The "Problem" in the Ecology of Images

Summary

In The Shape of Time (1962) George Kubler suggested that formal change results from a chain of solutions to problems that alter as the solutions accumulate. While this concept has been influential in studies on formal change, his notion of “problem” remains underdeveloped. This paper takes Kubler’s formulation of “problem” as a starting point for abducing meaning in works for which texts are lacking. By attending to the “problem” as the locus of dynamic change and the link to other social regimes, the paper utilizes the advantage that duration affords to propose that a series of questions about objects emerges that is not, or not wholly, reliant on texts or ethnographic analogies. This has the effect of expanding art history into the territory of anthropology, as structural processes gain greater significance than the history of specific iterations or iconographic content. Formative period Maya stucco masks, cache vessels, and effigy censers of the Classic period exemplify how changing solutions reveal conceptual “problems” that provide access to meaning and the role of the image. The goal is to better understand the networks among people and images—what might be called the ecology of images.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Understanding Visual Culture Without Textual Sources: What Are the Possibilities for Analysis?

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