Realität und Projektion

More about the book

Archaeologists and medieval art historians are debating the definition of 'realism' in art. Traditionally, 'realism' was seen as the opposite of 'idealism,' a distinction that shaped archaeological and art-historical terminology for a long time, such as ideal versus realistic portraits. Contributions in this volume illustrate how forms of realism can become stereotypes and how perception is influenced by the cultural conditioning of memory. The ongoing dispute in classical archaeology and medieval art history centers on what constitutes 'realism' in art. While realism has traditionally been contrasted with idealism, this distinction has long influenced the terminology used in these fields. Ideal representations are associated with forms of abstraction that diverge significantly from reality, whereas realism is characterized by a vocabulary that allows for the recognition of the depicted subject. However, this distinction becomes problematic as realistic depictions can be translated into stereotypes or influenced by them, leading to a situation where the realistic vocabulary serves more to construct a version of reality than to accurately represent it. Consequently, realistic representation intertwines notions of how reality should be with its depiction.