Fictions of Art History

A Clark Conference
October 29-30, 2010

The two-day 2010 Clark Conference, Fictions of Art History, brings
together art historians, poets, and fiction writers to explore the
relationship between art history and creative writing. Participants
explore the enduring fascination of art and art history for novelists,
and the ways in which artists, art historians, and critics deploy or
resist the devices and rhetorics of fiction in their work. Speakers
include Thomas Crow, Alex Nemerov, Marina Warner, Paul Barlosky, Ed
Snow, and Joana Scott. $30 ($20 students). Further information and
registration at http://www.clarkart.edu/research/content.cfm?ID=338

Friday, October 29

9.15 Welcoming Remarks
Michael Ann Holly, Starr Director, and Aruna D'Souza, Associate
Director, Research and Academic Program, The Clark

9.45-10 .00 Conference Introduction
Mark Ledbury, The Power Institute and a Clark Fellow, and Michael Hatt,
University of Warwick

10.00-12.30 Session 1: Ways of Writing

10.00 Alex Nemerov, Yale University: "The Scholar Writes"

10.30 Joanna Scott, University of Rochester: "Fictional Deception: A
True Story"

11.00-11.30 Break: Tea and coffee in the Clark Café

11.30 Cole Swenson, Iowa Writers' Workshop & University of Iowa:
"Poetry as Art History as Poetry"

12.00 Discussion of Session Papers

12:30-2:00 Lunch

2.00-3.30 Session 2: Portraits and Fictions

2.00 Caroline Vout, University of Cambridge : "Face to Face with
Fiction: Portraiture and the Biographical Tradition"

2.30 Maria Loh, University College London: "'I Am Not Who You Think I
Am': Identifying the Humanist Portrait, Attributing the Humanist Subject"

3.00 Discussion of Session Papers

3.30-3.45 Break: Tea and coffee in the Clark Café

3.45-5.15 Session 3: Artists' Fictions

3.45 Alan Sekula, California Institute of the Arts: "From Ship of
Fools to Docker's Museum: Word, Object and Image from Below"

4.15 Thomas Crow, New York University: "Gordon Burn's Alma Cogan and the
moment of the Young British Artists"

4.45 Discussion of Papers

5.30-7.00 Reception in Clark Foyer

Saturday, October 30

9.30-12.30 Session 4: Fictions and/of Evidence

9.30 Marina Warner, University of Essex: "'Everything You Need to Know
of the Orient'": Reading the Arabian Nights"

10.00 Paul Barolsky, University of Virginia: "Philip Marlowe Meets the
Art Historian"

10.30 Discussion of Papers

11-11.15 Break: Tea and coffee in the Clark Café

11.15-1.00 Session 5: Watching the Detectives

11.15 Gloria Kury, Gutenberg Periscope Publishing: "The Case of the
Errant Art Historian"

11.45 Helene Bonafous Murat, Compagnie Nationale des Experts :
"Interweaving Art and Fiction: The Subtle Art of the Print Expert
Turned Novelist"

12.15pm Discussion of papers

1.00-2.30 Lunch

2.30-4.00 Session 6: Photography and Its Fictions

2.30 Ralph Lieberman, Independent Scholar: "The Illusion of
Objectivity: Photographs as Art Historical "Evidence""

3.00 Gregory Crewdson, Yale University: "Artist's Talk with Gregory
Crewdson"

3.30 Discussion of Papers
Robin Kelsey, Harvard University: Moderator

4.00-4.15 Break: Tea and Coffee in the Clark Café

4.15-4.45 Conference Response and Commentary
Edward Snow, Rice University

4.45-5.30 Conference Roundtable
Michael Hatt and Mark Ledbury: Moderators

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
225 South Street, Williamstown, MA 01267