Adam Goldberg Presents Adventures in Japan
September 14, 2010
Where: Glass Department
Time: 10:30 AM
Hello Everyone! The Glass Department is proud to announce that Adam Goldberg will present the inspiring results of his adventures in Japan this summer via short lecture and slide show. This event will take place in the Glass Department classroom (1210) on Tuesday Sept. 14 at 10:30 AM and again at 1:00 PM. Goldberg is the recipient of the pretigious Givens Foundation Travel Award which allowed him to spend six weeks in Japan in search of glass, architecture, culture, food, and amazing people. Goldberg will also answer questions about his Givens Foundation application process, and how this experience has informed his research and world view. Hope to see you there! Sincerely, The Glass Department
Contact: Scott Darlington
E-mail: rsdarli@bgsu.edu
Phone Number: 372-7765
Mary Wolfe, Art Historian: The Real Meaning of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
September 10, 2010
Where: Bryan Recital Hall, CMA
Time: 5:00 PM
Mary T. Wolfe is an independent art consultant and international lecturer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Wellesley College (1954), a Master of Arts in History and Art and Painting from Bowling Green State University (1968), and she was awarded a Doctorate of Arts degree in 2006. Her primary fields of interest are Greek and Roman Classical Art, Italian Renaissance Art, Italian Mannerism, and Modern Art. She taught courses in the History of Art at Bowling Green State University for eight years, from 1969-1977.
Mary T. Wolfe was Director of Exhibitions at the McFall Center Gallery at Bowling Green State University from 1977-1982. She served as Art Reporter and Interviewer for PBS, WGTE-FM, Toledo. She is also an artist and has sold paintings to private collectors. She is a member of the Museum Advisors Committee for Wellesley College.
Contact: Jacqueline S. Nathan, Gallery Director
E-mail: galleries@bgsu.edu
Quest For Light
April 20, 2010
Where: Hallway, Courtyard, Outside the Gallery, undecided as of yet
Time: 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM
The Sophomore Sculpture Class and Dan Buckingham from Munsen Williams Procter Art Institute “Quest For Light Tour” will be visiting BGSU on April 20 to set up a neon and light installation at approximately 8:30 pm. Either outside the gallery, in the courtyard or in the hallway. Be there: Go towards the light!!!!
Contact: Nadine Saylor
E-mail: nsaylor@bgsu.edu
Phone Number: 419-372-6176
Visiting Artist Edra Soto
April 19, 2010
Where: Room 1101 Fine Art Center
Time: 5:00 AM
Soto''s installation, The Chacon-Soto Show, focuses on Iris Chacon, the charismatic Puerto Rican performer who starred in the 1970s variety television show El Show de Iris Chacon. Despite sexually provocative costumes and performances, the legendary diva became a popular family entertainer. Flamboyantly dressed and flanked by male backup singers and dancers, Chacon became a symbol of the liberated Puerto Rican woman. For this work, the artist analyzes issues of sexuality specific to Puerto Rican culture through the double filter of her adult understanding of US feminist issues and childhood memories of Chacon on television.
Contact: Mille Guldbeck
E-mail: guld@bgsu.edu
Phone Number: 419 372-9319
The 4th Annual Art History Symposium at Bowling Green State University
April 17, 2010
Where: Fine Arts Center
Time: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
NEW PERSPECTIVES IN VISUAL CULTURE 2010 The 4th Annual Art History Symposium at Bowling Green State University April 17, 2010
10:00: WELCOME & OPENINGS REMARKS Ruthy Light, Art History, Bowling Green State University
10:15: KEYNOTE ADDRESS Karin Jacobson, Education, Art Institute of Chicago11:00-12:30: PANEL ONE CROSS-CULTURAL TRANSLATIONS & REPRESENTATION
Ayla Amon, University of Chicago “Displaying the Spectrum: Rock Crystal as a Symbol of Divine Light in Islam and Christianity”
The translation of artistic motifs between cultures with a shared visual language offers an array of interpretations on a given ideal which facilitates assimilation and integration into a local cultural heritage. However, when objets d’art are acclimated into a society with fundamentally different ideals of artistic production, greater adaptations often occur. Despite the potential re-formation of objects, there are integral artistic associations which are maintained and relied upon to communicate the nuances of meaning to the viewer. This paper explores the transfer of rock crystal objects from the Islamic to the European realm during the Medieval Period and the alterations made to the objects to integrate them into a Christian context. I argue that shared religious references to God as “the light” in the Qur’an and the Bible facilitated the accession of rock crystal objects and encouraged the perpetuation of the symbolic properties originally assigned to them. Using primary sources and suras to substantiate this claim, the paper explores the origins of rock crystal carving and considers examples of style and technique which prompt the interpretation of the objects as a literal embodiment of God as “the light.” It then examines the mythology surrounding rock crystal which imbues the medium with religious significance and mediates the transition of objects between two vastly different cultures. Upon entry in the treasuries and monasteries of Christian Europe, objects were usually modified with metal fittings, altering the function of the objects to varying degrees, though still reinforcing the religious affiliations between God and light. Rock crystal objects mediate between the artistic ideals of two distinct religious cultures in a manner exemplary of a larger artistic discourse; this paper examines two modified and assimilated objects to exemplify this discourse and remark on a larger visual tradition which greatly effected artistic production in the Medieval world.Maria Salva, Binghamton University “Ta’ziye Without Shi’ism: The Avante-Garde and the Universal in 20th Century Performances”
