Narrative Painting

This International PhD thesis is in Spanish and with the Intro and Conclusions of each chapter and final conclusions in English.
[ESPAÑOL MÁS ABAJO]


"In this so-called "storytelling society" or exacerbated narrativity we are interested in the analysis of culture and its products, as we understand that it’s there where the most persuasive narratives of neo-liberalism are produced. After all, we are of the opinion that culture is that grand narrative that subsumes today’s politics, economy, religion and philosophy. In lieu of the discredit of the so-called grand narratives and its structures—family, church, parliament, school, university—this cultural capitalism or “corporativist culturalism” has generated a cosmopolitan, multicultural and pragmatic narrative. A narrative that is attractive and persuasive while it pretends to be, above all, credible.

From the field of the visual arts and its capacity to generate critical discourses with relation to the society it takes part in, we are interested in analyzing today’s hyper-narrative society by means of its narratives and cultural products.

This hyper-narrativity has degenerated into what has recently been termed as “infodemic” or informative pandemic. We suggest thus, as filter or counterpower, the concept of “credibility” departing from the research of history painting as a traditional machine for manufacturing stories, as well as from other intra-artistic and extra-artistic media—e.g. photography, television or social media—in order to apprehend in a critical manner the narratives of contemporary society."

Keywords:
Narrativity – Credibility –Art History – Cultural Studies – Visual Studies – History Painting –Post-Truth –Fake News –Anti-History Painting – Charisma – Max Weber –Trust and Confidence – Niklas Luhmann – Media Confidence – Video – Video Games – Film

ESPAÑOL

En esta sociedad del denominado "storytelling" o narratividad exacerbada nos interesa analizar la cultura y sus productos dado que entendemos que es ahí donde se manifiestan los relatos más persuasivos del neo-liberalismo. Al fin y al cabo, pensamos que la cultura es ese gran relato que ha subsumido a la política, la economía, la religión o la filosofía. Ante la disfunción de las denominadas grandes narrativas y sus estructuras –familia, iglesia, parlamento, escuela, universidad– este capitalismo cultural o  “corporativismo culturalista” ha generado un relato cultural cosmopolita, multicultural y pragmático. Un relato atractivo y persuasivo que pretende ser, sobre todo, creíble. Desde nuestro campo de las artes visuales y su capacidad de generar discursos críticos con respecto a las sociedades en las que se hallan incardinados, nos interesa analizar la hiper-narratividad de la sociedad actual a través de sus relatos y productos culturales.

Esta hiper-narratividad ha degenerado en lo que recientemente se ha denominado “infodemia” o pandemia informativa. Proponemos entonces el concepto de “credibilidad”, apoyándonos tanto en el estudio de la pintura de historia como máquina tradicional de manufacturar relatos como en otros medios intra-artísticos y extra-artísticos, como la fotografía, la televisión o los medios sociales, para aprehender de manera crítica los relatos de la sociedad contemporánea.

Palabras clave
Narratividad – Credibilidad – Historia del Arte – Estudios Culturales – Estudios Visuales–Pintura de Historia –Posverdad – Fake News – Anti-pintura de historia – Max Weber – Confianza – Niklas Luhmann – Confianza Mediática – Video – Videojuegos – Cine

"As such, I want to tackle three topics: 1) how excess has traditionally been the exclusive monopoly of history painting within the visual arts; 2) how history painting lost its artistic preeminence but its function was taken up by other media like photography, film, video, installation and even television, among others; 3) how the artistic configured the political through its experimental and educational function." [...]

"What is commonly accepted is that politics influences art, but the way from art to politics is poorly acknowledged. Both politicians and audiences receive images that stem from painting, films, theater, novels, and so on. Seeing, as Murray Edelman argues, is a constructed process and although some people may not experience these works of art directly, they do indirectly via television, Internet, and social media. Many of the virtues and vices displayed in the political arena like ambition, power, generosity, authority, philanthropy, and leadership derive directly and indirectly from art. They are based on social, political, and psychological myths and values from the artistic field (Edelman, 1995, pp. 1-5). In other words: art manufactures the images that define our world. As a catalyst, it provides images and creates situations that are strange, provocative, utopian, engaging or radical and by doing so it ends up configuring the political regime." [...]

--> Essay "Painting History, Manufacturing Excess: How the Artistic Configures the Political" in "Art, Excess, and Education: Historical and Discursive Contents", edited by Kevin Tavin, Mira Kallio-Tavin and Max Ryynänen (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 39-51

Rhythm 69 appropriates (and by this I mean it confiscates, deforms, transforms and re-contextualises) works by William Morris, Kazimir Malevich and Hans Richter. During their lives the work of these three artists was considered, in different ways, to be artistically and socially radical, but today their practices are seen as somewhat “dead” and lacking in critical potential. In Rhythm 69 I see if it is possible to create a new burst of energy and life out of their work.
http://www.uqtr.ca/AE/Vol_15/ReadingMatters/Reading_matters_Rhythm69_intro.htm

In recent years historians have significantly refined our understanding of the role played by the cittadini originari in Venetian government service, mercantile trade, charitable institutions, religious practice, and civic ceremony. A series of laws, ratified by the Council of Ten between 1478-1569, registers the evolving juridical definition of the cittadini originari as it began to gain official government recognition. During these years, the cittadini initiated their own socio-political program, both formal and informal, to define their prerogatives as Venice’s emergent “second aristocracy.” My paper considers the complex, monumental Bellinesque narrative cycle for the Scuola Grande di San Marco (1504-34) – a wealthy lay confraternity governed by the cittadini originari – as visual component of this political program, projecting the social identity of the burgeoning class to fellow and future members, as well as to visiting patricians, as it endeavoured to expand its legal rights.

Before Modernism, narrative painting was one of the most acclaimed and challenging modes of picture-making in Western art, yet by the early twentieth century storytelling had all but disappeared from ambitious art. France was a key player in both the dramatic rise and the controversial demise of narrative art. This is the first book to analyse French painting in relation to narrative, from Poussin in the early seventeenth to Gauguin in the late nineteenth century. Thirteen original essays shed light on key moments and aspects of narrative and French painting through the study of artists such as Nicolas Poussin, Charles Le Brun, Jacques-Louis David, Paul Delaroche, Gustave Moreau, and Paul Gauguin. Using a range of theoretical perspectives, the authors study key issues such as temporality, theatricality, word-and-image relations, the narrative function of inanimate objects, the role played by viewers, and the ways in which visual narrative has been bound up with history painting. The book offers a fresh look at familiar material, as well as studying some little-known works of art, and reveals the centrality and complexity of narrative in French painting over the course of three centuries.

Rhythm 69 appropriates (and by this I mean it confiscates, deforms, transforms and re-contextualises) works by William Morris, Kazimir Malevich and Hans Richter. During their lives the work of these three artists was considered, in different ways, to be artistically and socially radical, but today their practices are seen as somewhat “dead” and lacking in critical potential. In Rhythm 69 I see if it is possible to create a new burst of energy and life out of their work.