Intimate Images. The history of radiography in art history

拟议的研究项目调查的历史和认识论的意义，检查绘画和雕塑与X射线，以及由此产生的图像。它的基本论点是，20世纪20年代对绘画（以及后来的雕塑）的放射学检查的引入引发了艺术史领域学科实践的转变：以前，学术兴趣集中在图像表面及其图像学意义上;然而，X射线引起了艺术史学家对材料，其物理条件和艺术处理的注意。透过艺术作品的表面，我们可以看到艺术和艺术实践的各种新问题，从而有助于新知识的产生。本项目从三个角度探讨了这种新知识的产生和应用：a）艺术史中的放射线摄影史及其自1895年以来的发展尚未被书写。因此，该项目是第一个根据历史和当代出版物、原始X射线图像和档案材料重建这段历史的项目。特别注意将支付给“明显的数据”（Evidenz）的技术和话语生产和一种新的专家知识的发展。B）两个案例研究，一个是关于伦勃朗的，另一个是关于阿德里安·德弗里斯的，调查了这种关于艺术品物理物质性的知识被引入学术文献的方式，并随后改变了艺术史的学科。通过分析和比较引入X射线检查前后的学术文本，艺术史的认识转变将变得显而易见。c）鉴于艺术历史射线照片是审美对象的图像，有必要确定技术因素和美学因素如何影响其生产。虽然医学X射线总是只显示身体的细节，但艺术历史X射线（例如，雕塑）可以出现为自己创造的形象，增加了一个标志性的质量，他们的索引关系的对象在检查。X射线图像的这种特殊的美学吸引力和摇摆不定的地位--已经被几位当代艺术家所接受--还没有在图像理论的背景下得到充分的描述和分析;拟议中的项目将首次尝试这样做。在这个项目的背景下，X射线图像被认为是艺术史上的科学图像。虽然艺术史学家长期以来一直对其他学科中图像的生产方法和认识地位感兴趣，但他们尚未研究本学科中产生的科学图像。该项目面对这种缺乏自我反思，并有助于科学史的理论框架内的艺术史的调查。

The proposed research project investigates the history and epistemological significance of examining paintings and sculptures with X-rays, and the resulting images. Its underlying thesis is that the introduction of radiological examinations of paintings in the 1920s (and later of sculptures) triggered a shift in disciplinary practices in the field of art history: Previously, academic interests were focussed on the image surface and its iconographical-iconological meaning; X-rays, however, drew art historians´ attention to the material, its physical condition and artistic treatment. To look beneath the surface into the artwork itself raised all kinds of new questions about art and artistic practices and, thereby, contributed to the creation of new knowledge.The project approaches the emergence and application of this new knowledge from three angles: a) The history of radiography within art history and its development from 1895 on has not yet been written. Thus, the project is the first to reconstruct this history on the basis of historical and contemporary publications, original X-ray images and archive material. Special attention will be paid to the technological and discursive production of ´evident data´ (Evidenz) and the development of a new kind of expert knowledge. b) Two case studies, one on Rembrandt and one on Adriaen de Vries, investigate the manner in which this knowledge about the physical materiality of artworks was introduced into the scholarly literature and, subsequently, transformed the discipline of art history. By analysing and comparing academic texts written before and after the introduction of X-ray examinations, the epistemic shift in art history will become apparent. c) Given that art historical radiographs are images of aesthetic objects, it is necessary to determine how not only technical, but also aesthetic considerations influenced their production. While medical X-rays always show only a detail of a body, art historical X-rays (e.g., of sculptures) can appear as images created for their own sake, adding an iconic quality to their indexical relation to the object under examination. This special aesthetic appeal and vacillating status of the X-ray image - already taken up by several contemporary artists - have not yet been sufficiently described and analysed in the context of image theory; the proposed project will make a first attempt to do so.In the context of this project, X-ray images are considered scientific images in art history. While art historians have long been interested in the production methods and epistemic status of images in other disciplines, they have yet to study the scientific images produced within their own discipline. The project confronts this lack of self-reflection and contributes to the investigation of art history within the theoretical framework of history of science.