LAS FORMULAS DEL PATHOS Y SU SUPERVIVENCIA

Artículo de la Catedrática Victoria Cirlot.

En él "trata de plantear y comprender lo que el historiador del arte Aby Warburg denominó Pathosformel (fórmulas del pathos)"... "Se rastrea la aparición del concepto en su obra descifrando su significado y sus implicaciones para el análisis de las imágenes"... "Finalmente, el concepto es aplicado a una imagen fotográfica contemporánea lo que permite una comprensión mayor de su efecto en la recepción del público, estableciendo un diálogo entre la tradición iconográfica del pasado y la actualidad."

Artículo en English, Castellano www.raco.cat/index.php/Comparativecinema/article/view/cc....

Extracto del texto dónde se menciona la fotografía de referencia:

En Barcelona, el 1 de febrero de 1976, Manel Armengol realizó una serie de fotografías en blanco y negro que recogían puntualmente las cargas policiales contra los manifestantes, todavía en la llamada época de transición. De entre todas ellas, Georges Didi-Huberman escogió una para la portada del catálogo y el cartel de la exposición Insurreccions, inaugurada en el Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya en febrero de 2017 (DIDI-HUBERMAN, 2017). Aquí me interesa otra de las fotografías de la misma serie, la que según el propio testimonio del fotógrafo, lo invistió profesionalmente, dado el gran impacto que conoció en los medios de comunicación de todo el mundo. El interés que nos suscita ahora esta fotografía se debe a que resuelve la imagen según la misma fórmula del pathos de La muerte de Orfeo de Dürer (Fig. 7). Destacaré cómo el fotógrafo enmarcó la imagen, que se resuelve en el personaje de espaldas situado a la derecha del revoltijo de seres humanos caídos, que con el brazo derecho alzado está dispuesto a asestar el golpe con la porra. El revoltijo humano sustituye a Orfeo con su rodilla hincada en el suelo, aunque reitera la composición triangular del cantor y también repite el gesto protector del brazo. Frente a la ménade que vemos de cara en el dibujo de Dürer, y que funciona como una inversión simétrica de la ménade de espaldas, en la fotografía de Manel Armengol vemos a otro policía detrás del grupo de personajes caídos. Frente al claro eje vertical que marca el árbol en la composición de Dürer con el polémico cartel que parece hacer referencia a la homosexualidad del cantor (Orfeus der erst puseran, pues juró no amar a mujer si no era a su esposa Eurídice), en la fotografía son diversos árboles invernales y una cierta neblina, producida por los botes de humo lanzados por la policía, los que ocupan el fondo, en el que también interviene un letrero (Academia...). Pero todas estas variantes no pueden ocultar que ambas imágenes están recorridas por un mismo ritmo y que nos muestran una misma carga energética: el desencadenamiento de una violencia, contra la que la víctima (o las víctimas) nada pueden hacer. Se trata de una Pathosformel en la medida en que nos confronta ante una violencia extrema."

Veit Stoss (also: Veit Stoß and Stuoss; Polish: Wit Stwosz; Latin: Vitus Stoss; before 1450 – about 20 September 1533) was a leading German sculptor, mostly working with wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque". He had a large workshop, and in addition to his own works there are a number by pupils. He is best known for the altarpiece in St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, Poland.

Life

According to the contracts and other official documents written in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Stoss was born in a place pronounced as Horb or Horbn. Most researchers identify this place with Horb am Neckar near Stuttgart in Germany. However, there are artistic traces indicating that Stoss's early education could take place in the modern Switzerland. Moreover, his brother was certainly born in Aarau in northern Switzerland, which suggests that the artist's family lived in the region and that Stoss was rather born in the town of Horben, located 30 km southeast of Aarau. His exact date of birth is unknown though it must have been shortly before 1450. Nothing about his life is known for certain before 1473 when he moved to Nuremberg in Franconia and married Barbara Hertz. Their eldest son Andreas was born there before 1477, when Stoss moved to Kraków, the royal capital of Poland, where he was commissioned to produce the enormous polychrome wooden Altar of Veit Stoss (Ołtarz Wita Stwosza) at St Mary's Church in Kraków. His son Stanisław who was born in Kraków the next year was also a sculptor.

In Kraków

Veit lived and worked in Kraków for almost twenty years, from 1477–1496. His name is usually polonized as Wit Stwosz. The altar in Kraków was completed in 1489, and was the largest triptych of its time. Like Stoss' other large works, it required a large workshop including specialized painters and gilders. Other important works from Stoss' period in Poland were the tomb of Casimir IV in Wawel Cathedral, the marble tomb of Zbigniew Oleśnicki in Gniezno, and the altar of Saint Stanislaus. The Polish court was more aware of Italian styles than Nuremberg patrons of that time, and some of Stoss' Polish work used Renaissance classical ornament.

During World War II, on the order of Hans Frank – the Governor-General of that region of occupied Poland – the dismantled Altar was shipped to Nazi Germany around 1941. It was rediscovered in 1945 in Bavaria, hidden in the basement of the heavily bombed Nuremberg Castle. The High Altar underwent major restoration work in Poland and was put back in its place at the Basilica ten years later.

Nuremberg

In 1496, Stoss returned to Nuremberg with his wife and eight children. He reacquired his citizenship for three gulden and resumed his work there as a sculptor. Between 1500 and 1503 he carved an altar, now lost, for the parish church of Schwaz, Tyrol of the "Assumption of Mary". In 1503, he was arrested for forging the seal and signature of a fraudulent contractor and was sentenced to be branded on both of his cheeks and prohibited from leaving Nuremberg without the explicit permission of the city council. He was pardoned in 1506 by Emperor Maximilian and restored of his civil rights.

