Iconography at the crossroads: papers from the Colloquium sponsored by the Index of Christian art, Princeton University, 22-24 March, 1990 (review)

126 Reviews Cassidy, Brendan, ed., Iconography at the crossroads: papers from the Colloquium sponsored by the Index of Christian art, Princeton University, 22-24 March, 1990 (Index of Christian art, occasional papers II), Princeton, Index of Christian art/Department of art and archaeology, 1993; cloth & paper; pp. xvi, 249; 3 figures, 128 Plates; R.R.P. US$45.00 (cloth), $19.95 (paper). This book enthusiasticaUy refutes Irving Lavin's amusing aside that he 'did not realize Iconography is at a crossroads—I thought she had long since crashed . . . into art historical limbo' (p. 35). Sixteen papers of widely varying styles, content, and quality all assert that iconography, iconology, and analysis of visual images is a thriving area of study. The theoretical presuppositions of the author's range from classical Warburgian/Panofskian iconographic analysis in Kolve's "The Annunciation to Christine: authorial empowerment in The book of the city of ladies', to deconstraction in Holly's 'Unwriting iconology', and phenomenology in Moxey's 'The politics of iconography'. Constant themes include the problematic relationship of images to texts, the reception given to the images by then intended audience, and the conttol of the medieval Church over the production and interpretation of images. This last is most interestingly considered in Trexler's 'Gendering Jesus crucified'. The essays by Cassidy, Moxey, Holly, Lavin, and to a lesser extent Kessler, given over entirely to theoretical concerns, are in general less successful than those employing case studies. The history of iconography/iconology (Panofsky's term) is familiar, and the problem with the 'classical' theory well known. Holly's attempted deconstractionist reading sadly admits that we cannot 'afford not to address what the paintings are themselves "saying", and yet it is often what they do not say that the interpretive deconstraction of recent art history brings to light' (p. 19). Her criticism of earlier scholars for then wholesale employment of texts of often dubious value to elicit meanings from images is shared by almost all the contributors, even those still actively engaged in iconographic analysis. Most praiseworthy and enjoyable is Michael CamUle's 'Mouths and meanings: towards an anti-iconography of medieval art', which skilfully analyses a trumeau from the abbey of Sainte-Marie at Souillac. The image in question had been pronounced uninterpretable. Schapiro and Male had confined then respective analyses to stylistic issues, a sure sign that they were stumped! CamUle draws upon a wealth of material, all well-known to Reviews 121 the medieval Benedictines who were the image's audience, to offer meanings from Biblical, animal fable, and everyday contexts. His essay delights because of its determined resistance to any 'fundamentalist' single interpretation. The excellent plates with which this book is so richly supplied assist in CamiUe's multi-angled 'detective-story' investigation. Other noteworthy pieces are Richard Trexler's 'Gendering Jesus crucified' and the late Howard Mayer Brown's 'Cleriadus et Meliadice: a fifteenth-century manual for courtly behaviour'. The former explores the gendering of the deity, starting with Bynum, Steinberg, and Wirth, but rejecting then conclusion that the genitalia of Jesus did not make him open to being construed as a sexual object. Trexler presents an infinitely complex and stimulating argument that the potential of the naked Jesus to be a seductive object especiahy to women, justified the Church's cover-up. Brown's essay explores the relationship between texts, images, and music in three manuscripts of Cleriadus et Meliadice to augment knowledge of medieval musicological practice. The plates enable the reader to follow the points being made in a highly entertaining and satisfying manner. Whether 'iconography' is truly at a 'crossroads' remains unproven. However, this collection of essays is a generally stimulating window on to the current practice of the discipline. Carole Cusack School of Studies of Religion University of Sydney Cassidy, Brendan, ed., The Ruthwell cross: papers from the colloquium sponsored by the Index of Christian art, Princeton University, 8 December 1989 (Index of Christian art, occasional papers I), Princeton, Index of Christian art/Department of art and archaeology, 1992; paper; pp. xiv, 205, 14figures,66 plates; R.R.P. ? The Princeton Index of Christian art series has a spectacular start with this beautifully produced large-format volume, which...