Papers by The real Savage
Discuss the origins and use of symbols and types in early and / or later Christian Art; you may c... more Discuss the origins and use of symbols and types in early and / or later Christian Art; you may choose, for example, to discuss the images found in Roman catacombs, or in the historiated initials and miniatures of illuminated manuscripts. Include a discussion of how typology was essential to an understanding of 'Salvation History' (Heilsgeschichte)? Symbols and types were prominent interpretive devices in Christian imagery from its earliest expression in the second century. This essay discusses the manifestation of symbols and types in Western Christian art, from the third to the sixth centuries, as exemplified by four main image groups and artworks, from funerary, ecclesial and manuscript contexts. An attempt will be made to show how, despite the continued primacy of text in Christianity, images gained increasing agency with deployment of the visual expression of Christian typology in increasingly sophisticated ways. Understanding the meaning and significance of symbolic and typological images, has almost always required artists and viewers of Christian art to be familiar with biblical and exegetical sources. These sources include the scriptures, exegetical treatises, sermons, pedagogical and liturgical documents and catechetical lessons, in both written form and orally performed for the illiterate members of the early Church. 1
This question could be seen in the context of the contemporary art world's search for what it mea... more This question could be seen in the context of the contemporary art world's search for what it means to make art today. 1 According to philosopher Jacques Ranciere, that search is symptomatic of "the erasure of the visibility of art as a distinct practice" which, he says, defines contemporary art now. 2
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Papers by The real Savage