Form,Subject Matter And Meaning:A Study On Panofsky's Iconology

From the middle of the 20th century to the present,Erwin Panofsky is one of the most influential art historians in the West.His influence not only comes from his authority in the history of art,but also from the Iconology he created,the method of which has led to a lasting discussion in the field of aesthetics.Based on the theoretical context of Iconology,this thesis attempts to explore the direct source of Panofsky's method from the three aspects of form,subject matter and meaning,and analyzes the influence of Panofsky's cultural identity on his artistic interpretation according to the historical background.The first chapter briefly introduces the events that played a key role in the formation of Panofsky's academic thoughts in his life,and analyzes his transformation in writing style after entering the English academic community and the interdisciplinary and diversified characteristics of his research.This chapter also summarizes the main research results of domestic and foreign scholars,and puts forward the research objectives of this paper based on the existing research.The second chapter combs Panofsky's thought process with his main works,and thus prepares for restoring the theoretical contexts of Iconology.This part focuses on the theory of Iconology and divides Panofsky's thought process into three stages:the exploration of Kunstwissenschaft theory,the theoretical construction of Iconology and the practice of Iconology.The third chapter seeks the methodological connection between Panofsky and Aby Warburg from the aspect of discriminating and analyzing the subject matter of the works of art,and illustrates how Panofsky developed Warburg's research on Pathosformel into a panoramic study of cultural phenomena.In addition,this chapter also explains how Warburg and Cassirer contemplate on the symbol,and how did this contemplation influence on Panofsky's comprehension of the relationship between image and idea.The fourth chapter focuses on Pannofsky's comments on Wolfflin,the conceptual system constructed under Wolfflin's influence,and the examples of iconological analysis,analyzes his criticism and absorption of Wolflin's thought in detail,and thus clarify the interaction between formal analysis and iconological methods.The fifth chapter discusses the meaning constructions of Panofsky's Iconology and Karl Mannheim's cultural products,explains their relationship,and from the conceptual source of Weltanschauung and Mannheim's interpretation of it,focusing on how it becomes the ultimate goal of the interpretation of meaning,and how Panofsky interpret the intrinsic meaning of art in the perspective of panoramic culture by exploring it.The sixth chapter analyzes the Jewish elements and humanistic elements in Panofsky's cultural identity in the historical background.The former determines his harmonious and unified religious concept,and is reflected in his interpretation of the"disguised symbolism";the latter determines his humanistic ideal of tolerance and responsibility and is reflected in his respect for historical documents and philological traditions.Form,subject matter and meaning represent the three levels of Iconology.Panofsky absorbed the methods of interpretation of three different levels from Wolfflin,Warburg and Mannheim.However,Iconology is not a collage of the methods above.In his own practice of artistic interpretation,Panofsky uses his own humanistic erudition and intuitive insight to integrate this three methods,and all of them are wrapped in one.Within the cultural framework determined by Panofsky's cultural identity,he tried to communicate and coordinate the grand cultural frameworks of Classical Antiquity,Hebrew and Christianity through Art.This is the very reason he can transcend the ordinary art historians and become an extraodinary master of culture.