Enfilade

From the Call for Papers:

Collection of Essays | Irish Fine Art in the Early Modern Period
Proposals due by 12 January 2015

Papers are invited for a forthcoming book which will showcase new scholarship focused on the history of fine art in Ireland in the early modern period (c.1600–c.1815). Publication by Irish Academic Press is due in 2016. Dedicated research in the past decade into Irish fine art of this period has produced some excellent—though isolated—examples in the form of displays, publications, and articles. In notable contrast are coeval fine art studies in Britain which currently enjoy a revival in research funding, museum partnerships, publishing opportunities, exhibitions, and active expertise networks, all of which provide vital scholarly momentum to the field.

While a more sustained format for focused scholarly output in this area remains a desideratum, this project provides an opportunity to draw together and highlight substantial new work on the production and reception of fine art in Ireland in this period and its contemporary discourse. Contributions are warmly welcomed from academics and graduate students working in art history and associated humanities disciplines, curators, and independent scholars actively engaged in related research. Papers should engage with fine art media—painting, drawing, miniatures, sculpture, and print culture—and demonstrate original and previously unpublished research.

Possible topics for papers include, but are not confined to, the following themes as considered in an Irish context:
• Artistic patrons, patronage, and collecting
• Modes of acquisition and display
• The impact of contemporary politics and ethnographic change on artistic production and consumption
• Artistic networks
• Artistic genres
• Artist biographies
• Artistic training and education
• Foreign travel for formal or informal artistic education
• Amateur artists and artistic production
• Fashioning an artistic career: artists’ means of self-promotion and engagement with patrons and the art market
• Art writing, published or otherwise
• Art historiography of the early modern period

Please send an abstract of your proposed paper (approximately 400 words) and a brief biographical note (maximum 200 words) to IrishArtCFP@outlook.com by Monday 12 January 2015. If you have any queries, please address them to the same email. Final papers will be in the region of 9,000 words, but abstracts for shorter papers are also welcome (please indicate if possible when submitting your abstract). Authors are welcome to submit more than one abstract for consideration by the editorial committee, which comprises Dr Jane Fenlon, Dr Ruth Kenny, Caroline Pegum, and Dr Brendan Rooney. Final papers will be peer-reviewed.