The Rococo period in the arts, flourishing mainly from about 1710 to about 1750, was stylistically unified, but nevertheless its tremendous productivity and appeal throughout Occidental culture has proven difficult to explain. Having no contemporary theoretical literature, the Rococo is commonly taken to have been a final and degenerate form of the Baroque era or an extravagance arising from the supposed careless frivolity of the elites, including the intellectuals of the Enlightenment. Neither approach adequately accounts for Rococo (...) style. Naming the Rococo raises profound issues for understanding the relations between conception and production in historical terms. Against the many difficulties that the term has involved in accounting for an immense but elusive cultural movement, this thesis argues that some of the chief philosophical conceptions of the period clarify the particular character and significance of Rococo production. Rococo production is here studied chiefly in decor, architecture, and the plastic arts. This thesis also makes an extended general argument for the value of intellectual history. Rococo style is a group of visual effects of which the central character is atectonicity. This is established by a synthesizing overview of Rococo ornamental motifs. Principal theorists of post-Cartesian thought have failed to see how these distinguish Rococo style from both Baroque and Enlightenment culture. The analysis addresses the historical narratives of Benjamin, Adorno, Foucault, Deleuze, and others about Baroque and Enlightenment culture. The core historical claim of this thesis is that Rococo atectonic effects are visual forms of the anti-materialist, idealist ontology of George Berkeley and of the metaphysics and ontology in the early work of Giambattista Vico. Close readings of important passages from works of both philosophers published in 1710 develop the relationship between atectonics and idealist ontology. Both men rejected the Baroque hierarchical cosmology in favor of finitude as the key to human understanding. The readings center on the issue of causality, including Berkeley’s views of the perfect contingency of the world and on Vico’s theories of truth and ingenium. A reading of Diderot’s critique of the Rococo, which led the reaction to it, shows that he recognized the power of idealist ontology in the Rococo cultural production. The larger force in the rejection of Rococo is the emergence of the sublime as a morally fearful feature of physical nature. Montesquieu’s aesthetic work also shows the transition to a more rigidly determined view of existence, which was expressed but constrained in the little-recognized lattice motif in Rococo arts. The result of these readings is the influence during and after the Rococo period of the concept of continuous creation, in which the memory and imagination of the human subject relays God-given powers of creation into the production of culture. Continuous creation also suggested a human capability to animate material nature. Rococo style displays this as pre-cinematic effects that represent the non-material, non-causal deep structure of reality. (shrink)

Northrop Frye once remarked that when art reaches a certain level of intensity it begins to speak about itself. Karsten Harries, in his excellent new book, provokes in the reader an image of the Bavarian rococo church having reached this degree of self-consciousness, to the extent that it calls into question not only its own special limits, but those of all sacred art. In Harries's words, the Bavarian rococo church is "no longer able to take seriously the pathos (...) and rhetoric of the baroque, yet refuses to give them up; so it plays with them." Harries's argument centers around three axes: first, the conflation of painting, architecture, and ornament into a single art form; second, the change in and thematization of the viewer's perspective resulting from this conflation; third, the encroachment of the aesthetic upon the sacramental, an encroachment which follows from this new emphasis on the viewer's perspective. Thus, Harries's claim: the very principles of the Bavarian rococo church lead to its own disintegration at the hands of an "aesthetic attitude," according to which "a work of art is governed by the demands of its own aesthetic perfection.". (shrink)

El cordobés Damián de Castro, gran exponente de la platería rococó española en la centuria dieciochesca, realizó junto a otros artífices diferentes piezas para el cardenal Delgado y Venegas, arzobispo hispalense entre 1776 y 1781. Hoy muchas de estas piezas las podemos contemplar en las vitrinas de nuestro museo catedralicio, sin embargo la existencia en su tiempo de diferentes piezas similares produjo cierta confusión en su posterior identificación. En este nuevo trabajo intentaremos desentrañar las dudas sobre dos de las más (...) vistosas piezas del tesoro de nuestro templo mayor: las dos bandejas de plata sobredorada que, ejecutadas en un exuberante y depurado rococó, deslumbran al visitante con sus fúlgidos destellos y atrevido diseño. (shrink)

This short essay is an experiment in narrative history. It explores the convergence of narrative tense and commentary tense, the role of ‘history’ in Henry Fielding’s novels, the nature of empathy by historians towards past actors through their memoirs, some ideas of moral philosophy, some ideas about what history is, and a couple of other matters. The essay is followed by a brief explanation of the experiment.

