ICMA CFP, due 15 September 2019: Medieval Exhibitions in the Era of Global Art History, ICMS Kalamazoo 2020

Medieval exhibitions in the Era of Global Art History
Call for Papers

55th International Congress on Medieval Studies Kalamazoo, May 7 - 10, 2020.

Session sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA)

On May 5, 2019 the Sunday edition of the New York Times appeared an article titled “Medieval Scholars Joust with White Nationalists – and One Another” by Jennifer Schuessler, which featured comments from numerous scholars in the field and brought the International Congress on Medieval Studies to the front page of one of North America’s leading newspapers for the first time in the conference’s 54-year history and pushed medieval studies into a broader public limelight.

This was an impressive demonstration of the fact that the Middle Ages have moved back into the center of a broader public interest. While on the one hand the article can be interpreted positively – drawing attention to the relevance of medieval studies for understanding the present – in other ways the picture is more problematic. Readers were left with the impression that the study of the medieval world is dominated by scholars, who “mostly want to stay out of the fray.” One literary expert describes most of his colleagues as “monkish creatures who just want to live in their cells and write their manuscripts.” To put it simply, medieval studies is characterized as an “intellectually conservative field” with a resistance towards “uncomfortable questions.”

Significantly, recent and forthcoming medieval exhibitions are not mentioned in this article at all. This is not because the Times editors observed a difference between the public-facing and academic sides of the field, but rather because exhibitions were not on their horizon at all. Had the article taken museums into view, they would have been confronted with an impressive number of exhibitions in recent years, taking place at numerous institutions in North America and Europe, that challenge the view of an isolated and apolitical field of medieval studies. Many of these shows have explicitly challenged Eurocentric narratives, focusing on trade routes and patterns of exchange that encouraged the movement of people, ideas, and objects across vast distances. Far from retreating into “intellectually conservative” topics and reifying nationalist histories, these exhibitions have embraced the global turn in medieval studies, challenging their publics to see the racial, religious, and regional diversity of the Middle Ages with fresh eyes.
This lack of awareness between the Times article and current curatorial practice raises several fundamental questions which will be the central theme of this session:

*To what degree do medieval exhibitions reflect and thematize current discourse in academia and society?

*What factors contribute to the organization of major exhibitions?

*Is there a balance between entertainment and political and historical education?

*How do museums try to reach out to a broader public which is not familiar (anymore) with, or feel alienated by the Middle Ages? This is especially true as we reshape what exactly it is we mean by medieval.

*What are the differences between Europe and North America in presenting medieval objects to the public, and shaping specific topics?

*Finally, what is the contribution of museums for the academic debate where increasingly global approaches and diversity have been moving into center stage?

We welcome papers which focus on specific case studies of past, current, or future exhibitions. Equally important will be presentations which discuss current trends from the perspectives of museums and other academic institutions, keeping a global perspective in mind. The session is intended to strengthen awareness for current trends at museums and universities, and to open dialogues about how different institutions might learn from each other and exchange ideas, expectations and approaches.


Organizers:
Gerhard Lutz, Dommuseum Hildesheim, gerhard.lutz@dommuseum-hildesheim.de
Lloyd de Beer, The British Museum, ldebeer@britishmuseum.org

Proposals can be sent directly to the organizers, together with the Participant Information Form PIF
https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions

Deadline: September 15th, 2019

Contact ICMA:
Beth Williamson
Email: beth.williamson@bristol.ac.uk
Chair, of the Programs and Lectures Committee

ICMA-Kress Grants due 31 August 2019

ICMA-KRESS RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS GRANTS (with expanded eligibility!)
- and -
ICMA-KRESS EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT GRANT

Deadline for both: August 31, 2019

_____________________________________

ICMA-KRESS RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION GRANTS
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 (an increase over prior years) and we have expanded the eligibility for applicants to include scholars who are ICMA members at any stage past the PhD. 

The deadline for the 2019 grants is August 31, 2019.

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 and 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.

Priority 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 2019.

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

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

_____________________________________

NEW! ICMA-KRESS EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT GRANT
Deadline for applications: August 31, 2019

The ICMA is pleased to announce a new funding opportunity made possible by the generosity of the Kress Foundation. ICMA members are eligible to apply for an ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant of $5,000 to support research and/or interpretive programming for a major exhibition at an institution that otherwise could not provide such financial support. Members from all geographic areas are welcome to apply.

As an organization, the ICMA encourages scholars to think expansively, exploring art and society in “every corner of the medieval world,” as characterized in our newly-updated mission statement. With this grant, we hope to encourage colleagues to develop innovative exhibition themes or bring little-known objects before new audiences. We also aim to enhance the impact of exhibitions by supporting related lectures or symposia.

ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant can be used to fund travel in the research and preparation stages of an exhibition and/or to underwrite public programming once a show is installed. This grant is designed to assist with an exhibition already in the pipeline and scheduled by the host museum.

