| Mona Lisa Images for a Modern World - 11 |
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| In the above survey, which by no means
comes close to being complete or even fairly
representative of the uses to which the Mona Lisa has
been put, it is clear that the image serves as a kind of
mirror against which is reflected our own concerns and
our own values. Such a use should not be shocking because
we have come to expect the arts to serve this function in
our society. What is surprising, however, is the fact
that these concerns sometimes focus upon a single image
(or upon a few images) of great renown. Why, we must ask,
has Leonardo's Mona Lisa been nominated for this kind of
acclaim? I'll take a guess: In the transition to a modern
style, a transition which has overthrown the importance
of inherited iconographies and has replaced them with
intangible styles -- abstract styles where form is the content -- and perpetually newly invented forms as
conveyors of meaning, by some law of requisite symmetry,
there developed a need to re-impose the use of
conventional or traditional subjects to carry
significance. Today artists could no longer hark back to
simpler and nostalgic iconographies of parochial
religions and literary themes -- as the Pre Raphaelites
did. When these theme arise, they are used self-consciously,
self-referentially, ironically or for social purposes. Religious images
of pious intent unavailable, artists searched for an iconography with
which they could use or adapt universal images that could
convey secular mysteries, transmit human values and that
could carry with it traditions of quality and transubstantial meanings. In the past when the Virgin
Mary and Christ Child could be used to mirror any age,
now, in a universal, trans-national multi-cultural arena,
the old subjects could not be used. Leonardo's Mona Lisa,
instead, is ready and able to carry its significance
across national and ethnic and religious boarders (many,
anyway). It, therefore, has been turned into a "matrix"
onto which the stylistic and narrative and cultural
phenomena of our age can be affixed for others to
understand. One might even say that the Mona Lisa has become the Mother
of Images and in certain ways has replaced images of the Virgin Mary as
worthy of worship. The audiences for these works represent elements from cultural and intellectual threads that reach across modern society. Foremost among these may be the newly emerging intelligentsia, educated consumers especially sensitive to cultural symbols and the products of mass communication. Few people are immune to the pleasures (even the low pleasures) of the mass media, so the mona-maniacal urge can easily work its way into those intellectual communities that prefer to take their arts seriously as well into those for whom parody, humor, cynicism and safe cultural revolution are better suited. Further, there are personal and psychological dimensions to be considered. The psychology of possessing such tokens must invoke our need to remain in touch with the central myths upon which we, as humans, build our universe of values and meanings. Any investigation of popular mythology should consider our penchant for establishing close personal links by collecting autographs and memorabilia of famous sports, arts and political personages, and should certainly weigh our desire to create and worship celebrity for its own sake, including dressing in the clothing of celebrity. In an age of mass media, tokens of direct contact are becoming increasingly important. Our use of the Mona Lisa, I suggest, conjures up feelings of nostalgia for a time we define as the origin of the Modern World, when we can imagine we see expressed the mysteries of human emotion and of human presence elaborated solely on their own terms, and when we can pretend to see humanity measured against the fantasy of our own unbending scale. By bringing Mona into our own age, by making her comfortable in our clothes and leading her through the rituals of modern life, we are threading our daily existence into the past just as we are drawing the past into the present. We are invoking the magic of the Kunstkammer where possessing the object is tantamount to possessing its spirit. This "ur-urge" is not that far from Voodoo. Seizing the past and its images for our own use may have dual purposes, for while it facilitates our selection of icons that identify our myths of personal origin, it also acts on a virtual level to open the doors to social and intellectual upward mobility, and to provide the pedigree we need to prove our importance and to show our spiritual lineage to anyone who may doubt it -- namely to ourselves. All of this acts on the level of fiction -- that specific kind of fiction, which, through metaphor, speaks the unspeakable, asserts the impossible, but lays the foundation of myth upon which we must rely in order to survive, if not to progress. If you are a collector, as you look upon these images, you may wish to consider the substance and significances of your own collections. By collecting monalisiana should we ask what are we trying to possess? What effect does the multiplication of Monas have on our understanding and status of the original? What roles do surrogate images (such as those presented here) play in defining popular culture? How do the goals of popular culture compare with those of "high" culture? Top | Go to Next Section | Go to List of Images | Go to Images |