Academic Sessions: Glasgow 2010
AAH Annual Conference 2010
15 - 17 April, University of Glasgow
Many Hands Make Light Work: the Division, Status and Valuation of Artistic Labour in 16th- and 17th-century Northern European Art
Sessions Convenor:
Erma Hermens, University of Glasgow, e.hermens@arthist.arts.gla.ac.uk
The 17th-century master of a certain status often supervised a large studio with assistants and apprentices, assigning them a variety of tasks ranging from preparing paints to participating in the studio’s production. Research into the identification of the ‘hand of the master’ has received ample attention in art historical studies, however, this session’s focus will be on the many collaborative processes and division, exchange, sharing and valuation of artistic labour, within the artist’s studio, between studios but also between disciplines and individual artists of lesser importance than e.g. Rembrandt and Rubens, which so far remain largely unlit but can provide fascinating insights into contemporary practice. Specialisation and autonomy within the studio organisation, sharing and exchanging prints, drawings and models, tools and materials, the use of ‘free-lance’ assistants, as well as the painters’ roles in producing designs for works in other media, such as decorative arts, deserve more attention. The tasks artists of a variety of backgrounds and skills take on in these processes pose interesting questions about the status and valuation of invention versus execution. The system of division of artistic labour as expressed through contracts, authorisation, and payments provides insights into the hierarchy within artistic practice and the status of each individual contributor, which go beyond the master-apprentice-assistant relationship.
Speakers:
Helen Draper (Courtauld Institute, London)
Mary Beale (1633-1699) and her portrait studio in seventeenth-century London
Nathan Flis (Oxford University)
Designing from Nature: artistic collaborations in mid seventeenth-century London
Jeannie Labno (University of Sussex)
Artistic Practice in Renaissance Poland: a Truly International Affair
Linda Hinners (Stockholm University / Nationalmuseum of Stockholm)
Nicodemus Tessin the Younger (1654-1728) and the French Workshop at the Palace of Stockholm. Professional roles, career, working-methods and organization
Margriet van Eikema Hommes and Jolanda de Bruijn (University of Amsterdam)
Honthorst fecit (?) Gerard van Honthorst and his workshop in the Oranjezaal Huis ten Bosch
Peter Black (Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow)
Rubens’s head studies and the representation of character
Christa Gattringer (University of Glasgow)
Painted ‘Signatures’- Reconsidering reappearing motives in the Workshop of Frans Snyders (bapt.1579-1657)