CONF: Internationale en interuniversitaire studiedag XIX (save the date)

 CONF: Internationale en interuniversitaire studiedag XIX 

SAVE THE DATE: woensdag 25 februari 2026.

De volgende studiedag van de Werkgroep XIX zal plaatsvinden op woensdag 25 februari. Voor deze winteractiviteit trekt de XIX voor het eerst naar Doornik. Aan het programma wordt nog druk gewerkt. Meer info over de dagindeling en de inschrijving volgt binnenkort!

CONF: Winter Seminar SALON, Den Haag, 30 januari 2026

CONF: Winter Seminar SALON 2026:

De Salon heruitgevonden

Datum en tijd: Vrijdag 30 januari 2026, 13:30 tot 17:30

Locatie: Auditorium RKD, Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5, Den Haag

Prijs: Regulier €25, studenten €15

Tickets: https://webshop.rkd.nl/salon-winterseminar.html

Op 30 januari 2026 organiseert SALON – Society for the Arts of the Long Nineteenth Century, in samenwerking het RKD, het jaarlijkse Winter Seminar. Dit jaar staat het seminar volledig in het teken van een reflectie op onze vernieuwde naam én op het salonconcept dat deze naam inspireert. Onder de titel De Salon Heruitgevonden gaan we samen na hoe de salon – als ruimte voor ontmoeting, gesprek en gedeelde kunstbeschouwing – zich ontwikkelde in de lange negentiende eeuw, en wat deze traditie kan betekenen voor SALON vandaag en in de toekomst.

Het woord “salon” verwees in de negentiende eeuw naar verschillende praktijken en contexten. Enerzijds waren er de huiskamer- en sociabiliteitssalons: uiteenlopende vormen van culturele en intellectuele samenkomsten waarin kunst, conversatie, muziek en netwerken een centrale plek innamen. Anderzijds waren er de officiële salons, tentoonstellingen waar hedendaagse kunst werd gepresenteerd aan een breed publiek, besproken en beoordeeld, en waar reputaties, genres en artistieke vernieuwing werden gevormd of juist tegengehouden. Hoewel deze praktijken sterk van elkaar verschilden in vorm, doel en schaal, deelden ze één cruciale functie: het creëren van een platform voor gezamenlijke kunstbeschouwing en uitwisseling.

Juist in de negentiende eeuw kregen veel van de associaties die wij vandaag met “de salon” verbinden hun herkenbare vorm — van het idee van een culturele gemeenschap die zich rond kunst verzamelt, tot het spanningsveld tussen openbaarheid, smaakvorming en kritische uitwisseling. Dit maakt de salon een rijk en veelzijdig vertrekpunt om na te denken over hoe wij als hedendaagse organisatie onderzoek, onderwijs, museale praktijk en publiekswerking vormgeven.

Tijdens het Winter Seminar willen we gezamenlijk onderzoeken hoe deze verschillende salontradities functioneerden, welke sociale en institutionele dynamieken daarbij een rol speelden, en hoe ze zich verhouden tot de manieren waarop wij vandaag kunst presenteren, bespreken en ervaren. We reflecteren op de hedendaagse relevantie van het salonmodel: Wat kunnen wij eruit meenemen voor onze werking als SALON-community? Welke vormen van ontmoeting, dialoog en samenwerking zijn nodig voor de toekomst? En hoe kunnen we, geïnspireerd door historische salons, nieuwe ruimtes creëren waarin ideeën kunnen circuleren en gedeelde kennis kan groeien?

CFP: SALON Conference 2026 'Unreliable Lives: Rethinking the Artist’s Biography in the Nineteenth Century'

 

Call for Papers: SALON Conference 2026 

Unreliable Lives: Rethinking the Artist’s Biography in the Nineteenth Century

12 June 2026 • Singer Laren

Alfred Stevens, The Painter and His Model, 1855, The Walters Art Museum

Can Gauguin’s work ever be separated from the reputation of a sexual predator with a colonialist gaze? What is at stake in questioning Caillebotte’s sexual orientation? And how should we confront Degas’s antisemitism?

Since Vasari, biography has been intrinsically connected to the analysis of art and its history, but its use and relation to artists’ work always remained a subject of debate. From lexicons to psychological profiles, art history’s biographical traditions forged the expectations we bring to artists’ lives, and these expectations continue to shape how figures are celebrated, condemned, or reclaimed. Today, as questions of moral accountability are being newly tested, the very function of biography, alongside its authority, biases, and blind spots, demand renewed scrutiny.

