Michele Di Monte

National Gallery of Old Art Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy

The paper aims at critically assessing two main connected topics. On the one hand, the theoretical, philosophical and epistemological underpinnings of the concept of historical otherness that is an essential condition for the construction of the “Renaissance” as an epoch-making, aesthetic and artistic category. On the other hand, the enduring resurfacing, in recent scholarship, of the very concept of otherness, indebted to the philosophical background of Panofsky and his forerunners, a debt often overlooked even within those projects — Visual Studies, Visual Anthropology and similia — fashioning themselves as breaking with traditional art history.

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Viktor Vlasov

Saint Petersburg State University, Russia

In the age “after postmodernism” studies of post-Renaissance art go beyond the traditional history and are governed by the rules of the systematic interdisciplinary approach. In the second half of the 20th century the development of structural linguistics promoted the emergence of post-structuralism. Here the classical “world view” is interpreted as a transition from chaos to order. The purpose of this new method is to study phenomena and processes as dynamic self-organizing systems. It is assumed that the laws of self-organization are universal, meaning the transition from lower to higher forms, and therefore applicable to the study of classical art and culture. Thus we can call the art systems “dissipative” (from lat. dissipatio — “dispersion”). The features of dissipative structures were first described by I. R. Prigogine in 1947. According to him, a part of the energy of regular processes can go over to the energy of irregular processes. Therefore, in the so-called non-equilibrium systems unexpected qualitative leaps can lead to a more complex internal structure. This is true for the artist’s behaviour and for the structure of creative process. Works of art represent a unique fusion of universal laws, individual characteristics and unpredictable factors. This understanding of art is essential for the “Theory of progressive cyclic development of art” by F. I. Schmit. The article shows the prospects for further development of this theory.

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Nonna Yakovleva

The Union of artist of Russia, Russia

Chronological typology is a version of the dynamic system as description of developing integrity. It is based on genre as type of artistic image — an ideal element of artwork encoded in the material. Artistic image forms a necessary core at all levels of genre typology, starting from unique artwork, whose properties are intrinsic to all levels of the system, up to the artistic image of the world. In actual artistic process every genre is characterized by special form and content, has a necessary and sufficient composition of figurative elements, which are connected in special structure, and fulfil its inherent functions. Primary elements of the artistic image at all levels of the system are the images of man, society, civilization as the second or man-made nature, divine nature and perfect spiritual reality in inexhaustible variety. Genre chronological typology is a hierarchical dynamic system, whose properties are manifested to different extents in various art forms, genres, genre associations (systems). The process of genre creation is similar to individual artistic creation. Genres and genre systems arise in response to external challenges, develop according to internal program (code of self-development) and under the influence of impulses of multilayer environment (context). After creation of a special artistic image, they continue their development in the individual and collective perception. Local genres in the system are adjacent to the plurality of intermediate or transitional forms of genre. The theoretical model of genre chronological typology was tested on the material of Russian painting of Modernity. This model: (a) provides a system of options for the research of individual genres and genre associations (the term of G. K. Wagner) in their growth and development; (b) makes it possible to describe all the complex of the world art as a coherent genre system in its diversity of types; (c) identifies the intrinsic logic of the artistic process and endogenous factors of art development.

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Daria Grigoryeva

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

The world of objects in visual art as subject of semiotics can be regarded as integral system, with its own structure, hierarchy, laws of combination of parts, features and functions, as well as the ability to change and “to be transcoded”. In this context the “world of objects” is defined as a set of objects of the material world, depicted in works of art. Whereas the world of objects is a sign system, we can talk about the language of objects (representation) in art and its communicative function.
The semiotic approach makes distinction between the object in its usual meaning and the depicted object as part of the sign system.
The aim is to identify the range of issues in semiotic interpretation of the world of objects and to identify the features, functions and structure of the system, based on the semiotic studies of Yuri Lotman, Roland Barthes and other scholars.
The world of objects represents a subsystem in the system of visual arts. It can play a major or subordinated role in different genres and be of various relevance for the semantics of particular image. For example, the insignia and marks of honour depicted in a portrait indicate the status of the portrayed person. The set of objects may create a semantic field: skull, clock and fading flowers in a still life stay for vanitas, but in genre painting clock may not have memento mori meaning. Thus an important factor is the context, overlapping and interpenetrating elements of adjacent systems in terms of semiosphere.
According to Yuri Lotman, any part of the semiotic structure bears the mechanism of reconstruction of the entire system, therefore analysis of objects depicted in a particular case can produce a basis for understanding the general principles in representation of the world of objects. In our case study we will examine the world of objects in satiric graphics by William Hogarth, both in the context of Rococo and British Enlightenment.

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