Difference between revisions of "Lena Liepe: Medieval Iconography: Means and Methods for the Interpretation of Medieval Images"

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Medieval Iconography: Means and Methods for the Interpretation of Medieval Images

In the MIMM project, seventeen Nordic scholars are engaged as contributors to a collection of essays on the interpretation of medieval images. The project is motivated by a wish to reassess the scholarly tradition of iconographic analysis that has formed a cornerstone in the study of medieval art ever since the double notion of iconography and iconology as interpretative levels of meaning in works of art was codified by Erwin Panofsky in 1939. From the early 1990s onwards, iconographic scholarly pursuit in the tradition of Panofsky has been exposed to a growing amount of criticism for being too text focussed in its alleged equation of iconographic interpretation with the finding out of what textual source an image refers to, and too simplistic in its negligence of factors such as medium specific modes of visual communication, and the actual historical circumstances of the production and reception of images. Nevertheless, iconography remains one of the staple ingredients of the study of medieval art, and demands consideration as a feature of continuing revelance for the theoretical landscape of the discipline.

In the MIMM project, the assets and pitfalls of iconography as an analytical approach are reviewed in light of current theoretical and methodological concerns, and a number of proposals for how it might be applied—or not—are made in the form of case studies. The essays represent a spectrum of stances towards iconography, ranging from the affirmative to the rather more sceptical; common for all, however, is the ambition to examine if and how iconographic analysis can be brought up to date and applied for interpretative purposes in a form that answers to today’s theoretical and methodological requirements. The majority of the essays are devoted to topics related to the art of the Latin West, but in order to expand the scope of the volume beyond the limits, geographically and culturally, that are all too often applied in the study of medieval art, a special effort has been made also to include studies of Islamic iconography.

The contributors:
Margrete Syrstad Andås, University of Copenhagen
Rognald Bergesen, University of Tromsø
Jan von Bonsdorff, University of Uppsala
Ragnhild Bø, University of Oslo
Ingvild Flaskerud, UniGlobal, University of Bergen
Kjartan Prøven Hauglid, University of Oslo
Martin Wangsgaard Jürgensen, University of Copenhagen
Hans Henrik Lohfert Jørgensen, University of Aarhus
Søren Kaspersen, University of Copenhagen
Henning Laugerud, University of Bergen
Lena Liepe, University of Oslo
Maria Husabø Oen, University of Oslo
Laura Skinnebach Nielsen, University of Bergen
Elina Räsänen, University of Helsinki
Margrethe Cecilie Stang, University of Trondheim
Karin Ådahl, Stockholm
Kristin Bliksrud Aavitsland, University of Oslo