Anne Lafont is speaking at the Warburg on 24 January on Portrait of the African Woman from Atlantic to Mississippi: A New Topography of the Art of Enlightenment.
. . Category: Archived Events . Tags: Anne Lafont, History of Art, The Warburg Institute, Topography, Warburg InstituteTag Archives: History of Art
Murray Seminars: Spring Term 2018
MURRAY SEMINARS – Spring Term 2018
These advanced research seminars are open to all, and attract interested members of the public, staff and students from other London colleges and beyond. They are an opportunity to hear and contribute to cutting-edge research, often at the very early stages of work in progress.
All this term’s seminars take place in the History of Art Department at Birkbeck (43, Gordon Sq., London WC1H 0PD) in Room 114 (The Keynes Library) at 5pm. Talks finish by 5.50pm (allowing those with other commitments to leave) and are then followed by discussion and refreshments. This term’s seminars are:
17 January: Carol Richardson
Britons and Anglo-Saxons in Sixteenth-Century Rome: the 1580s fresco cycle at the English College
William Allen referred to Bede’s Ecclesiastical History as a seminarian’s reader because it proved that Christianity in Britain derived directly from the Catholic church in Rome from its very origins. This was an important argument in the context of Tudor persecution of Catholics because of the Protestant assertion that British Christianity had taken root long before the missions of Augustine of Canterbury introduced the corrupted Roman version of Christianity. This paper will consider the earliest part of the fresco cycle in the English College, which survives as printed images, in light of this deliberate historiographical choice.
13 February: Emanuele Lugli
Chasing Absence: The Body of Christ and the Measures to Enter in Touch with it
This talk focuses on the singular devotion for the ‘mensura Christi,’ or the act of praying with objects that reproduced the height of Christ. It explores the reasons for its phenomenal success, from its diffusion in the twelfth century up to its ban in the seventeenth, and the motives for its marginalization in historical accounts today. The talk asks questions about what turns an orthodox veneration into a mere superstition, an inversion that is all the more puzzling given that the ‘mensura Christi’ relies on measuring, one of the methods to fight credulity. The lecture thus reconsiders the relationships of measuring practices, visual belief, and religious orders, thus contributing to discussions on representations, faith, and material studies.
14 March: Luca Palozzi
‘And the great lion walks through his innocent grove’. A cross-disciplinary study of lion paw prints in Giovanni Pisano’s Pisa pulpit
Giovanni Pisano carved animal tracks on the base of one of two lions bearing columns in his pulpit for Pisa Cathedral (1302-1310). Overlooked for more than seven centuries, these are the first naturalistic paw prints carved in marble in post-Classical Western art. This paper presents the initial results of a joint art historical and anatomical study of the Pisa paw prints conducted by Dr Luca Palozzi and Dr Gurå Bergkvist. In so doing, it tackles the much-debated issue of Medieval ‘naturalism’ (and its means) from an unusual perspective. A cross-disciplinary approach, that is, may help us find new answers to long-standing questions.
We hope to see you there.
. . Category: Archived Events . Tags: Art History, History of Art, HoA, Murray SeminarsVacancy with funding: Venice Biennale 18-19 – Steward Fellowship deadline 12 Jan 2018
Dear School of Arts Student,
The School of Arts at Birkbeck is delighted to announce an exciting opportunity to all current students. We are inviting applications for two Steward-Research Fellowships at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018, running between 26 May and 25 November 2018. A background in architecture or architectural history is not a pre-requisite. These are part funded by the British Council, and by the School of Arts. The successful candidates will be responsible for making their own travel, accommodation and insurance arrangements, but will be given a grant of £1600 for the month towards these and other expenses.
The successful candidates will work four days per week as an invigilator in the British Pavilion. Their remaining time will be used for study and research around the biennale theme, Freespace, which describes a generosity of spirit and a sense of humanity at the core of architecture’s agenda, focusing on the quality of space itself. Students may wish to use this opportunity to contribute to an existing project or a dissertation – but there is no obligation to do so.
Applications are due by 5pm on 12 January 2018.
Please see the attached guidelines for further information and links:
Statement by Farrell and McNamara
Venice Fellowships Introduction
. . Category: Archived Funding, Vacancies . Tags: Biennale, Fellowship, History of Art, School of Arts, Venice
Murray Seminar: Mary Magdalene in Byzantium – 6 December 2018 5pm
A reminder that Cecily Hennessy will be speaking on Wednesday 6th December at the Murray Seminar at Birkbeck (43, Gordon Sq., London WC1H 0PD) at 5pm. As ever, the talk will finish by 5.50pm (allowing those with other commitments to leave) and is then followed by discussion and refreshments. Details of her talk are below, and we hope to see you there.
Mary Magdalene in Byzantium
While Mary Magdalene’s relics were housed from about 900 in a most splendid church built by Leo VI in Constantinople, she is often thought to be an insignificant saint in the east, although several indications suggest a more complex situation. This paper examines the Early Christian and Byzantine imagery of Mary, explores some eastern texts that contributed to forming her identity and endeavours to understand why the two traditions, east and west, are so distinct.
