Art History at Kalamazoo

The 2011 Kalamazoo call for papers is up here.

The preliminary skim suggests there are a lot of good art history sessions this year, so I'm going to list some of them. I've found Art History to be rather under-represented at K'zoo, so I'm delighted to see so many this year (including mine...).

Art and Reality in the Ninth Century: East and West

Thalia Anagnostopoulos

1200 N. Herndon St. Apt. 445, Arlington, VA 22201

Phone: 510-469-5297 Email: thalia.anag AT gmail.com

Benedictine Tradition in the Art of Southern Italy and Longobard Politics

Pina Palma

501 Crescent St., New Haven, CT 06515

Phone: 203-392-6753 Fax: 203-392-6136 Email: Palmag1 AT southernct.edu

The Illustrious Vernacular in Literature and Art

Margaret E. Hadley

Lawrence Technological Univ., Dept. of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Communication, 21000 W. Ten Mile Rd., Southfield, MI 48075

Email: margaretehadley AT gmail.com

The American Society of Irish Medieval Studies (ASIMS)

Art and Architecture in the Era of the Book of Kells

Contact: Maggie M. Williams,

William Paterson University, Art Department, Ben Shahn Hall, 300 Pompton Rd., Wayne, NJ 07470

Phone: 646-342-1962 Fax: 973-720-3273 Email: williamsm11 AT wpunj.edu

AVISTA: The Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art

I: The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing I: Sites and Images [co-sponsored with Medica: The Society for the Study of Healing in the Middle Ages]

II: Rediscovering the Portfolio of Villard de Honnecourt

III: Two Decades of Glory: Major Findings from Minor Sculpture in the Ile-de-France, 1125–1145

Steven A. Walton

Pennsylvania State Univ., 130A Willard Building, 201 Old Main, University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-863-9526 Fax: 814-865-3047 Email: saw23 AT psu.edu

Dept. of Medieval Studies, Central European University

Motion in Medieval Text and Image

Gerhard Jaritz

Central European Univ., Dept of Medieval Studies, Nádor utca 9, Budapest 1051, Hungary

Phone: +43-1-470-9871 Fax: +43-2732-84793-1 Email: jaritzg AT ceu.hu

Episcopus: Society for the Study of Episcopal Power and Culture in the Middle Ages

Image and Episcopacy: The Art of the Bishop

John S. Ott

Portland State Univ., Dept. of History, PO Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-0751

Phone: 503-725-3013 Fax: 503-725-3953 Email: ott AT pdx.edu

International Association of Word and Image Studies (IAWIS)

“Ceste memoire si”: Words, Images, and Medieval Memory

Véronique Plesch

Colby College, Dept. of Art, 5634 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, ME 04901

Phone: 207-453-9130 Fax: 207-859-5635 Email: vbplesch AT colby.edu

International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA)

Glazing and Stained Glass: Collaborations, Analogies, and Investigations Involving Stained Glass and Other Disciplines I–II

Kirk Ambrose

Univ. of Colorado, Dept. of Art and Art History, 318 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309

Phone: 303-735-0813 Fax: 303-492-4886 Email: kirk.ambrose AT colorado.edu

International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) Student Committee

The Market for Medieval Art Historians: How to Stand Out in the Interview Process

Jennifer Lyons

413 Chelsea Circle NE, Atlanta, GA 30307

Phone: 404-314-9235 Fax: 404-727-2358 Email: jllyons AT emory.edu

International Society for the Study of Pilgrimage Art

I: In, Out, Up, Down, and Through: Innovative and Participatory Physical Architecture in the High and Late Middle Ages (1200–1600)

II: Innovative and Participatory Fictive Architecture in the High and Late Middle Ages (1200–1600)

Sarah Blick

P.O. Box 619, Gambier, OH 43022

Phone: 740-392-2507 Fax: 740-427-5673 Email: blicks AT kenyon.edu

Italian Art Society

The Study of the Art and Architecture of Italy: A Reassessment of the Discipline I–IV:

