Danse Macabre: Temporalities of Law in the Visual Arts

310 Pages·2019·8.906 MB·English

by  Desmond Manderson

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Danse Macabre
Temporalities of Law
in the Visual Arts
Desmond Manderson

danse macabre
The visual arts offer refreshing and novel resources through which to understand the
representation,power,ideology,andcritiqueoflaw.Thisvibrantlyinterdisciplinarybook
bringstheburgeoningfieldtoanewmaturitythroughextendedclosereadingsofmajor
works by artists from Pieter Bruegel and Gustav Klimt to Gordon Bennett and Rafael
Cauduro.Ateachpoint,theauthorputstheseworksofartintoacomplexdancewith
legalandsocialhistory,andwithrecentdevelopmentsinlegalandarttheory.Manderson
usestheideaoftimeandtemporalityasafocalpointthroughwhichtoexplorehowthe
work of art engages with and constitutes law and human lives. In the symmetries and
asymmetriescausedbythevibratingharmonicresonancesofthesetripleforces–time,
law,art–liesawayofnotonlyunderstandingtheworld,butalsotransformingit.
Desmond Manderson is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Fellow of the
AustralianAcademyofLaw,ProfessorintheANUCollegeofLawandtheANUCollege
of Arts and Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He is the author of
several booksincludingSongs withoutMusic(2000),KangarooCourtsandtheRuleof
Law(2012),andLawandtheVisual:Representations,TechnologiesandCritique(2018).

Danse Macabre
temporalities of law in the visual arts
DESMOND MANDERSON
AustralianNationalUniversity
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CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107158665
doi:10.1017/9781316665985
©DesmondManderson2019
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2019
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd.PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
names:Manderson,Desmond,author.
title:Dansemacabre:temporalitiesoflawinthevisualarts/DesmondManderson,
AustralianNationalUniversity.
description:NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2018.|Includesbibliographical
referencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2018041013|isbn9781107158665
subjects:lcsh:Lawinart.|Lawandart.|Timeinart.|Timeandart.|
Time(Law)–Socialaspects.
classification:lccn8219.l3m362018|ddc344/.097–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018041013
isbn978-1-107-15866-5Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
ToLaurenceGraceAdcockMandersonandtoJackie
‘Images,notstories,aretheruinsofhistory’
WalterBenjamin
Contents
ListofPlates pageviii
ListofIllustrations x
Acknowledgements xv
Foreword 1
1 Bruegel’sJustice:AnachronicTime 20
2 Reynolds’sJustice,Blackstone’sLaws:DiachronicTime 50
3 GovernorArthur’sProclamation:UtopianTime 82
4 Turner’sSlaveShip:NowTime 105
5 Klimt’sJurisprudence:SuspendedTime 126
6 Bennett’sLaws:ColonialTime 157
7 Cauduro’sCrimes:GhostlyTime 195
Afterword 239
Bibliography 246
Index 277
Thecolourplatesectioncanbefoundbetweenpp.142and143.
vii
Plates
Cover: Gordon Bennett, Valley of the Ghost Gums (detail of right panel)
1989. Mixed media on hardboard, 40 cm × 122 cm, State Art Collection, Art
Gallery of Western Australia. (Image courtesy of Art Gallery of Western Australia
and © Estate of Gordon Bennett)
1.1 PieterBruegeltheElder,Justicia,engravedbyPhilipsGalle,inHieronymous
Cock,TheVirtues,1560.Engraving,26cm×33.5cm,MetropolitanMuseum
ofArt,NewYork.(ImagecourtesyofHarrisBrisbaneDickFund,1928and
MetropolitanMuseumofArt)
4.1 J.M.W.Turner,TheSlaveShip(SlaversThrowingOverboardtheDeadand
Dying–TyphoonComingOn),1840.Oiloncanvas,90.8cm×122.6cm,
MuseumofFineArts,Boston.(Photograph©2018;MuseumofFineArts,
Boston)
2.1 JoshuaReynolds,Justice,1777.Oiloncanvas,223.5cm×83.8cm,Somerley
Estate,Hampshire.(ImagecourtesyLordNormanton;photocredit
©SomerleyEstate)
3.1 GovernorArthur’sProclamationtotheAboriginalPeople,c.1830.OilonHuon
pineboard,35.5cm×22.6cm,StateLibraryofNSW,Sydney.(Courtesyof
MitchellLibrary,StateLibraryofNSW)
5.1 GustavKlimt,Jurisprudenz,1903–7.Oiloncanvas,430cm×300cm,
LeopoldMuseum,Vienna.(©FotografieArchivLeopoldMuseum,Wien)
6.1 GordonBennett,PossessionIsland,1991.Oilandsyntheticpolymerpainton
canvas,162cm×260cm.(Collection:MuseumofSydneyonthesiteoffirst
GovernmentHouse,HistoricHousesTrustofNewSouthWales,Sydney;
©EstateofGordonBennett)
6.9 JacksonPollock,BluePoles,1952.Oil,enamel,aluminiumpaint,glasson
canvas,212.1cm×488.9cm,NationalGalleryofAustralia,Canberra.
(CourtesyofNationalGalleryofAustralia;©Pollock–KrasnerFoundation/
ARS,licensedbyViscopy,2017)
viii