Professional Documents
Culture Documents
275-276
SINCE the all-conquering appearance o f film, the w o r d " f r a m e " has had
t w o meanings.* Its standard m e a n i n g is the frame around a picture, whereas
in its n e w sense it means the picture itself, the picture that, w h e n projected as
a w h o l e succession o f pictures, gives rise to film. Jokes build o n this a m b i g u
ity - o n e has only to think o f the definition o f H o l l y w o o d as a plac e where
they make pic tures out o f frames. T h i s inc identally gives voic e to f i l m l a n
guage's c laim to b o t h elements: pic tures and frames. Today the w o r d " f r a m e "
does indeed c o m m a n d a w h o l e semantic field o f terminology, what w i t h
" f r a m i n g " and "refraining," w i t h " i n f r a m e " and "mise-en-cadre" (Eisenstein).
O r to quote assoc iations made b y Stephen Heath:
In frame: the plac e of image and subjec t, view (in early Frenc h c atalogues a
film is c alled a vue) and viewer; frame, framing is the very basis of disposi
tion - German Einstellung: adjustment, c entering, framing, moral attitude,
the c orrec t position. 1
• • •
I shall endeavor to illustrate this thesis with just two works of Christian art of
late antiquity and the Middle Ages. A glance at the door of Santa Sabina in
R o m e , which originated in the first half of the fifth century A.D., proves that
questions of format and structure are approached in new, intelligent ways
very early in the piece (Fig. 2).14 The wooden frame is secured in its structure
(and not j ust materially). What is striking about it is the prominence, in a
quite literal sense, of the frame. The reliefs look like smooth, flat pictures posi
tioned between the broad sculptured outgrowth of vine leaves and sur
rounded by three further framing elements. Two orders of framing can be
made out: an inner, secondary one that relates to the pictorial field of individ
ual panels, and an external, primary one, which defines each of the four verti
cal sections by virtue of the columns that rise from bottom to top of the
door. This vertical arrangement can be explained in a practical sense by the
fact that it is a folding door, so that not just two wings are involved, but four
mobile elements. At the same time, of course, the question arises as to the or
dering capacity of this arrangement.
Our second obj ect of attention is the distinctly different formats of the
pictorial fields and their combination in alternating horizontal rows. The
frame of the door accommodates twenty-eight panels in seven horizontal
rows, with four rows of four small and horizontally formatted panels alternat
ing with three rows of four large, vertically formatted panels. It is easy to un- 15
derestimate the effect of this rhythmical constellation, but the alternation
16
Wolfgang Kemp
m
Portal of Santa Sabina.
R o m e , c. 430. C o u r
tesy o f Bildar chiv
Foto Mar bur g i m
Kunstgeschichtlichen
der Philipps-
Univer sitat.
achieves the effect of the hor izontal str uctur e also being per ceived in a struc
tural sense. (If panels of equal size wer e to over lap, the expr essive potential of
the horizontal disposition could easily be limited by the pregnant ver tical ele
ments of the prominently fr amed sections.) But as things stand, there is a con
trast at the level of the syntagmatic, a vying between axis and line, and this
contr ast continues in the differ ent for mats of the r eliefs, which involves mor e
than just a differ ence in magnitude by cr eating a var iety of senses of dir ec
tion. This in tur n is a highly effective structural tool, for it points to both hor
izontal and vertical capacities for linkage.
17
VII Three Marys at the Christ Appears to Christ Appears to Christ with Peter
Sepulchre the Three Women His Disciples and Paul Th e Narrativity
[VII, 2] [V,2} [V , l ] [VII, 4]
o f th e Frame
FIGURE 3
Adoration of the
Magi (?) Diagrammatic
[VII, 3] reconstruction o f th e
original placing o f
th e panels o f th e
Calling of Moses Crossing of the Red Miracles of Moses Ascension of
portal o f Santa
[IV, 1] Sea [VI, 2] Elijah
[IV, 3] [IV, 4] Sabina, R o m e . Key:
(?) = t h e o r i g i n a l
position o f th e relief
is u n c e r t a i n . ( ) = t h e
r e l i e f h as n o t b e e n
preserved, but can b e
reconstructed w i t h a
(Jonah Cast into (Jonah Disgorged Rescue of (Daniel in the
the Sea) (?) Habakkuk (?) Lions' Den) (?) fair d e g r e e o f
by the Whale) (?)
