Nativity Scene Research Articles

Lebende Bilder: Körperliche Nachahmung von Kunstwerken in der Goethezeit (review)

Goethe Yearbook 309 rian, even expected) a more richly textured reading of these art works. (The discussion may also have been deepened tf Bindman had consulted Blumenbach 's 1796 book Abbildungen naturhistorischer Gegenstände with its striking portraits of "typical" members of the five races.) The advantages of having careful and sympathetic discussions of such farflung material Ui the same volume wUl be evident. Thanks to Bindman's book, we now know that a great many eighteenth-century discourses—philosophical, art historical, Uterary, artistic, anthropological, anatomical—found themselves worrying the intersection of aesthetics and race. But Bindman, perhaps because of the scholarly care with which he considers each of his objects, shies away from forging his many separate discussions into an argument. What I found lacking in dus valuable study is a strong yet flexible theoretical backbone that would give shape to the body of material gathered here. Indiana University Michel Chaouli Birgit Jooss, Lebende Bilder: Körperliche Nachahmung von Kunstwerken in der Goethezeit. Berlin: Reimer, 1999. 448 pp. Goethe's influence on the tableau vivant genre was both critical and longUved ; he reflected theoreticaUy on the focal role of the "lebendes BUd" in drama, staged tableaux vivants and monodramas Ui Weimar court circles, and also intensified a fashionable craze for such performances in private and pubUc settings throughout the German-speaking countries because of their prominent appearance in Die Wahlverwandtschaften. (Metternich even organized tableaux vivants revolving around themes of peace and prosperity as evening entertainments during the Congress of Vienna Ui 1814.) Within three years of the novel's pubUcation in 1809, as Jooss documents Ui her book Lebende Bilder, there had already been rather lavish pubUc performances in Vienna and Berlin of the paintings featured Ui its pages (126). At the same time, Goethe chose, rather curiously, to find the origins of tableau vivant Ui folk art (the NeapoHtanpresepe or nativity scene), although he was familiar with the dramatic theories of Diderot, so crucial Ui this context (the folk derivation is given by the Architect Ui the Wahlverwandtschaften, and appears as weU in the Italienische Reise). He also identified the genre as a typicaUy dUettantish one, and it would certainly be hard to read Luciane's self-indulgent and exhibitionistic hobby—in short, her phüistinism—as a ringing endorsement of the aesthetic merits of "lebende Bilder." Goethe's apparent ambivalence is indicative of the cultural place of tableau vivant around 1800. Given the recent critical interest in the complex intersections between "aesthetic" and "trivial" culture Ui the late eighteenth century, the tableau vivant, a hybrid genre that always seems to teeter between art and entertainment, has emerged as a rich area of study, making Birgit Jooss's meticulous historical account of the genre especiaUy timely and important. FoUowing a brief methodological introduction, the second chapter of Jooss's study offers a concise but helpful historical summary of the precursors to eighteenth century tableaux vivants: antecedents to that genre, which became increasingly secular and "privatized" in the eighteenth century, include medieval passion plays, with their didactic "stumme Szenen," and ItaUan church processions . Unlike eighteenth-century tableaux vivants, Jooss concludes, there is no evidence that these early variants used concrete artworks as models. This point is significant, for what Martin Meisel has caUed the tendency to "reaUzation," that is the physical embodiment of specific, commonly recognizable paintings, became a defining aspect of tableaux vivants in nineteenth-century bourgeois 310 Book Reviews culture,1 so that Jooss's sociohistorical concern throughout her study with questions of art production, reproduction, reception and consumption is especiaUy enUghtening. The rich fourth chapter, entitled "Die Charakteristika der lebenden Büder, " identifies in great specificity the wide range of artists, subject matter and genres favored by practitioners of tableaux vivants Ui the Goethezeit. (What emerges here and throughout Jooss's book—and not for want of efforts to estabUsh more systematic categories—is the remarkable heterogeneity and openness of the genre. Although Jooss is careful to differentiate between the mimoplastic "attitude"—that is, the imitation of a classical sculpture—and the tableau vivant proper, this too becomes a rather slippery distinction.) Attention is paid to the technical and material aspects of production as weU (stage...

Ikonografia wcielenia w sztuce wczesnoromańskiej i romańskiej na wybranych przykładach scen Bożego narodzenia

In the art the Theme of Incarnation was illustrated in a rich scene repertiore creating its prototypes at the early Romanesque and Romanesque period. It was also the time of dynamically forming motifs in the art that defined the Gothic art and to a high degree modern one. In the fine arts such a model of Incarnation was made by Nativity scene.

