Essay by Martina Droth and Paul Messier
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Perspective o... more Essay by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published on the occasion of the exhibition Perspective of Nudes (revisited). Marlborough Gallery, New York, March 12 – May 8, 2021
This article explores the photography of Bill Brandt from the perspective of the physical print, ... more This article explores the photography of Bill Brandt from the perspective of the physical print, drawing attention to its material qualities and practical functions.
A close look at the work, relationship, and shared influences of two major 20th-century artists
... more A close look at the work, relationship, and shared influences of two major 20th-century artists
“The camera,” said Orson Welles, “is a medium via which messages reach us from another world.” It was the camera and the circumstances of the Second World War that first brought together Henry Moore (1898–1986) and Bill Brandt (1904–1983). During the Blitz, both artists produced images depicting civilians sheltering in the London Underground. These “shelter pictures” were circulated to millions via popular magazines and today rank as iconic works of their time. This book begins with these wartime works and examines the artists’ intersecting paths in the postwar period. Key themes include war, industry, and the coal mine; landscape and Britain’s great megalithic sites; found objects; and the human body. Special photographic reproduction captures the materiality of the print as a three-dimensional object rather than a flat, disembodied image on the page.
Martina Droth is deputy director of research, exhibitions, and publications and curator of sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art. Paul Messier is director of the Lens Media Lab at the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage.
The design of this book captures the zeitgeist of the second world war and its aftermath. By Mart... more The design of this book captures the zeitgeist of the second world war and its aftermath. By Martina Droth
The brochure to the exhibition, curated by Martina Droth, Simon Olding, and Glenn Adamson, at the... more The brochure to the exhibition, curated by Martina Droth, Simon Olding, and Glenn Adamson, at the YBCA and Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
This special issue of British Art Studies, edited by Penelope Curtis and Martina Droth, explores... more This special issue of British Art Studies, edited by Penelope Curtis and Martina Droth, explores what happens to British sculpture when it is sent abroad. British sculpture of the twentieth century has become a familiar category and has an immediate resonance with its audience. It calls to mind in particular Henry Moore, who has become the organizing principle for modern British sculpture, both when he is at the center and when he is set aside. While the category is in many ways enshrined nationally in the United Kingdom, especially after 1945, it was consolidated by activities on the international field. A series of case studies, framed by longer contextual essays, consider the meanings British sculpture acquires in international contexts. The authors themselves reflect a variety of national contexts and positions relative to the subject.
Co-edited by Penelope Curtis, Director of the Gulbenkian Museum, and Martina Droth, Deputy Director of Research and Curator of Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art.
"Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA)", curated by Martina Droth, was a focused exhibition at YCBA in fall 20... more "Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA)", curated by Martina Droth, was a focused exhibition at YCBA in fall 2016. From the small publication issued on the occasion of the exhibition:
“Bringing together photographs, costumes, sculpture, and film, this display of works by Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA) (b. 1962) shows the breadth of his art while focussing on a single theme: the life, death and legacy of admiral Lord Nelson, whom Shonibare takes as an emblem of Britain’s imperial past. Each of the works here incorporates or makes reference to the colorful, dutch wax-printed fabrics that have become Shonibare’s signature material. Associated with Africa but originating in Indonesia and Holland, these fabrics are the product of global trade and point to key themes at the heart of this artist’s work."
This is a bibliographic article published online by Oxford Bibliographies. The attached represent... more This is a bibliographic article published online by Oxford Bibliographies. The attached represents an extract from the article.
UPATE
The bibliography has been published on Oxford Bibliographies. I want to thank everyone on ... more UPATE
The bibliography has been published on Oxford Bibliographies. I want to thank everyone on this thread who kindly responded and commented to my draft. The feedback and advice was invaluable.
With best wishes
Martina
Original message
I am preparing an annotated bibliography for the "Sculpture” entry for Oxford Bibliographies in Art History (http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/), a subscription-based online resource offering research guides in the humanities. I am creating this discussion-post in order to solicit your feedback on my planned approach to the bibliography, and I would be grateful for any thoughts, comments or ideas you’d be willing to share with me.
Please see the downloadable word document for further details. Thanks in advance.
From Caro: Close Up, exh. cat., Yale University Press, 2012.
Edited by Julius Bryant and Martina... more From Caro: Close Up, exh. cat., Yale University Press, 2012.
Edited by Julius Bryant and Martina Droth
This special issue, edited by Martina Droth and Michael Hatt, offers a sustained examination and ... more This special issue, edited by Martina Droth and Michael Hatt, offers a sustained examination and new interpretations of one of the most famous sculptures of the nineteenth century. The twin themes of the “transatlantic” and the “object” underpin this project’s approach. Moving the statue out of an insistently American frame, the sixteen contributors consider The Greek Slave as a set of objects that crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic. Displayed in many contexts and locations, the statue became both an icon of the shared Anglo-American culture of the nineteenth century and a symbol of the cultural and political divisions generated by America’s slave trade. The special issue examines The Greek Slave not as a single object for which any reproduction acts as a surrogate, but as a series of distinctive objects, including the six full-size statues and the varied reproductions that take the form and name of The Greek Slave.
Offered on free and open access, this special issue takes full advantage of the interactive platform to present an immersive and interactive study of The Greek Slave, including detailed technical analysis and imaging, an interactive map and timeline, the inclusion of music, in the form of recorded performances and their respective scores, and the presentation of extensive archival and printed primary resources.
The contributors to the special issue are: Tim Barringer, Caitlin Beach, Helen A. Cooper, Lily Cox-Richard, Patrizia diBello, Martina Droth, Cybèle T. Gontar, Vivien Green Fryd, Michael Hatt, Tess Korobkin Karen Lemmey, Tanya Pohrt, Alex Potts, Joseph Roach, L. H. Shockey, and Lisa Volpe.
