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Abstracts 10 (2011), Nr. 2
 

English Abstracts

Maike Sach: "Die Zeichnungen von M. Le Prince sind noch das Beste an Eurem Buch." Zur Rolle von Buchillustrationen bei der Vermittlung mentaler Bilder am Beispiel des "Soupé russe" aus der "Voyage en Sibérie" des Abbé Chappe d'Auteroche, in: zeitenblicke 10 (2011), Nr. 2.

In early modern travelogues accounts on foreign peoples, their manners and customs consistently appear alongside copper engravings. These ought to document and immediately communicate the narration according to the contemporary artistic (and academic) standards. The relation between text and picture is not merely to describe as an ordinary visualization of a paragraph. Illustrations may support and enhance the mental pictures designed there. The article examines the special role of figures, which just cannot be reduced to attractive book ornaments, using the example of an illustration showing a domestic scene in Abbé Chappe d'Auteroche's expedition report 'Voyage en Sibérie'. This copper engraving belongs to a group of figures which evoked a disgusted counterstatement from Catherine II, Chappe d'Auteroche's harshest critic, called Antidote which might be seen as exemplary for the travelogue's perception by a well-educated contemporary.

 

Gertrud Pickhan: "Über der ewigen Ruhe." Zur Entstehungs- und Rezeptionsgeschichte einer russischen Stimmungslandschaft, in: zeitenblicke 10 (2011), Nr. 2.

Isaak Levitans picture "Above Eternal Silence" is a paradigm of his landscapes of sentiment whose perception by contemporaries as well as posterity sheds light on the continuity and change of cognition and ascription. The national codification of the Russian landscape started in the 19th century and goes on up to present days. At the same time, the canvas "Above Eternal Silence" evoked feelings and tempers which involved a meditation on elemental questions of human life. However, the official perception of Levitan in the Soviet Union scarcely offered any space for this. "Above Eternal Silence" was, following the logic of socio-realism, reinterpreted as an expression of critique concerning the general situation in late Tsarist Russia while simultaneously the national supercharging of the landscape was maintained. Not until Perestroika, perceptual patterns of the pre-revolutionary period stressing the memento mori were reactivated and, for example in form of a rock song, communicated to millions of people.

 

Anna Baumgartner: Ein polnischer Nationalmaler am preußischen Hof. Wojciech Kossak und sein wiederentdecktes Gemälde "Schlacht bei Zorndorf" (1899), in: zeitenblicke 10 (2011), Nr. 2.

The article addresses the Polish national artist Wojciech Kossak during his stay in Berlin. He lived in the German capital between 1895 and 1902 while he painted battle scenes for Emperor William II. Hence in Poland, Kossak was severely charged which lead to a political perception of his creative period in Berlin. Up to day, the assumption is widespread that Kossak always depicted Prussian defeats. By analyzing the painting "Battle of Zorndorf" (1899), which shows an episode of the Seven Years War, I will try to assess the function and effect of Kossaks works on Prussian painting in a picture-immanent approach. The picture has been refurbished in 2004 and finds itself today at the E.ON edis AG in Potsdam as a loan of the Potsdam museum. A dedicated Prussian style of painting is marked here by its compositorial structure, the painter's quarrelling with the Prussian record of the battle as well as its imagery. Besides the painting, my considerations are based on the letters Kossak wrote from Berlin and likewise on his memoirs.

 

Jens Jäger: Globalisierte Bilder – Postkarten und Fotografie. Überlegungen zur medialen Verklammerung von "Ost" und "West", in: zeitenblicke 10 (2011), Nr. 2.

The article deals with the exchange of picture-postcards around 1900 and discusses several methodical questions. Like in a showcase, the globalizing world that way becomes manifest, clarifying how it affected foreign countries imaginations. Forwarded by formal as well as aesthetic aspects, notably regarding photographically illustrated postcards, a homogenized conviction emerged. While this philosophy permitted aberration and exoticism it nevertheless lined the outland with an occidental pattern. This (seemingly) embedded the depicted places into the own environment, like Reval (today Tallinn) in this particular case, made them appear accessible and perspicuous, and outfitted them with functional principles which were conform to those at home.

