Medieval Art Research

Call for Papers: Urbanity and Society in the Medieval World (York, 22-23 May 2015)

Urbanity and Society in the Medieval World: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Urban Society and Life Across the Medieval Period c.600-1500

King’s Manor, University of York 22nd -23rd May 2015

Urban Studies is a sub-field with a long and distinguished history of its own. Those who investigate urban environments have, however, largely been seen as working independently from other aspects of historical study, as a consequence of the separate and distinctive role envisaged for towns and cities by feudal models of society. With the growth of less rigid models of understanding social and political relationships, it is time to rethink what urban centres meant to wider society. The ‘urban’ as an interdisciplinary topic can be brought together through discussion of all the different ways that urban life was understood, recorded and depicted as well as its physical remains. In addition to looking at the multi-faceted urban experience, this conference will examine the relationships between towns and other aspects of medieval society and culture. How might literature, art or archaeology uncover and explain perceptions of urban institutions such as, but not limited to, guilds, religious bodies or civic authorities? Are there regional differences in how the city or the town should be understood? Is there a difference between the two terms? Was this the same across Europe and the world?

This one-day conference with a public keynote lecture on the Friday aims to bring together post-graduate students and academics alike from a variety of disciplines to open up conversations and create new networks of approaches to urban topics. Disciplines could include, but by no means are limited to, History, Art History, Literature, and Archaeology.

We are delighted that Dr Zoë Opačić (History of Art, Birkbeck) and Dr Richard Goddard (History, University of Nottingham) have agreed to give keynotes.

Potential Proposals might address but are not limited to:

Medieval Understandings of Towns
Representations of Urban Spaces
Comparative approaches to Towns
Towns in non-Western Europe

Please send 20 minute paper abstracts or proposals for whole panels to urbanityandsociety2015@gmail.com by February 27th 2015.

Call for papers: International Postgraduate Workshop on Religious Architecture (Leifers, 4-8 June 2015)

The workshop addresses postgraduate students, who are preparing a thesis on any topic related to medieval church architecture between the 9th and 14th century. It aims to be a platform for the discussion of individual research projects and current results. The circle of participants is intended to include art historians and building researchers as well as theologians, historians, archeologists
and architects, in order to enable an interdisciplinary exchange.

At present, new research on medieval church architecture is hardly imaginable without an interdisciplinary approach. In recent years, a multitude of new technological resources were made useful for building research and an increasing number of new methodologies, especially concerning questions of liturgy and spatial use, came to the center of attention – all leading to a wide range of new discoveries. Even if the importance of including diverse approaches has long been recognized, an according platform for young researchers dealing with medieval churches has not been established yet. In consequence, this workshop wants to create a possibility for a free, institutionally independent discourse on current issues of the individual research, in which all participants will contribute their own experience. In addition to the evaluation of research contents, enough space will be given to discuss matter of organization and future career possibilities.

The workshop, which will take place from 4th till 8th of June 2015, is laid-out for the participation of up to fifteen postgraduate students, who will present their PhD projects – or new results, specific questions from these – for discussion. As the workshop is generally open to all interested researchers on postgraduate level, applications in German or English are possible and welcome.

We would kindly ask for the submission of applications until the 15th of February 2015. Applications should comprise of a short curriculum vitae and an abstract/paper proposal including the following:
– PhD topic, a short summary of the main research question, applied methodology
– supervisor and scheduled deadline for the completion
– current progress and issues to be presented/ discussed during the workshop

In order to prepare a fruitful exchange of ideas, all participants will receive the abstracts of the other contributions before the workshop. The final program will be fixed, as soon as the participants are selected. Each contributor will dispose of one hour of time, which can be allocated to the presentation of the topic and the subsequent discussion at his/her own discretion.

Thanks to the generous support of the Elisabeth and Helmut Uhl Foundation, the workshop will be held at their conference house Buchnerhof. The estate is located in the mountains of Alto-Adige/Südtirol, 50 minutes walking distance from Leifers in the Etsch valley. The foundation will organize a transport of the luggage from the train station in Leifers and ensures the highest possible independence of the event through covering the expenses of accommodation and meals. Further information on the foundation can be found here: http://eh-uhl-stiftung.org/.