Despite the prohibition he went to Münnerstadt in 1504, to paint and gild the altarpiece that Tilman Riemenschneider had left in plain wood ten years earlier, presumably according to his contract (unlike Stoss, his workshop did not include painters and gilders). Leaving wood sculpture unpainted was a new taste at the time, and "perhaps the tastes of the city council were somewhat provincial." He also created the altar for Bamberg Cathedral and various other sculptures in Nuremberg, including the Annunciation and Tobias and the Angel. In 1506 he was arrested a second time. In 1507, Emperor Maximilian wrote a letter of pardon. The sole argument was made on the account of his genius. The council of the Imperial free city Nuremberg refused to give him a public notice. But Maximilian's intervention saved him from the dungeons and having his hands chopped off. He was able to resettle in Nuremberg from 1506, but was shunned by the council and received few large commissions from that time onwards. In 1512, the Emperor asked Stoss to help with the planning of his tomb monument, which was eventually placed in the Hofkirche, Innsbruck; it seems Stoss's attempts to cast in brass were unsuccessful.

During the period 1515–1520, Veit Stoss received a commission for sculptures by Raffaele Torrigiani, a rich Florentine merchant. In 1516 he made Tobias and the Angel (now in Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg), and a statue of Saint Roch for the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. This wooden statue represents the saint in a traditional way: in the garb of a pilgrim, lifting his tunic to demonstrate the plague sore in his thigh. Even Giorgio Vasari, who did not think much of artists north of the Alps, praised it in his Le Vite and called it "a miracle in wood", though misattributing it.

Veit Stoss was buried at St. Johannis cemetery in Nuremberg. His artistic legacy was continued by his son Stanisław.

In popular culture

Veit Stoss is featured in Judith Weir's opera, The Black Spider. He is one of the singing sculptors in Act 3 Scene 2 inside the Wawel Cathedral. He is shown chiseling at the tomb of King Casimir IV. There is a Polish book (1913) and film (1961) Historia żółtej ciżemki (The story of a yellow crakow) about Veit Stoss in Cracow.

Kraków, also seen spelled Cracow or absent Polish diacritics as Krakow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town with Wawel Royal Castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the world's first sites granted the status.

The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second-most-important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was reported by Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, a 10th-century merchant from Córdoba, as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 985. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. As of 2023, the city has a population of 804,237, with approximately 8 million additional people living within a 100 km (62 mi) radius of its main square.

After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany at the start of World War II, the newly defined Distrikt Krakau (Kraków District) became the capital of Germany's General Government. The Jewish population of the city was forced into a walled zone known as the Kraków Ghetto, from where they were sent to Nazi extermination camps such as the nearby Auschwitz, and Nazi concentration camps like Płaszów. However, the city was spared from destruction and major bombing.

In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II—the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. Also that year, UNESCO approved Kraków's entire Old Town and historic centre and the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mine as Poland's first World Heritage Sites. Kraków is classified as a global city with the ranking of "high sufficiency" by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Its extensive cultural heritage across the epochs of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture includes Wawel Cathedral and Wawel Royal Castle on the banks of the Vistula, St. Mary's Basilica, Saints Peter and Paul Church and the largest medieval market square in Europe, Rynek Główny. Kraków is home to Jagiellonian University, one of the oldest universities in the world and traditionally Poland's most reputable institution of higher learning. The city also hosts a number of institutions of national significance such as the National Museum, Kraków Opera, Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, National Stary Theatre and the Jagiellonian Library. The city is served by John Paul II International Airport, the country's second busiest airport and the most important international airport for the inhabitants of south-eastern Poland.

In 2000, Kraków was named European Capital of Culture. In 2013, Kraków was officially approved as a UNESCO City of Literature. The city hosted World Youth Day in 2016 and the European Games in 2023.

Kraków is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland, with the urban population of 804,237 (June, 2023). Situated on the Vistula river (Polish: Wisła) in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918, and the capital of Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

Timeline of Kraków

Historical affiliations

Vistulans, pre X century

Duchy of Bohemia, X century–ca. 960

Duchy of Poland, ca. 960–1025

Kingdom of Poland, 1025–1031

Duchy of Poland, 1031–1320

∟ Seniorate Province, 1138–1227

Duchy of Kraków, 1227–1320

Kingdom of Poland, 1320–1569

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1569–1795

Austrian Empire, 1795–1809

∟ Galicia

Duchy of Warsaw, 1809–1815

Free City of Cracow, 1815–1846

Austrian Empire, 1846–1867

Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918

∟ Grand Duchy of Kraków (subdivision of Galicia)

Republic of Poland, 1918–1939

General Government, 1939–1945 (part of German-occupied Europe)

Provisional Government of National Unity, 1945–1947

Polish People's Republic, 1947–1989

Poland, 1989–present

Early history

The earliest known settlement on the present site of Kraków was established on Wawel Hill, and dates back to the 4th century. Legend attributes the town's establishment to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a ravenous dragon, Smok Wawelski. Many knights unsuccessfully attempted to oust the dragon by force, but instead, Krakus fed it a poisoned lamb, which killed the dragon. The city was free to flourish. Dragon bones, most likely that of mammoth, are displayed at the entrance of the Wawel Cathedral. Before the Polish state had been formed, Kraków was the capital of the tribe of Vistulans, subjugated for a short period by Great Moravia. After Great Moravia was destroyed by the Hungarians, Kraków became part of the kingdom of Bohemia. The first appearance of the city's name in historical records dates back to 966, when a Sephardi Jewish traveller, Abraham ben Jacob, described Kraków as a notable commercial centre under the rule of the then duke of Bohemia (Boleslaus I the Cruel). He also mentioned the baptism of Prince Mieszko I and his status as the first historical ruler of Poland. Towards the end of his reign, Mieszko took Kraków from the Bohemians and incorporated it into the holdings of the Piast dynasty.

