CFP: The Print in the Codex ca. 1500 to 1900, deadline 16 September 2020

The Bibliographical Society of America is sponsoring a panel session for the the College Art Association annual conference (10-13 February, 2021).

The Print in the Codex ca. 1500-1900 will consider bound volumes created or transformed through the incorporation of independently printed images. Inspired by recent scholarship that addresses the popularity of modifying, enhancing, or creating books in this manner, this session will focus on the production and reception of such books between the widespread adoption of the printing press in Europe, circa 1500, and the nineteenth-century rise of public museums and libraries, with their increasingly standardized and discrete organizational systems. Papers may address any books into which independently printed images have been incorporated, whether these books include text and whether they are analyzed as unique items or as products of broader creative or curatorial practices. This session seeks papers that consider both the material and the conceptual aspects of these complex volumes. Themes may include the agendas of specific creators; the codex as a structure and ways in which prints were designed for, or adapted to it; or how these works inform histories of reading, book and print production, or book and print collection. Papers may also address how these books relate to those of earlier centuries. Themes addressing subsequent reception are also welcome. Such themes include interpretive and practical challenges that the books present, and opportunities they offer, to the evolving institutional and media landscapes of the twenty-first century. 

Please send proposals, including title, abstract (250 words) and CV by Wednesday 16 September 2020 to: Jeanne-Marie Musto, Program Committee, Bibliographical Society of America, at musto.jeannemarie@gmail.com.

NB: CAA membership is not required to submit a paper proposal, but is required once proposals are accepted. For more information concerning participation in the CAA 2021 conference, see: http://www.collegeart.org/programs/conference/proposals.

Online Conference: Image and Ascent: Mountain Terrains in the History of Art, The Warburg Institute, 14 – 17 September 2020

Organised by Dr Joanne W. Anderson (University of Aberdeen) and Dr Carla Benzan (The Open University)

That artworks are closely tied to the landscape in which they are produced is often taken for granted, and yet the recent ecological turn in the humanities has only begun to critically intervene in the methodology of writing art’s histories. Image and Ascent: Mountain Terrains in the History of Art brings recent interest in mountains across the humanities into dialogue with the history of images, offering a forum for new research concerning images of, and images produced in, mountainous terrains. Seeking an alternative to the hierarchical opposition between the base and the summit, we emphasise the notion of the terrain to raise the way in which human agents – artists, patrons, beholders, and scholars – must accommodate and respond to their natural environment. 

Originally scheduled as a two-day conference for June 2020, Image and Ascent will now take the form of a series of afternoon sessions delivered online via the Zoom platform, and hosted by the Warburg Institute. 

ATTENDANCE FREE. YOU MAY BOOK FOR THE FULL CONFERENCE OR FOR A SPECIFIC DAY.

PLEASE BOOK BY THURSDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2020.

More information here.

Monday 14 September
3.00-3:55pm: Keynote address
Professor Jason König (University of St. Andrews): “Mountains and Vision in Ancient Literature and Culture” 
Respondent: Veronica della Dora

4.00-5.00pm: Session 1: “Rhythm, Transmission, Travel”
Chair: Martina Mazzotta 
Linda Schädler (ETH Zürich): “Irene Kopelman. In Search Of Glaciological Traces”
Marianne Cailloux (Lille University): “Multimodal Mountain perceptions of the mountain: how artistic workshops convey the idea of the Alps”  
Philipp Meurer (Kiel University): “Deictic Shifts into the Image? – Fictional Aspects in Pieter Bruegel’s Large Landscape Series”

Tuesday 15 September 
3.00-3:40pm: Session 2: “Topography, Peripheries, Power” 
Chair: Opher Mansour 
Barnaby Nygren (Loyola University Maryland): “‘Indian Wonders’: The Landscapes of Early Colonial Mexico”
Elizabeth Griffith (Independent): “Mountain Imagery in Genoese, Ragusan, and Venetian Cityscapes”

3:45-4:45pm: Session 3: “Simulacra, Structures, Recreations”
Chair: Alessandro Scafi 
Shaun Midanik (University of Toronto): “Simulating the Ascent: Jacopo Ligozzi and the Descrizione del Sacro Monte della Verna (1612)”
Henrietta Simson (University of the Arts, London): “Moving a Mountain: The Distance and Presence of the 13th-Century Wilderness Image”
Rhoda Eitel-Porter (Print Quarterly): “Mountainous Terrain: Visualizing Dante in Sixteenth-Century Italy”
4:45-5.00pm: Breakout discussions