The organizers will be glad to support participants in organizing their journey (e.g. through carsharing). Travel grants will presumably be available. After the workshop, a field-trip of several day´s duration to the medieval churches of the surroundings (Etsch valley, Vinschgau) is intended, during which the discussion and exchange can be continued and intensified. Expenses for this field trip will have to be covered by the participants and will amount to approx. 35 € per night. Applicants are kindly asked to state in their application, if interested in participating in the field-trip.

Applications should be sent by 15 February 2015 to:
mittelalterliche-Sakralarchitektur@web.de

Organizing committee:
Pascal Hess (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main)
Thomas Kaffenberger (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz / King´s College London)
Mareike Liedmann (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
Verena Smit (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster)

Conference: Movement in Medieval Art and Architecture, 20th Annual Medieval Postgraduate Student Colloquium, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 7 Feb 2015

20th Annual Medieval Postgraduate Student Colloquium

10.10 – 17.30, Saturday 7 February 2015 (with registration from 09.40)

Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

Pilgrimage, wars and trade are key components of the Middle Ages and all embody movement. This colloquium aims at exploring the importance of movement in the creative processes of medieval art and architecture. Participants are invited to interpret the notion of movement especially in relation to itinerant artists and workshops, the circulation of artworks and the transmission of ideas. Movement will be questioned as a transformative and creative agent in art, in theory as well as in practice. This theme can be expanded to include both local and trans-cultural outcomes of exchanges, ranging from adoption to compromise and rejection. All these encounters show that movement was essential in the creation of art and architecture, whether in Europe, in the Byzantine Empire or beyond, coinciding with the emergence of new artistic trends and reciprocal influences.

Organised by Maria Alessia Rossi, Sophie Dentzer and Matilde Grimaldi (The Courtauld Institute of Art)

Ticket/entry details: Free, but booking is required.

BOOK ONLINE: http://courtauld-institute.digitalmuseum.co.uk Or send a note to: Research Forum Events Co-ordinator, Research Forum, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN, with your request. For further information, email ResearchForum@courtauld.ac.uk.

PROGRAMME

09.45 – 10.10
Registration

10.10 – 10.20
Welcome

10.20 – 11.40
Session 1: Diffusion of Iconographies (Chair: Michaela Zöschg)

10.20 – 10.40
Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky (Central European University, Budapest),
Holy Women in Medieval Art: A Case Study of Cross-Dressed Saints’ Iconography.

10.40 – 11.00
Jennifer Owen (University of Edinburgh)
Models, Transmission and Mutation in the Production of Fourteenth-Century Roman de la Rose Manuscripts.

11.00 – 11.20
Taylor McCall (University of Cambridge), The Body Uncovered: the Circulation of Anatomical Images in Europe, c. 1150-1400.

11.20 – 11.40
Discussion

11.40 – 12.00
TEA / COFFEE BREAK (provided)

12.00 – 13.20
Session 2: Moving Artists (Chair: Eowyn Kerr- Di Carlo)

12.00 – 12.20
Adam Harris Levine (Columbia University, New York),
An Ursuline Parable at the Itinerant Court of Charles V.

12.20 – 12.40
Štefan Valášek (Jagiellonian University in Cracow),
Medieval wall paintings in All Saints Church in Ludrová (Slovakia) in the net of artistic movements and transmissions in Central Europe.

12.40 – 13.00
Sacha Zdanov (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Adapt to Export: An Unpublished Panel by the Master of the Legend of St. Lucy.

13.00 – 13.20
Discussion

13.20 – 14.20
LUNCH (not provided)

14.20 – 15.40
Session 3: Movement in Space (Chair: Sophie Dentzer)

14.20 – 14.40
Karolina Szuchnik (University of Cambridge),
Icons, Movement and Space in Santa Maria Antiqua.

14.40 – 15.00
Anastasia Moskvina (University of East Anglia), Movement, Pilgrimage and Liturgy in the Complex of St Stephen’s Church in Umm er-Rasas, Jordan.

15.00 – 15.20
Catherine Hundley (University of Virginia and Warburg Institute), The English Round Church Movement: Bringing the Holy Sepulchre Home.

15.20 – 15.40
Discussion

15.40 – 16.00
JUICE BREAK (provided)

16.00 – 17.20
Session 4: Movement beyond Europe (Chair: Imogen Tedbury)

16.00 – 16.20
Marcus Pilz (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich), Islamic Rock Crystals between the Middle East and Europe.

16.20 – 16.40
Vera-Simone Schulz (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut), Moving Matters / Matters of Movement. The Impact of Islamic Artifacts in Late Medieval Florence.

