Eighteenth-Century Art"

CALL FOR PAPERS

Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture
Session Proposal for the College Art Association, annual conference
Chicago, Illinois, 10-13 February 2010

Title: "Representing the Psyche in Eighteenth-Century Art"
Session chair: Michael Yonan, University of Missouri­Columbia
Send proposals to: YonanMmissouri.edu

Session abstract:
One would expect an era known as the ³Age of Philosophy² to concern itself
with understanding the mind¹s inner workings, and indeed eighteenth-century
culture is filled with investigations into the nature of mental activity,
the status of knowledge, and the mind¹s relationship to the body. This
session seeks to explore how the long eighteenth century represented
different thought processes, how art indicated ontologies of the psyche,
mental states, emotions, and psychic activities. Answering these questions
involves addressing both changing theories of the mind in
eighteenth-century philosophy as well as transformations in the visual
language of expression. Possible topics for investigation include
physiognomic studies; visualizing the mind vs. body problem; sensation and
perception in eighteenth-century aesthetics; sensibility and art;
representations of mental activity; the mind in architectural space;
ornament and perception; and representations of "altered" psychic states
such as madness, intoxication, and religious fervor. Papers addressing art
from any geographical context and art of any medium from the long
eighteenth century are welcome. All participants must be members in good
standng of HECAA.

The HECAA website: http://plaza.ufl.edu/mhyde/hecaa/
For more information about the conference:
http://conference.collegeart.org/2010/