Ta''ziyeh is a popular theatrical tradition in Iran based around the martyrdoms of the Imam Hussein and his family at the battle of Kerbala, the events that brought about the rift between Shi''i and Sunni Islam. These events are recognized during the first ten days of the Islamic month Moharram, ending with the observance of Ashura. Ta''ziyeh is an act of communal remembrance and mourning for these events, involving stylized passion plays, acts of self-flaggelation, processions, and active audience participation. Since the late 20th C, western artists and intellectuals have developed an interest in Ta''ziyeh as an open-ended creative art form. For that reason, Ta''ziyeh has been brought into Western contexts, such as in the Shiraz Arts Festival in 1976, otherwise full of Western avant-garde performance arts, and in 1988 at Trinity College, in a transformed version with an international cast and universal humanist messages. Both of these performances were accompanied by scholarly conferences on Ta''ziyeh, which serve as some of the primary documentation in this paper. In my paper, I will explore how Ta''ziyeh operates as an art form when it is removed from the religious context. Its stylistic elements, which often resemble those of the Western avant-garde, have been highlighted in some interpretations. In others, humanistic themes, such as the universality of suffering, are brought out. In essence, when translated and transposed into the western art world, Ta''ziyeh has the potential to be interpreted in different ways by a globalized, largely Western audience.Christen Rene Chaffins, Bowling Green State University “The Garden of Earthly Delights: Revelation on Racial Perspective”
Hieronymus Bosch’s 16th century art- while often noted for its “dreamlike” or “nightmarish” qualities- can alternately be summarized as an ambiguous journey to the artist’s inner thoughts. Leaving no written record of his ideologies, Bosch must instead be viewed through the prism of his compositions. The medley of images found within his triptychs overwhelms the eye and provokes inquiry: scenes of Hell, damnation, torture, sexuality, and demons ring as a religious warning to seek salvation. Analysis on a micro-level, however, presents an even more confounding issue for the historian. Bosch invented himself as one of the first artists to depict Africans prominently within his work. Working from this, my proposed paper will consider the question: What might Bosch’s pieces reveal about his ideology on race? I intend to delve into this research by focusing predominately upon The Garden of Earthly Delights. The middle panel places black and white people together in lustful activity, but it is the right panel (the depiction of Hell) which I believe is even more telling of Bosch’s perspective: he omits images of blacks suffering in Hell, and includes depictions only of whites. In order to broaden my scope of data, I studied his other notable scenes of condemnation and sinful character (Seven Deadly Sins and The Last Judgment) and found the same omission present. This is not to presume that Bosch viewed Africans as free from judgment, but rather that he appears to have focused on a different audience (his own society) to target for such pieces. While other European countries engaged in further institutionalizing African slavery, Dutch society during the 16th century appears to have been more divided on topics of race: while strong prejudice emerged, others viewed the issue as superfluous. I posit that Bosch aligned with the latter. While historians (including Allison Blakely, Thomas Foster Earle, and K.J.P. Lowe) have all noted Bosch as contributing to the emergence of blacks in European iconography, none of them have considered the omissions from condemnation. Utilizing the omissions, his positive depictions of blacks (e.g. Adoration of the Magi), and the historical context, I believe it is possible to gain understanding about his racial ideologies. Furthermore, I hope to discover what might have prompted his perspective of Africans. Knowing that Bosch found influence from travel literature (especially from Cyriac of Ancona''s Egyptian Voyage), it is possible to surmise that he viewed the foreign culture as exotic, intriguing, and mysterious. This topic is important not only for historiography surrounding race and art, but also for gaining insight into the actual person of Hieronymus Bosch.12:30: LUNCH Lunch will be provided for symposium participants in front of the Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery
2:00-3:30: PANEL TWO CONSTRUCTING SOCIAL IDENTITYBetty Hensellek, University of Cincinnati “Anselm Kiefer’s Quest for the Holy Grail: the Search for German National Identity”