16.40 – 17.00
Shuang Yao (University of Edinburgh), The Lasting Princess Wencheng’s Charisma: New Discoveries on Tang-Bo Ancient Route.

17.00 – 17.20
Discussion

17.20 – 17.30
Closing remarks (Joanna Cannon)

17.30 – 18.30
RECEPTION

10.10 – 17.30, Saturday 7 February 2015 (with registration from 09.40)

Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

Organised by Maria Alessia Rossi, Sophie Dentzer and Matilde Grimaldi (The Courtauld Institute of Art)

Ticket/entry details: Free, but booking is required.

PROGRAMME

09.45 – 10.10
Registration

10.10 – 10.20
Welcome

10.20 – 11.40
Session 1: Diffusion of Iconographies (Chair: Michaela Zöschg)

10.20 – 10.40
Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky (Central European University, Budapest),
Holy Women in Medieval Art: A Case Study of Cross-Dressed Saints’ Iconography.

10.40 – 11.00
Jennifer Owen (University of Edinburgh)
Models, Transmission and Mutation in the Production of Fourteenth-Century Roman de la Rose Manuscripts.

11.00 – 11.20
Taylor McCall (University of Cambridge), The Body Uncovered: the Circulation of Anatomical Images in Europe, c. 1150-1400.

11.20 – 11.40
Discussion

11.40 – 12.00
TEA / COFFEE BREAK (provided)

12.00 – 13.20
Session 2: Moving Artists (Chair: Eowyn Kerr- Di Carlo)

12.00 – 12.20
Adam Harris Levine (Columbia University, New York),
An Ursuline Parable at the Itinerant Court of Charles V.

12.40 – 13.00
Sacha Zdanov (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Adapt to Export: An Unpublished Panel by the Master of the Legend of St. Lucy.

13.00 – 13.20
Discussion

13.20 – 14.20
LUNCH (not provided)

14.20 – 15.40
Session 3: Movement in Space (Chair: Sophie Dentzer)

14.20 – 14.40
Karolina Szuchnik (University of Cambridge),
Icons, Movement and Space in Santa Maria Antiqua.

14.40 – 15.00
Anastasia Moskvina (University of East Anglia), Movement, Pilgrimage and Liturgy in the Complex of St Stephen’s Church in Umm er-Rasas, Jordan.

15.00 – 15.20
Catherine Hundley (University of Virginia and Warburg Institute), The English Round Church Movement: Bringing the Holy Sepulchre Home.

15.20 – 15.40
Discussion

15.40 – 16.00
JUICE BREAK (provided)

16.00 – 17.20
Session 4: Movement beyond Europe (Chair: Imogen Tedbury)

16.00 – 16.20
Marcus Pilz (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich), Islamic Rock Crystals between the Middle East and Europe.

16.20 – 16.40
Vera-Simone Schulz (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut), Moving Matters / Matters of Movement. The Impact of Islamic Artifacts in Late Medieval Florence.

16.40 – 17.00
Shuang Yao (University of Edinburgh), The Lasting Princess Wencheng’s Charisma: New Discoveries on Tang-Bo Ancient Route.

17.00 – 17.20
Discussion

17.20 – 17.30
Closing remarks (Joanna Cannon)

17.30 – 18.30
RECEPTION

Fellowships at the Rijksmuseum (Deadline 15 March)

The Rijksmuseum houses the world’s largest collection of Dutch artistic and historical treasures, and the most complete library on Dutch art. The museum re-opened its doors to the public in April 2013 following a ten-year renovation that completely transformed the institution. For the first time in its history, the paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and historical artefacts are being shown together in a chronological display. This innovative curatorial approach presents the public with an overview of the art and history of the Netherlands from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.

Programme
The aim of the Rijksmuseum Research Fellowship Programme is to train a new generation of museum professionals: inquisitive object-based specialists who will further develop understanding of Netherlandish art and history for the future. The focus of research should relate to the Rijksmuseum’s collection, and may encompass any of its varied holdings, including Netherlandish paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, prints, drawings, photography and historical artefacts. The purpose of the programme is to enable doctoral candidates to base part of their research at the Rijksmuseum and to encourage the understanding of Netherlandish art and history by offering students and scholars access to the museum’s collections, library, conservation laboratories and curatorial expertise. Partnership and collaboration is at the heart of these fellowships, which provide support for the museum and its research priorities, as well as its academic and non-academic partners.