We ask applicants to upload to the ICMA submission site: CLICK HERE TO UPLOAD ITEMS

• Applicant’s cv

• Description of the exhibition and its goals, including an overview of the structure of the exhibition – themes and estimated number of objects in each section of the show – and dates of the exhibition

• Statement of other sources of funding both secured and provisional, with specifics on the amounts already awarded and expenses to be covered by secured and provisional funding

• Sample wall panel for a subsection of the exhibition and sample labels for 3-4 examples of works in the show

• If the applicant seeks funds to travel to see objects for inclusion in the exhibition, a list of institutions to be visited, names of contacts at each, and key objects (with accession numbers) to be inspected

• If the applicant seeks funds for exhibition programming, specific information on gallery talks, public lectures, or symposium, with anticipated names of speakers and estimated dates

• Letter of support from the Museum Director or Curator with whom the applicant is working, confirming that the exhibition will be mounted

• If funds will be used toward a lecture or symposium connected to an exhibition, letter of support from institutional administrator/s (Dean, Provost, or Museum/Gallery Director) confirming that space at the organizer’s institution will be made available for the event/s

Applications will be reviewed by the ICMA Grants & Awards Committee and approved by the ICMA Executive Committee. The recipient will be announced in October 2019.

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

This information is posted on our website at http://www.medievalart.org/exhibition-grant.

ICMA CFP - The Global North: Medieval Scandinavia on the Borders of Europe, ICMS Kalamazoo 2020; due 3 September 2019

CFP
The Global North: Medieval Scandinavia on the Borders of Europe

An ICMA-sponsored session at International Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, 8-11 May 2020

The field of medieval studies recently denounced White Nationalism’s misuse and misappropriation of Scandinavian Norse mythology and the Viking era as a constructed ideal of a (white) medieval Europe. Indeed, premodern Scandinavia was a global enterprise dependent on the interactions, transactions, and mobility of many cultures and religions. This panel seeks to examine the cross-regional and -cultural connections of premodern Scandinavian art and architecture in a global context.

Not only is understanding medieval Scandinavian art important for addressing such outstanding misrepresentations today, but extant Scandinavian objects can provide valuable information about the medieval world broadly. For example, there remains a rich corpus of painted altar frontals and sculptures preserved in modern-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, despite the fact that such extant objects from medieval Scandinavia remain on the margins of scholarship. In this panel we aim to explore how medieval Scandinavian art and architecture contribute to our wider knowledge of the medieval world. We are especially keen on papers that promote interregional artistic relationships, as well as issues of race and identity in Scandinavia in the Middle Ages.

We conceive of Scandinavia broadly, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, as well as the Baltic and North Sea areas, and we define the Middle Ages in Scandinavia from the Viking Age through the sixteenth century. We welcome papers across geographic, temporal, and material contexts that address Scandinavian artistic and visual cultures in the Middle Ages. Materials may include, but are not limited to: architecture, sculpture, maps, manuscripts, woodcuts, and the visual arts of liturgy and pilgrimage.

Participants in ICMA-sponsored sessions must be ICMA members and may also be eligible to receive travel funds, generously provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. For more information please see: http://www.medievalart.org/kress-travel-grant.

Please send paper proposals of 300 words to the Chair of the ICMA Programs Committee, Beth Williamson (beth.williamson@bristol.ac.uk), and the co-organizers Ingrid Lunnan Nødseth (Ingrid.nodseth@ntnu.no) and Laura Tillery (laura.tillery@ntnu.no) by 3 September 2019, together with a short C.V., and a completed Participant Information Form, to be found at the following address: https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions#papers.

Please include your name, title, and affiliation on the abstract.

All abstracts not accepted for the session will be forwarded to the Congress administration for consideration in general sessions, as per Congress regulations.

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due 15 Sept 2019: ICMA Student Committee CFP: Art Historical Approaches to Medieval Environments, ICMS Kalamazoo

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due 15 SEPT 2019

Art Historical Approaches to Medieval Environments

International Congress on Medieval Studies
May 7–10, 2020
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Michigan

International Center for Medieval Art, Student Committee

We are surrounded by evidence that we live in an anthropocentric age: plastic in the oceans, deforestation, animals hunted to extinction. However, forest fires and rising sea levels remind us that human action is not a one-way street. The environment strikes back. Understanding the dynamics between the many actors in environmental networks has, until now, been the purview of the “hard” sciences. As environmental historians close the distinction between nature and culture it is clear that the humanities also have a role to play.

Since the late twentieth-century, discourse has progressed from establishing the relationship between medieval people and their environments to examining the character of this connection. Scholars such as Barbara Hanawalt, Sarah Ritchey, and Richard Hoffmann, have mobilized archeology, literature, and the writings of medieval philosophers—like the Asharite atomist al-Ghazali and the neo-platonist Bernard Sylvestris—to construct diverse interpretations of medieval environmental attitudes. What can the study of sculpture, manuscript illumination, or painted frescos contribute to this discourse? Can art make equally significant claims on the role of God in nature, the effect of environments on the human body, or the politicization of geography? It is in interpreting these visual expressions of environmental attitudes that medieval art historians can contribute to the debate.

