Moved by Rubens : the double logic of image perception in the age of mechanical reproduction (1877-1977)

By the end of his life, Rubens’ work was dispersed over the European continent, not only through commissions in the framework of diplomatic missions, but also via prints produced by engravers in his own studio. Being one of the first Flemish masters who consciously engaged with the reproducibility of his work, Rubens set in motion a double logic of image perception: through remediation, reproductions initiate a centrifugal movement that spreads the artwork’s image towards a broader audience, simultaneously causing a centripetal force that enables us to see and approach these images as part of a comprehensive oeuvre. However, it is only by the end of the nineteenth century, with the advent of mechanical reproductions, that this mechanism of image perception got fully operative. Especially the festivities organized for Rubens’ 300th birthday celebration became an important catalyzer for the dissemination and circulation of Rubens’ oeuvre, conducting yet another centripetal trajectory: more and more people traveled to the must-see originals of the images that became part of a visual culture. Between Rubens’ 300th and 400th birthday celebration, in 1877 and 1977 respectively, reproduction technologies—photography, film and television—succeeded each other at an unseen pace. In a period of a hundred years, these pictorial media were increasingly successful in generating truthful representations. At the same time however, the physical appearance of mechanical reproductions developed according to the specific—printed and screened—features of reproduction media and hence increasingly further away from the original painted medium. Through reproduction media’s visual strategies, the original image and its meaning is deconstructed. Moreover, the formal characteristics of mechanical reproductions developed not only in relation to the originals, but also in the interplay between different reproduction media. Subsequently, what we look for in the original and what we remember from this experience is highly influenced by the mediation of mechanical reproduction, their technological development as well as their variable functions in modern society. Mechanical reproductions did not only bring us to the authentic originals, now they become the reference point to approach these originals. The Rubens centennials converged Rubens’ images—both reproductions and originals, even directly combined in the exhibition space—in the city of Antwerp, and at the same time dispersed his remediated image—both the oeuvre and persona—on a global scale. Instead of focusing on technical innovations or legal requirements that made modern technologies apt for reproduction purposes, I want to concentrate on what Erika Balsom described as copy rites: “extralegal social and historical conventions that shape the possibilities and meanings of image reproduction” (Balsom 2017, 8). Drawing on theoretical discourses initiated by Walter Benjamin, Dean MacCannel, Hans Belting and Boris Groys, among others, this proposal takes the Rubens centennials as a case-study to explore the double dynamic of image perception in modern society: a continual reciprocity of images and people, that mobilized our reception of art in a pre-digital age.

Jaar van publicatie:2020

Toegankelijkheid:Open