The Rijksmuseum will provide office space in which the fellows can work, in order to stimulate an exchange of knowledge, ideas and experience. Access will be provided to all necessary information in the museum, as well as to the library and the resources of the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) in The Hague and the University of Amsterdam.
Fellowships are open to students of all nationalities and with varied specialisms. They may include art historians, curators, conservators, historians and scientists. Candidates should have proven research capabilities, academic credentials and excellent written and spoken knowledge of two languages (English and preferably Dutch or German).

For the 2015-2016 academic year, candidates can apply for the following fellowships:

Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship – Apply here
DSM-JLL Fellowship – Apply here
JLL-DSM Fellowship – Apply here
Johan Huizinga Fellowship – Apply here
Manfred & Hanna Heiting Fellowship – Apply here

Please ensure that you are fully informed about the documents required for application by following the relevant application link.

The closing date for all applications is 15 March 2015, at 6:00 p.m. (Amsterdam time/CET). No applications will be accepted after this deadline. All applications must be submitted online and in English. Applications or related materials delivered via email, postal mail, or in person will not be accepted.

Selection will take place in April 2015. Applicants will be notified by 1 May 2015. All fellowships will start in September 2015.

Particularly of interest to medievalists are:

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will provide one doctoral fellowship annually. This is a one-year fellowship, with the possibility of renewal for one additional year. Applications should include an outline of the proposed research, related to the Rijksmuseum’s holdings, in which objects are fundamental. A suitable project might entail research into art objects as artistic or historical sources; object-related archival research; or scientific research.

The Johan Huizinga Fund offers outstanding postgraduate candidates the opportunity to conduct historical research into objects in the Rijksmuseum collection. Candidates are invited to submit a research proposal that draws on these objects as subject material and as sources of information. The Johan Huizinga Fund Fellowship is awarded annually and comprises a grant of €16,500 (before tax) for a six-month period during which the candidate is expected to conclude the research and produce a manuscript of approximately 15,000 words in length. Manuscripts found to be of suitable quality will appear as part of the newly launched publication series Rijksmuseum Studies in History.

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/fellowships

Donald Bullough Fellowship in Mediaeval History, St Andrews (deadline 30 April 2015)

St Andrews Cathedral, the interior looking east

The St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies invites applications for the Donald Bullough Fellowship in Mediaeval History, to be taken up during either semester of the academic year 2015-2016.

The Fellowship is open to any academic in a permanent university post with research interests in mediaeval history. The financial aspect of the fellowship is a subsidy (up to £3000) towards the cost of travel to St Andrews and accommodation during your stay. Previous Fellows have included Dr Christina Pössel, Professor Cynthia Neville, Dr Ross Balzaretti, Dr Marlene Hennessy, Professor Warren Brown, and Dr Edward Coleman The fellowship is currently held by Professor Richard Kaeuper.

The Fellowship carries with it no teaching duties, though the Fellow is expected to take part in the normal seminar life of the mediaeval historians during their stay in St Andrews. Weekly seminars, held on a Monday evening, run from September–December, and February–May. You will also be invited to lead a workshop on your chosen research theme during your stay. Fellows are provided with computing facilities and an office alongside the mediaeval historians in the Institute. The university library has an excellent collection for mediaeval historians.

You should send a letter of application by the advertised closing date, together with a scheme of research for the project on which you will be engaged during your time in St Andrews. You should also enclose a CV, together with the names of two academic referees, who should be asked to write by the closing date. All correspondence should be addressed to saimsmail@st-andrews.ac.uk

The closing date for applications is 30 April 2015.

Further enquiries may be addressed to the Co-Director, Dr James Palmer (saimsmail@st-andrews.ac.uk) or to colleagues in the Institute, whose contact details may be found on www.st-andrews.ac.uk/saims

Call for Papers: Seals and Status 800 – 1700 (British Museum 4-6 Dec 2015)

Silver seal matrix set with a red jasper Roman intaglio showing the emperor Antoninus Pius. Acquired with the assistance of Dr. John H. Rassweiler.

Quo asserente se sigillum habere, subridens vir illustris, ‘Moris’, inquit, ‘antiquitus non erat quemlibet militulum sigillum habere, quod regibus et precipuis tantum competit personis…’

He answered that he had a seal. The great man smiled. ‘It was not the custom in the past’, he said, ‘for every petty knight to have a seal. They are appropriate for kings and great men only’.

