Art History Speakers
November 17, 2009
"Dining with Distinction: The Impact of the Norman Conquest on Social Identities and Feasting Practices in the British Isles" by Carol Neuman de Vegvar (Lecture and Discussion)
The feasting scenes in the Bayeuz Tapestry distinguish between Anglo-Saxons who use drinking horns and Normans who hold palm cups. These visualizations reflect projected ethnic and moral distinctions between the two groups. But the post-Conquest association of horns with an ever-more-remote Anglo-Saxon past also led to a reformulation of the drinking horn as a object of display rather than use, with the addition of legs so that the horn could stand autonomously. The earliest evidence of this change is found in the development in Norman Ireland of a new type of horn terminal, long, heavy and flat on the underside, that served as a counterweight for a filled horn standing upright on its feet.
Carol Neuman de Vegvar is Packard Professor of Fine Arts at Ohio Wesleyan University. Her research considers the art of the early medieval British Isles and its European connections.
Friday, October 30, 2009
"Fans and Fame in the Roman Circus" by Sinclair Bell (Lecture and Discussion)
Sinclair Bell is a specialist in the art and archaeology of ancient Italy. He has excavated at sites in Italy and Tunisia, and worked as a curatorial assistant at museums in Germany and Greece. He is a recipient of the "Rome Prize" from the American Academy in Rome, among other research fellowships. Sinclair studied classical art and archaeology at the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, and Cologne, receiving his PhD in 2004. Sinclair's research is broadly concerned with Etruscan and Roman material culture and art, especially its social history, Renaissance reception and contemporary theorization.
September 24, 2009
"Demons and Disease: Medical Meaning in Hieronymus Bosch's 'St. Anthony Triptych" by Laurinda Dixon (Lecture and Discussion)
Laurinda S. Dixon is Professor of Art History at Syracuse University. Professor Dixon's background is interdisciplinary, including a degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and a Ph.D. in Art History from Boston University. Her scholarly specialty is the relationship of art and science before the Enlightenment, and she lectures widely on the subject at universities and museums throughout the world. Her many articles in such journals as The Art Bulletin, Oud Holland, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, and the Journal of the History of Medicine and the Sciences address the relationship of art to such subjects as chemistry, cartography, and gynecology. She is the author and editor of eleven books, most recently In Sickness and In Health: Disease as Metaphor in Art and Popular Culture (2004), Bosch: Art and Ideas (2003), and Perilous Chastity: Women and Illness in Pre-Enlightenment Art and Medicine (1995). Her scholarship considers the roles of science, music, and contemporary wisdom in the formulation of visual culture.
April 6, 2009
"Representations of Male and Female Power in Yoruba Art" by Sheila McGuire (Lecture and Discussion)
Shelia McGuire, Director of Museum Guide Programs at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, will present a lecture on "Representations of Male and Female Power in Yoruba Art" using illustrations from the Institute's world famous collection. This talk explores the diverse art forms created by Yoruba artists from West Africa to communicate complex ideas about male and female cooperation and power. The works of art associated with leadership, divination, death, and masquerade provide insight into Yoruba beliefs about how male and female complemented each other. McGuire is an outstanding teacher and a national leader in museum education with a sub-specialty in African Art.
October 23, 2008
"Hubert's Freaks: The Times Square Talker, the Rare Book Dealer, and the Photographs of Diane Arbus" by Greg Gibson (Lecture and Panel)
Gibson has previously authored Goneboy and Demon on the Waters, and is an antiquarian book dealer who lives in Gloucester, MA. In Hubert's Freaks, Gibson recounts the story of the recent discovery of lost photographs by Diane Arbus. Arbus's photographs of assorted freaks and sideshow performers were taken at Hubert's Dime Museum and Flea Circus on 42nd Street in Manhattan in the late 1950s.
From the vantage point of a dealer and collector, Gibson will talk about the "mysterious" process by which such artworks and artifacts are discovered and enter the marketplace.
April 8, 2008
"The Prayerbook as Talisman" by Kathryn Rudy (Lecture and Panel)
Kathryn Rudy is the Keeper of Illuminated Manuscripts at the Royal Library of the Netherlands. Rudy has been the recipient of numerous fellowships including the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, a Mellon Fellowship, and a Samuel H. Kress Fellowship and is considered one of the most important young scholars in the field.
September 17, 2007
Novis fulget Thomas miraculis: The Miracles of Saint Thomas Becket in Glass and Sound (Lecture and Discussion)
Barker Newhall Series: Sponsored by Art History, History, Religion, and Music
Kay Slocum, Gerhold Professor of Humanities at Capital University, is one of the most distinguished scholars working on medieval liturgy today. Combining a Ph.D in Medieval History from Kent State and musical training from Julliard School of Music, she explores how church services were designed and conducted from the point of view of both a historian and a professional musician (she plays viola for the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra). Dr. Slocum has recently published two acclaimed books: Liturgies in Honor of Thomas Becket (University of Toronto Press, 2004) and Medieval Civilization (Lauren King & Co., UK, 2005) as well as many articles on musicians in the Middle Ages. She is currently working on a new book focused on the liturgical practices of Barking Abbey, England. A terrific speaker, she will be discussing "Novis fulget Thomas miraculis: The Miracles of Saint Thomas Becket in Glass and Sound".