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Traditions in Art: A Plastic Approach, Sponsored by The Violette de Mazia Foundation @ The Barnes Foundation, William M. Perthes, Instructor

28 January – 6 May 2014, Final Summary Assignment

The Structures of Narrative Violence: The Battle Scenes of Assyrian Art, Paolo Uccello, and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Maureen Drdak

This paper examines the work of three divergent art traditions—that of Assyrian art, the early Florentine tradition and the late ukiyoe tradition of Japan—represented respectively by the anonymous artists of the Nineveh Palaces, the Florentine master Paolo Uccello, and the last Ukiyoe master Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Though a broad range of aspects will be addressed in the exploration of their work, my main focus will rest upon those devices through which these three expressive forms speak to the dymanic depiction of complex battle scenes—the “structures of violence”— the elements and vocabulary common to these images, and the degree to which they converge and diverge in their usage. Subject images (Larger images in sequence appear at the end of this paper):

L-Anonymous Assyrian (?) Artists L-R: Lion Hunt Scenes, Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh, Iraq, bas relief panel, limestone, c. 669-633 B.C.; The

Lachish Reliefs show the Assyrian army laying siege to Lachish, near Jerusalem. They were mounted at the palace of Assyrian king Sennacherib in Nineveh; Bas Relief showing an Assyrian King's campaign against the Kedarite Arabs Assyrian Stone Relief Depicting Battle Scene. (British Museum, London)

. Paolo Uccello (1397-1475 ) The Battle of San Romano by Uccello, consisting of three large works, L-R: Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano; Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino unseats Bernardino della Ciarda at the Battle of San Romano; The Counterattack of Michelotto da Cotignola at the Battle of San Romano. (The cycle was created over a period of 1438-1455, to be viewed originally as hung on the walls of the Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni.)

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839 - 1892) L-R: The Fierce Battle at Daijuji, 1873 by Yoshitoshi (1839 - 1892); The Great Battle of Yamazaki, 1865; Shinpūren Rebellion, 1876.

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The subject fact of this paper is that of the theme of furious battle as expressed in three divergent art traditions—Assyrian art, the early Florentine tradition and the late ukiyoe tradition of Japan—represented respectively by the anonymous artists of the Nineveh Palaces, the Florentine master Paolo Uccello, and the last Ukiyoe master Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Though a broad range of aspects will be addressed in the exploration of their work, my main focus will rest upon those devices through which these three expressive forms speak to the dymanic depiction of complex battle scenes—the “structures of violence”— the elements and vocabulary common to these images, and the degree to which they converge and diverge in their usage. I have selected representations of these traditions in related groups of three to evidence continuity of approach within them. Uccello’s Battle of Romano, though itself a triptych, can be said to represent three images which can be viewed as independent works. I would like to begin by summarizing a number of plastic commonalities shared by all three groupings; they are: The fundamental importance of vector lines as forcefully expressed through lances, bows, reigns, swords, which serve to direct vision, create speed, and stitch compositional groupings together with great effect to evoke a sense of violent activity. Shallow field of spacial depth—the action as expressed through the subject actors is presented close to the viewer; perspectival distortion, particularly in Uccello’s work where distant planes are flattened, compressing the image space. Space—background depth—is often indeterminate, frequently, if not literally evoking a sense of “the void,” and resulting in a somewhat suspended sense of time. Image proportions favor horizontal compositions resulting in a racing lateral activity of the image. This is notable in the Assyrian works which though expressed in stacking registers—are composed and aligned in long running horizontal format. (See photo at conclusion of this paper showing reliefs in situ in the British Museum as originally placed along the palace walls in Iraq.) Aspects of horror vacui: the picture/image plane is either filled to capacity with compressed forms, or forms are arranged in such a way that the eye flits or ricochets from one form to another, essentially traversing intervening space with such rapidity that the space itself is an active catalyst in stitching together mass. Lack of an effective focal point—creation of pervasive disruptive mobility, with the noted exception of Uccello, where arguably, the focal point is substantially weakened in effect by the devices above mentioned. Color serves action through rhythmic placement and high key punctuation; it should be noted that the Assyrian reliefs were originally painted, though lack of specifics here must restrict further comment. Light is in all these scenes is closely allied with color with notable exceptions; In Uccello’s work—especially in The Battle of Romano’s original state—light is physically engendered through the use of reflective gold and silver foils, though through the passage of time the silver has heavily oxidized. And in the Assyrian works, light is no longer present through the original presence of color, but is now solely present through its physical interaction relief contours themselves; in their present state of color loss, light itself replaces color, and it is here that the compositional genius of the Assyrian artists is literally highlighted; regardless of the directional source of light the action and compositional power of these scenes are unabated. *************************************************************************************************

