Art, Life and Place: Looking at European Transnational Exchange in the Long 19th Century

Venue: Ateneum Art Museum, Kaivokatu 2, Helsinki, Finland

The conference ‘Art, Life and Place: Looking at European Transnational Exchange in the Long 19th Century’ marks the culmination of a series of international conferences that began in 2009 and have been held in Helsinki, Oslo, Krakow and Edinburgh. The theme of the 6th European Revivals conference focuses on the importance of place in the context of artistic life and practice, including artists’ communities, geographical environments, social spaces and studio contexts during the period from the 1870s to the 1930s. The conference is organised by the Finnish National Gallery.

The conference programme includes an excursion to the artists’ houses by Lake Tuusula. Keynote speeches by Patricia Berman and Murdo MacDonald.

Registration is open until 7 January 2020. Download a pdf for full programme and information about registration: european_revivals_programme

Celebrating the completion of the European Revivals research project 2009–2020 

International Conference, 20–23 January 2020, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki

This conference marks the culmination of our series of international conferences that began in 2009 and have been held in Helsinki, Oslo, Krakow and Edinburgh.

We invite researchers and museum professionals to the European Revivals International Conference – Art, Life and Place: Looking at European Transnational Exchange in the Long 19th Century. The conference takes place in Helsinki, 20–23 January 2020, and includes the reception, the two-day conference and an excursion day.

The theme of the 6th European Revivals conference, which concludes the series, focuses on the importance of place in the context of artistic life and practice, including artists’ communities, geographical environments, social spaces and studio contexts. We are looking for presentations addressing the developments in European transnational exchange during the period from the 1870s to the 1930s. In particular, we pose the question of how and where art, life and place meet and create new perspectives.

Proposals (300 words max) for 20-minute presentations, and a brief curriculum vitae should be sent to the Finnish National Gallery’s research web magazine address fngr@nationalgallery.fi marked for the attention of the scientific committee of the conference: Dr. Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff, Dr. Riitta Ojanperä and Dr. Hanna-Leena Paloposki.

Deadline for proposals 30 September 2019

The keynote speakers and full details of the conference programme will be announced by 31 October 2019

Read more about the previous European Revivals conferences:

https://research.fng.fi/research-projects/

Related exhibitions

The 2020 conference will be accompanied by two exhibitions that relate to the conference theme:

Through My Travels I Found Myself – Helene Schjerfbeck

The exhibition ‘Through My Travels I Found Myself’ focuses specifically on Schjerfbeck’s trips to Pont-Aven in northern France, Fiesole in Italy, and St Ives in Cornwall at the end of the 19th century. It explores the significance of the artist’s travels for her work – and how she was inspired by what she saw.

Finnish Artists in Ruovesi

The Finnish region of Ruovesi, its lakes and countryside, has attracted artists since the 1820s. The exhibition sheds light on these artists’ shared interest in the place, its nature, people and culture and how they influenced their art. Among the artists featured in the exhibition are Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931), Hugo Simberg (1873–1917) andEllen Thesleff (1869–1954).

For more information see: https://ateneum.fi/upcoming-exhibitions/?lang=en

Preliminary programme of the conference

Monday 20 January 2020

Evening drinks reception and exclusive visits to the two exhibitions at the Ateneum Art Museum

Tuesday 21 January 2020

Keynote speech and sessions from 10.00 to 17.00

Wednesday 22 January 2020

Keynote speech and sessions from 10.00 to 16.00

Conference dinner (additional ticket required)

Thursday 23 January 2020

Optional excursion visit to the artists’ houses by Lake Tuusula, (additional ticket required)

Conference at Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia

31 January – 2 February 2019

Organised by Art Museum of Estonia – Kumu Art Museum
and Estonian Society of Art Historians and Curators