[V.4] certainty. [ ] = t h e
position o f th e relief
today.
From observing the framework alone we thus proceed with the follow
ing premises to testing th e relationsh ip between th e door itself and th e struc
ture. We sh all need to consider th e claims of two forms of organization, th e
line and th e axis. And we h ave to see how we can accommodate th e two for
mats, how we can approach th e question of conceiving th em independently,
or in relation to one anoth er.
Th e issue of reconstructing th e pictorial program h as never been seri
ously approach ed. Without becoming immersed in a long discussion of ques
tions of detail, I base my analysis h ere on an argument I h ave elaborated else
wh ere.15 A n Old Testament representation and nine N e w Testament stories
18 are preserv ed as exemplars of the small panels. A written tradition has docu-
Wolfgang Kemp mented the earlier existence of one further small panel ofJonah and the Wliale.
In the case of the large panels we still hav e four reliefs with themes from the
Old Testament and two with themes from the New, as well as two depictions
of a representativ e or thematic nature. So from the outset, the notion of a ty
pological structuring is present. The existence among the large panels of two
pairs of pictures that are both theologically and formally related (the Miracles
of Moses / Miracles of Christ, and the Ascension of Elijah / Ascension of Christ),
cries out for a continuation of the quest to complete the reconstruction.
M y reconstruction starts with a dualism that is not simply preestablished
by the configuration of the panels — that is, the two door wings equal the two
testaments — but arises through the interaction between the framework and
the door itself. The hypothesis continues in the direction of a dual pictorial
program being formulated with two formats and directions, a program con
sisting of two narratives, or rather two ways of molding a (hi)story with
Christian intent. One order articulates the linear and consecutive aspects of
the narrative — the story of salvation as a syntagm. Its form comprises the
panels in horizontal format that form a sequence. The other order addition
ally gives expression to the vertical and relational aspects of the model — the
story of salvation as syntagm and paradigm. Its form comprises the panels in
vertical format, which are read in two directions. They are positioned under
neath each other in terms of their axes, and through an additive effect be
come narrative sequences.
From the scheme in Figure 3 it becomes evident how I conceive the dis
tribution of narrative. If we pair the Rescu e of Habakku k with Daniel in the Li
ons' Den, and the scripturally attested Jonah Cast into the Sea with his equally
necessary evacuation (Jonah Disgorged by the Wliale), we have filled in the posi
tions of the lowest line (I) with two paradigms of Old Testament salvation
that predestine the New. This observation does not necessarily entail struc
tural consequences; that is, it does not require overarching connections and
the harmonization of individual elements, as does the other ordering. The
Old and the New Testament bear a relationship of sequence, not of figura
tion. Above this line, which forms a kind of predella to the door, the life of
Christ is narrated in rows III, V, and VII. O f the third line, which would re
quire the caption Childhood and Public Ministry , we have only the Adoration of
the Magi; the fifth, with its four Passion scenes, is most probably complete; the
seventh, which is likewise complete, would then have as its theme the Resur
rection and its consequences.
