CFP: ‘What is Eastern European Art?’, SHERA-sponsored session at CAA Annual Conference 2023, deadline 31 August 2022

CAA Annual Conference New York, 15–18 February 2023. Session sponsored by Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture (SHERA)

Session co-organizers: Alice Isabella Sullivan |Tufts University Maria Alessia Rossi | Princeton University

This panel explores and challenges understanding about Eastern European art from the Middle Ages to the present through presentations that engage with the artistic production of different regions. The visual material of Eastern Europe has not been at the forefront of art historical conversations in part due to political ideologies, conflicting definitions of what constitutes Eastern Europe, or lack of access to and interest in the material, to name but several issues. The wealth and complexity of the artistic production of Eastern Europe in various media require more thorough investigation, especially from a comparative perspective, as well as more theoretically grounded methodologies that could account for the rich cultural connections that extended in the regions of the Balkan Peninsula, the
Carpathian Mountains, and further north that contributed to distinct visual idioms. Papers for this session could explore local developments in art from the Middle Ages into the present, connections between different regions and across media, issues of terminology, methodology, and theories in the study of Eastern European art, as well as modes of  integrating visual material from Eastern Europe in teaching, as well as research, curatorial, and artistic projects. The overall aim of this session is to begin to define what Eastern European art is today, and help establish its footing on the map of art history.

Please submit a title, abstract (max. 500 words), and a brief 2-page CV by August 31, 2022 to: alice[dot]sullivan[at]tufts[dot]edu and marossi[at]princeton[dot]edu.
Please indicate “CAA proposal” in the subject line.

CFP: ‘Premodern Parchment’, IMC Leeds 2023, deadline 12 September 2022

Leeds, International Medieval Congress, 3–6 July 2023
Organised by Caroline Danforth, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and Megan McNamee, University of Edinburgh

Parchment is a familiar medium to medievalists. Animal skin, specially prepared, and employed primarily as a substrate for written communication, it is a substance that many researchers across fields of study regularly scrutinise and handle. There is now no shortage of scholarship that refers to parchment’s experiential qualities—its varied textures, smell, even sound—and its symbolic, especially Christological, significance as skin when bound in books. We seek proposals for papers that build on and move beyond this work, focusing on aspects of the medium that have been somewhat taken for granted including its (quasi) two-dimensionality, sidedness, relative opacity, colour and pliability; and/or delving into the uses of parchment outside the codical context. Our aim is to better understand the perceived possibilities and limitations of parchment in the premodern world and the qualities for which it was valued. We plan for the session to be in-person and for papers to be 15–20 minutes long. Proposals from individuals in the academic, museum and library sectors; at any stage of their careers and from all disciplines and fields are welcome. 

If interested, please send an abstract of no more than 250 words along with your CV and the information below (required by IMC) by 12 September 2022 to Megan McNamee: mmcnamee@ed.ac.uk.

Information to include with abstract and CV:

  • Full name
  • Email address
  • Postal address
  • Telephone number
  • Full affiliation details (department, institution)
  • Title (e.g. Dr, Ms, Mr, Mx, Professor etc)

Link to PDF of announcement: https://www.academia.edu/84809878/CFP_IMC_Leeds_2023_Premodern_Parchment?source=swp_share 

New extended deadline for CFP: British Archaeological Association Post-Graduate Online Conference (23-24 November 2022), now deadline 5 September 2022

Please note that we have extended the deadline to 5 September 2022!

The British Archaeological Association invites proposals by postgraduates and early career researchers in the field of medieval history of art, architecture, and archaeology.

Papers can be on any aspect of the medieval period, from antiquity to the later Middle Ages, across all geographical regions.

The BAA postgraduate conference offers an opportunity for postgraduate students and early career researchers at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present and discuss their research, and exchange ideas.

Proposals of around 250 words for a 20-minute paper, along with a CV, should be sent by Monday 5th September 2022 to postgradconf@thebaa.org.