By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading center of trade. Brick buildings were being constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle with the Rotunda of Sts. Felix and Adauctus, Romanesque churches, a cathedral, and a basilica. Sometime after 1042, Casimir I the Restorer made Kraków the seat of the Polish government. In 1079 on a hillock in nearby Skałka, the Bishop of Kraków, Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów, was slain by the order of the Polish king Bolesław II the Generous. In 1138, the Testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth came into effect upon his death. It divided Poland into five provinces, with Kraków named as the Seniorate Province, meant to be ruled by the eldest male member of the royal family as the High Duke. Infighting among brothers, however, caused the seniorate system to soon collapse, and a century-long struggle between Bolesław's descendants followed. The fragmentation of Poland lasted until 1320.

Kraków was almost entirely destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Poland in 1241, after the Polish attempt to repulse the invaders had been crushed in the Battle of Chmielnik. Kraków was rebuilt in 1257, in a form which was practically unaltered, and received self-government city rights from the king based on the Magdeburg Law, attracting mostly German-speaking burgers. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols, 18 years after the first raid. A third attack, though unsuccessful, followed in 1287. The year 1311 saw the Rebellion of wójt Albert against Polish High Duke Władysław I. It involved the mostly German-speaking burghers of Kraków who, as a result, were massacred. In the aftermath, Kraków was gradually re-Polonized, and Polish burghers rose from a minority to a majority.

Further information: History of Poland in the Middle Ages

Medieval Kraków was surrounded by a 1.9 mile (3 km) defensive wall complete with 46 towers and seven main entrances leading through them (see St. Florian's Gate and Kraków Barbican). The fortifications were erected over the course of two centuries. The town defensive system appeared in Kraków after the city's location, i.e. in the second half of the 13th century (1257). This was when the construction of a uniform fortification line was commenced, but it seems the project could not be completed. Afterwards the walls, however, were extended and reinforced (a permit from Leszek Biały to encircle the city with high defensive walls was granted in 1285). Kraków rose to new prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland founded the Cracow Academy, the second university in central Europe after the University of Prague. There had already been a cathedral school since 1150 functioning under the auspices of the city's bishop. The city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian-Polish Jagiellon dynasty (1386–1572). As the capital of a powerful state, it became a flourishing center of science and the arts.

Kraków was a member of the Hanseatic League and many craftsmen settled there, established businesses and formed craftsmen's guilds. City Law, including guilds' depictions and descriptions, were recorded in the German language Balthasar Behem Codex. This codex is now featured at the Jagiellonian Library. By the end of the thirteenth century, Kraków had become a predominantly German city. In 1475 delegates of the elector George the Rich of Bavaria came to Kraków to negotiate the marriage of Princess Jadwiga of Poland (Hedwig in German), the daughter of King Casimir IV Jagiellon to George the Rich. Jadwiga traveled for two months to Landshut in Bavaria, where an elaborate marriage celebration, the Landshut Wedding took place. Around 1502 Kraków was already featured in the works of Albrecht Dürer as well as in those of Hartmann Schedel (Nuremberg Chronicle) and Georg Braun (Civitates orbis terrarum).

During the 15th century extremist clergymen advocated violence towards the Jews, who in a gradual process lost their positions. In 1469 Jews were expelled from their old settlement to Spiglarska Street. In 1485 Jewish elders were forced into a renunciation of trade in Kraków, which led many Jews to leave for Kazimierz that did not fall under the restrictions due to its status as a royal town. Following the 1494 fire in Kraków, a wave of anti-Jewish attacks took place. In 1495, King John I Albert expelled the Jews from the city walls of Kraków; they moved to Kazimierz (now a district of Kraków).

Renaissance

The Renaissance, whose influence originated in Italy, arrived in Kraków in the late 15th century, along with numerous Italian artists including Francesco Fiorentino, Bartolommeo Berrecci, Santi Gucci, Mateo Gucci, Bernardo Morando, and Giovanni Baptista di Quadro. The period, which elevated the intellectual pursuits, produced many outstanding artists and scientists such as Nicolaus Copernicus who studied at the local Academy. In 1468 the Italian humanist Filip Callimachus came to Kraków, where he worked as the teacher of the children of Casimir IV Jagiellon. In 1488 the imperial Poet Laureate and humanist Conrad Celtes founded the Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana ("Literary Society on the Vistula"), a learned society based on the Roman Academies. In 1489, sculptor Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz) of Nuremberg finished his work on the high altar of St. Mary's Church. He later made a marble sarcophagus for his benefactor Casimir IV Jagiellon. By 1500, Johann Haller had established a printing press in the city. Many works of the Renaissance movement were printed there during that time.

Art and architecture flourished under the watchful eye of King Sigismund I the Old, who ascended to the throne in 1507. He married Bona Sforza of a leading Milan family and using his new Italian connections began the major project (under Florentine architect Berrecci) of remaking the ancient residence of the Polish kings, the Wawel Castle, into a modern Renaissance palace. In 1520, Hans Behem made the largest church bell, named the Sigismund Bell after King Sigismund I. At the same time Hans Dürer, younger brother of Albrecht Dürer, was Sigismund's court painter. Around 1511 Hans von Kulmbach painted a series of panels for the Church of the Pauline Fathers at Skałka and the Church of St. Mary. Sigismund I also brought in Italian chefs who introduced Italian cuisine.

In 1558, a permanent postal connection between Kraków and Venice, the capitals of the Kingdom of Poland and the Republic of Venice respectively, was established and Poczta Polska was founded. In 1572, King Sigismund II died childless, and the throne passed briefly to Henry of Valois, then to Sigismund II's sister Anna Jagiellon and her husband Stephen Báthory, and then to Sigismund III of the Swedish House of Vasa. His reign changed Kraków dramatically, as he moved the government to Warsaw in 1596. A series of wars ensued between Sweden and Poland.