Rows II, IV, and VI, with their vertical-format reliefs, may then be read
horizontally. Four scenes from the story of Moses and Elijah (II), four stages
in the life of Christ (IV), four states — probably the best way of putting it — of
the age of perfected salvation (VI). But additionally these reliefs have a verti
cal connection, as is suggested by their format and the essential framing ele
ments. The Old Testament prefigures the scenes of the New, and these in turn
give an inkling of the supratemporal relationships, of the ultimate k ingdom of
the Lord (a relationship that cannot be established so easily through the other
temporal stages because the quality o f sequentiality is missing). C a r r y i n g both
orders through to their logical conclusion requires that an element or a line
o f the other order has to be disregarded to progress w i t h reading or to m o v e
up or d o w n the typological axes. T o rephrase that in positive terms: b o t h nar
rative complexes b egin to cross over and to f o r m a k i n d o f texture in the
course o f reading. T h e t w o orders reconstructed here exist in their o w n right,
b ut they also s h o w solidarity w i t h each other. T h e y share the story o f salva
tion, so that there are n o repetitions, b ut instead the t w o f o l d development
demonstrates that this material has the potential for m a n y narrative versions,
each m a k i n g sense in its o w n right, and all w i t h the capacity to b e correlated,
a trib ute to the logos " p o l y m e r o s kai p o l y t r o p o s " — to the W o r d proclaimed
" i n m a n y and various ways" (Heb . 1:1). In terms o f shared structural features
it is w o r t h emphasizing that the linearity followed b y b o t h narrative orders is
not w i t h o u t the higher seal o f approval o f the systematic order: each r o w is
tantamount to b eing a sectional or strophic division o f the narrative into
chapters or b o o k s .
T o summarize these thoughts, the c o m p l e x pictorial system, determined
in equal measure b y framing and change o f format, does indeed have an i n
v o l v e m e n t w i t h time, b ut n o t in the sense o f those narrative properties that
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries cultivated — sequentiality and acceler
ation (Toepffer) a n d / o r simultaneity and contrastive value (Eisenstein). T h i s
portal is, rather, i m b u e d w i t h the Christian n o t i o n o f ranging across all t e m
poral levels ( O l d Testament, N e w Testament, the eschatological future), o f
their vertical correlation and horizontal logic. T h e configuration o f the
framework is b o t h the expression and the means o f a theology that finds its
revelation in history. O n e c o u l d say that the i m m a n e n t aim o f such achieve
ments in structuration is not the temporal figure (Toepffer, Eisenstein), b ut
the historical one.
• • *
In the last section I turn m y attention to the G o t h i c stained-glass w i n d o w s o f
northern France, w h i c h just after 1200 A.D. developed a previously u n k n o w n
c o m p l e x i t y in their m e d i u m and i n the art o f ordering. For a relatively short
time stained-glass w i n d o w s in the cathedral emb race a w h o l e , u n d i v i d e d w i n
d o w opening. A s early as 1215 the era o f the architectural w i n d o w b egins,
m e a n i n g that the o p e n i n g is sub divided b y stone pillars or tracery into rela
tively narrow fields or complicated forms. 1 6 Before that it had b een in the
p o w e r o f the dispositores to sub divide the w h o l e surface into large geometric
shapes through armatures o f iron, lead settings and fields o f various stars, b los
soms and quatrefoil compositions that appear o n c e or repeatedly. T h e s e larger
forms, w h i c h constitute the primary framing system, are in turn sub divided
into fields that serve as frames for a narrative scene or part scene. W e are deal
ing w i t h an age that feels the manic c o m p u l s i o n to divide and sub divide.' 7
20 It is hard to imagine a narrative text required to arrange its episodes into
suc
Wolfgang Kemp ^ dependent, fragmented framing forms — into semicircles or quarter cir
cles, blossom leaves, h alf or w h o l e quatrefoils, and so forth . Frequently o n l y
small parts o f th e action are a c c o m m o d a t e d w i t h i n th ese frames, w i t h th e ac
tion continuing in oth er fields comprising o f up to th ree furth er segments. In
v i e w o f th is structure it seems almost impossible for a pictorial narrator to
plan a narrative in such a way th at th e sh ape o f th e field is adapted to th e re
quirements o f each narrative m o m e n t . H e can, o f course, adapt th e n u m b e r o f
frames required to th e significance o f th e event, or th rough t h e m sh ape th e
r h y t h m o f th e narrative flow, but h e cannot, i n th e way th at (for instance)
Toepffer does, make th e f o r m o f each frame c o n f o r m individually to th e par
ticular events o f each scene.