 “Environments” do not have to occur on a global scale; nor do they necessarily occur between humans and what we today call “nature.” Environments include both the natural world and spaces entirely circumscribed by human agency: the agricultural landscape and the urban center; the mise-en-page of a manuscript, or halls of a royal court. This session aims to examine the ways in which humans have historically engaged with their environments, whatever they may be, through art and architecture, whether by observing, shaping, or responding to them.

 Papers might consider themes of:

-Depictions of the natural world 
-Urbanism
-Landscape
-The environment of display
-Architecture definitions of, and responses to place
-Climatic effects on the use, availability, or conservation of artistic media
-Environmental impacts (societal, economic, personal, psychological, material) on form and styl
-Kunstgeographie/The geography of art

 The Student Committee of the International Center for Medieval Art involves and advocates for all members of the ICMA with student status and facilitates communication and mentorship between student and non-student members.

 We invite interested applicants to submit an approximately 250 word abstract and c.v. to Dustin Aaron (dsa268@nyu.edu) by 5pm ET on September 15.

ICMA CFP: Buildings in Bloom: Foliage and Architecture in the Global Middle Ages, CAA Chicago 12-15 Feb 2020. DUE 23 July 2019.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Buildings in Bloom: Foliage and Architecture in the Global Middle Ages
College Art Association Annual Conference
Chicago, February 12-15, 2020

Session sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art
CFP Deadline: July 23, 2019

This panel seeks to explore foliate forms in a cross-cultural context across geographies and cultural traditions from roughly 300 to 1500 CE. Foliate forms can be found in many types of buildings from the medieval period, displayed in prominent locations or hidden from the casual viewer’s gaze. From the Gothic cathedrals of western Europe to the Hindu temples of south Asia, builders and artisans filled their structures with flowers, leaves, fruits, and vines. These organic interventions took many forms and adorned architectonic elements in sometimes unexpected ways. They were also executed in a variety of media: sculpture, glass, mosaic, ceramics, and painting. The study of foliate forms has the potential to enliven discussions of artistic production and authorship in medieval architecture. A generation of new scholarship has richly re-integrated the decorative into architectural discourse; vegetal forms need not be filed neatly under “architecture” or “decoration,” as foliage often occupies a liminal space that defies such categorization. Furthermore, the ecological turn has reinvigorated debates concerning liveliness, between-ness, and nature in art, and this research presents a promising opportunity to apply new thinking to previously overlooked aspects of medieval monuments on a global scale while examining one of the most fundamental relationships in the history of architecture, that of nature and the built environment.  

We seek papers from scholars working in any cultural context (including Western Medieval, Pre-Columbian, Byzantine, Islamic, African, South Asian, East Asian, etc.) and any building typology (sacred architecture, palace architecture, commemorative monuments, vernacular architecture). Potential questions may include but are not limited to:

• What role or roles do vegetal motifs play in articulating space, creating meaning, or mitigating identity? 

• How do these forms connect to the broader cultural context? 

• As historians of medieval art, how should we approach this aniconic imagery methodologically? 

• What new methodologies or technologies can be employed in studying a large corpus of foliate decoration?

• What lessons might be learned from examining foliate forms across traditional cultural boundaries? 

We invite interested applicants to submit a 250 word abstract and c.v. to Emogene Cataldo (emogene.cataldo@columbia.edu) and Meg Bernstein (megbernstein@ucla.edu) by July 23, 2019.

Accepted speakers may be eligible to apply for ICMA Kress Travel Grants to support travel to and from Chicago. For more information, see: http://www.medievalart.org/kress-travel-grant.

Leeds IMC 2020 - ICMA CFP due 14 Sept 2019

ICMA AT INTERNATIONAL MEDIEVAL CONGRESS AT LEEDS, 6–9 July 2020
Call for Proposals, due 14 September 2019

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for sessions to be held under the organization’s sponsorship in 2020 at the International Medieval Congress (IMC) at Leeds, England.

While session proposals on any topic related to the art of the Middle Ages are welcome, the IMC also chooses a theme for each conference. In 2020 the theme is 'Borders'. For more information on the Leeds 2020 congress and theme, see: https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc2020/

Session organizers and speakers must be ICMA members. Proposals must include a session abstract, and a list of speakers, as one single Doc or PDF with the organizer’s name in the title, and a CV, again as a Doc or PDF with the organizer’s name in the title. Please upload here, by 14th September 2019:

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 (within Europe) travel and of $1200 for transatlantic travel. If available, the Kress funds are allocated for travel and hotel only. Speakers in ICMA sponsored sessions will be refunded only after the conference, against travel receipts.
In addition to speakers, session organizers delivering papers as an integral part of the session (i.e. with a specific title listed in the program) are now also eligible to receive travel funding.
Go to: http://www.medievalart.org/kress-travel-grant/

Please direct inquiries to the Chair of the ICMA Programs and Lectures Committee: Beth Williamson, University of Bristol, UK (beth.williamson@bristol.ac.uk)

Due 31 August 2019: ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant

ICMA-KRESS EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT GRANT
Deadline for applications: August 31, 2019

http://www.medievalart.org/exhibition-grant

Thanks to the generosity of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, ICMA members are eligible to apply for an ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant of $5,000 to support research and/or interpretive programming for a major exhibition at an institution that otherwise could not provide such financial support. Members from all geographic areas are welcome to apply.