Wednesday 16 September
3.00-4.00pm: Session 4: “Mapping, Aesthetics, Epistemology” 
Chair: John Tresch 
Cristóbal F. Barria Bignotti (The Centre for Sensory Studies, Concordia University): “William Morris Davis: Drawing the geomorphology of mountains”
Denise Koller (Princeton University): “Shaping the Lithic Mass: Composition and Geology in Ferdinand Hodler”
Rachel Daphne Weiss (UCLA): “Atlas/Mountains: Jan Hackaert’s Alpine Landscapes in the Atlas Blaeu-van der Hem”

4:05-4:45pm: Session 5: “Performance, Theory, Site” 
Chair: Oliver O’Donnell 
Jonathan Pitches (University of Leeds): “Mountain site related performance: bringing mountain culture into the climate crisis debate”
Jonathan Westaway (University of Central Lancashire): “‘But there is Art and ART’: George Leigh Mallory, positional deixis and the aesthetics of mountaincraft”

4:45-5.00pm: Breakout discussions

Thursday 17 September 
3.00-4.00pm: Session 6: “Disintegration, Environment, Mechanics” 
Chair: Thalia Allington-Wood
Diana Mellon (Columbia University): “Bathing and Descent in De balneis Puteolanis”
James Pilgrim (Johns Hopkins University/CASVA): “Bassano’s Alluvial Painting”
Anna Grasskamp (Hong Kong Baptist University): “Miniature Mountains: Landscape Constructions in German Handstein and Chinese penjing” 

4:05-5.00pm: Keynote Address
Christopher P. Heuer (University of Rochester): “Evaporating Dürer”
Respondent: Rose Marie San Juan

5.00pm: Final summary

More information here.

Online Lecture Series: Yale Lectures in Late Antique and Byzantine Art and Architecture, 2020-2021

This lecture series is organized by Robert S. Nelson, Robert Lehman Professor in the History of Art, and Vasileios Marinis, Associate Professor of Christian Art and Architecture at the ISM and YDS. Support is provided by the Department of Classics and the Department of the History of Art. 

Zoom lectures begin at 12 noon Eastern Time
[Registration and viewing link coming soon]

11 September 2020
Visual Epitome in Late Antique Art
Jaś Elsner, University of Oxford
Respondent: Maria Doerfler, Yale

9 October 2020
Visual Mastery of the Hippodrome?: Rethinking the Imperial Image in Byzantium
Paroma Chatterjee, University of Michigan
Respondent: Jacqueline Jung, Yale

13 November 2020
Everlasting Monument [արձան մշտնջենաւոր]: Ani Cathedral and its Contexts
Christina Maranci, Tufts University
Respondent: Vasileios Marinis, Yale

11 December 2020
What do Mosaics Want? Or, Wall Mosaics and the Space between Viewer and Viewed
Liz James, University of Sussex
Respondent: Robert S. Nelson, Yale

8 January 2021
The Nativity Church in Bethlehem in the Light of Recent Restorations
Michele Bacci, University of Fribourg
Respondent: Ariel Fine, Yale 

12 February 2021
From Domestic to Divine: The Mosaics of Late Antique Syria
Sean Leatherbury, University College, Dublin
Respondent: Örgü Dalgıç, Yale

12 March 2021
Africa in Late Antiquity: Faith, Politics, and Commerce between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea
Andrea Achi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Respondent: Felicity Harley, Yale

9 April 2021
Auro, argento, aere perennius: Byzantine Art in and through Coins 4th–15th Centuries  
Cécile Morrisson, CNRS and Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Respondent: Benjamin Dieter R. Hellings, Yale

More information can be found here.

CFP: Medieval War and Memory at International Medieval Congress (Leeds 2021), deadline 10 September 2020

Remembering war in the 21st century tends to focus on the loss and sacrifice regardless of the outcome. Memorials are built to remember the common soldier, events are held to honour the war dead, and the memories of veterans respected. While many are aware that this is how modern society chooses to remember war, when thinking about how medieval society remembered war the picture is not as clear. In the time of chivalry and the crusades, how did their way of remembering war differ from ours? This panel hopes to discuss questions such as: How was war remembered in the medieval period? Did remembering focus on the glory of the war leaders? How did medieval society record memories of war? How does modern society remember medieval war?

