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- Convenor:
-
Alice Santiago Faria
(CHAM-NOVA FCSH-UAc)
Send message to Convenor
- Location:
- Bloco 1, Sala 1.12
- Start time:
- 12 July, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
This panel will focus on water as a vital element, contemplated and regarded throughout humankind history. Several visions and representation will be presented here in a broadly chronological perspective.
Long Abstract:
The water is a vital element for life. Humans need it to drink, to touch, play, and humans' imaginary has always been inspired by representations of water. It is a vital resource but a mystic element at the same time. In this sense, in different contexts or in different states, water was always represented by men, since pre-historic times till nowadays. Rivers, lagoons, the sea and all natural conditions that hold water were always an attractive place for living and represented in different ways.
Is this panel we are going to discuss different perspectives and representations of the"water" element. Being difficult to reproduce water can be represented schematically or symbolically depending on the look of the observer, the writer, the artist or simply the gazer.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Globes, frescos and mythological paintings in the library and exotic plants and animals in the abbey’s garden pavilion reflect the 18th century scholarly curiosity, the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment combined with the tradition of humanism and an abbot’s or monastery’s need for representation.
Paper long abstract:
Globes symbolizing the owners power, scholarliness, knowledge, wealth and as means of representation can be found in courtly libraries but also in monastic context. The frontispiece of the 1774 library catalogue of Melk Abbey depicts a globe by Vincenzo Coronelli. A pair of Coronelli globes, a celestial and a terrestrial globe, and painted globes at the ceiling fresco were part of the idea of the baroque universal library. Globes and their power to represent the world, guidebooks, botanical publications by Jacquin are found in the library but not only there. Scholarly curiosity combined with the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment were expressed by the exotic paintings in the garden pavilion by Johann Wenzel Bergl (1718-1789). Model for them were the famous Indes tapestries: exotic scenery full of wild plants and animals. These 1763/64 paintings illustrate the contemporary nostalgia for the Lost Paradise. A few years later Bergl painted the ceilings of two smaller library rooms, Apollo Musagetes and Aphrodite in a conch chariot accompanied by marine animals. Once the collection of minerals, conches, coins and medals was situated in the natural history library room and to some of the objects of the collection Bergl referred when he painted Aphrodite's surroundings.
Paper short abstract:
In art the importance and meaning of water in human life can be attested by its constant appearance throughout the history of art, whether as a representation or as an integral material in the work.
Paper long abstract:
However, as for the water cycle, we must define the division between the natural cycle and the artificial cycle (human creation). In this context, we will only refer to the artificial cycle, more specifically to the path and importance of water in ceramics as Integral material of the artistic works.
Focusing solely on the hydraulic subsystem of "common / artificial use" which is the object of study proposed after its exhibition in the National Museum of Ancient Art in the year 2015, we will make an analysis of the water circuit in the pieces chosen for this exhibition Evidencing its importance for man, his function and decoration.
The selection of works chosen is composed of pieces in which the water circuit is clearly identified, however the importance of these pieces is due to the fact that they are portable, commercial and luxurious, since it is the most practical and convenient way to bring The gardens and the nature into the house.
Paper short abstract:
Since the 16th century, stucco ornaments were part of artificial caves’ decorations, located in the palaces’ gardens throughout Portugal. This paper will demonstrate how stuccowork cohabited with water, creating complex and coherent decorative ensembles.
Paper long abstract:
In Portugal there are examples of artificial caves from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, which reflect the high cultural level of the noble local families responsible for their unique design which combined architecture with stuccowork, sculptures, mural paintings and inlaid works, full of shelves and small pieces of porcelain, echoes of long gone journeys overseas.
In such constructions water has a prominent role, clearly visible through several levels of representativeness.
From a strictly symbolical point of view, water is an important part of the caves' conceptual meaning. Within these spaces, populated by beings of the underworld and nymphs, water represents both purification and fertility, directly connected, also, with the surrounding nature.
Secondly, water is often present in the iconography depicted in the caves' decorative programs, where it is common to find mythological themes related to nautical deities.
On a more functional level, water is the reason why some gardens had complex hydraulic systems, formed by a multitude of elements (fountains, wells, waterwheels, canals, aqueducts, small ponds or lakes) which allowed making the most of its fertilizing properties.
Finally, the symbiotic relation between artificial caves and water represents, at the same time, a severe factor of deterioration. In most part of the cases, the connection with the water was interrupted, in order to stop further damages in the decoration sets.
Some of the remaining cases, however, may still demonstrate the importance given to water in the design of artificial caves and their implantation in Mannerist and Baroque gardens.
Paper short abstract:
The emotion of the sublime evaluated the paintings and literature depicting rough sea or shipwrecks. In the early 20th century, there are many impressive examples in seaside resorts postcards represented the storm with tidal waves. It will be analyzed the differ of trend that depends on the nations.
Paper long abstract:
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the emotion of the sublime, that spread in Europe, except some countries, was reflected in paintings of horrid natural landscape. For seaside towns, there are numerous representations of bad weather: shipwrecks, high tide, waves, rough sea, stormy night etc., particularly by the British and French painters. Also in the world of literature, it increased to appear high wave's scenes or shipwrecks. After the discovery of pleasure in seaside resorts, it began the boom to build piers for get as close as possible to the pounding waves to enjoy this performance especially in England and Germany.
From the second half of the 19th century, some French artists are enthusiastic of the high waves itself. In addition, not only impressionist painters, but also composer like Debussy were influenced by the Japanese woodcut, which often represented the big waves.
In the early 20th century, the tourist postcards depicting the high waves of the English and French seaside resorts are more numerous than that of other nations. There are many impressive examples with following caption: Rough Sea, High Tide, Tidal Wave, Dog Wave, Storm, Stormy Day, Stormy Night, etc. and sometimes with a quote of some phrases on the waves of 18th-century poem by James Thomson as: «Wide dash'd the waves in undulation vast».
Conversely, there were very few examples of Italian wave's iconography, although Italy has a large number of the seaside towns, because of the absence of the flowering of sublime emotion in Italy.