THE DEATH OF ART The Transformation of Art from a Religious Perspective Andreas Andreopoulos

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The death of art: the transformation of art from a
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Andreopoulos, Andreas
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THE DEATH OF ART
The Transformation of Art from a Religious Perspective
Andreas Andreopoulos
Abstract
The hypothesis put forth in this dissertation is twofold. The first part is based on a
view (supported by writers such as Hans Belting) that maintains that art lost its
sacred character in the late Middle Ages, when art was emancipated from religion
and the artist was recognized as an original Creator. The two first chapters examine
this issue:
The first chapter (A Religious View of the History of the Arts) discusses theories of
religious art from the ancient Jewish drama and the Greek tragedy to the late Middle
Ages. Psychological material, mostly drawn from Lacan and Jung, is used to explore
the connection between art and religion in the East and the West.
The second chapter (Anti-Leonardo) focuses on some important changes in the
Renaissance which can be observed mostly in art, that have affected religious and
social consciousness to date.
The second part of the hypothesis is that contemporary philosophy and art, having
witnessed the death of the author as it has been presented by writers such as Michel
Foucault and Roland Barthes, are now registering the withdrawal of the work of art
as an independent object, and the reversal of the Renaissance art paradigm. The
withdrawal or "death" of the work of art and of art as a process are discussed in the
third chapter (The Death of Art), which explores these issues in contemporary
philosophy, and argues that contemporary art, popular and classical, is withdrawing
as a distinct activity, giving its place to a growing religious awareness.
The fourth chapter (The Religious Artist) examines the art and the views of some
contemporary artists whose art expresses the return of the sacred. Particular emphasis
is given to the art of the New Simplicity, an artistic trend that epitomizes the
vanguard of art while expressing spiritual and religious contemporary concerns.
T HE D E A TH OF A RT
The Transformation of Art
from a Religious Perspective
Andreas Andreopoulos
The copyright of this thesis rests
with the author. No quotation from
it should be published without the
written consent of the author an
information derived from it should
be acknowledged.
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Theology
University of Durham
1998
I \ JUW 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
2 A Religious View of the History of the Arts 12
2 a Jews and Greeks 17
2 b Icons: the Religious Art of the East 29
2b i A Semiotic View of the Icon 32
2 b ii Inverted Perspective 42
2 b Hi The Mirror of God 48
2 b iv The Art of Prayer 67
2 c The Aesthetics of the West „ 80
2 d Conclusion 95
3 Anti-Leonardo 106
3 a Historical Definition of the Function of the Religious Work of Art _ 106
3 b Breaks with the Past 114
3 b i God > 114
3 b ii The Body 122
3 b Hi Image and Recognition 146
3 c Development after the Middle Ages 148
4 The Death of Art 163
5 The Religious Artist 218
6 Conclusion 254
7 Bibliography 259
The material contained in this thesis has not been
previously submitted for a degree in this or any
university.
The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No
quotation from it should be published without his prior
written consent and information derived from it should
be acknowledged.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe special thanks to my friends Bronwen Neil, Mika Toronen, Marios
Ioannidis and Christos Hatzis, as well as to my Greek friends in Durham,
for their feedback and encouragement.
I also wish to thank my former professors David Booth, Joyce
Wilkinson, Ronald Silvers and the late Richard Courtney for then-
guidance and support.
Special thanks to Andrew Louth who followed my writing with an open
mind and a challenging intellect.
Dedicated to the memory of my late grandfather,
Fr Andreas Andreopoulos,
who taught me to read and write
Introduction
The present study was initially conceived a few years ago in Toronto, under
the auspices of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.
The path that led to its completion at the Theology Department of the University of
Durham under Dr Andrew Louth, was long and tortuous. To be sure, no one would
be more surprised than myself if by any magical way I were to get a glimpse of the
future back in 1994 or 1995, and see myself working in the field of Theology. From
the beginning I knew that I did not know where the examination of art I was
attempting would take me, but I had accepted the fact that something within me, a
part of my thought hidden from my conscious self, claimed a deeper and clearer
knowledge of my purpose, and would gradually lead me there. I could only place my
trust in this something and accept the fact that this work would require more than
academic dedication and systematic study.