Symbolist art, with its mystical landscapes of the soul, otherworldly visions of the afterlife and pathological degenerations of the self, has witnessed a meteoric rise in scholarly interest and exhibition programming in the past decade. In critique of the field’s francocentric origins, touring shows have become ever more international in their representation, yet, with rare exceptions, artists from the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have remained conspicuously absent from these narratives. The pioneering 2018 exhibition “Wild Souls: Symbolism in the Baltic States” curated by Rodolphe Rapetti at the Musée d’Orsay was a pivotal step in addressing this omission, introducing the sensuous musings of turn-of-the-century Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian modernists to an international public eager to learn more about this cadre of fascinating artists. Despite this well-deserved and overdue international acclaim, the works of even the most iconic and beloved artists—Janis Rozentāls, Konrad Mägi, and even Mikalojus Čiurlionis—remain largely unknown among neighboring countries across the Baltic Sea. This enduring unfamiliarity is especially puzzling given the fact that their creative endeavors, including their most distinctive National Romantic artworks, mediated the multiethnic, multilingual, and multiconfessional reality of the Baltic Sea Region and its colonial history. What role has historiography and the writing of art history played in making these artists simultaneously so visible at home, yet practically invisible abroad? How might we transcend national narratives to create more holistic accounts of the region in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century? What are the new approaches to Baltic art of the period? In which ways can new research paradigms open up a dialogue between Baltic materials and global discussions on art and art history?

In collaboration with the exhibition “Wild. Souls. Symbolism in the Art of the Baltic Countries” (12 October 2018 – 3 February 2019 Kumu Art Museum), the Kumu Art Museum and the Estonian Society of Art Historians and Curators seek to address this lacuna with an international conference highlighting the transcultural networks of Symbolist art across the Baltic Sea Region between 1880 and 1930. As we strive to overcome the enduring national boundaries of art history, we envision the conference as a seminal opportunity specifically to bring Baltic Symbolism to an unprecedented level of international scholarly inquiry as well as an inimitable opportunity to foster a transnational, yet distinctly regional network of Symbolist scholars, curators, and specialists.

>> Click here to see the full programme

There is no participation fee, but participants are expected to cover their transportation and accommodation costs, as well as lunches and dinners.

Prior registration is required of all participants.

>> Click here for registration and further information

Date: 23 and 24 May 2019
Place: Sentralen, Oslo, Norway

On the occasion of the Vigeland Jubilee 2019, the Vigeland Museum, in partnership with the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo, is extending an invitation for a two- day seminar on the evolution of sculpture in the period 1890-1920, with a special focus on Gustav Vigeland and his French contemporaries.

The seminar will be held in conjunction with the Jubilee Exhibition staged in the Vigeland Museum (12 April – 15 September 2019). In the exhibition, Vigeland is presented together with Constantin Meunier (1831-1905), Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) and Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929). These artists contributed to the evolution of modern sculpture in different ways, while also being of special interest to Vigeland. The purpose of the exhibition is to present the development of Vigeland’s work in an art historical context, thus enriching our understanding of its various aspects. A shift within European sculpture took place towards the end of the 19th Century, comparable to what had happened in the field of painting a few decades earlier. This was mainly a break with the preceding academic tradition, or salon sculpture, where subject matter was commonly related to mythological and allegorical topics and execution was characterized by a delicate flair. In this transitional context, Auguste Rodin is considered the leading figure. His break with the past was not radical, but his extensive experimentation with form and movement was liberating. Another pioneer was the Belgian artist Constantin Meunier. In his realistic representations of workers, one finds a simplification of form and exclusion of details, which points forward. In the early 19th Century, further development went in different directions, but a (gradual or radical) simplification can be said to be a common denominator.

The seminar will shed light on the various aspects of this development. What was the impact of Greek (Archaic and Classical), Egyptian and so-ˇcalled Primitive art in this context? What formal and topical considerations engaged the artists? In what way were they influenced by current ideologies and changes in society? What characterizes the monumental sculpture of the period – and the new monuments? How did sculpture become an international concern in this period?

Submission of papers

We want papers to explore individual practices, networks, theoretical perspectives and ideologies. Contributions that shed light on the period from a social and philosophical perspective are welcome.

Proposals should contain:
a) a 300-word summary
b) academic CV
c) contact information

Presentations are 20 minutes, followed by a discussion.

Proposals should be sent to both guri.skuggen@kul.oslo.kommune.no and erik.morstad@ifikk.uio.no

by 1 March 2019.