D o e s th at mean th at narrative and framework appear in an unequal rela
tionsh ip, th at a desire to o r n a m e n t and subdivide resh apes and stands in th e
way o f th e narrative delivery? First o f all w e h ave to realize th at th e tech nique
o f structuring surfaces presented th e narrative w i t h a great n u m b e r o f fields,
always easy to read. N e v e r before h ad so m a n y different stories b e e n present
in th e Ch ristian ch urch . A t g r o u n d level cath edrals like Paris, Ch artres, or
Bourges h ad forty or fifty medallion w i n d o w s , each with fifteen to th irty
scenic units. T w o th ings followed f r o m th is: first th at th e art o f narrating in
pictures experienced an e n o r m o u s upsurge, and second th at a climate of
c o m p e t i t i o n , o f experimentation and o f rapid exch ange, arose. B o t h i n d i v i d
ual pictures and m o r e extended narrative cycles point to th e fact th at th e n a r
rative can develop w i t h m o r e freedom, m o r e creativity, and a coh erent inter
nal structure. Sh ort and l o n g sequences, and structural divisions such as
beginning, end, or climaxes, were w o r k e d out m o r e precisely th an previously,
since m u c h c o u l d be assumed and oth er aspects needed o n l y be alluded to.
A furth er question is th en directed at th e relationsh ip between narrative
and geometric structuring o f th e w i n d o w surface. It is clear th at someth ing
equivalent to an organization by ch apters can be expected o f a f i v e - p o i n t e d
star sh ape or a quatrefoil w i t h a central motif. A u g u s t Sch marsow, th e first i n
vestigator o f th e narrative structures o f w i n d o w s , h ad applied th is expectation
to th e w i n d o w s o f th e Ch artres cath edral and p o i n t e d to th e fact th at in th e
twelfth and th irteenth centuries totally n e w forms arose in literature, p r o
claiming a need for compreh ensible structures. 18 ( T h e b e s t - k n o w n example
is th e sonnet, w h i c h w e o w e to th is e p o c h o f th e lyric.) Certainly it is n o t
altogeth er easy to demonstrate th is coordination o f figure and narrative.
Sch marsow h imself did n o t succeed; oth ers after h i m approach ed th e issue
f r o m th e w r o n g angle, namely th e iconograph ic aspect, and wanted to read
" m e a n i n g " into th e geometric sh apes, or else th ey d e m a n d e d t o o m u c h and
required all medallion w i n d o w s to h ave a consonance o f narrative and struc
tural underpinnings. 1 9 T h e real state o f affairs, o n th e oth er h and, is th at m a n y
dispositores c o u l d not meet th e n e w ch allenge o f a narrative in figures, w h i l e
oth ers invented forms o f interaction between framework and narrative th at
probably eclipse everyth ing possible before or since.
FIGURE 4
(Far left) P r o d i g a l S o n
W i n d o w , Bourges
Cathedral.
FIGURE 5
Diagrammatic
represen tation o f the
Prodigal S o n
W i n d o w , Bourges
o
Cathedral. Key: 1 , 2 ,
o 3 , sign atories o f t h e
Tan n ers' G u i l d ; 4, the
prodigal son deman ds
his i n h e r i t a n c e f r o m
his f a t h e r ; 5, h e
receives his i n h e r
i t a n c e ; 6, t h e elder
D Q
s o n i n t h e fields ; 7,
the prodigal s on
leaves his father's
h o u s e ; 8, arrival at t h e
t a v e r n ; 9, p r o d i g a l s o n
j?
m e t b y t h e harlots ;
mk 10, c r o w n i n g o f t h e
p r o d i g a l s o n ; 11, h e is
D O
cas t o u t ; 12, h e
i g a m b l e s a w a y his
i n h e r i t a n c e ; 13, h e is
i cas t o u t a s e c o n d
t i m e ; 14, h e hires
h i m s e l f o u t as a
s w i n e h e r d ; 15, h e
experiences remors e;
D Q
16, h e r e t u r n s home
in clothing o f a
s w i n e h e r d ; 17,
s laughtering o f the
fatted calf; 18, feas t at
I am speaki ng of several forms of cooperati on, but here I can go i nto r e u n i t e d w i t h his
father and brother.
