Cultural Images Research Articles

‘The Happy Valley’: Temporalized Spatiality in Michael Radford’s White Mischief (1987)

ABSTRACT Contemporary times mark a fundamental shift in our sense and experience of the world. The postmodern condition — as remarked by Fredric Jameson (1991) and Jean-Francois Lyotard (1979), among others — calls for new conceptions of lived reality. Nevertheless, profound uneasiness with notions of space and time is not only a postmodernist obsession. Modernist cinema, on account of its aesthetic self-reflexivity, also grapples with ways of inscribing spatiality and temporality. The 1980s saw a resurgence of European heritage films, reminiscent of interwar years of empire (early 1920s–late 1930s), produced in Kenya. Out of Africa (dir. Sydney Pollack, 1985), White Mischief (dir. Michael Radford, 1987), and The Kitchen Toto (dir. Harry Hook, 1988) became global audience staples. Not only do these films perpetuate Western viewers’ ‘master-race’ instincts; they also reproduce ‘cult images’ of an ‘exotic’ African locale. This paper phenomenologically reflects on White Mischief’s nostalgic reconstruction of a colonial settler village, the Happy Valley, and its ultra-privileged white hedonists. It explores how materiality of physical space can aid re-inscription of time and vice versa. Turning the colonial gaze upon itself, in critical self-reflection, my analysis foregrounds profound ruptures, discontinuities and contradictions in the historical fact and experience of European colonialism in Africa.

The altar sculpture of the Tubten Shedrub Ling temple in Kyzyl

The altar sculpture of the Buddhist temple Tubten Shedrub Ling in Kyzyl has been studied. In 1992, His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV pointed at and consecrated a site for a Buddhist temple in Tuva. Tubten Shedrub Ling, one of the largest Buddhist temples in Russia, was inaugurated in April 2023. The famous sculptor Dashi Namdakov made six monumental sculptures of Buddhist deities – Buddha Shakyamuni, Maitreya, White Tara, Green Tara, Kalachakra, and Vajrabhairava. The statues are made of modern composite material and covered with polychrome painting. The master created incredibly expressive cult images characterized by an organic fusion of the art traditions of Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, Buryatia, and modern innovations. The study was performed using methods of stylistic, iconological and comparative analysis.

“RAMAYANA THEMES DEPICTED IN THE TEMPLE ART OF ANDHRADESA” – A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RAYALASEEMA

The worship of Sri Rama is as ancient as temple worship in this land. The great Itihasa Ramayana by saint Valmiki itself has the sanctity of scripture to the Hindus. In India, there are thousands of temples dedicated to Lord Sri Rama, from Ayodhya, his birthplace in Uttar Pradesh, down to Rameswaram at the southernmost tip of the country. Temples of the Andhra Pradesh are treasure houses of sculptures and art forms representations of gods and goddesses and episodes from their mythologies. The Ramayana cult images found in the different dynasty’s temples in the Andhradesa may be divided into Sculpture, Idol of Sri Rama and Sita, Sculpture and Paintings in Ramayana themes. Andhra Pradesh has a unique place not only in Indian History, but geographically located midway in subcontinent to receive the cultural impacts from the north and pass them on to Southern India. It has many ancient centers of art and culture. Some of them are indigenous in character. In this research paper discussed the cult of Sri Rama iconographic features of sculptures and images of Ramayana themes in important Vaishnava temples in Andhra Pradesh a special reference to Rayalaseema region.

Ikonoklasten Paulus?

This article deals with the first letter written by the apostle Paul, known as the First Letter to the Thessalonians (c. 50 CE), suggesting that by reading the letter as a document in the history of visuality as well as religious statement, it testifies to a dialectic within Paul’s theological anthropology. For the new Christians, Paul advocates the abolishment of cult images, which were ubiquitous in the Roman empire. But concurrent to his iconoclastic argument is an insistence on the members of the Thessalonian church taking on the role as religiously informed images themselves. Thereby, the letter shows Paul’s negative, iconoclastic attitude towards images being contradicted dialectically by the reemergence of an alternative type of image within the very same religious community instructed to disavow religious imagery. The article thus aims to situate the contents of the letter within the visual culture of the Roman empire, drawing on both textual evidence and images expressing the cultural patterns in question.