—Chronicle of Battle Abbey, 1180s or 1190s, ed. and trans. Eleanor Searle (1980)

The aim of this conference is to foster discussions about seals and status, concentrating on three principal themes:
I. Seals and social status
II. Seals and institutional status
III. The status of seals as objects
The famous exchange quoted on the left captures in a few biting words the close and significant connections between seals and status. It evokes the perception that sealing related to social status, that this relationship changed over time, and that such historical developments were both recognized and highly charged. Finally—and perhaps one reason why the Battle anecdote has been so often quoted—these words suggest an important status for seals themselves within the medieval world of objects. If anything, this importance increased with their proliferation: seals eventually belonged to all kinds of people and institutions, and many individuals, corporations, and chanceries had several. Ultimately, seals’ forms and functions came both to articulate and to construct social as well as institutional and administrative hierarchies.
Possible topics for papers include: Seals and heraldry; seals and inequality; seals and villeinage; seals of institutional office; seals and gender; non-heraldic personal seals; seals and status as represented in medieval and early modern texts; corporate seals and the status of institutions; the historiography of seals; the organization of chanceries; the development of sealing practices within and across social groups; relationships of seals to other works of art.
Proposals are welcomed from a wide range of perspectives, such as: archaeology, history, art history, archival studies, literature. Submissions will be accepted in English, French, and German and should be no more than 300 words in length. Send to Lloyd de Beer (ldebeer@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk) by 30th January 2015.
The conference will be held at the British Museum from the 4th – 6th December 2015.
This conference is co-organised with John Cherry and Jessica Berenbeim in collaboration with Sigillvm, a network for the study of medieval European seals and sealing practices.

Call for papers: Ninth International Conference of Iconographic Studies: Icons and iconology (June 1-4, 11-13 2015, Rijeka, Croatia and Clinton, MA)

Deadline for paper proposals: February 15, 2015

University of Rijeka, Center for Iconographic Studies (Croatia) Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, MA (USA) The American University of Rome (Italy) The Institute for the Study of Culture and Christianity, Belgrade (Serbia) in cooperation with Harvard University (USA) Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) Gregorian Pontifical University Rome (Italy) are pleased to announce a CALL FOR PAPERS for the Ninth International Conference of Iconographic Studies ICONS & ICONOLOGY

It is a two-part trans-continental conference that will be held in Rijeka (Croatia), June 01 – 04, 2015 and in Clinton (Massachusetts), June 11 – 13, 2015.

UPDATE: Full programme

Tuesday, 02.06.2015.
09:30 Opening of the Conference
Greetings and introductory speeches

10:00 – 11:00
Communications – invited speakers (anticipated time for each paper is
30 minutes)

Maria Vassilaki (University of Thessaly, Greece)
Painting Icons in Venetian Crete at the Time of the Council of
Ferrara-Florence (1438/1439)

Elena Draghici-Vasilescu (University of Oxford, UK)
Twentieth Century Developments in European Icon-Painting

Alexei Lidov (Lomonosov State University, Moscow, Russia)
Iconicity as Spatial Notion. A New Vision of Icons in Contemporary Art
Theory

Discussion

11:45 BREAK

12:00-13:30

Olga Gratsiou (University of Crete and Institute of Mediterranean
Studies, Greece)
From Heaven to Earth. Perceptions of Reality in Icon Painting

Davor Džalto (The American University of Rome, Italy)
Icon as Image and Word: Modes of Representation or Modes of Being?

Ding Ning (School of Arts, Peking University, China)
Re-reading Li Gonglin’s Country Retreat at Villa I Tatti

Discussion

14:00 LUNCH

Izlaganja (predvieno vrijeme svakog izlaganja je 20 minuta)
Communications (anticipated time for each paper is 20 minutes)

16:00 – 17:00
Jelena Erdeljan – Branka Vraneševi (University of Belgrade, Serbia)
Eikon and Magic: Solomon’s Knot on Floor Mosaic in Herakleia Lynkestis

Maria Cristina Carile (University of Bologna, Italy)
Imperial Icons in Late Antiquity and Byzantium: the Iconic Image of the
Emperor(s) between Representation and Presence

Maria Lidova (British Museum / Oxford University, UK)
Empress, Virgin, Ecclesia. On the Perception of the Icon of St. Maria
in Trastevere
in the Early Byzantine Context

Discussion

17:15 BREAK

17:30 – 18:30
Gaetano Curzi (University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy)
The Two Triclinia of Pope Leo III as “Icons of Power”

Sotiria Kordi (University of Leeds, UK)
Corporeal Perceptions of the Immaterial: Agency and Rhythm in
Palaeologan Monumental Painting

Discussion

19:00 Presentation of the Eighth Volume of the Conference of
Iconographic Studies of 2014 – IKON 8

Wednesday, 03.06.2015.