During the second half of the twentieth century, poststructuralist critique – epitomized by Barthes’s declaration of the ‘death of the author’ – cast a persistent shadow of suspicion on biography as an object of scholarly inquiry and as a tool in interpreting works of art. This suspicion thus privileged a focus on the artwork as an autonomous construct of form and meaning. In recent decades, however, biography has enjoyed renewed attention, both in the emerging interdisciplinary field of ‘life writing’ and in art history itself. As noted by Marleen Rensen and Christopher Wiley, this does not mean a return to the uncritical biography of individual geniuses, but rather a new interest in ‘the artist as socio-historical being […] who reflects, represents or takes up reflections of society at large relating to ethnicity, gender and class’ (Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives, 2020, 6).

While Charles G. Salas’s edited volume The Life & the Work: Art and Biography (2007) sought to revive the debate on the relation between artist and work, other studies (e.g. Karin Hellwig’s Von der Vita zur Künstlerbiographie, 2005, or Gabriele Guercio’s Art as Existence: The Artist’s Monograph and Its Project, 2006) focused on the development of different types of ‘life writing’ that shape our understanding of artists’ lives. Building on Ernst Kris and Otto Kurz’s groundbreaking Die Legende vom Künstler (1934), particular attention is being paid to the constructed nature of artists’ biographies, its underlying strategies, and motives of identity formation, whether within a national framework (such as the work of Julie F. Codell, and Karen Junod on British artists), as a transnational process (Rensen and Wiley, 2020) or as a means of self-fashioning artistic personae (e.g. Sandra Kisters, The Lure of the Biographical, 2017, orig. 2010). Finally, publications such as Claire Dederer’s Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma (2023) fueled recent debate on how to deal with artists whose lives challenge contemporary ethical norms.

As many of these publications demonstrate, the long nineteenth century was a pivotal moment in the history of the artist’s biography and its reception. It was the era that entrenched the Romantic genius, anchored the figure of the artist in mass media and popular culture, codified national artistic identities, and reframed artistic production within new social, racial, and gendered hierarchies. Many of the structures through which artists are still understood – by scholars, museums, contemporary artists and the public alike – were forged in this period, and the reputations thus constructed continue to shape interpretation today. Yet the biographies that emerged from the nineteenth century were never neutral: they were shaped by ideology, narrative convention, institutional or personal interests, and the imaginative demands of a rapidly changing world. 

This international conference invites participants to examine the nineteenth century as the crucible of the artist’s life story, and to consider how these biographical frameworks continue to inform (and distort) art history today. We welcome research that challenges established narratives, reconsiders biography as a historiographical tool, and probes the ethical and methodological questions it raises for contemporary scholarship and curatorial practice. We are especially interested in papers that connect the specific and the individual to the broader issues and themes at stake. We are primarily looking for research focused on nineteenth-century Europe and North America, but we also welcome case studies that place these issues within a wider global perspective.

Conference Themes

The organizers welcome papers addressing any aspect of the topic. Themes may include, but are not limited to:

1. Biographical Construction: Text vs. Objects

    a.     The ego-document, autobiography, strategic self-fashioning, and narrativization

    b.     The influence of the nineteenth-century novel on biography, and the persistence of fictional                     tropes

    c.     The role of art criticism

    d.     Works of art as biographical evidence and its implications

2. Problematic Figures and Ethical Reckonings

    a.     Artists whose lives challenge contemporary ethical norms

    b.     Curatorial strategies for presenting difficult or contested biographies

    c.     The separation (or entanglement) of life and work in public discourse

3. Crisis, Vulnerability, and the Artist

    a.     Narratives of suffering, failure, illness, addiction, and suicide

    b.     The romanticization of struggle and the historiographical uses of crisis

    c.     The afterlives of biographical tragedy (e.g., Gros and the Restoration)

4. Ideology, Identity, and the Nineteenth-Century Life

    a.     Nationalism and the creation of “schools” and national artistic character

    b.     The institutionalization of race, gender, class, and sexuality in biographical writing

    c.     Colonial frameworks and the transnational circulation of artists’ lives

5. The Uses and Limits of Biography Today

    a.     Is biography an indispensable interpretive tool or a disciplinary obstacle?

    b.     Alternatives to the biographical model: systemic, collective, or material histories

    c.     Historiographical lacunae: missing biographies and figures who’ve been left off the page

We encourage contributions from art historians, historians, literary scholars, museum professionals, and researchers working across the humanities and social sciences.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit:

● A paper abstract (300 words): each presentation should be no longer than 20 minutes

● A short presenter bio (150 words)

● Contact information and institutional affiliation

to e.a.deneer@uu.nl (Eveline Deneer) and c.kang@rijksmuseum.nl (Charles Kang) by 1 February 2026.