Toward a Methodology for the Study of Buddhist Fine Art: (using an example of Zanabazar’s works)

The article provides a comparative analysis of different approaches to the study of Buddhist iconography and objects of religious art: scientific academic and traditional Buddhist. Their main goals and objectives, understanding of the fine art style in art history and the Buddhist tradition are considered. The possibility and necessity of using diverse sources of research, or rather, the complex and multidisciplinary principle of working with cult images of Buddhas, bodhisattvas and deities for the most profound and adequate understanding of them, as well as exhibiting them in a museum or other exhibition space, is argued. The ideal model for the development of such a research methodology, in the author's opinion, is the work of the greatest Buddhist master Gombodorjiin Zanabazar (1635–1723), who combined the qualities of both an artist, a highly educated Buddhist adept, spiritual mentor, and a ruler of the state. The types of written and other verbal sources, as well as the types of objects or visual sources that should be used to reveal the theme of Buddhist artistic creativity are considered. It was also made an attempt to formulate the most urgent tasks and promising directions for researchers of Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhists fine arts.

The Feast of the Nazarene of Caguach: Religious Identity, Geography, and Community in the Archipelago of Chiloé

Abstract Every 30 August in the archipelago of Chiloé, the small island of Caguach welcomes hundreds of pilgrim seafarers who participate in the feast of Jesus Christ the Nazarene. The life-size figure of Christ carrying the cross is the most important cult image of Chiloé, and its worship can be seen as a transcultural product of the contact between Europeans and the Indigenous population since colonial times. In order to understand the emergence and dynamics of the feast as well as its significance for Chiloé’s religious identity, this article makes use of an ethnohistorical approach that connects Indigenous cultural practices with the structural characteristics and material culture of the Jesuit circular mission and the narrative roots of the feast. In this regard, two aspects are highlighted as particularly significant: first, the social structures based on the principles of collectivity and reciprocity that both shaped Indigenous and Catholic practices, especially concerning the intimate relationship between the local population and the images involved in the cult; and second, the importance of the natural space and its elements, such as water, mountains, or rain, which in Indigenous mythology and religion represented powerful entities with which people interacted continuously. These transcultural practices came into conflict with the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Catholic reform policies that aimed to “civilize” the local veneration of saints.

Cult Image or Decor? Options for the Interpretation of Deities on Provincial Coinage from Asia Minor in an Overview of Research History

The interpretation of figures of deities on the reverse of the coins of Asia Minor cities of the imperial period is usually done in several steps. The deity is generally quickly determined. It is difficult, however, to establish the superior intention behind the depiction. Does the figure refer to a real cult statue of the emitting city, is the image ‘only’ a reference to a local cult or was it chosen to symbolise, for instance, political connections of cities? The essay brings together opinions from 140 years of international numismatic scholarship and thus offers an overview of the changing patterns of interpretation as well as their range in general. In the end, a more conscious approach to the figures of the gods on coins and a more reflective methodological approach are recommended.

Bodhisattva Manjushri and Zanabazar (1635–1723)

A series of articles on various aspects of the work by the great Buddhist master Gombodorjiin Zanabazar (1635–1723), allows the reconstruction of the image of the wisdom deity Manjushri. In the Buddhist pantheon Manjushri belongs to the rank of bodhisattvas, the enlightened beings who have set themselves the highest altruistic goal — to help all living beings until they all achieve Buddhahood. The acquisition of knowledge and wisdom is considered the main thing in the practice of Buddhists. Therefore, the cult image of Manjushri is one of the most widespread. The bodhisattva Manjushri also occupies a prominent place in the work of Zanabazar; in this work, there are about a dozen identified images, which are preserved in various museum and private collections in Mongolia, Russia and China. Among these works, there are, indeed, no masterpieces of the highest rank, which include, for example, the Tathagatas of the Five Kinds and the White Tara. Nevertheless, they deserve special attention because they bear the main features of the Zanabazar’s artistic style. For the first time, the article offers an all-encompassing description of all Manjushri images by Zanabazar and his school.

Off the ‘Minor’ Tracks: K. J. Yesudas, Popular Music and Religion in Kerala

This article examines the formation of minority subjectivity in the cultural public sphere of Kerala, South India by analysing the case of a famous singer from Kerala, Kattassery Joseph Yesudas or K. J. Yesudas. The singer’s popularity is punctuated by the shifts and ruptures in the music industry in Malayalam – the standard language of the region. This analysis elucidates the historical premises wherein aesthetic judgments shape discourses of identity politics and cultural legitimacy. Therefore, it focuses on the singer’s cult image and the visual manifestations of his voice. In doing so, this article attends to the many layers of the unparalleled popularity Yesudas enjoys. This analysis explores how a specific idea of secularism is foundational in the singer’s popularity and proposes that the idea of sacrifice plays a crucial role within. Clearly, Yesudas’s colossal status is predicated on an idea of performance and this performance is embodied in a perennial sacrifice of the self. Further, the article argues that Yesudas’s popularity and the trajectory of minority politics in Kerala is crucial in the erasure of ‘other’ voices from the domain of popular music in the region.

