ICMA IN PARIS: In-person tour of THE TREASURY OF NOTRE-DAME CATHEDRAL, Tuesday 16 January 2024, Musée du Louvre

ICMA in Paris
Off-hours exhibition tour of 
The Treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral: From Its Origins to Viollet-le-Duc


In-person, Musée du Louvre
Co-sponsored by the International Medieval Society, Paris
10:00am
Tuesday 16 January 2024

Register HERE

Join ICMA and IMS members for a private, off-hours tour of the exhibition The Treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral: From Its Origins to Viollet-le-Duc with exhibition curators Florian Meunier and Jannic Durand. This is a special access tour and the museum will be closed to the public, so attendees can expect a tranquil viewing experience. The tour will be in English.

Click HERE for exhibition information.

Space is limited to 15 attendees. Attendees must be an ICMA or IMS member. Members receive priority; guests may be accommodated if space permits, but cannot be guaranteed.

For security purposes, the registration form closes on Tuesday 9 January 2024 at 10am ET. We anticipate a waitlist, so please notify the ICMA should your plans change (icma@medievalart.org)

Register HERE

Call for Proposals: ICMA at College Art Association Annual Conference 2025, due 15 January 2024

ICMA at College Art Association Annual Conference   

New York, February 2025 
Call for ICMA Sponsored Session Proposals
due Monday 15 January 2024

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for sessions to be held under the organization’s sponsorship in 2025 at the annual meeting of the College Art Association. Session organizers and speakers must be ICMA members.  
 
The actual conference dates have not yet been confirmed, but the ICMA would like to plan ahead and so the CFP comes earlier this cycle.   
 
Proposals must include the following in one single Doc or PDF with the organizer’s name in the title:   

  1. Session abstract   

  2. CV of the organizer(s)   

  3. Session organizers may also include a list of potential speakers   

Please upload all session proposals as a single DOC or PDF by 15 January 2024 here.
 
For inquiries, contact the Chair of the ICMA Programs & Lectures Committee: Alice Isabella Sullivan, Tufts University, USA, alice.sullivan@tufts.edu.  



A note about Kress Travel Grants 

 
Thanks to a generous grant from the Kress Foundation, funds may be available to defray travel costs of speakers in ICMA sponsored sessions up to a maximum of $600 for domestic travel and of $1200 for overseas travel. If a conference meets in person, the Kress funds are allocated for travel and hotel only. If a presenter is attending a conference virtually, Kress funding will cover virtual conference registration fees.
 
Click HERE for more information. 

MEDIEVAL COMING ATTRACTIONS, 2023-24. Online event, Thursday 21 December 2023

MEDIEVAL COMING ATTRACTIONS, 2023-24
THURSDAY 21 DECEMBER 2023 at 11am (17:00 CET)
Register
HERE

Please join the Friends of the ICMA for the latest in a series of special online events on Thursday 21 December 2023 at 11:00am ET (17:00 CET). The hour-long program will preview three medieval exhibitions, each introduced by its curator.

Diane Wolfthal will speak about her exhibition Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality. The exhibition is on view at the The Morgan Library & Museum through 10 March 2024. 
https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/medieval-money

Peter Carpreau will introduce his exhibition, Dieric Bouts: Creator of Images. The exhibition is on view at M Leuven through 14 January 2024. 
https://www.mleuven.be/en/programme/dieric-bouts

Andrea Myers Achi will speak about her exhibition Africa & Byzantium. The exhibition is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art until 3 March 2024.
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/africa-byzantium

The panel will be introduced and moderated by Leslie Bussis Tait, Chair of the Friends of the ICMA.

Please feel free to notify colleagues and friends who may not be ICMA members about this event. The event will be recorded and accessible via the ICMA website (www.medievalart.org

For questions, please contact icma@medievalart.org

NEW VIDEO! MEDIEVAL MATTERS: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR ACCESS AND DISCOVERABILITY, TORY SCHENDEL-VYVODA AND JUILEE DECKER, 20 OCTOBER 2023

NEW VIDEO

MEDIEVAL MATTERS: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR ACCESS AND DISCOVERABILITY

20 OCTOBER 2023 12:00PM ET

Featuring Tory Schendel-Vyvoda (Harlaxton College), Juilee Decker, Izzy Moyer, and Gabriella Smith (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Sponsored By ICMA, the Museum Studies Program at the Rochester Institute Of Technology, and the Chester F. Carlson Center For Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute Of Technology

In conjunction with the exhibition, Illuminating the Medieval and the Modern through Cultural Heritage Imaging: A Brief History of Innovation and Collaboration, at Rochester Institute of Technology, this event offers examples and use cases of low barrier-to-entry technology to facilitate access and discoverability for research, exhibition development, and visitor engagement. Join facilitator Tory Schendel-Vyvoda, Visiting Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at Harlaxton College, and Juilee Decker, Professor of Museum Studies, as they discuss innovative practices developed at RIT, working in collaboration with humanities scholars and museum practitioners, that can foster new knowledge about cultural heritage collections, including medieval manuscripts. Particular attention will be drawn to the involvement of undergraduate students in the museum studies program at RIT who have been working on the development of a low-cost, multispectral imaging system. After a brief demo of the system, attendees will learn how they can access this technology for use on their own collections. In the second part of the session, attention will turn to the use of technology for digital access such as 3D capture to develop interactive, digital exhibitions using freely-available tools. Attention will turn, in the final third of the session, to the audience for a conversation and brainstorming about what digital methods ICMA members are using to advance access to collections and to provide opportunities for greater discoverability. These use cases will illuminate how digital technologies can enhance our understanding of cultural heritage collections and help make the case that medieval matters.