Applicants will be notified by 15 February 2026

CFP: “Art, Matter and Environment (1848–1927)” 48-14. La nouvelle revue scientifique des musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, no 2, 2027

“Art, Matter and Environment (1848–1927)”
48-14. La nouvelle revue scientifique des musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, n^o 2, 2027

https://museeorsay.hypotheses.org/42142

Deadline for the submission of proposals: 30 janvier 2026

The Theme

In 1884, John Ruskin gave a lecture on what he called the “storm-cloud of the nineteenth century,” indicating both a new type of atmospheric pollution linked to industrialization and the sign of a troubled era. The critic’s diagnosis resonates deeply with the concerns of artists at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Witnesses to a world in full transformation, through their works they conveyed an ambivalence characteristic of the period. Anxiety over the transformation of the environment mingled with curiosity, even exhilaration, stirred by new materials, energies, and techniques offered by modernity.

Over the past twenty years, the environmental turn in art history (Thomas, 2000; Mathis, 2005; Michalsky and Nova, 2009; Eisenmann, 2010; Zhong Mengual, 2021), nourished in particular by the work of Philippe Descola, has led to a broadening of art history’s perspective by considering the ecosystems within which art is situated and operates. Researchers now attentively examine artistic production as it interacts with living beings, the environment, and matter. At the same time since the 1990s, the material turn has placed matter back at the center of art critical and art historical analysis. No longer apprehended solely as images or representations, works of art are examined as genuine “things” (Brown, 2001), inscribed in technical, economic, and social networks (Latour, 1991, 2005) and endowed with intrinsic properties (Ingold, 2007). Within this framework, the theory of agency developed by Alfred Gell (1998) has renewed the understanding of artistic objects by considering them as agents capable of acting upon the world and human relations.

These approaches converge fruitfully. The environmental history of art necessarily involves the question of matter, whether living or inanimate, while the study of the materiality of artworks leads to an examination of the environmental stakes of artistic creation. These issues relate to the extraction, transformation, circulation, use, and conservation of materials (pigment, stone, wood, metal, textile, glass, etc.), as well as the exploitation of natural resources (water, wood, charcoal, etc.). Attention to materials thus opens a reflection on their impact on natural and human environments as well as on their own vulnerability, their conservation, and their future.

The second issue of 48-14 will explore these questions from a perspective in art history that is both multidisciplinary (visual arts, decorative arts, architecture, photography, film, etc.) and globalized, while at the same time focusing on the period covered by the collections of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie, that is, from 1848 to 1927.

Priority will be given to proposals that concern specific objects and discuss various ways in which artists conceive of the relationship between matter and environment—whether this relationship challenges or bolsters the supposed opposition between nature and culture (Descola, 2005). We enthusiastically seek proposals over a wide gamut of artistic media, including photography, film, decorative arts, architecture, sculpture, painting, and the graphic arts. In its selection the editorial board will ensure a balance among these different fields. Our call is addressed to researchers at all career stages, from all relevant professional backgrounds, and from all regions of the world. For reasons of cost and expertise, submissions must nevertheless be in French or English (see submission conditions below).

The proposed title for this issue of 48-14 is a working title and may be modified.

Possible Axes (non-exhaustive)

1. Resources, environments, and the material conditions of creation

• Extraction, circulation, and transformation of natural and industrial resources

• Colonial expansion and appropriation of animal, vegetal, or mineral resources

• Globalization of materials and their artistic uses (pigments, papers, metals, glass, etc.)

• The role of the studio as a material, sensory, and experimental environment

• The capture and representation of light, air, and transparency

• Accelerated transformation of landscapes by extractive industries and infrastructures

• Artistic forms of environmental perception and of the feeling for nature

• Animal materials and issues related to the living (exploitation, domestication, extinction)

2. Life, agency, and the vulnerability of materials

• Matter as a living organism, a site of vitality

• New materials and their effects on modern sensibilities

• Industrial, transformed, prefabricated materials

• Fragilities and limits of materials

• The toxicity of materials for the environment as well as for artists, artisans, and workers

• Materiality and temporality: alterations, losses, and disappearances

3. Preservation in an unstable environment

• Early ecological reflections and movements for the protection of nature, in parallel with debates on the durability of artworks

• Translocation of artworks to different climates

• Heightened vulnerabilities in the face of natural disasters and climate disruptions (fires, floods, humidity, heat)

• Effects of climate change on matter (cracking, corrosion, discoloration, swelling, mold, destruction)

• Contemporary practices of conservation and restoration in a context of climate change

• Alternative strategies: replicas, casts, photographs, virtual reconstructions, digital reproductions, and their environmental impacts

