Conference: The End of an Era? New Perspectives on Edwardian Art

Friday, May 10, 2013, 5:30 pm–7:30 pm, and Saturday, May 11, 2013, 9:30 am–5:45 pm
, Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven

Keynote Lecture: The Rhythm of Time in the Arts of Edwardian Britain, Angus Trumble, Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, Yale Center for British Art

This international symposium coincides with the Center’s major exhibition Edwardian Opulence: British Art at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century, curated by Angus Trumble, Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, Yale Center for British Art, and Andrea Wolk Rager, Visiting Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University. Although King Edward VII reigned for only nine years, he gave his name to an era remarkable for its opulence and its contradictions. This symposium will offer a forum for considering the state of the field of interdisciplinary studies of the Edwardian period. Presenting a series of position papers in response to key themes, speakers will examine why the Edwardian era continues to exert a powerful afterlife and provide new interpretations of the art of the period. Participants will also have the opportunity to tour the exhibition with the curators. Speakers include: Cassandra Albinson (Yale Center for British Art), Tim Barringer (Yale University), Grace Brockington (University of Bristol), Michael Hatt (University of Warwick), Linda Ferber (New-York Historical Society), Pamela Fletcher (Bowdoin College), Barbara Gallati (Independent Curator), Morna O’Neill (Wake Forest University), Susan Sidlauskas (Rutgers University), Sarah Turner (University of York), and Alison Inglis (University of Melbourne).

The symposium is free and open to the public. Advance registration is recommended. Register online through May 8. On-site registration will begin at 9:00 am on May 11. For further information, please contact Research (ycba.research@yale.edu).

 

Conference: Visual Culture in Crisis – Britain c.1800 – Present

Friday 10th – Saturday 11th May 2013, Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, University of York.

Keynote Speakers: Professor Christopher Pinney (UCL), Dr Eric Stryker (Southern Methodist University), Dr. Chad Elias (University of York), and Corinne Silver (artist).

‘European mastery is always in crisis – and it is this same crisis that defines European modernity’ – Empire, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri

The word ‘crisis’ is frequently invoked to assess Britain’s current place in the world: crises in finance, journalism, politics and geopolitics dominate the media, all of which see the term used both to reflect, and manipulate, a sense of uncertainty and confusion on personal, national, and global levels. Taking its cue from Hardt and Negri’s location of ‘crisis’ as central to European modernity, this conference seeks to explore how visual cultures from the 19th century to the present have simultaneously responded to – and emerged from – such successive crises. Crisis might signify avant-garde break-through and embrace of modernity. It might impel artistic breakdown or flight from modernity, anarchic celebration, or resistance in the form of protest. Crisis in visual culture could above all be emblematic of the contingent nature of personal and political identities. As both a product and a precipitant of the inter-state and inter-subjective networks that have emerged in conjunction with imperialism and economic globalisation, crisis can articulate a disharmony between metropole and colony, centre and periphery, state and individual, working constantly to disrupt the geographical, cultural and class boundaries of peoples and nations.

This two-day conference, generously supported the British Art Research School at the University of York and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, aims to begin unpacking some of these issues.  See below for a full timetable of the event, or visit our website for more information: http://visualcultureincrisis.wordpress.com/

All welcome – there is no fee.  Please register by emailing visualcultureincrisis@gmail.com

Conference – Victor Pasmore, Richard Hamilton: radical innovation in art, architecture and art education in the North East

Live Theatre, Newcastle – 3 & 4 May, 2013

This high-profile conference takes place at the Live Theatre, Newcastle, across one and a half days. It is open to all. Michael Bracewell, the author of Re-Make, Re-Model and the Birth of Roxy Music will be interviewing Marcus Price, former owner of Newcastle’s high-class mode outfitters. Among the various topics to be discussed will be the teaching of Basic Design, Hamilton’s interest in TV, politics and advertising, his collaboration with Duchamp, and his and Pasmore’s innovative exhibition-making. There will also be a paper on Pasmore’s involvement with the building of Peterlee new town and its Apollo Pavilion, and a look at Hamilton’s late engagement with digital technology through the lens of his Basic Design pedagogy. Overall the conference will explain why Newcastle University’s School of Art occupied a leading position amongst art schools in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Cumulatively, we will be investigating a rare moment in the history of art and design in this country, when a regional development made a vital contribution to the history of modernism. For further information on this conference and access to its

Call for Papers – The Thirteenth York Manuscripts Conference: Cathedral Libraries and Archives of Britain and Ireland

Conference hosted by the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies at the University of York, 3-5 July 2014. Abstract Deadline, 1 July 2013.

