Le profil mort de notre imperfection (Death and the mask of imperfection)

""From the German Romantics to Roland Barthes, the capacity to
perceive the soul has always been considered to exist in
function of the shadows that constitute the body. If
photography, the art of light, can only capture the soulless
faces of the living, what meaning can there be in photographing
the dead? Some thoughts on the death mask from the basis of the
analysis of a number of photographic portraits (Mapplethorpe,
Roy Adzak, Rudolph Schäfer, Appelt, Arnulf Rainer, Boltanski)
selected because of the way in which they address the moment at
which life and death are at their closest.'' The author's
conclusion is that photography is not deadly in itself but
rather sensitive to death. (Author's Summary).


Citaten:
Barthes, R.: La chambre claire (1980)
Bazin, A.: Ontologie des fotografischen Bildes (1975)
Hegel, G.W.F.: Esthétique (tr.1979)
Lessing, G.E.: Comment les Anciens représentaient la mort (1769)
Adzak, R.: My Art Work With Dehydration and ... (Leonardo, XI, 1978)
Leiris, M.: Fourbis (1977)
Tournier, M.: Morts et Résurrections de Dieter Appelt (1981)
Rilke, R.M.: Les cahiers de Malte Laurids Brigge (tr.1947)
Junichirô, T.: Eloge de l'ombre (1986)
Levinas, E.: Totalité et Infini (1990)