New Book | From Gluttony to Enlightenment: The World of Taste
A revised and translated edition of Viktoria von Hoffmann’s Goûter le monde: une histoire culturelle du goût à l’époque moderne (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2013), published by the University of Illinois Press:
Viktoria von Hoffmann, From Gluttony to Enlightenment: The World of Taste in Early Modern Europe (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2017), 282 pages, ISBN: 978 02520 40641 (cloth), $95 / ISBN: 978 02520 82146 (paper), $28.
Scorned since antiquity as low and animal, the sense of taste is celebrated today as an ally of joy, a source of adventure, and an arena for pursuing sophistication. The French exalted taste as an entrée to ecstasy, and revolutionized their cuisine and language to express this new way of engaging with the world. Viktoria von Hoffmann explores four kinds of early modern texts—culinary, medical, religious, and philosophical—to follow taste’s ascent from the sinful to the beautiful. Combining food studies and sensory history, she takes readers on an odyssey that redefined a fundamental human experience. Scholars and cooks rediscovered a vast array of ways to prepare and present foods. Far-sailing fleets returned to Europe bursting with new vegetables, exotic fruits, and pungent spices. Hosts refined notions of hospitality in the home while philosophers pondered the body and its perceptions. As von Hoffmann shows, these labors produced a sea change in perception and thought, one that moved taste from the base realm of the tongue to the ethereal heights of aesthetics.
Viktoria von Hoffmann is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Liège.
Fellowships | American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Three upcoming fellowship opportunities in the Department of American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
Barra American Art Fellowship
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2018–19
Applications due by 16 February 2018
Charles Willson Peale, Portrait of Yarrow Mamout (Muhammad Yaro), 1819, oil on canvas (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2011-87-1).
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is looking to fill the Barra American Art Fellowship, a one year position to begin at the start of the 2018–2019 Academic Year with a possibility of renewal for the 2019–2020 Academic Year. This position is generously endowed by The Barra Foundation in honor of Robert L. McNeil, Jr., with additional support provided by the Robert L. McNeil Endowments for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The Barra Fellow will work full-time in the Department of American Art, assisting four days a week in ongoing department research and exhibition projects, with one day reserved for personal research, writing, or travel. Candidates should propose a thesis or area of research interest that can take advantage of the resources of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and other area libraries and institutions. Priority will be given to those with projects relating to the Museum’s collection or exhibition program, and to students from the Philadelphia region. Fellows will have library privileges at the PMA and the University of Pennsylvania. At the conclusion of the term, the Barra Fellow will be expected to give a lecture and submit a paper reflecting work done during the residency. The fellowship stipend is $40,000 per twelve month period with additional research and travel funds.
Specifically, you will…
• Assist with departmental research and various exhibition projects
• Conduct research on proposed topic, with an end-of-term lecture and paper to be presented
Your diverse background includes…
• M.A. in art history or a related field
• Prior experience in a museum environment or similar art institution
• Technical proficiency with personal computers and Microsoft Office suite and experience with collection management software
• Prior experience with The Museum System (TMS) is preferred
Application Materials
• A statement of no more than three pages (double spaced) describing your preparation, the general direction of research, and the appropriateness of your studies to resources in Philadelphia
• Resume
• Reference list with the names and contact information of three references
• A writing sample
• A letter of recommendation from one of the listed references mailed to:
Philadelphia Museum of Art
PO Box 7646
Philadelphia, PA 19101-7646
Attn: Center for American Art
Summer Fellowships in American Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Summer 2018
Applications due by 16 February 2018
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is looking for graduate students to fill two Summer Fellowships which are supported by the Center for American Art. The summer fellows will be expected to work ten (10) weeks between June 1 and August 31, 2018. The fellowship stipend is $4,000.
Fellowship #1
One summer fellow will be chosen to assist in the Museum’s Department of American Art, contributing to ongoing collection research and exhibition preparation. Graduate students in art history or related fields with an interest in curatorial studies and American painting and sculpture before 1960 are encouraged to apply.
Fellowship #2
One summer fellow will be chosen to assist the Curator of American Decorative Arts in the Museum’s Department of American Art, contributing to ongoing research and writing in preparation for the forthcoming catalogue of the Museum’s American silver collection. Graduate students in art history or related fields with an interest in American decorative arts are encouraged to apply.
Application Materials
• A letter describing your interest and preparation for this position
• Curriculum vitae with education, employment, publications and honors
• Reference list with the names and contact information of three references
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