COLLECTION NAME:
Graduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
A Dark Ecstasy: Caravaggio and The Inverted Baroque Image
Creator:
Barber, Stephen Brock
Subject:
Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Animation
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Animation
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"The beginning of the 17th century saw the arrival of Baroque painting, a style
which used naturalism and illusionistic techniques to create imagery that was
unprecedented in its lifelike qualities. The Catholic Counter Reformation movement
adopted and employed this style as a polemical tool, using it to suggest that they quite
literally had access to heaven within their cathedrals. Michaelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio is the best remembered of these painters and, though he employs all the
techniques of the Baroque movement, a closer analysis of his style reveals that he in
fact implemented these techniques in a unique and often contrary manner to that of his
contemporaries. This thesis analyzes the elements of Caravaggio’s ‘inverted Baroque
image’ and argues that the theological implications therein serve to combat the Counter
Reformation in which Caravaggio was himself situated. Using this conclusion, this thesis
explores modern day examples of Caravaggio’s techniques being employed both in
animation and live action. Finally, this thesis discusses how the reproduction of
Caravaggio’s inverted Baroque style using specific fabrication and lighting techniques
can serve similar thematic ends in a stop-motion animation production."
which used naturalism and illusionistic techniques to create imagery that was
unprecedented in its lifelike qualities. The Catholic Counter Reformation movement
adopted and employed this style as a polemical tool, using it to suggest that they quite
literally had access to heaven within their cathedrals. Michaelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio is the best remembered of these painters and, though he employs all the
techniques of the Baroque movement, a closer analysis of his style reveals that he in
fact implemented these techniques in a unique and often contrary manner to that of his
contemporaries. This thesis analyzes the elements of Caravaggio’s ‘inverted Baroque
image’ and argues that the theological implications therein serve to combat the Counter
Reformation in which Caravaggio was himself situated. Using this conclusion, this thesis
explores modern day examples of Caravaggio’s techniques being employed both in
animation and live action. Finally, this thesis discusses how the reproduction of
Caravaggio’s inverted Baroque style using specific fabrication and lighting techniques
can serve similar thematic ends in a stop-motion animation production."
Abstract:
Keywords: Caravaggio, baroque, chiaroscuro, tenebrism, illusionism, animation, stop-motion
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2017-03
Format:
PDF : 50 pages, color illustrations