Paintings and the Past: Philosophy, History, Art (Routledge Research in Aesthetics)

246 Pages·26.001 MB·English

by  Ivan Gaskell

Paintings and the Past
This book is an exploration of how art—specifically paintings in the
European manner—can be mobilized to make knowledge claims about
the past. No type of human-made tangible thing makes more complex and
bewildering demands in this respect than paintings. Ivan Gaskell argues
that the search for pictorial meaning in paintings yields limited results
and should be replaced by attempts to define the p oint of such things,
which is cumulative and ever subject to change. He shows that while it
is not possible to define what art is—other than being an open kind—it is
possible to define what a painting is, as a species of drawing, regardless of
whether that painting is an artwork or not at any given time.
The book demonstrates that things can be artworks on some occasions
but not necessarily on others, though it is easier for a thing to acquire
artwork status than to lose it. That is, the movement of a thing into
and out of the artworld is not symmetrical. All such considerations are
properly matters not of ontology—what is and what is not an artwork—
but of use; that is, how a thing might or might not function as an artwork
under any given circumstances. These considerations necessarily affect
the approach to paintings that at any given time might be able to function
as an artwork or might not be able to function as such. Only by taking
these factors into account can anyone make viable knowledge claims
about the past.
This lively discussion ranges over innumerable examples of paintings,
from Rembrandt to Rothko, as well as plenty of far less familiar material
from contemporary Catholic devotional works to the Chinese avant-
garde. Its aim is to enhance philosophical acuity in respect of the analysis
of paintings, and to increase their amenability to philosophically satisfying
historical use. P aintings and the Past is a must-read for all advanced students
and scholars concerned with philosophy of art, aesthetics, historical
method, and art history.
Ivan Gaskell is Professor of Cultural History and Museum Studies at
Bard Graduate Center, New York City. He is the author, co-author, editor,
or co-editor of fourteen books, most recently T angible Things: Making
History through Objects (2015).
Routledge Research in Aesthetics
The Pleasure of Pictures
Pictorial Experience and Aesthetic Appreciation
Edited by Jérôme Pelletier and Alberto Voltolini
Thinking with Images
An Enactivist Aesthetics
John M Carvalho
A Film-Philosophy of Ecology and Enlightment
Rupert Read
Fictive Narrative Philosophy
How Fiction Can Act as Philosophy
Michael Boylan
A Philosophy of the Art School
Michael Newall
The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming
How Art Forms Empowers
Paul Crowther
Philosophy and Film
Bridging Divides
Edited by Christina Rawls, Diana Neiva, and Steven S. Gouveia
Paintings and the Past
Philosophy, History, Art
Ivan Gaskell
For more information about this series, please visit: w ww.routledge.
com/Routledge-Research-in-Aesthetics/book-series/RRA
Paintings and the Past
Philosophy, History, Art
Ivan Gaskell
First published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Ivan Gaskell to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gaskell, Ivan, author.
Title: Paintings and the past : philosophy, history, art / Ivan Gaskell.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2019. | Series: Routledge
research in aesthetics; 11 | Some chapters revisions of works
previously issued 2004–2016. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019007286 | ISBN 9780367189372 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Painting—Philosophy. | Painting—Psychological
aspects.
Classification: LCC ND1140 .G38 2019 | DDC 750.1—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019007286
ISBN: 978-0-367-18937-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-19934-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Jane Whitehead

