<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The article explores the works of Jurgis Baltrušaitis on depraved perspectives. In particular, it examines his references to Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher in the books dedicated to anamorphoses, aberrations, Egyptomania and distorting mirror’s reflections. The paper questions what led Baltrušaitis to the dialogue with the German visionary. The close reading of Baltrušaitis works reveals that in Kircher’s pre-modern thinking the art historian found those domains of between-the-two, communalities of art and science, art and nature, art and social imaginary that have become more important in postmodernist period. Kircher’s treatises, previously uninterpreted in the context of art history, encouraged the development of the broader studies of images focused on visual phenomena that remained for a long time outside the autonomous field of art history. Without privileging an aesthetic and evolutionary approach in art history, Baltrušaitis’ works reveal anthropological and ontological dimensions of images. They disclose that the image is always related to visual experience and imagination, which takes us beyond the horizon of reality.</p></abstract>

The article explores the works of Jurgis Baltrušaitis on depraved perspectives. In particular, it examines his references to Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher in the books dedicated to anamorphoses, aberrations, Egyptomania and distorting mirror’s reflections. The paper questions what led Baltrušaitis to the dialogue with the German visionary. The close reading of Baltrušaitis works reveals that in Kircher’s pre-modern thinking the art historian found those domains of between-the-two, communalities of art and science, art and nature, art and social imaginary that have become more important in postmodernist period. Kircher’s treatises, previously uninterpreted in the context of art history, encouraged the development of the broader studies of images focused on visual phenomena that remained for a long time outside the autonomous field of art history. Without privileging an aesthetic and evolutionary approach in art history, Baltrušaitis’ works reveal anthropological and ontological dimensions of images. They disclose that the image is always related to visual experience and imagination, which takes us beyond the horizon of reality.

Transhistorical Dialogue Concerning Images: Baltrušaitis and Kircher

Art History & Criticism

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Transhistorical Dialogue Concerning Images: Baltrušaitis and Kircher"}

The article explores the works of Jurgis Baltrušaitis on depraved perspectives. In particular, it examines his references to Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher...

Transhistorical Dialogue Concerning Images: Baltrušaitis and Kircher

Published Online: Nov 26, 2020

Page range: 5 - 17

Received: May 20, 2020

Accepted: Sep 20, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mik-2020-0001

Keywords
Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Athanasius Kircher, art history, images, visual studies, anamorphoses, aberrations, Egyptomania, nature’s art

© 2020 Odeta Žukauskienė, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Transhistorical Dialogue Concerning Images: Baltrušaitis and Kircher

Published Online: Nov 26, 2020

Page range: 5 - 17

Received: May 20, 2020

Accepted: Sep 20, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mik-2020-0001

KeywordsJurgis Baltrušaitis, Athanasius Kircher, art history, images, visual studies, anamorphoses, aberrations, Egyptomania, nature’s art

© 2020 Odeta Žukauskienė, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Athanasius Kircher, art history, images, visual studies, anamorphoses, aberrations, Egyptomania, nature’s art