The Artwork Exposed: Politics and the Arts (1850-1914)

Symposium in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Historical 
Society (KNHG)
Amsterdam, 17-18 April 2014
With a Keynote Lecture on 
“Patriotism, Empathy, and the Politicization of Art”
by Michelle Facos (Indiana University Bloomington)
In art history, the last decades have seen an overwhelming number of
publications that provide political interpretations of a variety of
artworks. It almost seems as if any visual object can be interpreted
in ways inscribing it with political significance. Rather than adding
yet more interpretations of individual works to the canon of art
history, this symposium aims to take the topic of art and politics
into more theoretical realms by asking questions that touch upon the
fundamental relationship between artworks, history and politics.
Artworks are in the first place visual objects. How can artworks and
political history be related to each other, apart from using the first
to illuminate the second – and vice versa? How are visual objects able
to communicate a political message? How can historians deal with the
divide between intention and perception when analyzing artworks? And
whose intentions are we talking about: those of the artist, those of
the commissioner, or those of the viewer?
The conference sets out to develop new ways of thinking about artworks
as objects in networks of intention, interpretation and social
relations that include artists, commissioners, critics and the
audience. It is the explicit intention of the organizers to step
beyond the well-known generalizations of art history, like artistic
styles or schools, avant-garde and arrière-garde, modern and
traditional. It offers a platform that brings together young and
established scholars, both historians and art historians, who are
studying the period 1850-1914. In addition, the conference will
include a visit to the Rijksmuseum for an in situ discussion of the
relationship between arts and politics in the Dutch context.

PROGRAM:

Thursday, 17 April 2014

Location: Van Gogh Museum, Auditorium

13.00–13.30 Registration

13.30–13.35 Welcome

13.35–13.50 Introduction by Camelia Errouane (University of Groningen)

13.50–14.35 Keynote lecture by Michelle Facos (Indiana University 
Bloomington)

14.35–14.55 Discussion

14.55–15.15 Break

Session 1: The Influence of Politics on the Reception of Art  
15.15–17.00

1. Bart Pushaw (Tallinn University): Artistic Alliances and 
   Revolutionary Rivalries in the Baltic Art World, 1890-1914
2. Joes Segal (Utrecht University): The Politicization of Art in the 
   German Empire, 1900-1914
3. Marie Cambefort (Royal Holloway): ‘Das Unbehagen in der Kultur‘: 
   The Reception of Art at the Venice Biennale, 1909-1914

17.00–19.00 Excursion: tba

Friday, 18 April 2014

Location: Rijksmuseum, Auditorium
Day chair: Wessel Krul (University of Groningen)

9.00–9.30 Coffee/tea

Session 2: Artists and their Political Strategies 
9.30–11.10

1. Tom Verschaffel (Leuven University), Between Politics, the Public 
   and two Capitals: The Strategies and the Network of the Stevens 
   Family
2. Laura Prins (Van Gogh Museum), Politics of Printmaking in the Early
   Third Republic, 1870-1914
3. Marlies van der Riet (University of Amsterdam), Artists into 
   Politics: The National Monument and The Hague’s Theatre Debate, 
   1863-1913

11.10 – 11.40 Break

Session 3: Political Motivations and the (Dis)appearance of Artworks
11.40–13.20

1. Geneviève Lacambre (independent scholar), Gustave Moreau and the 
   Republic
2. Alison McQueen (McMaster University), Discourses of French Colonial 
   Dominance through Public Sculpture: The Monument to Maréchal Bugeaud
   in Algiers, 1852-1858
3. Sandra Leandro (New University of Lisbon, University of Évora), 
   Politics in a Phantom Museum: The Industrial and Commercial Museum 
   of Oporto

13.20–14.50 Lunch break and visit Rijksmuseum

Session 4: The Intentions of Commissioners 
14.50–16.30

1. Jenny Reynaerts (Rijksmuseum), Heritage, Museumfication and the 
   Political Past: The Decorations in the Rijksmuseum Front Hall and 
   Gallery of Honour
2. Giovanna Capitelli (University of Calabria), Against Secularization
    – Towards Anti-Modernity: Pius IX and the Esposizione romana 
    relative all’arte cristiana e al culto cattolico of 1870
3. Karen Vannieuwenhuyze (University of Antwerp), The Antwerp 
   Municipality and the (Ab)use of Sculptures, Statues and Memorials 
   in the Urban Political Space

16.30–17.00 Final reflections by Wessel Krul (University of Groningen)

17.00–18.00 Drinks

This symposium is organized by Camelia Errouane (University of 
Groningen) and Laura Prins (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) in 
collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Historical Society (KNHG).

To register for this event, please mail to info@knhg.nl and transfer 
the registration fee to 
IBAN: NL25 INGB 0006 9343 91
BIC: INGBNL2A

Registration fee (includes refreshments and lunch): € 40 
Reduced prices for students (€ 20), KNHG members (€ 30) and KHNG 
student members (€ 15).

