[1] To be [titled], or not to be [titled]? Art History and its “well-(un)known” masters…

From: Julia Trinkert <trinkertuni-duesseldorf.de>
Date: Dec 8, 2017

Session convenors:
Julia Trinkert / Institut für Kunstgeschichte der Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany
Reinhard Köpf / Institut für Kunstgeschichte der Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany

It seems to be impossible to imagine an art history without names. In scientific practice the attribution to a “name” can significantly influence the perception and assessment of traditional works of art.
Since the beginning of the 20th century art historians – starting with Adolf Goldschmidt (1863-1944) or Wilhelm Vöge (1868-1952) – often have used to handle art works – especially medieval objects – by their mostly unknown masters (“Künstlerkunstgeschichte”). In Sweden, Johnny Roosval (1879-1965) e. g. finds himself in this tradition by documenting and classifying the inventory of medieval art on Gotland inventing names for artists such as the well-known masters “Byzantios”, “Majestatis” or “Calcarius”

Meanwhile, art historians who deal with Gotland’s artworks still invoke these artists without knowing more than their speculative names. This applies as well to the presumptive Saxonian carver “Master of the Immaculata”, whose oeuvre might be found in Uppland and Ångermanland. Lately large exhibition projects such as “The Naumburg Master” in Naumburg 2011 or “Cranach. Meister – Marke – Moderne“ in Düsseldorf 2017 made use of this methodological approach.
The masters are dead, long live their names in the echo of art history discipline? In our session we pose the question, if this method still has a chance of entitlement in an art history methodological canon. The session should be understood as a platform inquiring both methodological and practical approaches by art historians working on artists in medieval and early-modern times (e. g. museums, monographical studies, …). Therefore, papers should consider questions such as: Where is the origin of this method to be found? What impact do they have on today’s research? What impact do they still have on our understanding of the development process of medieval and early-modern art? Which intention can be seen behind present-day’s term “Notnamen”?

Please submit your proposal via a form on the conference website:
http://nordik2018.org/paper-submission-form/

For the general conference info, see http://nordik2018.org

Please contact us with questions and queries:
Julia Trinkert: trinkertuni-duesseldorf.de
Reinhard Köpf: koepfuni-duesseldorf.de

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[2] Life: On Art, Animation, and Biology

From: Emil Leth Meilvang <e.l.meilvangifikk.uio.no>
Date: Dec 11, 2017

Session convenor: Emil Leth Meilvang / Art History, University of Oslo

The interpenetration of art and life, the art work conceptualised as living, has been a recurrent motif all through art history, theory and praxis. How to approach this alleged affinity between art and life? What does such organically informed language indicate, how has artists worked with notions of life and the biological, and what would an art history informed by biology look like? The panel will explore these issues, focusing on notions of life and vitality, with an aim to shed light on the interconnected realms of art, biology, and animation.

The session welcomes papers related to the intersection of art history/visual studies and questions of animation, organicity, biology, epistemology, and natural history. Possible contributions might address but are in no way limited to the following issues:

- the ’organic’ tone in art history
- the morphological proximity of the life sciences and aesthetics
- organic thinking, art and bio-politics
- critiques of life and notions of the inorganic
- animation, motion, and medialisation as living qualities
- methodological reflections on interdisciplinary frameworks of visual studies and the life sciences

See more: http://nordik2018.org/life-on-art-animation-and-biology/

Please submit your proposal via a form on the conference website, http://nordik2018.org/, where you will need to fill in personal information, an abstract no more than 1800 characters, a brief c.v. of no more than 360 characters, and full contact information by March 23 2018, the latest.