meanings of art in varied religious, political, inverting art-making and cultural contexts. Reviews by Anne McClanan, Portland State Brubaker’s short study aimed at non- University, USA specialists offers a lucid and engaging introduction to Byzantine , or “iconomachy,” as she terms it. I am eager to inventing byzantine use this book in my teaching because of the iconoclasm ways Brubaker overtly models the process of historical inquiry, educating students in Brubaker, Leslie. 2012 the ways historians critically analyze primary London: Bloomsbury Academic sources. In contrast with other scholars, such as Warren Treadgold, whose interpretations striking images of these same texts differ dramatically from those of Brubaker, who follows up on ideas past and initially proposed by Speck, she tempers present the dramatic narrative of past studies of Byzantine iconoclasm, arguing that this Boldrick, Stacy, Brubaker, Leslie, and iconoclasm gained force through the gradual Clay, Richard (eds). 2013 expansion of the notion of “real presence,” Aldershot: Ashgate extended to the portraits of saints by the late seventh century, and that the theological thinking crafted in the eighth and ninth art under attack centuries both “justified and codified” this histories of british modification in practice rather than instigated the shift (Inventing, p. 110). In this way she iconoclasm returns iconoclasm to a deeper sense of Barber, Tabitha and Boldrick, Stacy context, so that the vilification of iconoclast figures such as (who bore a (eds.) 2013 nickname likening him to dung) is dramatically London: Tate Publishing upturned. Much like in the longer work she published on the same topic in 2011 with the politics of John Haldon, she takes several side trips into the realm of material culture but these iconoclasm sections could be more integrated into the , violence and the main argument. For example, how is the development of the Byzantine cross-in-square culture of image-breaking in church plan (Inventing, p. 66) connected with and islam the manifestation of iconoclasm at the heart of the book? Noyes, James. 2013 When viewing this medieval Byzantine London and New York: I.B. Tauris debate about the nature and appropriateness of the holy image in comparison with This diverse group of books forces the other historical moments of iconoclasm, question: what is iconoclasm? How can we Brubaker emerges as a bit of a Byzantine 387 find meaning in this term, which is alternately exceptionalist. She dismisses any connection used here to describe the destruction between Byzantine and the early Islamic wrought by Calvin’s ardent followers, the ’s iconoclasm, and offers a exquisitely deliberate transmutations of an more ample account of interactions with art conservator, and the sly reappropriations the papacy and other western European of earlier works perpetrated by numerous contemporaries. Although her investigation contemporary artists? Taken together, these of Byzantine iconoclasm is often a “bottom four publications represent an eclectic reach up” approach, trying to get at that tantalizing for profound questions about the larger but elusive goal of the experience of a

Material Religion volume 10, issue 3, pp. 387–395 © Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2014 388 might beconstrued asiconoclasm.Histories purposeful destruction ofdruids’sacred trees the functional,forexample,or howthe how weaponscarriedanimportance beyond meaning foundalastingvoicein writing: run through humanexistencebefore their in historicalmomentsoficonoclasm that wediscern conveys someofthepatterns of destructionasiconoclasm?Theiressay contemporary textstointerpret evidence context; thatis,mustwehaveextant contemplate iconoclasminaprehistoric of iconoclasmbyaskingifitispossibleto Benjamin Gearey openup theverydefinition and Landscapes,”HenryChapman European Prehistory? Breaking Objects theory. Inthenextessay, “Iconoclasm in with abullet-pointexpositionoficonoclast impressively eruditelecture notes,complete Roman contextandinsomewaysitreads like and Present.Heressaygivesmore ancient anthology StrikingImages:IconoclasmsPast of manyengagingstudiesincludedinthe culture andreligious history. central tounderstandingByzantinevisual showcasing current scholarshiponthistopic this bookrenders animportantserviceby but insum,arelativelyas minorconcern, usage, “iconoclasm”?Thisisanoddchoice, neologism, “iconomachy,” overthestandard Constantine—by Brubaker’s insistenceona tidbit thatConstantinoplewasfoundedby basic background explained,suchasthe reader be—whoapparently needsvery on thetopic.Howwellservedwouldher of artinEnglish-languagescholarship iconoclasm isnowensconcedastheterm history aboutsixtyyearsago.Thatsaid, English andoneonlyappliedtoByzantine that iconoclasmisarelatively newword in wider audience.Forthem,sherightlynotes resource forbringinganabstrusetopictoa delve furtherintothetopic. of everychapterwillnodoubtinvitemanyto annotated bibliographysectionsattheend of where therichlydevelopedreferences and