IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca Lucca, Italy Art History as Janus: Sergei Eisenstein on the Visual Arts PhD Program in Analysis and Management of Cultural Heritage XXXth cycle By Hanin Hannouch 2017 The dissertation of Hanin Hannouch is approved Program Coordinator: Emanuele Pellegrini, IMT School for Advanced Studies Advisor: Linda Bertelli, IMT School for Advanced Studies Co-Advisor: Alessia Cervini, Universita© degli Studi di Messina The dissertation of Hanin Hannouch has been reviewed by: Prof. Pietro Montani, Sapienza Universita di Roma Dr. Marie Rebecchi, University of Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle 3 IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca 2017 ART HISTORY AS JANUS: SERGEI EISENSTEIN ON THE VISUAL ARTS CONTENTS LIST OF IMAGES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VITA AND PUBLICATIONS ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Ausblick: Cinematic Paintings- Case Studies I ± VALENTIN SEROV 1 Yermolova 1.1 Mirror in the set-up 1.2 Dynamic light 2 Seeing intraconceptual movement 3 Art history answers back 3.1 Vanishing points and diagonals II- EL GRECO 4 The Expulsion of the Moneylenders from the Temple 4.1 Unecstatic 4.2 Mechanical repetition 5 The Resurrection from the Grave 5.1 Format 5.2 Theme 5.3 Pathos and ecstasy 6 An art historical transformation 7 Storm over Toledo 7.1 Level of subjectivity 7.2 28 mm painting 8 Art historical comparison between Storm over Toledo and View and Plan of Toledo III- GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI 9 Carcere with Staircase 9.1 Independent value 9.2 Biographical change 9.3 Accumulation of perspective 10 Art History Looks at The Dark Prison and Carcere with Staircase Rückblick: Eisenstein's art historical references 11 Hugo Kehrer's Die Kunst des Grecos 12 Intersections between Eisenstein and Kehrer 12.1 Spirituality of Storm over Toledo 12.2 Cadre introductif of The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice 13 Jean-Martin Charcot's Les Démoniaques dans l'art 13.1 Saint Nilus 14 Intersections between Eisenstein and Charcot 14.1 Hysteric Spanish art 14.2 Location of hysteria 15 Typologies of ecstasy 15.1 Ecstasy within the image 15.2 Ecstasy as meta-image 15.3 Ecstasy in the whole and in the part 16 Eisenstein's drawings: From hysteria to ecstasy 17 Albert Giesecke's Meister der Grafik: Giovanni Battista Piranesi 18 Intersections between Eisenstein and Giesecke 18.1 Carcerei and ªUrcarceriº 18.2 Movement and frame 18.3 Literary interpretations of Carceri CONCLUSION APPENDIX BIBLIOGRAPHY List of illustrations Ill.1: My drawing of vanishing points and diagonals in Valentin Serov's Portrait of Maria Yermolova (1905). Ill.2: El Greco, Expulsion from the temple aka Christ driving the traders from the temple, ca.1600, Oil on Canvas, 106.3 x 129.7 cm, National Gallery (London). Ill. 3: El Greco, Resurrection, ca. 15961600, Oil on Canvas, 275 x 127 cm, Museo del Prado (Madrid). Ill.4: Group 1: Jesus in Expulsion (left) and Resurrection (right). Ill.5: Group 2: Man in yellow cloak in Expulsion (left) and Resurrection (right). Ill.6: Group 3: Old man and young man in Expulsion (left) and Resurrection (right). Ill.7: Group 4: The masses in Expulsion (left) and Resurrection (right). Ill.8: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Dark Prison, etching from ªOpere Varieº, ca. 1750. Ill.9: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Le Carceri d©Invenzione aka Carcere with Staircase, Etching, Second Edition, ca. 1761, Museum Berggruen (part of Eisenstein's collection). Ill.10: My interpretation of Carcere with Staircase. Ill.11: Ecstasy as meta-image in Espolio, The Pentecost, The Resurrection. Ill.12: El Greco's Laocoon with the movement in the modelé and the body outlines highlighting it. Ill.13: Jesus' face from Espolio (left) and the Possessed of Rubens' face (right). Ill. 14: Apostle 1 from The Resurrection (left), Bell's opisthotonos (center), and Richer's drawing from the periode de clownisme (right). Ill.15: Apostle 3 from The Resurrection (above) and the contorted body from Richer's periode de clownisme below). Acknowledgements During the conceptualization and writing of this dissertation and during my affiliation to IMT Lucca, School for Advanced Studies, several people inspired and motivated me to keep going forward: A major thank you goes without a doubt to the LYNX research unit and its director Prof. Maria Luisa Catoni for having me, and to Prof. Emanuele Pellegrini who has supported me for three years with many heated debates about museology. More specifically, I am deeply indebted to Dr. Linda Bertelli who first and foremost introduced me to the visual studies of science; a field that I never knew I needed in my life, and who opened up intellectual perspectives that I never knew I lacked, bringing me out of my comfort zone and into scientific cinematography and imagery. Throughout my stay at IMT and during my period abroad, Dr. Bertelli proved to be nothing short of an inspiration and a kind guide who with a gentleness combined with thoroughness, extracted riveting thoughts out of me. Another thank you goes to Dr. Alessia Cervini who has accompanied my journey up