In search of Expressiveness: exploring the notion within the realms of literature and theatre in the 18th-19th century. Interdisciplinary Workshop

The workshop deals with the concept of expressiveness, with the objective of elucidating its evolution, transformation, and polysemy. The notion of expression stands as a pivotal concept in art history, generally implying the creation of a vivid emotionally charged visual image conveying an underlying idea to the viewer. The workshop endeavours to explore how this mechanism operated in other domains of art, notably in literature and theatre. Research in the realm of art history has unveiled a direct correlation between the notions of expression and expressiveness from one side and the concept of sensitivity along with the increasing interest in individual emotional experiences from the other. The latter were deeply intertwined in both the creative process and the reception of artworks. This finding, coupled with the workshop's format, encourages to set the temporal boundaries and narrows the focus of interest predominantly to the period of the 18th – first half of 19th century.

In 1668, at the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, the renowned French artist and art theorist Charles Le Brun delivered his seminal lecture ‘On General and Particular Expression of Passions’. Building upon ideas previously articulated by René Descartes and Cureau de la Chambre, Le Brun posited the inseparable correlation between the movements of the soul and corporeal reactions. He employed the term “les expressions” to denote external manifestations, primarily mimetic, of emotions and sensuous experiences, serving as distinctive emblems of passions (Kirchner, 1991; Montegu, 1994). Le Brun's conceptualisation subsequently permeated Denis Diderot and Jean-Baptiste Le Rond d'Alembert “Encyclopédie”, where the article on expressions provided a range of definitions, contingent upon their application across various domains: literature, opera, painting, algebra, and pharmaceutical chemistry (Encyclopédie, Vol. 6, 1751).

Albeit within articles concerning the eld of art, expressions continue to embody the etymologically entrenched function of exposition — representing ideas through the creation of a persuasive image and transforming the hidden into the explicit, — the term's ambiguity manifests itself. Already in Le Brun's lecture, the understanding of expressions oscillated between their interpretation as significant pathognomonic changes and a more abstract notion of the overarching essence of a flawless artwork, something that tautologically bestows upon it expressiveness. Notably, this ambiguity persisted throughout the subsequent reception and integration of the term.

A thorough exploration of the concept of expressiveness in visual art necessitates an interdisciplinary approach. The ostensibly direct derivation from “expressions” to “expressiveness” is complicated with secondary nuances of semantics, both inherently embedded and acquired through diachronic utilisation of the term. The integration of external contexts, particularly those from theatre and literature, engenders a twofold outcome: firstly, it facilitates comprehension of the operational mechanism of the focal concept across diverse artistic domains, and secondly, deploying a comparative examination of various conceptualisations of expressiveness, it aims to withdraw common trends and principles underlying them. The selection of these contexts is not only motivated by their shared artistic intention to craft lucid and visible/readable images, and by specfic instances of the reception of Le Brun' s lecture (Mur, 2016; Percival, 1999; Cottegnies, 2002), but also by their common relation to ideas of classical rhetoric, characterised by both expressive gestures and eloquent tropes.

Topics can include, but are not limited to

• Expressiveness in the focus of aesthetic theories
• The concept of expressiveness in theatre and literature
• Methods of creating expressiveness in theatre and literature
• Representation of emotions as one of the means of expressiveness
• Creation and reception of expressiveness

Working language of the workshop will be English.

Contact Information

The workshop will be held in person only at Freie Universität Berlin, February 7th 2025. Participation in the workshop is free (no registration fee). Freie Universität covers the costs of transport and accommodation expenses for the duration of the workshop.

• title
• abstract 250-300 words (all presentations at the workshop are limited to 20 min.)
• institutional affiliation (if any)

Daria Speshneva, Freie Universität, Berlin

Marina Sivak, Freie Universität, Berlin