After the partitions of Poland

In the late 18th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned three times by its expansionist neighbors: Imperial Russia, the Austrian Empire, and the Kingdom of Prussia. After the first two partitions (1772 and 1793), Kraków was still part of the substantially reduced Polish nation. In 1794 Tadeusz Kościuszko initiated a revolt against the partitioning powers, the Kościuszko Uprising, in Kraków's market square. The Polish army, including many peasants, fought against the Russian and Prussian armies, but the larger forces ultimately put down the revolt. The Prussian army specifically took Kraków on 15 June 1794, and looted the Polish royal treasure kept at Wawel Castle. The stolen regalia, valued at 525,259 thalers, was secretly melted down in March 1809, while precious stones and pearls were appropriated in Berlin. Poland was partitioned for the third time in 1795, and Kraków became part of the Austrian province of Galicia.

When Napoleon Bonaparte of the French Empire captured part of what had once been Poland, he established the Duchy of Warsaw (1807) as an independent but subordinate state. West Galicia, including Kraków, was taken from the Austrian Empire and added to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1809 by the Treaty of Schönbrunn, which ended the War of the Fifth Coalition. The Congress of Vienna (1815) restored the partition of Poland, but gave Kraków partial independence as the Free City of Cracow.

The city again became the focus of a struggle for national sovereignty in 1846, during the Kraków Uprising. The uprising failed to spread outside the city to other Polish lands, and was put down. This resulted in the annexation of the city state to the Austrian Empire as the Grand Duchy of Cracow, once again part of the Galician lands of the empire.

In 1850 10% of the city was destroyed in the large fire.

After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Austria granted partial autonomy to Galicia, making Polish a language of government and establishing a provincial Diet. As this form of Austrian rule was more benevolent than that exercised by Russia and Prussia, Kraków became a Polish national symbol and a center of culture and art, known frequently as the "Polish Athens" (Polskie Ateny) or "Polish Mecca" to which Poles would flock to revere the symbols and monuments of Kraków's (and Poland's) great past. Several important commemorations took place in Kraków during the period from 1866–1914, including the 500th Anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald in 1910, in which world-renowned pianist Ignacy Paderewski unveiled a monument. Famous painters, poets and writers of this period, living and working in the city include Jan Matejko, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Jan Kasprowicz, Juliusz Kossak, Wojciech Kossak, Stanisław Wyspiański and Stanisław Przybyszewski. The latter two were leaders of Polish modernism.

The Fin de siècle Kraków, even under the partitions, was famously the center of Polish national revival and culture, but the city was also becoming a modern metropolis during this period. In 1901 the city installed running water and witnessed the introduction of its first electric streetcars. (Warsaw's first electric streetcars came in 1907.) The most significant political and economic development of the first decade of the 20th century in Kraków was the creation of Greater Kraków (Wielki Kraków), the incorporation of the surrounding suburban communities into a single administrative unit. The incorporation was overseen by Juliusz Leo, the city's energetic mayor from 1904 to his death in 1918 (see also: the Mayors of Kraków).

Thanks to migration from the countryside and the fruits of incorporation from 1910 to 1915, Kraków's population doubled in just fifteen years, from approx. 91,000 to 183,000 in 1915. Russian troops besieged Kraków during the first winter of the First World War, and thousands of residents left the city for Moravia and other safer locales, generally returning in the spring and summer of 1915. During the war Polish Legions led by Józef Piłsudski set out to fight for the liberation of Poland, in alliance with Austrian and German troops. With the fall of Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poles liberated the city and it was included with the newly reborn Polish state (1918). Between the two World Wars Kraków was also a major Jewish cultural and religious center (see: Synagogues of Kraków), with the Zionist movement relatively strong among the city's Jewish population.

World War II

Poland was partitioned again at the onset of the Second World War. The Nazi German forces entered Kraków on September 6, 1939. The residents of the city were saved from German attack by the courageous Mayor Stanisław Klimecki who went to meet the invading Wehrmacht troops. He approached them with the call to stop shooting because the city was defenseless: "Feuer einstellen!" and offered himself as a hostage. He was killed by the Gestapo three years later in the Niepołomice Forest. The German Einsatzgruppen I and zbV entered the city to commit atrocities against Poles. On September 12, the Germans carried out a massacre of 10 Jews. On November 4, Kraków became the capital of the General Government, a colonial authority under the leadership of Hans Frank. The occupation took a heavy toll, particularly on the city's cultural heritage. On November 6, during the infamous Sonderaktion Krakau 184 professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University (including Rector Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński among others) were arrested at the Collegium Novum during a meeting ordered by the Gestapo chief SS-Obersturmbannführer Bruno Müller. President of Kraków, Klimecki was apprehended at his home the same evening. After two weeks, they were sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and in March 1940 further to Dachau. Those who survived were released only after international protest involving the Vatican. On November 9–10, during the Intelligenzaktion, the Germans carried out further mass arrests of 120 Poles, including teachers, students and judges. The Sicherheitspolizei took over the Montelupich Prison, which became one of the most infamous in German-occupied Poland. Many Poles arrested in Kraków, and various other places in the region, and even more distant cities such as Rzeszów and Przemyśl, were imprisoned there. Over 1,700 Polish prisoners were eventually massacred at Fort 49 of the Kraków Fortress and its adjacent forest, and deportations of Polish prisoners to concentration camps, incl. Ravensbrück and Auschwitz, were also carried out. The prison also contained a cell for kidnapped Polish children under the age of 10, with an average capacity of about 70 children, who were then sent to concentration camps and executed. From September to December 1939, the occupiers also operated a Dulag transit camp for Polish prisoners of war.

Many relics and monuments of national culture were looted and destroyed (yet again), including the bronze statue of Adam Mickiewicz stolen for scrap. The Jewish population was first ghettoized, and later murdered. Two major concentration camps near Kraków included Płaszów and the extermination camp of Auschwitz, to which many local Poles and Polish Jews were sent. Specific events surrounding the Jewish ghetto in Kraków and the nearby concentration camps were famously portrayed in the film Schindler's List, itself based on a book by Thomas Keneally entitled Schindler's Ark. The Polish Red Cross was also aware of over 2,000 Polish Jews from Kraków, who escaped from the Germans to Soviet-occupied eastern Poland, and then were deported by the Soviets to the USSR.

