Persistence of the Indicative Paradigm in Gesture Between Scientific and Artistic Images

Abstract

This text is based on the notions of Nachleben and Pathosformel, proposed by Aby Warburg, and on the experience of observing the Atlas Mnemosyne, an instrument that shows how topics, ready to be unfolded, enrich the possibilities of its understanding by the historical recollection of the observer, who uses the circulation of images for knowledge transmission. Such reflection is developed from the study of gestures (Pathosformeln), as these are analyzed in Warburgian studies. In addition, the idea of ​​a fragmented body stands out, whose representations are linked to the evidential paradigm (Carlo Ginzburg) and the themes of death and violence. On this purpose, the paper evokes ideas of Alphonse Bertillon and Giovanni Morelli, as well as artists such as Andrea Mantegna, Rembrandt, Auguste Rodin, Adolf Menzel and Marcel Duchamp, in order to think about a possible imagery route, in which the representation of violence and scientism intersect, transforming the imagination through the history of Western art.