DOI issue:
Nr. 1
DOI article:Bałus, Wojciech: Jan Białostocki and George Kubler: in an attempt to catch up with the system
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31178#0130
It seems that Bialostocki's failure to construct a
methodological systém of art history was caused by
paradigmatic conditionings. In the year 1970, Polish
philosopher and cathoiic priest Józef Tischner pub-
iished an article entitled "Schyiek chrzešcijanstwa
tomistycznego" (Dechne of Thomist Christianity),
thereby initiating a ten-year long stormy philosophi-
cal debate. One of the arguments which he ušed
concerned the continuai efforts of Thomism to
create a dosed and exhaustive systém which would
constitute a synthesis of "G/77A222272 22772/ ZA^
72222/227^1* o/ 27222/Yet, according to the
author, ry72ZAW were a thing of the past;
they belonged to a different epoch. For although
Y-xpZt/M/ory yt72ZAj*&f", he wrote, 077<? /o zA'72/è
27/7022Z 27 J*22/ý?2*Z, J/^Z Z/?řy AT 770Z 272%W 0772* /O g^Z /O /%722W
/Z".*" This diagnosis was to some extent in accord
with Lyotarďs report on the state of knowledge of
1979. Thinking, thatis story-telling, and "Gr^FAT??*-
7-27Z2W were receding into the shadow. What began
to count now in science and learning was concrète
cognition, that is, effectivenessA Art history had also
experienced its time of It was as-
sociated with the formalist attitude, when it was art
understood in general terms' that was regarded as
the aim of research. The methodological approaches
proposed by Riegl, WölfHin or Focillon allowed one
to tell long stories about stylistic transformations and
to thmk in terms of the category of TGwZi^oT^, of
"pT/TT mdw" or independent 7/^2*7721*", yet they
did not provide sufhcient instruments to penetrate
into an individual work of art. Kubler's book seems
to belong to this way of interpreting art history. Al-
though the author wanted to deal with the "AkZory gf
zA'TTyt", he was not interested in the functional aspects
of objects (such as the traditional history of material
^ TISCHNER, J.: Schyiek chrzešcijanstwa tomistycznego [De-
chne of Thomist Christianity], In: TISCHNER, J.: AígáAiř
%^2/Zag [Thinking by Values]. Krakow 1982, p. 222 .
Ibidem, p. 223.
^ LYOTARD, ].-E: TAPcErwArT? Manchester 1984,
chapters 8-11.
That is how 1 understand the sense of the concept of "CD/A
Ahrrďizyř". — LOCHER, H.: ^Zr AVchvZř TZ22E2
RT77JÍ, 7 7J0 - / PiO. München 2001.
culture), nor — God forbid — in their cultural sense
(which constitutes the nucleus of research of Con-
temporary anthropology) A From things he distilled
their visual form, treating it as the titular "rATA A
Z2AA. Yet by doing so, he founded his methodology
on an irrational, illusory "mental" category which
was perceptible only through the conséquences
of activity. TA?<? is to be recorded in the form of
Therefore, we are returning to Focillon and
his conceptions. Yet through the formula of o/
/oüwi", we are going back even further in time, to
the concept of for which life was
perceptible not directly, but exclusively, as Dilthey
wrote, "Z/AoT/yZ? /Zt üvZg'T^TyMZ/^F'A Similarly, one
could get to know K2277J*Z%7oA77 exclusively indirectly,
through works of art.
The new approach resigned from systematic am-
bitions, focusing on the individual work of art. In his
review of Kubier, Bialostocki wrote that "A^o/yyy'
TMA^'Z^AAA'A^/^orGy/ ^Z. 'FfAZortyf /A'yyFAAf
7772'ZA 1*^22^772*^7, /Zf to/Ayg y/iKzZ?27772/
Í2*07727Zyyy Z77A ZoyAF 022Z Z/?ř 22Ay22^ 222&772277y
21* Z^roT/yZ? ZZ^2* 227727222'yör777 27? 22 tg^rZ^F Fo7^
ZAi' ^2tZ07^ 0/* ZATyF, (777ř 7^277*^ 2t o/' A'ZZ/7 277Zi'ri'tZ.' 2*Z 2t 2Zt
t/AAi, t^22^77^t, 27722/ gi*77^r27/ A^l* 7"22Z277y 2Zt fi'AZ2'077t AZZ^
0ZZ?f7^ TÜOTAt - 277 ^77Z2'077, 7"y)22'2*27Z2'077^ 7^i*Z^77Z2077 27772/ A'l*2*277t/
— Z^Z/Zrw Z/óř o/yi?<T yf r^27f2*Z?."^" It was not important
at that point whether and to what extent iconology
was really able to focus on the uniqueness of the
individual works of art, for it rather quickly dissolved
them in the cosmos of culture, that is, it reverted to
"CT27772/ jY2277*27Z2M7r''. The essential thing was that in
the above-cited fragment, Bialostocki drew atten-
tion to the effectiveness of becoming acquainted
with a single painting or sculpture and thereby shed
light on the bipolar character of his own approach.
^ BARANSKI,J.: YA^ZTypryy. 277222*27)VogLyzp/ [The World
of Things. An Anthropological Outline]. Krakow 2007, pp.
7-32.
^ DILTHEY, W: Typy šwiatopogAdów ich rozwiniçcie w
systemach metahzycznych [Types of Outlooks and Their De-
velopment in Various Metaphysical Systems]. In: DILTHEY,
W: O irZchřAKA? ? 272722yüvaM [On the Nature of Philosophy
and Other Writings]. Warszawa 1987, p. 120.
