principle joining different sensory perceptions into one. Second part of this thesis is introducing an philosophical perspective and it's defining terms, through which can be glimpsed the tendencies in the development of contemporary art of new media, particularly following the example of the German new-media philosophy with terms like homöotechnik, performativity, mediality and gesture. The outcome of this thesis is the finding, that it's not the media-philosophy bringing the textures and shapes to VJing, but the opposite - VJing as an art form is a valuable contribution to defining of the media-philosophy, which seem to be forming along with the new media itself and with the experimental arts exploring it's radical possibilities.