[1] Artists Advancing the Cause: Artists as Art Dealers

From: Leanne Zalewski
Date: 24 March 2018

Session Chair: Leanne Zalewski, Central Connecticut State University

Artists have been acting as art agents for centuries. For example, late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century American artist John Trumbull maintained his painting career while scouting out work abroad for Thomas Jefferson. Printmaker Samuel P. Avery transitioned from his printmaking career to becoming a full-time art dealer in the late nineteenth century. Art historian Laura Corey has recently examined how Mary Cassatt served as unofficial (and unpaid) art agent to advance the careers of her Impressionist artist friends. In the early twentieth century, photographer Alfred Stieglitz introduced avant-garde art in New York. This session wishes to explore artists acting as dealers in official or unofficial capacities, part-time or full-time. How did patrons or artists initiate the relationship? Who stood to gain more, artistically or financially? What were the terms of the deal? What commissions did the artist agents receive? What did the artist offer clients that an art dealer who had never worked as a professional artist could not offer? How did artist-agents advance the cause of contemporary art, their own art, or the art of their friends? Topics on artists acting as agents from any time period or culture are encouraged.

For further information please see the SECAC application process or write to:
Dr. Leanne Zalewski
Associate Professor of Art History
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Street, Maloney 139
New Britain, CT 06050-4010
Ph: 860.832.2636 | Fax: 860.832.2634 | zalewskiccsu.edu

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[2] Politics and Portraiture

From: Miriam Kienle
Date: 24 March 2018

Session Chairs: Miriam Kienle, Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Kentucky // Terri Weissman, Associate Professor and Program Chair of Art History, University of Illinois
Contact: miriam.kienleuky.edu, tweissmaillinois.edu

Portraits have always involved complex and binding relations between artists, subjects, and spectators. But as the frequency, scope, and technologies with which subjects are rendered has expanded, so too has the politics of making and looking at pictures of people. While contemporary society seems to demand that we continually render our identities visible, photographer and critic Teju Cole asks viewers to think about the value of images that are intentionally dark or inscrutable, and that reject the oppressor’s insistence that everything be “illuminated, simplified and explained.” Similarly, queer new media artist Zack Blas protests biometric facial recognition by creating amorphous “collective masks” generated from the aggregated facial data of volunteers. When worn, these masks disallow detection by facial recognition technologies. On the other hand, demanding visibility can also function as an act of resistance. Self-portraits posted on-line that have been captioned with personal information and political pleas hand-written on cardboard—such as those that emerged during Occupy Wall Street—stand as powerful statements against the privatization of public life. This panel seeks papers that explore the complex politics of portraiture in the 20th and 21st centuries and the various tactics artists use to challenge normative representations.

SECAC, Birmingham, AL, US // October 17-20, 2018
Deadline: Apr 20, 2018
SECAC conference portal listing:
https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/gallery/rounds/1/details/185
TO APPLY: https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/account/login