We encourage submissions on any aspect of medieval war and memory. Suggestions for topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Soldier’s memories of war
  • Warfare and memory in medieval texts
  • Memories of medieval military leaders
  • Memorialisation of medieval warfare, or the use of medieval military imagery in modern memorials
  • Heritage and the memory of medieval warfare
  • Memories of peace-making
  • Memory and the commemoration of warfare in medieval culture
  • Loss and memories of war

Please submit abstracts of no more than 300 words to katrina.ingram@stu.mmu.ac.uk or K.Hurlock@mmu.ac.uk by 10 September 2020. We are particularly keen to attract sibmissions form PGR researchers and ECRs.

Membership: Discounted Membership in the ICMA for First-Time International Members, deadline 31 August 2020

The ICMA is offering a promotion for first time international members –  50% off 2020 membership (code valid until 31 August 2020). To join, go to medievalart.org, create an account, select “individual” membership, then enter code ICMA2020.  Membership is valid until 31 December and includes all benefits.  

The offer is good only until 31 August 2020. New members will get both issues of Gesta for the year 2020- New members will be eligible for ICMA-Kress Research and Publication grants and ICMA-Kress Exhibition grants.

The deadline for both is August 31, 2020; info at: https://www.medievalart.org/kress-research-grant AND https://www.medievalart.org/exhibition-grant- 

In case of difficulties signing up and using the discount code, please contact Executive Director Ryan Frisinger at icma@medievalart.org.

icma-overseas-promotion-june2020Download

CFP: Pre-Modern Women as Artists, Patrons and Collectors, Association for Art History Annual Conference (14-17 April 2021), deadline 19 October 2020

The study of women in pre-modern times is a well-established field that has generated important scholarship. But, as ongoing research shows, there is no shortage of new material yet to be analysed, or existing evidence that can be nuanced in the light of new methodological approaches. And whilst recent monographic exhibitions attest to the enduring appeal of ‘female artists’ in the ‘genius’ tradition (e.g. Anguissola, Gentileschi), new and ongoing work in the field points to different ways that women’s interaction with visual and material culture can be approached. The application of new digital and mapping technologies, meanwhile, is enabling scholars to propose alternative, non-linear narratives of pre-modern women’s lives.

We therefore invite proposals for papers exploring the role of women as artists, patrons and collectors in the medieval and early modern periods, broadly defined (c.400–1700). We encourage submissions that disrupt chronological and geographical conceptions of this period, or commonplace ideas surrounding ‘medieval’ or ‘early modern’ women. Papers considering non-Western subjects and materials, or which draw on new methodologies including digital ones, are also particularly welcome.

Papers may consider ruling and elite women, religious or secular ones, as well as laywomen. Possible topics include:

  • women as ‘makers’
  • women as patrons/collectors of paintings, sculptures, works on paper, or visual and material culture more broadly conceived
  • women and patronage of architecture or other large-scale ensembles
  • women and books (libraries, translators, writers)
  • women’s networks
  • gender and identity
  • inventories and women inheritors/benefactors
  • women in commerce (dealers, proprietors)
  • applying digital/mapping technologies to pre-modern sources
  • methodological and theoretical papers interrogating issues surrounding the study of pre-modern women.

More information can be found here.

Submission: Abstracts of around 500 words must be sent to e.a.lestrange@bham.ac.uk by 15 October 2020.

Session organisers:

  • Jamie Edwards, University of Exeter, j.l.edwards@exeter.ac.uk
  • Elizabeth L’Estrange, University of Birmingham, e.a.lestrange@bham.ac.uk
  • Edward Wouk, University of Manchester, edward.wouk@manchester.ac.uk

Online Lecture: Hagia Sophia: The History of the Building and the Building in History, Dumbarton Oaks Webinar, 1 September 1 2020, 11–12:30 (EDT)

Built between 532 and 537, Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom, Ayasofya) represents a brilliant moment in Byzantine architecture and art. It was the principal church of the Byzantine Empire in its capital, Constantinople (later Istanbul), and a mosque after the Ottoman Empire conquered the city in 1453. The decision of the Turkish government in 1934 to establish Ayasofya as a museum was intended to make it a repository of human history—all human history, not a single history confined to one religion or people. Recently, this decision was annulled, turning the building again into a mosque.

With the passage of time, Hagia Sophia has become deeply embedded in competing narratives of national, regional, religious, and cultural significance. Selective readings of cultural heritage, however, can effectively erase historical memory and sever links with the past. As a monument on the world stage, it should be allowed to maintain multiple meanings, to resonate with multiple narratives and histories for diverse audiences. This exceptional building belongs to world cultural heritage. 

