University of Winchester
Thursdays 15.30
Medecroft 107
Semester 1
In this module, we will explore painting as a form of thinking about the world and philosophizing
(metaphysics). We will trace how images reflect the self and its sense of unified identity and also the collectivity. We will examine loss of identity and the fracturing the self and communities. We will think about how the ways we respond to nature (landscapes) and ourselves (portraits) in painting carry within them certain geographic, culturally and historically conditioned ways of thinking. In an age where the concept of the Subject is deconstructed and identity is often multiple and fragmented, theologians, elders, painters and philosophers will help us to unravel the often mysterious negotiations we make between self and image, nature and our reflection of it.
Week 1 (25 th September)
Identity and Its Fragmentation
In the first session, we will introduce the module and look at some key texts and paintings which address deconstruction. We will see how differing concepts of the self, the tribe and its unity/fragmentation impact on how we visualise ourselves and the world. We will look at paintings of faces by Titian, Rembrandt, Kahlo and Picasso.
Reading:
M. Miles Image as Insight (Beacon Press Boston 1985) p146-149
Handout: portrait images
Handout 1: Athens to Jerusalem: Underlying Principles
Handout 2: Standpoint
Levinas, Entre Nous On the Face (Continuum 1998)
Burckhardt, T. Sacred Art in East and West (Perennial Books 1986)
Week 2 (2 nd October)
Symbols versus images
We will trace the development of Christian icons. Why did Christians stop using symbols to represent their faith and start making portraits–icons of holy figures and faces in particular? We will make a formal analysis of how icon painters create their images and how they visualise exemplary Biblical stories. What image of the potential for the self is being shown here? We will see how this differs from portraiture in Late
Antiquity.
Reading:
Handout: Early Christian art of the catacombs
Beckett, W. Sister Real Presence (Continuum London 2010)
Ouspensky, L. Theology of the Icon (St Vladimir Press 1978)
Handout: Image/Divine Image
Temple, R. Icons (Saqi Books, London 2004)
Sendler, E. The Icon (Oakwood 1988)
Additional Reading:
Williams, Rowan Icons Lecture given to RA London 2009 http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/834/royal-academy-of-arts-byzantiumlecture-icons-and-the-practice-of-prayer [Consulted 21/7/14]
LA 2003/3004 Athens and Jerusalem

Week 3 (9 th October)
Incarnation and transfiguration
Continuing the theme of the intersection between the Eternal and the Human in the Face, we will explore theories of avatar/incarnation in Hinduism (multiple gods incarnating the One) and Christianity (one incarnation only). We will study iconic images of the transfiguration, the photographs of St Therese of
Lisieux, Ramanuja on qualified non-dualism and the speculations of the early church fathers on how the divine and the human, spirit and flesh can meet in a holy person.
Reading
Hebrew Bible (Christian: ‘Old Testament’): Exodus chapter 34
Gospel, according to Matthew: ch. 17, according to Mark: ch.9 and according to Luke: ch.9
Handout: images of the Transfiguration
Handout: theories of Christian Incarnation
Handout: Avatar in Hinduism
Dasgupta, S. A History of Indian Philosophy (CUP 1961) Ch. 19 Ramanuja
Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon (St Vladimir Press 1978)
Additional Reading:
Parrinder, G. Avatar and Incarnation (Faber and Faber edition: re-printed Oneworld Publications 1997)
Week 4 (16 th October)
Everything is Already Divine
We will study Taoist and Mahayana doctrines of Oneness and the doctrine that Samsara is Nirvana – the multiplicity of the world as it is in its mundane form is already transformed and unified – the goal is to
‘realise’ this. We shall examine the key concepts of non-dualism: no-self (anatta) and Emptiness (sunyata) and pantheism (lit.all is ‘god’/divine). We will look at Chinese landscape painting and the still-life and paintings of Gwen John and Cezanne.
Reading:
Yang, l. Fantastic Mountains (Art Gallery NWS, Australia 2004)
Burckhardt, T. Sacred Art in East and West: Landscape in Far Eastern Art (Perennial Books 1986)
Watts, A. What is Zen? (New World Library Books California 2000)
Basho, On Love and Barley (Penguin London 1985)
Handout: Cezanne
Week 5 (23 rd October)
No session
Week 6 (30 th October)
The Self beneath the Surface
We examine the work of the Jewish Abstract Expressionist painters, Rothko and Newman who abandon representations of the human figure. We will look at Newman’s exploration of Biblical themes and Mark
Rothko’s ‘gateway’ paintings, using the artists’ writings and images
Reading:
Handout: Bible, Rothko, Newman
Handout: Space and perspective
Levinson, J. Looking at Barnett Newman (August London 2002)
Tuchman, M. The New York School (T&H no date)
Handout: images Newman MOMA and TATE
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Week 7 (6 th November)
The body without soul: pure matter
Using the paintings of two German Jewish immigrants to the UK, Frank Auerbach (whose parents were murdered in Auschwitz), and Lucien Freud, of the so-called London School, we will see how these painters squeeze the spirit out of matter and create a post-Holocaust vision of the tormented self.
