"Roman Senators with Sheriffs' Faces." Some Remarks on Anachronism

Research Seminar

Data: 05.11.2019
Ora: 14:00 - 15:30
Relatore: Peter Geimer
Luogo: Villino Stroganoff, Via Gregoriana 22, 00187 Rom
Contatto: freiberg@biblhertz.it

"Roman Senators with Sheriffs' Faces." Some Remarks on Anachronism

According to historian Lucien Lefebvre in the field of history, anachronism is "the worst of all sins." It mixes up different periods where serious historical thinkers should place historical documents in their correct chronological context. But (how) is it possible to avoid overlaps of present and past? And is it desirable at all to forget one’s own interests and perspectives?

Authors such as Jacques Rancière and Georges Didi-Huberman disagreed with Lefebvre's strict commandment. They argued that anachronism is "something that must be negotiated, debated, and perhaps even turned to advantage." In his talk, Peter Geimer will discuss these statements by focusing on the specific case of art history: a discipline that deals with artifacts that are both historical and present (in museums, exhibitions, archives). He will demonstrate the specific anachronism of images with reference to some few examples from painting, photography and film.

Peter Geimer is Professor of Art History at Freie Universität Berlin and Co-Director of the Center of Advanced Study "BildEvidenz." Last publications: Fliegen, Berlin 2019, Inadvertent Images. A History of Photographic Apparitions, Chicago 2018.

Scientific Organization: Maria Bremer

Image:
Film still from Cleopatra (1917) by J. Gordon Edwards,
in: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Theda_Bara_-_Cleopatra_03.jpg