Ghent, 26-27 February 2016.
Deadline proposal: 1
October 2015
Sculpting abroad. International
mobility of nineteenth-century sculptors and their work.
Organized by the Department of Art History, Ghent University, and the
Department of History, KULeuven Campus Kortrijk.
In collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, ESNA (European
Society of Nineteenth-Century Art) and research platform XIX
Keynote presentations by Antoinette Le Normand-Romain (INHA, Paris) and Sura
Levine (Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts)
During this two-day symposium, speakers are invited to reflect upon the subject
matter of the transnational mobility of sculptors and the implications for these
artists and their art during the long nineteenth century. In the course of this
century, the creation of nation-states coincided with an increasing
international focus by artists, their commissioners, sellers, buyers and
critics. The impact of a sculptor’s nationality on his reception and ‘imaging’,
as well as their mobility across borders remain ambiguous. Sculptors were regularly
encouraged to study abroad, and recognized for their experience and success
beyond the borders of the own nation. Simultaneously, however, they were often
expected to represent the nation, and showcase the own ‘national school’ with
its peculiar properties, and extending from the own national tradition.
This conference aims to address the role of art criticism, the art
market, exhibitions, education, commissions etc. for sculptors in an
international context, and the implications for their (inter)national or local
identity. Participants are invited to reflect on the theoretical and/or
practical implications of (trans)nationality, travel and cultural mobility on nineteenth-century
sculptors and their work.
Papers may include but are not limited to the
following topics:
-
Transnational exchange (both between centres and peripheries), internationalism of sculptors and their work.
-
Travel and mobility of
sculptors and sculptures.
-
Nationality, nationalism, and the development of nationhood in relation
to the development of sculpture.
- Prejudice, or even rejection, due to a sculptor’s foreign nationality.
- Transnational friendships between sculptors, or hostilities because of their nationality
- National or international appeal of public commissions and competitions announced abroad.
- The impact of foreign experience and recognition on the national reputation and ‘imaging’ of a sculptor.
- Discussion and reviewing of foreign sculptors and ‘sculpture schools’ in foreign, national and local press.
- The ambiguous, sometimes opportunistic attitudes of sculptors in league of commissions and recognition towards their own nationality.
- The construction of ‘national schools’ in sculpture in relation to a local/national/international tradition.
- Comparisons of different ‘national sculpture schools’, and the question whether it is possible to distinguish a national style for sculpture in the first place.
- Mechanisms of international influencing in nineteenth-century sculpture.
- Identity and ‘national schools’ and the arts, notably sculpture.
- Commercial or artistic drivers of mobility for sculptors.
- Movement at meta/macro/micro levels of both sculptors and sculptures.
-
Artistic practice vs.
theory in sculpture.
-
Gender and mobility in the
practice of sculpture.
We invite proposals for papers of 20 minute duration. Please send a 300
word abstract and a brief biographical statement (max 150 words) attached in
PDF to sculpture.conference@ugent.be by no later than October, 1, 2015.
This symposium originates from the research project “In search of a
national (s)cul(p)ture. Belgian sculptors abroad and foreign sculptors in
Belgium”, funded by BOF, Ghent University.