Between Image and Moving Image: Representations of Pompeii in Illustrated Books and Silent Films of 19th and Early 20th Century

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Tezin Türü: Doktora

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Mimarlık Fakültesi, Mimarlık Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2020

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: Aylin Atacan

Danışman: Lale Özgenel

Özet:

This dissertation aims to illustrate and examine the depiction of ancient Pompeii as ‘space,’ ‘image’, and ‘moving image’. A significant novelty introduced in the contemporary literature on Pompeii is the importance given to ‘(re)presentation’ as a way of visualization, rather than as a way of documentation. The corpus of the visual narrative of Pompeii does not illustrate or animate ‘ruins’; it is a composed ‘architectural mise en abyme’ created through representations of ‘stage in a stage’ and ‘frame in a frame’. The main argument relies on a critical reading about the type, content, and nature of Pompeii’s early representations. These visual productions form a significant part of its early architectural historiography. The thesis aims to contribute in several ways to the scholarship. First, it aims to introduce and critically address illustrated books as visual sources for architectural interpretation. A second contribution of the study lies in integrating the medium of cinema into its discussion framework. A third contribution is that the thesis sets an example to make a rewarding use of archaeological material in an architectural history framework. The thesis, layer by layer, uncovers the ‘archaeology of Pompeian visuality’.