The 11thannual conference of the Finnish Network for 19thCentury Studies

Time: 24–25 January 2019

Venue: University of Oulu, Finland

The theme of the 11thannual conference of the Finnish Network for 19th-Century Studies is the circulation of knowledge. “Knowledge” here refers not only to scientific or scholarly knowledge but also to oral, tacit, lay and folk knowledge, practical know-how, capacities and skills. The network and the conference are interdisciplinary: they bring together scholars from the historical disciplines, art, music and literary studies, linguistics and ethnography. We invite scholars from these and related fields to investigate the many forms, roles and functions of knowledge and knowledge transmission between the French revolution and the First World War. The questions that the papers address might include, for instance:

• how knowledge was produced in this particular historical context and how it, in turn, shaped individuals, communities and societies;
• how knowledge was transferred from one place, group and individual to another and how it changed in the process;
• what was the relationship between theoretical knowledge and practical skills;
• what was the role of education and apprenticeship in the transmission of knowledge and (e.g. technical, artisanal, musical, artistic) skills;
• who were the key mediators and what was their role in this process;
• how knowledge was conceptualised and how it was incorporated in the material world (e.g. objects and buildings);
• how knowledge was traded and marketed, and how its movement was restricted and regulated; how knowledge was kept secret;
• who – in terms of gender, class and race – were in the position to create knowledge, circulate it and claim proprietary rights over it;
• what was the relationship between power and knowledge;
• what can different approches (e.g. digital humanities, the biographical approach, gender studies) contribute to the study of circulation of knowledge?

Both empirical and methodological papers are welcome. The conference languages are English, Swedish and Finnish.

The keynote speakers are Professor (emerita) Carolyn Steedman (University of Warwick, UK), Professor Brita Brenna (University of Oslo) and Senior Lecturer Markku Hokkanen (University of Oulu). Professor Steedman is a prominent historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. Her books explore, among other things, childhood, domestic service, everyday working-class life, everyday legal knowledge and practices, life writing and the legacy of 19th-century historiography. Professor Brenna’s primary field of expertise is the interrelationship between production of knowledge, techniques of representation and exhibition practices. She also teaches museology and museum studies. Dr Hokkanen’s work research deals with modern colonial and imperial history, African history and the history of medicine.

Please email a 250-300 word proposal, together with your affiliation and contact information, by September 15 2018 to Tiina Kinnunen (tiina.s.kinnunen@oulu.fi) or Heini Hakosalo (heini.hakosalo@oulu.fi). Session proposals should contain a short desciption of the central theme of the session, the names and affiliations of the presenters (and possibly a discussant and the chair) and the titles of the papers. The proposals will be reviewed and the participants notified by October 15 2018. The programme will be published in November 2018 at the home page of the Finnish Network for 19th-Century Studies, at https://www.finlit.fi/en/research/research-networks/19th-century-studies-network#.WuAW1oVOJPY, where the registration also takes place.

The conference is organised by the University of Oulu (Faculty of Humanities) in collaboration with the Finnish Network of Nineteenth Century Studies and the Finnish Literature Society.

CFP in PDF-format

https://www.finlit.fi/fi/tutkimus/tutkimusverkostot/1800-luvun-tutkimuksen-verkosto/tieto-liikkeessa-kunskap-i-rorelse#.W4j6lNgzbMJ

Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
31 January – 2 February 2019

Organised by Art Museum of Estonia – Kumu Art Museum
and Estonian Society of Art Historians and Curators

