BMCR 2009.06.03: Miguelez-Cavero on Catoni, La comunicazione non verbale nella Grecia antica. Gli schemata nella danza, nell'arte, nella vita. Universale Bollati Boringhieri 560

Maria Luisa Catoni, La comunicazione non verbale nella Grecia antica.
Gli schemata nella danza, nell'arte, nella vita. Universale Bollati
Boringhieri 560.  Torino:  Bollati Boringhieri, 2008.  Pp. 416.  ISBN
9788833918969.  EUR 20.00 (pb).

Reviewed by Laura Migue/lez-Cavero and Alicia Migue/lez-Cavero,
Postdoctoral Researcher of the Spanish Foundation for Science and
Technology (FECYT); University of Leo/n (Spain) ([email protected];
[email protected])
Word count:  1223 words
-------------------------------
To read a print-formatted version of this review, see
http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-06-03.html
To comment on this review, see
http://www.bmcreview.org/2009/06/20090603.html
-------------------------------

Maria Luisa Catoni, a researcher at the Scuola Normale Superiore di
Pisa (Italy), first published this book in 2005.[[1]] It has now been
reissued with a preface by Salvattore Settis (pp. vii-xi), a 2008
"Postilla" (pp. 11-15, mainly on mirror neurons), and final indexes of
names and quoted passages. The title does not, however, do full justice
to what Catoni offers, namely a thoroughly researched study on the uses
of the word <greek>sxh=ma</greek>, drawing mainly on sources from the
fifth and fourth centuries BC.[[2]]

The first chapter (pp. 19-71) deals with the scientific uses of this
term. In geometry, two traditions concurred: in the first, sponsored by
Aristotle, the Stoics, Euclid, Heron of Alexandria and Proclus, schema
is understood as a geometrical figure (i.e. what is contained within
one or several limits), while Plato and Posidonius used the term to
mean the limit itself. Schemata were also the representations of the
identity of numbers through polyhedra, especially among the
Pythagoreans. In astronomy, the term defined the shape of the cosmic
bodies and often appeared in the theory of the correspondence of the
five elements with regular polyhedra. Schema, meaning both 'volume,
shape' and 'outline', always denotes specificity, despite the
theoretical difficulties involved in its definition, and its different
semantic spheres are all related to the visualization of objects and
their mimesis.

Chapter Two (pp. 72-123) studies the presence of schema in all types of
human interaction. A schema is any feature which classifies an object
or person, providing an idea about its nature. This implies an
understanding of the superficial figure (physiognomic traits, clothing,
gesturality) and the inner being (ethical values, social standing,
origin) as two sides of the same coin, in direct relationship or in
opposition when external appearance is faked. The schema consists of
mobile (e.g. clothing), fixed (e.g. the shape of the head), and
semi-mobile (e.g. the way of walking) elements. The possibility of
manipulating external components explains its occurrence in any context
related to disguise, as in the phrase "assume the schema of", and is
used to contrast with the fixed, crystallized character of the inner
being, as made evident in the figurative arts and analysed by doctors
when diagnosing patients.

Chapter Three (pp. 124-261) addresses the topics suggested by the
subtitle of the book "Gli schema nella danza, nell'arte, nella vita".
Schema means, quasi-technically, 'a figure or posture in dancing', in
which sense it admits a plural form (<greek>sxh/mata</greek>). It was
probably through dance-related contexts that schema came to mean
'gesture', since dancing would have played a crucial role in the visual
fixation of body movements to convey both ethe and pathe. The schemata
would have thus become shared elements of all sorts of visual
expression (dance, sculpture, painting, social etiquette and ritual
performance), and their semantic density and adaptability would have
guaranteed their mobility from one context or medium to another. Their
joint presence in dance and painting explains the creation of a
standard vocabulary of iconographic formulae which is valid in any kind
of visual interactions. Judgement based on schemata was in fact
systematized in treatises of physiognomy, which were devoted to
analysis of the information provided by the outline of the body and
transitory gestures and expressions.

