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The paper investigates one of the most complex cases of visualizing leftist ideology from a critical, but nevertheless definitely leftist point of view within the Eastern Bloc — the case of László Lakner. Whatever way Lakner’s art can be related to several neo-avant-garde artistic strategies that ironically appropriate leftist symbols, in Lakner’s work, signs and symbols of communist ideology seem to be more than mere appropriated elements of a criticized visual and ideological system. Lakner was consistently looking for a system-critical, but leftist standpoint from the middle of the 1960s until his emigration in 1974. In this paper some examples of Lakner’s activity from this period are presented and the paper explores how he evoked documents and central figures of leftist movements, and how he used the iconography of socialist painting in a very peculiar way. The question whether some of his artistic strategies could be related to Marxist philosophy is also considered. The title of the paper refers to a conceptual drawing of the same title by Lakner that can be seen and read as an ambiguous tribute to Karl Marx.
Aelius Caesar’s Pannonia coin in light of Hadrian’s succession politics. Pannonia province’s first securely identified personification is found on one of Aelius Caesar’s coin reverses, minted in 137. A.D. Its occurrence can be explained with that he was the newly designated heir to the throne, who was sent to govern both Pannonia Inferior and Superior. Its iconography that is based on Hadrian’s Concordia exercituum coin from 119–120/121, has a clear message, which calls upon the inhabitants of the empire and especially the soldiers to swear allegiance and loyalty to the new heir. It is interesting to see that both Trajan and Hadrian were in command of a large number of troops, when they came to power, just like Aelius. Putting the designated heir in charge of a considerable military strength was a well working way to secure that the throne was passed on to whom it was intended to. Pannonia’s further importance lay in its strategic geographical position, because it was a territory that was in charge of a large army, but was also located closest to Rome.
Near Csákvár, in the so-called Báraczháza cave there are relics of an antique Diana cult. A number of inscriptions can be found before and within the cave system, part of them known from the 18 th c., part of them unpublished. The two main passages of the cave seem to have been the sanctuary. In the left passage the Diana idol carved into the stone remained, its iconography is nearly unique, and fits to a provincial cult based on pre-Roman, Celtic or Pannon background. At the end of the right passage there is a strange short inscription with a phallic symbol scratched into the wall, which may refer to the divine pair of the local Diana goddess, called most likely Silvanus. The statue and some inscriptions were made, and consequently the sanctuary was certainly used in the Severan Era, and probably remained in use until the later 4 th c., when the spreading Christianity must have finished the cult, although the possible Christograms in the walls of the cave cannot be taken doubtless as signs for that; the cave contains some early New Age inscriptions too.
In the following article, Jarmo Valkola investigates the originality of the Hungarian director Béla Tarr’s filmmaking practice. Tarr represents European pictorialism that is motivated by the commitment to develop and increase the function and effectiveness of images, sounds and performances that aesthetically formulate, translate and change the effects of contemporary cinema to higher dimensions and qualities of art. Tarr emphasises the selective and manipulative role of the camera in orchestrating his narrative concerns. The significance of the form comes forward, and the photographic dimension of the narrative creates static and momentarily captured intensities. Like Jancsó before him, Tarr also invests the narrative with plan-sequences. Some of them can be very long, involving continuous and intricate camera movements, like simultaneous track-tilt-pans, compounded by the ‘virtual’ movement of the omnipresent camera. Tarr’s filmic iconography sets standards for pictorial filmmaking in the sense of an increasingly personal touch of dramatics defining and distilling a cinematic language that is endless in its search for the almost silent colloquy between the artist’s visions and aspirations. Sátántangó, Werckmeister Harmonies, The Man from London, and The Turin Horse are the films referred in this article.
Krisztus a lélek patikusa és orvossága
Christ, the apothecary and medicine of the soul
Abstract
Art historical and ethnographic literature has elaborated in detail the cultic history and iconography of Christ as Apothecary, the first synthesis of which theme does credit to Wolfgang-Hagen Hein. He found the patristic roots of the theme in St Augustine's Easter sermon “De doctrina christianae”, in which Christ is “ipse medicus”, “ipsa medicina” (doctor and medicine himself). In his book of 2002 Fritz Krafft also addressed himself to the theme. He names the eucharist, the oil and wine of the chemist as signs of the catholic sacramental liturgy. The ethnographic implications were exposed by Lenz Kriss-Rettenbeck and Leopold Schmidt. The earliest representation is the illumination in a manuscript of around 1519–1528 in which Christ is writing out a prescription for the first parents Adam and Eve. The picture type was disseminated in oil and glass paintings over the 17th and 18th centuries. The listed works are complemented with the presented copperplate engravings in the author's collection and the painted picture from the one-time pharmacy of the Ursulines in Vienna.