As an organization, the ICMA encourages scholars to think expansively, exploring art and society in “every corner of the medieval world,” as characterized in our newly-updated mission statement. With this grant, we hope to encourage colleagues to develop innovative exhibition themes or bring little-known objects before new audiences. We also aim to enhance the impact of exhibitions by supporting related lectures or symposia.

ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant can be used to fund travel in the research and preparation stages of an exhibition and/or to underwrite public programming once a show is installed. This grant is designed to assist with an exhibition already in the pipeline and scheduled by the host museum.

We ask applicants to upload to the ICMA submission site: Click here to upload items.

• Applicant’s cv

• Description of the exhibition and its goals, including an overview of the structure of the exhibition – themes and estimated number of objects in each section of the show – and dates of the exhibition

• Statement of other sources of funding both secured and provisional, with specifics on the amounts already awarded and expenses to be covered by secured and provisional funding

• Sample wall panel for a subsection of the exhibition and sample labels for 3-4 examples of works in the show

• If the applicant seeks funds to travel to see objects for inclusion in the exhibition, a list of institutions to be visited, names of contacts at each, and key objects (with accession numbers) to be inspected

• If the applicant seeks funds for exhibition programming, specific information on gallery talks, public lectures, or symposium, with anticipated names of speakers and estimated dates

• Letter of support from the Museum Director or Curator with whom the applicant is working, confirming that the exhibition will be mounted

• If funds will be used toward a lecture or symposium connected to an exhibition, letter of support from institutional administrator/s (Dean, Provost, or Museum/Gallery Director) confirming that space at the organizer’s institution will be made available for the event/s

Applications will be reviewed by the ICMA Grants & Awards Committee and approved by the ICMA Executive Committee. The recipient will be announced in October 2019.

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

ICMA at Leeds IMC: Sessions, reception, and a new mentoring event

See below for ICMA sessions, a reception, and a new mentoring event at the 2019 International Medieval Congress in Leeds, United Kingdom.

Moving Materials: Medium, Meanings, and Technique in Transit, I
Session 543
Laidlaw Library: Teaching Room 2
Tuesday 2 July 2019: 09.00-10.30
 
Organisers
Maggie Crosland, Classical, Byzantine & Medieval Section, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London
Xin Yue Sylvia Wang, Department of Art, University of Toronto
 
Moderator/Chair            
Dongwon Esther Kim, Department of Art, University of Toronto
 
A Voyage on the Mediterranean Sea: Ivory, Chess, and the Semantics of Mobility, Philippe Depairon, Département d'histoire de l'art et d'études cinématographiques, Université de Montréal 
 
Enamels, Silk, and Gold in a 15th-Century Mitra Pretiosa, Ingrid Lunnan Nødseth, Institutt for kunst- og medievitenskap, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Trondheim 

Hanging on the Body / Painted on the Page: The Materiality and Movement of Late Medieval Jeweled Pendants, Sophie Ong, Department of Art History, Rutgers University, New Jersey 

Material Girls / Material World: Women as Consumers of Foreign-Made Materials in Late Medieval York, Emily Tuttle, Department of Art History, Florida State University 
 
 

Moving Materials: Medium, Meanings, and Technique in Transit, II
Session 643
Laidlaw Library: Teaching Room 2
Tuesday 2 July 2019: 11.15-12.45

Organisers
Dongwon Esther Kim, Department of Art, University of Toronto
Xin Yue Sylvia Wang, Department of Art, University of Toronto
 
Moderator/Chair            
Maggie Crosland, Classical, Byzantine & Medieval Section, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London
 
Fire and Light: Travel through the Stained Glass, Alejandra Tarno García, Departamento de Humanidades, Universidad CEU San Pablo, Madrid 

Between North and South and Heaven and Hell: The Mobility of Fresco Artists in the Trecento, Claire Barron Jensen, Department of Art, University of Toronto 

Made in Flanders or Made in Portugal?: The Potential Use of Joinery Method in Distinguishing the 'Origin' of Flemish/Portuguese Panel Paintings, Sylvia Alvares-Correa, Department of History of Art, University of Oxford 
 

Sacred Remains, Material Concerns: Relics and Their Contexts, c. 800-1270
Session 1038
Leeds University Union: Room 2
Wednesday 3 July 2019: 09.00-10.30 

Organiser
Sarah Luginbill, Department of History, University of Colorado, Boulder 

Moderator/Chair
Sarah Luginbill, Department of History, University of Colorado, Boulder 

Power and Flight: The Question of Praesentia in the Travels of St Philibert, Kate Craig, Department of History, Auburn University, Alabama 

The Materiality of Relics in Medieval Byzantium, Brad Hostetler, Department of Art History, Kenyon College, Ohio 

Western Relics on Eastern Campaigns, Sarah Luginbill, Department of History, University of Colorado, Boulder 
 

RECEPTIONS
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
Room LG10, Michael Sadler Building
19.00-21.00

ICMA Mentoring Event

The ICMA is eager to support our junior members. To this end we invite graduate students, new PhDs, and anyone seeking professional guidance to gather with more senior members of our community for an informal lunch meeting during the International Medieval Congress at Leeds.
 
