Ars: časopis Ústavu Dejín Umenia Slovenskej Akadémie Vied (44.2011)

STUDIE / ARTICLES

I.

ARS 44, 2011, 2

A Motif and Its Basal Layer.
The Haemorrhoissa (Mark 5.24-34) and the Interplay
of Iconological and Anthropological Research^

Liesbet KÜSTERS - Emma SIDGWICK

"7/ %y z?Jz///J A jo/? o/^TAyfi'.
Pi/rro Ao/x d 4A-*o/Ar."
(Georges Didi-Huberman)"
The anthropological turn taken by art history in
recent years has had multifarious impacts. Not only
hâve images corne to be understood in the context
of their rôles in (ritual) praxis and experience, have
attempts been made to erase the canonical boundary
between "high"' and "low" art, has a new icono-
logical sensitivity arisen/ but the conclusion has
also been reached that it is impossible to speak of
/A "image". The "image" Prahas come to be seen
as an anthropological phenomenon and has so been

' This article is part of the research project TA EzzřwzzrAzzgzA
1PA%%// (MzzA AzE-dT/W?/ l^zzoZzgzrARtwzzfA z'zzE Ař Ai^zzzz-
z'zzg y" z*A BAAz'zzg HA^zz z'zz AfřAřrAMzV (EhzEAEz/AzzA Cřzzz^ry).
Mzl<? zz CozzAA/z'czz E Ař zzzz2 AzzAz'zzg TzAo Ař Eztz
A AEArzzz/y funded by the Research Funding of the Catholic
University Leuven (2008 — 2012), under promotorship of
prof. Dr. Barbara Baert. Barbara Baert and Ldesbet Küsters
are art historians. Emma Sidgwick is an anthropologist.
^ DIDI-HUBERMAN, G.: Elzzzzgř czzrřEř. Aízz/ýr A /z'zzrzzz*zzzztz3zz
2zzzzr /i?r zzEr ErzzA. Paris 2007, p. 43.
See BAERT, B.: The Gendered Visage. Facets of the Vera
Icon. In: MzzzzzzA o/ Ař Hzztzrřzp RyyA Aizzr^zzw, 2000, pp.
10-34; BAERT, B.: The Wood, the Water, and the Foot,
or How the Queen of Sheba Met up with the True Cross.
With Emphasis on the Northern European Iconography. In:
A4z/%zAzzg<?zzzzzzzf R^/gz3zzg^rAz'AE, 16, 2004, pp.
217-278; BAERT, B.: The Washing Wound. Late-Medieval

liberated from its one-sided art-historical captivity as
an abstract "art object" isolated against a museum
wall. A more open concept, inspired by Aby Warburg
(1877 — 1929), has become paramountd
This has recently been achieved by reinserting the
image into a triadic relationship. The "image" is not
an unchanging independent thing, but arises in the
correlating medium-image-body relationshiph This
relationship is anthropologically variable, unmooring
the "status" of the "image" from ňxed values. It is
important that within this relationship the emphasis
is shifted: it is not the "image" itself that is crucial,
but the viewer as an embodied créature. From this
perspective, a signihcant parallel can be seen with,
Ideas Concerning Christ as Fons Pietatis. In: AFz/EzAzzgřzz
ArEb/Aípo/ígA zzz/2 R^AzzgřrAzAE, 16, 2004, pp. 177-215;
BAERT, B.: Wasserkrug und Kamm. Verena von Zurzach als
Kasus für die Grenzen und Möglichkeiten der ikonologischen
Methode. In: OrErrEAzAA ZArAzT/T/A FóAAz///A, 60,2006,
pp. 35-62; BAERT, B.: Noli me tangere. Six Exercises in Image
Theory and Iconophilia. In: E%zgř zzzzz/ AUrfďEyř. E'zAzzzgř Ar
HzzAz/r E /zAzzgř Ar AEArwr; P^rzzzzzzzřzzrř 2^rpro^zbwAzyzzřr, 15,
2006, http://www.imageandnarrative.be/iconoclasm/baert.
htm; BAERT, B.: Hierotopy, Jerusalem and the Legend of
the Wood of the Cross. In: MrAzz^rr. ÖAAy z'zz /A Ezrz'ory <?/
RE^zczzr, 11-12, 2007 - 2008, pp. 95-116.
^ Exempláry for this revival is for example DIDI-HUBER-
MAN, G.: EE%zg<? rz/zv/Az/zzL* E'rAzE A /iztf E A/zpr Ar/zzzzAzzz^r
rEczz MA IHzAzzzy. Paris 2002.
^ BELTING, H.: Bz'E-MzzAz"<A^4fE Ezzz'zA//? Ar Azzř Bz7zAz'r-
r^zzrAA München 2001, p. 11.

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