This project was co-sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Yale Center for British Art.
This essay accompanies a digital interactive that tracks the exhibition and ownership history of ... more This essay accompanies a digital interactive that tracks the exhibition and ownership history of The Greek Slave, from the plaster model through the six marble versions which Hiram Powers produced between 1843 and 1866. The sum of these histories is a story of mobility, a decades-long journey that was set in motion in Italy and took many different paths across Europe, England, and North America. While the historiography has largely focused on the iconography and subject of The Greek Slave, this study argues for the importance of considering the trajectories of the original statues themselves.
Exhibition review of Medardo Rosso: Experiments in Light and Form, at the Pulitzer Arts Foundatio... more Exhibition review of Medardo Rosso: Experiments in Light and Form, at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St Louis, spring 2017
Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837–1901, 2014
EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Yale Center for British Art (09/11/14–11/30/14)
Tate Britain (02/24/15–05/2... more EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Yale Center for British Art (09/11/14–11/30/14)
Tate Britain (02/24/15–05/24/15)
http://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions/victorian-sculpture
An exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art looks at Victorian sculpture from a fresh histor... more An exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art looks at Victorian sculpture from a fresh historical perspective. To find out more we spoke to Martina Droth, Associate Director of Research and Curator of Sculpture, and curator of Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention: 1837-1901 (Yale Center for British Art and Tate Britain)
Martina Droth on the importance of maintaining a focus on the objects for this catalogue of Victo... more Martina Droth on the importance of maintaining a focus on the objects for this catalogue of Victorian Sculpture.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837-1901. Yale Center for British Art (11 September–30 November 2014) and Tate Britain (25 February–25 May 2015)
Revival and Invention: Sculpture and its Material Histories, 2011
Materials may seem to be sculpture’s most obvious aspect. Traditionally seen as a means to an end... more Materials may seem to be sculpture’s most obvious aspect. Traditionally seen as a means to an end, and frequently studied in terms of technical procedures, their intrinsic meaning often remains unquestioned. Yet materials comprise a field rich in meaning, bringing into play a wide range of issues crucial to our understanding of sculpture. This book places materials at the centre of our approach to sculpture, examining their symbolic and aesthetic language, their abstract and philosophical associations, and the ways in which they reveal the political, economic and social contexts of sculptural practice. Spanning a chronology from antiquity through to the end of the nineteenth century, the essays collected in this book uncover material properties as fundamental to artistic intentionality.
Rethinking the Interior, c. 1867–1896: Aestheticism and Arts and Crafts. Jason Edwards and Imogen Hart, eds. Ashgate 2010, Apr 2010
The 1880s and 1890s represent a period when new developments in British sculpture became closely ... more The 1880s and 1890s represent a period when new developments in British sculpture became closely associated with interior decoration and the private home. As sculptors began to focus a substantial part of their output on statuettes and other smaller objects, their work became expressly identified as decorative in character and domestic in orientation. It was accordingly labeled with such terms as ‘household sculpture’, ‘domestic sculpture’, ‘delightful possessions’, and ‘appropriate ornaments for the modern drawing-room’. While the decorative and domestic associations of Victorian sculpture are now germane to the study of the period, the implications of this development remain only vaguely defined. The prevailing assumption is that the domestic orientation of sculpture was directly motivated by a desire to exploit wider consumer interest in decorative accessories for the home. Notably, while Susan Beattie’s influential survey The New Sculpture (1983) concluded that the ‘seductive idea of household art’ ultimately failed, she nevertheless presented the efflorescence of statuettes as a phenomenon ‘closely related to the issue of art in industry’. This essay proposes an alternative reading, by suggesting that the emergence in Britain of a domestically-focused sculptural aesthetic represented an idiosyncratic and independent development, with which sculptors, far from seeking to penetrate popular consumer markets, sought to appeal to an elite clientele cultivated through their own social circles, a strategy not unlike that often identified with Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic painters.
Essay by Martina Droth and Paul Messier
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Perspective o... more Essay by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published on the occasion of the exhibition Perspective of Nudes (revisited). Marlborough Gallery, New York, March 12 – May 8, 2021
This article explores the photography of Bill Brandt from the perspective of the physical print, ... more This article explores the photography of Bill Brandt from the perspective of the physical print, drawing attention to its material qualities and practical functions.
A close look at the work, relationship, and shared influences of two major 20th-century artists
... more A close look at the work, relationship, and shared influences of two major 20th-century artists
“The camera,” said Orson Welles, “is a medium via which messages reach us from another world.” It was the camera and the circumstances of the Second World War that first brought together Henry Moore (1898–1986) and Bill Brandt (1904–1983). During the Blitz, both artists produced images depicting civilians sheltering in the London Underground. These “shelter pictures” were circulated to millions via popular magazines and today rank as iconic works of their time. This book begins with these wartime works and examines the artists’ intersecting paths in the postwar period. Key themes include war, industry, and the coal mine; landscape and Britain’s great megalithic sites; found objects; and the human body. Special photographic reproduction captures the materiality of the print as a three-dimensional object rather than a flat, disembodied image on the page.
Martina Droth is deputy director of research, exhibitions, and publications and curator of sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art. Paul Messier is director of the Lens Media Lab at the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage.
