The Space Between Image and Word: The Journey from R ogier van der W eyden's D escent from the C ross to W alter V erdin's S liding T ime

Abstract

The Space Between Image and Word: The Journey from Rogier van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross to Walter Verdin's Sliding Time Diane Apostolos‐Cappadona Prolegomenon: the new space initiated in Leuven In October 2009, I traveled to the Belgian city of Leuven, site of the renowned Catholic University and famed for its connections with the Flemish master, Rogier van der Weyden (1400‐1464), to see the special retrospective Rogier van der Weyden (1400‐1464): Master of Passions. Having been challenged by the visual pleasures and symbolic conundrums found in his presentations of Mary Magdalene, I encountered an astounding surprise in this presentation of his works that celebrated both his art and the opening of the new M, Museum Leuven. As earlier art historians—including Erwin Panofsky, Moshe Barasch, and Leo Steinberg—have noted Rogier was a magisterial creator of archetypes. For me, his synchronization of the symbolism of the human body—gestures, postures, and figuration—with biblical narrative created an expression of the best in Christian art that is visual exegesis combined with what I identify as “the space between.” Surrounded by such beautiful and stimulating paintings, it was extraordinary that Rogier's theological complex and painterly intense works found a new “life” and perhaps a contemporary receptivity through the unexpected format of video art. Walking into the semi‐darkness of the large room, I was initially transfixed by the way in which the ten central figures of Rogier van der Weyden's masterpiece, The Descent from the Cross (1435: Museo del Prado, Madrid; Fig. ), suddenly took on a new life and yet enveloped me with familiarity. Unexpectedly, the reality of the interaction between the characters in this religious drama broke free from their places within the framed golden box into a new world order, and despite our many hours together, the painting and its familiar cast of characters suddenly came forth with new meanings. Click for larger view View full resolution Rogier van der Weyden, El descendimiento (Descent from the Cross; full view). Courtesy of Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (P2825). While I tried to concentrate on the whole as the sum of its ten parts, and then vainly on the individual parts, the intellectual exercise failed as the abstracted elements, especially those of Mary Magdalene, overtook my sensibilities and I was transferred to another level of being‐in‐the‐world: that level of consciousness in which the fundamental etymology of the aesthetic became a living reality with the emphasis on the senses as plural, compound, and complex. Sitting there entranced by the vivid colors and dramatic forms, I entered into the rhythm of the calming but continuous pace of slow movement as I was enveloped by what I perceived initially as a freedom from intellectual thinking, from the limitations of the mind, in order to experience the power of this moment, the power of art. When Walter Verdin's video installation, Sliding Time had passed its course—the seven minutes required for the images to move in a carefully orchestrated manner vertically and horizontally across each figure simultaneously—I found myself not ready to leave but rather I was entranced, almost to the level of being “rooted” physically and emotionally in “my” place (Fig. ). Click for larger view View full resolution Walter Verdin, Sliding Time (full view). Museo Nacional del Prado/John Geleyns/Walter Verdin ©2009. Courtesy of Walter Verdin. Watching Sliding Time pass from one seven‐minute cycle into another, and over the next four days, often not even recognizing except for the sound of the bell that the cycle had been completed (or re‐started), I found myself eager to re‐enter the space which those plasma screens controlled, to get closer and closer with each viewing until I was almost within Sliding Time by the afternoon of my second day in Leuven. My emotions ran the gamut from quiet solitude to poignant encounter to moments close to tears or recoiling from physical pain to an internal and quiet serenity. Further, there were those inevitable breakthrough moments when a fold in one of the Magdalene's garments, the muscles in her contorted arms, the luminescent tears dripping slowly from her eyes, or perhaps...