L’origine de la scène de la nativité dans l’art paléochrétien (d’après les sarcophages d’Occident). Catalogue et interprétation

The article deals with the first representations of Nativity – the Birth of Christ – in Early Christian art. The analysis, consisting of a detailed catalogue of collected examples, covers the period of the 4th century and, as far as it makes use of the existing and published material, is limited to Roman sarcophagi of this period. The fact that the sarcophagi can claim exclusiveness in this respect, highlights some of the issues important for the development of Early Christian art, such as the importance of the city of Rome and the influence of its workshops during the Late Roman empire. The research has led the author to raise once again the often debated issue on parallel development of Christian iconography in painting (catacomb frescoes) and sculpture (sarcophagi reliefs) of the period. It shows namely that no existing examples of the Nativity scene are to be found in the painting of the Roman catacombs and that the rare recorded examples can be conclusively dated to much later periods than the bulk of examples on the sarcophagi. The content of the Nativity scene during this period, starting with the simple presentation of the manger surrounded by shepherds and the two animals, as found on the earliest examples (second quarter of the 4th century), is gradually growing to include other motives taken from the Gospels or apocryphal sources. At the same time, Roman iconographical “formulas” are not to be found in the Eastern provinces where influence from Constantinople is increasingly present. The answer to these differences partly lies in the rapid organisation of the liturgical calendar in Rome (where we officially encounter, for the first time, the feast of the Nativity on December 24 around 330) and its influence on the development of Christian iconography during this period. The research however upholds the importance of “technical” considerations when analysing the origin and use of some of the Biblical motives on the sarcophagi, especially the ones usually destined for the lid area. It is an interesting fact that the entire study should be able to focus on one particular century (4th), one particular production (sarcophagi) and one particular geographical area (the city of Rome). [Author]

The State and Observations of Religious Holiday Traditions: Attitudes toward Nativity Scenes on Government Property

As theoretical views of religion developed by Durkheim and civil religion theorists would lead one to expect, translating the principle of separation of church and state into specific practice can be difficult. Previous research suggests that attitudes about church-state separation vary by issue and often reflect considerable disagreement. A legal disagreement that occurred in Kentucky from 1988 through 1990 provided an opportunity to test attachment to church-state separation among residents of a state dominated by conservative churches. The disagreement stemmed from a decision by the governor to erect a creche on the grounds of the state Capitol. Despite vocal opposition, the placement of the creche and its use for living Nativity scenes was supported by a majority of the state's residents. Analysis of results from two statewide surveys showed that support remained strong whether or not the controversy was a major news story, but specific predictors of support were different during periods of greater or lesser controversy. Support for the Nativity scene was relatively common among older, conservative, nonurban residents, but it also spilled over into relatively well-educated respondents and those with higher income. The difficulty of separating familiar religious and governmental symbols calls attention to the difficulty of protecting the interests of those who fall outside the religious majority.

"County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union": Embracing the Endorsement Test

In County Of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, the United States Supreme Court held that the establishment clause of the first amendment of the Constitution did not permit Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to allow a local Catholic group to display a nativity scene inside the county courthouse. At the same time, however, the Court permitted a city display of a Chanukah menorah next to a Christmas tree on the steps of the Pittsburgh City Hall. The Court divided 5-to-4 in invalidating the creche and 6-to-3 in upholding the menorah, with no single opinion commanding a majority of the Court on the question of the Chanukah symbol. More importantly, the majority opinion officially adopted the Endorsement test, a new analytical tool which uses a case-by-case balancing approach in which constitutional judgments concerning religious symbols are dependent upon the physical setting of the particular practice.The Endorsement test originates from a 1984 case, Lynch v. Donnelly, in which the Court upheld a city-sponsored nativity scene that was surrounded by Santa's reindeer, a wishing well and candy canes. Justice O'Connor's concurring opinion stressed that the result in each case should turn on the “unique circumstances” and “particular physical setting” involved. Her opinion specifically focused on whether the practice at issue would be perceived as a government endorsement of a religious belief. By incorporating the use of “perspectives” during the decision-making process, the Endorsement test reflects the contribution of neutrality as a theoretical standard which recognizes that individuals perceive the world differently, and that one individual's neutrality may be another's bias.

Religious Symbols and the Establishment Clause

On 5 March 1984, the United States Supreme Court upheld (five to four) as constitutional the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island's Christmas display of the nativity scene. This decision, Lynch v. Donnelly,1 once again, points to the inherent problems of the government's attempting to recognize America's religious heritage without infringing on the Bill of Rights' mandate that church and state remain separate. Lynch raises a number of questions concerning the manner in which the government may constitutionally involve itself with the display of explicitly religious objects: Can it subsidize the display of such objects? Does it matter whether the object is part of some larger secular display? Should the prominence of the display or the proximity of the display to some religious holiday be considered legally relevant? Must the government indicate on the display that its motivation is nonreligious? Must the religious object be sufficiently connected to the secular culture as to make meaningless the display's religious significance? These questions are of constitutional significance because the First Amendment of the Constitution provides, in part, that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. This prohibition was made applicable to the actions of state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment in a 1940 Supreme Court decision, Cantwellv. Connecticut.2 Courts vary in their analysis of government efforts either to accommodate or to recognize specific religious beliefs. Although much of religion—particularly the Christmas holidays and reli gious symbols such as the dove—has become part of mainstream secular society, government efforts to make religious symbols

Shepherds and Prophets: Religious Unity in the Towneley Secunda Pastorum

The high dramatic quality of the Secunda Pastorum raises a recurrent interpretive question: does the play function as a unified religious statement in a traditional craft cycle, or does it function primarily as a secular farce with a Nativity scene added? Critics of this supremely sophisticated medieval play have moved from the early view that the long secular prologue was unrelated to, and detracted from, the Christ Nativity, to the more recent opinion that the stage business involving Mak is an artful parody of the true Nativity and is structurally adapted to the religious end for which the play was designed.

A Nativity Scene in Tin

A Nativity Scene in Tin