Juilee Decker, Ph.D. is professor of history at Rochester Institute of Technology where she directs the Museum Studies/Public History program. She earned her Ph.D. from the joint program in art history and museum studies at Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Museum of Art. She serves as editor of the peer-reviewed journal, Collections (SAGE).

Tory Schendel-Vyvoda is a Visiting Professor of Art and History and Museum Studies at Harlaxton College as well as the curator of the Evansville African American Museum and director of the Lamasco Microgallery. She is pursuing her PhD at the Institute of Doctoral Studies in Visual Art.

Illuminating the Medieval and the Modern through Cultural Heritage Imaging: A Brief History of Innovation and Collaboration is the recipient of the 2022 ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant.

To watch the video, visit the Special Online Lectures page.

NEW VIDEOS! MINING THE COLLECTION I: THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM & MINING THE COLLECTION II: THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, ICMS 2023

NEW MINING THE COLLECTION VIDEOS

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON MEDIEVAL STUDIES, 2023

THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM & THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

ONLINE, 11 AND 12 MAY 2023, 12:00-1:00 PM EDT

MINING THE COLLECTION I: THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM (A VIRTUAL VISIT)

Monday 11 May 2023 12:00pm EDT

A behind-the-scenes visit to the Walters Art Museum (Baltimore) with Christine Sciacca, Ellen Hoobler, Abigail Quant, and Lynley Herbert.

Sponsors: International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA); Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.

Organiser and Presider: Shirin Fozi, Metropolitan Museum of Art

MINING THE COLLECTION II: THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO (A VIRTUAL VISIT)

Monday 12 May 2023 12:00pm EDT

A behind-the-scenes visit to the Art Institute of Chicago with Jonathan Tavares.

Sponsors: International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA); Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.

Organiser and Presider: Shirin Fozi, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The video is available to watch on the Mining the Collection page.

Read ICMA News, Autumn 2023 online!

ICMA News               

AUTUMN 2023
Melanie Hanan, Editor

Click here to read.
Also available on www.medievalart.org

 

COMMEMORATION

Michael Kauffmann, 1931–2023
Otto Karl Werckmeister, 1934–2023
Barbara Lane, 1941–2023

SPECIAL FEATURES

Seeing Race Before Race through Community, By Christopher D. Fletcher

My Experience Translating A History of Illuminated Manuscripts into Chinese, By Xin Yue (Sylvia) Wang

EXHIBITION REPORTS

Saints, Sinners, Lovers, and Fools: 300 Years of Flemish Masterworks, by Cara Nordengren

Das Mittelalter—die Kunst des Jahrhunderts (The Middle Ages—the Art of the 15th Century), by Claire Kilgore

EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
 



The deadline for the next issue of ICMA News is 15 February 2024. Please send information to newsletter@medievalart.org 

If you would like your upcoming conference, CFP, or exhibition included in the newsletter please email the information to EventsExhibitions@medievalart.org.


CFP, ICMA-Sponsored Session at VII. Forum Kunst des Mittelalters 2024, Jena, Germany: “Shining with Truth”: Silver as Material and Medium, due 15 November 2023

CALL FOR PAPERS
“Shining with Truth”: Silver as Material and Medium
due 15 November 2023

VII. Forum Kunst des Mittelalters
25-28 September 2024
Jena, Germany
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität

Organized by
Joseph Ackley, Wesleyan University, United States
Joshua O’Driscoll, The Morgan Library & Museum, United States
           
Recent discussions of medieval materiality have enthusiastically explored such touchstones as gold and precious gems, sumptuous media par excellence whose dazzling brilliance triggered an endlessly rich array of meanings for medieval viewers. The preciousness and aesthetic impact of these materials rested in large part on their ability to manipulate and reflect light. The resulting radiance enabled a variety of perceptual modes, from the sensual to the mystical, the mechanics of which medieval thinkers repeatedly investigated with gusto. While gold and gemstones have been at the center of key art-historical inquiries (one thinks of recent work on gold-ground painting, jeweled reliquaries, and treasure bindings), silver has received significantly less attention as a focused object of study. Although a close peer to gold, silver exhibits different working properties, produces different visual effects, and carries different allegorical valences. The dominant traditions of natural philosophy often defined the two precious metals in contrast to each other: whereas gold was believed to be of a warm nature, for example, silver’s elemental composition caused it to be cool. Gold and some gemstones could strengthen the sense of sight, whereas silver had different bodily impacts. Much of the commentary on silver fixated on its variable levels of purity as, for example, in Psalm 11: “The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried by the fire … refined seven times.” Pursuing the analogy, Cassiodorus describes the luster of the Divine Word as if it were a metal “fired in a furnace, shining with the ruddy glow of truth.” Despite this rhetoric of purity, however, silver is quite famously susceptible to tarnish and oxidation, rendering it a more finicky material for book and panel painting.
 
In sum, the questions of visuality and materiality that have been so productive for gold and gemstones are equally rich for silver, and yet this material has been somewhat sidelined by scholarship, despite crucial contributions by Herbert Kessler, Thomas Raff, and Nancy Turner, among others. Mindful thereof, this panel invites submissions that explore the nature and significance of silver, particularly when used as a medium in manuscript illumination, panel painting, and metalwork. Questions of the visual characteristics of silver, including its interaction with light, can expand in a variety of directions. Topics might include, and are very much not limited to, traditions of silver-ground painting; the oxidation of silver; the rhetoric of tarnish and darkness; the natural philosophy of silver, especially with regards to optics, sight and the body; the allegorical interpretations of silver, for example, its relationship to sweetness, purity, and eloquence; Zwischgold, electrum, and other interactions with gold; the various treatments of silver pigment and silver leaf on both parchment and panel; and more.
 