The lunch gathering will be Tuesday, 2 July 2019, 13.00-14.00 in the Refectory. Participants should pick up lunch for themselves and proceed to the far end of the dining area, where we will cluster several tables.
 
We hope to bring together scholars at all career stages so our more seasoned members can guide those newer to the field. Reservations are not required, but in order to anticipate our numbers, please sign up here.
 
We hope to see you there!

ICMA MEMBERS: Nominations for Board of Directors, Associates, and other positions due 21 June 2019 !

Dear Fellow ICMA Members,

As chair of the Nominating Committee, I write to ask you to join in shaping the future of the International Center for Medieval Art by proposing candidates for election to its leadership positions.

We seek nominees (and self-nominees) for the following posts:
-Secretary
-7 seats on the Board of Directors (3-year term, 2020-23)
-5 seats on next year’s Nominating Committee (1-year term, 2020-21)
-4 seats as Associates (usually based outside of North America; 3-year term, 2020-23)

Duties of and qualifications for ICMA positions are outlined in the organization bylaws and can be downloaded at: https://www.medievalart.org/s/ICMA-Bylaws.pdf

Our goal is to foster the continued vitality of ICMA by including among its leaders colleagues at every career stage, with a broad range of research specialties, and from diverse professional and geographic origins.  In addition to traditional research strengths, we also seek nominees who query the “edges” of our discipline and the boundaries around research topics, who engage in the theorization of our methods and objects of study, and who might help us build a broad and inclusive membership in the future.

To achieve that diversity through a robust pool of candidates, we need your help.

Please share your ideas for proposed candidates with me via email by June 21 (laurah@email.arizona.edu).  And please take a moment to consider adding your own name to the list:  self-nominations are welcome.

Many thanks and best wishes,
Laura Hollengreen
 
Associate Director and Associate Professor of Practice
School of Architecture
University of Arizona
 

Due 31 August 2019: ICMA-Kress Research and Publication Grants - new eligibility !

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 (an increase over prior years) and we have expanded the eligibility for applicants to include scholars who are ICMA members at any stage past the PhD. 

The deadline for the 2019 grants is August 31, 2019.

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 and 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.

Priority 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 2019.

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

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

http://www.medievalart.org/kress-research-grant

ICMA in Paris, 12-13 June: «Looking across the Atlantic : circulations d’idées entre la France et l’Amérique du Nord en art médiéval»

The ICMA is proud to participate in this international conference next week in Paris. Many ICMA members are participants in the event. Entry is free., please join us!

«Looking across the Atlantic : circulations d’idées entre la France et l’Amérique du Nord en art médiéval»
12 et 13 juin 2019 - 9h30-18h

Galerie Colbert, auditorium
Institut national d’histoire de l’art
2, rue Vivienne ou 6 rue des Petits Champs
75002 Paris

Entrée libre

Les conférences aborderont la circulation des idées entre les historiens de l’art médiéval d’Amérique du Nord et de France pendant les quatre dernières décennies et mettront en valeur leurs enrichissements et influences mutuels, sans exclusion de domaine de recherche ou d’approche. Le format des communications sera original. Les chercheurs sont appelés à témoigner de façon très personnelle sur un moment choisi et précis de leur carrière scientifique, alors que la confrontation de leur objet d’étude ou de leur champ de recherche avec un ou plusieurs point(s) de vue de la tradition historiographique dont ils ne sont pas issus, les a conduits à un renversement de perspective, à une solution méthodologique, à une intelligence singulière ou une curiosité déterminante dans l’élaboration de leur corpus ou de leur démonstration. 

En partenariat avec l’Université catholique de l’Ouest (UCO, Angers), Columbia Global Centers (Paris)et l'Institute for Ideas and Imagination

Organisateurs
Nathalie Le Luel (UCO)
Isabelle Marchesin (INHA)
Pierre-Marie Sallé (INHA)
Nicolas Varaine (INHA)

Comité scientifique
Susan Boynton (université Columbia)
Catherine Jolivet-Lévy (EPHE)
Nathalie Le Luel (UCO)
Isabelle Marchesin (INHA)
Philippe Plagnieux (université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Anna Russakoff (université américaine de Paris)
Frédéric Tixier (université de Lorraine)

