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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 April 2024
In order to discuss our problem I propose to adopt a definition of art as an ensemble of man-made objects of specific character, of materials, tools and institutions, of people—those who produce and those who commission or look at works of art—and of techniques and skills mastered by the artists. Art—so broadly understood—has no sharp limits, it is an area connected by hundreds of links with the whole of social, economic, intellectual and spiritual life. It is exposed to various disturbances since any one occurring in those other areas with which art is connected must of necessity affect art and its development to a greater or smaller degree. Lack of demand for some kind of artistic products must lead to the extinction of the corresponding kind of production. For instance, images of saints disappeared in those parts of Germany which adopted the Reformation. One can say in general, that, since various factors of social and economic character influence the life of art, it must reflect the results of those crises which affect social, political or economic life, although the way art reacts on various disturbances may be varied. It may seem natural that in a period of unemployment and of high prices society cannot afford to devote as much money to invest in the goods of culture as it does in times of prosperity, and often it is so indeed.
This article was written and presented on the occasion of a symposium devoted to the concept of “crisis” at Castelgandolfo in August 1985. In its present form the article includes observations suggested by the discussion during the Castelgandolfo symposium. The symposium was organized by the Vienna Institute of the Knowledge of Man (Institut flr die Wissenschaften vom Menschen). I am indebted to the director of the Institute for permission to publish the article in Diogenes before the publication of the proceedings.
1 About the history of the concept "crisis", see G. Masur, "Crisis in History", in Dictionary of the History of Ideas, I, New York 1973, p. 589-596; R. Starn, "Meta morphoses d'une notion, "Communications", Nr. 25 (La notion de crise), 1976, p. 4-18.
2 See C. Gilbert, Italian Art. 1400-1500, Sources and Documents, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1980, p. 76.
3 A. Chastel, The Sack of Rome, 1527, Princeton 1983.
4 An abundant bibliography on Protestant iconoclasm can be found in S. Michalski, "Aspekte der protestantischen Bilderfrage", Idea Jahrbuch der Hamburg er Kunsthalle, III, 1984, p. 65-86.
5 M. Luther, Werke, Briefwechsel, IV, Weimar 1933, p. 459, Nr. 1266.
6 A. Woltmann, Holbein and His Time, London 1872, p. 288, quoted in W. Stechow, Northern Renaissance Art 1400-1600. Sources and Documents, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1966, p. 131.
7 S. Bernhardi Apologia ad Guillelmum sancti Theodorici abbatem, in Patrologia Latina, CLXXXII, reprinted in J. Schlosser, Quellenbuch zur Kunstgeschichte des abendländischen Mittelalters, Vienna 1896.
8 P. Fergusson, Architecture of Solitude. Cistercian Abbeys in Twelfth-Century England, Princeton 1984.
9 G. Vasari, Vita di Fra Bartolommeo di S. Marco, in his Le Vite… ed. C.L. Ragghianti, II, Milan-Rome 1942, p. 78-79.
10 B. Ammannati, "Lettera agli Accademici del disegno", in P. Barocchi, ed., Trattati d'arte del Cinquecento, III, Bari 1962, p. 119.
11 Quotations from Dürer's theoretical manuscripts are given according to the edition of K. Lange and F. Fuhse, Dürers schriftlicher Nachlass, Halle a.S. 1893, p. 288-291.
12 This part of the article is based on my introduction to the Polish translation of Dürer's theoretical and other writings: Albrecht Dürer jako pisarz i teoretyk sztuki, Wroclaw 1956, pp. LXXXVI-XC.
13 E. Panofsky, Albrecht Dürer, Princeton 1943, p. 162, also E. Panofsky and F. Saxl, Dürers Melencolia I'. Eine Quellen- und Typengeschichtliche Untersuchung, Leipzig-Berlin 1923.
14 E. Panofsky, Albrecht Dürer, op. cit., p. 164.
15 Lange and Fuhse, op. cit. in footnote 11, p. 222; Albrecht Dürer jako pisarz, op. cit. in footnote 12, p. LXXXIX.
16 R. Thom, "Crise et catastrophe", Communications, Nr. 25 (La notion de crise), 1976, p. 34-38, here p. 38.
17 J. Burckhardt, Die geschichdichen Krisen, in his Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen, Leipzig 1929, p. 157-191.
18 T.S. Kuhn, Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, 1962, See also R. Scott Root-Bernstein, "On Paradigms and Revolutions in Science and Art: The Challenge of Interpretation", Art Journal, XLIV, 1984, Nr. 2, p. 109-118.
19 C.F. von Weizsäcker, Über die Krisen, typescript xeroxed by the Vienna Insti tute for the Science of Man, 1984.
20 G. Kubler, The Shape of Time, New Haven-London, 1962.
21 R.S. Lopez, "Hard Times and the Investment in Culture", in The Renaissance. Six Essays (1953), New York-Evanston 1962, p. 29-54.
22 J. Huizinga, Herfstij der middeleeuwen, 1918.
23 R. Romano, Tra le due crisi, Itcalica del rinascimento, Turin 1971.
24 E. Morin, "Pour une crisologie", Communications, Nr. 25 (La notion de crise), 1976, p. 149-163, here p. 149.
25 R. Thom, op. cit. in footnote 16.
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