4° Review of Kubier, p. 138.
124
methodological systém of art history was caused by
paradigmatic conditionings. In the year 1970, Polish
philosopher and cathoiic priest Józef Tischner pub-
iished an article entitled "Schyiek chrzešcijanstwa
tomistycznego" (Dechne of Thomist Christianity),
thereby initiating a ten-year long stormy philosophi-
cal debate. One of the arguments which he ušed
concerned the continuai efforts of Thomism to
create a dosed and exhaustive systém which would
constitute a synthesis of "G/77A222272 22772/ ZA^
72222/227^1* o/ 27222/Yet, according to the
author, ry72ZAW were a thing of the past;
they belonged to a different epoch. For although
Y-xpZt/M/ory yt72ZAj*&f", he wrote, 077<? /o zA'72/è
27/7022Z 27 J*22/ý?2*Z, J/^Z Z/?řy AT 770Z 272%W 0772* /O g^Z /O /%722W
/Z".*" This diagnosis was to some extent in accord
with Lyotarďs report on the state of knowledge of
1979. Thinking, thatis story-telling, and "Gr^FAT??*-
7-27Z2W were receding into the shadow. What began
to count now in science and learning was concrète
cognition, that is, effectivenessA Art history had also
experienced its time of It was as-
sociated with the formalist attitude, when it was art
understood in general terms' that was regarded as
the aim of research. The methodological approaches
proposed by Riegl, WölfHin or Focillon allowed one
to tell long stories about stylistic transformations and
to thmk in terms of the category of TGwZi^oT^, of
"pT/TT mdw" or independent 7/^2*7721*", yet they
did not provide sufhcient instruments to penetrate
into an individual work of art. Kubler's book seems
to belong to this way of interpreting art history. Al-
though the author wanted to deal with the "AkZory gf
zA'TTyt", he was not interested in the functional aspects
of objects (such as the traditional history of material
^ TISCHNER, J.: Schyiek chrzešcijanstwa tomistycznego [De-
chne of Thomist Christianity], In: TISCHNER, J.: AígáAiř
%^2/Zag [Thinking by Values]. Krakow 1982, p. 222 .
Ibidem, p. 223.
^ LYOTARD, ].-E: TAPcErwArT? Manchester 1984,
chapters 8-11.
That is how 1 understand the sense of the concept of "CD/A
Ahrrďizyř". — LOCHER, H.: ^Zr AVchvZř TZ22E2
RT77JÍ, 7 7J0 - / PiO. München 2001.
culture), nor — God forbid — in their cultural sense
(which constitutes the nucleus of research of Con-
temporary anthropology) A From things he distilled
their visual form, treating it as the titular "rATA A
Z2AA. Yet by doing so, he founded his methodology
on an irrational, illusory "mental" category which
was perceptible only through the conséquences
of activity. TA?<? is to be recorded in the form of
Therefore, we are returning to Focillon and
his conceptions. Yet through the formula of o/
/oüwi", we are going back even further in time, to
the concept of for which life was
perceptible not directly, but exclusively, as Dilthey
wrote, "Z/AoT/yZ? /Zt üvZg'T^TyMZ/^F'A Similarly, one
could get to know K2277J*Z%7oA77 exclusively indirectly,
through works of art.
The new approach resigned from systematic am-
bitions, focusing on the individual work of art. In his
review of Kubier, Bialostocki wrote that "A^o/yyy'
TMA^'Z^AAA'A^/^orGy/ ^Z. 'FfAZortyf /A'yyFAAf
7772'ZA 1*^22^772*^7, /Zf to/Ayg y/iKzZ?27772/
Í2*07727Zyyy Z77A ZoyAF 022Z Z/?ř 22Ay22^ 222&772277y
21* Z^roT/yZ? ZZ^2* 227727222'yör777 27? 22 tg^rZ^F Fo7^
ZAi' ^2tZ07^ 0/* ZATyF, (777ř 7^277*^ 2t o/' A'ZZ/7 277Zi'ri'tZ.' 2*Z 2t 2Zt
t/AAi, t^22^77^t, 27722/ gi*77^r27/ A^l* 7"22Z277y 2Zt fi'AZ2'077t AZZ^
0ZZ?f7^ TÜOTAt - 277 ^77Z2'077, 7"y)22'2*27Z2'077^ 7^i*Z^77Z2077 27772/ A'l*2*277t/
— Z^Z/Zrw Z/óř o/yi?<T yf r^27f2*Z?."^" It was not important
at that point whether and to what extent iconology
was really able to focus on the uniqueness of the
individual works of art, for it rather quickly dissolved
them in the cosmos of culture, that is, it reverted to
"CT27772/ jY2277*27Z2M7r''. The essential thing was that in
the above-cited fragment, Bialostocki drew atten-
tion to the effectiveness of becoming acquainted
with a single painting or sculpture and thereby shed
light on the bipolar character of his own approach.
^ BARANSKI,J.: YA^ZTypryy. 277222*27)VogLyzp/ [The World
of Things. An Anthropological Outline]. Krakow 2007, pp.
7-32.
^ DILTHEY, W: Typy šwiatopogAdów ich rozwiniçcie w
systemach metahzycznych [Types of Outlooks and Their De-
velopment in Various Metaphysical Systems]. In: DILTHEY,
W: O irZchřAKA? ? 272722yüvaM [On the Nature of Philosophy
and Other Writings]. Warszawa 1987, p. 120.
4° Review of Kubier, p. 138.
124