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The main concern and challenge of depicting battles scenes in visual art is in visually communicating a sense of furious and sublime action. I will compare these three sets of images progressively in terms of space, line, light, color and mass. I will begin with space and line (and return to them often) as in all three image groups presented here we immediately are struck with the employment of two devices—that of shallow often indeterminant space and the uses of strong linear vector lines or passages which vigorously direct the viewer’s vision. The first device—that of employing shallow and compressed space—is expressed differently in each of the three tradition groupings— the overall intention of the artists is clearly in grounding the action of the battle in the foreground of the image plane in order to fill the viewer’s eye with dynamic energy and the viewer’s mind with a sense of excitement. In the first two works of Uccello, we find the use of the screen; the depiction of distant fields is expressed through perspectival distortions which compress distance, deprive the viewer of a horizon line. Chromatic variations of the fields and linear forms of their boundary vegetation is stylistically exploited to emphasize their curving diagonally active patterns, which in turn resonate with the curving forms of the horses below. These curvatures complement and resonate with the strong linear activity of the lances and standards of the warring factions occupying the foreground. This abstracted arrangement of field as screen is vaguely present in the third work—The Intervention of Micheletto Cotignol—in which the action, also contained and restricted to the foreground, describes depth as indeterminate and dense. In the third work of Yoshitoshi— Shinpūren Rebellion—we find a similar usage of spacial abstraction and screening but with a difference. While in Shinpūren Rebellion there is the descriptive depiction of a rushing stream with far bank, broken forms of a trees and striations of mountain scree, the space is nevertheless compressed effectively by flattened and alternating diagonal passages of billowing battlefield smoke and the darkened spaces beyond the treatment of which is highly simplified in its abstraction. Additionally and importantly, the use of light chroma to project form is employed with deliberation; the light pink of the gunpowder billows is paralleled by the unearthly brightness of the pale blue stream below, juxtaposed with the strong alternating diagonal of white smoke to the left, all of which collectively serve to collapse space, maintaining the shallow depth of field, and push the action of the battlefield forward towards the viewer, filling the eye with unrelenting activity. The use of indeterminate space is shared by all three Assyrian works, the first two works of Yoshitoshi, as well as in The Counterattack of Michelotto da Cotignola at the Battle of San Romano (as previously mentioned) by Uccello. In the Assyrian works, distance is expressed through the use of registers—stacked tiers or strata of action—while in the first two works of Yoshitoshi space and indeterminate depth is signified by color fields or abstract forms of color gradation. While it must be said that in Yoshitoshi’s work, distance is also acknowledged through smaller scale of receding figures, this difference is so small as to be arguably insignificant, and effectively subsumed into the dominant play of masses of rhythmic form, line and color. And while in all three of Uccello’s works—especially in Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Roman—we see perspectival effects employed in the foreground through exploitation of the linear forms of lances and the subtle use of geometric patches of earth and vegetation, the spacial field is nevertheless limited in the service of presenting the action close to the viewer. Rythmic line, light and color in the service of dynamic action pervade all of these three grouping of differing traditions. Indeed, is can clearly be said that in the works of Yoshitoshi, color and light are inseperable. And in the Assyrian works, as I observed earlier, light substitutes for color, and in this sense importantly is enhanced in this function by the characteristic Assyrian attention to detail and surface texture, and these surfaces are continually and variably tonally activated by the vagaries of changing light-play on their surfaces. Dynamic energy, intrinsic to the subject of battle, can arguably be said to the primary interest of all of three of these tradition/artist groupings works, with the shallow depth of spacial field serving to magnify the strong rhythmic effect of line, light and color in the visual experience of these works. The energy carried by line asserts itself in all three groupings, either in the explotation of the effects of light and shadow in the Assyrian bas reliefs, the dramatic use of the strong linear forms of lances and standards in Uccello’s works, or the equally dynamic repetition of the subtle curvatures of scabbards and swords in Yoshitoshi’s works—most emphatically in his first two works; interestingly, in Shinpūren Rebellion we find the use of standards equally effectively employed in halting the action through their strong vertical

