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Arts & Communication Dialogue of painting and cinema in The Age of Innocence

2. Theoretical concepts of the dialogue In her study of the cinema/painting relationship, Brigitte
between painting and cinema Peucker 7,p.291 describes cinema as a “hybrid” medium in
which “diverse representational systems collide, replace,
The tendency to describe the essence of cinema by and supplement one another.” The definition appears to
indicating analogies with other arts and media has been be balanced and compromised, with all systems granted
ever-present since the emergence of cinema as a new art equal parts in the representational whole. However, in
form. Early Italian film theoretician Ricciotto Canudo reality, in films analyzed by the author, painting always
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wrote in 1911: “The new manifestation of art should really takes the subordinate position. Peucker considers that
be more precisely a ‘painting’ and a ‘sculpture’ developing painting is recreated in films to achieve the aim of cinema
in ‘time.’” Sergei Eisenstein’s essays, in which he talks about reflecting on its own “enigmatic” multilayered textual
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the parallels between cinematic montage and El Greco’s nature, and that “the presence of tableau vivant in film
paintings or writes about the relationship between Gothic signals a highly self-reflective intermediality” and denotes
style and ecstatic composition in his films, are regarded coexistence of numerous representational modes in the
today as the forerunners of the idea of media archaeology. 4 work of cinematic art.
Since the latest decades of the twentieth century, The concept of a conflict between art forms appears in
several theories have been proposed to characterize the other writings by Brigitte Peucker, Jean-Louis Leutrat,
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relationship between painting and cinema. In the 1980s, the Antonio Costa, Susan Felleman, and Angela Dalle
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rise of interest in exploring the cinema-painting interface Vacche, where cinema and painting are frequently
resulted in the introduction of theoretical concepts described as extraneous systems of representation, as
that determined the development of the new approach different languages that contradict and oppose one another.
integrating methods of film studies and art history. The The reasons for the alleged conflict between mediums are
goal of opening a new field of comparative art studies was perceived in their divergent nature, with painting defined
achieved. Nevertheless, the developed theories had some as a form of static visual representation, in contrast with
limitations that prevented the researchers from gaining a the film’s dynamic modalities. In her book Incorporating
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complete insight into the multilayered intertextuality of Images: Film and Rival Arts, Peucker tells a story about
works of cinematic art as products of the interrelation of “cinema against painting” as a tale of a struggle of depth
various sign systems within one medium. versus flatness, 3D versus 2D, cinematic realism versus the
artificial representation of painting. In Art in the Cinematic
The analysis of scholarly terms researchers employ to Imagination, Felleman agrees that painting in films induces
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comprehend and assess the role of painting in films proves a conflict of art versus reality. The painting symbolizes
that the subordinate position is most typically assigned to the artificial world that evokes spectators’ disbelief, while
paintings that appear in pieces of cinematic art. Scholars without art, the film creates a fictional world in accordance
examine ways films use works of art as cinematic and with the principle of suspension of disbelief.
narrative motifs. The idea of films using paintings as motifs
As a result, the painting is approached as a rival art
clearly identifies the predominant role of cinema that can used in cinema as a means of self-reflection and a method
“foreground and background art.” As Felleman 5, p.5 notes, of revealing the nature of film as different from that of
“art has been reflected on, represented in, thematized by and the “senior” art forms. According to this theory, the film
structured into narrative films in myriad ways throughout features painting as its aesthetic other to undo static
the history of cinema.” The grammatical construction of representation and reestablish the advantages of its own
the passive voice in this definition of the cinema/painting art of depicting the world in the full power of its vibrant
relationship indicates cinema’s governing position. and moving nature.
Angela Dalle Vacche employs the same kind of scholarly
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language when she names her book Cinema and Painting: The conflict of art forms may alternatively result in
How Art is Used in Film. In the classification of types of cinema’s inferiority to painting. In the analysis of Minelli’s
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correlation between painting and film, Dalle Vacche refers American in Paris, Dalle Vacche argues that while painting
to films that “borrow” images from art history, films that belongs to the realm of high art, the film is limited in its
“inflect” meanings of borrowed images, films that “reject” artistic power by the technicality of its production process
painting, and films that “redefine” art history. All verbs and by falling prey to material values of the shallow show
refer to the allegedly inevitable opposition between the business world it is destined to be a part of.
two art forms. In broader terms, the concepts of conflict In the 1990s to the 2000s, in the comparative theory
and subordination regularly determine the relationship of art, the power struggle between painting and cinema
between cinema and painting in this kind of research. continues. Laura M. Sager Eidt, François Jost, Pascal
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Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 2 doi: 10.36922/ac.2090