Paper proposals of no more than 200 words may be emailed to kontakt@dvfk-berlin.de by 15 November 2023.  For more on the Forum please visit the conference website here

Funding for travel and lodging will be made available from the ICMA through the generosity of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Questions may be directed to the panel organizers at jackley@wesleyan.edu and jodriscoll@themorgan.org


In den jüngsten Diskussionen über mittelalterliche Materialität wurden mit Begeisterung Prüfsteine wie Gold und kostbare Edelsteine erforscht, prächtige Medien par excellence, deren schillernder Glanz bei den mittelalterlichen Betrachtern eine unendlich reiche Palette von Bedeutungsinterpretationen auslöste. Die Kostbarkeit und ästhetische Wirkung dieser Materialien beruhten zu einem großen Teil auf ihrer Eigenschaft, Licht zu manipulieren und zu reflektieren. Der daraus resultierende Glanz ermöglichte eine Vielzahl von Wahrnehmungsweisen, vom Sinnlichen bis hin zum Mystischen, deren Mechanismen mittelalterliche Denker immer wieder mit Begeisterung erforschten. Während Gold und Edelsteine im Mittelpunkt wichtiger kunsthistorischer Untersuchungen standen (man denke nur an die jüngsten Arbeiten über Goldgrundmalerei, juwelenbesetzte Reliquienschreine und Schatzeinbände), wurde Silber als Untersuchungsgegenstand deutlich weniger beachtet. Obwohl es dem Gold sehr ähnlich ist, weist Silber andere Verarbeitungseigenschaften auf, erzeugt andere visuelle Effekte und hat andere allegorische Bedeutungen. Die vorherrschenden Traditionen der Naturphilosophie definierten die beiden Edelmetalle oft im Gegensatz zueinander: Während Gold beispielsweise als warmes Element galt, war Silber aufgrund seiner elementaren Zusammensetzung kühl. Gold und einige Edelsteine konnten den Sehsinn stärken, während Silber andere körperliche Wirkungen hatte. Ein Großteil der Kommentare zu Silber konzentrierte sich auf den unterschiedlichen Reinheitsgrad, wie zum Beispiel in Psalm 11: „Die Worte des Herrn sind reine Worte, wie Silber, das vom Feuer geprüft … siebenmal geläutert wird“. In Fortsetzung dieser Analogie beschreibt Cassiodor den Glanz des göttlichen Wortes als ein Metall, das “in einem Ofen gebrannt wird und mit dem rötlichen Schein der Wahrheit glänzt”. Trotz dieser Rhetorik der Reinheit ist Silber jedoch bekanntermaßen anfällig für Anlaufen und Oxidation, was es zu einem heikleren Material für Buch- und Tafelmalerei macht. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die Fragen der Visualität und Materialität, die für Gold und Edelsteine so ergiebig waren, auch für Silber gelten, und dennoch wurde dieses Material von der Wissenschaft etwas vernachlässigt, trotz wichtiger Beiträge von Herbert Kessler, Thomas Raff, Nancy Turner und anderen. Aus diesem Grund bittet dieses Gremium um Einreichungen, die sich mit dem Wesen und der Bedeutung von Silber befassen, insbesondere wenn es als Medium in der Manuskriptillumination, der Tafelmalerei und der Metallbearbeitung verwendet wird. Fragen zu den visuellen Eigenschaften von Silber, einschließlich seiner Interaktion mit Licht, können sich in eine Vielzahl von Richtungen ausweiten. Zu den Themen gehören u. a. die Traditionen der Silbergrundmalerei, die Oxidation von Silber, die Rhetorik von Anlauffarben und Dunkelheit, die Naturphilosophie des Silbers, insbesondere im Hinblick auf Optik, Sehkraft und Körper, die allegorischen Interpretationen des Silbers, z. B. seine Beziehung zu Süße, Reinheit und Beredsamkeit, Zwischgold, Elektrum und andere Wechselwirkungen mit Gold, die verschiedenen Behandlungen von Silberpigment und Blattsilber auf Pergament und Tafel und vieles mehr.


A note about Kress Travel Grants 

Thanks to a generous grant from the Kress Foundation, funds may be available to defray travel costs of speakers in ICMA sponsored sessions up to a maximum of $600 for domestic travel and of $1200 for overseas travel. If a conference meets in person, the Kress funds are allocated for travel and hotel only. If a presenter is attending a conference virtually, Kress funding will cover virtual conference registration fees.
 
Click HERE for more information. 

CFP, ICMA-Sponsored Session at AAH 2024, Bristol UK: The Past, Present and Future of Medieval Art in the British Isles, due 10 November 2023

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Past, Present and Future of Medieval Art in the British Isles
due 10 November 2023

Association for Art History Annual Conference
3-5 April 2024
Bristol, United Kingdom
University of Bristol

Organized by
Matthew M. Reeve, Queen’s University, Canada, matthew.reeve@queensu.ca
Amanda Luyster, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, United States, aluyster@holycross.edu

Where are we with writing the history of British medieval art? The arts of medieval Britain once had a peripheral place in broader histories of medieval art where they were frequently understood as passive receptors of Continental influence. Much scholarship has challenged this view and reframed British art as a vital component of European and even global Medieval art. But “British art” was never monolithic: it was created by diverse linguistic, religious, and artistic cultures (Welsh, Norman, etc). These diverse cultures and their art production were shaped and reshaped by colonial encounter from the mission of Augustine and the Viking incursions through the Norman and Edwardian conquests, and yet they retained their cultural, linguistic and artistic complexity. “British art” was also inherently international: the importation of relics and ars sacra during the crusades, the export of luxury goods such as opus anglicanum and alabaster, and the odysseys of artists from Rome to Westminster or architects from Bristol to Prague, meant that British art was framed by global networks of exchange. Recent discoveries such as the Staffordshire Hoard, the Macclesfield Psalter, and the wall paintings of St Cadoc’s, Llancarfan, and the publication of significant studies of Anglo-Saxon through Gothic art in Britain have profoundly changed the scholarly landscape and demand that we reassess some of our key ideas and approaches. This session will present research that explores British art from a range of perspectives (including historiographical), although each will reflect critically on the place of British art within medievalist art history in general.