Conference Art nouveau revisited: trends and peculiarities

Tweedaagse conferentie in het KIK-IRPA in Brussel, 13-14|02|2014

Art nouveau revisited: trends and peculiarities
De Art nouveau herbekeken: tendensen en bijzonderheden
L’Art nouveau revisité : tendances et particularités

CFP: The Art Market Past and Present: Lessons for the Future?

CALL FOR PAPERS:
The Art Market Past and Present: Lessons for the Future?


A one-day conference on relations between the art market in history and the art market today, organized by Sotheby's Institute of Art – London and The Burlington Magazine, to be held at Sotheby’s Institute of Art - London on Friday 31 October 2014.


The aim of this joint conference is to explore critically what the history of the art market can teach us about the behaviour of the art market today, and vice versa. We hope to bring together historians of the art market working on a wide range of historical periods and places, and utilising varying methodologies, and to engage them in creative dialogue, via thematic groupings, with present-day art market experts of different kinds. We hope that a wide range of expertise and interests will be represented from both the past and the present dimensions of this subject. Many fundamental topics are implicated in this conference, for example the nature of consumerism in societies past and present, the history and nature of art collecting, and the role of art institutions. We have singled out four key themes for this event which we envisage will comprise discreet sessions: - Modes of artistic production, market strategies and sale - Localities, networks and globalization - Value and valuation - Patrons and dealers.


Papers engaging with some aspect of these themes should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length. Preference will be given to those which stimulate dialogue and engage with broader topics.


Please send enquiries and proposals of no more than 250 words, indicating which session your paper relates to, by 30 June 2014, to artmarketconference@burlington.org.uk Registration fee: £25 – Students £10 – free for speakers

tento. Het neo-impressionistisch portret

"TO THE POINT: Het Neo-impressionistisch portret, 1886-1904”: reizende tentoonstelling, georganiseerd door het Indianapolis Museum of Art, zal plaatsvinden van 19 februari tot 18 mei 2014 in het ING Cultuurcentrum, Koningsplein 6 te 1000 Brussel. 

Symposium nav Alexander Hugo Bakker Korff

Op 3 februari 2014 organiseren het RKD en Christie’s Amsterdam een symposium ter gelegenheid van de opening van de tentoonstelling Alexander Hugo Bakker Korff ‘Voyeur van stand’.

Deze negentiende-eeuwse genre schilder begon met het maken van historische en bijbelse voorstellingen, maar specialiseerde zich later in het tekenen en schilderen van huiselijke taferelen met oude vrijsters, waarvoor zijn twee ongetrouwde zusters model stonden. Zijn manier van schilderen was haarscherp en zeer gedetailleerd.Tijdens het symposium wordt zijn oeuvre vanuit verschillende perspectieven benaderd, waaronder: het interieur in de tijd van Bakker Korff; humor in de schilderkunst en de invloed van de fotografie in de negentiende eeuw. Daarnaast is er ook aandacht voor het leven en werk van de kunstenaar.

Sprekers zijn: Reinier Baarsen, conservator Rijksmuseum; Mayken Jonkman, conservator RKD; Marita Mathijsen, emeritus hoogleraar aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam; Jenny Reynaerts, conservator Rijksmuseum; Christiaan Vogelaar, conservator Museum De Lakenhal en Erwin Olaf, fotograaf.

Ronald de Leeuw Research Grant

As a farewell to Ronald de Leeuw as general director of the Rijksmuseum in 2008, the Van Gogh Museum has inaugurated the Ronald de Leeuw Research Grant. The research grant is worth € 5,000.- and will be awarded to a talented researcher. The grant is intended as a lasting tribute to Ronald de Leeuw's achievements as director of the Van Gogh Museum (1986-1996). During his time as director De Leeuw promoted the importance of research into 19th-century West European art history. The Van Gogh Museum will each year offer a talented researcher the opportunity to conduct research into a subject pertaining to the museum's field of collecting. This grant will offer the researcher the opportunity to adapt for publication their dissertation on a subject in the field of West European art history 1830-1914, to write a PhD research proposal or to undertake a field trip.

See for more information: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=195257&lang=en or (in Dutch) http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=195257&lang=nl.

Lecture Prof. Suzanne Marchand in Ghent

Public lecture "Orientalism, Philhellenism and Imperialism in 19th century Humanities" by Prof. Suzanne Marchand (Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge)
8 Jan., 14.30 u. – 16.00 u., lok. 2.16 Blandijn, Universiteit Gent

She is in Ghent on the occasion of the PhD defence of Eline Scheerlinck, entitled “An Orient of Mysteries. Franz Cumont's views on ‘Orient’ and ‘Occident’ in the context of Classical Studies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries”. (9 Jan., 16 u, Het Pand, zaal Rector Blancquaert, Universiteit Gent)