Enfilade

Gall and Guts: Entrails and Digestion in the Long Eighteenth Century
Paris, 21-22 March 2014

Proposals due by 31 May 2013 (final papers due 15 July 2013)

In his recent book, Versailles, l’ordre et le chaos, Michel Jeanneret describes the representations of Molière’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. The play wittily mixes the underbelly and the underworld: Parisian purse-snatchers confront provincial narrow-mindedness in a farce whose emblems are the clyster and the “obscure and polluted area of the entrails.” The farcical catharsis is enabled by the purgation of Pourceaugnac’s allegedly diseased body. Jeanneret underlines the close relation between this play and Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), another of Molière’s comedies in which the bowels and their evacuation are at the very centre of the scatological farce. At Versailles, Le Malade imaginaire was played in front of the setting of the artificial cave of Thetis and Jeanneret sees the valetudinarian obsessed with his entrails as being echoed by the man-made grotto “which opens onto marine depths, buried in the bowels of the earth, imitating the labyrinth of the viscera.”

The representation of the entrails, the belly and the bowels is not limited to the anatomical descriptions that have influenced the caricatures and the apprehension of the body in the eighteenth century (Mandressi, 2003). The bodily functions associated with the bowels — digestion and evacuation — were used as metaphors throughout the period. They are also linked to medical practices that rely on entrails for diagnosis and treatment. The examination of excrement or the frequent prescription of enemas and emetics also confirm the central position of the belly in the perception of the body. Untainted by metaphors, patients’ narratives and case-descriptions underline the materiality of digestion. (more…)

From the Modern British History Network:

Conference on Modern British History: Society, Culture, Politics and Religion since 1750
University of Edinburgh, 10-11 June 2013

Proposals due by 6 May 2013

Following the success of the conferences held at Strathclyde (2007-2009), at St Andrews in 2010, at Dundee in 2011, and at Stirling in 2012, the Modern British History Network will host a seventh major Conference on Modern British History at New College, University of Edinburgh, on 10-11 June 2013. The event is particularly aimed at members of the Scottish universities and the northern English universities although all historians are very welcome. Previous conferences have attracted delegates from across the UK and from overseas.

Proposals for papers or registration to attend the event are now invited from researchers working on all aspects of modern British history. The conference aims to represent work covering the whole period since the late eighteenth century with topics in social, cultural, political and religious history. Proposals should be submitted by 6 May 2013 to Dr Juliette Pattinson (juliette.pattinson@strath.ac.uk). Over two days there will be three main papers from senior academics and short papers by other academics and postgraduates, who are equally welcome to speak. (more…)

The following represents a selection of panels that might be of interest for scholars of the eighteenth century, though readers are encouraged to consult the full Call for Papers. HECAA members are asked to pay special attention to the session organized by Kevin Chua ‘After the Secular: Art and Religion in the Eighteenth Century’ and the ‘New Scholars Session,’ chaired by Kristel Smentek. Proposals for minor sessions (90-minute panels) typically have a slightly later due date; so stay tuned. -CH

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102nd Annual Conference of the College Art Association
Chicago, 12-15 February 2014

Proposals due by 13 May 2013 (extended from 6 May 2013)

The 2014 Call for Participation for the 101st Annual Conference, taking place February 12–15 in Chicago, describes many of next year’s programs sessions. CAA and the session chairs invite your participation: please follow the instructions in the booklet to submit a proposal for a paper or presentation. This publication also includes a call for Poster Session proposals and describes the seven Open Forms sessions.

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Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture
After the Secular: Art and Religion in the Eighteenth Century
Kevin Chua, Texas Tech University, kevin.chua@ttu.edu
Religious art of the eighteenth century has long been framed within a narrative of secularization. It was thought that, with modernization, societies would move away from religious values to embrace secular ones. Yet scholars such as Charles Taylor, Talal Asad, and Hent de Vries have questioned this dominant narrative. Not only has secularization been shown to be not the end point of modernization, it has proven to be, perhaps, the last progress narrative that we need to unbind. This panel seeks papers on religious art, visual culture, and architecture that trouble the old secularization narrative, and come to grips with the paradoxical efflorescence of religion in the eighteenth century. Papers might address the contradictory place of art between the flourishing of marginal religions and the public sphere, engage the various “returns” of religion in and for art, and rethink the supposedly unidirectional shift from “religious” to “secular” worlds in aesthetic media.