Sessions sponsored by the ICMA with support from the Kress Foundation.

To offer a paper: Please email your paper proposals direct to the session convenor(s). You need to provide a title and abstract (250 words maximum) for a 20-minute paper (unless otherwise specified), your name and institutional affiliation (if any).

Please make sure the title is concise and reflects the contents of the paper because the title is what appears online, in social media and in the digital programme. 

For more information about the conference, click HERE.


A note about Kress Travel Grants 

 
Thanks to a generous grant from the Kress Foundation, funds may be available to defray travel costs of speakers in ICMA sponsored sessions up to a maximum of $600 for domestic travel and of $1200 for overseas travel. If a conference meets in person, the Kress funds are allocated for travel and hotel only. If a presenter is attending a conference virtually, Kress funding will cover virtual conference registration fees.
 
Click HERE for more information. 

Medieval Matters: Digital Technologies for Access and Discoverability - Friday 20 October 2023 at 12pm ET

Medieval Matters: Digital Technologies for Access and Discoverability

Friday 20 October 2023
12pm ET
Online via Zoom

Register HERE

In conjunction with the exhibition Illuminating the Medieval and the Modern through Cultural Heritage Imaging: A Brief History of Innovation and Collaboration at Rochester Institute of Technology, this event offers examples and use cases of low barrier-to-entry technology to facilitate access and discoverability for research, exhibition development, and visitor engagement. Join facilitator Tory Schendel-Vyvoda, Visiting Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at Harlaxton College, and Juilee Decker, Professor of Museum Studies, as they discuss innovative practices developed at RIT, working in collaboration with humanities scholars and museum practitioners, that can foster new knowledge about cultural heritage collections, including medieval manuscripts.

Particular attention will be drawn to the involvement of undergraduate students in the museum studies program at RIT who have been working on the development of a low-cost, multispectral imaging system. After a brief demo of the system, attendees will learn how they can access this technology for use on their own collections. In the second part of the session, attention will turn to the use of technology for digital access such as 3D capture to develop interactive, digital exhibitions using freely-available tools. Attention will turn, in the final third of the session, to the audience for a conversation and brainstorming about what digital methods ICMA members are using to advance access to collections and to provide opportunities for greater discoverability. These use cases will illuminate how digital technologies can enhance our understanding of cultural heritage collections and help make the case that medieval matters.

Registration Required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/medieval-matters-digital-technologies-for-access-and-discoverability-tickets-717253924797

Juilee Decker, Ph.D. is professor of history at Rochester Institute of Technology where she directs the Museum Studies/Public History program. She earned her Ph.D. from the joint program in art history and museum studies at Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Museum of Art. She serves as editor of the peer-reviewed journal, Collections (SAGE).

Tory Schendel-Vyvoda is a Visiting Professor of Art and History and Museum Studies at Harlaxton College as well as the curator of the Evansville African American Museum and director of the Lamasco Microgallery. She is pursuing her PhD at the Institute of Doctoral Studies in Visual Art.
_________

Sponsored by the ICMA, the Museum Studies Program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology 

More information about the exhibition, on view in Rochester, NY until 28 October 2023: https://www.rit.edu/universitygallery/exhibitions/current-exhibitions

Illuminating the Medieval and the Modern through Cultural Heritage Imaging: A Brief History of Innovation and Collaboration is the recipient of the 2022 ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant. 

NEW VIDEO! ICMA VIEWPOINTS BOOK LAUNCH, IS BYZANTINE STUDIES A COLONIALIST DISCIPLINE? TOWARD A CRITICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY, EDITED BY BENJAMIN ANDERSON AND MIRELA IVANOVA

NEW VIDEO

ICMA VIEWPOINTS BOOK LAUNCH

IS BYZANTINE STUDIES A COLONIALIST DISCIPLINE? TOWARD A CRITICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY, EDITED BY BENJAMIN ANDERSON AND MIRELA IVANOVA

ONLINE, 15 SEPTEMBER 2023, 12:00-1:00 PM ET

WITH BENJAMIN ANDERSON, MIRELA IVANOVA, ROLAND BETANCOURT, ELEANOR GOODMAN, NICHOLAS S. M. MATHEOU, ELIZABETH DOSPĚL WILLIAMS, AND ALEXANDRA VUKOVICH 

