<論文>「イメージの修辞学」をめぐる系譜 --ヴァールブルクから現代のイメージ研究へ

Abstract

The rhetorical turn can be found in the discipline of art history. This paper examines an intellectual history concerning the rhetoric of images by dating back to Aby Warburg. He has recently been regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary image studies in terms of the anthropological approach to art history, the mnemonic theory of art and the symptomatology of images. We can also consider his "image theory" as a monumental attempt to grasp the rhetorical aspect of images. Warburg's lecture of "Dürer and Italian Antiquity" in 1905 dealt with Pathosformel. On the basis of the intensity of the emotion that each image incorporates, he recognizes the energetic function within the image itself. Emotionally exaggerated gestures that Pathosformel brings, affect beholders as if they are captured by the energetic power of images. This can be compared to the classical rhetorical terms, such as energeia, evidentia or illustratio, with which ancient orators tried to persuade the public. The principle of the rhetorical methodology of image studies consists in the visual eloquence and can substitute for the previously dominant one; Iconology. Indeed, Iconology belongs to the tradition of Warburg school. However, this paper insisted that there was another branch of the Warburg school that has been repressed for a long time. Edgar Wind inherited the intellectual legacy from Warburg in terms of the energetic feature of art. The previous director of Warburg Institute in London, David Freedberg is also a scholar, who seriously took over the alternative tradition. His research on the power of images collects a lot of ethnographical examples, where people emotionally respond to the images. Now it takes which now takes a classical position in the historical anthropology of images. Historically observed, there were several similar phenomena to the images with the energetic influence on beholders. Charles de Brosses reported the primitive ritual where specific objects such as stones and shells are worshipped as a fetish in the 18th century. In many cases, we encounter the objects and images functioning as an agency, whose theory Alfred Gell constructed to explain art from the perspective of social relations. The contemporary image studies reinterpret Warburg's image theory and reactivate its potential by employing the word "image act". Horst Bredekamp built a massive project engaged in the image act with the cooperation of Embodiment Philosophy, which was conducted by his friend, John Michael Krois. His image act theory widely ranges from our everyday life even to the scientific world. The prospect of the image act or what we call the tradition of the rhetoric of images would be tested by the coming image studies in the future.