My approach to art was dual, and I had accepted this from the beginning.
Working as a musician for the last ten years, I could not examine art only as a
phenomenon of cultural importance; my direct experience was too strong to permit
me to proceed in this manner. On the other hand, the practice of art experienced from
the inside, whether it happened to be commercial or classical, proved to be a constant
intellectual challenge for me, and it would often lead me to contemplate on the
problems of contemporary art, the role of the artist and, generally, the function of art.
Beyond my own experience as a musician, I was lucky enough, or rather privileged,
to be surrounded by accomplished artists immensely better than me, who faced
similar intellectual challenges in their work, and to be able to participate vicariously
in their concerns, their problems and their insight. I am particularly indebted to Dr
Introduction 2
Christos Hatzis, one of Canada's leading composers, who has been a close friend of
mine for the better part of this decade. He has always been a forerunner in
contemporary classical music, and allowed me access to the issues contemporary art
is facing. A devout Christian, as well as an ever-inquiring mind, Dr Hatzis, having
been raised in a pious Orthodox Christian environment, has never been satisfied to
accept a spiritual compromise in his work, never content to accept the established
norms without questioning, and his continuous exploration of the borders of his art,
as well as its relation to a profound spirituality, has been something of a moral
responsibility for him. An intellectual at the same time, currently teaching
composition at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, he has always weighed
his insight and his intuition against the bulk of the tradition of classical art and its
academic discourse. I am grateful to have witnessed and been inspired by his
remarkable artistic and academic quests.
I should also mention here my late friend Charis Polatos, who died in a tragic
car accident on the 8th of May 1992. A self-taught musician, who covered almost all
genres of music with his extraordinary talent, Charis was showing to me why art
matters, through his incessant exploration of the possibilities of art and his late
orientation towards classical music. He did not have a direct connection to the
academic artistic establishment, not even a formal musical training. Yet, he had an
amazingly direct connection to art itself. Music for him was a language he knew
extremely well, that gave him the ability to express anything, even feelings, concepts
and ideas verbal language and thought does not have the vocabulary for, in a way
that could be understood by everyone. In many ways, and although he died at the
early age of thirty-seven, he is thought of as the father of a generation of musicians
of mixed backgrounds - Greek, Chilean, Canadian and American - who lived and
Introduction 3
worked in Toronto. For many years he was content to use the language of music in
order to communicate with his friends and with the people who merely happened to
frequent the places where he was working. Towards the end of his life though, and as
he was approaching a deeper personal maturity, he started pondering the power of his
gift. During the last few years of his life he educated himself in classical music and
started composing. What was unique about him, and has immensely influenced my
personal quest, was that his approach to the issues and the concerns of contemporary
music and art was completely guileless; he was never interested in making a name
for himself, and he never sought any kind of recognition for his many contributions.
In a way I often think of Charis as a saint of art, and my poor attempt to understand
and sketch the dimensions of his talent is not truly doing justice to his memory.
The other path of inquiry, my academic development, was quite unusual. My
undergraduate interests included studies in psychology and education, as well as a
cinema studies program with a strong basis in semiotics. It was, perhaps, because of
the combination of semiotics and psychology that my research methods to date
resemble the methods of a psychoanalyst; it is quite difficult for me to accept things
at face value, and I always feel compelled to analyze them further, to discover deeper
meanings and hidden subtexts, and to attempt unexpected connections. In addition to
this, my Master's degree brought me in further contact with postmodernist thought.
At the time I had already attempted to integrate my artistic experience into my
studies, and the person who was most helpful to me was Dr Ronald Silvers from the
department of Sociology in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,
himself a renowned scholar as well as an art photographer. I studied the "other side"
of the critical approach to art with him, one that was mainly based on
phenomenology. My discourse became more personal and more indebted to a