Revival and New Format of 48-14

48-14 is the historical journal of the Musée d’Orsay. Published from 1995 to 2011, it returns in 2026 with a new format: annual, it will exist in a printed version in French as well as in a bilingual open access digital version, in French and English. This relaunch is marked by the expansion of the chronological scope covered by the journal, now integrating that of the collections of the Musée de l’Orangerie, and by the creation of the Daniel Marchesseau Resource and Research Center of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie, which reaffirms the museums’ intention to pursue and strengthen their commitment to research. Each issue contains a thematic section consisting of articles gathered through calls for contributions. The journal thus aims to initiate, support, and disseminate research in art history between 1848 and 1927, across all media.

Editor: France Nerlich (Centre de ressources et de recherche Daniel Marchesseau – Musée d’Orsay / Musée de l’Orangerie)
Guest Editor for the second issue: Servane Dargnies-de Vitry (Musée d’Orsay)

Submission Guidelines

Submissions to this call for papers must include:

• An abstract (650 words max., including spaces and notes, with abbreviated bibliographic references, Word file) specifying the subject, the research question, the originality of the proposal, and the main hypotheses, as well as a provisional title

• Primary material and/or bibliographic references

• In a separate document: a biography of the author (250 words max.), accompanied by a list of their most significant publications

Proposals, which may be written in French or in English, should be sent to 48-14@musee-orsay.fr no later than 30 January 2026. The journal’s editorial board will select between six and eight proposals, ensuring representativeness across fields. Authors will be informed of the decision in March 2026.
Final articles must be submitted by 15 October 2026. The texts (25,000 characters, including notes and spaces) will then undergo peer review.

The journal will obtain the images to publish and the rights to publish them and will also cover the costs of translation.

Dates

Responses to the Call for Papers: 30 January 2026
Selection by the Editorial Board: March 2026
Submission of manuscripts: 15 October 2026
Review from the Editorial Board on the manuscripts: January 2027
Publication: October 2027

CONF: ESNA Salon d’Automne

Sebastian Smee

Kunstmuseum Den Haag

Friday 7 November

ESNA is taking a new direction. In 2024, several founding board members bid farewell. Over the past year, the new board has taken the time to reflect on the future of ESNA. Our mission remains unchanged: to provide networking opportunities and encourage research on art of the long nineteenth century (1789-1914). At the same time, we have been rethinking how to build an even more dynamic and interactive society.

This event, organized in collaboration with the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, marks the launch of ESNA’s new identity, plans and ambitions.

One of these new initiatives is the Salon d’Automne, a recurring lecture, open to the general public, that will debut during this festive afternoon. Its aim is to invite new voices and fresh perspectives on the arts of the long nineteenth century and to open them up to broader audiences. Each edition will feature a distinguished speaker who can translate rigorous research into a compelling narrative that resonates with both scholars and art lovers.

We are thrilled to announce that the inaugural lecture will be given by Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee. During the lecture he will discuss his most recent book Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism (2024), in which he vividly explores how the horrific events of the Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune shaped the early works of artists such as Manet, Morisot, and Degas. Smee argues that Impressionism was ‘born in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue’.

In his talk, Smee will share insights into the historical context explored in the book, his discoveries, and the challenges he faced during his research and writing process. He will also reflect briefly on his widely acclaimed earlier book, The Art of Rivalry (2016). Both works by Smee resonate strongly in two exhibitions Breitner vs Israels (2020) and New Paris (2025) curated by Frouke van Dijke, curator at Kunstmuseum Den Haag. Following the lecture, Smee and Van Dijke will engage in a conversation about their shared fascination with the turbulent fin de siècle, exploring both the parallels and contrasts in their work.

 Kunstmuseum Den Haag
 Friday 7 November 2025, 13.45-17.30 hrs
 Tickets: €20 / students €10 (via  https://eventix.shop/a3b8jqwq)

A New Direction for ESNA
13.45-14.00 Arrival and registration
14.00-14.30 ESNA becomes…[drum roll] introduction new plans
14.30-15.00 Coffee/tea break

Salon d’Automne
Moderator: Fleur Roos Rosa de Carvalho (Van Gogh Museum & ESNA board)
15.00-16.00: Lecture by Sebastian Smee
16.00-16.20: Conversation with curator Frouke van Dijke (Kunstmuseum Den Haag) on the themes of Paris in Ruins and the recent exhibition New Paris: from Monet to Morisot
16.20-16.50: Questions & discussion
16.50-17.30: Drinks & book signing

With thanks to:
Van Gogh Museum & Kunstmuseum Den Haag