Keeper of Buryat Identity: The Phenomenon of Dashi Namdakov

The article examines the work of the famous Russian sculptor and architect Dashi Namdakov. It is suggested that the origins of his talent lie in the depths of Buryat traditional art. The roots of Buryat art date back to the Paleolithic era, which is confirmed by the images of female figurines that were found by A. P. Okladnikov during the excavations of the prehistoric sites of the Baikal region. On the small sculptures made of mammoth bone, the lines of the face are finely worked out and the faces are framed in hair in the form of rays and snakes. Hats and clothes in these figurines are decorated with animal elements, which are considered to denote the native archaic culture which later appeared in a shamanic worldview. The basis of ancient art was syncretic and synthesized religious cult and myths. Later on ancient art, beliefs and ideas about the universe were incorporated in the cult images of the Buryat Mongols and today are communicated in a combination of archaic beliefs and esotery. This peculiarity of Buryat art leaves an original and unique imprint on modern art culture. Visitors of Dashi Namdakov's exhibitions get the feeling of an amazing connection between modernity and mythological antiquity. The article includes a short interview with the master jeweler Dashi Namdakov, in which he speaks about his work, about its origins and his future expectations.

New Books across the Disciplines

New Books across the Disciplines

ПОДХОДЫ К МИФОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ ЕГИПЕТСКИХ СОСУДОВ ДЛЯ ЛИБАЦИИ ЭПОХИ ДРЕВНЕГО ЦАРСТВА

The article considers the evolution of visual language in Old Kingdom Egypt. This process anticipated the usage of images to convey mythological content on the Middle Kingdom coffins. During the V dyn. glimpses of transformation of cult images began to emerge. Along the “realistic” depiction of the funerary cult some compositions started to refer to mythological consequences of its successful implementation. Following J. Assmann we can say that the “sacramental explanation” of the ritual action was thus incorporated in the composition of cult images. The article investigates the problem of mythological interpretation of a distinct type of ritual implement – libation basin. Initially its function was instrumental, namely to accept the sacrificial substances. During the IV dyn. it was as well interpreted as a lake, but in literature one can also find its mythological interpretation as the eternal waters of Nun. To delineate more sharply the boundaries of possible mythological interpretation, the author refers to the term “constellation” proposed by J. Assmann. In this perspective the similarity between verbal and visual texts could be confirmed by identity of the characters, as well as of the attributes of their interaction. Along these lines it is argued that the closest textual parallel to the libation basins is to be found in the group of utterances associated with the arrival of the deceased to the Fields of Offerings, to the butler of god Ra. The latter can be the personification of the flood and water abundance Agebi.

Representing and Naming the Gods. Iconography and Nomenclature of the Goddess Allat in Palmyra and Hatra

Starting with the cultic remains of the goddess Allat in Palmyra and Hatra, this article explores the significance of co-existing iconographic representations for the character of a deity in the Graeco-Roman Near East. It can be shown that both in Palmyra and Hatra the original cult image is of paramount importance in temples dedicated to the goddess. This original iconography is typical of the temple, slow to change, and not easily combined with alternative representations of the goddess. Even the interpretatio Graeca of the goddess’s name did not have consequences for her original form. The cult statue personified the unique character of the goddess that was worshipped in a particular sanctuary.

Wandering maidens in the Acropolis Propylaia: some considerations on the spatial setting of the cults of the Charites, Artemis and Hermes, their administration and related cult images

AbstractThis paper aims to develop a holistic view on the cults of the Charites, Artemis and Hermes which can plausibly be located in the Acropolis Propylaia. Based on the combined analysis of the spatial and architectural setting, which changed in the course of the erection of the Mnesiklean Propylaia in 437–432 BC, along with the imagery and textual evidence for these cults, I propose that due to the altered spatial distribution and the rotated building axes, initially separate cults were fused together. Consequently, iconographical shifts occur in the modes of depiction of these three divinities. The Charites, who were attached in Archaic imagery to Hermes, in the Classical period become iconographically intertwined with Artemis. The iconographic shift is detectable especially in the new cult images1 for Hermes Propylaios and Artemis Epipyrgidia with the Charites, which had been created by the sculptor Alkamenes, presumably by order of the Athenian state. This article should not be seen as a contribution to the analysis of copies (Kopienkritik) for known statue types or an architectural study; instead, its focus lies in the concepts of visualization of divine images, which were developed for a highly specific spatial setting in the cultic landscape of the Athenian Acropolis.

