The Theatrical Language of Asam Architecture: A Rhetorical and Emblematic Examination of Asamkirche

In my search to find reasons for cultural aloofness and art only being appreciated visually, I found theories, which suggest that throughout cultural associations these lost meanings can be recovered. This masters thesis explores the church of Saint Johann Nepomuk (Asamkirche, 1733-46) as created by Egid and Cosmas Asam as a product of its contemporary culture, which is dominated by theatricality. The theories of emblem studies and rhetoric in art provide a basis for this analysis as paralleled by literature and theatre studies, in the form of two texts, which relate theatre to the eighteenth century art. Through a historical presentation on the artists and the building, followed by a descriptive overview of the space and the culture in which it developed, and ending in an application of emblem studies and rhetoric: a theatrical language. The essay concludes that Asamkirche is a theatrical space where meaning can be found through interdisciplinary comparisons. Even though culture...Show moreIn my search to find reasons for cultural aloofness and art only being appreciated visually, I found theories, which suggest that throughout cultural associations these lost meanings can be recovered. This masters thesis explores the church of Saint Johann Nepomuk (Asamkirche, 1733-46) as created by Egid and Cosmas Asam as a product of its contemporary culture, which is dominated by theatricality. The theories of emblem studies and rhetoric in art provide a basis for this analysis as paralleled by literature and theatre studies, in the form of two texts, which relate theatre to the eighteenth century art. Through a historical presentation on the artists and the building, followed by a descriptive overview of the space and the culture in which it developed, and ending in an application of emblem studies and rhetoric: a theatrical language. The essay concludes that Asamkirche is a theatrical space where meaning can be found through interdisciplinary comparisons. Even though culture has changed there are ways back through relics such as, literature, documents and other art works to understand not just the iconography of art but the cultural rhetoric of art. It is my hope that more interdisciplinary exchange, especially between the literature studies and art history disciplines, can derive more meaning from art and architecture in the future. Asamkirche is rhetorical, and emblematic not simply iconographic, there is a complicated language of theatre that exists a long side of the simplistic reading.Show less

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The Theatrical Language of Asam Architecture: A Rhetorical and Emblematic Examination of Asamkirche