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[1] Lively Things: Material Culture in Early Modern Italy

From: Kelly Whitford, Wheaton College

Panel Sponsored by the Italian Art Society at The Renaissance Society of America Conference 2020

Call for Papers:
In the early modern era, works of art seemingly came to life, paintings wept, statues spoke, reliquaries healed, and automata moved. In all these ways (and many others), art, ritual, and cult objects acted as lively things. This panel seeks to examine the blurred lines between beholders and objects in order to broaden our understanding of the interactions between people and material culture in early modern Italy.

Scholars invested in this question have been powerfully influenced by David Freedberg and Hans Belting who examined pre-modern images and sculptures that defied the category of the object by seemingly appearing as present and alive. Bissera Pentcheva, Elina Gertsman, Nino Zchomelidse, and Megan Holmes, to name a few, are shaping the field by taking up questions about the multi-sensory, performative, and liminal characteristics of medieval and early modern art and architecture. Additionally, the categorical boundaries defining humans and objects continue to be erased, questioned, and redrawn by scholars of actor network theory, performance theory, new materialism, and thing theory.

This panel welcomes studies of material and visual culture in early modern Italy, c. 1300-1650, that engage questions of enlivenment, agency, presence, and materiality.

Please send proposals to the organizer, Kelly Whitford (whitford_kellywheatoncollege.edu), by Monday, July 8, 2019.
Paper proposals must include:
- abstract (150 words max)
- paper title (25 words max)
- your full name, current affiliation, email address, and Ph.D. completion date (past or expected)
- a brief c.v. (300 words max, and must be in list not narrative form)
- a list of key words (8 max)

Please note: Speakers must become RSA members by November 1st to speak at the conference. As this is a sponsored panel, all speakers must also be (or become) members of the Italian Art Society.

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[2] Women and Gender in Italian Trecento Art and Architecture

From: Judith Steinhoff, University of Houston

This proposal is for two linked sessions on the agency and the representation of women in 13th- and 14th-century Italian art, topics that remain under-explored despite the large body of scholarship on women and gender in other cultures and periods. I- Women as patrons and viewers of art. II - Visual representations of women and gender. The first session investigates historical women of the period and their active roles as patrons and/or audiences of art; the second explores images of holy, religious, or laywomen and the roles those images played in promoting trecento women's identities Proposals are especially welcome that go beyond the stereotypical gender identities and roles promoted by the Church and theological writings, to seek a complex understanding of the models for and lives of trecento women.
Please send proposals to the organizer, Judith Steinhoff (jsteinhoCentral.UH.EDU), by Monday, July 8, 2019.
Paper proposals must include:
- abstract (150 words max)
- paper title (25 words max)
- your full name, current affiliation, email address, and Ph.D. completion date (past or expected)
- a brief c.v. (300 words max, and must be in list not narrative form)
- a list of key words (8 max)

Please note: Speakers must become RSA members by November 1st to speak at the conference. As this is a sponsored panel, all speakers must also be (or become) members of the Italian Art Society.

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[3] New Perspectives on Italian Art

From: Kelley di Dio, Univ Vermont + Ilaria Andreoli, CNRS, Paris

This session aims to create a space for emerging scholars (recent Ph.D.s or Ph.D. candidates) of Italian art to present their work. Proposals on any area of Italian early modern art (1300-1600) are welcome. We are particularly interested in scholars working in new methodologies, new areas of study, or innovative approaches to more traditional areas of Renaissance studies. The intention is to provide new scholars a forum to present their ideas and methods and an opportunity to receive constructive feedback from senior scholars who will serve as respondents.
Please send proposals to the organizers, Kelley di Dio (kelley.didiouvm.edu) and Ilaria Andreoli (ilaria.andreoligmail.com), by Monday, July 8, 2019.
Paper proposals must include:
- abstract (150 words max)
- paper title (25 words max)
- your full name, current affiliation, email address, and Ph.D. completion date (past or expected)
- a brief c.v. (300 words max, and must be in list not narrative form)
- a list of key words (8 max)

Please note: Speakers must become RSA members by November 1st to speak at the conference. As this is a sponsored panel, all speakers must also be (or become) members of the Italian Art Society.