Interdisciplinary without disciplines

Interdisciplinariedad y especialización han polarizado la investigación y enseñanza de las ciencias sociales en el último siglo. Este trabajo las analiza en el marco de la posición de la historia en la educación superior de las culturas occidentales, en especial norteamericana, para tratar de demostrar que se encuentra al servicio de intereses corporativos. Analiza una campaña de desprestigio de las humanidades, sobre todo en los circuitos culturales oficiales, y mide esta tendencia en indicios sobre la consideración de los últimos cincuenta años sobre el arte “antiguo” en comparación con el “moderno” o contemporáneo.The concepts of interdiscplinariness and specialization have polarized research and teaching in the field of social sciences over the past century. The present study analyses these contrasting concepts in the context of the history of higher education in western civilization — and especially in North America — and attempts to show how these concepts have been used in the service of corporate interests. We discuss how the humanities have suffered a campaign of discredit, above all in official circles, and measure this trend in indices of the evaluation of “ancient” art, in comparison with “modern” or “contemporary” art over the past 50 years

Interdisciplinariedad sin disciplinas

Interdisciplinariedad y especialización han polarizado la investigación y enseñanza de las ciencias sociales en el último siglo. Este trabajo las analiza en el marco de la posición de la historia en la educación superior de las culturas occidentales, en especial norteamericana, para tratar de demostrar que se encuentra al servicio de intereses corporativos. Analiza una campaña de desprestigio de las humanidades, sobre todo en los circuitos culturales oficiales, y mide esta tendencia en indicios sobre la consideración de los últimos cincuenta años sobre el arte “antiguo” en comparación con el “moderno” o contemporáneo.</p