Symbolist art, with its mystical landscapes of the soul, otherworldly visions of the afterlife and pathological degenerations of the self, has witnessed a meteoric rise in scholarly interest and exhibition programming in the past decade. In critique of the field’s Francocentric origins, touring shows have become ever more international in their representation, yet, with rare exceptions, artists from the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have remained conspicuously absent from these narratives. The pioneering 2018 exhibition “Wild Souls: Symbolism in the Baltic States” curated by Rodolphe Rapetti at the Musée d’Orsay was a pivotal step in addressing this omission, introducing the sensuous musings of turn-of-the-century Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian modernists to an international public eager to learn more about this cadre of fascinating artists. Despite this well-deserved and overdue international acclaim, the works of even the most iconic and beloved artists—Janis Rozentāls, Konrad Mägi, and even Mikalojus Čiurlionis—remain largely unknown among neighboring countries across the Baltic Sea. This enduring unfamiliarity is especially puzzling given the fact that their creative endeavors, including their most distinctive National Romantic artworks, mediated the multiethnic, multilingual, and multiconfessional reality of the Baltic Sea Region and its colonial history. What role has historiography and the writing of art history played in making these artists simultaneously so visible at home, yet practically invisible abroad? How might we transcend national narratives to create more holistic accounts of the region in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century? What are the new approaches to Baltic art of the period? In which ways can new research paradigms open up a dialogue between Baltic materials and global discussions on art and art history?

In collaboration with the exhibition “Symbolism in the Art of the Baltic Countries” arriving in Tallinn
(12 October 2018 – 3 February 2019), the Kumu Art Museum and the Estonian Society of Art Historians and Curators seek to address this lacuna with an international conference highlighting the transcultural networks of Symbolist art across the Baltic Sea Region between 1880 and 1930. Continue reading →

Scottish National Gallery, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre

1-2 December 2017, 9am – 5pm

Join us for two days of stimulating talks on the topic of national revivals in European art c.1900. Speakers will examine issues around authenticity, ‘rewriting’, reinterpretation and the assimilation of national styles, symbols and cultural narratives in late nineteenth century European art and literature. Papers will encompass a wide geographical range: from Finland, Norway, Estonia and Germany to Poland, France, Spain, Ireland and Scotland, and focus on such artists as El Greco, John Duncan, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Sir Frederic Leighton, René Ménard and Lucas Cranach. Themes include the revival of classicism in English and French art, the Celtic Revival in Scotland, Ireland and Brittany, as well as spiritualism and theosophy.

The conference includes a visit to the astonishing Phoebe Traquair murals at Mansefield Traquair, led by Dr Elizabeth Cumming and a story telling by Linda Perttula

A partnership between: University of Edinburgh, University of Helsinki, National Galleries of Scotland and the Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki. Supported by the Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse.

Ticket Price: £25 (full price) / £15 (concession, student price). Includes tea/coffee

Visit to Mansefield Traquair, Friday 1 December, 17.00pm: £5 (pay on day)

Tickets will be available soon from Eventbrite via nationalgalleries.org and the Scottish National Gallery Information Desk located at the Princes Street Gardens Entrance or by calling 0131 624 6560.

Convenors
Dr Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff (Finnish National Gallery)
Dr Frances Fowle (University of Edinburgh/National Galleries of Scotland)
Dr Marja Lahelma (University of Helsinki)

Keynote Speakers
Professor Hugh Cheape (University of the Highlands and Islands)
Dr Riitta Ojanperä (Finnish National Gallery)
Dr Riikka Stewen (University of Turku, Helsinki)

Speakers and Panellists
Dr Charlotte Ashby (Birkbeck, University of London)
Professor Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer (University of Delaware)
Dr Edyta Barucka (University of Warsaw)
Professor Iain Boyd Whyte (University of Edinburgh)
Dr Caroline Boyle-Turner (Independent scholar, Pont-Aven, Brittany)
Dr Abigail Burnyeat (University of Edinburgh)
Dr Michelle Foot (University of Edinburgh)
Dr Claudia Hopkins (University of Edinburgh)
Dr Scott Lyall (Edinburgh Napier University)
Professor Murdo Macdonald (University of Dundee)
Nicholas Parkinson (Stony Brook University, New York)
Dr Michael Shaw (University of Kent)
Professor Juliet Simpson (Coventry University)
Tonje H. Sorensen (University of Bergen)
Dr Dòmhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart (University of the Highlands and Islands)
Professor Richard Thomson (University of Edinburgh)
Dr Silja Vuorikuru (University of Helsinki)
Professor Clare A.P. Willsdon (Glasgow University)

Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, 1-2 December 2017

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, European artists began to express a new and profound interest in their unique local pasts and cultural inheritances. This was a discourse that was largely shaped by the desire within several countries for cultural and artistic, and ultimately social and economic, independence. Historical scholarship on the subject has been broadly established in many European countries, but research has been dominated by nationalist perspectives that have emphasised the cultural specificity of each country. The European Revivals research project (initiated by the Finnish National Gallery in 2009) aims to stimulate debate on a wider scale. From this perspective, late nineteenth-century cultural revivals appear as a set of complex and interconnected phenomena that are transnational, inherently modern, and with far-reaching consequences.