relationship withicons,andthisisanexample about womenhavingaparticularlyclose the argumentsagainstearliertheories Her bookprovides atrenchant overviewof to herpremises elsewhere inthisfinestudy. and notpractices,thusrunscounter Byzantine iconoclasmrests ontheology of thedistinctionbetweenearlyIslamicand broader cross-section ofpeople,herreading In addition,Brubakercontributedone The bookthereinaremarkable furnishes physical attributes ofthework,canserveas labors oftheconservator, transforming the the corporalentitythatisattacked. Thusthe attracts theiconoclasts’attention, butitis may bethenuminousqualityof a thingthat audience, ormore actively, astheirusers. It beings werelate totheseworksastheir with artasobjectsandhowsensing way thaticonoclasmengagesfundamentally to theinnerworkingsoficonoclasm—the the iconoclast,getsatsomethingessential opposite ofthepurposefuldestruction face ofitseemingtoexplore whatisthevery “authenticity.” Thustheiressay, whileonthe important elementofaworkwetakeasits objects’ historyandproblematize theall- of theconservatorservetosuppress the they questionwhethertheinterventions In athought-provoking and intelligentstudy, boundaries ofthedefinitioniconoclasm. Concealment andSubversion”pushesthe Ashley-Smith’s “IconoclasmasConservation, conditions ofitsage”(Striking,p.130). of destructionaccording tothespecific iconoclasm asthe“establishedtradition methodological premise ofviewing as forexampleNoyestakestheintriguing to reappraise ourdefinitionoficonoclasm, Noyes). Alloftheseinstanceschallengeus Simpson), andthetwoWorld Wars (James Dudley), theEnlightenmentMuseum(James the AllegoricalTomb ofLord Somers(Lauren such asRenaissanceItaly(AnnaM.Kim), entries explore seeminglyunlikelytopics Thus severaloftheotherStrikingImages the best-studiedperiodsoficonoclasm. anthology isthatitoftenrangesoutsideof not be“neutralized.” monuments, evenwhenfragmentary, could period Mayansculpture concludesthatrulers’ form. MeganE.O’Neil’s studyofClassic- include manytransformationsofmeaningand semantic rangeoftheword iconoclasmto Cane, andAshley-Smithwhobroaden the cohort ofreviewed workssuchasNoyes, which resonates withotherwritersinthis museums “functionasagentsoficonoclasm,” yields asenseoficonoclasminwhich culture,” themuseum.Theirinterpretation and findsnewmeaningsinthe“templeof “diffused” overtime,asasculpture fragments head arguesthaticonoclasmcanbe Reinders’s essayontheKo¯ fuku-jiBuddha these narratives,forFabioRambelliandEric of displaypracticeare alsoimplicatedin Likewise SimonCraneandJonathan One ofthegreat strengths ofthis

Material Religion Volume 10 Book Reviews Issue 3 “a deliberate strategy to remove elements the perspective given of the Taliban’s actions that obscured the idealized, authentic image” in Iconoclash (Bruno Latour’s provocative (Striking, p. 192). Some examples in the 2002 ZKM exhibit looms large over several of essay though remain debatable, such as the the works reviewed here) and instead brings inclusion of the Staffordshire Hoard cross as a more nuanced perspective to the ways an instance of iconoclasm. The sight of an the Taliban’s actions were negotiated and abject, crumpled medieval cross may seem informed by a complex dialogue with media as self-evident an example of iconoclasm as reactions to the unfolding events. there is (Striking, Plate 1; Figure 1), and the The Striking Images project comes out authors vaguely allude to the “intentional” acts of an international working group’s sessions of destruction in the archeological record. funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Items in Anglo-Saxon and other hoards of Council. The overall structure of the book this time, though, were crumpled for ease is well-balanced, and casual readers will of transportation, trade, and refashioning, especially appreciate the enframed abstracts as part of their return to the status of a raw that precede each essay. Given the richness material. While it is interesting that modern and heterogeneity of the essays, it is a missed conservation practices do not condone the opportunity that the conclusion, instead of untwisting of the cross’s tangle of metal, stepping back and drawing connections neither the early medieval circumstances of among the seventeen scholarly contributions, its transformation from a functioning religious drifts into musings about British iconoclasm object nor the twenty-first century choice from a panel connected with the recent Tate to leave it compressed offer a compelling Britain show, a topic not otherwise addressed case for being iconoclasm in the end. This in the core essays. expansion and exploration of the term The conclusion’s final destination is iconoclasm is, however, part of what is so unsurprising, though, given that the catalog energizing about this collection of essays. from the Tate Britain exhibit, Art under Attack: While some instances might push past Histories of British Iconoclasm, was edited by historically bound notions of iconoclasm, that the same two scholars who authored Striking