Communications (anticipated time for each paper is 20 minutes)

9:30 – 10:30
Zoraida Demori Stanicic (Croatian Conservation Institute, Zagreb,
Croatia)
Miracle Performing Icons in Dalmatia

Valentina Živkovic (Institute for Balkan Studies, Belgrade, Serbia)
Icons as Mental Images at the Deathbed. The Preparations for a Good
Death in the Late Medieval Devotional Practices of Kotor (Montenegro)

Snežana Filipova (University of Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Republic
of Macedonia)
Examples of Icons with Western Influences in Iconography in the Art of
Macedonia

Discussion

10:45 BREAK

11:00 – 11:45
Liv Deborah Walberg (Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, USA)
Religious Propaganda and Manipulation of Tradition in the Madonna della
Pace, Venice, Italy

Giuseppe Capriotti (University of Macerata, Italija)
Defining the Boundaries of the Lawful Cult. History of an Adriatic Icon

Discussion

12:00 BREAK

12:15 – 13:15
Claudia Cieri Via (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)
The Invisible in the Visible. The Annunciation by Antonello da Messina
from Narrative to Icon

Lasse Hodne (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim,
Norway)
Aeiparthenos. Icons and the Iconography of the Annunciation in the
First Decades of the 15th Century

Donald Ostrowski (Harvard University, USA)
Iconographic Influences on the Litsevoi Letopisnyi Svod (Illustrated
Chronicle Compilation) of the Sixteenth Century

Discussion

14:00 LUNCH

15:30 – 16:15
Laura Stagno (University of Genoa, Italy)
Embedding Byzantine Icons in Baroque Splendour: Reception and
Celebration of Eastern Cult Images in the Republic of Genoa, 17th-18th
Century

Yvonne zu Dohna (Pontifical University Gregoriana, Rome, Italy)
Saint Ignatius and Jean Luc Marion: Two Dialogical Views

Discussion

16:30 BREAK

16:45 – 17:45
Elena Kashina (University of York, UK)
The Iconography of the Folk Icon in Russia in the 18th and 19th
Centuries

Branka Gugolj – Danijela Tešic-Radovanovic (University of Kosovska
Mitrovica, Serbia)
The Žica Altar Screen Icons

Ana Šeparovic (Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography, Zagreb,
Croatia)
Icons and Croatian Painting in the Early Twentieth Century

Discussion

18:00 BREAK

18:15 – 19:15
Charlotte Gill (Durham University, UK)
A “Direct Perception of Life”: How the Russian Avant-Garde Utilised the
Icon Tradition to Form a Powerful Modern Aesthetic

Zvonko Makovic (University of Zagreb, Croatia)
Icons of Power: Constructing and Deconstructing the Icon of V. I. Lenin

Karen von Veh (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
Contemporary Iconoclasm in South Africa: Transgressive Images of the
Madonna and Christ in Response to Social Politics

Discussion

Closing remarks

20:00 DINNER FOR PARTICIPANTS

Thursday, 04.06.2015

09:30 – 13:30

Half-day tour of Rijeka (visit to the Orthodox church St Nicholas in
Rijeka and its icons collection, medieval castle, the Franciscan
monastery and town center).

–

Icons, iconography and iconology represent some of the most prominent concepts and research topics of art history. They refer both to a particular artistic practice, to liturgical objects, and to methods of art historical interpretations. Given this multitude of meanings and functions that the concepts of icon, iconic, iconography and iconology imply, it is not surprising that all of them have been interpreted as objects of theological reflection, didactic instruments, media of transmitting visual, aesthetic and metaphysical content, and, finally, as artworks in the modern sense of the word. The conference seeks to explore and discuss recent development in the dialogue between theology, art history, philosophy and cultural theory concerning the ways we can perceive and interpret icons, iconography and iconology. It is also our objective to offer an insight into the development of iconographic studies and related disciplines, and to reflect upon their future development in the broader context of the humanities. We welcome academic papers that will approach icons, iconography and iconology in an interdisciplinary and methodologically diverse way. The themes and subjects can include the following:
• Icons, iconography and iconology: “Western” and “Eastern” perspectives
• Sacred and profane icons
• Reverse perspective: formal and metaphysical dimensions
• Icons as a medium and metaphor
• Icons of power, icons as power
• Icon and modern culture
• Icons and film and digital media
• Icons and the “canon” of modern art • Modern and contemporary icon painting
• Theological and philosophical reception of icons
• Iconoclasm(s)

