Trecento Pictoriality

Karl Whittington, The Ohio State University, whittington.78osu.edu

This session (for the 2014 CAA Conference) seeks papers that explore the peculiar forms of pictoriality that emerged in Italy in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Claimed for years by scholars of medieval or Renaissance art, and positioned either as the beginning or end of art-historical narratives, the study of painting in the age of Giotto has been revitalized through the productive lenses of social history and piety, material culture studies, and cultural exchange. Yet the conditions, theory, and practice of its pictoriality—how Trecento pictures work—have remained stubbornly elusive to scholars. Part of the problem, but also the richness of the topic, is the diversity of pictorial modes employed by these artists. This session invites proposals that examine the pictorial mechanics of Trecento painting, including spatializing techniques, diagrammatic composition, text-image relationships, allegorical and poetic painting, and other modes. In the early years of art history, Trecento painting formed a foundation for theories of picture-making, and this session seeks to begin to return it to the center of this discussion.

Email abstract, c.v., and cover letter by May 6 2013 to the panel chair (whittington.78osu.edu). For full details of conference and participation requirements see http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/2014CallforParticipation.pdf