Abstract

As opposed to the linear perspective since Renaissance, Wolfgang Kemp recognizes new ways of pictorial composition in the 19th century which constitute new types of spectators seeing the world from their particular positions. Then he argues a parallelism between the new perspectives of modern paintings and those of modern novels. Different from the transcendent and omniscient viewpoint of narrating stories in the old age, and from the omniscient and transcendental viewpoint based on linear perspective, modern historical paintings and novels were concerned with narrative modes of individual experiences. According to Kemp, paintings newly defined spectators as individual witnesses of depicted events. But he does not assign the narrative mode of 'la vision « avec »' to paintings which lets readers stand at the position of a diegetic character, because paintings always require the physical presence of spectators standing in front of them. He confuses the 'angle' of physical eye with the 'viewpoint' of narration. In fact, the narrative mode of 'la vision « avec »' exists in paintings as well