Papers by Ivonka Ciepielak
Er is heel veel over de kunst geschreven. En steeds meer, over de invloeden, boodschappen, kunste... more Er is heel veel over de kunst geschreven. En steeds meer, over de invloeden, boodschappen, kunstenaars en hun inspiratie, de prijzen, de kunstmarkt, verzamelaars en collecties. Tot ver in de 20 e eeuw is vrijwel elke object uit de canon van de westerse kunst beschreven en geanalyseerd volgens de romantische dichotomie "mooi/lelijk," requiescat in pace, Immanuel Kant! De stijl, ornamentiek en esthetiek veranderde: gotiek in de renaissance, die weer in barok, barok in rococo en zo voort tot de postmodernisme van de tweede helft twintigste eeuw oordeelde dat niets meer mooi of lelijk is en andere criteria zijn gaan gelden. Wat echter meestal in de kunstbeschouwingen is weggelaten en wat ons meest verbind met verleden is de populaire-kunst: wandkleedjes, kleine beeldjes, bid-of lachplaatjes, goedkope kleine sieraden, hangertjes en speldjes, die zowel in de middeleeuwen als nu massaal zijn verkocht, toen op de jaarmarkten en nu in warenhuizen en souvenirwinkeltjes. De goedkoopste sieraden van de Middeleeuwen waren gemaakt van de loodtinnen legering. Ze bestonden in ruwweg twee smaken: de christelijk-religieuze en de profane. Van de eerste zijn vooral de pelgrim-insignes bekend, souvenirs uit de bekende en minder bekende pelgrimsoorden. De religieuze zijn zelfverklarend, in de profane schuilen de allang vergeten gewoontes, legendes, gezegden, kluchten, gebruiken en symbolen die ooit een belangrijke rol in de specifieke culturele omgeving speelden, maar die ons tegenwoordig ons weinig meer zeggen. Historici spreken dan van de doodlopende straten van de geschiedenis. 1 De seksuelespeldjes, vooral die in de 1
The lead-tin badges with a sexual image were popular on the territories of Flanders and Zeeland r... more The lead-tin badges with a sexual image were popular on the territories of Flanders and Zeeland roughly between 1250-1500, after that, their popularity ceased. Some sexual images can be traced to popular stories and plays, in particular fabliaus, but the meaning and function of badges depicting genitals, especially female variation, are still obscure. In this paper I analyze the latest theories and come with my own, that the vulva-badges, found only in one area of the islands in Zeeland, could be traced back to the reign of the Danish pirates, the Vikings, on the island of Walcheren.
Paper is in Dutch, as it was MA thesis for the University of Amsterdam (UvA) but it can be translated into English.
Divine Siblings?, 2018
Being originally Polish and living in Western Europe for a long time made me realize how little d... more Being originally Polish and living in Western Europe for a long time made me realize how little do I know about pre-Christian Slavic mythology, that is beyond the folk- and fairy tales. The direct inducement was growing influence of the catholic Church in Poland in recent years and with it a role the Virgin Mary, especially the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, plays in Polish everyday life. It is my opinion, that this role cannot be satisfactory explained by a prominent presence of the Catholic Church in modern Poland. So my question would be: is Polish veneration of the Virgin Mary represented by the Black Madonna of Czestochowa a result of intended interference of the Roman Catholic Church or of a syncretism with a strong pagan female cult persevering in the countryside? And how close is she to another strong Slavic feminine presence, the Baba Yaga of the Russian fairy tales.
Thesis Chapters by Ivonka Ciepielak
Seksuele speldjes uit de late Middeleeuwen. Het raadsel van de oorsprong, betekenis en functie van de genitale-spelden, 2018
(English) Sexual pins from the late Middle Ages The riddle of function, origin and meaning of the... more (English) Sexual pins from the late Middle Ages The riddle of function, origin and meaning of the genital lead-tin pins The cheapest jewels of the Middle Ages were made of lead-tin alloy. They existed in roughly two flavors: Christian and profane. The religious are self-explanatory, the profane are hiding symbols and stories, often quite scabrous that once played an important role in lives of the people, now long-forgotten, the dead-end streets of history. The production of the lead-tin insignia and jewelry was gigantic in Western Europe, but only 310 sexual pins, of which only 28 in form of a vulva, were found and almost exclusively in Zeeland and Flanders. In case of genital badges in particular, both the origin and the meaning are unknown. Debate around them reminds of the one around explicit stone figures on the walls of medieval Western Europe known as Sheela-na-Gigs. The paper, a master thesis, will try to answer some of the questions: the usual "what, where, when" as well as to which cultural tradition the genital-pins belong and, now experienced mainly as obscene, were they then meant as such? How do they relate to other cheap lead pewter jewelry? And above all, why do they predominantly occur in medieval Zeeland? After 1500 they were no longer produced.
Uploads
Papers by Ivonka Ciepielak
Paper is in Dutch, as it was MA thesis for the University of Amsterdam (UvA) but it can be translated into English.
Thesis Chapters by Ivonka Ciepielak
Paper is in Dutch, as it was MA thesis for the University of Amsterdam (UvA) but it can be translated into English.