In this paper, through a social historical approach, I argue that Anselm Kiefer (German, b. 1945) explores German legends to personify the German nation’s search for redemption from World War II war crimes and to reconstruct a national identity. Specifically, I examine Kiefer’s Monsalvat, 1996, Cincinnati Art Museum, and the way in which the work’s formal and iconographical elements fit into a social historical context. Germany has always struggled with the construction of a national identity with constant manipulation of borders, government, religious influence, and particularly its relatively late unification in 1871. In the early twentieth century, Germany’s identity finally progressed, but was soon interrupted by World War I. By the country’s defeat in World War II, the national identity was shattered, leaving only criminality, shame, and guilt to drape the German people. The idea of Germany reconstructing a national identity after the war only brought negative memories of the Nazi past, and specifically the Holocaust. Still today, three generations later, the nation’s dark past looms over the German people. Monsalvat seeks innovation from this historically awakening event by mining deep into the question of what makes a national identity. Monsalvat’s large-scale, monochromatic, ominous landscape carries the viewer to the medieval tale of Parsifal and his search for the Holy Grail. Much of the inspiration sparked from Richard Wagner’s opera rendition, Parsifal (1882), which the Nazi party highly acclaimed. In bringing this myth back to life, Kiefer accosts Germany’s past by simultaneously alluding to a once Nazi-philic creative work and also personifying Parsifal’s search for redemption by means of the mythical Holy Grail located at the castle of Monsalvat, in the mountain of northern Spain. Kiefer ultimately works to reconcile the German nation’s catastrophic past in order to cast a new national identity that is able to once again embrace their rich cultural heritage, just as Parsifal, in his quest, battles evil to reach the Holy Grail, clearing the nation of malevolence and spreading virtue to the people.Greg Sarafan, Binghamton University "Methods of Stylistic Transmission in the Royal Mughal Atelier"
The artistic school of Mughal India was formed through the transmission of techniques both directly and indirectly by master artists of the royal Mughal atelier. The methods of agency that perpetuated and aggregated such techniques in Mughal art were family ties, court sanctioned apprenticeships, and a joint work system of manuscript production. Family relationships within the atelier were the most primitive, however the most highly effective forms of artistic stylistic diffusion. These artists tended to be influenced early on in their careers by their relatives, but with exposure to other artists and styles in turn formed their own stylistic personas. The master apprentice relationship was also paramount to artistic transmission within the atelier. This relationship was an official relationship of court appointed instruction, meant to cultivate the talents of emerging artist. A third relationship that engendered artistic diffusion was the joint work system, where multiple artists would work on various aspects of one common manuscript illustration. Through this system, specialized artists performed specific tasks and lesser artists learned by studying from example rather then through instruction. Such methods of artistic transmission in the Mughal atelier helped to firmly establish a characteristic Mughal school.Lizzy Bolze, Bowling Green State University “Understanding Social Class: Influences of Pieter Breughel the Elder’s Peasant Life During the Northern Renaissance”
Known as “Peasant Brueghel”, Pieter Brueghel the Elder was one of the leading Netherlandish painters of the northern renaissance. He was the first to paint genre paintings depicting peasants in their natural life settings, in which he highlighting the life they lead. An untraditional depiction that contradicted the beliefs of social class in the Netherlands during the Northern Renaissance. Brueghel also painted landscapes that included peasants but not as the focus. This paper discusses the influences of the Marxist theory in relation to the focus of social hierarchy present in the Netherlands during the Northern Renaissance. Engaging in how these social situations were reflected in Brueghel’s paintings, specifically in contrasting the two categories of paintings in which he depicted peasants. I will also use visual clues of composition and iconographic symbolism to decipher the social meaning of Brueghel’s paintings. By considering Brueghel’s opinions and the messages he sent through his depictions of peasants, I will gain an understanding of the situations of social class during the Northern Renaissance.3:30-3:45: COFFEE BREAK
3:45-5:30: PANEL THREE THEORIES OF THE GAZESarah Lindsey, Bowling Green State University “The Debate of the Choir Screen”
The choir screen, which has been studied and debated for many years, was used quite frequently during the northern renaissance to separate the laity and the clergy during sacred rituals. The most common argument that is made for the use of the choir screen was that it in fact was used more as a political tool to divide the clergy and those higher up in the church from the average commoner. Its use to create a type of hierarchy within the space of the actual church and the commoners is believed to be its main function. It created social signs that segregated and excluded people showed the celery’s authority over the laity and also created a stage for the gospels. However with further investigation as stated throughout the bible especially in Hebrews 9:1-9, the use of a veil or choir screen was even practiced then to protect the sacredness of what was being veiled and also celebrated through the ritual of the mass. With this investigation I would like to argue that the clergy were not only emphasizing their authority but were more accurately just following what the Catholic church believed about the sacredness of the Eucharist and its need to be protected from those who were conserved unworthy; like those of the laity at the time of the northern renaissance. With illiteracy being extremely high at the time I would like to explore and emphasize the fact that many only knew what they were told and showed about the ritual of the mass; and so with little fault to themselves they could never fully become worthy of being in presence of the Eucharist because the priest would then lose the power that they were trying so hard to protect.Leah Kandel, Miami University “Contemporary Art in the Urban Landscape: Arts and their Public”