probing is in itself intellectually productive. Images’ conclusion, Tabitha Barber and Stacy Two chapters from Striking Images that Boldrick. The Art under Attack catalog closely deal with much-discussed iconoclasms, the follows the structure of the exhibition, in Taliban’s assault on the Bamiyan Buddhas (by which each room corresponded to a catalog Jamal J. Elias) and Jake and Dinos Chapman chapter. The Tate Britain show is reviewed (by Simon Baker), yield a new set of insights. by Graham Howes elsewhere in this volume, Baker’s essay originally appeared in a 2005 but the catalog is substantial enough to publication by the Chapman brothers and warrant separate consideration here. Its tenor offers “through the lens of the young Georges strikes a balance between being accessible Bataille” a view of the fruitfulness of inventive and being willing to pose challenging re-signification. Elias in turn argues against questions of its subject. The overall trajectory is chronological, but short comprehensive essays by Barker and Boldrick precede the core sections. Beginning with a recent instance of British iconoclasm abroad that surely resonated with many visitors—the 2003 389 destruction by British troops of two sculptures of Saddam Hussein—these prologue essays provide a larger frame of reference for the specific studies that follow. Interweaving the historical and contemporary at the center of the exhibition, the catalog’s premise is that iconoclasm is “an ongoing reality.” Although the catalog’s organization of essays, parsed out by chronological boundaries, undermines this premise somewhat, at its core is the idea FIG 1 that the histories of iconoclasm in Britain are Folded cross from Staffordshire Hoard, ca. 650–700; repr. in Striking Images, Iconoclasms Past and Present as Plate 1. “neither neatly consistent or continuous.” (Credit: © Birmingham Museums Trust.) Susan Harrison’s essay on the dissolution 390 political iconoclasms canbeunderstood. important questions aboutthewaysthat and byLenaMohamedonsuffragettes pose varied misfortunesofBritishpublic sculpture idolators ofRome”(Art,p.80). to bangandbeatdowntheliving idolsand the refashioning ofitsmetalinto“bullets… instance ofPuritaniconoclasm,included which Barkerwrylydescribesasan“iconic” procreative force—the May1643eradication, in theheartofLondonalsoharbored a final destructionoftheCheapsideCross Catholic reliquaries andchurch plate.The of recognition oftheiroriginal provenance in offered sixteenth-centuryviewersafrisson rather thandestroyed, and thatnodoubt Salt Cellar(Art,fig.43),were repurposed sometimes objects,suchastheStonyhurst pointstothe waysthat of Goya,Williams Jake andDinosChapman’s reworkings the catalog’s concludingdiscussionabout Foreshadowing questionsthatemergein act ofthevandal/iconoclastwas—shows. the contextconveyinghowpurposeful painting (Art,p.66)—withoutreference to of a1977instanceanacidattackon attaining thatstandard, ashisownmention context, gapsinsources sometimeshinder situate everyactoficonoclasminitsunique one woulddisagree withWilliams’s callto conform toideologicalgoals.Whileno instead were purposefulandscriptedto hardly uncontrolled andspontaneous,but both scholarsisthaticonoclasticactswere events. Anothercorrective assertedby of asprocesses ratherthanassingular were ongoing,more helpfullythought both makecleartheextenttowhichthese and Tabitha Barker’s onPuritaniconoclasm was excisedandhisimageerased. throughout thecountry, thesuffrage ofBecket shattered, butinBooksofHoursmanuscripts not onlywastheCanterburyshrine echoes earlierRomandamnatiomemoriae— the dissolutionofcultThomasBecket over timeandwithvaryingintents.Similarly, that theharmmayhavebeenperformed when thedamagehappened,acknowledging been damagedaswell.Harrisonrightlyasks but manyotherfigures inthescenehave the relief figureVirgin wasbeheaded, ofthe from FountainsAbbey(Art,fig.20),wesee catalog. LookingattheAnnunciationpanel key questionsthatrecur throughout the of themonasteriesestablishessome The essaysbyM.G.Sullivanabout the Richard Wilson’s chapteronReformation Venus provides anoften-citedcase studyof Mary Richardson’s assaulton TheRokeby meanings thatitheldinearliercenturies. carries forward manyofthelayered practiceoficonoclasm ways thatthemodern suffragette’s activitiesembodythepowerful destruction wasa“creative process,” the to defyauthority, andevenintheways ways theirimage-breaking soughtexplicitly iconoclastic acts(Art,fig.92;Figure 2).Inthe provided anongoingreminder ofthewomen’s the damagedworkfrom theirusualsetting on real people”(Art,p.115).Theabsenceof public asymbolicresemblance toattacks sufficient “toengageinthemindsof targeted representations ofpeople,alikeness (thus ownedcollectivelybythepublic)and both damagedobjectsheldbythenation for fundamentalrights,yettheattacksonart hurt membersofthepublicintheircampaign conundrums. Thesewomenvowednotto iconoclasm bythesuffragettes posesimilar as simplypranks.Thenumerous actsof morethat are wellcategorizedbyWilliams to havebeenalightningrod foractivities monument toGeorgeIinLondonseems of thewrong kind,”asimilarequestrian York predictably “soonattractedattention of KingGeorgeIIIinRevolutionaryNew of iconoclasm,asweseethehaplessstatue while someactionssurely carriedtheweight seem particularlyopentointerventions,and otherwise superbanalysis.Publicmonuments on coinageare notincludedinMohamed’s interventionsmadebysuffragettesearnest message, “Iloveshag”(Art,fig.86),themore cametoproclaimVictoria through anetched morsel thatthenumismaticportraitofQueen of coinage,sothatwegleanthedelicious Although Sullivanmentionsthedefacement Museum ofLondon.) James, 1914;repr. inArtunderAttackasfig.92.(Credit: wall followingtheremoval ofthedamagedportraitHenry Newspaper photographdocumentingthe space onthe FIG 2

