New Voices: November 2004
One–day Conference
University of Reading, 5 November 2004
Reading New Voices: Meeting the Upcoming Scholars
The fourth New Voices conference was hosted by the helpful Department of History of Art, the University of Reading. The key objective of the conference was to offer students a chance to gain valuable experience in representing their research in an informal atmosphere without limiting conference themes. As a result of this, the delegates enjoyed a wide range of different approaches to the history of art, addressing a variety of time periods from ancient erotic art to Renaissance convents and contemporary tableau and ephemeral art.
In addition to the papers, Dr Gruezner Robins’ keynote address and Francesca Fiumano’s workshop provided invaluable advice for anyone interested in academic or commercial exhibitions.
Dr Anna Gruetzner Robins’ (Reading) fascinating keynote address focused on the topic of curating exhibitions. In reference to her upcoming exhibition on Degas, Toulouse Lautrec and Britain and her past exhibitions such as Post-Impressionism: Cross Currents in European Painting and Modern Art in Britain 1910-1914, Dr Gruetzner Robins discussed the different stages of preparation, including presenting a plan, selecting, identifying and getting access to works, writing a catalogue and hanging the exhibition.
The first student paper Sex & Ancient Art – A Question of Pleasure? by Eloise Govier (St Andrews) pointed out that ancient erotic art is not simply a matter of the depiction of lovemaking or nudity. The ancient ‘erotic’ art includes bestiality, pederasty and androgynous enigmas and the numerous archaeological remains suggest that these were not solitary acts of artistic perversity: the Romans were genuinely enticed by such content and some works had religious importance or were considered as comical.
Sarah Edwards (Reading), in her well-informed paper Envisaging Architectural Intention: an Investigation of the Lost Original Design of Santa Chiara in Urbino, focused on Francesco di Giorgio Martini’s impressive church and convent of Santa Chiara as a rare example of both convent architecture and fifteenth century architecture. The convent was not completed in accordance with the original Martinian design and the available evidence indicates that Martini intended to create an even more impressive structure.
Louise Hurrell’s (Plymouth) paper focused on The identification of Somerset as an Idyllic Location for the 1860s Popular Illustration Boom Through the Work of John William North, 1842-1924, George John Pinwell, 1842-1875, and Frederick Walker, 1840-1875 who were known as the Idyllists. Louise explored the significance of a small corpus of 1860s woodcut illustrations that represent the West Country and primarily Somerset, but were often printed with poetry and without specific reference to time or place. Louise questioned the representation of the rural idyll as an artistic activity integral with the English landscape tradition, with its overtones of romanticism, regionalism and nationalism.
In her detailed paper Learning to Paint: The Academic Years of the Pre-Raphaelites, Kuei-ying Huang (University of Essex) questioned the origins of the Pre-Raphaelite’s bright, strong colour by exploring the influence of academic teaching and theory on the painting technique and colour usage during the formative years (1847-52) of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Kuei-ying suggested that the transformation of the academic doctrine itself inspired the artists to emulate the Flemish style and the network between academics and the Pre-Raphaelite artists was an important interface.
Jennifer Powell’s (Birmingham) well-presented paper Germaine Richier and Existentialism:Inherent Problems Arising in the Discussion of Visual Art and Existential Philosophy examined the relationship between Richier’s work and Existentialism in reference to Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Alberto Giacometti. Jennifer argued that themes such as fear, alienation and uneasy relationships between human beings can be found in Richier’s work, but also acknowledged that Sartre’s conception of the relationship between the author-text/object-viewer silences the artist, which prevents the artist to communicate meanings to the viewer.
In her inspiring paper From Flesh to Stone and Back to Flesh: the Tableau in Contemporary Art, Janice Hitchens (UCL) considered on how the representation of the figure in sculpture has changed. Janice focused on the definition, derivation and history of tableau and the distinction between the idea of tableau as a picture and tableau as a pictorial representation. Janice suggested that the tableau is still part of our art historical culture and there is a kind of hybridity between performance, sculpture and photography that was to some extent embedded in the tableau from the start.
Gabriel Gee (Paris X Nanterre) in Comparative Analysis of (Some)Art Institutions Discourses in the 1990’s looked at the ways which museums and art galleries constantly define and redefine themselves in relation to their audience(s). In reference to a variety of publishing materials, Gabriel demonstrated the means of increasing audience targeting and public communication.