The last twenty years has seen a shift in both the installation of art objects and their media. Art objects occupy the urban landscape with increasing frequency, and video art and other technologically based media have seen a commensurate rise. More recently, these developments have converged, as artists have explored video as a medium for site-specific work in the urban landscape. This shift in artistic paradigm presented an excellent opportunity to examine public perceptions of art outside its traditional context. This paper considers public perceptions of art situated outside the traditional museum context, drawing from critical theory and examining the contextual, conceptual, and formal qualities of specific works of art. Earlier site-specific installations have frequently elicited a largely negative public outcry, Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc being the most notorious example. The use of video in public installation, however, opens up the possibility for greater understanding from a more general audience, given the average American’s familiarity with video as a form of media. The average viewer’s ease and familiarity with electronic media has implications for increased public involvement and acceptance of site-specific work in urban landscapes.Amanda Hills, Bowling Green State University “Forgotten Flesh: Late Edo Anatomical Illustration”
Designated as an “important cultural property” in 2003 by Japan’s Ministry of Culture, the Kaibo Sonshinzu of 1819 remains absent in literature concerned with medical visual culture. From the hand of the physician Yasukazu Minagaki, the pair of scrolls demonstrates a singular aesthetic realism; an antithesis of the idealized, animate figures of the European anatomical pictorial language of the same time period. Displayed in fragments are the cadavers of executed criminals, exuding blood and other body fluids. The body becomes a site of pain and death, emphasized by the physiognomic precision of the decapitated. I argue that the body becomes a pathological one, via its status as a criminal – a fact its audience was conscious of. The body as an object is called into question by reason of the images’ conceivable sociopolitical and cultural markers. Exhibiting an intersection of art and science, the scrolls act as an outlet to address cultural and theoretical problems concerning the objectivity of science and its visual historicity. This study will apply a comparative cultural studies approach whereby familiar western corporeal metaphors will serve to call attention to, through contrast, an example of eastern anatomical configurations. Taking into account the cultural circumstances of the constructed body, the Kaibo Sonshinzu will be analyzed as a product of the rangaku movement. Viewed in its context of creation, whilst an interest in anatomy became popular amongst the general public, the lived body under national isolation was experiencing new ways of looking. The Kaibo Sonshinzu may be viewed as a symbol of the interiority of a culture. Its interior landscapes can thus illuminate contemporary ways of viewing the body as both subject and as object.Nicole Jones, Bowling Green State University “Humiliation Masks and Women in Early Modern Europe”
The humiliation mask was a tool of torture that was used during medieval times to punish women “gossips” by bridling their tongues with an iron framework that was placed on the head. To discuss the purpose of this contraption we first must learn more about the roles women played during the middle ages and examine why this piece was used only on women. This paper will research what actions were acceptable for women and what tasks they were expected to perform in their roles as daughters, wives and mothers. This paper will also look into the visual aspect of the humiliation mask. I will describe several different types, where they are from and how they were used in context. Along with the visual aspect of punishment also come important aspects of the mind: the psychological torture that accompanies the physical aspect of pain. By bridling the tongue of the woman the punishers were taking away her speech. We will discover what it means to take away ones speech, and learn about the subject of gossip during early modern society and why it got women into trouble. The last section of this research will be left to discuss the theory of the gaze or the look, and how it objectifies the subject. Part of punishment during the middle ages was to make the victim a spectacle and we will dive into the meaning of this and explore what it means simply to look at someone. This is all tied into what it meant for women during medieval times and why they were often the focus of these subjects.5:30: CLOSING REMARKS Dr. Allie Terry-Fritsch, Art History, Bowling Green State University
Contact: Ruthy Light
E-mail: ruthy@bgsu.edu
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