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Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture
New Scholars Session
Kristel Smentek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, smentek@mit.edu

The Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture (HECAA) invite paper proposals from advanced doctoral students and recent PhDs that present innovative approaches to the interpretation of the art, architecture, and material culture of the global eighteenth century. Presenters selected for this session are expected to become members of HECAA before the conference.

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Collaborators: The Role of Collectors, Critics, Curators in Artistic Practice, ca. 1780-1914
Humanities Research Centre, University of York, 26 June 2013

Proposals due by 26 April 2013

In May 1884 the art critic Marion Harry Spielmann wrote in defence of the often criticised profession of art criticism: “The critic – (I am not now referring to the mere notice writer of daily journalism) – spends his life in devotion not only to art but to artists: and, so far as public recognition is concerned, he reaps his reward in sneers and ‘chaff’: sneers from painters, thoughtless and irresponsible, like Mr Whistler; indifference from others less splenetic and querulous.” Spielmann, a prolific author, editor and arts administrator, was an advocate for and close friend of numerous contemporary artists. Along with the collectors and curators whom he frequently worked with and wrote about, he was an active and influential participant in contemporary art practice in late-Victorian London.

Relationships between artists, collectors, critics and curators are often considered in isolation but rarely in tandem. Drawing upon a diverse range of case studies, covering a variety of local and global contexts, this one day post-graduate workshop aims to unpick consistencies, changes and crossovers in the sometimes fraught but often productive relationships between artists, collectors, critics and curators in the long nineteenth century. By bringing together students, early-career researchers and established academics, we hope the workshop will provide an informal but stimulating forum for conversation, debate and interdisciplinary exchange about the nineteenth-century art world and its constituents.

We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers from postgraduate students, early career researchers and established academics. Papers might explore, but are not limited to, the following topics:
•    The advent of professional art critics and curators and its impact on artistic practice
•    Patronage and collecting in the long nineteenth century
•    Artists as collectors, critics and curators
•    The fabrication and decoration of Museum buildings
•    Curating contemporary art in the long nineteenth century
•    The art press and art publishing
•    The Grand Tour/tourists as collectors, critics and curators
•    Conversations/collaborations in the studio
•    Collectors, critics, curators and local/regional/national identities
•    Agency and authorship in artistic practice in the long nineteenth century
•    Documents: catalogues, contracts and correspondence

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to Charlotte Drew (ckd502@york.ac.uk) and Eoin Martin (eoin.martin@warwick.ac.uk) by Friday 26 April. This event is generously supported by the Centre for Modern Studies, University of York.

From The Costume Society of America:

Uncommon Beauty | Annual Meeting of the Costume Society of America, Midwest Region
Chicago, 20-21 September 2013

Proposals due by 10 April 2013

The Midwest Region of the Costume Society of America seeks original presentations on topics of Uncommon Beauty. Potential presenters will respond with topics that emerge from seeing beauty with an open mind and an open eye. This could include inquiry into the urban, the “fringe,” the utilitarian, the ethnic, the diverse, the modern, and the very individual. Topics are generated by interest in current or historical fashion, the body, and garments. Your original as well as your traditional academic approaches to presentation of information and images will create an uncommonly inspiring weekend of inquiry and exchange. Uncommon methods of presentation are encouraged, including poetic and literary elements. Garment makers are welcome to present applied and three-dimensional research.

Topics are also sought for exploration in the Ideas Theater, which will provide an informal venue to engage attendees in lively discussions about issues that matter to you now. Spotlight-worthy submissions may include research dilemmas, teaching methods, interpretive strategies, and theater costume or fashion design processes. Although poster presentations and slideshows will be considered, topic presenters are encouraged to consider hands-on activities, quick surveys or games, dance or role-playing, and other imaginative scenarios to involve participants.