_Eros and Economy: Jung, Deleuze, Sexual Difference_ explores the possibility that social relations between things, partially inscribed in their aesthetics, offer important insights into collective political-economic relations of domination and desire. Drawing on the analytical psychology of Carl Jung and the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, this book focuses on the idea that desire or libido, overlaid by sexual difference, is a driving force behind the material manifestations of cultural production in practices as diverse as art or economy. Re-reading the history (...) of capitalism and aesthetics with an awareness of the forces of sexual difference reveals not just their integral role in the development of capitalist markets, but a new understanding of our political-economic relations as humans. The appearance of the energies of sexual difference is highlighted in a number of different historical periods and political economies, from the Rococo period of pre-revolutionary France, to the aesthetics and economics of Keynesian Bloomsbury, to our contemporary Postmodern sensibility. With these examples, Jenkins demonstrates that the very constitution of capitalist markets is affected by the interaction of these forces; and she argues that a conscious appreciation and negotiation of them is integral to an immanent, democratic understanding of power. With its unique application of Jungian theory, this book provides important new insights into debates surrounding art, aesthetics, and identity politics, as well as into the quest for autonomous, democratic institutions of politics and economics. As such, this book will appeal to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of Jung, psychoanalysis, political economy, cultural studies and gender studies, as well as those interested in the field of cultural economy. (shrink)

Ever since Aristotle, metaphor has been placed in the context of a mimetic theory of language and of art. Metaphors are in some sense about reality. The poet uses metaphor to help reveal what is. He, too, serves the truth, even if his service is essentially lacking in that "Metaphor consists in giving the thing a name that belongs to something else."1 Thus it is an improper naming. This impropriety invites a movement of interpretation that can come to rest only (...) when metaphorical has been replaced with a more proper speech. This is not to say, however, that such replacement is possible nor that interpretation can ever come to rest. What metaphor names may transcend human understanding so that our language cannot capture it. In that case, proper speech would be denied to man. But regardless of whether we seek proper speech with man, for example, with the philosopher, or locate it beyond man with God, or think it only an idea that cannot find adequate realization, as long as we understand metaphor as an improper naming, we place its telos beyond poetry. · 1. Aristotle Poetics 21. 1457b. 6-7. Karsten Harries, chairman of the department of philosophy at Yale University, is the author of several works on aesthetics, including The Meaning of Modern Art: A Philosophical Interpretation. He is currently writing a book on the Bavarian rococo church. See also: "On Thinking about Aristotle's 'Thought'" by James E. Ford in Vol. 4, No. 3. (shrink)

The survival of a unique set of drawings, complemented by a contemporary description and a sale catalogue, enable us to ‘reconstruct’ the cabinet of Bonnier de la Mosson , a miscellaneous collection formed in Paris c. 1740. A brief assessment is offered of the status of such cabinets in the growth and diffusion of science in ancien régime France. We also point to a link with the decorative arts: in a study of such a subject the intellectual and aesthetic dimensions (...) must be treated as a unity if we are fully to evoke the context of the cabinet in the age of the rococo. Only the modern ‘discipline’-oriented viewpoint forces a separation between the history of science and the history of art. (shrink)

