Narrativity
How images tell stories
60 €
Presentation
In both Europe and Asia, artists and their patrons have often produced series of images that “tell a story”. These images can be distinct and successive, or rather arranged in scenes within a scroll or a larger panel: the idea is always that by looking at the whole, one can understand the story.
Most of the time, however, the viewer must be sufficiently knowledgeable and astute to recognize a story that they already know, listen to a guide’s explanations, or interpret references in the painting! The conclusion drawn is thus rather measured: often, images alone do not suffice – and there remains a fascinating gap between the images and the narrative.
This book offers a number of detailed studies, from Europe to China, through the Himalayas and Tibet, exploring depictions of the life of Buddha and life of Jesus, the kings of hell, visits to Imperial Parks, and even an investigation following a catastrophic flood.
Directors
François Jacquesson is a linguist and semiotician at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). His work concerns the languages of Northeast India as well as images and colour systems. He manages the blog “Caramel” on the platform Hypotheses.
Vincent Durand-Dastès is a professor of pre-modern Chinese literature at Inalco and a lecturer at the University of Geneva. His work is dedicated to studying the relationship between religion and the supernatural in the narrative literature of the late imperial period.
590 pages
16 x 24 cm
Publication: 13/09/2022
ISBN: 9782858314027