Psychoanalytical Aspects in E. Gombrich’s Interpretation of Grotesque and Caricature
The author considers the psychoanalytical aspects of cultural and historical functioning of comical genres researched by Ernest Gombrich on the basis of grotesque drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Hieronymus Bosch, Peter Breughel, Albrecht Durer, and of caricatures by Agostino and Annibale Carracci, Lorenzo Bernini, Honore Daumier, and artists of the new time. On the basis of Freud’s principle of “somatic correspondence” Gombrich researches the speciﬁc emotional symptoms as the cultural code, which explains the variety of physiognomic types in caricatures made in Italy, the Netherlands, England, and France. By re-interpreting Freud’s theory of sharp wit Gombrich analyzed the historical speciﬁcs of grotesque and caricature through the conception of functional plasticity of the unconscious in its reaction to cultural and historic circumstances. Keywords: sharp wit, the unconscious, night dreams, grotesque, caricature