Published: 2024-12-20

Imaging of disability and atypical features – introductory remarks

Jakub Pokora
Artifex Novus
Section: In memoriam
https://doi.org/10.21697/an.14436

Abstract

The article discusses a large group of portraits depicting people with various disabilities or multiple exceptionalities. The works of art analysed come from a wide period: from the Renaissance to the most recent times. They include works by Polish artists as well as artists from other European countries: Italy, Great Britain, France or Germany. The author has considered objects made in various techniques. Vast majority are paintings, although numerous engravings, sculptures (mainly tombstones) and photographs are also included. The extensive collection of portraits is shown in the context of literary accounts from the period, allowing us to look at many of them 'through the eyes of contemporaries'. The author noted that in the past, all kinds of disabilities and atypical features were treated in two ways. On the one hand, they were regarded as natural characteristics of the human body, accepting the status quo. On the other hand, especially in affluent circles, there was a tendency to conceal such features mainly by means of appropriate clothing. The author's considerations therefore concern an attempt to find an answer to the question of whether both of those approaches to appearance were reflected in art. The question is all the more pertinent hence, as it is widely known, art has always had the ability to present models in accordance with their, or artists’, requirements, at the artist's request idealizing, disfiguring or depicting the figure quite matter-of-factly. Jakub Pokora's article introduces the reader to this extremely interesting issue and simultaneously constitutes an important art-historical contribution to a comprehensive study of the phenomenon, unprecedented in the literature so far.

Keywords:

portrait, disability in art, illness in art, war invalids, idealisation, naturalism, beauty, ugliness

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Citation rules

Pokora, J. (2024). Imaging of disability and atypical features – introductory remarks. Artifex Novus, (8), 206–243. https://doi.org/10.21697/an.14436

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