until the submission of my thesis and who, with her gentle insight and availability, lighted my path. Vielen Dank to Prof. Isabel Wünsche and Jacobs University, Bremen for her guidance, motivation, and overall optimistic approach to life, especially in moments when I felt like I was drowning in my own text. I am likewise grateful to the attention my external referees Prof. Pietro Montani, and Dr. Marie Rebecchi have put into my work, pushing me to keep improving, and to Dr. John Riley for giving me fresh perspectives on my thesis. No PhD is exciting without colleagues: Lorenzo Borgonovo without whom my existential exasperation would have remained mute and found no echo, Dania Marzo who revitalized my interest in all things built, Maria Emanuela Oddo whose passion for all things Greco-Roman re-ingnited my own interest in the topic, and archivist extraordinare who never ceases to amaze me in her capacity to organize knowledge and to decipher people's handwriting, Gemma Torre. I am indebted to Gemma's tips and advices during my archival research at GNM in Nuremberg when I had to ªkeep calm and call an archivistº. During my time at IMT, many people were instrumental to my well-being and my thirst for exchange, especially my coffee pal Alessandro Maggi, my go-to economic theorist Luca Mantegazza, the funniest guy at school Van Tien, and my sweetheart Anita Bunea. I would like to sincerely thank all of these lovely human beings for having been part of some of the most hilarious and provocative moments I have had. Furthermore, I wholeheartedly thank Barbara Iacobino and Antonella Barbutti for their help with the bureaucracy I needed to carry out and for having made the process of moving to Italy as a foreigner quite straightforward and as easy as possible from the first day. Also, I wish to thank Sara Olson for being my student adviser throughout my time at IMT and for her help with the thesis submission process and her overall availability. Also, without a doubt, the IMT Library staff Caterina Tangheroni, Tania Iannizzi and Elia De Pasquale won my heart, and I am grateful for their assistance, speed, and friendliness throughout this time. Lastly, shoukran jazilan to my parents who have shown me nothing less of complete support, trust in my abilities, and an undying enthusiasm about my future. You have all been lovely, thank you! VITA January 1, 1989 Born, Beirut, Lebanon 2009 BA:Archaeology and Art History Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik Jounieh, Lebanon 2011 MA: Modern Art Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik Jounieh, Lebanon 2013 International Masters in Art History and Museology (IMKM) Ecole du Louvre Paris, France 2014 International Masters in Art History and Museology (IMKM) Universität Heidelberg Heidelberg, Germany PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS (selection) Hannouch (2015), We Have Always Been Cinematic - Sergei Eisenstein as Art. Paper presented at the Second International Forum for doctoral candidates in East European art history. Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Hannouch (2015), Cinematism and Formalism: Sergei Eisenstein as Art Historian. Paper presented at Russian Art: Building Bridges Between East and West. Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. Hannouch (2017), The Agitated Eye of the Film Viewer : Sergei Eisenstein as Art Historian. Paper presented at Une histoire du regard est-elle possible ? Le cinéma au cúur de la « culture visuelle ». Université de Lorraine ± Nancy, France. Hannouch (2017), Cinematic Etchings? Sergei Eisenstein, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and Postmodernism. Paper presented at XXIV Udine International Film Studies Conference. Università degli Studi di Udine, Italy. Hannouch (2017), Art History as Janus: Sergei Eisenstein on the Visual Arts. Paper presented at International Conference on Moving Image and Philosophy. University of Porto, Portugal. Hannouch (2016), The Trouble With Alexander Medvedkin: Ideological Errors in New Moscow (1938), In: Slovo, UCL (London), Vol.28, No.1, p.21-37. Hannouch (2016). A Cinematographer©s Guide to Literature! Sergei Eisenstein©s Cinematism and Visual Writing, In: the image in the World, the World in the image New perspectives for an interdisciplinary approach to textual and extra-textual representation, Quaderni della ricerca, Università L©Orientale di Napoli. Hannouch (2016). Accélérer la machine: La voiture de course au cinéma, In: Ecrire l©histoire, Université Denis Diderot Paris-7, CNRS. ABSTRACT My dissertation deals with the connection between cinema and art history, and their respective ways of looking upon artworks, exemplified by the writings of Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) on the visual arts. In the first part of my work, I focus on four of Eisenstein's texts dealing with three painters he considers cinematic: ªYermolovaº (1937) studying Valentin Serov's portrait of Maria Yermolova, ªEl Grecoº ( 1937) and ªEl Greco y el Cineº (written between 1939 and 1941) considering the Cretan painter Doménikos Theotokópoulos, and lastly ªPiranesi or the Fluidity of Formº (undated, presumably 1947) analyzing Giovanni Battista Piranesi's etchings.