Surfaces (15th-19th Centuries)

Organized by Noemie Etienne, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

This one-day symposium addresses the issue of surface in paintings, architecture and photography in Europe between the 15th and 19th centuries. The focus of this reflection is an examination of how surfaces function: how do their specific properties challenge representation or the viewer? How do they determine the consumption and engagement with the object? Later variations such as graffiti, repairs, or traces of multiple hand, may also be of interest in understanding how the surface of an artwork is redefined over time.

9:30am
Introduction, Noémie Etienne, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

9:45am
Session I: An Anthropology of Surfaces

Charlotte Guichard, Researcher, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris:
Scratched Surfaces: Graffiti in Early Modern Rome

Catherine Girard, Lecturer and Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University:
Ambiguous Ref(l)ection: Experiencing French Rococo Paintings of Hunting Meals

Juanita Solano, Ph.D. Candidate, and Laura Panadero, M.A. Candidate in Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU:
Search of Depth: Deterioration and Consumption of Daguerreotype and Albumen Photographs

11:15-11:45am
Discussion
Moderated by Jonathan Hay, Deputy Director for Faculty and Administration; Ailsa Mellon Bruce Professor of Fine Arts, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

11:45am-1:00pm
Break

1:00pm
Session II: Making and Seeing

Diane Bodart, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University:
Los borrones de Ticiano: The Venetian brushstroke and its Spanish translations

Francisco Chaparro, Ph.D. Candidate, and Matthew Hayes, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU: “Distant Strokes”. The Surface and the Painter in Las Meninas

Daniella Berman, Ph.D. Candidate, and Kari Rayner, M.A. Candidate in Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU:
“Is this the stuff of painting?”: The Question of Finish in Eighteenth-Century France

2:30-3:00pm:
Discussion
Moderated by Michele Marincola, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

3:00-3:30pm
Break

3:30pm
Session III: Surface as Contact Zone: Texture and Touch

Etienne Jollet, Professor, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne:
The Touch of Things: Surface Contacts in Chardin's Still-lives

Christina Ferando, Visiting Assistant Professor, Williams College, Williamstown:
The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture's Skin

Susan Sidlauskas, Professor, Department of Art History, Rutgers University:
John Singer Sargent and the Physics of Touch

5:00-5:30pm: Discussion
Moderated by Finbarr Barry Flood, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of the Humanities, Institute of Fine Arts and College of Arts and Sciences, New York University