CFP: ‘Social Agency of Secular Goldsmiths’ Work in the Late Middle Ages’, IMC 2023, deadline 12 September 2022

Wrought for a vast range of mundane practices and contexts, in an abundance of forms, styles, and techniques, European late medieval secular goldsmiths’ work remains an elusive category of artistic production. Perhaps deterred by this overwhelming variety, the study of late medieval secular goldsmiths’ work has been eclipsed by scholarship on liturgical metalware. However, publications by R. W. Lightbown and others, as well as archaeological discoveries such as those of Jewish hoards, have opened a new window onto the world of secular goldsmithery and everyday life, and shed new light on how secular objects circulated and operated outside ecclesiastical environments.


This session seeks to explore the arena of secular goldsmiths’ work in the later Middle Ages and its manifestations in different contexts such as domestic, civic, courtly, juridical, academic, diplomatic, etc. Acknowledging the centrality of secular goldsmiths’ work objects in the rituals of various social frameworks, we wish to explore these objects’ roles in shaping relationships, defining hierarchies, and constructing identities.

Themes to be addressed may include, but are not limited to:

– Objects such as: nefs, university scepters, reliquaries for swearing oaths, automata, fountains, table utensils and decorations, jewelry
– Adaptations of goldsmiths’ work by newly-established institutions like universities or civic juridical authorities
– Entanglements of the sacred and the secular via the production of goldsmiths’ work objects
– Production of secular goldsmiths’ work
– Guilds and networks of goldsmiths
– Patronage of secular goldsmiths’ work
– Material, iconographic and formalistic aspects of secular goldsmiths’ work
– Use, performance and handling of goldsmiths’ work in rituals such as marriage, oath-taking, etc.
– Exchange of secular goldsmiths’ work
– Representations of real and fantastic secular goldsmiths’ work

Please submit a 250-word abstract for a 20-minute paper, and a short CV, including email and current affiliation as PDF or Word.doc, by 12 September 2022, to the following:
Hila Manor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; hila.manor@mail.huji.ac.il
Masha Goldin, University of Basel; masha.goldin@unibas.ch

More information can be found here: https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2023/

CFP: ‘Medieval sculpture in the aftermath of the World War II: destruction, dispersion and restitution. The impact on research methodologies and tools’, International Cirice Congress 2023, deadline 20 September 2022

International Cirice Congress 2023, Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sull’Iconografia della Città Europea

City and War: Military defences, ruins, permanence of urban memories and images Naples, 8–10 June 2023

(https://www.iconografiacittaeuropea.unina.it/cms/6115-2/)

Session C.7: Medieval sculpture in the aftermath of the World War II: destruction, dispersion and restitution. The impact on research methodologies and tools

Chairs: Paola Vitolo, Antonella Dentamaro

paola.vitolo@unina.it, antonella.dentamaro@unina.it

The destructions caused by of the World War II represented, relatively recently with respect to the development of modern artistic historiography, a watershed in the investigation of medieval sculptural complexes. In the aftermath of the end of the conflict, the loss of materials on the one hand, the restoration and reconstruction of works on the other, have often changed in a profound and irremediable way sculptural works and micro architectural contexts (chapels, altars …), with a significant impact on the critical approach to this field of study and above all on the sense of identity linked to places, as well as on the categories of representation of spaces. At the same time, these interventions have in some cases represented the opportunity for important discoveries on the material conditions of the works, for example revealing signs of interventions made over the centuries to the original contexts, cases of reuse of materials/works, sculptures that have remained hidden after later interventions etc.

How much was irretrievably lost during the Second World War? What was the impact of the reconstructions on the iconography of the places? How many works still survives, although in a fragmented state, in museums and private collections? Which contexts could be materially recomposed or reconstructed through historical images and the support of virtual reconstructions? To what extent, on the other hand, have post-war interventions represented an opportunity for scientific research?