I. Seminal Figures; II. Geographic Limits; III. The Temporal Element; IV. Urbanism

Felicity Ratté

Marlboro College, PO Box A, Marlboro, VT 05344

Phone: 802-258-9234 Fax: 802-257-4154 Email: rattef AT gmail.com

Medieval Feminist Art History Project

New Approaches to Medieval Medical and Scientific Imagery

Jennifer Borland

Oklahoma State Univ., Dept. of Art, 108 Barlett Center, Stillwater, OK 74078

Phone: 405-744-3999 Fax: 405-744-5767 Email: jennifer.borland AT okstate.edu

Medieval Studies Workshop, Univ. of Chicago

Images of Medieval Kingship

Torsten Edstam

Univ. of Chicago, Dept. of History c/o Jonathan Lyon, 1126 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637

Phone: 773-834-0584 Fax: 773-702-7550 Email: tedstam AT uchicago.edu

Society for the Study of Homosexuality in the Middle Ages (SSHMA)

Queer Medieval Images

Graham N. Drake

SUNY–Geneseo, Dept. of English, 1 College Cir., Geneseo, NY 14454

Phone: 585-245-5273 Fax: 585-245-5181 Email: drake AT geneseo.edu

Texas Medieval Association (TEMA)

Landscape, Natural and Man-Made, in Medieval Spanish Literature and Art

Donald J. Kagay

2812-A Westgate, Albany, GA 31721

Phone: 229-434-4623 Fax: 229-430-7895 Email: dkagay1 AT netzero.com

Univ. of Leicester and the Univ. of Aberyswyth

When New Won’t Do: Recontextualizing Images and Architecture in the Middle Ages

Ellie Pridgeon

Flat 6, Dover Court, Greenwich, London SE10 8DF, United Kingdom

Phone: +44-7890-244-489 Email: elliepridgeon AT yahoo.co.uk

Drop me a message if I've missed any.

Here's looking forward to May 2011.

-Vaulting

The Return

Despite a detour to Vellum's Canuckland Hometown, two border crossings and the ungodly traffic in Northern Non-English Speaking City, Vellum and I are successfully back in Rural New England Micropolis. I am back at work; Vellum is taking a sick day to recover from his Tetanus booster, to which his immune system is responding "OH DEAR GOD WHAT HAVE YOU DONE" and flailing unhelpfully.

Kalamazoo was fabulous. Met many lovely people, some for the first time and some for the first time face to face. My paper went well and was met with helpful questions and comments rather than the dreaded "You have an interesting point, but... [devastating evidence to the contrary of your entire argument]" I call it a success. I'm sure Vellum will have more to say, having organized a panel in addition to presenting, and was offered the opportunity to write an article besides.

We have returned with a renewed dedication to posting. I can't say I will be able to uphold my part of the bargain (my major summer exhibit opens a week from Saturday; it is still uncertain which pieces will be in the exhibit; only a dozen items have yet been hung, and there are no labels or educational material at this time), but expect to see more posts over the next few months.

In the meantime, I'm going back to detaching foam labels from the walls, dragging about large framed bits of artwork, and pondering whether in fact I am insane for thinking this can become an exhibit in 10 days time. I'm guessing yes; time will tell.

- (a rather frazzled) Vaulting

Medieval Art History at Kalamazoo, or the lack thereof

The most wonderful time of the year is fast approaching. That's right, just over three weeks until Kalamazoo, the most epic of medieval gatherings, and the best excuse we've found to abuse the open bar and make fools of ourselves in front of our colleagues.

Vellum and I will be gleefully attending this year, as Kalamazoo virgins. Do be kind. After the fun that was Leeds last year, how could we say no? (especially as a hop across the pond to Leeds this year isn't happening) Vellum will actually be co-presenting a paper, so direct your serious conversation toward him; I'm just there for the open bar, and possibly to stalk Terry Jones.

So, in the spirit of getting the festivities underway, let's talk shop. At present, there are 614 sessions, spread across 12 time slots, with god knows how many papers being presented therein. Woefully few of these deal with medieval art or architecture. This, naturally, distresses me. And so you get another rant.