The Polish resistance movement was active in the city. Already in September 1939, the Organizacja Orła Białego resistance organization was founded. Kraków became the seat of one of the six main commands of the Union of Armed Struggle in occupied Poland (alongside Warsaw, Poznań, Toruń, Białystok and Lwów). A local branch of the Żegota underground Polish resistance organization was established to rescue Jews from the Holocaust.

The Germans operated several forced labour camps in the city, and in 1942–1944, they also operated the Stalag 369 prisoner-of-war camp for Dutch, Belgian and French POWs. In 1944, during and following the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans deported many captured Poles frow Warsaw to Kraków.

A common account popularized in the Soviet-controlled communist People's Republic of Poland, held that due to a rapid advance of the Soviet armies, Kraków allegedly escaped planned destruction during the German withdrawal. There are several different versions of that account. According to a version based on self-written Soviet statements, Marshal Ivan Konev claimed to have been informed by the Polish patriots of the German plan, and took an effort to preserve Kraków from destruction by ordering a lightning attack on the city while deliberately not cutting the Germans from the only withdrawal path, and by not aiding the attack with aviation and artillery. The credibility of those accounts has been questioned by Polish historian Andrzej Chwalba who finds no physical evidence of the German master plan for demolition and no written proof showing that Konev ordered the attack with the intention of preserving the city. He portrays Konev's strategy as ordinary – only accidentally resulting in little damage to Kraków – exaggerated later into a myth of "Konev, savior of Kraków" by Soviet propaganda. The Red Army entry into the city was accompanied by a wave of rapes of women and girls resulting in official protests.

Post-war period

After the war, the government of the People's Republic of Poland ordered the construction of the country's largest steel mill in the suburb of Nowa Huta. This was regarded by some as an attempt to diminish the influence of Kraków's intellectual and artistic heritage by industrialization of the city and by attracting to it the new working class. In the 1950s some Greeks, refugees of the Greek Civil War, settled in Nowa Huta.

The city is regarded by many to be the cultural capital of Poland. In 1978, UNESCO placed Kraków on the list of World Heritage Sites. In the same year, on October 16, 1978, Kraków's archbishop, Karol Wojtyła, was elevated to the papacy as John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

Kraków's population has quadrupled since the end of World War II. After the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the subsequent joining of the European Union, Offshoring of IT work from other nations has become important to the economy of Kraków and Poland in general in recent years. The city is the key center for this kind of business activity. There are about 20 large multinational companies in Kraków, including centers serving IBM, General Electric, Motorola, and Sabre Holdings, along with British and German-based firms.

In recent history, Kraków has co-hosted various international sports competitions, including the 2016 European Men's Handball Championship, 2017 Men's European Volleyball Championship, 2021 Men's European Volleyball Championship and 2023 World Men's Handball Championship.

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It has been a very busy past few months, but I finally unpacked my computer and got some much needed photo time last night. I couldn’t wait to process this picture of the Berkeley Marina. I arrived there just in time to see the sunset and had to scramble over some rocks to get to this position while there was still color in the sky. After the constant rush that has been my life over the past few months, it was very satisfying to stand still and simply observe the sunset over this beautiful marina.

Atkinson Art Gallery, Lord Street, Southport, Merseyside.

Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow, c1890.

By Lady Elizabeth Butler (1846-1933).

Watercolour and Gouache over pencil.

Lady Butler was widowed in 1910, passing away herself in 1933.

Hitoha (PathosTale MiSheng)

Kitsune Mask : Follow-the-Wind

Makeup : EchoUndine

"Pathos. La tragedia delle Troiane" da Euripide e Seneca per la regia di Micha van Hoeck a Giardini Naxos con la presenza di un mimo ironico e giocoso, Lindsay Kemp.

CZJ Planar T* 1.7/50 (C/Y)

Manet s'ispirò per il suo quadro "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe" al "Concerto campestre" di Tiziano. Bernhard Gillessen, artista tedesco che vive in Umbria, potrebbe ispirarsi ad un déjeuner trevano tra i piantoni di Bovara, per celebrare "Pic & Nic", evento musico- conviviale, svoltosi quest'anno sotto un'ostile pioggerella, che nulla ha tolto - se non un po’ di pubblico - al pathos di stampo rurale dell'iniziativa. La colazione tra gli ulivi è una abitudine da non trascurare, in tempi di ristrettezze finanziarie. Forse è questo il sensato suggerimento che ci viene da Trevi, ma anche da Preci, dove si festeggia “Il Maggio”, con gli strumenti musicali della tradizione umbra, gli organetti, i tamburelli, le ciaramelle, i mandolini, le zampogne e i flauti, che ci permetteranno di ballare saltarelli e mazurche e di ascoltare i canti della tradizione etnocoreutica dell’Appennino centrale. Insomma, per dirla con i preciani, "chi arriva sona", considerato che agli umbri piacciono i poeti a braccio, gli stornellatori e i cantanti nei modi della memoria. Il CEDRAV ha inserito l'iniziativa nel progetto Comunità Sonore del Comitato per la Promozione del Patrimonio Immateriale Italiano. Questa di Trevi e di Preci è l’Umbria che ci piace di più. E anche l’Umbria adatta per le scampagnate a basso costo e ad alto rendimento culturale che, a parte i cassonetti della differenziata sparsi qua e là, colpisce l’occhio e appaga la mente, riecheggiando i temi della musica romantica, degli ozi - non solo pastorali - la rappresentazione parallela del visibile e dell'invisibile, del praticabile e dell'impraticabile, del probabile e dell'impossibile. E se l'opera di Tiziano è considerata un "manifesto" dello sviluppo stilistico della pittura veneta all'aprirsi del Cinquecento, i faccioni dei candidati stampati sui manifesti delle prossime amministrative svolgono un loro ruolo, realizzando un inno all'umbritudine più stagnante, quella che ignora i requisiti basilari della comunicazione e ci restituisce il folclore di certa politica, attraverso una lettura ironica dei localismi. Perché l'ironia non è soltanto ironica. E’ analisi seria, sentimento di vibrante e nativa pietas, nella sua inflessibile accezione del termine. Gli umbri sono condannati a ricercare il bello, mentre i loro faccioni palesano un decadentismo estetico faticosamente arginabile. Ci sembra di vederli, questi candidati, mentre s'aggirano tra i piantoni e le tovaglie a quadretti, lasciando trapelare il loro spleen. La parola viene dal greco, perché in inglese significa milza. Lo spleen umbro, invece, descrive una sorta di scontentezza meditativa, accompagnata da sguardo melanconico, intervallato, ma solo di rado, da carsica vena atrabiliare, che a volte assume, improvvisamente, le forme della veemenza passionale o di una carnale disposizione godereccia, nel corso della quale bisognerebbe fotografarli, questi "most wanted" da appendere al muro. Siparietto. Candidati, quanto sono forzati i sorrisi che compaiono nei vostri manifesti. Per non parlare degli sfondi, dove avremmo preferito pastori, paesaggi, quinte vegetali, come quelle che spuntano nei quadri dell'umbratile Frappi. Avremmo preferito rappresentazioni di giovani che brindano in un prato, di donne dai piedi nudi che, invece d'indossare occasionali tailleur, avessero ballato il saltarello. Mica per altro, per poter esprimere la nostra preferenza in base ad un’allegoria musicale del bello e della poesia purificatrice. S’avverte in questa vigilia elettorale la necessità che i poeti a braccio interpretino quel lirismo neoplatonico, semplice e comprensibile, che attinge a pochi elementi essenziali, rappresentati dal fuoco, dall'acqua, dalla terra e dall'aria. E dall’armonizzarsi di questi elementi nelle nostre valli, in cui gli aspiranti, oltre alle promesse di buon governo, si fossero mostrati, nei manifesti elettorali, suonando il flauto campestre, strumento rustico e divino, prerogativa dei semplici e dei puri. Invece capita spesso che “chi arriva, sona”, come dicono a Preci. Beata umbritudine, umbra beatitudine.

