Enfilade

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…)

From CSECS:

Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies: Enlightenment Constellations
London, Ontario, 16-19 October 2013

Proposals due by 1 March 2013

The Enlightenment has resurfaced as a vital site for the study of the long eighteenth century. As the ideological critique of humanism and universalism has subsided, a variety of projects have been undertaken, ranging from the digital mapping of the early modern republic of letters, to the “Re-Enlightenment” of knowledge formation for the twenty-first century, to studies of local, radical, religious, and many other enlightenments. Enlightenment Constellations explores this plurality of possibilities. We seek panels and papers on a range of eighteenth-century ideas, discourses, and practices that speak to the expansion and rejuvenation of enlightenment. In addition to traditional panel formats, we welcome proposals for roundtables, panels with digital or new media components, seminars, etc. Panel topics or paper topics may include: (more…)

From Money, Power and Print: Interdisciplinary Studies of the Financial Revolution in the British Isles, 1688-1776:

Money, Power, and Print
The Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe, Leuven, 12-14 June 2014

Proposals due by 15 June 2013

This colloquium, the sixth in a biennial series and the first to be held in Belgium, offers an opportunity for scholars from a variety of disciplines to enrich their mutual understanding of the intersections between public finance, politics and print during Britain’s ‘financial revolution’. The term ‘Britain’ is used loosely to refer to all constituent parts of the United Kingdom and also to Ireland and the colonies.

The organizers invite proposals for papers that will build on the three papers already contributed and the two contemporary publications they have chosen for discussion in an opening-day session. Ideally, submissions should develop ideas in, or comment upon issues raised by, one or more of the papers or readings already included in the program. Abstracts of the organizers’ three papers are printed below.

The contemporary publications to be discussed are:

Laura Auricchio seeks proposals on the subject of “Artistic and Social Practices,” for an August conference in Oslo: The Eighteenth Century in Practice, the fourth Nordic Conference for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

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Artistic and Social Practices in the 18th Century
Proposed Session at the Nordic Conference for Eighteenth-Century Studies
Oslo, 28-31 August 2013

Proposals due by 15 February 2013

At present, there are plans to include in the session a talk addressing drawing as practice rather than product through consideration of a little-known suite of drawings  produced in New York between 1807 and 1814 by a  royalist émigré from Napoleonic France, Anne Marguerite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville. A second paper will address artistic and religious practices vis-à-vis artists’ social networks in 18th-century Paris. Please write with ideas or questions to Laura Auricchio, AuricchL@newschool.edu.

From Hélène Bremer:

The Art of Lying in the Eighteenth Century
Amsterdam, 17-18 January 2014

Proposals due by 15 March 2013

Thomas Rowlandson, Transplanting Teeth, 1787

On Friday January 17 and Saturday January 18, 2014 the annual conference of the Werkgroep 18de Eeuw will be held in Amsterdam. The major theme of the conference is: The Art of Lying.

Lying and cheating were daily practice in the eighteenth century. That is, if we believe the many pamphlets, newspapers, comedies, criminal biographies and criminal records. Before one knew one had lost his money, goods, reputation or health. Despite the severe penalties on stealing and murdering and despite all Enlightenment ideals, trickery and deceit seem to have been rather mainstream. Historical criminologists have shown that it is a misconception to think that cheating only existed in the lower classes or in the margins of eighteenth century society. In each social class fraud and corruption were common. Persons like Casanova and Cagliostro were operating in the highest circles. Some of the wealthiest people were specialized in real estate fraud and illegal speculation, not to mention the corruption in politics and in the (para)medical sector. At the same time, an anti-movement started. Eighteenth-century ‘philosophes’ were fascinated by the truth and the late eighteenth-century revolutions could not have taken place without the desire to eradicate corruption.

The conference aims for an interdisciplinary and international approach to the phenomenon of fraud and corruption. Topics may include an international affair such as the South Sea Bubble, the corruption of regents, the medical  malpractice of quacks or the vicissitudes of a local thief. We will also focus on the ways in which the criminal world was represented in the media. Possible key questions to be addressed are:

• What was the top 10 list of famous con men in the eighteenth century, nationally and internationally?
• What was the relationship between truth and lying in the eighteenth century?
• To what extent were corruption and fraud considered to be normal?
• Could one survive without lying?
• Can we consider the Enlightenment movement as a response or an antidote to this culture of lying?
• How were con men, thieves and murders punished and sentenced?
• How did the late eighteenth-century revolutions contributed to a transformation of a culture of lying into a more just society?
• Why became the genre of criminal biography so popular in the eighteenth century? And why in general do we find so many crooks, thieves and swindlers in eighteenth-century literature?
• In what sense did literature and the arts play an active part in combating fraud?
• Can we state that neither the Enlightenment nor the Judeo-Christian tradition – both considering lying as a sin – have been able to change human nature?