Between 1931 and 1949, work was undertaken by the Byzantine Institute of America (founded by Thomas Whittemore in 1930) to reveal and preserve the mosaics of Hagia Sophia. Dumbarton Oaks, with its legacy of displaying, studying, and publishing all aspects of Byzantium, assumed the oversight of the Hagia Sophia project in 1953 and since then has been documenting every facet of this building and its artistic and historical record. Dumbarton Oaks houses an exceptionally important archive of data on the building in all its significant dimensions. We are in the process of making freely available online the extensive body of sources from, documentation of, and scholarship on Hagia Sophia collected and generated by the Byzantine Institute and Dumbarton Oaks.

This webinar brings together scholars who have actively promoted research on the Hagia Sophia and will cover historical facts, Dumbarton Oaks’ involvement, and the issues related to the recent reconversion of the monument. 

PROGRAM

Advance registration required. Register here.

Participants:

Ioli Kalavrezou (Harvard University), “Dumbarton Oaks, Hagia Sophia, and Its Historical Mosaics” 

Robert Nelson (Yale University), “Hagia Sophia: A Modern Monument?”

Bissera Pentcheva (Stanford University), “Hagia Sophia and the Liquidity of Light and Sound” 

Tugba Tanyeri-Erdemir (University of Pittsburgh), “Reconquest of Hagia Sophia: Official Discourse and Popular Narratives”

Moderator:

Elizabeth Bolman (Case Western Reserve University)

Fellowships: The Bibliographical Society of America

The Bibliographical Society of America (BSA) is accepting applications for multiple fellowship opportunities. The BSA funds a number of fellowships to promote inquiry and research in books and other textual artifacts in both traditional and emerging formats.

Projects may include establishing a text or studying the history of book or manuscript production, publication, distribution, collecting, or reading, and the history of bibliographical study itself. Fellowship awards may be used to fund travel to collections and other expenses associated with research, publication, or other scholarly outcomes related to the topic for which the award was made. Projects that are primarily enumerative (lists) will be considered for funding provided the proposal states a clear objective, describes the need for such work within its field, and specifies the extent to which textual objects will be described.

The BSA offers more than a dozen fellowships supporting a broad range of bibliographical pursuits. In addition to the broad array of Fellowship opportunities we have offered in the past, the Society is pleased to announce two new categories of fellowships supporting research by midwestern bibliographers and collections professionals (respectively) this year thanks to generous support from The Caxton Club of Chicago and the Peck-Stacpoole Foundation.

Find more information about Fellowships and application instructions here.

Exhibition: Hebrew Manuscripts: Journeys of the Written Word, British Library, 1 Sep 2020 – 11 Apr 2021

Journey beyond the Bible to discover the history, culture and traditions of Jewish people from all corners of the world through the ages.

Through rarely-seen treasures from as far back as the 10th century, this exhibition takes you from Europe and North Africa, through to the Middle East and China to explore the relationships between Jews and their neighbours in the communities that they lived in.

How much knowledge and culture was exchanged between these groups? Fascinating works displayed on music, science and philosophy by famous Jewish scholars suggest there was more than we might think.

Witness both the high points and the lows of these relationships. An Italian rabbi’s reply to Henry VIII, who sought advice on divorcing his first wife. A 13th-century Anglo-Jewish charter showing the passing of property between people of different faiths. And the signs of conflict as we encounter Christian censorship in Jewish texts.

Along the way, meet the sages versed in magic, Kabbalah and alchemy, and even learn a love potion or two, as we discover the power of the written word.

More information can be found here.

CFP: Mary on the Move: Marian Iconography in Late Medieval France, International Congress on Medieval Studies Kalamazoo 2021, deadline 15 September 2020

Session 1363

The proposed session concentrates of Marian iconography of the Late middle Ages, with particular emphasis on fourteenth to sixteenth century. It focuses on the movement of iconographies in/from/towards France by highlighting connections and influences pertaining to Italian, Spanish and/or geographical areas. Furthermore, it situates Marian visual depictions in the context of the development of Marian devotion (rise in her cult and liturgical feasts) and specific theological debates (Immaculate Conception).

The session is dedicated to the iconography of the Virgin Mary, generally speaking. This implies that any aspect of Marian iconography is accepted, into the session, starting with general or particular episodes of Mary’s life, development(s) of iconographic details or specific iconographies. The session aims at approaching such representations in a comparative manner either by focusing on the visual-textual relationship or by highlighting influences and movements of iconographies from one geographic area to the other. It focuses on material from various media be that miniatures, frescoes, altarpieces, etc.

Please submit an abstract 200-300 words for 15-20 minutes papers via the submission portal here by 15 September 2020.

Contact information: Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy (andrea.znorovszky@unive.it)