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placement through each of the triptych’s images, where paradoxically, they slow the viewer’s perusal of the image as it proceeds through the triptych. This use of line in expressing dynamic action is perhaps the most essential device in the creation of high action and unity of composition in all three groupings. Line functions powerfully as vectors—carriers— of energy, sweeping the viewer’s eyes swiftly through the battle scenes, creating excitement within the viewer in the process. In the Assyrian works, the image is organized through the employment of registers, predominantly horizontally, but occasionally—as we see in The Lachish Reliefs—diagonally. These registers function as an alternative to the stacking of forms to represent spacial depth. The figurative action that is distributed along these strong linear registers is skillfully—arguably brilliantly—expressed in such a way that complementary linear effects, repetitive layering of form and “switch-back” compositional placements and groupings created through weaponry and positioning of the body limbs of animals and men direct the viewer’s eye rapidly through and between registers in a ricochet-like effect, a flitting of the eyes rapidly over the image field, which disrupts an inclination to linger significantly in any one location on the image field. Regarding the Assyrian works, it is of relevant interest to note here the renewed appreciation of the sophistication of these visual strategies, notably by Ulysse Dutoit and Leo Bersani in The Forms of Violence; Narrative in Assyrian and Modern Culture, and to further appreciate that these structurally complex compositions stretched for extended spaces over the walls and halls of the Assyrian palaces, maintaining through these expanses their compositional continuities. A similar effect is created in Yoshitoshi’s work—in more intimate scale—though here the rapidity of movement is concentrated primarily along a horizontal axis, most notably in The Fierce Battle at Daijuji, where a twisting latticework of red scabbards captures the viewer’s eye, where it is then re-directed rapidly throughout the image by vertical red banners and the white curved diagonals of warrior’s swords; this effect is replicated in The Great Battle of Yamazaki. In Shinpūren Rebellion, the strong vertical forms of the lances act as compositional skewers, and their effect is, as mentioned, one of momentary halt to the action. Yet through their purposeful intersection with the diagonal forms of banners, smoke billows and the sweeping forms of tree trunks and branches, the viewer’s eye is again hurled outward into the swirling interplay of form and color. A similar exploitation of linear rhythm is seen in Uccello’s work, though here, the use of repetitive verticality expressed through innumerable raised lances is met with the abrupt horizontal intersection of strategically placed lowered lances, which serve to continually redirect the eye of the viewer to the central figure celebrated in each of the three images. Yet in each of Uccello’s three works, this visual redirection towards the focal point is weakened by the intended distraction of the surrounding interplay of dynamic linear network of lances, horse trappings and field borders. Color is local and labeling in Uccello and Yoshitoshi. (This is also true of the Assyrian works; they were originally colored as was common in the ancient world. Though as we cannot be certain of either their exact color or color distribution

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http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/h/historypainting.html