Is Byzantine Studies a colonialist discipline? Rather than provide a definitive answer to this question, this book defines the parameters of the debate and proposes ways of thinking about what it would mean to engage seriously with the field’s political and intellectual genealogies, hierarchies, and forms of exclusion. In this volume, scholars of art, history, and literature address the entanglements, past and present, among the academic discipline of Byzantine Studies and the practice and legacies of European colonialism. Starting with the premise that Byzantium and the field of Byzantine studies are simultaneously colonial and colonized, the chapters address topics ranging from the material basis of philological scholarship and its uses in modern politics to the colonial plunder of art and its consequences for curatorial practice in the present. The book concludes with a bibliography that serves as a foundation for a coherent and systematic critical historiography. Bringing together insights from scholars working in different disciplines, regions, and institutions, Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? urges practitioners to reckon with the discipline’s colonialist, imperialist, and white supremacist history. In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume include Andrea Myers Achi, Nathanael Aschenbrenner, Bahattin Bayram, Averil Cameron, Stephanie R. Caruso, Şebnem Dönbekci, Hugh G. Jeffery, Anthony Kaldellis, Matthew Kinloch, Nicholas S. M. Matheou, Maria Mavroudi, Zeynep Olgun, Arietta Papaconstantinou, Jake Ransohoff, Alexandra Vukovich, Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, and Arielle Winnik. ICMA Books | Viewpoints aims to engage with and instigate new conversations, debates, and perspectives not only about medieval art and visual-material culture, but also in relation to the critical practices employed by medieval art historians. Books will typically be data-rich, issue-driven, and even polemical. The range of potential subjects is broad and varied, and each title will tackle a significant and timely problem in the field of medieval art and visual-material culture. The Viewpoints series is interdisciplinary and actively involved in providing a forum for current critical developments in art historical methodology, the structure of scholarly writing, and/or the use of evidence. Eleanor Goodman is the Executive Editor at Penn State University Press, and Roland Betancourt is the Series Editor.

The video is available to watch on the Special Online Lectures page.

ICMA in Toronto! Exhibition tour of “Rumi: A Visual Journey Through the Life and Legacy of a Sufi Mystic” at the Aga Khan Museum - Tuesday 26 September 2023 at 3pm ET

JUST ANNOUNCED!

ICMA in Toronto
Tour of Rumi: A Visual Journey Through the Life and Legacy of a Sufi Mystic

Aga Khan Museum
Tuesday 26 September 2023
3pm ET, in person only

Register HERE

Join fellow ICMA members for a special tour of Rumi: A Visual Journey Through the Life and Legacy of a Sufi Mystic with exhibition curator Michael Chagnon.

Journey through the life and timeless legacy of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi (d. 1273), known as Rumi, in an inspiring exhibition celebrating one of history's most famous poets, on the 750th anniversary of his passing. Join us as we explore Rumi's enduring impact through an examination of artifacts, manuscripts, and contemporary art.


More information about the exhibition HERE.
 

Drinks to follow offsite. 

Register HERE.

CALL FOR PAPERS: ICMA at the International Congress on Medieval Studies 2024; due 15 September 2023

CALL FOR PAPERS

ICMA Sponsored Sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies 2024



The Sense of an Ending: Finispieces in Medieval Codices
due 15 September 2023

International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo 2024
International Center of Medieval Art Sponsored Session

Organizer:
Julie A. Harris, 
marfiles@comcast.net 

Format: in person

While much has been written about the opening folios of medieval illuminated codices - especially about the entity known as the carpet page - the final pages of these books have been little studied. Papers in this session are asked to address the following questons: what sort of materials does one expect to find at the end of a precious codex? Can the visual designs of these final folios be seen as expressing notions of protection, closure, continuity, or identity? How do the designs we find at the end of a book reconcile ideation about its contents with the material requirements of the codex and the needs of its patrons/users? Is the decorative Finispiece a viable, meaningful, and expected entity in medieval book culture?

Proposals for this in-person panel must be submitted through the Confex proposal portal.


Cross-Cultural Interaction in the Alps: Medieval Artistic Production in the Historic County of Tyrol 
due 15 September 2023

International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo 2024
International Center of Medieval Art Sponsored Session

Organizers:
Emma Leidy (
ecl2177@columbia.edu)
Sarah Cohen (
sf2112@columbia.edu)

Format: in person
 
In field-defining studies published between 1950-2000, the historic County of Tyrol is recognized as a flourishing area of artistic production, particularly in wall painting around the year 1200. Furthermore, this resilient center located at the crossroads of north and south repeatedly evades stylistic classification. Described as neither Romanesque nor proto-Gothic, the renowned wall paintings of Malles and Naturno have been cast as an unusual mixture of post-Ottonian, Carolingian, and Veneto-Byzantine styles, ambiguously attributed to either local or itinerant artists. Similar speculation regarding questions of style and artistry surrounds the area’s sculpture from the later medieval period. Works related to the so-called “Beautiful Style” originating at the imperial court in Prague have received particular attention concerning their place of production and whether they were imported, sculpted by foreign artists, or created in Tyrol itself. Influential contributions to scholarship include the work of Enrico Castelnuovo, (1929-2014), including the co-authored and edited volumes Centre and Periphery (1979), La frontiera nella storia dell’arte (1987), and Il gotico nelle Alpi 1350-1450 (2002). Yet, in the past twenty years, few studies have attempted to readdress artistic production in this region. Even fewer have moved beyond matters of style to engage with its socio-political complexity, as the Brenner Pass connected the empires north of the harsh mountain range to those of the south, which, in turn, brought merchants, artists, and pilgrims to and from the eastern Mediterranean.   
 
This session seeks papers that address any of the following questions: How, in fact, do we move beyond style to discuss artistic production in Tyrol? Can we speak of workshops or define them as such? What can be gained from studying the movement of people and objects between Tyrol and its neighbors to the north and south? Similarly, how can politics and trade networks inform our understanding of this area?  
 
Possible themes and subjects include but are not limited to: 

  • Wall painting, monumental art, sculpture, manuscript production, and religious architecture 

  • Program themes and iconography 

  • Imperial and royal patronage

  • Monastic communities

  • Trade networks 

  • Historiography and nationalism

Proposals for this in-person panel must be submitted through the Confex proposal portal.