Contents
List of Figures viii
Preface and Acknowledgements xii
1 Why Paintings? Why Art? 1
2 The Puzzle of Meaning 13
3 To Draw, to Paint 33
4 Genius, a Warning 65
5 Material Realities: Trompe l’oeil 86
6 Paintings That Might or Might Not Be Art: Poland 115
7 Paintings That Might or Might Not Be Art: China 133
8 The Artist’s Mark 157
9 Conditions of Encounter 184
10 A Painter’s Tale 213
Index 222
Figures
1.1 Claude Monet. C haring Cross Bridge: Fog on the
Thames , 1903. Oil on canvas. Harvard Art Museums/
Fogg Museum, Gift of Mrs. Henry Lyman, 1979.329. 5
2.1 Master of the Embroidered Foliage. T he Virgin and
Child Enthroned , ca. 1500. Oil on panel. The Clark
Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, Gift of
the Executors of Governor Lehman’s Estate and the
Edith and Herbert Lehman Foundations, 1968. 18
2.2 Jan Gossaert, called Mabuse. C arondelet Diptych ,
1517. Left Panel: J ehan Carondelet (1469–1545).
Right Panel: Virgin and Child . Oil on wood. Musée
du Louvre, Paris, France, INV1442–1443. 25
3.1 Richard Long. Garonne Mud Black Circle , 1991.
Mud and vinyl paint on wall. CAPC musée d’art
contemporain, Bordeaux. 37
3.2 Laurence Sterne. T he Life and Opinions of Tristram
Shandy, Gentleman Vol. IX. London: Printed for T. Becket
and P.A. Dehondt, in the Strand, 1767. 9901242256-
80203941, Houghton Library, Harvard University. 40
3.3 David Jones. Cara Wallia derelicta , 1959. Opaque
watercolor on an under-painting of Chinese white on
paper. Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, framed works of art
collection; MA02 (PB08678); gcf02804. 44
3.4 Manner of Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn. Finding of
Moses , 17th century. Brown ink over black chalk and
touches of graphite on cream antique laid paper. Harvard
Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mrs. Herbert
N. Straus, 1938.6. 47
3.5 Monkey , Nazca lines, 700 BC–900 AD. Nazca, Perú. 48
3.6 Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri). A Sibyl
Holding a Scroll (Study for the C immerian Sibyl ), 1638.
Figures ix
Pen and dark brown ink. The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1912, 12.56.11. 52
3.7 Air pump designed by Robert Hooke, used for the
experiments described in Robert Boyle, et al. New
Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring
of the Air and Its Effects (Made for the Most Part) in a
New Pneumatical Engine . London: Printed by H. Hall . . .
for Tho. Robinson, 1660. 990023850390203941,
Houghton Library, Harvard University. 53
3.8 Isaac Newton. Sketch demonstrating “that light consists
of rays differently refrangible.” 1672(?). Pen and ink. New
College Library, Oxford, MS 361/2, f. 45v 54
4.1 Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn. S elf-Portrait , 1660. Oil
on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913, 14.40.618. 67
5.1 Willem Kalf. S till Life with Fruit, Glassware, and a
Wanli Bowl , 1659. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Maria DeWitt Jesup
Fund, 1953, 53.111. 88
5.2 Samuel van Hoogstraten. View through a House,
Dyrham Park , 1662. Oil on canvas. Dyrham Park. 94
5.3 Charles Willson Peale. S taircase Group (Portrait of
Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale I), 1795. Oil
on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art, The George
W. Elkins Collection, 1945, E1945-1-1. 96
5.4 Richard Baquié. Sans titre. Étant donnés: 1° la chute
d’eau, 2° le gaz d’éclairage , 1991. Musée d’art
contemporain de Lyon © MAC Lyon collection,
992.13.1. 102
5.5 Samuel van Hoogstraten. Peepshow with Views of the
Interior of a Dutch House , ca. 1655–60. Oil and egg
on wood. The National Gallery, London, Presented
by Sir Robert and Lady Witt through the National
Art Collections Fund, 1924, NG3832. 102
5.6 Jacob van Hulsdonck. S till Life with Fruit . Oil on
panel. Private collection, courtesy Johnny Van Haeften
Old Master Paintings, Richmond. 103
5.7 Gerrit Dou. S elf-Portrait , ca. 1665. Oil on panel.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Promised gift of Rose-
Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center
for Netherlandish Art. 105
5.8 Richard Serra. Weight and Measure , 1992. Installed in
the Duveen Galleries, Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain),
30 September 1992–15 January 1993. 108