In ancient texts devoted to the study of works of art, critical
judgement focuses on the style and techniques used in their making, but
also on the rendering of the schemata, meaning the posture and gestures
of the bodies, what these convey, and comparison with other
representations of the same topic in the artistic tradition. Schemata
also applies to the physical behaviour of citizens in their social
interactions. Catoni analyses the importance of the word in the context
of the tension between appearance and reality in fifth and fourth
century Athenian society: the authentic schema illustrates values and
opinions, while the counterfeit one is manipulated by individuals to
present a certain image of themselves or to make political and social
propaganda out of certain values. In the latter context schematizein
means to 'feign', and there is a dissociation between schema and ethos.

In his Cratylus, Plato uses the term schema when discussing the problem
of mimesis, and associates dynamic mimesis (imitation involving the
body) and the static mimesis of portraits. According to Plato, each
entity (pragma) is provided with schema and phone, and many also
possess chroma. In combination with chroma, schema is the static
outline (the design in terms of paintings), but in combination with
phone it means gesture, posture or schema in dance. Catoni believes
that the intermediate context where the meaning of schema bifurcates is
dance, because it combines the static qualities of painting and
sculpture and the dynamic ones of movement and impersonation through
gestures.

Chapter Four (pp. 262-317)[[3]] considers Plato's opinions on art,
cautioning against the paratactic analysis of his passages on art,
since most of these occur in comparisons with other mimetic arts,
especially poetry. In general the philosopher is not interested in the
technical aspects of art, but in its social impact: mimetic arts are
examined in the public context of the polis, which explains why
paintings should represent good ethe. As a result of his focus on the
ethical and paideutic aims of the technai, Plato puts all artists under
the surveillance of the philosopher, but this comes into conflict with
the progressive professionalization of the technai and their increasing
autonomy in relation to ethical concerns and concentration on sheer
mimesis. This new attitude crystallizes in the fourth century with the
appearance of new themes and iconographic schemes, as well as new
interpretations of traditional topics. Catoni reviews the
representations of the death of a woman in childbirth, Amazonomachies,
resting Heracles, and the introduction of new deities and
personifications, and concludes that the schemata gradually lose
importance: artists prefer to demonstrate their technical execution
(<greek>e)rgasi/a</greek>) and do not pay so much attention to the
variation of motifs and canons, and the careful rendering of details in
search of an appearance of realism. By the fourth century schemata are
no longer so central in public life, an attitude which is inconceivable
in Plato's ideal world.

The only significant criticism of this book lies in the fact that the
topics covered do not mirror the promises of the title. It is
undeniable that those looking for a study on non-verbal communication
in the ancient world would do better to read any of the books already
published on the subject.[[4]] Apart from this, Catoni succeeds in
presenting a comprehensive overview of what the ancient Greeks meant by
schema. Particularly commendable is the author's integration of
information gathered from all kinds of literary sources to form a
complete picture of the interdisciplinary uses of this term. It is a
pity that she did not include a general conclusion, which would have
brought together all her lines of thought and further integrated the
different chapters.

This book makes an important contribution to studies of the origins of
Greek technical vocabulary, and provides a model for future studies of
ancient semantics. Reading it will teach specialists in scenic arts
much about references to gesture and movement in comic and tragic
texts, and the "Indice dei passi citati" is a helpful tool for locating
comments on theatrical passages. Art historians, too, will find the
book a reliable introduction to ancient texts on art subjects, in
particular Plato.


------------------
Notes:


1.   Schemata: comunicazione non verbale nella Grecia antica, Pisa
2005.

2.   In this respect, it may be compared with M. S. Celentano et al.
(eds.), Skhe\ma / Figura. Formes et figures chez les Anciens.
Rhe/torique, philosophie, litte/rature, Paris 2004, to which Catoni
contributed a paper.

3.   Here Catoni takes up the theme of a previous paper: M. L. Catoni,
"Quale arte per il tempo di Platone?", in S. Settis (a cura di), I
greci. Storia cultura arte societa\. 2. Una storia greca. II
Definizione, Torino 1997, 1013-1060.

4.   E.g. D. Lateiner, Sardonic Smile. Nonverbal Behaviour in Homeric
Epic, Ann Arbor 1995; A. L. Boegehold, When a Gesture was Expected: A
Selection of Examples from Archaic and Classical Greek Literature,
Princeton 1999; A. Corbeill, Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome,
Princeton - Oxford 2004.