Paper proposals should be submitted for both parts of the conference electronically to cis@ffri.hr

Contact person: Petra Predoević Center for Iconographic Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Rijeka Sveucilisna avenija 4 51 000 Rijeka Croatia E-mail: cis@ffri.hr
A paper proposal should contain: 1. full name, institution, affiliation, address, phone number(s), e-mail address 2. title 3. abstract (maximum 2 pages – 500 words)

Deadline: February 15, 2015

Fees for conference:
RIJEKA – there will be NO registration fee CLINTON – there will be a 100 USD fee Administration and organizational costs, working materials, lunch and coffee breaks during conference as well as all organized visits are covered by the organizers. All presented papers will be published in the thematic issue of the IKON journal in May 2016.
Please contact us for any additional information.
web page: http://ikon.ffri.hr

Call for Papers: The Influences of the Dominican Order in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 10-12 September 2015)

Traini - St Dominic altarpiece, 1344-5, Pisa, Museo di San Matteo — Traini – St Dominic altarpiece, 1344-5, Pisa, Museo di San Matteo

CFP DEADLINE: 1st March 2015

From the modest group of St Dominic and his sixteen followers, the Dominican Order grew rapidly in the first century of its existence, establishing itself across Europe as a learned Order of Preachers. This interdisciplinary conference will seek to explore the influences of the Dominican Order on all aspects of medieval life. The conference theme of ‘influence’ can be interpreted in its broadest sense, encompassing the large-scale influences of the Order and the legacy of its prominent figures, or can be examined on the personal level, such as the impact that the Order had on those that came into contact with it, both within and outside the Order.

Papers might address topics such as:

how the Dominican Order influenced other religious orders and medieval life more generally (papers may consider this influence with regard to art, architecture, universities and education, book-making, theology, liturgy, legislation, or other relevant disciplines);
influential Dominicans, such as St Dominic, Humbert of Romans and Thomas Aquinas, and their legacy to the Dominican Order or the use of their teachings outside of the Order;
preaching and other means by which Dominicans sought to influence the local populations they encountered;
controversies resulting from Dominican influence (e.g., in the universities, in ecclesiastical government, etc.);
Dominican education and the training of novices: the shaping of the Dominican religious life. The conference will be held at Lincoln College, Oxford and Blackfriars, Oxford from Thursday 10^th to Saturday 12^th September 2015. This conference is interdisciplinary and open to scholars working in any field of medieval studies. Papers of 20 minutes are welcomed, although other formats may be considered. Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words, and include with it your paper title, name and affiliation (if any), contact email, AV requirements, and a short biography (this has no bearing on the evaluation; it is simply for distribution to chairs). All abstracts should be submitted by 1^st March 2015. All enquiries and proposals should be sent to Eleanor Giraud: eleanor.giraud@lincoln.ox.ac.uk

Conference review: Microarchitecture and Miniaturized Representation of Buildings (INHA, Paris 8-10 Dec 2014)

Search for “microarchitecture conference” on Google, and you will mostly be returned results concerning gatherings of computer programmers. This would doubtless make the concept of a conference on medieval microarchitecture entertaining to many. Even ignoring this parallel nomenclature, the sort of microarchitecture art historians are interested in is not an easy concept to explain, and perhaps one of the primary goals of the conference held at the Institut Nationale d’Historie d’Art in Paris was to actually work out what we had all come together for. I doubt wasn’t the only one who wondered whether my own material actually qualified.

Professor Timmermann with his pocket cathedral

Achim Timmermann (University of Michigan), a man who could indeed be dubbed “Mr. Microarchitecture”, gave an exciting overview of the concept in Early, High and Late Middle Ages, so epic in its scope of fantastic structures that the screen ought to have expanded into Imax proportions. His account demonstrated how microarchitecture transformed from the idea of a “pocket cathedral” into such an isolated ontological sphere that it crossed into convolute monstrosity with its self-mimesis by the late fifteenth century. An alternative and quite staggeringly rich oration, based on his new book Gothic Wonder, was given by Paul Binski among the medieval statuary in the ancient Roman baths of the Museé de Cluny. For Paul, the medieval intellectual aesthetic condensed great and small, magnificent and minificent, into an idea characterised by a single playfulness of embellishing surface with ornament. A more formal account, jointly delivered by Javier ibàñez Fernandez (Universidad de Zaragozza) and Arturo Zaragozá Catalán (Universidad de Valencia), introduced a 7-part taxonomy of microarchitecture in Spain: from functional maquettes to decorative miniaturisation of large-scale forms.