This article focuses on the Polish reception of Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy’s fairy tales from the 18th century until the present day. It discusses their translations, as well as adaptations published with the erroneous attribution to Charles Perrault and texts loosely inspired by the work of the French conteuse. The latter’s diversity is mirrored by the varied reception, encompassing both simplified texts for children, and a moralizing-and-fantasy long poem. Nevertheless, the rococo fairy tales by Madame d’Aulnoy, displaying the esthetic ideals of (...) 17th-century salons and engaging in an ironic game with the genre’s didactic convention, do not fit the frame of the evergreen stereotype of the fairy tale as a simple and morally unambiguous genre, intended first and foremost for children. The transgressive nature of Madame d’Aulnoy’s fairy tales may be the cause for their incomplete interpretations, as well as their limited and selective reception in Poland. (shrink)

Een kenner op het gebied van de klassieke muziek - wie wil dat nou niet zijn? In dit boek legt André Klukhuhn de filosofie en oorsprong van de westerse klassieke muziek op een toegankelijke manier bloot. Hij geeft op even komische als boeiende wijze een overzicht van de belangrijkste stromingen en tijdperken en de bijbehorende westerse componisten: van rococo en romantiek tot postmodernisme, en van Keppler en Händel tot Wagner en Orff. De betekenis van de 'kosmische harmonie', het raakvlak (...) tussen muziek en wiskunde, loopt als een rode draad door het verhaal heen. Door het lezen van dit eerste Nederlandse overzichtswerk van de westerse klassieke muziek zal het luisteren ernaar nog boeiender - of troostrijker, verheffender of ontspannener - worden dan het altijd al was. (shrink)

After 1604, Chinese art through Chinese goods rapidly and widely penetrated into European society and had a profound impact on European art and aesthetics.During the century of the popularity of everything Chinese in Europe, it was Chinese goods represented by porcelain and flowing silk that were most directly related to people's lives. From the second half of the XVII century to the second half of the XVIII century, European culture and art experienced a boom in Oriental art. A number of (...) innovative artists began to change their traditional interests and methods of painting, creating many masterpieces with a Chinese flavor. Thus, a new page was opened in the history of Eastern and Western painting. China and Europe, two advanced human civilizations.It took quite a long time before the fog of myths and legends that enveloped China and Europe, the two highest civilizations of mankind, dissipated, until the true nature of China was revealed in the XVIII century. This work is divided into the following three parts: The emergence of Chinoiserie; Rococo and Watteau painting; The decline of Chinoiserie. Documentary studies, comparative analysis and case studies are used to study the phenomenon of China's popularity, which has engulfed Europe as a direct consequence of the spread of Chinese culture in the West. (shrink)

From ancient Greece to Renaissance Italy to the Modern period, the classical ideal, with its elusive goal of perfecting nature, has held a tenacious grip on Western culture. Nowhere has its hold on the artistic imagination been more pervasive than in France between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The art and life of Raphael formed the bedrock of the classical tradition in French art, yet no comprehensive study of Raphael's impact on the art theory, criticism, and practice of classicism exists. (...) This book fills that gap. Transcending limited notions of artistic influence, the book demonstrates that Raphael had as much impact as a symbol as he did as a paradigm of the classical tradition. Focusing on French art and theory from the classical to the Romantic era, _Raphael and France_ is part of the ongoing revision of views of that period which has been taking place for the last twenty years. The book demonstrates that the shifts from classical to Rococo to neoclassical aesthetics were not as abrupt or as all-encompassing as has been assumed. By tracing the continuity and transformation of the classical ideal, with Raphael's art and image as central paradigms, Rosenberg achieves a broader, more accurate, and comprehensive view of French artistic developments during this period. Rosenberg draws on careful readings of primary sources, including the correspondence and lectures of the French Academy, some of which are unpublished; most of the major theoretical treatises by French and foreign authors; and contemporary criticism and works of art. In the process, he strikes a methodological balance between traditional art-historical approaches and insights provided by more contemporary approaches, such as semiotics and post-structuralism. As the notion of isolated genius as the prime force in art has given way to a broader, more contextual view of art and history, interest in past traditions once regarded as outmoded or dead has grown tremendously. This book makes a timely contribution to this widening area of inquiry. (shrink)