The design of this book captures the zeitgeist of the second world war and its aftermath. By Mart... more The design of this book captures the zeitgeist of the second world war and its aftermath. By Martina Droth
The brochure to the exhibition, curated by Martina Droth, Simon Olding, and Glenn Adamson, at the... more The brochure to the exhibition, curated by Martina Droth, Simon Olding, and Glenn Adamson, at the YBCA and Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
This special issue of British Art Studies, edited by Penelope Curtis and Martina Droth, explores... more This special issue of British Art Studies, edited by Penelope Curtis and Martina Droth, explores what happens to British sculpture when it is sent abroad. British sculpture of the twentieth century has become a familiar category and has an immediate resonance with its audience. It calls to mind in particular Henry Moore, who has become the organizing principle for modern British sculpture, both when he is at the center and when he is set aside. While the category is in many ways enshrined nationally in the United Kingdom, especially after 1945, it was consolidated by activities on the international field. A series of case studies, framed by longer contextual essays, consider the meanings British sculpture acquires in international contexts. The authors themselves reflect a variety of national contexts and positions relative to the subject.
Co-edited by Penelope Curtis, Director of the Gulbenkian Museum, and Martina Droth, Deputy Director of Research and Curator of Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art.
"Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA)", curated by Martina Droth, was a focused exhibition at YCBA in fall 20... more "Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA)", curated by Martina Droth, was a focused exhibition at YCBA in fall 2016. From the small publication issued on the occasion of the exhibition:
“Bringing together photographs, costumes, sculpture, and film, this display of works by Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA) (b. 1962) shows the breadth of his art while focussing on a single theme: the life, death and legacy of admiral Lord Nelson, whom Shonibare takes as an emblem of Britain’s imperial past. Each of the works here incorporates or makes reference to the colorful, dutch wax-printed fabrics that have become Shonibare’s signature material. Associated with Africa but originating in Indonesia and Holland, these fabrics are the product of global trade and point to key themes at the heart of this artist’s work."
This is a bibliographic article published online by Oxford Bibliographies. The attached represent... more This is a bibliographic article published online by Oxford Bibliographies. The attached represents an extract from the article.
UPATE
The bibliography has been published on Oxford Bibliographies. I want to thank everyone on ... more UPATE
The bibliography has been published on Oxford Bibliographies. I want to thank everyone on this thread who kindly responded and commented to my draft. The feedback and advice was invaluable.
With best wishes
Martina
Original message
I am preparing an annotated bibliography for the "Sculpture” entry for Oxford Bibliographies in Art History (http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/), a subscription-based online resource offering research guides in the humanities. I am creating this discussion-post in order to solicit your feedback on my planned approach to the bibliography, and I would be grateful for any thoughts, comments or ideas you’d be willing to share with me.
Please see the downloadable word document for further details. Thanks in advance.
From Caro: Close Up, exh. cat., Yale University Press, 2012.
Edited by Julius Bryant and Martina... more From Caro: Close Up, exh. cat., Yale University Press, 2012.
Edited by Julius Bryant and Martina Droth
This special issue, edited by Martina Droth and Michael Hatt, offers a sustained examination and ... more This special issue, edited by Martina Droth and Michael Hatt, offers a sustained examination and new interpretations of one of the most famous sculptures of the nineteenth century. The twin themes of the “transatlantic” and the “object” underpin this project’s approach. Moving the statue out of an insistently American frame, the sixteen contributors consider The Greek Slave as a set of objects that crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic. Displayed in many contexts and locations, the statue became both an icon of the shared Anglo-American culture of the nineteenth century and a symbol of the cultural and political divisions generated by America’s slave trade. The special issue examines The Greek Slave not as a single object for which any reproduction acts as a surrogate, but as a series of distinctive objects, including the six full-size statues and the varied reproductions that take the form and name of The Greek Slave.
Offered on free and open access, this special issue takes full advantage of the interactive platform to present an immersive and interactive study of The Greek Slave, including detailed technical analysis and imaging, an interactive map and timeline, the inclusion of music, in the form of recorded performances and their respective scores, and the presentation of extensive archival and printed primary resources.
The contributors to the special issue are: Tim Barringer, Caitlin Beach, Helen A. Cooper, Lily Cox-Richard, Patrizia diBello, Martina Droth, Cybèle T. Gontar, Vivien Green Fryd, Michael Hatt, Tess Korobkin Karen Lemmey, Tanya Pohrt, Alex Potts, Joseph Roach, L. H. Shockey, and Lisa Volpe.
This project was co-sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Yale Center for British Art.
This essay accompanies a digital interactive that tracks the exhibition and ownership history of ... more This essay accompanies a digital interactive that tracks the exhibition and ownership history of The Greek Slave, from the plaster model through the six marble versions which Hiram Powers produced between 1843 and 1866. The sum of these histories is a story of mobility, a decades-long journey that was set in motion in Italy and took many different paths across Europe, England, and North America. While the historiography has largely focused on the iconography and subject of The Greek Slave, this study argues for the importance of considering the trajectories of the original statues themselves.
Exhibition review of Medardo Rosso: Experiments in Light and Form, at the Pulitzer Arts Foundatio... more Exhibition review of Medardo Rosso: Experiments in Light and Form, at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St Louis, spring 2017
Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837–1901, 2014
EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Yale Center for British Art (09/11/14–11/30/14)
Tate Britain (02/24/15–05/2... more EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Yale Center for British Art (09/11/14–11/30/14)
Tate Britain (02/24/15–05/24/15)
http://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions/victorian-sculpture
An exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art looks at Victorian sculpture from a fresh histor... more An exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art looks at Victorian sculpture from a fresh historical perspective. To find out more we spoke to Martina Droth, Associate Director of Research and Curator of Sculpture, and curator of Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention: 1837-1901 (Yale Center for British Art and Tate Britain)
Martina Droth on the importance of maintaining a focus on the objects for this catalogue of Victo... more Martina Droth on the importance of maintaining a focus on the objects for this catalogue of Victorian Sculpture.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837-1901. Yale Center for British Art (11 September–30 November 2014) and Tate Britain (25 February–25 May 2015)
Revival and Invention: Sculpture and its Material Histories, 2011
Materials may seem to be sculpture’s most obvious aspect. Traditionally seen as a means to an end... more Materials may seem to be sculpture’s most obvious aspect. Traditionally seen as a means to an end, and frequently studied in terms of technical procedures, their intrinsic meaning often remains unquestioned. Yet materials comprise a field rich in meaning, bringing into play a wide range of issues crucial to our understanding of sculpture. This book places materials at the centre of our approach to sculpture, examining their symbolic and aesthetic language, their abstract and philosophical associations, and the ways in which they reveal the political, economic and social contexts of sculptural practice. Spanning a chronology from antiquity through to the end of the nineteenth century, the essays collected in this book uncover material properties as fundamental to artistic intentionality.
