[1]
From: Rachel Danford <danfordrmarshall.edu>
Date: Feb 18, 2019
Subject: CFP: Premodern Theories of Artistic Creativity

Art historians admire innovation; we teach our discipline as a series of radical breaks in tradition. Yet, the ways in which historical makers and viewers of art thought about creativity often differ considerably from present notions. In the past 20 years, medievalists, in particular, have articulated the differences between modern and premodern theories of invention. In her seminal book, The Craft of Thought (1998), Mary Carruthers argued that medieval creativity was mnemonic in nature; new images arose from the recombination of remembered things rather than being invented ex nihilo. More recently, Patricia Clare Ingham has explored the value of “novelty” in the later Middle Ages (Medieval New, 2015).

This session invites papers that explore theories of artistic creativity in ancient and medieval contexts (any region of the world before ca. 1500). Papers that consider the following topics would be especially welcome: ancient or medieval workshop practices and the training of young artists; the development of new art-making techniques; “weird” works of art that do not conform to the dominant style of the period in which they were made; and/or treatises on art-making or biographies that present artists as being divinely inspired.

Paper proposals must be submitted through SECAC's online portal, available here: https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/home/5

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[2]
From: Mia Laufer <mia.lauferwustl.edu>
Date: Feb 20, 2019
Subject: CFP: The Threat of the Foreign Collector

Session Chair: Mia Laufer, Washington University in Saint Louis

During the late nineteenth century, American collectors dominated the European art market, creating a mass migration of art objects across the Atlantic. While there were many advantages to the voracious American appetite for European art, many Europeans feared the consequences of this trend and campaigned for art to stay within its country or region of origin. Although some of the players and politics may have changed, this fear of foreign collectors has persisted to the present day. This session invites papers that examine the real or perceived threat of foreign art collectors to national cultural heritage (regardless of time period or geographic location).

Possible approaches to this topic include, but are not limited to:
How were such fears articulated?
How did such fears shape the artwork's wider reception?
How did foreign collectors navigate this stigma?
How did issues of gender, race, class, religion, or other identity markers contribute to or complicate the perception of threat?
How do histories of colonization or notions of center and periphery come into play?

Please submit abstracts of no more than 200 words through the submissions portal at:
https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/login/5?returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsecac.secure-platform.com%2Fa%2Fsolicitations%2Fhome%2F5

Please direct any questions to: mia.lauferwustl.edu

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[3]
From: Amy Huang <amyhuangbu.edu>
Date: Feb 22, 2019
Subject: CFP: Windows onto Nature: A Comparative Exploration on the Issue of Mimesis

Session Chair: Amy S. Huang, Boston University

What is the relationship between artistic representation and the objects represented? What does it mean to create a naturalistic or realistic picture? Issues surrounding mimesis are among the oldest questions in the history of Western art. From ancient Greece to the Renaissance, artists have developed techniques to create illusion of space and volume on the two dimensional surface. But the subject becomes far more complicated when we extend our inquiry to art from other traditions. Not only did artists have different agendas in representing nature in their paintings, they also had different concepts of naturalism, realism, and illusion.

This session invites papers that examines topics on mimesis, naturalism, realism, or other aspects of the relationship between the painted surface and the physical world. Papers on art from outside the European tradition are especially encouraged in order to create a diverse group of presentations and initiate a conversation between different artistic traditions.

https://secacart.org/page/Chattanooga

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[4]
From: Anja Foerschner <infoanja-foerschner.com>
Date: Feb 25, 2019
Subject: CFP: Female Agency and Activism in the Arts of Eastern and Central Europe

Session chair: Anja Foerschner

Female artists, curators, and scholars have greatly influenced the cultural landscape of Eastern and Central Europe through their work, art, and initiatives. In addition, a number of women developed and expressed radical ideas about women's place in society, lived realities, and gender roles during the socialist period and its aftermath. With their work, they questioned political ideologies, subverted state feminism, and advocated for women's emancipation. With very few exceptions, these women remain underrecognized by art historical scholarship.

In order to mend this gap, this panel invites papers on underacknowledged female figures in the arts and culture of socialist and post-socialist Eastern and Central Eastern Europe. In particular, it seeks studies on women who sought to intervene with the institutionalization of the women's question, and critically negotiated concepts of gender and their implications with their art,writings, or activities. In doing so, this panel not only seeks to resuscitate important women of art history, but also to address and correct propositions made in the still dominant Western understanding of feminism, hoping to contribute to a broader and more accurate understanding of its various faces and facets.

Submit by April 1st, 2019 using the following link:
https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/login/5?returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsecac.secure-platform.com%2Fa%2Fsolicitations%2Fhome%2F5

direct questions to: infoanja-foerschner.com