Material Religion Volume 10 Book Reviews Issue 3 the implications of these acts. Richardson leaders pronouncing against images, and at the time explicitly aligned the damage to Noyes’s interpretation is buttressed with the painting with the acute sufferings by her copious evocations of Weber. The shorter imprisoned comrade Emmeline Pankhurst, case studies that populate Part Two seem however decades later her memoirs curiously less well-developed. For example, it will not emphasized the impact on the market value come as a surprise that the futurist Marinetti of her acts as an index of their importance, fulminated against the aging edifice of , plunging the value of the painting in 1914 yet for his rantings to qualify as iconoclasm terms by £10,000 to a mere £15,000. would require more explanation within the The artful manipulations described very specific methodological paradigm by Stacy Boldrick and Andrew Wilson in proposed by Noyes. In contrast, the next the final three catalog essays of Art under chapter, exploring the carefully planned Attack explore more recent instances of obliteration of Warsaw, offers an original and both iconoclasm and the incorporation of compelling examination of iconoclasm and iconoclasm into contemporary art practice. gives a more satisfying argument than that in It is here that the possibility inherent within Noyes’s related essay on the World Wars in earlier iconoclasms to yield something vital the Striking Images anthology. and new is given free range, as events such Readers would be better served if the as the 1966 Destruction in Art Symposium bibliography was not segmented by chapters, (DIAS) and the output of artists such as and perplexities spring from this decision Raphael Montañez Ortiz attest. Some of (the Morgan work cited on page 101 is only the assumptions in these chapters perhaps included in the section for the Introduction warrant more scrutiny, though, for it is not an and Conclusion, and the lumping together of unusual event in earlier centuries for artists the bibliographies for chapters 2 and 7 would to rework or take inspiration from earlier seem baffling to a reader quickly flipping to images, and such activities only seem to be the end matter for a reference). Also, Noyes iconoclastic in the loosest sense of the term, argues against a body of online criticism of a purposely provocative act, often taking of “Wahhabi” destruction, and it would be on much of the semantic range associated worth addressing more directly the online generally with social construction of the sources and the scope of these ideas being avant-garde. vociferously debated in the public sphere. The final book under consideration here, These public discussions testify to how James Noyes’s The Politics of Iconoclasm: central the topic of iconoclasm has become. Religion, Violence and the Culture of Image- We see how iconoclasm inverts art-making, Breaking in Christianity and Islam, would imbuing certain acts of destruction with as seem to offer one of the most tightly defined much signification as the processes that explorations of the topic, postulating in its create a work of art. These fascinatingly introduction that the political dimension of diverse examples build upon an earlier Calvinist and Wahhabi iconoclasm has been understanding grounded primarily on the neglected. The book appears very grounded iconoclasms of Byzantium and the Protestant in his 2009 Cambridge doctoral thesis, which , and yield the insight that as a uses a Weberian framework to analyze those work of art transforms for varied viewers/ two instances of “political” iconoclasm. Noyes users and contexts, the reworkings can at rightly notes that this parallel has been drawn times bear the potency of iconoclasm. The 391 elsewhere, such as Samuel Huntington’s four reviewed books significantly contribute Clash of Civilizations, but he makes a new to the burgeoning research in this field, and valuable contribution by offering a more which has so robust a range of current nuanced account of iconoclasm within the publications one wonders if we are witnessing Wahhabi polity. It was the followers of both the emergence of a new and distinct field of Calvin and Abd al-Wahhab who were the inquiry. iconoclasts, inspired by the writings of their