Dávid és Jónátán
A szerelem és a barátság allegóriája
David and Jonathan
Allegory of love and friendship
The friendship of David and Jonathan is known from the Books of Samuel in the Old Testament. The presentation of the robe, the sword, the bow and the belt is the token of covenant. David’s death lament, an elegy over Jonathan’s bow given to him was called the bow song. Gottfried Bernhard Göz, a painter and graphic artist of Moravian origin working in Augsburg captured the story in an engraving with dotting. His rococo compositions were models for several painters. The oil painting in the diocesan museum of Székesfehérvár was probably made in Göz’s workshop.
The same theme features on the obverse of a 17th century silver coin recently included in the author’s collection. (The German legend reads ICH WILL DIR THUN WAS DEIN HERZ BEGEHRT – SAM. 20. V. 4) The reverse of the medal also expresses fraternity through the figures of Abraham and Lot (inscribed: WIR SIND GEBRUDER – Gen. 13. v. 8.) with well-to-do shepherds and their livestock in the background.
The art of Göz, his excellent knowledge of the Holy Writ and its use in allegories of vitues help us better interpret the baroque iconography.
In this paper I shall describe several iconographic documents attesting the resounding success of a few Dionysiac themes and, more generally, the vitality of Dionysism in the Augustan Age. These materials confirm that in the years of the triumph of Augustus no dichotomy between Dionysus and Apollo was perceived. Amidst the late civil war of the Roman Republic what was fearful was Antony regardless of his identification to Dionysus. Indeed, Dionysus, as Liber, civilizing god, benefactor of Mankind and winner of every enemy and threat, represented an ideal model for young Octavianus, in the same way as Romulus, Hercules and the Dioscouri had proven. In particular, the iconographies highlight that even the particular Dionysiac cult practised by Antony, influenced as it was by Hellenistic beliefs, continued to enjoy great status during the years of the new Augustan era. Indeed, in the first years of his government Augustus might well have taken advantage of the semantic of the Hellenistic royalty, implied by the symbolism inherent within the Alexandrine Dionysus triumphant.
Summary
The paper analyses the textual and visual representations of King Matthias Corvinus in the light of Antique physiognomical theories. I intend to focus mainly on those descriptions and portraits which were influenced by the lion's physiognomy. The last chapter deals also with the portraits of Matthias, but with the Attila-faun-like images. The Antique theories of physiognomy have contributed to a more exact interpretation of his images and the physiognomical comparison has resulted a more shaded picture about his iconography, even in the case of the Attila-faun-type portraits where we cannot study such clear-cut intentions. Due to the research we can place plausibly the leonine images of King Matthias among the Renaissance state-portraits after having taken into consideration the king's political intentions as well. The examination of the sources has resulted that the role of Galeotto Marzio must have been crucial in mediating the physiognomical theories towards the Buda court. I have also demonstrated that in his work physiognomy appears as an element of the theoriesrelated to good governance.
Une oeuvre inconnue de Robert Boyvin à Budapest
Et les cycles vétéro-testamentaires dans les livres d'heures de Roue
Summary
The Book of Hours Cod. Lat. 227 of the Széchényi National Library in Budapest was illuminated in Rouen at the end of the 15th century with a series of scenes from the Ancient Testament. It can be compared both in style and in iconography with the ms. W. 224 in the Baltimore Walters Art Museum, the ms. 5 in the Cherbourg Bibliothèque municipale and the ms. H. 1 of the Pierpont Morgan Library. In the manuscripts of Baltimore and Cherbourg the most of the typological connections were borrowed from the Speculum humanae salvationis and the compositions go back to the Lyon edition of 1478. The typological connections and the compositions in the Budapest manuscript follow an edition of the Biblia pauperum blockbook. The Cherbourg manuscript was illuminated in the workshop of the Master of the Échevinage de Rouen, the other three Books of Hours were painted by Robert Boyvin, a miniaturist working one generation later. The miniatures of the manuscript in Budapest presumably preserve some lost compositions of the Master of the Échevinage de Rouen.
In the 1920s, the architects belonging to the so-called Cracow School faced the challenge of creating public buildings to suit the needs of the re-born state administration as well as the challenge of defining the iconography and symbolism with which it could be identified. The School’s strong position soon after Poland regained independence was due to the fact that Cracow was the most important Polish artistic center at the time. From 1901, operated there the Association of Polish Applied Art, which through various publications, contests, and exhibitions, looked for a Polish national style based on Polish vernacular art and European modernism. The artists belonging to the Association, and later to the Cracow Workshops, best suited the artistic needs of the re-born state. Apart from being commissioned to carry out various prestigious projects, many of them also reached top positions at Art Academies, which had fundamental significance for the development of the Polish arts. The history of the Cracow School represents an appropriate background for a vast analysis of the relations between the arts and politics and also economic and social factors in Central Europe during the interwar period.