The problem with Medieval Art History is that it's the awkward cousin of both Art History and Medieval Studies. He's nice enough, and kind of cute, but he stares too much, your parents make you dance with him at the 7th grade dance (which totally ruins your life for at least a week), he laughs too loudly, and he tries to get you to join his dorky RPG games, in front of ALL your friends.

Or at least, he was - until you ran into him at your sister's wedding 15 years later, and he's hot, funny, and a consultant for historical movies - when he's not cooking at the trendy Korean place downtown. But you've lost your chance to have a cool friend, because while he's perfectly friendly, and laughs at your jokes, you can tell he remembers all those times when you ignored him on the bus and made fun of him in front of the entire gym class. And so you sit with your champagne, wishing you'd figured out how cool he was going to be before he got there, so you could hang out with someone more fun than your unemployed roommate.

That's Medieval Art History, and it's going to be ultra-cool in a few years. But for now, everyone's sitting around and ignoring it, smiling politely when it pops up with new evidence for Anglo-Saxon material culture, and the earliest written vernacular Italian, and rolling their eyes after it's bustled off to follow up on its new ideas. "It's very interesting," everyone says, nodding politely, before going back to analyzing the use of weaponry in Beowolf.

And this would be fine, except Art History is exactly the same, except more patronising. You know, Medieval Art History just hasn't figured it out yet, and it's so inferior to Renaissance or Baroque, and why does it keep popping up at our parties? It's so badly put together, and the colors are so wrong, and they don't even know who painted it - how can we be supportive? It's not really even Art History at all, it's almost like.... History. Ugh.

So Medieval Art History keeps bouncing back and forth, offering up a new interpretation of the Annunciation iconography, or maybe something on the use of color in Gospel illuminations? Or... wait, Art History, you'll love this: a new name for the artist who carved the brusque sculptures on the façade of St-Trophime! Right, because you love names, right? The artists? Right? Um, well, Medieval History, you'll really be interested in what the portal sculptures at Chartres say about the 12th century understanding of the Creation! Theology?

*sigh*

So listen up: in ten years, Medieval Art History is going to be the coolest guy at the party, so you'd better get your ass in gear and befriend him now, before he's too cool to need your friendship. Ok?

All right, seriously: it certainly feels like this sometimes. I'm still quite surprised at how few art history sessions there are at Kalamazoo. The ICMA is sponsoring 5 sessions, and that's the bulk of what's happening. There are a few more on architecture, and a few assorted papers dealing with space and identity - but that's really about it. Part of the problem is that noted art historians are working outside their area, doing that interdisciplinary thing that's so popular these days. But no one seems to be picking up the slack in the art and architecture area.

Fortunately, this problem is one that's easily solved. Vellum and I are planning on proposing a couple of sessions for next year, at least one of which will be art historical in nature. But I think Kalamazoo is indicative of a greater problem in the field of Medieval Studies. I think the field of Art History is right to be wary of Medieval Art, because there are such profound differences between Art History Since 1500 and Art History Before 1500. I have trouble classifying myself as an Art Historian because I have no interest in a particular artist's talents or weaknesses, his/her use of color, the quality of his/her technique, or the general aesthetic value of the work. It's hard to care about any of that when you work with 12th century artworks, where the color is all but gone, the artist is entirely unknown - and probably didn't consider himself an artist, but rather, a stonemason - and you're lucky to simply know what technique was used, never mind how well it was used. As far as scholarship goes, I have little in common with a Renaissance Art Historian, never mind an Impressionist one. So I don't blame the rest of the field of Art History for being wary of medievalists. I do, however, blame the rest of the Medieval Studies field for steering clear. I haven't figured out why this is the case yet, but I'll be sure to let you know if I do.

There, now the rant is really over. Expect another Kalamazoo post. I promise a survey of the entertaining typos one might find in this year's programme.


-Vaulting



(photo courtesy of Sexy People and Johnny's willingness to put his childhood photos online for all to mock. We salute you, sir.)