New Book | Johann Paul Egell, 1691–1752
From Imhof Verlag (and available at Artbooks.com). . .
Stefanie Michaela Leibetseder, Johann Paul Egell (1691–1752), Der kurpfälzische Hofbildhauer und die Hofkunst seiner Zeit: Skulptur – Ornament – Relief (Petersberg: Imhof, 2013), 176 pages, ISBN: 978-3865688514, 39€ / $75.
Der kurpfälzische Hofbildhauer Paul Egell (1691–1752) zählt zu den bedeutendsten Bildhauern Deutschlands im 18. Jahrhunderts. Wie kein anderer Bildhauer der Zeit markiert sein Werk den Paradigmenwechsel zwischen den italienisch geprägten Traditionen des Barock und der französisch geprägten Formensprache des Rokoko. Das Buch spürt anhand exemplarischer Werke erstmals den Entstehungsbedingungen von Egells Werk nach. Im Mittelpunkt stehen sein Beitrag zum Nymphenbad des Dresdner Zwingers sowie die Skulpturen und Stuckaturen, die er für die kurpfälzische Residenz in Mannheim schuf. Es wird die ikonografische Tradition untersucht, in der sich Egell bewegte, und aufgezeigt, dass dessen Schaffen bereits sehr früh die Kunst der Régence in Frankreich rezipierte. Damit wird zum einen die Grundlage für eine differenziertere Einschätzung von Egells Œuvre gelegt, zum anderen werden Anregungen für die Auseinandersetzung mit anderen Bildhauern des deutschen Rokoko gegeben.
Conference | Maritime Culture in the Age of J. M. W. Turner
Next month at Greenwich:
Maritime Culture and Britain in the Age of J.M.W. Turner
Royal Museums Greenwich, London, 21–22 March 2014
Registration due by 20 March 2014
J.M.W. Turner, The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805, 1822–24, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
To coincide with a major exhibition of the work of J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851), Royal Museums Greenwich is hosting an interdisciplinary conference exploring the cultural impact of the sea in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Turner and the Sea is the first full-scale examination of the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with the sea, and features many of his most celebrated works, from his transformative Academy paintings of the late 1790s and early 1800s to the unfinished, experimental seascapes he produced towards the end of his life. The exhibition offers the opportunity to discover the myriad ways in which Turner responded to the maritime art—past and contemporary—while challenging his audiences with new ways of representing the sea. The conference aims to locate Turner’s seascapes within a broader maritime context, and explore the cultural and political significance of the sea during his lifetime.
Conference fee: £100 (concessionary rate £90). Including Friday evening reception and private view of the Turner and the Sea exhibition. To book tickets contact Lizelle de Jager on 020 8312 6716, research@rmg.co.uk.
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F R I D A Y , 2 1 M A R C H 2 0 1 4
10.30 Registration and refreshments
11.00 Session 1
• ‘Now for the painter’: Turner and the Sea at Greenwich: Richard Johns (University of York)
• ‘Commercial care and busy toil’: Turner’s Image of Downriver Thames: Geoff Snell (National Maritime Museum and University of Sussex)
• Turner, the Mouth of the Thames and Commerce: Leo Costello (Rice University, Texas)
12.30 Lunch
14.00 Session 2
• Craft and Labour in John Ruskin’s Romantic Tradition: ‘The Harbours of England’: Carmen Casaliggi (Cardiff Metropolitan University)
• Nautical Zombies: Death and the Undead in Romantic Maritime Literature: James Robertson (University of Leeds)
15.00 Coffee and tea
15.30 Session 3
• Sperm, Blood, Blubber, Bone, Oil and Water: the 19th-Century Visual and Literary (Sub)Cultures of Whaling: Jason Edwards (University of York)
• Turner’s Abstraction and the Culture of Steam Power in the Ships of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company: Jonathan Stafford (Kingston University)
16.45 Keynote
• Stephen Deuchar (The Art Fund)
17.45 Reception and private view of Turner and the Sea
S A T U R D A Y , 2 2 M A R C H 2 0 1 4
8.45 Pre-conference discussion in Turner and the Sea exhibition
9.45 Coffee and tea
10.00 Session 4
• ‘Baptism of the Waves’: Vernet, Turner and the Near-Death Experience: Melanie Vandenbrouck (Royal Museums Greenwich)
• Literal or Littoral? Constable’s Representations of the Sea: Annie Lyles (independent scholar)
• Perceptions, Practice, Association: Turner and Stanfield: Pieter van der Merwe (Royal Museums Greenwich)
11.30 Coffee and tea
12.00 Session 5
• Carthage, Venice and Holland: Turner, British Identity and the Sea Powers of the Past: Andrew Lambert (King’s College, London)
• ‘One haunting conception’? Turner’s ‘Trafalgar’ Paintings: Christine Riding (Royal Museums Greenwich)
13.00 Lunch (from 13.45 to 14.30 a curatorial talk will take place in the Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery by James Davey, Royal Museums Greenwich)
14.45 Session 6
• Glorious Firsts! Turner, War and British Marine Painting: Eleanor Hughes (Yale Center for British Art)
• Relegation or Patriotic Promotion: a Reconsideration of George IV’s Donation of Turner’s Battle of Trafalgar to the National Gallery of Naval Art: Cicely Robinson (National Maritime Museum and University of York)
• The Sailor in the Gallery: Representing the Reception of Maritime Art: Catherine Roach (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Call for Papers | Creatures of Comfort, 1650–1950
Rienzi’s 15th Anniversary Symposium | Creatures of Comfort, 1650–1950
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 19–21 September 2014
Proposals due by 1 May 2014
Rienzi, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s house museum for European decorative arts, celebrates its 15th anniversary as a public collection with the symposium, Creatures of Comfort, 1650–1950. By examining the period from 1650 to 1950, how and why did the concept of comfort evolve and become an important part of European and American cultures? What objects, inventions, aesthetic or cultural changes improved ones’ physical or emotional well-being simply by making life more comfortable?
Rienzi houses a significant European collection of paintings, sculpture, furniture, porcelain, and silver from the mid-17th to mid-19th centuries. Built in 1953 as a residence and now a house museum, Rienzi evokes the fine European country houses of the 18th century with formal, yet comfortable, furnishings, entertaining and private spaces, and rooms specifically designed for the enjoyment of family and friends. Rienzi also retains many modern amenities such as central air conditioning, a dishwasher, an elevator and other luxurious essentials that defined the ultimate comforts in America in the 1950s.
The Creatures of Comfort, 1650–1950 symposium offers academics and emerging scholars an opportunity to explore the ever-changing role of comfort in European and American cultures. The symposium will take place at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, from Friday, September 19, 2014, through Sunday, September 21, 2014.
We invite masters, doctorial students and emerging scholars to submit a 400-word abstract outlining a twenty-minute presentation, along with a current CV by May 1, 2014. Please direct all submissions to rienzisymposium@mfah.org. Selected participants will be notified by July 1, 2014. Participants will be offered a $600 travel and lodging stipend. All presentations will be given on Saturday, September 20, and Sunday, September 21, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Possible themes of investigation may include, but are not limited to: interiors, design, architecture, dining, privacy, leisure activities, etiquette, gender, costume, travel, technology, and economics.
The keynote address will be given on Friday, September 19, 2014 by Dr. Joan DeJean, Cultural Historian and Trustee Professor of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research includes the cultural history and the material culture of late 17th- and early 18th-century France. She is the author of ten books on French literature, history, and material culture, including, The Essence of Style, How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, and Sophistication, The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual and the Modern Home Began, and her most recent publication, How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City.
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