. . Category: Events . Tags: Byzantium, History of Art, Mary Magdalene, Murray, Murray Seminar
Art, Conflict and Context – The Work of John Keane: Launch 28 November – 8 December
History of Art PhD student Jane Quinn is curating an exhibition around the work of John Keane as part of her practice-based project. If you would like to attend the launch, please RSVP as shown above. The exhibition is on until 8 December.
. . Category: Archived Events . Tags: Art, Conflict and Context, exhibition, History of Art, John KeaneAcademic Writing Sessions – Autumn Term 2017
Dear all,
You are invited to a new series of academic writing sessions, to be held twice weekly in the School of Arts. Inspired by/in unabashed mimicry of Alice Kelly’s academic writing group at Oxford, the sessions are designed to give researchers at all stages some time, space and peer support for focused work on extended writing projects.
The three-hour sessions will be held on Mondays and Thursdays from 10am to 1pm, starting on Monday 9th October. They will be structured as follows:
10.00-10.15: arrival, catching up and goal-sharing
10.15-11.30: first writing session
11.30-11.45: break
11.45-13.00: second writing session
There is a cap of 12 people per session due to the room size, so participants should sign up in advance. You don’t have to attend each session: if you think you would like to come at any point, email Sophie at sophie.jones@bbk.ac.uk to be added to the general mailing list. On Friday Sophie will send the email list a sign-up sheet for the next week’s sessions (first come, first served) and details of the room. If you would like to come to the first session next Monday 9th, please indicate that in your initial email.
Sophie is starting these sessions as a new postdoctoral researcher in the Department of English and Humanities and envisage that they will be particularly helpful for postdoctoral and PhD researchers, but they are very much open to all staff engaged in writing projects.
Note: The group isn’t designed as a space for sharing work, though it might well create opportunities for doing so.
Let Sophie know if you have any questions.
—
Dr Sophie A. Jones
ISSF Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of English and Humanities
Birkbeck, University of London
43 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PD
. . Category: Archived Call for Papers . Tags: Academic Writing, Alice Kelly, Arts and Humanities, Autumn Term 2017, Cultures and Languages, English and Humanities, Film Media and Cultural Studies, History of Art, School of ArtsMurray Seminars – Autumn Term 2017
Please see details of this term’s Murray Seminars below:
Murray Seminars – Autumn Term 2017
18 October: Kim Woods Speaking Sculptures
13 November: Zoe Opacic From Sacroscape to Cityscape: Images of Central European Towns in Late Medieval Sources
6 December: Cecily Hennessy Mary Magdalene in Byzantium
All this term’s seminars take place in the History of Art Department at Birkbeck (43, Gordon Sq., London WC1H 0PD) in Room 114 (The Keynes Library) at 5pm.
Talks finish by 5.50pm (allowing those with other commitments to leave) and are then followed by discussion and refreshments. We hope to see you there.
. . Category: Archived Events . Tags: Autumn Term, Cecily Hennessy, History of Art, Kim Woods, Murray Seminar, Zoe OpacicBirkbeck School of Arts Research Student Collective – 11 October 2017
Looking for a place to discuss your research?
Join our informal researchers’ forum, run by research students.
Meeting monthly, the Collective gives PGR students across the school a friendly space in which to practice, present, explore and question your work in progress.
. . Category: Archived Events . Tags: Arts and Humaniites, Cultures and Languages, English and Humanities, Film Media and Cultural Studies, FMACS, Forum, History of Art, PGR Collective, Research, School of Arts
Basic Instincts: Art, Women & Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century – 20 November 17
Basic Instincts: Art, Women & Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century
Monday 20 November 2017
10:00-17:00 | Keynes Library, School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London
43 Gordon Square, London. WC1H 0PD
This symposium has been organised alongside the Foundling Museum exhibition, Basic Instincts (29 September 2017 – 7 January 2018). Curated by Dr Jacqueline Riding, Historical Consultant, Author and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Arts at Birkbeck, University of London, Basic Instincts explores Georgian attitudes to love, desire and female respectability through the radical paintings of Joseph Highmore.
The symposium will draw out some of the key themes of the exhibition, focusing on the depiction of women and sexuality in eighteenth-century culture. The confirmed speakers are: Emma Barker, Joanne Begiato (published as Bailey), Karen Lipsedge, Mary Peace, Kate Retford, Jacqueline Riding and Kirsten Tambling. Delegates will also be taken on a tour of the exhibition at the Foundling Museum.
For further details, and to book a place, please follow this link: http://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/events/basic-instincts-symposium/. Tickets are £40, £30 concessions & Foundling Friends.
. . Category: Archived Events . Tags: Art History, Basic Instincts, Dr Kate Retford, Emma Barker, Foundling Museum, Georgian, History of Art, Jacqueline Riding, Joanne Bailey, Joanne Begiato, Karen Lipsedge, Kate Retford, Kirsten Tambling, Mary Peace
Birkbeck History of Art Study Day – 28 September 2017
Enshrining the Miraculous Image in Renaissance Italy:
. . Category: Archived Events . Tags: Dorigen Caldwell, History of Art, Italy, Neil Davidson, Paul Davies, Renaissance, Robert Maniura, Scott Nethersole