Giovanni Picuti

abcabc@cline.it

dal Corriere dell'Umbria del 5.5.2011

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x2wdgL5rYg

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My previous attempt to make it up to Jin Mao Tower by sunset was foiled when our driver took a wrong turn and deposited us into the 9th circle of Shanghai-traffic hell. We were nearing the end of our stay in China and I still had not gotten any “I am looking down on you mere mortals”, shots so I was extra determined to get here. On this day, I had already dragged my family to Suzhou and back and we were dangerously low on fun-happy-sparkles-energy because our last meal had been over fourteen hours ago (except for the baby, she eats a man-sized meal every two hours). The baby gave me an annoyed look as I used her as an excuse to bypass the huge line to the elevator that took us to the observation deck. A quick ride up to the top and the doors opened up to reveal pandemonium.

There were droves of Chinese tour groups, school kids and guides with megaphones waving those silly flags around. It was a photographer’s nightmare. I found a place for my family to sit down while I squeezed through hot, sweaty masses of people to finally find this spot. I waited for the light to be just right, fired off a few shots and got the heck out of there. Even as we were in the elevator just about to escape the craziness, an old man decided to jump out as the doors were closing. Oh man …

I wish I could say the rest of the evening went any better, but we ended up spending over $100 dollars on crappy food at a fancy restaurant and having to make a quick exit as the baby’s good will finally ran out and she let us have it. My poor family endured a lot to get this shot, but now that a few weeks have gone by and emotions are no longer raw, they saw the final product and begrudgingly decided it was worth it. Thanks for your patience ladies. Enjoy the view of Shanghai’s sprawling megalopolis at your leisure. =P

… this photo looks awesome on a big screen … you can almost see the big boss through the window, yelling at his employees in the building 30 miles away.

This old chair won't last much longer. It has been retired from use and is literally falling apart...almost melting into the ground, but it holds so many nice memories that I can't bring myself to throw it away...

Better On Black

Carnival of Venice 2010

Nikon D700 FX

Nikkor 70-300 4,5-5,6 VR IF-ED

LightMirror © 2010 All Rights Reserved

View On Black

GIAK

The torment of Marsyas illustrates the taste for pathos in Hellenistic art. Marsyas was a silenus, or companion of Dionysos; a celebrated pipe-player, he boasted that he was a better musician than Apollo. Beaten in a musical contest with the god, Marsyas was condemned to be flayed alive by a Scythian slave. Suspended from the trunk of a tree, he awaits his terrible punishment. The scene is based on an original Hellentistic group from the late third century BC.

A silenus in torment

This large statue portrays a silenus, a member of Dionysos's retinue, whose animal nature is indicated by his pointed ears, wild mane of hair and tail emerging from the small of his back. His arms, lashed to a tree trunk at the wrists, bear the weight of his body, which is stretched and pulled, elongating the stomach and causing the ribs to stick out. The silenus's aged face is taut - racked with fear and pain.

The punishment of Marsyas

The statue is clearly a depiction of the torment of Marsyas. After learning to play a flute discarded by the goddess Athena, Marysas arrogantly challenged Apollo to a musical contest. The Muses declared Apollo the victor, and the god punished Marysas for his pride (or hubris) by condemning him to be flayed alive by a Scythian slave.

A number of copies and reliefs attest to the existence and popularity of the original statuary group depicting the legend. Thanks to these, the original composition may be reconstructed as follows: Marsyas, hanging from the tree, would have been flanked on the left by a crouching slave, sharpening his knife and raising his head towards the silenus, who returns his gaze. The figure of Apollo was probably standing to the right.