Rethinking the Interior, c. 1867–1896: Aestheticism and Arts and Crafts. Jason Edwards and Imogen Hart, eds. Ashgate 2010, Apr 2010
The 1880s and 1890s represent a period when new developments in British sculpture became closely ... more The 1880s and 1890s represent a period when new developments in British sculpture became closely associated with interior decoration and the private home. As sculptors began to focus a substantial part of their output on statuettes and other smaller objects, their work became expressly identified as decorative in character and domestic in orientation. It was accordingly labeled with such terms as ‘household sculpture’, ‘domestic sculpture’, ‘delightful possessions’, and ‘appropriate ornaments for the modern drawing-room’. While the decorative and domestic associations of Victorian sculpture are now germane to the study of the period, the implications of this development remain only vaguely defined. The prevailing assumption is that the domestic orientation of sculpture was directly motivated by a desire to exploit wider consumer interest in decorative accessories for the home. Notably, while Susan Beattie’s influential survey The New Sculpture (1983) concluded that the ‘seductive idea of household art’ ultimately failed, she nevertheless presented the efflorescence of statuettes as a phenomenon ‘closely related to the issue of art in industry’. This essay proposes an alternative reading, by suggesting that the emergence in Britain of a domestically-focused sculptural aesthetic represented an idiosyncratic and independent development, with which sculptors, far from seeking to penetrate popular consumer markets, sought to appeal to an elite clientele cultivated through their own social circles, a strategy not unlike that often identified with Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic painters.
On the occasion of the Bill Brandt | Henry Moore exhibition opening at the Sainsbury Centre, this... more On the occasion of the Bill Brandt | Henry Moore exhibition opening at the Sainsbury Centre, this event brings together the editors of the accompanying publication, Martina Droth and Paul Messier, to share their research behind the scenes of the project
Martina Droth, co-curator of "Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery", delivers a thirty-minute gallery talk at the Yale Center for British Art.
Martina Droth, co-curator of "Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery" provides a tour of this exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art, as part of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art's research seminar "Ceramics in the Expanded Field: Curating the Ceramic Object Today." (Please fast foward to 4:05 to begin the tour).
In this symposium, scholars and creative voices considered aspects of figuration in sculpture from 1300 to the present and the implications of artistic engagement with the literal, living presence of the human body.
1. Welcoming Remarks by Luke Syson, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Met, and Sheena Wagstaff, Leonard A. Lauder Chairman of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Met
2. All Too Human
Ralph Rugoff, Director, Hayward Gallery, London
3. Coloring the Monochrome: Some Thoughts on 19th-Century Sculpture
Martina Droth, Deputy Director of Research, Exhibitions, and Publications, and Curator of Sculpture, Yale Center for British Art
4. The Judgment of Meissen: Porcelain and the Figural Ideal
Michael Yonan, Associate Professor and Program Director of Art History, School of Visual Studies, University of Missouri
5. Let the material speak for itself
Katy Siegel, Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Chair in Modern American Art, Stony Brook University
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (1300–Now).
Panel discussion recorded at the Yale Center for British Art on the occasion of the opening of th... more Panel discussion recorded at the Yale Center for British Art on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition Things of Beauty Growing. Introduced by Amy Meyers, Director, and Martina Droth, Co-Curator of the exhibition.
Panel chaired by Glenn Adamson, co-curator of the exhibition. The panelists consider the deep history, present position, and possible new directions of studio pottery in Britain. Participating are Simon Olding, co-curator of the exhibition; Magdalene Odundo, a potter who synthesizes myriad sources into serenely resolved, sculptural forms; and Clare Twomey, the artist whose monumental eighty-vase installation, "Made in China," populates the Entrance Court and other spaces in the Yale Center for British Art this fall.
Recording of a symposium organized by the Paul Mellon Centre, the Yale Center for British Art, an... more Recording of a symposium organized by the Paul Mellon Centre, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Fitzwilliam Museum, June 18, 2018.
This study day concluded the display of the exhibition Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery, which had been presented at both institutions.
This study day featured a keynote address from independent crafts expert and writer Tanya Harrod. Delegates also heard from the three original curators of the exhibition: Simon Olding (Director of the Crafts Study Centre, Farnham) and Martina Droth (Deputy Director of Research, Exhibitions and Publications, and Curator of Sculpture at YCBA) who spoke about the origins of the exhibition and its display at YCBA, where the exhibition was first shown, and Glenn Adamson (Senior Research Scholar at YCBA) who analysed the differences in the reception of the exhibition in the UK and USA, and discussed the future of British studio pottery. Helen Ritchie, in-house curator of the exhibition at the Fitzwilliam, spoke about decisions made regarding the design of the exhibition at the Fitzwilliam, and artists included in the exhibition, Alison Britton and Halima Cassell were ‘in conversation’.
Lecture at the Bard Graduate Center, New York, April 2015.
What is sculpture? It’s not a simp... more Lecture at the Bard Graduate Center, New York, April 2015.
