Fellowship | YCBA Postdoctoral Research Associateship
YCBA Postdoctoral Research Associateship
Applications due by 4 March 2013
The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) is offering a Postdoctoral Research Associateship (PRA) in the
Department of Paintings and Sculpture. The position is intended for a recent recipient of the PhD (degree
granted within the last three years) in a field related to British art. The PhD must be in hand by the time
the position begins. The PRA may be held for up to three years. It is expected that the post-holder will
pursue long-term professional employment during the period of hire. The PRA will receive an annual salary
of $45,000, plus standard Yale benefits. Funding to allow the PRA to attend one professional conference
annually, and modest travel funds for undertaking work on behalf of the department as well as for personal
research, as determined by the departmental head, will also be provided.
The PRA will report directly to the Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture and the Curator of Paintings and
Sculpture. Primary duties will consist of research associated with the collection of paintings and sculpture
and the exhibition program of the Center, including contributing to the ongoing scholarly cataloguing of the
collection, assisting with major international loan exhibitions overseen by the Department, assisting with
the reinstallation of the permanent collection of paintings and sculpture scheduled for 2015, and supporting
the research activities of the Senior Curator and the Curator. The PRA will be given one day a week to pursue
research in his/her own areas of specialization, and is expected to give talks at scholarly conferences, publish,
and engage with the wider art-historical community. Applicants should consult the job description for full
details of the requirements of the position.
The deadline for receipt of applications is March 4, 2013. Interviews are expected to take place the following
month. Applications should be made online at britishart.yale.edu/about-us/opportunities. Applicants should
refer to the job description on the website, then complete the application form and upload a cover letter, CV,
and a writing sample. Three letters of recommendation should be forwarded directly by referees to
ycba.research@yale.edu. Enquiries about the position can be addressed to Lisa Ford, Associate Head of
Research, at lisa.ford@yale.edu, tel +1 203 432 9805
Call for Articles | Histories of Conservation
From the Art History Supplement:
Call for Articles: Histories of Conservation
Art History Supplement, Issue 3.2 (March 2013)
Submissions due by 25 February 2013
In a recent fund raising email campaign (December 17, 2012), Michael Gallagher, conservator in charge of the Department of Painting Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, stated: “Imagine a picture coated in a thick varnish, making the artist’s original brushwork almost undetectable. Then, imagine removing that discolored
surface to reveal the true painting beneath – it is painstakingly careful work, but exhilarating when the picture returns to the gallery with its integrity restored.” This could be the formula through which, according to Gallagher, general public might have the chance to approach, discover and enjoy or be thrilled by great art and old masters.
The above assessment for role of conservation, considering the “original brushwork” of the “true painting” may reveal a modernist aspect of purity and uniqueness that brings along pleasure in the eye of the beholder and thus viewer. From such a starting point, any conservation theory, or better conservation practice, is both indicating a way of “contemporary” thinking about “past” using historical mechanisms in its expression and, in the same time, it is
characteristic of the environment in which it was produced and of the environment it was practiced and cultivated. Humanistic, religious or strictly (micro-) political receptions and appropriations of a past suggest each time a certain way a particular culture has used, wittingly or not, material culture, being at its disposal, for a firm reason.
“Reception” is regarded here as the act of decoding a past; while “appropriation” is considered here to be the product of re-encoding the same past be the same someone who practiced the decoding.
In this forthcoming issue of Art History Supplement, papers are sought dealing with conservation stories about receptions and appropriations of a certain, or not, past from a particular culture. “Histories of conservation” issue is planned to explore uses of the past, reasons for such, and primarily the why a certain reception or appropriation took place through conservation (aka restoration), from late medieval to modern times.
Peabody Essex Museum Appoints Its First Curator of American Art
Press release (6 October 2012) from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA:
The Peabody Essex Museum announced the appointment of Austen Barron Bailly as the museum’s first George Putnam Curator of American Art. Bailly joins PEM’s curatorial team following her post as the head of the American Art department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and previous positions held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Wildenstein & Co., Inc. in New York.
Selected for her interdisciplinary and adventuresome curatorial approach, Bailly joins PEM at the cusp of the museum’s landmark $650 million campaign and expansion project. In her curatorial capacity at PEM, Bailly will lead the development of a multi-faceted American art program focusing on exhibitions, new interpretation in the galleries, and expanding the museum’s collection which currently includes paintings, decorative arts, photographs, folk art, and textiles representing over 300 years of New England and American art and culture.
“Austen brings a fresh and exciting perspective to the field that will greatly accelerate and enhance the museum’s presentation of American Art in the years to come,” said Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, PEM’s James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes Chief Curator.
A native of New Orleans, Bailly earned her PhD in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara and her MA from Williams College. She will begin her new position as PEM’s George Putnam Curator of American Art in January, 2013. George and Nancy Putnam are long-time PEM Trustees who have made an indelible contribution to the museum’s future with their endowment of Bailly’s position, and that of a future Curator of Fashion and Textiles, for whom a national search is in progress.
PEM announced a comprehensive $650 million Campaign in October 2011, designed to advance the museum’s mission to celebrate outstanding artistic and cultural creativity in ways that transform people’s lives. To date, the museum has received gifts and pledges totaling $570 million. The Campaign includes a $350 million addition to the current $280 million endowment, $200 million for a 175,000-square-foot expansion designed by Rick Mather Architects, and $100 million to support creative new installations of the collection, several infrastructure improvements to existing facilities and other advancement initiatives. The $350 million endowment increase will cover all increased operating and program costs for an expanded facility; support continued development of the museum’s distinctive exhibitions, publications, curatorial and education programs; and enable continuation of a strong financial base. The expansion, set to open in 2017, will add up to 75,000 square feet of new galleries; a new restaurant and roof garden; new public program and education space; and essential improvements to collections storage, exhibition processing and conservation functions.
Enfilade 
leave a comment