Intervenants
Xavier Barral i Altet (université Ca Foscari, Venise)
Damien Berné (musée de Cluny)
Sébastien Biay (INHA)
Susan Boynton (université Columbia)
Mérédith Cohen (université de Californie, Los Angeles)
Pierre-Olivier Dittmar (EHESS)
Jean-Marie Guillouët (université de Nantes)
Étienne Hamon (université de Lille)
Anne D. Hedeman (université du Kansas)
Nicholas Herman (université de Pennsylvanie)
Nathalie Le Luel (UCO)
Robert Maxwell (université de New York)
Pamela Patton (Index of Medieval Art)
Anne-Orange Poilpré (université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Ioanna Rapti (EPHE)
Arnaud Timbert (université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens)
Cécile Voyer (université de Poitiers)
Laura Weigert (université Rutgers)
Ittai Weinryb (Bard Graduate Center) 
Elisabeth Yota (Université Paris-Sorbonne)

Click here for full program:
https://www.inha.fr/fr/agenda/parcourir-par-annee/en-2019/juin-2019/je-historiographie-franco-americaine.html?fbclid=IwAR1vzeRFFN9GONv8QOH0AMxDeGvfus4jWMLNqaIZFPMuZlZ-5TYzz5FMPT0

ICMA Statement: Haram Al-Sharif

Last week our community and the world at large were reminded of the vulnerability of medieval monuments and the symbolic power they bear as icons of national pride. As fire engulfed the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris, in Jerusalem another blaze ignited a mobile wooden guard booth at the Haram al-Sharif, near the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room (known as Solomon’s Stables). We are relieved by reports that the fire was contained quickly, did not damage any of the historical monuments on this millennia-old sacred space, and caused no injuries.
 

CFP: ICMA SPONSORED SESSION AT ICMS, KALAMAZOO 2020 due 15 May 2019

Call for Proposals
International Congress on Medieval Studies 2026
Kalamazoo, 14–16 May 2026
due Monday 19 May 2025
 

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for sessions to be held under the organization’s sponsorship at the International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS) at Kalamazoo. Session organizers and speakers must be ICMA members.  
 
Proposals to the ICMA must include a session abstract and a CV of the organizer(s). A list of speakers is not required at the time of application. Organizers will have the opportunity to send out a call for papers after the session is selected by the ICMA and has been approved by the Congress Committee in July.
 
Upload your proposals HERE by 19 May 2025. 
 
Please direct all inquiries to the Chair of the Programs & Lectures Committee: Alice I. Sullivan, Tufts University, USA, alice.sullivan@tufts.edu 
 
The ICMA Programs & Lectures committee will select a session to sponsor and will notify the successful organizer(s) by 28 May 2025. The organizer(s) will then submit the ICMA-sponsored proposal to the ICMS by 1 June 2025.

ICMA Response: Notre-Dame de Paris

To the ICMA Community,
 
We are stunned and heartbroken over the news from Paris. We appreciate that so many of our members have engaged with the press, offering expertise on the history and construction of Notre-Dame and providing a much-needed scholarly perspective as journalists report on the tragedy.
 
Among the many crucial contributions our members have made to the scholarship on Notre-Dame de Paris, please remember Andrew Tallon’s work scanning the cathedral, research that will be important in the reconstruction of the monument. Please see the two obituaries by Dany Sandron and Stephen Murray in the most recent ICMA newsletter. These celebrations of Andrew are particularly poignant at this moment and remind us of the relevance of our scholarship to those outside the academy.
 
With warmest wishes at this difficult time,
Helen Evans, Nina Rowe, Warren Woodfin, Anne Stanton, and Beatrice Kitzinger, on behalf of the ICMA

READ THE ICMA NEWSLETTER HERE.

CFP: ICMA at CAA 2020 Chicago, due 1 April 2019

ICMA AT COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION, Chicago, 12-15 February 2020
Call for ICMA Sponsored Session Proposals
due 1 April 2019

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for sessions to be held under the organization’s sponsorship in 2020 at the annual meeting of the College Art Association. Session organizers and speakers must be ICMA members. Proposals must include a session abstract and a CV of the organizer(s), all in one single Doc or PDF with the organizer’s name in the title. Session organizers may also include a list of potential speakers.

Please upload all session proposals by 1 April 2019 here.
The organizer(s) will have until 30 April 2019 to upload their approved proposals on the CAA website here.

For inquiries, contact the Chair of the ICMA Programs and Lectures Committee: Beth Williamson, University of Bristol, UK beth.williamson@bristol.ac.uk 

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 international travel. If available, the Kress funds are allocated for travel and hotel only. Speakers in ICMA sponsored sessions will be refunded only after the conference, against travel receipts.  In addition to speakers, session organizers delivering papers as an integral part of the session (i.e. with a specific title listed in the program) are now also eligible to receive travel funding.  
Visit:  http://www.medievalart.org/kress-travel-grant/

ICMA Forsyth and Stahl Lectures: call for nominations

INVITE A STAR TO YOUR CAMPUS!
 

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for the Stahl and Forsyth Lectures to be held under the sponsorship of the organization in 2019-2020. Stahl Lectures are to be held in what might be termed the greater southwest, while Forsyth lectures, as a rule, take place in the institutions located east of the Mississippi River, especially in what might be termed the greater Midwest.
 
