Narrative presentation

Storytelling with Images:Narrative Art

Terms/Concept: Ut Pictura Poesis, diachronic, synchronic, pregnant moment, monoscenic, sequential, continuous, synoptic, simultaneous, autonomous,

Key Monuments: Theodore Gericault, The Raft of

the Medusa, 1819. Giotto, Scenes from the Life of

Christ, Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy, 1305.

Masaccio, The Tribute Money, 1425.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Man’s Love Story, 1978.

Kara Walker, “Darkytown Rebellion” from My Complement, My Oppressor, My Friend, 1997.

“Storytelling starts with human history itself; there is not, nor has there ever been, anywhere, a group of people without stories…international, transhistorical, across cultures, storytelling is just there—a part of life.”

--Roland Barthes

Types of Stories Told by Images

MythologicalReligiousLiteraryHistoricalPersonalAllegorical

Ut Pictura Poesis

Image Communicates Records Expresses Evokes a response Synchronic:

experienced all at once.

Text Communicates Records Expresses Evokes a response Diachronic:

experienced over time.

“as is painting, so is poetry”

Ut Pictura Poesis The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red Riding Hood entered the wood, a wolf met her. Red Riding Hood did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him. 'Good day, Little Red Riding Hood,' said he. 'Thank you kindly, wolf.' 'Whither away so early, Little Red Riding Hood?' 'To my grandmother's.' 'What have you got in your apron?' 'Cake and wine; yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick grandmother is to have something good, to make her stronger.' 'Where does your grandmother live, Little Red Riding Hood?' 'A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below; you surely must know it,' replied Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf thought to himself: 'What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful - she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both.' So he walked for a short time by the side of Little Red Riding Hood, and then he said: 'See, Little Red Riding Hood, how pretty the flowers are about here - why do you not look round? I believe, too, that you do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing; you walk gravely along as if you were going to school, while everything else out here in the wood is merry.' Little Red Riding Hood raised her eyes, and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought: 'Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nosegay; that would please her too. It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in good time.'

“as is painting, so is poetry”

How do artists use synchronic images to represent diachronic narratives?

Narrative Methods in Art

1. Monoscenic2. Sequential3. Continuous4. Synoptic5. Simultaneous6. Autonomous



…present only one scene of many to represent an entire narrative.

Conventional Story Structure

*A pregnant moment is one part of a larger narrative that serves to speak for the entire series of events by having structural significance, emotional impact, or some other means of communicates a sense of the whole story.

Theodore Gericault, The Raft of the Medusa, 1819.

*Monoscenic Narratives present only one scene of many to represent an entire narrative.

Climax

Honore Daumier, Rue Transnonain April 15, 1834, 1834.

Denouement



…is the ordered grouping of key monoscenic episodes to convey a diachronic narrative.

*Sequential Narrative is the grouping of key monoscenic episodes to convey a diachronic narrative.

Art Spiegelman, “The War is Over!” Maus, Volume 1, 1986.

Giotto, Scenes from the Life of Christ, Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy, 1305.

Bringing of the Rods

Wedding at Cana

Raising of Lazarus

The Resurrection

The Lamentation

Praying Suitors

Life of the Virgin

Life of Christ

Death of Christ



…uses the repetition of figures to convey multiple scenes of a story in a single composition.

Masaccio, The Tribute Money, 1425.

* Continuous Narrative uses the repetition of figures to convey multiple scenes of a story in a single composition.

Christ tells St. Peter to retrieve the money from a fish.

1.

St. Peter retrieves the money.

2.

St. Peter pays the tribute collector.

3.

Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well, Vienna Genesis, early 6th century CE.

Rebecca walks to the well.

Water personificationRebecca giving Eliezer water.



…like continuous narrative, conveys multiple scenes within a single composition but without the repetition of figures.

Blinding of Polyphemus, Laconian Black-Figure Kylix, 565-550 BCE.

*Synoptic Narrative, like continuous narrative, conveys multiple scenes within a single composition but without the repetition of figures.

Odysseus and his men blind the drunk cyclops.

3.

Odysseus gets Polyphemus drunk.

2.

Polyphemus, the cyclops, captures Odysseus and eats some of his men.

1.



…uses culturally significant symbols and patterns to convey a story. These symbols are often used as memory cues for oral storytelling.


*Simultaneous Narrative uses culturally significant symbols and patterns to convey a story.

Mervyn Firebrace, Telling a Dreamtime Story, United Kingdom, c. 2005.


Water holeWater hole

Honey Ants

Mirage

Mirage

Journey Line

Ant Hole

Ancestor 1

Ancestor 2

women

women

women

women

Sugary Leaves

Digging Stick

Journey Line

Hair on a Spindle

Another Ancestor



…is a narrative free from a text, that the artist creates with his or her work. The audience plays a large role in reconstructing this narrative.

Non-Linear Storytelling

Kara Walker, “Slavery, Slavery, Slavery,” from My Complement, My Oppressor, My Friend, 1997.

Kara Walker, “Darkytown Rebellion” from My Complement, My Oppressor, My Friend, 1997.

Kara Walker, Freedom, a Fable: A Curious Interpretation of the Wit of a Negress in Troubled Times, 1997.

Interrogating the Narrative

1. What is the story being told? Is it fictional? Mythological? Religious? Historical? Autonomous?

2. Does the narrative image consist of a single events or a single event?

3. If a single event, what part of the story is being told? Climax? Exposition? Denouement? Aftermath?

4. From what point of view is the story being told/ Who is telling the story? The Artist? The Viewer? An unknown character?

5. How to you, the viewer, form the narrative by either your physical or mental position?

Narrative presentation

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