 

Andreas Renner: Im Bild des Feindes. Oder wie für General Stessel' der russisch-japanische Krieg verloren ging, in: zeitenblicke 10 (2011), Nr. 2.

The capture of the South-Manchurian fortress city of Port Arthur by Japanese troops in January 1905 marks a turning point of the Russo-Japanese War. This is tangible not only with regards to the military operations but also in view of the conflict being a media war in which photography for the first time served as a dominant medium. This article focuses on the analysis and interpretation of a Japanese photo depicting the surrender of Port Arthur. It shows the Japanese conqueror Nogi and his Russian opponent General Stessel' in surprising unanimity. What kind of story does this photo visualize? What about its perception? And how did it fit into the contemporary propaganda-strategy of the Japanese to present their East Asian island empire as a progressive, civilized Great Power at eye level? How did Tsarist Russia cope with this medial challenge? With reference to the inspected photo, the answer is that Stessel' was put down as an antihero, as a scapegoat for defeat. In early 1908, the former general was finally sentenced to death due to reputed assumption of authority and alleged incapacity.

 

Ute Caumanns: Der Teufel in Rot. Trockij und die Ikonographie des "jüdischen Bolschewismus" im polnisch-sowjetischen Krieg, 1919/20, in: zeitenblicke 10 (2011), Nr. 2.

Figurative displays like the Red Jewish Devil Trockij stand at the beginning of a complex Wirkungsgeschichte (effective history) of the construct of 'Jewish bolshevism': The October Revolution would be a Jewish one; its actual masterminds would be the Jews. This was the conspiracist's message which was initially advanced by "white" counterrevolutionary circles in Russia and then emanated west, notably towards the young Polish Republic. The article analyses the visual propaganda of the Jewish bolshevism by scanning the iconographic handling of Lev Trockij. It gained its proper dynamic during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919/20. The pictures fabricated at that time made the construction of Jewish bolshevism affectively perceptible by either demonizing or ridiculing the opponent. They concentrated on an, easily memorable, point and thus defined Jewish bolshevism.

 

Heidrun Hamersky : Subversive Bildstrategien: Ivan Kyncls Gerichts- und Gefängnisfotografien aus der Tschechoslowakei der 1970er Jahre im Kontext der Illustrierten Stern, in: zeitenblicke 10 (2011), Nr. 2.

Ivan Kyncl (1953-2004) obtained the name "photographer of Charta 77". Since 1977 he documented the everyday-life of the dissidents in Prague and, until his emigration in 1980, published photos in the western press using a pseudonym. The opus mainly acquired some special status in the context of the political opposition in the CSSR because of a convolute of photos which uncover governmental violence against political dissenters. Following the example of his court and prison photos, which were published in the German magazine "Der Stern", the article deals with the politically subversive potential of Kyncl's photography. His pictures are constructions which due to their exceptional motives and with the help of their prevalence in the media up to day shape our imaginations of the "Charta 77". Their visual effect becomes noticeable as they highlight the domestic power relations which yet point far beyond a pure documentation of precise persons and events.

 

Regine Schiermeyer: Gold für den "fotoclub ferrum". Die Erfolge der Betriebsfotogruppe "fotoclub ferrum" bei den Arbeiterfestspielen in der DDR, in: zeitenblicke 10 (2011), Nr. 2.

The "fotoclub ferrum" was one of the most famous and successful groups of non-professional photographers in the GDR. Particularly their pictures of the working routine as well as portrayals of workers won many decorations and were presented in a number of publications and exhibitions. To achieve this, motives and picture language had to match certain governmental specifications, because the government and the communist party hoped for a contribution to a socialistic sensitization. Especially sought-after were typical, heroically appearing illustrations of workingmen which should visualize the self-conception of the so-called "Arbeiterstaat" (workingmen's state). With its workingmen-pictures "fotoclub ferrum" could satisfy these expectations to a large extent. From the operative's point of view, not only the group's photos achieved the standards; with its highly distinctive merit principle "fotoclub ferrum" was, above all, considered commendable in organizational respect.

Erstellt von: RedaktionZB
Zuletzt verändert: 2011-12-21 05:04 PM