| dc.description.abstract | This research is a hybrid of a monograph and a multiple-article dissertation. Its
theoretical starting point is a phenomenologically based view of the being of the image,
in which Georges Didi-Huberman´s work plays a central role. For him, as well as for
Mieke Bal, a historical work of art is never only in the distant past only but also exists
in the present actuality. This makes the temporality of the Image extremely complex.
The Image can be encountered only “pre-posterously” (Bal) or by reading it “against
the grain” (Didi-Huberman). The Image is necessarily anachronistic; it is not in time
but opens up time. This fact should be taken into account not only in art history, but
also in art conservation. One of the central aims of this research is critical assessment of
prevailing premises in conservation-restoration and technical art history. This study
attempts to show that instead of being puzzles to be solved, physical art objects are
paradoxical in nature. The Image, in its temporality and materiality, is necessarily
conflictual. The Image discussed in this study is not comparable to the concept of
image which iconography, iconology, Bildwissenschaft, visual studies or semiotics deal
with. The Image discussed here is not an entity but a relation. Edmund Husserl
showed that image consciousness requires a specific kind of intentionality, and
similarly, consciousness of the Materiality of the Image presupposes a consciousness of
a materiality that is ontologically distinct to the Image. The final chapter of the
monograph section offers a view on the materiality of artworks which I call the “Other
Materiality”. That “there is” (il y a) materiality evades perception – it is not
approachable through the analytical methods of technical art history. Yet this sense of
materiality actually precedes any ontic extensity. The five articles complete the themes
discussed in the monograph section. The first article deals with theoretical issues of
conservation-restoration, focusing especially on Cesare Brandi´s theory of conservation.
The second article is a heuristically oriented critical discussion of technical art history
based on Didi-Huberman´s concepts le détail and le pan. The idea for the third article,
which discusses second order representations of artworks, can be traced back to
Husserl´s lectures on Bildbewusstsein, and to Jean-Luc Marion´s theory of “givenness”,
donation. The fourth article deals with artist Jorma Puranen´s photographs. Puranen
has made interventions in several museums, photographing old portrait paintings in
prevailing daylight and using light reflections to make these paintings waver and
make them “undecidable” in Derridean terms. In the last article I focus on Didi-
Huberman´s thinking, especially on his quasi-concepts that operate on the “barely
apparent” region: inframince, informe, visuel, and le pan. | |