Requirements: Proposals are invited for 20-minute oral presentations and Idea Theater topics. Abstracts must be no longer than two typed, double-spaced pages, including endnotes. The top of the first page should include only the title (no names). All proposals should include a cover page with working title, name, address, telephone number, email address, and professional affiliation. Please identify your proposal as an oral presentation or Idea Theater topic.

The organizers encourage papers from established professionals, early career scholars, independent researchers, garment makers, and students. Please identify student papers on the cover page. Abstracts are due by April 10, 2013, to Jacqueline WayneGuite at csachicago2013@gmail.com. For more information about the symposium, contact Caroline Bellios at csachicago2013@gmail.com.

Graduate Student Symposium| Movement: The Body and Object in Motion
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 4 October 2013

Proposals due by 30 April 2013

The graduate students in the History of Art program at Cornell University invite abstracts for papers to be presented at the Graduate Student Symposium to be held on October 4th, 2013. This year’s symposium, “Movement: The Body and Object in Motion,” will feature a keynote lecture presented by Dr. Coco Fusco and will explore the theme of movement in visual culture via three panels consisting of three speakers each.

Movement in visual culture is a fundamental theme across all media and periods. Movement defines both the pre-modern and modern periods in all their complexities, as peoples are colonized and decolonized, orders are invented and moved, tourists visit sites, products are shipped from other continents for consumption, and wars are waged around the globe. It is manifest in the journey of the soul through life and in its final voyage into death. Movement also creates a narrative for objects and ideas as they travel with people. Possible panel ideas include but are not limited to: migration, diaspora, grand tour, tourism, slavery, across realms, exchange/trade, urban planning
and the movement of the body/political body, spiritual movement, movement of objects and cultural property.

The graduate students in the department of History of Art at Cornell University welcome the submission of abstracts for papers from graduate students. We invite papers from a broad range of periods, from prehistoric to contemporary, and from a broad range of disciplines. Submission is open to graduate students in art history, archaeology, conservation, museum studies, classics, anthropology, sociology, and beyond. Please send a 250-word abstract of your paper, a list of two or three possible panel themes your paper may fit, a current CV, and contact information by April 30, 2013 to cornellgradsymposium@gmail.com.

Traveling to Ithaca: Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, Lansing, NY (15 mins from Cornell University). Please also look here for additional information and alternatives on how to reach Ithaca. We are happy to facilitate shared lodging/travel costs among speakers.

“The Senses of Humour,” edited by Eugenia Zuroski Jenkins, is a special issue of Eighteenth-Century Fiction that will explore the relationships among various meanings of the term “humour” in the long eighteenth century, from humoral theories of the body to the cultivation and regulation of “senses of humour” in literature, culture, and social interaction. We invite submissions on eighteenth-century legacies of classical humoral theory; the philosophy of laughter; the emergence of modern forms of wit, satire, and other humorous genres in literature and illustration; cul-tural negotiations of body and mind as sites of “humour”; and the role of humour(s) in discourses of feeling, sentiment, sensibility, and sociality. We welcome articles that treat the topic in areas both inside and outside of imaginative prose fiction. Manuscripts (5,000-8,000 words) should reach ECF by 1 May 2013. Electronic submissions are encouraged: visit ECF at Digital Commons & choose “Submit Article.”

Further details about submitting articles can be found at / Les protocoles de la présentation et de la soumission des articles sont consultables à “Editorial Policy.” To submit an article for a special issue, or a call for articles, or a  regular issue of the journal, which publishes 4 issues per year, choose “Submit Article.” We encourage electronic submissions at Digital Commons, but if you have any concerns about this online submissions system, you may contact the ECF editors at ecf@mcmaster.ca.

Pour l’amour de l’art ? Les enjeux de la pratique amateur de l’art dans l’Europe des Lumières
Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, 13 September 2013

Proposals due by 1 April 2013

Appel à communication Pour l’amour de l’art ? Les enjeux de la pratique amateur de l’art dans l’Europe des Lumières — Journée d’études organisée par le Centre de la Méditerranée Moderne et Contemporaine avec le concours de l’Institut Universitaire de France et du projet ANR CITERE Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis Nice, vendredi 13 septembre 2013. Organisateurs scientifiques : David Rousseau et Marie Villion.