Please suggest the name(s) of appropriate speakers and indicate your willingness to host the event at your institution. Joint proposals are welcome, as lecturers are expected to speak at more than one institution. The hosts assume the responsibility for organizing and advertising the event, ideally working in conjunction with colleagues at other institutions; for reserving a suitable venue; for organizing a reception if desired; for publishing the details in advance on the ICMA website and Newsletter; and for reporting on the event after it is over. International exchange of scholarship is encouraged, though not required.
 
Travel costs and the honorarium will be covered by the ICMA. Travel plans for the speaker will be handled by Ryan Frisinger, Executive Director of the ICMA.
 
For Stahl Lecture, please submit your CV and CV of the proposed speaker, as well as a brief proposal/preliminary itinerary by clicking here. 

For Forsyth Lecture, please submit your CV and CV of the proposed speaker, as well as a brief proposal/preliminary itinerary by clicking here.

Please direct any inquiries to the Chair of the Programs Committee: Beth Williamson, University of Bristol, UK; email: beth.williamson@bristol.ac.uk. The deadline for the nominations is 31 May 2019 for lectures to be planned for the late fall of 2019 or the spring of 2020. 

Register today! ICMA at the Courtauld Lecture, 13 March 2019

Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum,
Ms. Ludwig XV 3, fol. 89v. Bestiary, France, ca. 1270.

ICMA at The Courtauld Lecture 2019
Series made possible through the generosity of William M. Voelkle

Wednesday 13 March 2019
5:30pm - 6:30 pm 

The Courtauld Institute of Art, Vernon Square
Lecture Theatre 1, First Floor
Penton Rise, King’s Cross
London, WC1X 9EW

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER 
Advance booking requried
Open to all, free admission
Lecture followed by a reception sponsored by Sam Fogg

A Beast of a Project:
Curating an Exhibition on Bestiaries at the Getty

Dr. Elizabeth Morrison
Senior Curator of Manuscripts, J, Paul Getty Museum
 

The prospect of curating a major international loan exhibition is equal parts thrilling and intimidating. After eight years of intense research, loan negotiation, design development, and thousands of emails, Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World will open at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles on May 14, 2019. This presentation will look at the behind-the-scenes planning necessary by the lead curator, from the intellectual origins of the concept to some of the major challenges faced along the way. It will explore the exhibition’s major themes, including how the vivid images of the bestiary created an influential visual language that endured for centuries and became so popular that the animals escaped from the pages of books into other types of art objects ranging from massive tapestries to diminutive ivories. The exhibition will feature 115 objects from 45 lenders across the United States and Europe, including one third of the world’s surviving Latin illuminated bestiaries.

Elizabeth Morrison is Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum. She received her PhD in the History of Art from Cornell University and began work at the Getty in 1996. During her tenure there, she has curated numerous exhibitions including the 2010 co-curated exhibition Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500, which was a finalist for the College Arts Association award for outstanding exhibition catalogue. She has published on both Flemish and French illumination and has served on the boards of the International Center of Medieval Art and the Medieval Academy of America.

This lecture is presented by The Courtauld Institute of Art in association with the International Center of Medieval Art and with the support of The Courtauld Institute of Art's Research Forum.

The annual lecture is delivered at The Courtauld by a scholar based in North America, strengthening transatlantic contacts among medievalists from the university and museum worlds.

Organized by Professor Joanna Cannon, The Courtauld Institute of Art

A generous benefaction secured the continuation of the lecture series.  Dr. William M. Voelkle, Curator Emeritus of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, supports the travel and accommodation costs of the speaker.

The ICMA announces a new grant opportunity with the Whiting Foundation, due 15 April 2019

ICMA TO NOMINATE PROJECTS FOR THE WHITING FOUNDATION 2020–21 PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT GRANTS

ICMA deadline for summary proposals: April 15, 2019

The ICMA is pleased to announce that we will serve as a nominating body for the Whiting Foundation's programs supporting public-facing scholarship in the 2020–21 competition cycle. The foundation describes these funding opportunities as "designed to celebrate and empower humanities faculty who embrace public engagement" at an early-career stage. We are invited to nominate one or two proposals by full-time faculty at accredited US institutions of higher learning. To be eligible for the grants, faculty must be tenure-track, tenured in the last five years, or full-time adjunct at a comparable early-career status. Nominees may apply to either of the Whiting's funding programs, depending on the stage of development of their project:

• A Fellowship of $50,000 for projects far enough into development or execution to present specific, compelling evidence that they will successfully engage the intended public.

• A Seed Grant of up to $10,000 for projects at a somewhat earlier stage of development, where more modest resources are needed to test or pilot a project or to collaborate with partners to finalize the planning for a larger project and begin work.

Detailed guidelines and recommendations for the full proposals required by the Foundation are available online at https://www.whiting.org/scholars/public-engagement-programs/about (see esp. Appendix 2 for proposal components).