Sites of Tension I: Islands and Isolation
Sites of Tension II: Islands and Interconnectivity 
due 15 September 2023

International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo 2024
International Center of Medieval Art Sponsored Session

Organizers:
Gabriela Chitwood
gchitwood@uoregon.edu
Brittany Forniotis
bnf11@duke.edu
Nina Gonzalbez
nmg03e@fsu.edu
Shannah Rose
smr690@nyu.edu

Format: in person

In the premodern world, the Isolario (“Book of Islands”) was a popular genre for providing geographical, historical, and cultural descriptions of the islands of the oikumene. In Benedetto Bordone’s Isolario (Venice: Nicolò Zappino, 1528), for example, the Paduan cartographer famously describes all islands of the known world, detailing their folklore, myths, cultures, climates, and histories. Intended as an illustrated and practical guide for sailors, Bordone’s Isolario is replete with woodcut maps and explanatory texts that visualize and describe the major known islands and ports throughout the Mediterranean, the Americas, and the Indian Ocean. Several of the woodcut illustrations are among the earliest printed maps of the depicted sites—including the first separate printed map of Cuba—all of which are represented as isolated islands devoid of contact with other geographies, cultures, and histories. This two-part session questions the tenets laid out in such island books: how did medieval peoples navigate the tension between isolation and interconnectivity in island communities and geographies?

Sites of Tension I: Islands and Isolation (Session ID 5329), the first of this two-part session, explores the practical and cognitive effects of building and experiencing lives on islands in the medieval world. It considers the multifaceted ways in which such geographies affected the built environment and visual culture in the Middle Ages. Bearing in mind issues such as isolation and untranslatability, this session seeks papers that address how art and architecture on islands— conceived physically and literally—operated according to their unique, localized geographies and contributed to the formation of island identities.

Sites of Tension II: Islands and Interconnectivity (Session ID 5340), the second of this two-part session, looks beyond issues of physical, geographic isolation. This session examines the imagined or metaphorical island as a locus of inquiry in the medieval world. Bearing in mind the complex political, economic, and cultural significance of overseas exchange and maritime exploration in the formation of islands, this session seeks papers that explore the vital roles played by cross-cultural exchange and colonization in the formation of islands—conceived conceptually.

The ICMA Student Committee seeks papers that challenge the traditional geographic, temporal, and theoretical “edges” of our discipline. We especially welcome papers that reach beyond Europe, thus reflecting the mission of the ICMA to study and understand visual and material culture in every corner of the medieval world.

Potential thematic topics for individual contributions may include, but are not limited to:
- Separation—conceived in intellectual, cartographic, and geographic terms
- Miscommunication and mistranslation
- Diasporic communities and the relationship between colonizer and colony
- Memory, identity, and the (mis)appropriation of cultural heritage, civic, and religious ceremonies

Proposals for both in-person panels must be submitted through the Confex proposal portal.

ICMA VIEWPOINTS OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH - IS BYZANTINE STUDIES A COLONIALIST DISCIPLINE? 15 SEPTEMBER 2023 12PM ET - REGISTER NOW!

ICMA Viewpoints Book Launch

Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? Toward a Critical Historiography

Edited by Benjamin Anderson and Mirela Ivanova


Friday 15 September 2023
12pm ET, online

Register
HERE

We are delighted to invite you to a virtual event celebrating the publication of the second volume of the ICMA Viewpoints book series, sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art and Penn State University Press! Please join us!


with
Benjamin Anderson • Mirela Ivanova • Roland Betancourt • Eleanor Goodman • Nicholas S. M. Matheou • Elizabeth Dospěl Williams • Alexandra Vukovich  


Is Byzantine Studies a colonialist discipline? Rather than provide a definitive answer to this question, this book defines the parameters of the debate and proposes ways of thinking about what it would mean to engage seriously with the field’s political and intellectual genealogies, hierarchies, and forms of exclusion.

In this volume, scholars of art, history, and literature address the entanglements, past and present, among the academic discipline of Byzantine Studies and the practice and legacies of European colonialism. Starting with the premise that Byzantium and the field of Byzantine studies are simultaneously colonial and colonized, the chapters address topics ranging from the material basis of philological scholarship and its uses in modern politics to the colonial plunder of art and its consequences for curatorial practice in the present. The book concludes with a bibliography that serves as a foundation for a coherent and systematic critical historiography. Bringing together insights from scholars working in different disciplines, regions, and institutions, Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? urges practitioners to reckon with the discipline’s colonialist, imperialist, and white supremacist history.

In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume include Andrea Myers Achi, Nathanael Aschenbrenner, Bahattin Bayram, Averil Cameron, Stephanie R. Caruso, Şebnem Dönbekci, Hugh G. Jeffery, Anthony Kaldellis, Matthew Kinloch, Nicholas S. M. Matheou, Maria Mavroudi, Zeynep Olgun, Arietta Papaconstantinou, Jake Ransohoff, Alexandra Vukovich, Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, and Arielle Winnik.

Read ICMA News, Summer 2023 online!

ICMA News               

SUMMER 2023
Melanie Hanan, Editor

Click here to read.
Also available on www.medievalart.org

 

COMMEMORATION
Claire Richter Sherman, 1930–2023
Robert Ousterhout, 1950–2023 26

SPECIAL FEATURES
Dumbarton Oaks Museum Colloquium Examines Mosaic Works Across the Global Medieval World, by Elizabeth McCord

Gaming Goes Medieval, by Larisa Grollemond

REFLECTION
Elina Gertsman Receives CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies, by Cecily Hughes, Reed O’Mara, Sam Truman, and Angelica Verduci

EXHIBITION REPORTS
Notre-Dame de Paris: At the Heart of the Construction Site
, by Kris N. Racaniello

The Nature of Things: Medieval Art and Ecology, 1100–1550, by Daria Berman

Riemenschneider and Late Medieval Alabaster, by Rebekkah Hart

EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
 



The deadline for the next issue of ICMA News is 15 October 2023. Please send information to newsletter@medievalart.org 

If you would like your upcoming conference, CFP, or exhibition included in the newsletter please email the information to EventsExhibitions@medievalart.org.