Dès leur plus jeune âge, les héritiers de l’aristocratie et de ceux qui dans la haute bourgeoisie aspirent à y parvenir sont sensibilisés aux différentes formes artistiques, tant dans la sphère domestique que dans les institutions d’éducation. Cet engouement pour l’art a bouleversé sa pratique en la diversifiant et en la rendant beaucoup plus personnelle. La forme artistique s’est alors insérée dans les espaces privés et intimes de la vie des élites européennes. Cependant, dans une société où les apparences conditionnent la vie sociale, où les comportements sont réglés par des codes respectant une hiérarchie établie, la pratique désintéressée de l’art semble difficile à concevoir, car ceux qui font vivre l’art pratiquent avec maîtrise et assurance les jeux de distinction sociale que la « vie de société » recèle.

Au-delà des valeurs esthétiques, par quels intérêts sont poussées ces élites dans leur pratique amateur de l’art ? Volonté de se distinguer socialement, désir de sociabilité ? Quelles logiques les conduisent à développer émulation et compétition dans la pratique amateur de l’art ? Que nous apprennent les écrits des protagonistes de ces jeux de société sur leur pratique et celle du monde dans lequel ils rivalisent ? Que nous disent-ils à travers le prisme de la pratique amateur de l’art sur les acteurs qui sont aussi les juges des performances  des « sociétés » auxquelles ils appartiennent ? Ces interrogations seront au cœur de la journée d’études du 13 septembre 2013. (more…)

Images of the Art Museum: Connecting Gaze and Discourse in the History of Museology
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, 26-28 September 2013

Proposals due by 15 April 2013

Organized by the Max Planck Research Group Objects in the Contact Zone: The Cross-Cultural Lives of Things, directed by Eva-Maria Troelenberg.

Scholars normally consider the institution of the museum to have arisen in Europe. Historians have traced its origin back to the collections of the Renaissance princes and the ‘cabinets of curiosity’, the ‘Kunstkammern’ and ‘Wunderkammern’, literally art chambers and wonder chambers, of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Western Europe. From their initial establishment until today, museums have become increasingly elaborate institutions, the purpose of which is not simply to exhibit collections of beautiful artefacts, but also to become a social agency able to interact with a different kind of public. In particular, in recent years, it seems as though ‘the museum’ has become a geographically universal or ‘global’ institution. At the same time, museum discourses are almost inevitably entangled with political questions, implying definitions of cultural values and privileges of interpretation.

Since the early 1990s, the emerging field of museum studies has seen rapid expansion in the critical study of museums. New Museology started to question the institution and its functions. Anthropological approaches to the object, theories on the aesthetics of perception or ‘Bildakt’ have affected our ideas of the artwork. The current museum boom and the ensuing new wave of historiographical and theoretical writing on museums have on the one hand addressed notions of ‘the museum’ as a temple, a cultural storage or even a universal symbol of enlightenment. On the other hand, more pro-active postmodern approaches work with concepts of the museum as a forum, a place of participation, but also as a machine or even a brand. (more…)

Repetition: Second Annual Art History Graduate Student Conference
University of California, Riverside, 18 May 2013

Proposals due by 15 March 2013

Repetition, as both logic and device, has played a significant role in the history of art. As logic, repetition underlies the very possibility of artworks as meaningful objects, as it is through repeated acquaintance with an object or form that it gains meaning in a prescribed context. And as stylistic device, the use of repetition has transcended historical periods and visual cultures. From prehistory to the present, the repetition of forms and objects has been used by practically all cultures as a way to define common identities, establish order, and inscribe sense and meaning into the world. The use of repeated forms stands at the center of, for instance, practices and objects as distinct as Inca tunic design, Buddhist and Hindu mandalas, Outsider art and 1960s Minimalism. Yet repetition was also part of painterly strategies in the Renaissance and Baroque periods and pervades the concepts of Early Modern print culture as well as sculptural practices. These various examples serve to highlight our expanded approach to the idea of repetition as an integral aspect of a series of diverse practices, including pattern design, seriality, doubling, mirroring, symmetry, recursion, copying and reproducibility. (more…)