Poslední úprava: Bc. Veronika Kučabová (05.06.2023)
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?
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. Concerning their mutually
influenced methodology, the course will interpret the critical aspects of the “nameless science” by (and while)
exposing and analyzing complicated genealogy of the specific spectrum of surprisingly interrelated images like
selfies, underwear advertising, cloud imagery, abstract painting, war atrocities or hygiene-related illustrations.
Poslední úprava: Bc. Veronika Kučabová (05.06.2023)
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?
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. Concerning their mutually
influenced methodology, the course will interpret the critical aspects of the “nameless science” by (and while)
exposing and analyzing complicated genealogy of the specific spectrum of surprisingly interrelated images like
selfies, underwear advertising, cloud imagery, abstract painting, war atrocities or hygiene-related illustrations.
Sylabus -
Poslední úprava: Bc. Veronika Kučabová (05.06.2023)
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
Podmínky zakončení předmětu -
Poslední úprava: Bc. Veronika Kučabová (05.06.2023)
75% attendance, active participation in discussions, final essay on an individually selected topic
Poslední úprava: Bc. Veronika Kučabová (05.06.2023)
75% attendance, active participation in discussions, final essay on an individually selected topic
Studijní opory -
Poslední úprava: Bc. Veronika Kučabová (05.06.2023)
Selected Basic Literature:
CASSIRER, E.: The Logic of the Cultural Sciences. Five Studies. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000. ISBN: 0-300-08114-6
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: 9783858237910
WARBURG, A.: A Lecture on Serpent Ritual. Journal of the Warburg Institute, No. 4, 1939, pp. 277-292. ISSN: 09592024
WIND, E.: Warburg’s Concept of Kulturwissenschaft and its Meaning for Aesthetics. In: PREZIOSI, D. (ed.). The Art of Art History. A Critical Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 189-194. ISBN: 978-0-19-922984-0
WOOD, CH. S., NAGEL, A.: Anachronic Renaissance. New York: Zone Books, 2010. ISBN: 978-1935408024
The excerpts and documents we will be working with will be available to download via SIS.
Poslední úprava: Bc. Veronika Kučabová (05.06.2023)
Selected Basic Literature:
CASSIRER, E.: The Logic of the Cultural Sciences. Five Studies. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000. ISBN: 0-300-08114-6
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: 9783858237910
WARBURG, A.: A Lecture on Serpent Ritual. Journal of the Warburg Institute, No. 4, 1939, pp. 277-292. ISSN: 09592024
WIND, E.: Warburg’s Concept of Kulturwissenschaft and its Meaning for Aesthetics. In: PREZIOSI, D. (ed.). The Art of Art History. A Critical Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 189-194. ISBN: 978-0-19-922984-0
WOOD, CH. S., NAGEL, A.: Anachronic Renaissance. New York: Zone Books, 2010. ISBN: 978-1935408024
The excerpts and documents we will be working with will be available to download via SIS.