Reading:
Rothchild, H. Interview Frank Auerbach [taken from interview with him by Hannah Rothschild Sept 2013 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10336972/Frank-Auerbach-An-interview-with-one-of-ourgreatest-living-painters.html]
Tate, Frank Auerbach Biography Taken from: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/frank-auerbach-676
[consulted 21.7.14]
Hoban, P. Lucian Freud (Icon Series, Amazon 2014)
Week 8 (13 th November)
The Unity of Life: tribes
This week we begin our examination of the art of tribal living. In tribal societies, all of life is infused with art and religion. At-one-ness/unity means that individual identity is inextricably entwine-ed with both the land and with certain animals and plants. Traditional arts and craft are not seen as separated from their connection to the sacred and the land. We will explore this theme using pictorial languages of selected
‘Aboriginal’/First Australian tribes and Native American peoples.
Reading:
Quaill, A. Marking Our Times (National Gallery of Australia 1996)
Durkheim, E. & Mauss, M. Primitive Classification (Cohen and West, London 1963)
Morphy, H. Aboriginal Art (Phaidon, no date)
Tomkins, W. Indian Sign Language (Dover, Canada, 1969)
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Walking in the Sacred Country
Our theme continues with Australian ‘Aboriginal’/First Australian painting: using images and scriptures, we will explore how walking through The Land/The Country - tracing the paths (songlines) - is a sacred activity.
Reading
Caruana, W. Aboriginal Art (T&H 1996)
Quaill, A. Marking Our Times (National Gallery of Australia 1996)
Handout: Aboriginal painting and symbols
Reed, A.W Aboriginal Stories of Australia (Reed New Holland 1998)
Chatwin, B. The Songlines (Vintage 2005)
Week 10 (27 th November)
The self in transit: pilgrimage
Journeying, travel, pilgrimage: we will expand on themes developed in the previous week and explore sacred journeying (pilgrimage) in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. What is it about being in transit that opens the way for the Eternal to accompany us?
Reading:
Chatwin, B. The Songlines (Vintage 2005)
Prescott, H.F.M. Jerusalem Journey (Eyre & Spottiswoode 1954)
Mitchell, R.J. The Spring Voyage (John Murray 1965)
Hebrew Bible: Leviticus 23
Handout: Jewish Pilgrimage Festivals (Shalosh Regalim)
Nigosian, S. Islam (Crucible 1987)
Handout: Ka’aba
Brooke, S. Sacred Journey (Nicolas Hays 2010)
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Additional Reading
Macfarlane, R. The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot (Penguin 2013)
Week 11 (4 th December)
Settling down: all the way out and back again
The Eternal is ‘settled’ among us, in our midst. Looking at Hebrew Bible antecedents – the Tent of Meeting, we shall trace how the Eternal is housed on earth in Hindu temples and Christian churches. We shall explore the architecture of sacred spaces and ask why the spaces take the symbolic forms they do. We will link the concept of pilgrimage with that of its destination: the holy places. We will trace the conjunction of travel with arrival (and then going back home, a changed person).
Reading:
Cadman, D. & Carey, J. Sanctuary (Temenos 2006)
Lundquist, J.M. The Temple (T&H London 1993)
Handout: Church floor plans
Burckhardt, T. Sacred Art in East and West: The Genesis of the Hindu Temple (Perennial Books 1986)
Week 12 (11 th December)
Multiplicity of Nature and Unity of G-d: the sacred garden
Finally, we will look at Islamic sacred arts and examine the spiritual meaning behind the interplay of highly ornate exterior and interior surfaces and the large empty interiors found in the mosque. We will explore the concept of the oasis/sacred garden/paradise and trace the desert influence on the importance of water therein.
Reading:
Stoddart, W. The Essential Titus Burckhardt (World Wisdom 2003)
Frishman, M. & Khan, H-U. The Mosque (T&H 1994)
Clark, E. The Islamic Garden as Sanctuary in Cadman, D. & Carey, J. Sanctuary (Temenos 2006)
Additional Reading:
Clark, E. Underneath which Rivers Flow The Symbolism of the Islamic Garden (P of W Institute of
Architecture 1996)
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LA 2003/3004 Athens and Jerusalem