The article is focused on Lesia Ukrainka’s famous drama The Stone Master (Kaminnyi Hospodar), her remake of the Don Juan legend. The author of the article, Ukrainian philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko, localizes Lesia’s masterpiece in a broader European tradition of the legend. He compares The Stone Master with the previous version of the Don Juan legend, by Tirso de Molina (The Trickster of Seville), Moli re (Dom Juan), Mozart (Don Giovanni), Hoffmann (Don Juan), Grabbe (Faust and Don Juan) and others. He (...) analyzes Lesia’s originality within this tradition. He also reads The Stone Master in the context of the dialogue between different epochs: the Baroque, Classicism, Rococo / Enlightenment, Romanticism, Post-Romanticism. Each of the epochs develops its specific version of Don Juan legend, according to Yermolenko, which reflects a specific concept of human being and human relations developed at each particular period. While the “Baroque” Don Juan of Tirso de Molina marks the crisis of the culture of honor, the “Classicist” Don Juan of Moli re shows the development of a culture of knowledge and general concepts, and the “Romantic” Don Juan of Byron and Hoffmann is a symptorm of a new 19th century culture of will and transformation. In this respect, it is important to look at Lesia Ukrainka’s text as a battleground of “Romantic” will to freedom and “Post-Romantic” (or fin de siècle) will to power. In this context, Yermolenko reads The Stone Master (written in 1912) as a criticism of the fashionable topic of “will to power”, and as a political warning, with Lesia Ukrainka showing the upcoming horrors of the 20th century’s authoritarianism and totalitarianism. With the help of the concept of eropolitics, the author shows how, through the erotic topic, Lesia Ukrainka passed a major political message to her epoch — and ours as well. (shrink)

Cet article ne cherche pas tant à réhabiliter la sculpture décorative (la talha, en portugais), habituellement considérée comme un art mineur, qu’à apporter les différents témoignages de sa domination dans un lieu particulier, le Minho (le nord-ouest portugais), au moment notamment de l’adoption du rococo, domination a priori impensable dans le contexte occidental autrement qu’en termes de périphérie. Il s’agit ensuite de comprendre les nuances qu’une telle domination introduit corollairement dans les concepts artistiques (notamment dans celui de paternité) et, (...) enfin, d’examiner en quoi cette situation permet de remettre en question de l’intérieur quelques modèles théoriques passés et contemporains. (shrink)

In 1713 the scientific instrument-maker Jakob Leupold published designs for three machines were the first attempt to design machinery with internal moving parts that replaced human agency in creating original images. This paper first analyzes his text and engravings in order to explain how he proposed to do this, given contemporary materials and command of physical forces. Next, it characterizes the devices as a transition from concepts of incision to concepts of mirroring, taken as models of the history of mechanical (...) reproduction. And finally, Leupold’s replacement of the sighting grid with differential gears points to a set of problems appearing in contemporary philosophy represented in Rococo artistic production of this period as well. Taking the proposed devices in context, they help to theorize the complex notions of creative activity in Rococo visual culture. Taken as an episode in the history of communications, they instance the development of conceptions of personhood and of physical forces at stake in the invention of automated media. (shrink)