Belayche, Nicole & Massa, Francesco (eds.) (2021). Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Brill / Kiernan, Philip (2020). Roman Cult Images. The Lives and Worship of Idols from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity. CUP

Belayche, Nicole & Massa, Francesco (eds.) (2021). Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Brill / Kiernan, Philip (2020). Roman Cult Images. The Lives and Worship of Idols from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity. CUP

Review: Rubens in Repeat: The Logic of the Copy in Colonial Latin America, by Aaron M. Hyman; Clothing the New World Church: Liturgical Textiles of Spanish America, 1520–1820, by Maya Stanfield-Mazzi

Review: <i>Rubens in Repeat: The Logic of the Copy in Colonial Latin America</i>, by Aaron M. Hyman; <i>Clothing the New World Church: Liturgical Textiles of Spanish America, 1520–1820</i>, by Maya Stanfield-Mazzi

The Body of Shiva and the Body of a Bhakta: the Formation of a New Concept of Corporeality in Tamil Śaiva Bhakti as a Tool and Path for the Liberation of the Bhakta

The author analyses the change in the Tamil Śaiva bhakti concept of corporeality showing that understanding the body of a bhakta as the main obstacle to connecting with the body of Śiva based on the attitude of rejecting one's corporeality has much in common with Buddhist and Jain ideas about the body. Therefore, the main task of the bhakta was to liberate from his body, its elimination or transformation (remelting the physical body as an impure body, as an obstacle body on the way to union with God). They solved this task in various ways, including various practices of ecstatic behaviour and self-harm. The concept of kaya siddhi put forward by Tirumūlar is the idea of a perfect body, potentially immortal and homologous to the body of Śiva. He also formulated and developed sophisticated techniques for using the physical body of a sādhaka as the primary tool for achieving liberation based on yoga techniques and working with the mind of an adept. The result achieved was presented in the description of Tirumūlar's own mystical experience. As a result, he achieved the state of the super material body of yoga-deha , the ideal of which is the manifest body of Śiva as Naṭarāja. The new iconography of Naṭarāja formed in the visionary insights of bhaktas, who described their darśans in their hymns. Then it became the basis for forming a new iconology of Naṭarāja and the cult of images of the bhaktas themselves embodied in the intensive temple construction of the Chola Empire. In combination with new ritual practices, the Tamil philosophy of Śaivism had formed as a tripartite religious and philosophical canon of Śaiva Siddhānta. This canon included the poetic canon of Śaiva bhakti (Paṉṉiru Tirumuṟai), the agamic temple ritual, and 14 philosophical treatises of Śaiva Siddhānta (Meikaṇṭar Shastras).

THE TECHNOLOGY OF CLASSICAL NATURALISM IN ANCIENT RELIGIOUS IMAGES?

The characteristic forms of Graeco-Roman naturalism, first developed in late Archaic and Classical Greece and ultimately inherited by the Roman world, could reasonable be viewed as a sort of artistic ‘technology’ within religious imagery, facilitating the efficacy of the cult image as a proxy for a god. This is true even for the Roman period when the heritage of Greek styles and conventions had become a highly conventionalized and conservative ‘language’ for religious representation. Nevertheless, the utility of classical naturalism as a representational strategy in such images had its limits. An interesting sidelight is cast on this issue by considering the ancient Buddhist art of Gandhara in Central/South Asia, which adopted the conventions of classical naturalism afresh, in order to invent the anthropomorphic image of the superhuman yet superlatively humane Buddha. The Gandharan case illustrated the undiminished potential of this visual tradition in the early centuries AD.

The Power of the Copy: Rethinking Replication Through the Cult Image

AbstractThe employment of digital technology in recent instances of artwork replication raises important questions about the perceptual and ontological distinction between original and copy, for the latter is purported to be even more authentic than an original that has undergone alterations. Such instances challenge not only Benjamin’s claim about the loss of aura but also Goodman’s distinction between autographic and allographic arts. The article proposes to rethink the original/copy dualism from the perspective of the cult image. In the devotional traditions of Graeco-Roman polytheism as well as Christianity and Buddhism, cult images are approached not as representations, but as animated entities endowed with thaumaturgic powers that can be ritually transferred onto copies. From this perspective, replication is not about reproducing more or less faithfully the original, but engendering a double as effective as the original. Finally, the bearing of this perspective on contemporary works of art is considered.

Das Heiligtum des Jupiter Optimus Maximus auf dem Pfaffenberg/Carnuntum 3: Ausgrabungen und Funde im Spannungsfeld der Interessen. By Werner Jobst (Der römische Limes in Österreich 41.3). 3 vols. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2021. Pp. 990 + 43 folding plans. €249. ISBN 978-3-7001-8399-0 (cloth).

<i>Das Heiligtum des Jupiter Optimus Maximus auf dem Pfaffenberg/Carnuntum 3: Ausgrabungen und Funde im Spannungsfeld der Interessen</i>. By Werner Jobst (Der römische Limes in Österreich 41.3). 3 vols. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2021. Pp. 990 + 43 folding plans. €249. ISBN 978-3-7001-8399-0 (cloth).