Pathétique pergaménien

The work is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original created at Pergamon in Asia Minor, in the second half of the third century BC. The legend of Marsyas was a favorite subject among artists as early as the fifth century BC, as seen in the early sculptural group by Myron, represented in the Louvre by a figure of Athena (inventory number Ma 2208). The Myron group illustrates the preceding episode in the story, namely the musical contest and its tragic ending. Here, the Hellenistic artist has chosen to represent the instant before punishment - the moment when victim and torturer exchange one last look, and the tension is at its peak.

This dramatic atmosphere corresponds perfectly to the Pergamene school's taste for pathos. The subject is a pretext for a study of the face and the human body; the theatricality and emotionality of the scene are heightened by the play of light across the uneven surfaces of Marsyas's body, distorted by pain.

This statue is also a formidable counterpoint to the history of Greek sculptural experimentation. From the frontal static pose of the early kouroi, to the contrapposto of the fifth century BC, Greek sculptors sought to place the human body upright, and to study the resulting musculature. Here, by depicting a suspended body, the sculptor has freed Marsyas from the weight of his own body and circumvented the problem of contrapposto. The statue represents an entirely new approach to the representation of the male nude: no longer a study of musculature and human strength in action, but an exploration of heightened muscular tension as a result of external duress.

Bibliography

Borbein (A. H.), "Die Statue des hängenden Marsyas", in Verlag des Kunstgeschichtlichen seminars, Hans Herter zum 75. Geburtstag, 1974, p. 37-52, fig. 9-12

Weis (A.), The Hanging Marsyas and its copies, Rome, 1992, p. 185-187, n 32, fig. 17, 19 et 32

Sismondo-Ridgway (B.), Hellenistic Sculpture, t. II, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2000, pp. 283-285

justaspoonfulofpsycho.blogspot.com/2015/01/just-hit-pause...

Turtle on the trax!

Photographed in Red Wing Minnesota

Saturday December 31st. 2022

A partnership between man and animal, which has lasted more than a millennium. A fisherman needs to catch enough fish to sell and feed himself and his family. Sometimes, this means that he needs an assistant. Along the rivers of China that assistance came from a member of the order pelicaniformes bird - the bird that we call the Cormorant.

Cormorants are treated with the utmost care and attention and become accustomed to living with their new friends in a surprisingly fast way. The training period only lasts about two weeks and soon they are fully ready for your new lifestyle.

Cormorant fishing is considered an ancestral survival craft. The customs in rural China are conserved in such a way that leaving the big cities in areas of Guangxi province, we can observe the traditional fishermen with cormorão walking through the city with their birds balanced on a bamboo.

Cormorants are by nature experienced fishermen and so accompany their owners on a fishing trip tied to a hemp cord. The fisherman moves to the fishing area on a bamboo boat or raft, and once in place, lights his lantern or lantern to feed the fish and places the bird in the water.

The bird dives up to 10 meters, picks up a fish with its beak and when it comes to the surface its owner removes the fish from his mouth and gives a loaf of fish fillet to the bird as a positive reinforcement. And the cycle repeats itself. We may think it is an exploration - and we would not necessarily be wrong. However, what relationship between man and any animal is not so? Once the journey is completed, the fisherman releases the cormorant so that it can fish by itself.

If you have heard about this before, then there is great chance that you will associate fishing with cormorants with the Chinese. Although the activity predominates in this part of Asia, it has also once been very common in Japan. In fact, fishing with cormorants has already been done even in Macedonia.

Of course, today there are much more efficient methods of catching a fish. Cormorants are now maintained more to attract tourists than as subsistence. However, this ritual can be enjoyed by a magnificent walk along the Li River, one of the most majestic in China.

Dcim\100gopro\G0080394.

I'm obsessed with Buffalo Bill Cody, the Wild West showman who brought to life the drama and pathos of the settling of the American frontier. I can imagine what Buffalo Bill would have done with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube! Imagine: #cowgirlbeauty or #belleofthewest

Kactus Kate is my alter-ego--and this beguiling cowgirl is how I picture her. I finally found a copy of the ad featuring the cowgirl--I bought a page from Life magazine so I could make a high-resolution clip of what I call "Cosmic Cowgirl".

I layered her over W.F. Cody's face on an Internet copy of one of his famous Buffalo posters, with the not-so-modest announcement, "I am Coming". I have photos that I took of reproductions of this iconic buffalo while visiting the Buffalo Bill Museum at Lookout Mountain. I plan to work with those images soon.

I don't have mad Photoshop skills, but I'm playing with layers--trying to build in a digital sense, one of the lushly detailed backgrounds featured in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Posters.

nostalgic pathos

.. (sc)analog archival project

tuffians 😉

Cherry Hill. NJ..74

by allamamiqbal ift.tt/1XkNpFW

Berthe Morisot, née le 14 janvier 1841 à Bourges et morte le 2 mars 1895 à Paris, est une artiste peintre française, cofondatrice et doyenne du mouvement d'avant-garde que fut l'impressionnisme. Au sein du groupe impressionniste, elle suscite l'admiration et le respect de ses pairs.

Bois de Boulogne (1893)

Huile sur Toile

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Artiste : Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), figure majeure de l’impressionnisme et l’une des rares femmes du groupe aux côtés de Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, etc.

Sujet : Le Bois de Boulogne, vaste parc parisien très fréquenté par l’aristocratie et la bourgeoisie au XIXᵉ siècle, lieu de promenade, de rencontres et de loisirs.

Date : 1893, donc dans les dernières années de la vie de l’artiste, période où son style gagne en liberté et en spontanéité.

Style : touche rapide, palette claire, impression fugitive du paysage et de la vie mondaine, avec une sensibilité très personnelle, centrée sur l’intime et l’éphémère.

Conservation : le tableau appartient au Musée Marmottan Monet, qui détient la plus importante collection au monde de Berthe Morisot (plus de 80 œuvres offertes par sa fille Julie Manet).