The York Manuscripts Conference has been held biennially or triennially since 1986 and, with about 50 papers, is amongst the largest conferences in Europe dedicated to manuscript studies. The Thirteenth York Manuscripts Conference, to be held from 3-5 July 2014 will have as its topic the Cathedral Libraries and Archives of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Cathedral Libraries and Archives of Britain and Ireland comprise some of the most remarkable and least explored collections of medieval and early modern manuscripts. While predictably focused on theological, liturgical, and devotional books, they also contain many medical, scientific, and literary sources, as well as legal and administrative documents. In addition to the many collections that are still in situ, others are now being looked after elsewhere, or have been dispersed. The conference will include papers on medieval and early modern manuscripts which are or were once held by the cathedrals of Britian and Ireland, considering their varied contents, illumination, use, and provenance; paper topics might also explore the formation, development, and dissolution of the libraries themselves; connections between different collections; their location and cataloguing within the cathedrals; or the distinction between cathedral libraries and cathedral archives in a historical perspective. Papers which shed light on lesser known treasures and collections will be especially welcome. We invite papers from researchers in the fields of religion, history, art history, musicology, history of science, literature, codicology, conservation, and other cognate disciplines. Papers delivered at the conference may be considered for inclusion in a volume of selected essays.

Call for Papers – Modern British History since 1750

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.

Call for Papers – Legacy: Mythology and Authenticity in the Humanities

De Montfort University: A postgraduate conference 28th June 2013. Proposal Deadline April 16th

This conference focuses on the influence of cultural ‘legacies’ within current humanities research.  By highlighting the work of postgraduates and early career researchers, this interdisciplinary conference will examine the various ways in which ‘legacies’ are created, restructured, perpetuated and even rejected.  It will also question whether newer disciplines respond to cultural mythologies by establishing their own ‘legacy’ as a means of achieving academic authentication. The recent confirmed identity of Richard the III, Faber’s choice of cover illustration for its anniversary issue of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, and the recent film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit are just a few of the numerous examples that demonstrate how cultural legacies evolve within academic research and the public forum. These inherited cultural legacies are continually being redefined, rebranded and reevaluated, creating a cyclical pattern that challenges the ways in which we approach and define them.  This brings into question the social and political significance of ‘legacy’ and its relevance within the humanities, both as a research theme and as a lens by which to view the progression of our respective disciplines. The conference will conclude with a roundtable discussion with Professor Dominic Shellard the Vice-Chancellor of De Montfort University, Dr Will Buckingham of the School of Humanities at De Montfort University, and Mr Sam Causer of the Leicester School of Architecture.

Call for Papers: Collaborators – The Role of Collectors, Critics and Curators in Artistic Practice c. 1780-1914

Honoré Daumier, The Print Collectors, c.1863–5. Photo c. V&A

Conference: 26 June 2013, Humanities Research Centre, University of York; Call for Papers Deadline: Friday 26th April

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.

Conference: Inter-Culture, 1400-1850: Art, Artists and Migration

International Art History Conference, Liverpool Hope University (creative Campus), Friday 5th and Saturday 6th April 2013

While major exhibitions, such as Migrations-Journeys into British Art (January–August 2012) at Tate Britain, address the impact of migration on the cultural heritage and artistic production in a particular country, the conference seeks to investigate further this exciting topic by discussing thematically the latest research of international scholars. Instead of focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries and the strong consequences migration caused in modern and postmodern societies, the conference organizers intend to look back and explore the effects of migration on art and artists in Europe and beyond before, during and shortly after the Industrial Revolution.

Why have artists left their comfort zone, travelled to faraway places and adapted to new living conditions when only very few had a noteworthy impact on local artistic production, such as Hans Holbein the Younger at Henry VIII’s court or El Greco, who is the prime example for intercultural artistic exchange in early modern times? How important was national identity for the artists and also for the reception of their work? What are the differences and parallels between pre- and post-Industrial Revolution migration of artists?

Conference: Representing War and Violence in the Pre-Modern World

Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, 23rd – 24th September 2013

Registration is now open for the conference Representing War and Violence in the Pre-Modern World, which will explore the documentation, depiction and narration of conflict in the medieval and early modern periods, bringing together historians, art historians and literary scholars. Professor Daniel Weiss (Lafayette College), Professor Richard Kaeuper (University of Rochester), and Professor Anne Curry (University of Southampton) will be the keynote speakers. You can view the full schedule and original call for papers here, as well as information about how to register. You can also contact the organisers at representing.war.conference@gmail.com

Conference: Gifts and Perquisites

Knole, Kent, 9.30-4.30 pm, 15 April 2013

Conveners: Janet Dickinson, Ed Town and Olivia Fryman. This interdisciplinary conference will address the customs of gift giving and perquisites during the medieval and early modern periods. Gifts and perquisites played a central role in networks of patronage and political negotiations and affirmed social bonds. They were also one of the most common means whereby royal furnishings were disseminated into courtier collections. This conference will be held at Knole, the Kent home of the Sackville family, which is cared for and managed by the National Trust. The collections at Knole include an unrivalled set of royal furnishings that were acquired as perquisites during the seventeenth century by Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex and Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset. The conference will include a tour of the house and its collections.