only one of the most spectacular cases. In the Prodi gal Son Wi ndow i n
Bourges (about 1210 A.D.) we fi nd the bi bli cal parable expanded at great
length (Fi g. 4). In seventeen narrati ve fields the life of the prodigal son is de
picted in great detail. The narrative flows with incredible continuity through
the difficult figures of the q uatrefoils with their five sections and of the tri
partite rows formed by a circle and two half-q uatrefoils.20 This much may be 21
reconstructed from the illustrations and the explanation in the key (Fig. 5).
22 What is not immediately legible is the use of f igures to promote a narrative
Wolf gang Kemp development (f igures that get in the way of comprehension when reading).
Here we are not f ar away f rom Eisenstein's demand f or "thematic ef f ects."
Each scene in the window (with the exception of the representations of the
donors [1—3] and the reconciliation scene) has a narrative counterpart. Each
scene is mirrored across an axis separating the various orders: good and evil,
home and f oreign parts, above and below, bef ore and af ter, seriousness and
joking.
O f course the eight pairs do not yield consistently smooth rhythms. At
times the narrator has to seek ref uge in mere analogies of f orm that have no
status within the narrative. A comparison between the two three-f igure rows
(9—11, 17—19) leads us into this problem area. They are dedicated to the two
f easts in the parable — the son's revels in the tavern and the celebration of his
return to the paternal home. Both round middle sections (10, 18) relate to
each other as analogous in f orm and event, while the details can be recog
nize d as diffe re nt ve rsions of the same proce ss, divide d into good and e vil.
That is the norm. Thus 4 and 12 yield "smooth rhythms" of this kind - the
prodigal son de mands his inhe ritance from his fathe r/he lose s at gambling; 5
and 13 — he ge ts the mone y and bids fare we ll to his fathe r/he is thrown out
of the inn; 7 and 15 - he ride s off like a knight into the distance /he has to
look afte r anothe r man's pigs; 8 and 16 - he is re ce ive d into the tave rn/
we lcome d back into his father's house .
Harde r to unde rstand are analogies such as those inte nde d at the side s of
the fe asting sce ne s. The banishing of the prodigal son (11) and the re turn of
the e lde r son from the fie ld (19) have nothing in common at the le ve l of
e ve nts. The artist manage s to find he re at least the common factor of corre
sponde nce of form — in both case s we have a scene with two figure s on the
thre shold of inside and outside of the fie ld of re pre se ntation. Episode s 9 and
17 offe r a further variation of this mirroring, bearing no formal analogy and
only a re lative ly we ak narrative concordance . Above and be low the fe ast is
be ing prepared: in one case through the gre e ting and crowning of the prodi
gal son in the brothel, in the othe r through the slaughte r of the fatte d calf on
his re turn to his fathe r's house . The mirroring he re cre ate s se nse more as a
humorous me taphor than from the positive -ne gative orde ring — the prodigal
son is decked out like a beast for slaughte r by the harlots, and fe te d so that af
te rward he can be "taken apart."21
Compare d with the portal of Santa Sabina the relationship be twe e n pane l
(narrative ) and frame work has be e n both complicate d and simplifie d. Sim
plifie d, because the story told has a strong se nse of se que nce . Complicate d,
be cause this narrative flow — that is, a whole story and not just single e pisode s
or se ctions — is transforme d through framing into an argume nt. A se que nce
and a system, both a structural and narrative conne ction, are combine d with
e ach othe r. It looks like the que stion of the corre ct format and the claims of
Christian art were inseparable right to the e nd.
I cl ose with a final excursion into fil m history, to the year 1953. Although
the wide-screen technique of CinemaScope was first used in the fil m How to
Marry a Millionaire (directed by Jean Negul esco), Twentieth-Century Fox hel d
this film back so as to bring out first the film version of the Passion of Christ
titl ed The Robe (directed by Henry Koster). The era of the big fil ms was to be
ushered in by the biggest theme of all.