As part of the SMG careers workshop series, Francesca Fiumano, the owner of the upcoming FarmiloFiumano Gallery, London, discussed the pros and cons of running a gallery. Importantly, Francesca emphasised that a successful commercial gallery is not just matter of finding new, exciting and talented artists, but also requires hard work, dedication and great business skills. This enthusiastic workshop made a helpful comparison to Dr Gruetzner Robins’ earlier keynote address that had addressed curatorial questions from an academic point of view.
In his thought-provoking paper Thinking through Theory and Practice, Philip Hawkins (Plymouth) discussed the different ways of thinking across disciplines that may include threads of art practice, art history, and social and cultural enquiry. In reference to Irit Rogoff, Victor Burgin, Cobra Art, Henri Lefebvre and Gaston Bachelard, Philip asked us to consider how thinking through theory and practice can be relevant to research students and questioned his own practice-based PhD research through the blurred terrain of theory and practice.
Mary O’ Neill (Loughborough), in her fascinating paper Ephemeral Art and Sacrifice, demonstrated on how ephemeral art has a bilateral quality to sacrifice: it addresses knowledge about mortality, death denial, and terror management. However, in order to do that, it often sacrifices the art object in the process. Thus, accessing aforementioned knowledge when the work no longer exists is problematic. On the other hand, as the result of intervention by conservators, the work may exist only in a form that is no longer ephemeral.
Amy Bryzgel (Rutgers, New Jersey) in her paper Afrika’s Crimania: Negotiating Post-Soviet Identity focused on the St Petersburg artist Afrika’s (Sergei Anatolevich Bugaev) Crimania: Icons, Monuments, Mazàfaka show which reconciled the symbols and language of the Soviet past with its future in order to negotiate the exchange of a collective Soviet identity for an individual Russian one. Interestingly, Amy suggested that Afrika’s personal awakening can translate into a universal experience for mankind.
I would like to thank the Department of History of Art, the University of Reading, for hosting this thought-provoking conference. Also, many thanks to all delegates and our wonderful speakers for their contributions. I am pleased to see that the New Voices conference series is gaining greater reputation, delegate numbers have doubled and the conference is no longer just national but also an international event, which makes the New Voices series an exciting part of the SMG’s agenda.
Outi Remes
Chair, Student Members’ Group
The fourth New Voices conference was hosted by the helpful Department of History of Art, the University of Reading. The key objective of the conference was to offer students a chance to gain valuable experience in representing their research in an informal atmosphere without limiting conference themes. As a result of this, the delegates enjoyed a wide range of different approaches to the history of art, addressing a variety of time periods from ancient erotic art to Renaissance convents and contemporary tableau and ephemeral art.
In addition to the papers, Dr Gruezner Robins’ keynote address and Francesca Fiumano’s workshop provided invaluable advice for anyone interested in academic or commercial exhibitions.
Dr Anna Gruetzner Robins’ (Reading) fascinating keynote address focused on the topic of curating exhibitions. In reference to her upcoming exhibition on Degas, Toulouse Lautrec and Britain and her past exhibitions such as Post-Impressionism: Cross Currents in European Painting and Modern Art in Britain 1910-1914, Dr Gruetzner Robins discussed the different stages of preparation, including presenting a plan, selecting, identifying and getting access to works, writing a catalogue and hanging the exhibition.
The first student paper Sex & Ancient Art – A Question of Pleasure? by Eloise Govier (St Andrews) pointed out that ancient erotic art is not simply a matter of the depiction of lovemaking or nudity. The ancient ‘erotic’ art includes bestiality, pederasty and androgynous enigmas and the numerous archaeological remains suggest that these were not solitary acts of artistic perversity: the Romans were genuinely enticed by such content and some works had religious importance or were considered as comical.
Sarah Edwards (Reading), in her well-informed paper Envisaging Architectural Intention: an Investigation of the Lost Original Design of Santa Chiara in Urbino, focused on Francesco di Giorgio Martini’s impressive church and convent of Santa Chiara as a rare example of both convent architecture and fifteenth century architecture. The convent was not completed in accordance with the original Martinian design and the available evidence indicates that Martini intended to create an even more impressive structure.