What is sculpture? It’s not a simple question, because sculpture is a loaded word. Not only because it sounds like a category (when in reality there are many) but also because it invokes a hierarchy—between the “fine” and “decorative” arts, between the aesthetic and the functional, between art and craft, and between craft and industry. In developing the exhibitionSculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837–1901(now on view at Tate Britain) the question of what we count as sculpture—and why, or why not—continually presented itself. Not everyone would count a seven foot majolica elephant, made by Minton for the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle, as a piece of sculpture. But for us it became an emblem for the project. It shows that, as a profession, sculpture fluidly ranged across materials and processes; that sculpture and industry could exist in a productive (rather than destructive) relationship; and that sculpture’s function as a victorious symbol of empire was expressed through the inseparable continuum of iconography and materiality. This talk sets out the rationale of the exhibition—its object choices, its themes—and argues that in order to gain an historical sense of how sculpture functioned at a given time, we need to open up our purview to a larger body of material evidence.
Recorded at the Yale Center for British Art in 2014. Curator Martina Droth discusses how a huge M... more Recorded at the Yale Center for British Art in 2014. Curator Martina Droth discusses how a huge Minton ceramic elephant helps reframe thinking about sculpture.
This event brought together art historians and publishing experts to share their views on the fut... more This event brought together art historians and publishing experts to share their views on the future of publishing digital art history. Combining a lecture and two round-tables, this symposium will be of interest to all those involved in, or wishing to embark on, digital publishing, as well as to those who are looking for solutions to publishing digital humanities research in compact online formats.
Organized by Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, the event is funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the NYU Center for the Humanities and is free of charge. It will be followed up by a hands-on professional development workshop at the College Art Association annual meeting in February, open to all CAA registrants at no extra cost.
This event at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU brings together art historians and publishing exp... more This event at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU brings together art historians and publishing experts to share their views on the future of publishing digital art history. Combining a lecture and two roundtables, this symposium will be of interest to all those involved in, or wishing to embark on, digital publishing, as well as to those who are looking for solutions to publishing digital humanities research in compact online formats. Organized by Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, the event is funded by the Kress Foundation and the NYU Center for the Humanities and is free of charge. It will be followed up by a hands-on professional development workshop at the College Art Association annual meeting in February 2017, open to all CAA registrants at no cost. For more information visit
SCULPTURE IN MOTION. Session convened by Martina Droth and Sarah Victoria Turner at AAH2017, th... more SCULPTURE IN MOTION. Session convened by Martina Droth and Sarah Victoria Turner at AAH2017, the 43rd Annual Conference of the Association of Art Historians. 7-8 April, 2017, Loughborough University
Sculpture is generally static. It tends to be thought of as solid, inert, and physically grounded. These qualities are deeply associated with some of its most traditional functions – to commemorate, memorialize, and provide permanent public symbols. But throughout its history, sculpture’s immobility has been held in tension with the fantasy of its potential motion and animation. This tension plays out in the dualities of its association with life and death. The potential of the statue coming to life, as in the Pygmalion myth, has been a constant reference point for sculpture and how it is written about. This interdisciplinary session examines the various ways in which sculpture has been put in motion, literally and metaphorically, and considers what drives this desire to animate sculpture. Areas of investigation include the devices and artistic strategies that induce motion or an illusion of life – for example, turning statues on rotating pedestals; viewing statues by candlelight; the tinting and colouring of sculpture to create life-like effects; sophisticated technologies and mechanical devices such as animatronics, automata, and kinetics; the ‘living statue’ and the tableau vivant; bringing sculpture to life in text; the suggestion of movement in photographs of sculpture; the appearance of sculpture in film. The papers in this session range from the medieval period to the early 20th century.
Martina Droth (YCBA) and Sarah Victoria Turner (PMC): Introduction
Emily Knight (University of Oxford): Death Masks: Casting and reanimating the dead
Johanna Roethe (The Architectural History Practice): ‘Nought but perfect breathing art’: Dannecker’s Ariadne animated
Linda Hinners (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm): Torches and Torsos: Experiencing sculpture in artificial light – some Swedish examples from around 1800
Nicola Jennings (Courtauld Institute of Art): Carrying Christ, Conversion and Control in Early Modern Spain
Jane Wildgoose (King’s College London): ‘The effect of it will long be remembered by the multitudes’: The Duke of Wellington’s Funeral Car - in Motion, and at Rest
Damian Taylor (University of Oxford): Medardo Rosso and the Printed Page as a Site of Sculptures’ permanent becoming
Tess Korobkin (Yale University): Augusta Savage’s Living Sculptures: Photographic and cinematic portrayals, 1929-1939
Sharon Hecker (Independent Scholar): Moving Ahead: Walking and the birth of modern sculpture
The Yale Center for British Art seeks a Curator of Prints and Drawings with an exceptional record... more The Yale Center for British Art seeks a Curator of Prints and Drawings with an exceptional record of exhibitions and publications to oversee the museum's renowned collection of works on paper. The Department of Prints and Drawings encompasses more than 20,000 drawings and watercolors, over 35,000 prints, as well as a growing collection of photographs. International in scope and spanning the sixteenth century to the present, the collection ranges from Tudor drawings and portrait miniatures to outstanding eighteenth-and nineteenth-century watercolors, architectural drawings, topographical prints, and works relating to the former British Empire, the subcontinent, the Caribbean, and the African diaspora. The Center's holdings of William Blake, George Stubbs, and J. M. W. Turner are among the most important in the world.
The View From Here is a free five-month online program for young people in Greater New Haven who ... more The View From Here is a free five-month online program for young people in Greater New Haven who are interested in learning about photography. Participants will work with curators, conservators, artists, and professional photographers to learn about all aspects of photography. Using the collections at Yale University, students will explore original works by a variety of artists, learn about the history of photography from analog to digital, and discover new and innovative ways to compose and take their own photographs. The course will culminate in an online exhibition of student work created during the program.