The session aims to investigate, through the discussion of case studies, how and to what extent World War II conditioned and posed new methodological questions in the field of medieval sculpture studies. The session is part of the activities of the MemId project (Memory and identity. Reuse, rework and repurposing of medieval sculpture in the Modern Age, between historical research and new technologies, FISR 2019).

Deadline for abstract submission: 20 September 2022

Submission of abstracts on the congress platform: http://www.diarc.sda.unina.it/ocs2/index.php/progetto/progetto2018/about/ submissions

Congress deadlines, instructions for registration and registration fees: https://www.iconografiacittaeuropea.unina.it/cms/deadline/

Tours & Workshops: Revenants and Remains, Autumn 2022

This autumn, English Heritage has teamed up with Manchester Metropolitan University to organise a series of free weekend events at monasteries in northern England themed around their historical associations with the supernatural. 

Taking place at Byland, Furness, Lanercost, Rievaulx and Roche, there’ll be free site tours as well as creative writing workshops and readings of selected ghost stories by M.R. James. 

The tours will be led by Dr Michael Carter of English Heritage and Professor Dale Townshend of Manchester Metropolitan University. Based on rigorous scholarship, they’ll explain how, for each of the monasteries, ghost stories and other tales of the supernatural, can be used to understand their history, art and architecture between the 12th and early 19th centuries. 

The creative writing workshops will be led by the acclaimed author Rosie Garland. Readings of M.R. James ghost stories with suitably antiquarian and monastic themes will be by Robert Lloyd-Parry of Nunkie Theatre. 

Generously funded by the AHRC, all the events are free (a site admission free is payable at Furness, Lanercost, Rievaulx and Roche for non-English Heritage members).

Further details and booking information is available here: https://revenantsandremains.mmu.ac.uk/events/

Site tours (dates below) do not require booking but booking is essential for the writing workshops and readings which take place on the Saturdays only.

Roche Abbey: 1 & 2 October (site tours at 10:30am and noon, respectively)

Furness Abbey: 8 & 9 October (site tours at 10:30am and noon, respectively

Byland Abbey: 5 & 6 November (site tours at 11am and noon, respectively)

Lanercost Priory: 12 & 19 November (site tours 11am both days)

Rievaulx Abbey: 26 & 27 November (site tours 11am and noon, respectively)
​

CFP: ‘Political reuse of Medieval sculpture: Family strategies and (re)construction of the past’, Kalamazoo 2023, deadline 15 September 2022

Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University International Congress on Medieval Studies, 11-13 May 2023

Session. Political reuse of Medieval sculpture: Family strategies and (re)construction of the past (https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call#special)

Organizers: Laura Cavazzini, Clario Di Fabio, Paola Vitolo

The iconic value of sculpture, combined with the fact that it can readily be adapted to new contexts, makes it susceptible to be reused, reenforcing new social, political and cultural messages. The session aims to analyse cases of reuse, repurposing and recarving of Medieval sculpture in the Modern Time (15th-18th centuries) inspired by the need to communicate new cultural and political messages of high symbolic value. Papers will investigate strategies of visualization of political and social claims from the part of families and royal courts, within more general processes of creation and/or consolidation of dynastic memories and powers.

The session is part of the activities of the MemId (= Memory and Identity. Reuse, rework and rearrangement of the Medieval sculpture in the Modern Age, between historical research and new technologies: https://memid.it/) project funded by the Italian Ministry for University and Research, which is conducting in various regions of Italy a systematic and in-depth study of the topic, with a team of young researchers. The session will be an opportunity to discuss the topic with a wide range of international scholars of different geographical and cultural areas.

The session will be held online.

Please submit abstracts no later than 15 September ONLY through the ICMS Confex site: icms.confex.com/icms/2023/cfp.cgi


See the congress web page for information about registration fees: https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/registration

Please direct all questions or concerns to paola.vitolo@unina.it

Call for Sessions: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, International Medieval Congress 2023, deadline 6 September 2022

To encourage the integration of Byzantine studies within the scholarly community and medieval studies in particular, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 2023 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 3–6, 2023. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.