Sebastian Fitzner and some extraordinary medieval tile ovens

In this framework of ideas of categorisation, many new genres of object were introduced to the conference room. The present writer, of course, had packed a selection of sedilia, which by now I am certain always prove novel to continental audiences. But we also had stone tile ovens like traceried office blocks from Sebastian Fitzner (LudwigMaximilians-Universität München), Orthodox chivots for Eucharist reservation that mimic the forms of their parent building from Anita Paolicchi (Università di Pisa) and Renaissance elevation drawings that were originally intended to be folded and constructed into paper models from Giovanni Santucci (Università di Pisa).
These models are sort of things we would love to have more evidence for in the Middle Ages to explain the transmission of ideas, but alas, even presentation drawings and plans are difficult to come by. The miniaturisation of large forms into the decorative or representational was covered in papers by Sabine Berger (Sorbonne) on votive churches in the hands of donor statues and Peter Kurmann (ETH, Zurich) on relationship of tabernacle canopies to the geometry and form of great chevets.

Matthew Sillence with cardinals' seals — Matthew Sillence with cardinals’ seals

P1940231 — Final panel with Alexander Collins, Julian Gardner (chair), Sophie Cloart-Pawlak and Sarah Guérin

There was also consideration of the desirability of microarchitecture and its meaning beyond the artists’ play with novel forms. Matt Ethan Kalaver’s (University of Toronto) account of the earliest transmission of classical forms into the Netherlands by the high nobility on their tombs was reflected in the earlier centuries considered by Julian Gardner (University of Warwick) and Matthew Sillence (University of East Anglia). Their papers both focused on how influential medieval prelates and cardinals were for spreading new forms on their seals, which, quite thankfully, was a big part of my paper where also bishops seem the first to stick pointy gables over sedilia in chantry chapels they have endowed.
Perhaps one drawback about the novelty of much of the material is that it is only in retrospect to draw many of these parallels across sessions. One panel however that held together very well that at the end of the final day, between Sophie Cloart-Pawlak (IRHiS, Lille), Alexander Collins (University of Edinburgh) and Sarah Guérin (University of Montréal) who all explored the function and symbolism of microarchitecture on the spectator.
This was my first international conference, and it was a highly convivial experience with high-quality papers throughout. There was a healthy mix of postgraduates, early career researchers, established scholars and some legendary old hands. It is planned that the proceedings will be published, and therefore it should provide a much-needed general framework for the minificent microcosm of the fiddliest bits of the decorative arts.

The international conference Micro-architecture et figures du bâti au Moyen-Âge: l’échelle à l’épreuve de la matière was at the Institut Nationale d’Historie d’Art from the 8-10 Dec 2015. Here is our original post of the call for papers, the full programme and the INHA’s official page.

We also had a bit of fun tweeting the conference because we’re so Web 3.0.

CFP: The Fifteenth-Century Conference (University of Kent, Canterbury 10-12 September 2015), deadline 1 February 2015

The annual Fifteenth Century Conference has been the UK’s premier academic conference for late medieval historians for more than forty years. Submissions for papers are now invited for the 2015 Conference which will be held at the University of Kent. Papers concerned with any aspect of fifteenth-century studies are welcome, but those that relate to England’s relationship (diplomatic, military and cultural) with continental Europe and those that take a multi-disciplinary approach (exploring the literary, cultural and material history of the fifteenth century) are especially welcome.

Proposals for both 40-minute and 20-minute papers are welcome, as are proposals for themed sessions of three papers. Proposals should reach the conference organisers by 1 February 2015. Please contact Dr David Grummitt (D.I.Grummitt@kent.ac.uk), Dr Phil
Slavin (P.Slavin@kent.ac.uk) or Jon-Mark Grussenmeyer (jg482@kent.ac.uk) for further
details.

Proposals for papers (including an abstract of 100-200 words) should be
submitted to fifteenthcenturyconference@gmail.com by 1 February 2015.