ICMA-Kress Research and Publication Grants, due 31 August 2023

The Kress Foundation is again generously supporting five research and publication grants to be administered by the ICMA. This year, grants are $3,500 each and ICMA members at any stage past the PhD are eligible to apply.

The deadline for the 2023 grant cycle is 31 August 2023.
Upload materials HERE.

ELIGIBILITY
The ICMA-Kress Research and Publication grants ($3,500) are now available to scholars who are ICMA members at any stage past the PhD.

With the field of medieval art history expanding in exciting ways, it is crucial that the ICMA continue to encourage innovative research that will bring new investigations to broad audiences. These grants are open to scholars at all phases of their careers. Priority will be given to proposals with a clear path toward publication.

If travel is a facet of your application, please include an itinerary and be specific about costs for all anticipated expenses (travel, lodging, per diem, and other details). If you aim to inspect extremely rare materials or sites with restricted access, please be as clear as possible about prior experience or contacts already made with custodians.

If your application is for funds that will support the production of a book, please include a copy of the contract from your publisher, the publisher’s request for a subvention, and/or specifics on costs for images and permissions.

Preference will be given to applicants who have not received an ICMA-Kress grant in the past.

Please submit these documents for your application:

1) A detailed overview of the project (no more than three pages, single spaced). Please also confirm that your ICMA membership is active and specify whether or not you have been awarded an ICMA-Kress grant previously.

2) A full cv.

3) A full budget.

4) Supporting materials – an itinerary (for applications involving travel), a contract and schedule of costs (if a press requires a subvention), or table of anticipated fees for image permissions (if applicable).

Please note: If you are applying for funds to support the production of a book, please do not upload the entire typescript or portions of the text.

The application should be submitted electronically HERE. Recipients will be announced in October 2023.

Questions can be addressed to Ryan Frisinger, Executive Director, at awards@medievalart.org.

Failure to include all required materials adversely affects the review process.

ICMA in St. Louis, 28 and 29 July 2023: Study Event for "The Nature of Things: Medieval Art and Ecology, 1100-1550" - REGISTER TODAY!

ICMA in St. Louis


Study Event for The Nature of Things: Medieval Art and Ecology, 1100-1550

  
In-person at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis Art Museum, and other venues

Friday 28 July 2023
10am - 3:30pm

Saturday 29 July 2023
9am-2pm


Register HERE

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA), the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and the St. Louis Art Museum invite ICMA members to a study weekend organized around the exhibition The Nature of Things: Medieval Art and Ecology, 1100-1550, curated by Heather Alexis Smith at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Please see below for a detailed itinerary and registration link. 


FRIDAY 28 JULY 2023
Due to capacity restrictions, we can accommodate only 15 people from 10am-3:30pm for the day's events.

10am
Curator-led tour and discussion of The Nature of Things: Medieval Art and Ecology, 1100-1550 at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Click HERE for more information

12:30pm
Lunch provided by the Pulitzer Arts Foundation

2pm-3:30pm
Due to capacity limitations, a rotation of these two events at the St. Louis Art Museum:

  • A close look at medieval objects in the Museum's art study room

  • A tour of the medieval galleries 

Late afternoon/evening
The St. Louis Art Museum is open until 9pm on Fridays. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy the museum and the special exhibition Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s. More information about the exhibition can be found HERE.

An optional and casual group dinner after the museum can be planned, depending on interest (guests pay their own way). 


 

SATURDAY 29 JULY 2023


9am
Tour of the Central Reform Congregation and their newly installed mosaic (info HERE)

10am
Tour of Cahokia, the archaeological site of a pre-Columbian Indigenous city (which existed c. 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from what is now called St. Louis, the ancestral lands of the Osage, Missouri and Illini people. https://cahokiamounds.org/
 
12pm   
Picnic lunch at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Park provided by the ICMA

1pm
Cathedral Basilica and Mosaic Museum, completed in 1907.
 
2pm
Drinks provided by the ICMA


Accommodations
For those traveling to St. Louis, we've reserved a small block of king suite rooms at The Royal Sonesta Chase Park Plaza St. Louis (website HERE). The rate is about $195 per night with tax and includes a king bed and a queen-sized sleeper couch in each room. On the registration form, please let us know if you want this option and we will send the discount code. 

Carpooling
On the registration form, we ask that you indicate if you need transportation between sites or able to offer a ride to a colleague.

Guests
While Friday is limited to 15 people because of capacity restrictions, guests can join for Saturday events. There may be a nominal fee for guests to help cover picnic lunch and tours. The St. Louis Art Museum is free to all; they can join you at the museum Friday evening after our tour/study room visit. The Pulitzer Arts Foundation is also free to all.

Any questions, please email icma@medievalart.org

This event is organized by Maggie Crosland, Ryan Frisinger, Sherry Lindquist, and Heather Alexis Smith.

Register HERE

NEW VIDEO! ICMA BOOK SALON: WRITING THE MIDDLE AGES & THE RENAISSANCE FOR THE PUBLIC: A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUTHORS

NEW VIDEO

ICMA BOOK SALON 

WRITING THE MIDDLE AGES & THE RENAISSANCE FOR THE PUBLIC: A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUTHORS 

TUESDAY 23 MAY 2023, 5PM ET // 2PM PT

Sonja Drimmer led a conversation with authors, Vanessa Wilkie and Elizabeth (Beth) Morrison, who discussed the joys and challenges of working with the medieval and Renaissance periods in writing trade books rather than academic works or even those intended for the museum-going public. They shared their journeys to developing an authorial voice for the mass market and took questions from members of the audience.