"La liberté guidant le peuple" de Delacroix devant son premier public

Die Freiheit führt das Volk Barrikaden von Delacroix auf die vor seinem ersten Publikum Die Deutungsgeschichte des allegorischen Bildes von Delacroix, 'Die Freiheit führt das Volk auf die Barrikaden' erinnert daran, da|3 das Kunstwerk den Code, wonach es zu verstehen ist, nicht aus sich selbst heraus liefert. Allerdings sollten Vielzahl und Divergenz der Deutungen nun wiederum auch nicht zu dem Fehlschluß verleiten, das Kunstwerk trage überhaupt keinen Sinn in sich. Die zeitgenössischen Kommentatoren des fraglichen Bildes von Delacroix sind sich darin einig, daß es sich dabei uni den idealisierten Ausdruck der universellen Revolution sowie des Bürger und Proletarier im Kampf für die Freiheit einenden Volkes handelt. Da sie es unterlassen, das Gemälde auf die historischen Bedingungen zu hinterfragen, unter denen es produziert und von der damaligen Kritik rezipiert wurde, gerät den heutigen Kunsthistorikern ein Bild in den Blick, das in der von ihnen gedeuteten Form nur von einer Minderheit des zeitgenössischen Publikums von 1831 wahrgenommen wurde. Die Analyse aller 1831 veröffentlichten Kritiken belegt, daß die Deurung, die das Bild von Delacroix, insbesondere dessen Darstellung der Akteure der Juli-Ereignisse, erfährt, jeweils bedingt ist von der Stellung des Autors gegenüber der 3oer Revolution, bedingt ist also von dessen jeweiligem Klasseninteresse. So sehen die legitimistischen und die orleanistischen Kritiker —die einen zu ihrer Freude, die andern zu ihrem Bedauern— in den Figuren des die Revolution verkörpernden Gemäldes «das schmutzige Volk», den «Pöpel» und «Mob». In krassem Gegensatz zu den Anhängern Louis-Philippes, die den Mangel an «Noblesse» der abgebildeten Figuren mit Bedauern vermerken, d.h. das Fehlen «redlicher Handwerker» und der «jüngeren Leute von den (Elite-) Schulen», die ihrer Ansicht nach die Revolution gemacht haben, finden die Republikaner darin «die wirkliche Physiognomie der Juli-Tage», mit, in erster Linie, der Masse der Arbeiter und der Hand-werker, sekundiert von deklassierten bürgerlichen Elementen. Indem die Kunsthistoriker die Wertungen der Kritiker teils individualisieren, teils einem vorgeblich homogenen Ganzen der Kritik subsumieren, teils auch auf Auseinandersetzungen von Lehrmeinungen reduzieren («Klassiker» vs. «Romantiker»), kurz, indem sie vom gesellschaftlichen Gehalt der Deutungen des Werks abstrahieren, verbauen sie sich neben dem Verständniss der Grundlagen der Gegensätze zugleich auch das des Sinns des Kunstwerks selbst.Liberty Guiding the People by Delacroix ; its First Viewing To review the myriad interpretations of Delacroix's allegorical painting Liberty guiding the people is to remind oneself that a work of art never spontaneously yields up the code according to which it is to be understood. But that such multiple and divergent interpretations exist does not necessarily mean that the work does not have an inherent meaning. Contemporary reviews all present Delacroix's painting as the idealised expression of the universal Revolution and of the People bringing together under Freedom's flag bourgeois and proletarian. By failing to refer the painting to the historical conditions under which it was produced and to the critical reception it was given at the time of its creation, Art Historians have in mind a painting which corresponds to a work which only a small minority of the 1831 public perceived as such. An analysis of all the critical assessments published in 1831 shows that the interpretations of Delacroix's painting, especially his representation of the chief participants in the events of July, are directly linked to the stand of their authors with regard to the 1830 revolution, that is to say, their class interests. Hence, whether it be the legitimist lobby of critics congratulating themselves on the fact, or the Orleanist commentators deploring the same, both see in the painting's characters an incarnation of Revolution by «the great unwashed», «the populace», «the rabble». Contrary to the supporters of Louis-Philippe, who regret the lack of «nobility» in the characters, the lack of «honest craftsmen» and «young students» who, as they would have it, were the mainstay of the revolution, the Republicans, for their part, find in it «the true face of the July events» with its foreground of workers and craftsmen seconded by downgraded members of the bourgeoisie. By individualising these critical assessments or by subsuming them under an allegedly homogeneous body of Criticism, by reducing the divergent opinions to doctrinal controversies (Classicism versus Romanticism for example), in a word, by discounting the social content implied by the interpretations of the work, Art History no only fails to grasp the basis of these conflicts, but also fails to grasp the significance of the work itself.«La liberté guidant le peuple» de Delacroix devant son premier public L'histoire des interprétations du tableau allégorique de Delacroix La Liberté guidant le peuple rappelle que l'œuvre d'art ne livre pas d'elle-même le code selon lequel elle doit être comprise. Mais de la multiplicité et de la divergence des interprétations, on ne saurait déduire que l'œuvre ne porte pas un sens qui lui est propre. Les commentaires contemporains ont en commun de présenter le tableau de Delacroix comme l'expression idéalisée de la Révolution universelle et du Peuple unissant bourgeois et prolétaires en lutte pour la Liberté. Faute de rapporter le tableau aux conditions historiques dans lesquelles il a été produit et accueilli par les critiques à l'époque de sa création, les historiens de l'art ont en vue un tableau qui correspond à une œuvre que seule une minorité du public de 1831 a perçue comme telle. L'analyse de l'ensemble des jugements publiés en 1831 'établit que les interprétations du tableau de Delacroix, notamment la représentation qu'il donne des acteurs des journées de juillet, sont fonction de la position de leurs auteurs à l'égard de la révolution de 1830, c'est-à-dire de leurs intérêts de classe. Ainsi les critiques légitimistes, pour s'en louer, les commentateurs orléanistes, pour le déplorer, voient dans les personnages du tableau incarnant la Révolution le «peuple sale», la «populace», la «canaille». A l'inverse des partisans de Louis-Philippe qui regrettent le manque de «noblesse» des personnages, c'est-à-dire l'absence des «artisans honnêtes» et des «jeunes gens des écoles» qui, selon eux, ont fait la révolution, les républicains y retrouvent la «véritable physionomie des journées de juillet» avec, au premier plan, la masse des ouvriers et des artisans secondés par des éléments bourgeois déclassés. En individualisant les jugements des critiques ou en les subsumant sous un ensemble prétendument homogène de la Critique ou encore en ramenant les appréciations à des querelles doctrinales (les «classiques» contre les «romantiques»), bref en ne tenant pas compte du contenu social des interprétations de l'œuvre, l'histoire de l'art s'interdit, à la fois, de comprendre le fondement de ces oppositions et de saisir le sens de l'œuvre elle-même.Hadjinicolaou Nicos. "La liberté guidant le peuple" de Delacroix devant son premier public. In: Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales. Vol. 28, juin 1979. Les fonctions de l’art. pp. 3-26

