When looking from the present to the past, narrative in visual arts stands out as quite prominent. Examining the history of this narrative, from some of the earliest examples like the Chauvet Cave in France to the Fayum Portraits of Egypt and religious paintings in churches, up to the present day, we see that "narrative" is a broad phenomenon in visual arts that addresses religious, mythological, historical, literary, or allegorical themes. Narrative, or storytelling, continues to be present in both modern and contemporary art.
I would like to begin by discussing how the concept of narrative has been used in visual arts throughout history. Historically, narrative has been studied under two categories: single-frame narrative and multi-frame narrative. One of the earliest examples of single-frame narrative is the "Linton Panel." This painting on stone, thought to have been created between 25,000 and 27,000 BCE, is believed to depict a shamanic ritual. Another example can be seen in the monochromatic works on ancient Greek vases, where an entire epic is depicted within a single frame. The flow of time is unified; it contains a single event and the figures within it.
The second type of narrative is multi-frame narrative. In this type of narrative, there is no cause-and-effect relationship between the scenes depicted within each frame. In fact, they may not even exist within the same spatial setting. The same character may be depicted across multiple frames. This feature is quite similar to the concept of storyboards used today. Examples include "The Twelve Labors of Heracles" (470 BCE) or Giotto’s work depicting the Death and Resurrection of Christ in the Arena Chapel in Padua.
Continuing with historical uses, the application of narrative in art declined with the advent of modern art. At that time, narrative was often perceived as inauthentic. We can say that the pursuit of pure aesthetics pushed narrative to the background. An example of the work produced during this period is Pablo Picasso's painting Guernica.
In contemporary art, narrative, in a form inherited from postmodernity, continues to be used as an allegory. I refer to it as allegory because characters or events within the narrative symbolically reference or represent something else. This can be a complex situation, as "meaning" in postmodernism is considered a nostalgic and naive concept—a notion from humanity’s earlier, unrefined eras that has since been abandoned. Postmodernism posits that all meanings and realities are constructed. Thus, the image no longer maintains a direct connection to its original source; instead, it points to different meanings based solely on references.
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