across the image, we can only speculate that their placement would have been with the same purposeful compositional organization as evidenced by the treatment of the rest of the plastic means in the Assyrian works.) In Yoshitoshi’s work, as is intrinsic to woodblock printing, color is flat and generally high key. In Yoshitoshi’s battle scenes color the color red plays, unsurprisingly, a major role. Particularly in The Fierce Battle at Daijuji red heightens the energetic compositional structure, drawing the eye relentlessly throughout the battle scene, notably emphasizing the high tension created by the bisecting latticework of lances intersecting horizontally across the middle of the image. Alternating with the similar employment of white—which evokes the flash of lightening in the curvature of sword blades—this use of red is complemented by softly subordinate and complimentary shades of green and yellow which function much as softer tonal notes in a racing piece of music to provide brief, subtle and necessary pauses in the relentless swirl of motion. In The Great Battle of Yamazaki grouping of alternating linear bands of color in the soldier’s armor, wild striations of diagonal form and high key color represented by streamers and banners along the top third of the triptych, and again, the linear forms and contrasting color of the long swords whirl the viewer’s eye throughout the composition like a ship tossed among tumultuous waves at sea. In all three of Yoshitoshi’s works, dark colors of varying shades set off the high key chromatic activity mentioned above, dramatically and viscerally evoking the experience of the literal (or metaphoric) “night” of the battlefield. The color of Shinpūren Rebellion is more complex, with luminous bands and gradations of white, light blue, and pink simultaneously compressing spacial depth and assume the function of red in the first two works—that of propelling the eye across the image field. Here, notes of vibrant red and intense blue—frequently in alternating or integrated distribution with white areas—punctuate the image at rhythmic intervals and capturing the viewer’s eye in pockets of heightened visual vibration within the image plane, before releasing it to re-enter the swirling chromatic stream of blue, pink and whites. In the three scenes comprising The Battle of San Romano many of the chromatic devices employed by Yoshitoshi are in evidence with important exceptions. Here the usage of perspective and a restricted stacking of forms complicate the distribution of color throughout the image by disallowing a continuous decorative rhythm as see in Yoshitoshi’s works. Avoiding the plausible but speculative consideration of color in the Assyrian works, but nevertheless drawing a limited analogy between them with Yoshitoshi’s higher horizon line and generally vertical arrangement of figures—the exception here being Shinpūren Rebellion—Uccello’s employment of space radically differs. In all three of Uccello’s image, the action and grouping of the figures is set in a receding field experienced by the viewer at general eye level, beyond which the angle abruptly rises upwards veering off the picture plane, depriving the viewer of any discernable horizon line. While this does relate to both the Assyrian works and those of Yoshitoshi in the sense of evoking a paradoxical feeling of indeterminate yet claustrophobic space, in Uccello the perspectival distortion clearly evokes both a “felt” sense of spacial limitation and a descriptive knowledge of distant terrain, and thus, increases a sense of temporality in the image; the viewer sees a specific location at a specific time, and as this planar change occurs midway—essentially bisecting the picture plane—quite a bit of space, and implied importance, is clearly given to this physical and temporal field. (This effect is substantially mitigated by degree in The intervention of Micheletto Cotignola; through the depth of darkness of background and slight increase in scale of the figures.) In Uccello’s work, this differing organization of space—the use of perspective and its distortion to contain dimensional form—results in color that departs substantially from the decorative, and enters the descriptive. And with it comes a reduction of speed in the contained action of the image. Modeling is effected through light—not through color, and is dry and strongly illustrative. The expression of figurative action in both horses and men is highly stylized—and in this it bears relationship with the Assyrian works. While the use of vector lines as employed in both Assyrian and Yoshitoshi’s works are in play, in Uccello’s work their organization is strongly vertical, and thus—along with the reduction of visual speed resulting from the static quality of the modeled forms—creates a visual activity which is of a slower, more stately, pace. Indeed, in both these two traditions, motion is conveyed primarily through the uses of strongly linear devices,

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resulting in a certain gravitas and formality of effect; action is not intrinsically expressed in the bodies “committing” the action, but is “directed” through vector lines and forms discussed earlier in this paper. As mentioned, color in Uccello’s work is limited, local, and labeled, though it should be noted that the darkness in many passages of these works result from oxidation of applied silver, which, along with gold and the presence of limited though strategically placed primary colors subsumed in a dominant earth palette, much have greatly enhanced the decorative quality of the series, as well as increased the visual lability of the entire picture cycle, with the constant flickering of surfaces creating a sensually opulent experience of visual excitement—a glamour fundamentally at odds with the baleful realities of war.

LARGER IMAGES Of works discussed in this writing

Lion Hunt Scenes, Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh, Iraq, bas relief panel, limestone, length: NA,

c. 669-633 B.C. (British Museum, London):

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The Lachish Reliefs show the Assyrian army laying siege to Lachish, near Jerusalem. They were mounted at the palace of Assyrian king Sennacherib in Nineveh.

Bas Relief showing an Assyrian King's campaign against the Kedarite Arabs Assyrian Stone Relief Depicting Battle Scene. Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions, ca. 650 B.C. — Palace of Ashurbanipal at Ninevah.

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The Battle of San Romano Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano (probably c. 1438–1440), egg tempera with walnut oil and linseed oil on poplar, 182 ×

320 cm

The Battle of San Romano, c. 1438–1440. Egg tempera with walnut oil and linseed oil on poplar. 181.6 x 320 cm. Uffizi.

Bernardino della Ciarda Thrown Off His Horse / Paolo Uccello

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The intervention of Micheletto Cotignola - Paolo Uccello. Artist: Paolo Uccello. Completion Date: 1438. Style: Early Renaissance Micheletto da Cotignola Engages in Battle 1450s / Paolo Uccello

The Fierce Battle at Daijuji, 1873 by Yoshitoshi (1839 - 1892).

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The Great Battle of Yamazaki, 1865

Shinpūren Rebellion - Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Completion Date: 1876.

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Photo showing the reconstruction of the placement of the Assyrian bas-reliefs within the British Museum.