Hyperspectral imaging and spectral classification for pigment identification and mapping in paintings by El Greco and his workshop

Summarization: The identification of painting materials is of essential importance for artistic and scientific analysis of objects of artistic and historic value. In this paper we report a new method and technology comprising a) hyperspectral imaging, b) development of spectral libraries corresponding to target materials and c) proper classification strategies with (a) and (b) as inputs. Our findings advocate that the method improves radically the diagnostic potential of visible-near infrared imaging spectroscopy. A system’s approach is implemented by combining a novel hyperspectral camera integrating an innovative electro-optic tunable filter solution with spectral analysis and classification algorithms. A series of pigment material replicas was developed using original methods covering almost the entire palette of Renaissance painters. Hyperspectral acquisition of the constructed pigment panels provided millions of spectra, which were used for both training and validation of a series of spectral classification algorithms, namely: Maximum Likelihood (ML), Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM), Normalized Euclidean Distance (NEUC), Spectral Information Divergence (SID), Spectral Correlation Mapper (SCM) and Spectral Gradient Mapper (SGM). It was found that the best performing algorithm in identifying and differentiating pigments with similar hue but different chemical composition was the ML algorithm. This algorithm displayed accuracies within the range 80.3%–99.7% in identifying and mapping materials used by El Greco and his workshop. The high accuracy achieved in identifying pigments strongly suggest that the new method and technology has great potential for the scientific analysis of artwork and for assisting conservation and authentication tasks.Presented on

A novel hyperspectral camera and analysis platform for the non-destructive material identification and mapping: an application in paintings by El Greco

Summarization: Non-destructive point spectroscopic techniques and destructive methods based on sampling and ex-situ analysis are not efficient for examining large areas of objects of artistic and historic value. A novel hyperspectral camera and analysis platform (HySCAP) is presented in this paper, integrating innovative electrooptic solutions and advanced spectral analysis and classification algorithms. This combination offers and attractive alternative to a variety of destructive or ionizing methods used routinely for material identification. HySCAP acquires millions of reflectance and/or fluorescence spectra and tens of narrow band images, spanning the entire 370nm-1100nm wide spectral range. Specially developed and integrated into the HySCAP spectral analysis and system's training tools maximizes the obtained information with regard to the target-object's composition and structure. We have validated the HySCAP concept in a series of painting material replicas and in paintings belonging to El Greco's workshop, made by either the master himself or his students. Painting material replicas were developed following the original development processes and their fluorescence and reflectance spectra were measured and stored in the HySCAP's database. Some of them were used as training set and some other as validation set. The properly designed spectral analysis module was employed for handling the automated comparison of the training set of spectra with the spectra collected from the validation set of samples. Particularly, a series of algorithms for performing spectral comparison and classification were comparatively evaluated. It was found that the best performing algorithm was the Maximum Likelihood algorithm, which displayed accuracies within the range 80.3%-99.7% in identifying and mapping materials in El Greco's workshop paintings. The obtained results indicate that the HySCAP integrated approach emerges as a valuable scientific instrument for developing a series of more efficient methods in the broad field of nondestructive testing. In the particular case of the artwork analysis, which is presented in this paper, the offered new insight into the material composition, technique of construction, deterioration effects, authentication etc., are of essential importance in art history, in authentication and in determining the optimum preservation scheme.Presented on