Louise Hurrell’s (Plymouth) paper focused on The identification of Somerset as an Idyllic Location for the 1860s Popular Illustration Boom Through the Work of John William North, 1842-1924, George John Pinwell, 1842-1875, and Frederick Walker, 1840-1875 who were known as the Idyllists. Louise explored the significance of a small corpus of 1860s woodcut illustrations that represent the West Country and primarily Somerset, but were often printed with poetry and without specific reference to time or place. Louise questioned the representation of the rural idyll as an artistic activity integral with the English landscape tradition, with its overtones of romanticism, regionalism and nationalism.
In her detailed paper Learning to Paint: The Academic Years of the Pre-Raphaelites, Kuei-ying Huang (University of Essex) questioned the origins of the Pre-Raphaelite’s bright, strong colour by exploring the influence of academic teaching and theory on the painting technique and colour usage during the formative years (1847-52) of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Kuei-ying suggested that the transformation of the academic doctrine itself inspired the artists to emulate the Flemish style and the network between academics and the Pre-Raphaelite artists was an important interface.
Jennifer Powell’s (Birmingham) well-presented paper Germaine Richier and Existentialism:Inherent Problems Arising in the Discussion of Visual Art and Existential Philosophy examined the relationship between Richier’s work and Existentialism in reference to Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Alberto Giacometti. Jennifer argued that themes such as fear, alienation and uneasy relationships between human beings can be found in Richier’s work, but also acknowledged that Sartre’s conception of the relationship between the author-text/object-viewer silences the artist, which prevents the artist to communicate meanings to the viewer.
In her inspiring paper From Flesh to Stone and Back to Flesh: the Tableau in Contemporary Art, Janice Hitchens (UCL) considered on how the representation of the figure in sculpture has changed. Janice focused on the definition, derivation and history of tableau and the distinction between the idea of tableau as a picture and tableau as a pictorial representation. Janice suggested that the tableau is still part of our art historical culture and there is a kind of hybridity between performance, sculpture and photography that was to some extent embedded in the tableau from the start.
Gabriel Gee (Paris X Nanterre) in Comparative Analysis of (Some)Art Institutions Discourses in the 1990’s looked at the ways which museums and art galleries constantly define and redefine themselves in relation to their audience(s). In reference to a variety of publishing materials, Gabriel demonstrated the means of increasing audience targeting and public communication.
As part of the SMG careers workshop series, Francesca Fiumano, the owner of the upcoming FarmiloFiumano Gallery, London, discussed the pros and cons of running a gallery. Importantly, Francesca emphasised that a successful commercial gallery is not just matter of finding new, exciting and talented artists, but also requires hard work, dedication and great business skills. This enthusiastic workshop made a helpful comparison to Dr Gruetzner Robins’ earlier keynote address that had addressed curatorial questions from an academic point of view.
In his thought-provoking paper Thinking through Theory and Practice, Philip Hawkins (Plymouth) discussed the different ways of thinking across disciplines that may include threads of art practice, art history, and social and cultural enquiry. In reference to Irit Rogoff, Victor Burgin, Cobra Art, Henri Lefebvre and Gaston Bachelard, Philip asked us to consider how thinking through theory and practice can be relevant to research students and questioned his own practice-based PhD research through the blurred terrain of theory and practice.
Mary O’ Neill (Loughborough), in her fascinating paper Ephemeral Art and Sacrifice, demonstrated on how ephemeral art has a bilateral quality to sacrifice: it addresses knowledge about mortality, death denial, and terror management. However, in order to do that, it often sacrifices the art object in the process. Thus, accessing aforementioned knowledge when the work no longer exists is problematic. On the other hand, as the result of intervention by conservators, the work may exist only in a form that is no longer ephemeral.
Amy Bryzgel (Rutgers, New Jersey) in her paper Afrika’s Crimania: Negotiating Post-Soviet Identity focused on the St Petersburg artist Afrika’s (Sergei Anatolevich Bugaev) Crimania: Icons, Monuments, Mazàfaka show which reconciled the symbols and language of the Soviet past with its future in order to negotiate the exchange of a collective Soviet identity for an individual Russian one. Interestingly, Amy suggested that Afrika’s personal awakening can translate into a universal experience for mankind.
I would like to thank the Department of History of Art, the University of Reading, for hosting this thought-provoking conference. Also, many thanks to all delegates and our wonderful speakers for their contributions. I am pleased to see that the New Voices conference series is gaining greater reputation, delegate numbers have doubled and the conference is no longer just national but also an international event, which makes the New Voices series an exciting part of the SMG’s agenda.
Outi Remes
Chair, Student Members’ Group