The View From Here is organized by the Yale Center for British Art and the Lens Media Lab at Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Applications will be accepted from students currently enrolled in a Greater New Haven public school in the eleventh or twelfth grade, or who finished high school in 2020. First-year undergraduates who are currently enrolled in a public college or university in the Greater New Haven area are also invited to apply. Applications are due January 22.
A second look at Bill Brandt and Henry Moore Photographer Bill Brandt (1904-1983) and sculptor He... more A second look at Bill Brandt and Henry Moore Photographer Bill Brandt (1904-1983) and sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986) first crossed paths during the Second World War, when each produced images of civilians sheltering in the London Underground during the Blitz. Martina Droth and Paul Messier reviewing photos for "Bill Brandt | Henry Moore," a new fully illustrated catalog that renders the artists' photography in a novel way. (Photo credit: Richard Caspole) A second look at Bill Brandt and Henry Moore | YaleNews https://news.yale.edu/2020/01/30/second-look-bill-brandt-and.
Session at the Association for Art History Annual Conference April 4 – 6, 2019 / University of Br... more Session at the Association for Art History Annual Conference April 4 – 6, 2019 / University of Brighton, UK
Session chairs: Martina Droth (Yale Center for British Art) and Sarah Victoria Turner (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
EDITING JOURNALS IN A DIGITAL AGE | Session at CAA, New York, 2017, sponsored by the Associatio... more EDITING JOURNALS IN A DIGITAL AGE | Session at CAA, New York, 2017, sponsored by the Association of Research Institutes in Art History. Chaired by Martina Droth and Sarah V Turner
PANEL:
Samuel Bibby, Journal of the Association of Art Historians:
Reflections on Editing Art History
Petra T. Chu, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide
Reflections on Editing Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide
Kirk Ambrose, The Art Bulletin
Reflection on Editing The Art Bulletin
Alison M. Kettering, Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art Reflections on Editing the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art
Discussant: Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute
CONFERENCE AT THE YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART
DATE: 4-5 Nov 2016
Conference proceedings avai... more CONFERENCE AT THE YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART
DATE: 4-5 Nov 2016
Conference proceedings available at
http://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-4/ycba-conference A collaboration between the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut; the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London; and The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
This two-day international conference investigated the various ways in which ideas about Britain have been communicated, inflected, and contested through the photographic image. It questions how photographs are understood to mirror, reinforce, or interrupt what constitutes “Britishness” in national, local, imperial, colonial, and postcolonial contexts. Papers cover a wide range of international perspectives from the nineteenth century to today. The conference includes a panel discussion with practitioners, and delegates will be able to sign up for break-out sessions in the Yale special collections.
Friday, November 4
Keynote Lecture by Martin Parr: A Forty-Year Photographic Journey Through Great Britain
Martin Parr has taken photographs around the globe, but the one subject he continually returns to is Britain. In this talk he explains his journey from the early days of shooting black-and-white photographs in northern towns to his current project depicting the British establishment, in places like Oxford University and the City of London. He has photographed all social classes in all corners of the United Kingdom. His project is even more pertinent today, as the Union is set to potentially unravel in the coming years following the “Brexit” vote in summer 2016.
The Yale Center for British Art is seeking an Associate Director of Research to play a leading ro... more The Yale Center for British Art is seeking an Associate Director of Research to play a leading role in developing scholarly initiatives and programs.
Saturday, April 14, 10:30 am–6:30 pm, at The Met Fifth Avenue
Scholars and creative voices consid... more Saturday, April 14, 10:30 am–6:30 pm, at The Met Fifth Avenue Scholars and creative voices consider aspects of figuration in sculpture from 1300 to the present and the implications of artistic engagement with the literal, living presence of the human body.
The Yale Center for British Art is now accepting applications for the position of Postdoctoral Re... more The Yale Center for British Art is now accepting applications for the position of Postdoctoral Research Associate. This is a full-time position which may be held for up to three years, subject to annual approval.
The position is intended for recent recipients of the PhD (degree granted within the last three years) in British art or a closely related field. The PhD must have been awarded by the time the position begins.
Tuesday, October 24th, 11:30am-5:00pm
The Center for the Humanities, The Graduate Center, City Un... more Tuesday, October 24th, 11:30am-5:00pm The Center for the Humanities, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Study day with Martina Droth, Rachel Kousser, Ray Ring, Katherine Schwab, Harriet F. Senie, Rebecca Wade, Keith Wilson
On Wednesday, October 25, 2017, from 12:00-3:00 pm, the Yale Center for British Art is convening ... more On Wednesday, October 25, 2017, from 12:00-3:00 pm, the Yale Center for British Art is convening a half-day colloquium, "Casting the Curriculum: Plaster Casts and Teaching,” which will explore the historical and contemporary contexts of plaster cast collections at Yale and other universities.
The colloquium is organized by Martina Droth and Keith Wilson as a follow up to a symposium at CUNY, marking the new installation of Parthenon casts.
Speakers Martina Droth – Introduction and welcome Harriet F. Senie – The City College plaster casts collection Keith Wilson – The Parthenon plaster casts at the Graduate Center, CUNY Rebecca Wade – The history of plaster cast production and the formation of collections in Leeds Katherine Schwab – The Fairfield University Plaster Cast Collection Timothy Rohan – Plaster casts in the Yale School of Architecture
Join the curators of the exhibition "Things of Beauty Growing”: British Studio Pottery for a pane... more Join the curators of the exhibition "Things of Beauty Growing”: British Studio Pottery for a panel discussion reflecting on the field of British ceramics. Introduction by Martina Droth. Chaired by Glenn Adamson. Speakers: Simon Olding, Magdalene Odundo and Clare Twomey
The exhibition “Things of Beauty Growing” is co-curated by Martina Droth, Glenn Adamson, and Simon Olding, and will be on view at YCBA from September 14 - December 3, 2017. It will travel to The Fitzwilliam Museum in 2018.