The thematic strand for the 2023 IMC is “Networks and Entanglements.” See the IMC Call for Papers (https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2023/) for additional information about the theme and suggested areas of discussion.

Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website (https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/imc-2023). The deadline for submission is September 6, 2022. Proposals should include title, 100-word session abstract, session moderator and academic affiliation, information about the three papers to be presented in the session, for each paper: name of presenter and academic affiliation, proposed paper title, and 100-word abstract, organizers CV

The session organizer may act as the moderator or present a paper. Participants may only present papers in one session.

Applicants will be contacted by mid-September about the status of their proposal.

If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse a maximum of 4 session participants (presenters and moderator) up to $800 maximum for European residents and up to $1400 maximum for those coming from outside Europe. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided. Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement. For scholars participating remotely, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse participants for conference registration.

Please contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.

Submit your proposal here: https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/imc-2023

Call for Papers: Visualizing Peace in the Global Middle Ages, 500-1500 (Deadline: 31 August 2022)

Many today see peace as the absence of war, but to the medieval world peace was far from a pale, negative concept – a lack of violence. Rather it was celebrated as a rich, vibrant ideal. Yet premodern war and violence have attracted much more attention than peace and cooperation, both in the public media and among scholars. One major area of interest, however, has been the intellectual history of peace. Publications have focused on Confucian ideas about peace (and their impact on the modern world) and on such European movements as the Truce of God and Peace of God. Other studies have explored the role of women in forging peace through gift-giving.

This session fosters broad thinking about the premodern and global cultural heritage of peace, which is too often neglected. One reason for this neglect is ideological: those who gained from warfare sought to glorify it. Another factor is that medieval peace may manifest itself in ways that are not immediately recognizable to us today. We welcome papers that discuss visual representations of peace, as well as the ways in which the material culture and the built environment contributed to the cessation of war or the safeguarding of peace. We encourage papers that explore the relationship between justice and peace or examine how images of premodern peace either still affect our discussions today or open the door to a new way of thinking.

We welcome papers that analyze the regional diversity or global connectivity of images of peace. The session will take place virtually as part of the 111th College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference 2023, New York, 15–18 February 2023

Please email proposals to dianewolfthal@yahoo.com and jitske.jasperse@hu-berlin.de by 31 August 2022. Please contact us with any questions at our email addresses listed above. We look forward to your submissions.

Call for Papers: Arthur Kingsley Porter 100 Years Later (Deadline: 15 September 2022)

2023 marks the 100th anniversary of Arthur Kingsley Porter’s seminal Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads, providing an opportunity to revisit one of medieval art history’s foundational thinkers. While Porter’s work continues to underpin scholarship today, surprisingly few studies have examined him or the paradigms he created. These sessions aim to address the work of Porter and his contributions to the study of medieval art. Through discussions of both his broad, international vision of style, and his narrow, regional contributions, papers will aim to assess Porter’s idiosyncratic work and the legacy it holds within scholarship today.

We welcome papers that consider and contextualize Porter’s life and works. Sessions will address Porter’s literary and scholarly output. Papers might address questions such as: what is the relevance of Porter’s methodologies to art historical approaches of the 20th and 21st century? How have Porter’s approaches contributed to the continued nationalization of medieval art and architecture? How have the Porters’ photographs contributed to a legacy of architectural representation? How have ‘big ideas’ such as a pilgrimage road style fared in the development of medieval historiography? How do we understand Porter’s more idiosyncratic writings in relation to his scholarly work?

These sessions will take place, in person, as part of the 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 11-13 May 2023. Proposals should be submitted by September 15, 2022 at https://icms.confex.com/icms/2023/cfp.cgi.

Please contact organizers Meredith Fluke (mfluke@holycross.edu) and Erik Gustafson (egustafson.phd@gmail.com) with any questions. We anticipate a session keynote paper by Kathryn Brush drawing from her current monograph project on Porter.