Historians, art historians, criminologists, philosophers, sociologists, economists, literary and medical historians, are all invited to give an inspiring lecture of approximately twenty minutes. We also welcome scholars who want to bridge the gap between past and present. Please submit proposals (approximately 300 words in Dutch or English) before March 15, 2013 by email to: devriesmarleen@hotmail.com. Contributors will be notified that their proposal has been accepted by April 1, 2013.

Note: On Friday, January 17, we will host one or more guest speakers from abroad. This day will therefore be in English, and all lectures should be conducted in English. The language for Saturday, January 18, will be Dutch.

From the MWCBS:

The Midwest Conference on British Studies, 60th Annual Meeting
DePaul University, Chicago, 11-13 October 2013

Proposals due by 1 April 2013

The Midwest Conference on British Studies is proud to announce that its 60th Annual Meeting will be hosted by DePaul University in Chicago, October 11-13, 2013. The keynote speaker will be Professor Robert Bucholz of Loyola University of Chicago, and the plenary address will be given by Professor Jonathan Rose of Drew University. The MWCBS is also pleased to celebrate the career of Professor Walter L. Arnstein at this year’s meeting.

The MWCBS seeks papers from scholars in all fields of British Studies, broadly defined to include those who study England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Britain’s Empire and the Commonwealth. We welcome scholars from a broad spectrum of disciplines, including but not limited to history, literature, political science, gender studies and art history. Proposals for complete sessions are preferred, although proposals for individual papers will be considered. We welcome roundtables (of four participants plus chair) and panels (of three participants plus chair/commentator) that:

• offer cross-disciplinary perspectives on topics in British Studies
• situate the arts, letters, and sciences in a British cultural context
• examine representations of British and imperial/Commonwealth national identities
• consider Anglo-American relations, past and present
• examine new trends in British Studies
• assess a major work or body of work by a scholar
• explore new developments in digital humanities and/or research methodologies

After positive responses to recent roundtables on teaching and employment, we would particularly like to receive proposals for teaching roundtables that discuss collaborative or innovative learning techniques in the British Studies classroom and for professional development roundtables dealing with research, publication, or employment. We are also pleased to announce a session on holdings available to scholars conducting research in the Chicago area.
The MWCBS welcomes papers presented by advanced graduate students and will award the Walter L. Arnstein Prize for the best graduate student paper(s) given at the conference. A limited number of graduate travel scholarships will be available, and all graduate students are encouraged to apply. Please see the MWCBS website for further details.

Proposals must:

• Include a 200-word abstract for each paper and a brief, 1-page c.v. for each participant, including chairs and commentators.

• For full panels, include a brief 200-word preview of the panel as a whole.

Please place the panel proposal, the accompanying paper proposals and vitas in one file and send it as a single attachment. Also identify within the email the contact person for the panel. All proposals should be submitted electronically by April 1, 2013, to the Program Committee Chair, Jennifer McNabb at JL-Mcnabb@wiu.edu.

Program Committee: Martin Greig, Ryerson University; Phil Harling, University of Kentucky; Robin Hermann, University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Isaac Land, Indiana State University; Jennifer McNabb, Chair, Western Illinois University; and Cathryn Spence, University of Guelph.

I’m hoping to put together a panel for this year’s NACBS meeting in Portland. Please email me with any questions! -CH

Session on the British Country House at NACBS
North American Conference on British Studies, Portland, 8-10 November 2013

Proposals due by 18 February 2013

This session seeks to bring together scholars working on the full range of topics associated with country houses in British history – including architecture, the decorative arts, and gardens. Papers might address material aspects as well as larger contextual approaches that situate particular families and houses within narratives of power, patronage, the history of taste, and British identity. Please email a 200-word proposal and a CV to CraigAshleyHanson@gmail.com by 18 February 2013 (the complete panel will need to be submitted together in March).

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.

Visualizing Portuguese Power: The Political Use of Images
in Portugal and Its Overseas Empire, 16th to 18th Century
Munich, Center for Advanced Studies, 26-27 September 2013

Proposals due by 28 February 2013

Images have always played a vital role in political communication and in the visualization of power structures and hierarchies. They gain even more importance in situations where non-verbal communication prevails: In the negotiation processes between two (or more) different cultures, the language of the visual is often thought of as the more effective way to acquaint (and overpower) the others with one’s own principles, beliefs, value systems. Scores of these asymmetrical exchange situations have taken place in the Portuguese overseas Empire since its gradual expansion in the 16th century.

In art history, the role of images in the contact zones of the early modern empires has recently met with an increasing interest. It is above all the study of objects belonging to the so-called Jesuit mission art and the art produced in the context of the other religious orders that has shed new light on the potentiality of images in
transcultural exchange processes. Numerous of these religious art works were, however, also used to visualize political claims and transmit notions of colonial power. The Munich workshop aims to develop thoughts on the broad phenomenon of Portuguese-Christian Art in the African, Asian and American colonies further by adding the dimension of the political appropriation of these (and other) objects. How were these ‘hybrid’ artefacts staged and handled to generate new layers of meaning and visualize political ideas and concepts? (more…)