Changing Approaches to Histories of British Art, 1660–1735

Association for Art History Annual Conference, 1-3 April 2020
Newcastle University & Northumbria University

The last decade has seen a growing interest in new approaches to British visual culture in the decades around the turn of the 18th century (c.1660–1735), addressing the art-historical imbalance that saw this period overshadowed by attention to the ages of van Dyck (the 17th century) and Hogarth and Reynolds (the 18th century). Much of this work has understood art of these decades in the context of 18th-century developments in Britain, paying less attention to its relationship with visual culture of the 17th century and the wider European context. This session invites participants to consider the extent to which this has skewed our understanding of British visual culture of this period, and to chart new directions in research and exhibition-making, resituating the period of enquiry to include the long 17th century.

Where recent exhibitions have explored the period’s art (for example, Charles I: King and Collector at the RA and Charles II: Art & Power at the Royal Collection), the focus has continued to fall on the court as the seat of the Arts in the period. We invite participants to interrogate the extent to which this was true, and propose new methodologies for research and exhibition-making. The session hopes to recover the multiple and varied histories of art taking shape in Britain in the period. We especially invite transdisciplinary contributions exploring what Mark Hallett has termed ‘intermedial’ collaborations, the influential contribution of migrant artists, as well as papers exploring the work and patronage of women. Contributions may take the form of traditional papers exploring research or museum & gallery practice (20 mins), object-in-focus presentations (15 mins) or roundtables (30 mins).

Submit a paper

Please email your paper proposals direct to the session convenors above, using the Paper Proposal Form found on the following page:
https://forarthistory.org.uk/our-work/conference/2020-annual-conference/changing-approaches-to-histories-of-british-art-1660-1735/

You need to provide a title and abstract (250 words maximum) for a 25-minute paper (unless otherwise specified), your name and institutional affiliation (if any).

Please make sure the title is concise and reflects the contents of the paper because the title is what appears online, in social media and in the printed programme.

You should receive an acknowledgement receipt of your submission within two weeks from the session convenors.

Session Convenors:
Lydia Hamlett (University of Cambridge) - lkh25cam.ac.uk
Claudine van Hensbergen (Northumbria University) - claudine.vanhensbergennorthumbria.ac.uk

Deadline for submissions: Monday 21 October 2019