Composition — ce que l’œil voit

La toile adopte un format horizontal relativement bas (50 × 61 cm) qui ouvre l’espace : la ou les figures au premier plan sont isolées sur une bande d’herbe ou d’allée, tandis qu’un arrière-plan végétal et des silhouettes floues créent une profondeur atmosphérique. La ou les figures (une femme vêtu[e] de tons sombres, accompagnée d’un petit chien, selon la photo d’archive) restent nettement lisibles mais « cernées » par la touche ; leur présence humaine devient le point d’ancrage dans un paysage rendu par touches fugaces. L’équilibre joue sur le contraste entre la verticale (la silhouette, éventuellement le tronc d’arbre) et l’horizontalité du paysage, ce qui accentue l’idée d’un instant saisi lors d’une promenade. (Observation visuelle, d’après la reproduction et la notice du musée).

Couleur et touche technique et effet optique

Morisot emploie ici une palette plutôt délicate et « argentée » : verts amincis, bleus pâles et beige-rosés se fondent dans des blancs atténués — tandis que la figure en vêtement sombre fait office de contrepoint. La peinture repose sur des coups de pinceau rapides, courts et superposés : la touche n’est pas un lissage mais une construction de la matière lumineuse (feuilletée), qui laisse transparaître à la fois la couleur et le support. Les critiques et notices modernes soulignent cette virtuosité de la touche et la prédilection de Morisot pour des blancs très travaillés et des reflets subtils — procédé qui fait scintiller ses scènes en plein air.

Thèmes modernité, genre et intimité

Le Bois de Boulogne est un motif récurrent chez les impressionnistes (lieu de promenade mondaine) et Morisot s’y est rendue à plusieurs reprises ; pourtant, sa vision reste ambivalente : la scène publique (promenade, visibilité) est traitée avec une grande pudeur les femmes qu’elle peint paraissent souvent introspectives, plus « intériorisées » que spectaculaires. Dans les années 1890 Morisot multiplie par ailleurs les images de sa fille Julie et de jeunes femmes, et les commentateurs lisent dans ces œuvres une attention au monde féminin bourgeois, à la solitude et à la mélancolie intime autant qu’à la mode et au loisir.

Place de cette toile dans son œuvre (1893 : une période charnière)

Datée de 1893, la toile appartient aux dernières années de Morisot (elle meurt en 1895). Après le décès d’Eugène Manet en 1892, les historiens notent chez elle une tonalité parfois plus expressive et introspective une évolution qui se lit dans la facture plus lâchée et dans certains choix chromatiques de ses œuvres tardives. Le Bois de Boulogne (1893) illustre cette double continuité : même sujet (le parc, déjà fréquent dans les années 1870–80 chez Morisot) mais évolution stylistique vers une touche plus respirée et une gravité subtile propre à la fin de sa carrière. Le Musée Marmottan, qui possède la plus vaste collection publique de Morisot, situe bien ce tableau dans l’ensemble familial et posthume qui a façonné la réception de l’artiste.

Lecture synthétique (interprétation)

Sur ce petit format, Morisot fait coexister vie publique et vie intérieure : la composition éloigne le sujet du spectateur juste assez pour préserver son mystère, tandis que la touche « effilochée » transforme la promenade en vibration de lumière et d’air. Le costume sombre et la solitude relative de la figure peuvent suggérer une retenue, voire une gravité, sans que l’image ne verse dans le pathos — l’émotion reste contenue dans la facture picturale elle-même. Au fond, cette toile illustre très bien ce par quoi Morisot se distingue dans l’Impressionnisme : une réinvention de la modernité par le prisme féminin et la manière subtile plutôt que par l’ostentation spectaculaire.

CES PHOTOS NE SONT PAS À VENDRE ET NE PEUVENT PAS ÊTRE REPRODUITES, MODIFIÉES, REDIFFUSÉES, EXPLOITÉES COMMERCIALEMENT OU RÉUTILISÉES DE QUELQUE MANIÈRE QUE CE SOIT.

UNIQUEMENT POUR LE PLAISIR DES YEUX.

The days when you weren't tall enough and had to hang on for grim death. But you insisted you could see everything through one of these... before the money run out.

nostalgic pathos

.. (sc)analog archival project

Epica Etica Etnica Pathos

Our attempts to regain paradise.

Disregarding humanity warnings.

And the anticipation of pathos.

Communications constrained to political cliché.

And powerful abilities to monopolize.

The determined playing field is prepared.

For the

Civilian deaths.

Torture.

And assassinations.

The justification and cause are set.

Those who question are placed on the fringe.

Read more: www.jjfbbennett.com/2021/09/fallen-from-great-height.html

Instruction #46

"Make a picture that is funny and sad at the same time. A photograph that simultaneously evokes pathos, irony and humour." - Jeff Mermelstein

Family outing. There are two dogs in the chair, annoyed I didn't get a better angle.

Deichtorhallen Hamburg, HAUS DER PHOTOGRAPHIE, ANDREAS MÜHE − PATHOS ALS DISTANZ

Instruction #46 "Make a picture that is funny and sad at the same time. A photograph that simultanously evokes pathos, irony and humour." Jeff Mermelstein.

Instruction #46 "Make a picture that is funny and sad at the same time. A photograph that simultanously evokes pathos, irony and humour." Jeff Mermelstein.

pervmystyle.blogspot.com/2015/01/fall-to-pieces-drbc-gown...

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The Shanghai skyline as seen from the top of the Pearl Tower. The resulting photographs were an interesting mistake of camera shake while zooming in on sections of the heavily smog filled city. They gave me a sense of a long forsaken metropolis so I named this series – Vestige.

*Angel's Designs* No Angel (Applilers & Classic Fit)

!!BHB!!Aneta Ankle Boots Custom Maitreya

.ploom. Tina (small) - Candy

7 Deadly s{K}ins -Steptember 2015 GIRLS skin v1 NOcleavage (marshmallow)

*C:K* Passionate Lover Eyes - Pink

Essences - Hangover Lipstick 07 (put on 1st)

**NOYA** Face Make Up Combination (smokey+lipgloss1)

Pathos Maitreya Lucie Nails