A new digital publishing initiative supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the pe... more A new digital publishing initiative supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the peer-reviewed, open-access journal British Art Studies, which is jointly published by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Yale Center for British Art.
This initiative calls for a series of interdisciplinary articles and features centered on the broad theme of " Objects in Motion " to appear in future issues of BAS.
The movement of objects and ideas across cultures represents a growing field of art historical research. The aim of this series is to explore the physical and material circumstances by which art is transmitted, displaced, and recontextualized, creating new markets, audiences, and meanings. We seek proposals that consider cross-cultural dialogues between Britain and the United States, focusing on any period before 1980 and any aspect of visual and material culture. Proposals should outline the ways in which the project/article will take advantage of the possibilities offered by the digital platform.
Authors of accepted proposals will be invited to a think-tank workshop at the Terra Foundation’s property in Giverny, France, May 3–5, 2018. The workshop will offer the opportunity to discuss the intellectual rationale of the projects in tandem with the digital tools entailed in their realization. Building on these discussions, BAS will work with a small group of selected authors to develop a series of single-authored or collaboratively written articles and features that examine cross-cultural dialogues between Britain and the United States. All articles will be subject to peer review, as is standard for BAS. Proposals should include the following: A description of no more than one thousand words that outlines the intellectual premise of the project and how it speaks to the theme of “Objects in Motion.” The description must include details of how the project will take advantage of the digital platform. We are not looking for technical specifications but for a vision statement of how the digital platform will support or enhance the development and/or presentation of the project. Names and short CVs (no more than two pages) for all co-authors and contributors. Funding for travel and accommodation in Giverny will be provided to authors selected to participate in the workshop.
Inquiries and completed application materials in the form of PDFs should be sent to journal@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk. The deadline for applications is 11:59 pm GMT on Friday, September 1, 2017.
The Image of the American Indian in Britain, ca. 1800–1930: New Critical Perspectives
A sessi... more The Image of the American Indian in Britain, ca. 1800–1930: New Critical Perspectives
A session at the CAA annual conference, Los Angeles, February 21—24, 2018
Session sponsored by the Historians of British Art.
Chairs: Martina Droth, Yale Center for British Art, and Michael Hatt, Warwick University
The study of the representation of American Indians has gained increasing attention in recent scholarship. This history, however, has been almost exclusively written from a North American perspective. In nineteenth-century Britain a widespread fascination with Native American cultures was connected to wider debates about empire and the transatlantic world. But what Kate Flint termed the “Transatlantic Indian” in her pioneering study has remained largely unexamined. This interdisciplinary session seeks to explore the various ways in which native peoples from the United States and Canada, and the artifacts of their cultures, were being represented, portrayed, studied, and collected in Britain in the long nineteenth century. Possible topics for discussion might include: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows and other live performances; George Catlin’s Indian Gallery in London; ethnographic museums and displays; displays of sculptures at the international exhibitions and other venues; photography and its circulation; and illustrations and the printed press. We welcome papers that address specific case studies or larger conceptual issues.
This event brings together art historians and publishing experts to share their views on the futu... more This event brings together art historians and publishing experts to share their views on the future of publishing digital art history. Combining a lecture and two roundtables, this symposium will be of interest to all those involved in, or wishing to embark on, digital publishing, as well as to those who are looking for solutions to publishing digital humanities research in compact online formats. Organized by Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, the event is funded by the Kress Foundation and the NYU Center for the Humanities and is free of charge. Recording of the event can be accessed here: https://vimeo.com/187873022
The pictorial representation of the landscape has long played an important role in the history of... more The pictorial representation of the landscape has long played an important role in the history of British art. This international conference, the third in an annual series organized collaboratively by the Paul Mellon Centre, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botcanical Gardens, is designed to offer an opportunity for a major reassessment of the image of the British landscape.
Uploads
Papers by Martina Droth
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Perspective of Nudes (revisited). Marlborough Gallery, New York, March 12 – May 8, 2021
“The camera,” said Orson Welles, “is a medium via which messages reach us from another world.” It was the camera and the circumstances of the Second World War that first brought together Henry Moore (1898–1986) and Bill Brandt (1904–1983). During the Blitz, both artists produced images depicting civilians sheltering in the London Underground. These “shelter pictures” were circulated to millions via popular magazines and today rank as iconic works of their time. This book begins with these wartime works and examines the artists’ intersecting paths in the postwar period. Key themes include war, industry, and the coal mine; landscape and Britain’s great megalithic sites; found objects; and the human body. Special photographic reproduction captures the materiality of the print as a three-dimensional object rather than a flat, disembodied image on the page.
Martina Droth is deputy director of research, exhibitions, and publications and curator of sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art. Paul Messier is director of the Lens Media Lab at the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage.
Co-edited by Penelope Curtis, Director of the Gulbenkian Museum, and Martina Droth, Deputy Director of Research and Curator of Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art.
“Bringing together photographs, costumes, sculpture, and film, this display of works by Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA) (b. 1962) shows the breadth of his art while focussing on a single theme: the life, death and legacy of admiral Lord Nelson, whom Shonibare takes as an emblem of Britain’s imperial past. Each of the works here incorporates or makes reference to the colorful, dutch wax-printed fabrics that have become Shonibare’s signature material. Associated with Africa but originating in Indonesia and Holland, these fabrics are the product of global trade and point to key themes at the heart of this artist’s work."
The bibliography has been published on Oxford Bibliographies. I want to thank everyone on this thread who kindly responded and commented to my draft. The feedback and advice was invaluable.