Süsleme teknikleri her sanat dalında olduğu gibi cilt sanatında da zaman içerisinde değişim göstermiştir. 18. yüzyıl klâsik üslûpta ciltlerinin yapılmaya devam edildiği ancak aynı zamanda yeni tezyînat tekniklerinin denendiği bir dönemdir. Bu tekniklerden bir olan yekşah, cilt üzerine altınla işlenen motiflerin üzerine ucu düz veya oval olan demir aletin kakılması/bastırılması şeklinde uygulanan bir tezyînat tekniğidir. Bu süsleme tekniği, adını uygulamada kullanılan metal aletten almaktadır. Yekşah demiri olarak isimlendirilen bu alet, ortalama 15-16 cm uzunluğunda olup ağzı düz veya oval bir el (...) aletidir. Yekşah süsleme tekniği, yazma ciltler üzerine uygulanmaktadır. Yazma cilt, desenin fırça yardımıyla zermürekkep kullanılarak deri üzerine işlenmesi anlamına gelmektedir. Desenin yazma tekniğiyle (fırçayla) deriye nakşedilmesinin ardından yekşah demiriyle işlenmesi aşamasına geçilmektedir. Motiflerin üzerine, gidiş yönü esas alınarak yekşah demiriyle taramalar yapılmakta, desen üzerinden çizgiler halinde geçilmektedir. Deri bu tarama esnasında kısmen de çukurlaşmaktadır. Yekşah tezyînat tekniği, Türk cilt sanatına 17. yüzyıl sonu ile 18. yüzyıl başı itibariyle katılmıştır. 19. yüzyılda da örnekleri görülmeye devam edilmiştir. Ancak en yoğun kullanıldığı dönem 18. yüzyıldır. Yekşah tezyînatın çoğunlukla saray mücellitleri tarafından ve özellikle değeri yüksek eserlerin ciltlerinde tatbik edildiği bilinmektedir. Türk cilt sanatı literatüründe yayınlanmış ve müze ve kütüphanelerde tarafımızca tespit edilen yekşah cilt örneklerinin incelenmesi neticesinde, Türk ciltlerinde yekşah tezyînat tekniğinin 3 farklı desen üzerine tatbik edildiği tespit edilmiştir. Bunlar; rûmî, zerbahar ve barok-rokoko desenleridir. Rûmî desenli yekşah ciltlerde cilt kapağının tüm bölümlerinde yekşah tekniğinin uygulandığı görülmektedir. Ancak en yoğun ve çeşitli olarak şemselerde rastlanmaktadır. Bunun nedeni, yekşah tezyînatın görülmeye başlandığı 18. yüzyıl itibariyle cilt kapaklarında köşebentlere sıklıkla yer verilmemesi ve bezeme yoğunluğunun şemselerde görülmesi olabilir. Rûmî desenli yekşah ciltlerde şemselerin üç türü tespit edilmiştir. Bunlar; klâsik oval/beyzî formda dilimli şemse, dikdörtgen formda şemse ve dilimli dairevî formdaki şemsedir. Rûmî desenli yekşah ciltlerde desenin altınlarının daha net görülebilmesi amacıyla şemse ve salbek zemini sıklıkla bordo renkle boyanmıştır. Yekşah tekniğinin uygulandığı bir diğer desen türü ise zerbahardır. Zerbahar desen, 18. yüzyılın sonunda ve özellikle 19. yüzyılda görülen bir cilt tezyînat türü olup ciltlerin genellikle tüm yüzeyini kaplayacak şekilde uygulanmıştır. 18. yüzyıl itibariyle Türk ciltlerinde görülen realist üslûptaki çiçek veya Batı etkisindeki barok-rokoko motifleri üzerine de yekşah uygulaması yapıldığı belirlenmiştir. Türk Rokokosu, C ve S kıvrımlı motiflerle yüzeyin tamamen doldurularak süslendiği gösterişli bir bezeme üslûbudur. Kavisli ve yuvarlak şekillerle birlikte yaprak, çiçek motifleri ve çiçek demetleri bu bezeme üslûbunda yer almaktadır. Dayanıklılık bakımından zayıf olmasına rağmen yekşah tekniğin 18. yüzyıl ciltlerinde sıklıkla tercih edilmesinde, cildin sanat değerini arttırma çabası vardır. Bu teknik sayesinde, yazma olarak uygulanmış desen daha cazip hale getirilmiştir. Bu da cildin sanat değerini yükseltmiştir. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: The Cultural State of the Coffeehouse A Personal Encounter A Few Steps Back Aesthetics and Liberalism The Power of the Consumer Three Capitalisms Complex and Lasting Beauty.