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Michael Fried’s 1967 essay “Art and Objecthood” is one of the most well-known and influential pieces of art criticism ever written, and continues to generate novel interpretations. Its overtly theological cast, however, has never been the subject of close study. This article focuses on Fried’s decision to use a lengthy quotation from Perry Miller’s biography of the theologian Jonathan Edwards as his epigram, and contends that Fried’s essay is informed in significant ways by Edwards’ notions of history and grace, and characterized by wordings that reveal an active engagement with Miller’s text. Certainly, the contexts in which Edwards and Fried worked were irreducibly different. Nevertheless, an examination of the ways in which Fried drew on Miller’s text and Edwards’ ideas demonstrates that he was productively influenced by both in composing “Art and Objecthood.”
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“Art and Objecthood,” Michael Fried and Jonathan Edwards

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This article analyses Lithuanian landscape photography that reflects the cultural landscape of the 20th century, revealing not only the natural phenomena of the land, but also the historical development of the country, social memory and national identity. Landscape photographs are abundant with cultural codes implicated in visual structures of landscapes, which are read and distinguished with the help of the palimpsest model. An interdisciplinary methodological approach is applied to the understanding of the functioning of photography in the spatial and local planes and to the purposeful use of the concepts of <italic>place</italic> and <italic>space</italic>, combining the phenomenological insights of humanistic geography, the theory of spatial production of the sociologist Henri Lefebvre, and the art historical analysis of visual texts. This interdisciplinary study introduces the cultural layer that is characteristic of the 20th century landscape, provides a sense of historical time shifts, and clarifies the prevailing stylistic movements in photographic landscapes.
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Lithuanian Landscape Photography of the 20th Century: Place Towards Space

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Theatre can be interpreted as a place where various modes of participation in the community or patterns of citizen behaviour can be rehearsed. In pre-pandemic Lithuanian theatre (as well as theatres of other Baltic countries) various forms of audience engagement were conspicuously emerging, ranging from physical co-creation practices to interactive forms of entertainment. After the global lockdown of theatre institutions the emerging forms of “virtual theatre”, ranging from performance recordings to zoom theatre, redefined the role of theatre spectatorship, in particular the notions of “active”, “passive”, “collective”, “individual”, fundamental for the understanding of the role of publics. Analysing the abundant examples of “pandemic theatre” one starts to think about the return of the digital “fourth wall”, where audiences are becoming distant spectators. This poses important questions to theatre research: whether these forms of theatre are strengthening the feeling of passivity and isolation, serve as platforms for much-needed psychological escapism or offer a critical revaluation of the essential principles of theatre art.
With the help of two case studies, this paper will define and analyse the prevailing practices of pandemic Lithuanian theatre and will outline whether and how the fundamental categories associated with the spectator’s experience of theatre have changed in the post-pandemic era.
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Reinstalling the Fourth Wall: Digital Performance and Spectatorship in (Post-)Pandemic Era

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Wabi Sabi is a Japanese concept that, despite lacking a universal definition, comprises three principles: nothing is perfect, nothing is finished and nothing lasts forever.1 While in 2018, an adapted version of Wabi Sabi started to become trendier in the Western world2, this Westernized concept accidentally starts to have parallels with the way in which contemporary circus artists experience their embodiment. The research showed that contemporary circus artists are constantly trying to focus more on what a body can do and how it can do instead of body appearance, they are accepting that bodies are not perfect and share an understanding of the importance of embracing this imperfection. Moreover, contemporary circus artists are having in mind constant bodily changes and reflecting it correspondingly by developing positive relationships with their bodies. This article will be a sociological outlook of interconnections among the already existing beliefs in the contemporary circus field and the new trend of Westernized Wabi Sabi ideas.
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Perfecting the Imperfect: Parallels Between the Contemporary Circus Artist’s Embodiment and the Westernized Wabi Sabi Concept

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This article analyses the development of standard designs of primary school buildings in Lithuania during the 1920s and 1930s. This process aimed to create simple and comfortable standard school buildings and provide them to the primary schools operating in the country. The article presents the development of standard designs that took place at that time, explaining the circumstances of their emergence, and comparing the main designs of such buildings developed at that time. To reveal this process as best as possible, the influence of the then Ministry of Education of Lithuania, local former Lithuanian county municipalities, and various architectural specialists in the standardisation of buildings for primary schools and the development of standard designs are presented and analysed. This aims to introduce the readers to the still little-known process that took place in the architecture of Lithuania during the 1920s and 1930s.
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The Development of Standard Designs of Primary School Buildings in Lithuania During the 1920s and 1930s