N o t e s to Pages
4-14
1. S tephen Heath, Questions of Cinema (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981), p. 11.
2. Ibid.
3. S ergei Eisenstein.'The Dynamic S quare," a lecture given to the Technicians Branch o f the
Academy o f Motion Picture Arts and S ciences, Fox Hill S tudios, Hollywood, 17 S eptem
ber 1930, published in Cl ose Up (March-June 1931); translation used here in Sergei Eisen-
stein, Das dynamische Quadrat: Schriften zum Fil m (Leipzig: Reclam, 1991).
4. T h e key texts are collected in Wolfgang K e m p (ed.), Theorie der Fotografie, vol. 2, 1 9 1 2 - 4 5
(Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 1979), p. 76. O n the question o f extreme high or low v i e w
points see idem., Foto-Essays: Zur Gesc
l iichte und Theorie der Fotografie (Munich:
Schirmer/Mosel, 1978).
5. Eisenstein, Das dynamische Quadrat, p. 162.
6. Ibid., p. 176.
7. David K unzle, The History of the Comic Strip: The Nineteenth Century (Los Angeles: Univer
sity o f California Press, 1989).
8. G. V. Graevenitz, "Menioria und Realismus: Erzahlende Literatur in der deutschen 'Bil-
dungspresse' des 19. Jahrhunderts," in A . Haverkamp and R . Lachmann (eds.), Memoria:
Vergessen und Erinnern (Munich: Fink, 1993), p. 271.
9. R o d o l p h e Toepffer, Histoire de M.Jabot (Geneva: n.p., 1833), p. 39.
10. Friedrich Schlegel, Fragmente zur Poesie und Literatur, edited by H . Eichner (K ritische
Friedrich-Schlegel edition) vol. 17, no. 1 (Munich: Fink, 1981), p. 92.
11. C. Gilbert, "Peintres et m enuisiers au debut de la Renaissance italienne," in Revue de VArt,
37 (1977), p. 44.
12. O n the com posite character o f m edieval art see Wolfgang Kem p, "Medieval Pictorial Sys
tems," in B. Cassidy (ed.), Ico no graphy at the Cro ssro ads (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer
sity Press, 1993).
13. This does not refer to Eisenstein's aesthetics o f film, which we have already seen as aiming
to create its effects from precisely this confrontation o f visibly different pictorial units.
14. B. Jeremias, Die Ho lztiir der Basilika S. Sabina in Rom (Tubingen: Wasmuth, 1980).
15. Wolfgang Kemp, Christliche Kunst: Ihre Anfange, ihre Strukturen (Munich: Schirmer/Mosel,
1994).
16. O n the relationship between w i n d o w opening, ornamentation and glass painting see W o l f
gang Kemp, "Parallelismus als Formprinzip: Z u m Bibelfenster der Dreikonigskapelle des
Kolner Doms," Kblner o
D mblatt, 56 (1991), p. 259.
17. A t that time it was possible for a theologian to define the art o f proclamation in church -
namely the sermon - in the terms, "the interpretation o f H o l y Scripture by division and
subdivision." Cited in R a y m o n d F. Howes, Histo rical Studies o f Rheto ric and Rhet
o ricians
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1961), p. 82.
18. A . Schmarsow, Ko mpo sitio nsgesetze in der Kunst des Mittelalters (Bonn-
L eipzig: Kurt
Schroder, 1919-22).
19. S. G. Nichols, Ro manesque Signs: Early Medieval Narratives and Ico no graphy (New Haven,
Conn.:Yale University Press, 1983), p. 95.
20. For a more detailed discussion o f the w i n d o w see Wolfgang Kemp, Sermo oc rp
o reus: Die
Erzdhlung der mittelalterlichen Glasfenster (Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 1987), pp. 4 6 - 5 6 .
21. In a favorite book o f the Middle Ages devoted to the sayings o f Solomon, there is a tale
about a "foolish lad" w h o falls for a wench dressed up as a prostitute: " H e immediately fol
lows her, like an ox to the slaughter."