Vanessa Wilkie is William A. Moffett Senior Curator of Medieval Manuscripts & British History and Head of Library Curatorial at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens and author of the popular non-fiction book, A Woman of Influence: The Spectacular Rise of Alice Spencer in Tudor England.

https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Influence-Spectacular-Spencer-England/dp/1982154284

Elizabeth (Beth) Morrison is Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the Getty Museum and author of the medieval adventure novel, The Lawless Land.

https://www.amazon.com/Lawless-Land-Sword-Honour/dp/1801108633

Sonja Drimmer is an Associate Professor of Medieval Art at University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Chair of the Membership Committee for the ICMA.

The video is available to watch on the Special Online Lectures page.

ICMA at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds 2023: Sponsored sessions on 5 and 6 July 2023

ICMA at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds 2023

The Concertina-Fold Book Across Pre-Modern Cultures
Session 1347, Parkinson Building - Room B.11
Wednesday 5 July 2023, 16.30-18.00


Social Agency of Secular Goldsmiths' Work in the Late Middle Ages I: Production
Session 1545,  Esther Simpson Building - Room 2.09
Thursday 6 July 2023, 9.00-10.30

Social Agency of Secular Goldsmiths' Work in the Late Middle Ages II: Use
Session 1645, Esther Simpson Building - Room 2.09
Thursday 6 July 2023, 11.15-12.45


THE CONCERTINA-FOLD BOOK ACROSS PRE-MODERN CULTURES

Wednesday 5 July 2023, 16.30 - 18.00
Session 1347
Parkinson Building - Room B.11

Organiser: Megan McNamee, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
Moderator: Sarah Griffin, Lambeth Palace Library

A Folded Genealogy of Edward IV
Sonja Drimmer, Department of the History of Art & Architecture, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Going Up, Coming Down: Landscape, Verticality, and Time in the Mixtec Screen-Fold Manuscripts of Pre-Hispanic Mexico 
Jamie Forde, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh

Tibetan Buddhist Concertina-Fold Books in Qing-Era Beijing
Ben Nourse, Department of Religious Studies, University of Denver

Sponsored jointly by the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) and the Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography, Rare Book School.  

Virtual attendance of this event is free and open to the public; advance registration required: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-concertina-fold-book-across-premodern-cultures-tickets-608348575967


SOCIAL AGENCY OF SECULAR GOLDSMITHS’ WORK IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES, I: PRODUCTION

Thursday 6 July 2023, 9.00-10.30
Session 1545
Esther Simpson Building - Room 2.09

Organiser: Masha Goldin, eikones - Zentrum für die Theorie und Geschichte des Bildes, Universität Basel and Hila Manor, Department of Art History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Moderator: Hila Manor

A Late Medieval Goldsmith’s Workshop  Jack Ogden, Independent Scholar, London

‘Made with the gold that the Londoners gave to the King’ 
Alison Wright, Department of History of Art, University College London 

Secular and Sacral Entanglements: The Shrine of St Simeon in Zadar as a Mirror of Late Medieval Society 
Mandy Telle, Sonderforschungsbereich 933 ‘Materiale Textkulturen’, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg 


SOCIAL AGENCY OF SECULAR GOLDSMITHS’ WORK IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES, II: USE

Thursday 6 July 2023, 11.15-12.45
Session 1645
Esther Simpson Building - Room 2.09

Organiser: Masha Goldin, eikones - Zentrum für die Theorie und Geschichte des Bildes, Universität Basel and Hila Manor, Department of Art History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Moderator: Masha Goldin

Richard II and the Coronation Regalia: A Case of Duplicated ‘Object-Conversion’ 
Rowanne Dean, Department of Art History, University of Chicago, Illinois

14th-Century Nested Beakers from a Jewish Context: Profane Drinking Vessels or Ritual Objects?
Maria Stürzebecher, Museum Alte Synagoge, Erfurt

Respondent: John Cherry, Independent Scholar, Ludlow 

ICMA RECEPTION 
Wednesday 5 July 2023, 18.30-20.30

Join us for complimentary drinks following the ICMA sponsored session on Wednesday at The Dry Dock, about a 10 minute walk from the Parkinson Building. Look for the ICMA sign! 

All are welcome! Please invite colleagues!

The Dry Dock
Woodhouse Lane
Leeds LS2 3AX

https://www.crafted-social.co.uk/dry-dock-leeds

 

New Video! ICMA ANNUAL IDEA LECTURE: “JOHN OF MARIGNOLLI, THE TRIBUTE HORSE, AND EAST-WEST ENCOUNTERS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY," NANCY WU

New Video

ICMA ANNUAL IDEA LECTURE

“JOHN OF MARIGNOLLI, THE TRIBUTE HORSE, AND EAST-WEST ENCOUNTERS IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY”

NANCY WU, EDUCATOR EMERITA, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

17 April 2023, 5:30 PM, Columbia University

In 1342, the Franciscan John of Marignolli, as papal nuncio, presented a horse to the Mongol Emperor of China. When scrutinized, the seemingly cordial exchange reveals a multitude of encounters across temporal and geographic boundaries—over 1,300 years and from Avignon to Xanadu. This paper will discuss and consider the event’s historical and cultural implications against the backdrop of the so-called Mongol Mission in medieval China.

Nancy Wu is Educator Emerita of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was responsible for education at The Cloisters for over twenty years. For decades she has worked extensively on various aspects of Gothic architecture and the Cloisters collection. Since 2020, she has been devoted to the history of the Franciscan mission in fourteenth-century China.

Convened by the IDEA Committee, the ICMA Annual IDEA Lecture showcases research by ICMA members that engages, in content, method, or disciplinary practice, issues of inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility.

The video is available to watch on the Special Online Lectures page.