For consideration as an ICMA nominee, please submit a cv, a 2-page summary proposal of your project, and a working budget, to Ryan Frisinger by April 15, 2019. Click here to submit.

Your summary proposal should detail the nature and scope of the project specifying desired outcomes, the communities you hope to work with and your plan to engage them, and partners (if any) with which you will collaborate.. Project proposals will be reviewed by representatives of the ICMA Advocacy and Grants & Awards Committees. Successful nominees will be informed by mid-May to allow time for the expansion and submission of the proposal to the Foundation, due on June 14.

If you have questions at any time, please contact Beatrice Kitzinger (bkitzinger@princeton.edu) and Nina Rowe (nrowe@fordham.edu).

Announcing the recipients of the 2018 ICMA Annual Book Prize

The ICMA is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 ICMA Annual Book Prize. This annual prize is awarded to the best single- or dual-authored book on any topic in medieval art. Click here for more information and information on submitting for the 2019 Prize.

WINNER

Isabelle Dolezalek
Arabic Script on Christian Kings. Textile Inscriptions on Royal
Garments from Norman Sicily
De Gruyter, 2017.

In her book Arabic Script on Christian Kings. Textile Inscriptions on Royal Garments from Norman Sicily, Isabelle Dolezalek successfully achieves two aims that, at first glance, might appear contradictory: she offers a focused and profound study of Arabic inscriptions in Norman Sicily, while at the same time raising questions on a grand scale for the field of medieval art history. Throughout, the author goes beyond the state of the art, employing innovative approaches and asking new questions that spur readers to think in fresh ways about their own research. Her superb study demonstrates the ideal combination of original thinking with careful, detail-oriented research. Although the focus is on Palermo in the first half of the twelfth century, Dolezalek provides comparisons with both analogous and differing practices in the larger Islamic world. Her research sheds light on the ways in which precious textiles embellished with Arabic inscriptions contributed to the mise-en-scène of the political body. Inscriptions in three languages are interrogated for issues of readability and sound, addressing the performative aspects of legal actions for potential audiences. Along with the well known mantle of Roger II, for which the author identifies continuity as a political choice, she examines other inscribed works, reading the successive texts embroidered on an alb, for example, as a textile archive that documents political authority. Dolezalek deserves high praise for her innovative book that, pushing beyond traditional categories, is an excellent example of investigation into cross-cultural interactions in the Middle Ages. This is a book that encourages multiple rereadings, each time rewarding the reader with a plethora of new interpretations, stimulating suggestions, and original observations. There is no doubt that Arabic Script on Christian Kings will have a significant impact on the discipline of art history as a whole.

De Gruyter site: click here

HONORABLE MENTION

Heidi Gearhart
Theophilus and the Theory and Practice of Medieval Art
Penn State University Press, 2017.

Beautifully written (and entirely jargon-free), exquisitely edited, lavishly illustrated: Theophilus and the Theory and Practice of Medieval Art by Heidi Gearhart is a model art historical publication. The author offers admirable in-depth analysis of On Diverse Arts, a text that belongs to the canon of medieval primary sources yet has often been misunderstood. In doing so, Gearhart makes a major contribution to our understanding of the medieval viewpoint concerning the meanings of craftsmanship within its religious dimensions. Employing an approach associated with the new medieval philology, the author interrogates the contents of manuscripts in which this text is found to show how readers, writers, and librarians understood its genre and therefore much of its meaning. Gearhart departs from the extant Theophilus manuscripts and their compositions to highlight the important evidence that stems from codicological analysis, paying careful attention to the significance of adjectives and described actions. By demonstrating what can be deduced from the way Theophilus’ text was categorized in the Middle Ages, as for example the importance of it having been bound together with Vitruvius, Gearhart makes clear that identifying the genre of Theophilus's writing is essential to its interpretation. Further, she successfully connects areas of our subfield that tend to be separated: studies on making medieval art, on seeing medieval art, and on medieval aesthetic discourse. The crucial insights in this study show that there is still much to be learned about Theophilus, even for scholars well familiar with his texts. Finally, Penn
State Press is to be commended for its impeccable production of Gearhart’s gorgeous book.

Penn State University Press site: click here

Michele Bacci
William Diebold
Beate Fricke
Kathleen Nolan
Therese Martin, Chair, ICMA Annual Book Prize Jury

CFP: ICMA CO-SPONSORED CONFERENCE at INHA-PARIS, due 18 Feb 2019

CFP: ICMA CO-SPONSORED CONFERENCE
Looking across the Atlantic: Circulations d'idées entre la France et l'Amérique du Nord en art médiéval
due 18 February 2019

American art historians in the early stages of their careers (doctoral students or early-stage postdoctoral scholars) may submit proposals for the conference Looking across the Atlantic: Circulations d'idées entre la France et l'Amérique du Nord en art médiéval, 12-13 June 2019, INHA (Paris). 

Please see the attached document (click here) for complete information and the full description of the conference theme. Abstracts of up to 500 words must be submitted before 18 February 2019, with a brief bio-bibliography, to JEfrancoamericaine@inha.fr