The topic of the 2017 conference is Cultural Mythologies around 1900. Its aim is to examine issues such as authenticity, ‘rewriting’ and reinterpretation in relation to the production and assimilation of national styles, symbols and cultural narratives in late nineteenth century European art and literature. The conference will draw attention to the constructed and imaginary nature of national identities and the role of various mythical traditions and ‘reinventions’ within this context.

Information about registering for the conference coming soon!

Programme

Friday 1 December

9.00         Registration
9.15         Welcome: Christopher Baker
9.20         Opening Words: Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff
9.30         Plenary Lecture: Hugh Cheape
10.30       Tea/Coffee
11.00       Session 1: Reinvention, Authenticity and National Identity

• Iain Boyd Whyte (University of Edinburgh): Germanen Rediscovered
  
• Richard Thomson (University of Edinburgh): René Ménard and the Mute Eloquence of Trees and Stones
  
• Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer (Editor-in-Chief, The Art Bulletin): Frederic Leighton and the Politics of Aestheticism

12.30       Lunch
13.30       Parallel Sessions

 Session 2 a: Reinvention, Authenticity and National Identity

• Juliet Simpson: Lucas Cranach’s ‘Reinventions’ – Reframing ‘Primitive’ and Rooted Identities of Art and Nation at the European Fin-de-Siècle
• Claudia Hopkins: The Reinvention of El Greco by Spanish Artists around 1900
• Nicholas Parkinson: The Myth of Nations: Scandinavism in France after the Franco-Prussian War

Session 2b: Reinvention, Authenticity and National Identity

• Tonje H. Sorensen (University of Bergen): Visions and Dreams – Gerhard Munthe and the Draumkvedet (the Dream Lady)
• Edyta Barucka (University of Warsaw): Stanislaw Witkiewicz and the Zakopane Style Questions
• Silja Vuorikuru: (University of Helsinki): Variations of “The White Ship” in Estonian and Finnish Literature at the Turn of the 20^th Century

15.00       Plenary Lecture: Riitta Ojanperä
16.00       Storytelling: Linda Perttula
17.00 – 18.00         Visit to Mansefield Traquair

Saturday 2 December

9.30         Session 3: Rewriting and Reinterpretation

• Domhnall Uilleam Stiubhart (University of the Highlands and Islands): From Gaelic Charms to Carmina Gadelica: Alexander Carmichael as Celtic mythmaker
• Michael Shaw (University of Kent ): The Celtic Revival and La Jeune Belgique in Scotland
• Clare A.P. Willsdon (University of Glasgow): Mungo’s Magic – John Duncan’s Interpretation of Celtic Christian legend in The Journey of St Mungo at Ramsay Lodge, Edinburgh 1895-8
• Abigail Burnyeat (University of Edinburgh): ‘As it hath been, so it shall be?’ Re-writing Cu-Chulainn as national hero in the Celtic Revival

11.30       Coffee/Tea
12.00       Plenary Lecture: Riikka Stewen
13.00       Lunch
14.00       Session 4: Spiritualism and Secret Societies

• Michelle Foot (University of Edinburgh): The Witch as Spirit-Medium in Scotland’s Celtic Revival
• Caroline Boyle-Turner (Independent): Paul Serusier and Breton Legends
• Charlotte Ashby (Birkbeck, University of London): Einar Jonsson: National – Nordic – Universal
• Scott Lyall (Edinburgh Napier University): ‘Seeking God by strange ways’: Symbolism and the Irish

16.00 – 16.30         Round Table and Closing Remarks

*** Please note: This is a provisional programme outline, changes are possible. ***