Too Beautiful
to Picture: Zeuxis, Myth, and Mimesis
by Elizabeth C. Mansfield
University Of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis,
MN, 2007
240 pp.; illus. Trade, $75; paper $25
ISBN: 0-8166-4748-4; ISBN: 0-8166-4749-1.
Reviewed by Amy Ione
The Diatrope Institute
1312 Curtin St
State College PA 16803
ione@diatrope.com
First reported in Ciceros Rhetoric
and Plinys Natural History,
the story of Zeuxis portrayal of
Helen of Troy is a compelling one. According
to tradition, the Greek artist was commissioned
to paint an image of this legendary beauty.
Realizing that none of the models he summoned
fully possessed the physical beauty attributed
to Helen, he combined the best features
of five different women into a composite
image. Elizabeth C. Mansfields Too
Beautiful to Picture: Zeuxis, Myth, and
Mimesis catalogues the many responses
to the Zeuxis myth we can identify in
the visual arts, literature, performance,
digital arts, and history. In other words,
she does not ask whether the Greek artist
Zeuxis actually lived during the fourth
century BCE, which is a question others
have posed. Instead, she assesses the
extent to which the Zeuxis Selecting Models
legend can be deciphered, the nature of
its mythic structure, and its significance
for the history of Western Art.
Overall, the book turns on the premise
that the Zeuxis Selecting Models legend
records and perpetuates a persistent cultural
anxiety about the historical approach
to visual representation. As Mansfield
explains, mimesis, in its full classical
sense, meant first copying forms observed
in nature and then generalizing or perfecting
these forms to achieve a kind of ideal.
This differs from the idea of direct imitation
commonly associated with "mimesis" in
our contemporary environment. Moreover,
as she details in one of the most extraordinary
aspects of her study, Zeuxian (or classical)
mimesis has alternately been rejected
and embraced since antiquity. Classical
mimesis, which is evident in ancient aesthetics
as recorded by Xenophon, Plato, and Aristotle,
lost most if its currency in the Middle
Ages as imitation and representation were
given lower priority. Renaissance artists
and authors reclaimed the idea, and it
has remained a prevalent theory of representation
to this day.
Mansfields argument hinges on two
major assertions. Firstly, she declares
that Zeuxis Selecting Models functions
mythically and, in doing so, transmits
ideology. By this she means that the legend
retains traces of a cultural unconscious
that makes its presence felt by triggering
an uncanny sensation when we are confronted
by it. Secondly, the experience elicited
by Zeuxis Selecting Models is a symptom
of the ontological impasse posed by classical
mimesis itself as it served as a vehicle
for social and metaphysical solace. Mansfields
perspective is insightful. Indeed, Mansfields
analysis of how the Zeuxis myth influenced
Western art theories about representation
as they were formed and engaged is a position
I hope art historians and visual culture
theorists will integrate into their research
as they re-evaluate the relationship between
representation, nature, and how artists
re-create/comment upon the world we see.
Part I begins the analysis of the Zeuxis
narrative. Here Mansfield discusses how
the relevance of myths and legends about
artistic creation, often used for the
study of visual culture, underlie much
of her thinking. She points out that art
historians have generally turned their
attention to legends when they function
as subjects or works of art but tend to
give less attention to myths allied with
aesthetic theory. Through well-research
analyses of sources that range from Cicero
and Pliny to Alberti, Vasari, and academics
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
the author exposes numerous interpretations
of Zeuxis Selecting Models theories. In
addition, the author walks us through
the historical thinking in detailed case
studies that are expanded in copious footnotes.
The well-done case studies are nicely
integrated with one another. To the authors
credit, each time she compares an example
to another in one portion of the book,
she includes a notation that directs the
reader to the section of the book with
the additional analysis. The footnotes
add immensely to the main text and are
highly recommended.
The second part of the book proceeds from
the question: Why are there so few post-Renaissance
depictions of the Zeuxis Selecting Models
story culturally? Packed with detail,
all of the examples manage to be dense
with information and quite readable nonetheless.
I preferred this half of the book, although
my reaction is probably as much a product
of taste as anything else. The chapters
in this part offer specific and fascinating
examples to support her argument. For
example, Mansfield explains that ambivalence
toward the Zeuxis Selecting Models idea
evaporates in seventeenth century aesthetic
discourse, when the Zeuxis story assumed
leading role in theoretical treatises
and histories of painting. This re-positioning
coincided with the rise of the academy.
In the French Academy, as is well known,
rigorous training was codified in drawing,
anatomy, perspective and the liberal arts.
The Academy model soon spread throughout
Europe, and with it the disdain for commerce
in favor of loftier aesthetic and intellectual
ideals.
Stunningly well done is Mansfields
remarkable examination of Angelica Kauffmans
late eighteenth century paintings and
Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Briefly,
the author claims that both women offer
a critique of the themes characterization
of creative relationship in terms of man-as-creator/woman-as-created
to reveal that the misogyny promulgated
by academic references to Zeuxis is a
symptom of a larger issue. Another chapter
includes an enthralling discussion on
whether the cubistic depiction of the
women in Picassos Les Demoiselles
DAvignon is his attempt to confront
the myth. There is also a chapter examining
the response of a performance artist,
Orlan, to the myth. Orlan has used plastic
surgery to remake her body as an enactment
of the myth. Each of her five operations
was designed to alter a specific feature
of her face. The "map" for these alterations
is generated for her surgeons using computer-generated
images. The features Orlan selected include
the nose from a School of Fontainebleau
sculpture of Diana (artist unknown), the
mouth of Boucher's Europa, the forehead
of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, the chin of Botticelli's
Venus and the eyes of Gerome's Psyche.
In summary, Elizabeth C. Mansfield, an
associate professor of art history at
the University of the South, offers a
primer on mimesis in art making. She proposes
that the Zeuxis myth illustrates ambivalence
about the ability to rely on nature as
a model for ideal form. In making her
case, Mansfield engages the visual arts,
literature, and performance to examine
the desire to make the ideal visible.
Speaking in "gendered" terms, Mansfield
considers the many depictions of the legend
during the Renaissance, questions its
absence during the eighteenth century,
and offers thoughtful case study interpretations
(e.g., Angelica Kauffmans
paintings, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein,
Picassos Les Demoiselles dAvignon,
and Orlans performance art), to
identify several profound retellings of
the myth. Too Beautiful to Picture
is a compelling book, and an important
contribution to art history, gender studies,
aesthetic theory, and visual culture.
Although I found myself questioning some
of her conclusions, the writing was so
engrossing that I enjoyed the dialogue
the authors words generated in my
mind. I also learned quite a bit as I
read. This, in turn, provided an opportunity
for me to re-think my views on mimesis,
art historical themes, and the role of
women in art historically. I think others,
too, will find this excellent volume well
worth their attention.