Conflicting images of Central Europe: Clashes of Art Historiographies - Discontinuities of Modernity
Abstract
Art historiographies were constructed in Central Europe in a specific way, which differed from the construction of the Western canon, characterised by universality, linearity and causality culminating in modernism. In Central Europe several parallel narratives of art history were created.
They became an effective tool for territorial and power disputes between the nationalist agendas of the various states. This article pays new attention to the visual discourse of Central European art historiographies, specifically examining the images collected in photo archives and reproduced in art historical surveys.
The aim is to determine to what extent the expressive means of photography supported the dominant art historical approach based on ethnicity and race, and to what extent they deviated from textual narratives. Was the art of the past actualized by the photographic image? How did surveys present modern works? By analysing the images and the way they are arranged in books and databases, and by reconstructing the social and cultural context, it is possible to conclude that the contribution of the visual component to Central European art historiographies at times differed from that of textual concepts.
The consequence was the creation of further lines of narrative, also based on other than nationalistic agendas. The study concludes by proposing the hypothesis that the coexistence of different visual narratives of Central European art historiographies caused them later to defy the Western linear art historical narrative that was heroically topped by modernism.