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When modernism started to be seen in architectural spheres, it did not emerge just with an architectural language for design but also with new architectural typologies. Due to the main discourse of the Modern Movement with the famous quote of Louis Sullivan, “Form follows function”, new building types which were explicitly designed for their functions have appeared. However, over time, while some of these functional buildings kept their functions, some of them either lost their function entirely already, or the technology which created that function is in a downward trend. Zeppelin/airship hangars are amongst those buildings constructed for a specific function in the early 20th century which have lost that function in the present. Therefore, even though they might not reflect any tangible qualities, the function can operate as an intangible cultural reference. The object of this paper is one of those zeppelin hangars, which is located in Edirne, Turkey. The research attempts to categorise the architectural typologies that appeared by modernism, and apply a case study method to the Edirne Zeppelin Hangar to gain insight towards the problem, which is related to the consequences created by the language of the Modern Movement due to the emphasis of the function, and to discuss the possible adaptive reuse strategies regarding these artefacts which totally lost their functions. It is concluded that it is not possible to transform all the building stock that emerged in the built environment into museums, including the Edirne Zeppelin Hangar; however, inconsequential to the designated purposes, it is crucial to leave intangible references to the previous function in its design process.
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Architectural Typologies Appeared by Modernism: Case Study of the Edirne Zeppelin Hangar

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The Romanian Workers’ Party – the political party that led Romania from 1947 until 1965 – need for legitimisation led to the rewriting of history in a way that the history of Romania was presented as a linear progression finally leading to communism. In art history, art also became a linear phenomenon, progressively advancing towards Socialist Realism.
The tactics of constructing the new narrative in art history during the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s can be read as a form of the social history of art. Although the methodology could have led to remarkable results, ethical boundaries were violated: only some historical episodes and moments from artists’ biographies were selected.
Within this context, this study investigates whether papers and monographs about Romanian painters active in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century can be read as a form of social history of art.
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Romanian Art History During the 1950s as a Form of Social History of Art

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The study deals with the possibilities of integrating the folk experience of creating Ukrainian games and toys into modern visual culture. An ethno-cultural pattern that synthesizes the artistic image, national form, natural materials, and game principles of interaction into an integral structure based on the analysis of folklore materials and artistic folk products from the territory of Western Polissia in Ukraine has been formed. The result of the study is the classification of Ukrainian folk toys and games of the population of Western Polissia organized as a holistic multifaceted visual and communicative system of interaction between folk games and toys. It has been proved that integration of ethno-cultural patterns into modern visual culture is carried out on three levels: subject, environmental, and socio-cultural. The study presents the theoretical basis for designing a modern visual and communicative environment for life, learning and rest, which is able to attract a child to the deep traditions of national culture in a natural way.
The outlined levels of integration are closely related with modern practices of eco-design, ethno-design, and art-therapy, which act as a strategic basis for the formation of modern visual culture and are aimed at the sustainable development of society.
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Ukrainian Folk Games and Toys: Levels of Integration Into Modern Visual Culture

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This paper constitutes a reflexive and theoretical approach to the study of iconographies from a cultural perspective. Its aim is to depict iconographies as the structural order which makes images representative of the social frameworks from which they stem. By analysing the stable principles which participate in the production of such representativity in any given iconography, and by considering the cultural agents which socially regulate them and make images culturally specific, it is possible to understand the cultural mechanisms by which the social construction of reality is projected onto images. Consequently, this approach favours a conceptualisation of iconographies as cultural systems through which the identity of social frameworks is conveyed thanks to the use of images.
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Iconography as System. The Structural Principles of Representation in Visual Culture

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The article reveals the features of the graphic language of coded information by identifying, systematizing, and combining QR-codes and AR-codes at the present stage of graphic design development. The analysis of coded information in different types of graphic design is presented: advertising, environmental, motion, print, packaging, set prop, web, mobile app, art, and illustration graphic design. The role of a graphic designer in the development of digital codes of various types for various fields of application is described. It is proved that the coded information is a trigger between the online and offline worlds. The article also reveals the importance of using coded information for the formation, development, and improvement of the brand.
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Digital Code as an Object Graphic Design for Dissemination and Promotion of Brand

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 19 (2023): Issue 1 (December 2023)

Volume 18 (2022): Issue 1 (December 2022)

Volume 17 (2021): Issue 1 (December 2021)

Volume 16 (2020): Issue 1 (December 2020)

Volume 15 (2019): Issue 1 (December 2019)

Volume 14 (2018): Issue 1 (December 2018)

Volume 13 (2017): Issue 1 (December 2017)

Art History & Criticism

Vytautas Magnus University’s scholarly journal “Art History &amp; Criticism” is a publication in Humanities, the branch of Art History and Criticism, published since 2005. It is distinct among other journals because of its wide profile. The topics of the journal cover almost all areas of art history and criticism: cultural heritage, architecture, visual arts, theatre, contemporary and new media art research. The journal also publishes scholarly reviews and primary sources, which are important for further research.   Why Submit All submitted articles go through double blind peer-review process, after which authors are provided feedback and an opportunity to improve their articles if necessary. After the acceptance for publishing all articles are thoroughly edited and the great attention is paid to the aesthetic quality of their presentation in actual issue of the journal. All the authors receive the printed copy of the journal.   Rejection Rate:   about 25 %   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 