The idea of the grotesque understood as the fundamental basis of the process of transmogrification

Abstract

The main research question of this dissertation includes the analysis of the process of transmogrification and its relationship, amongst others, with the core of the significance of the grotesque. A special emphasis will be given to the importance of the transformational process itself, that being the time a portrait changes and transforms itself into its grotesque final creation, whatever that may be. An established definition of the grotesque, however, is up for debate, as seen from examining artworks throughout the centuries, its meaning has changed and evolved with the times, and thus, has proved to be subjective and can vary from person to person as well as one culture to another. This dissertation also intends to engage with modern meanings of the grotesque and transformation to later combine them into transmogrification, from a visual as well as from various emotional and conceptual viewpoints, breaking away from what is strictly visible, towards that which is intangible. I have chosen to employ a combination of historical and theoretical methodological approaches as well as a formal analysis (which includes some of my own studies of the artworks up for discussion) to explore this chosen theme. With the research laid out with this dissertation, the prospect is an attempt at clarifying my own understanding of the idea of the grotesque within the process of transmogrification. This encapsulates my final project.