With best wishes
Martina
Original message
I am preparing an annotated bibliography for the "Sculpture” entry for Oxford Bibliographies in Art History (http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/), a subscription-based online resource offering research guides in the humanities. I am creating this discussion-post in order to solicit your feedback on my planned approach to the bibliography, and I would be grateful for any thoughts, comments or ideas you’d be willing to share with me.
Please see the downloadable word document for further details. Thanks in advance.
Martina
Edited by Julius Bryant and Martina Droth
Offered on free and open access, this special issue takes full advantage of the interactive platform to present an immersive and interactive study of The Greek Slave, including detailed technical analysis and imaging, an interactive map and timeline, the inclusion of music, in the form of recorded performances and their respective scores, and the presentation of extensive archival and printed primary resources.
The contributors to the special issue are: Tim Barringer, Caitlin Beach, Helen A. Cooper, Lily Cox-Richard, Patrizia diBello, Martina Droth, Cybèle T. Gontar, Vivien Green Fryd, Michael Hatt, Tess Korobkin Karen Lemmey, Tanya Pohrt, Alex Potts, Joseph Roach, L. H. Shockey, and Lisa Volpe.
This project was co-sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Yale Center for British Art.
Yale Center for British Art (09/11/14–11/30/14)
Tate Britain (02/24/15–05/24/15)
http://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions/victorian-sculpture
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837-1901. Yale Center for British Art (11 September–30 November 2014) and Tate Britain (25 February–25 May 2015)
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Perspective of Nudes (revisited). Marlborough Gallery, New York, March 12 – May 8, 2021
“The camera,” said Orson Welles, “is a medium via which messages reach us from another world.” It was the camera and the circumstances of the Second World War that first brought together Henry Moore (1898–1986) and Bill Brandt (1904–1983). During the Blitz, both artists produced images depicting civilians sheltering in the London Underground. These “shelter pictures” were circulated to millions via popular magazines and today rank as iconic works of their time. This book begins with these wartime works and examines the artists’ intersecting paths in the postwar period. Key themes include war, industry, and the coal mine; landscape and Britain’s great megalithic sites; found objects; and the human body. Special photographic reproduction captures the materiality of the print as a three-dimensional object rather than a flat, disembodied image on the page.
Martina Droth is deputy director of research, exhibitions, and publications and curator of sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art. Paul Messier is director of the Lens Media Lab at the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage.
Co-edited by Penelope Curtis, Director of the Gulbenkian Museum, and Martina Droth, Deputy Director of Research and Curator of Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art.
“Bringing together photographs, costumes, sculpture, and film, this display of works by Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA) (b. 1962) shows the breadth of his art while focussing on a single theme: the life, death and legacy of admiral Lord Nelson, whom Shonibare takes as an emblem of Britain’s imperial past. Each of the works here incorporates or makes reference to the colorful, dutch wax-printed fabrics that have become Shonibare’s signature material. Associated with Africa but originating in Indonesia and Holland, these fabrics are the product of global trade and point to key themes at the heart of this artist’s work."
The bibliography has been published on Oxford Bibliographies. I want to thank everyone on this thread who kindly responded and commented to my draft. The feedback and advice was invaluable.
With best wishes
Martina
Original message
I am preparing an annotated bibliography for the "Sculpture” entry for Oxford Bibliographies in Art History (http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/), a subscription-based online resource offering research guides in the humanities. I am creating this discussion-post in order to solicit your feedback on my planned approach to the bibliography, and I would be grateful for any thoughts, comments or ideas you’d be willing to share with me.
Please see the downloadable word document for further details. Thanks in advance.
Martina
Edited by Julius Bryant and Martina Droth
Offered on free and open access, this special issue takes full advantage of the interactive platform to present an immersive and interactive study of The Greek Slave, including detailed technical analysis and imaging, an interactive map and timeline, the inclusion of music, in the form of recorded performances and their respective scores, and the presentation of extensive archival and printed primary resources.
The contributors to the special issue are: Tim Barringer, Caitlin Beach, Helen A. Cooper, Lily Cox-Richard, Patrizia diBello, Martina Droth, Cybèle T. Gontar, Vivien Green Fryd, Michael Hatt, Tess Korobkin Karen Lemmey, Tanya Pohrt, Alex Potts, Joseph Roach, L. H. Shockey, and Lisa Volpe.
This project was co-sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Yale Center for British Art.
Yale Center for British Art (09/11/14–11/30/14)
Tate Britain (02/24/15–05/24/15)
http://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions/victorian-sculpture
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837-1901. Yale Center for British Art (11 September–30 November 2014) and Tate Britain (25 February–25 May 2015)
Martina Droth, co-curator of "Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery", delivers a thirty-minute gallery talk at the Yale Center for British Art.
Martina Droth, co-curator of "Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery" provides a tour of this exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art, as part of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art's research seminar "Ceramics in the Expanded Field: Curating the Ceramic Object Today." (Please fast foward to 4:05 to begin the tour).
Posted on May 3rd, 2018
In this symposium, scholars and creative voices considered aspects of figuration in sculpture from 1300 to the present and the implications of artistic engagement with the literal, living presence of the human body.
1. Welcoming Remarks by Luke Syson, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Met, and Sheena Wagstaff, Leonard A. Lauder Chairman of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Met
2. All Too Human
Ralph Rugoff, Director, Hayward Gallery, London
3. Coloring the Monochrome: Some Thoughts on 19th-Century Sculpture
Martina Droth, Deputy Director of Research, Exhibitions, and Publications, and Curator of Sculpture, Yale Center for British Art
4. The Judgment of Meissen: Porcelain and the Figural Ideal
Michael Yonan, Associate Professor and Program Director of Art History, School of Visual Studies, University of Missouri
5. Let the material speak for itself
Katy Siegel, Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Chair in Modern American Art, Stony Brook University
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (1300–Now).
Recorded April 14, 2018
Panel chaired by Glenn Adamson, co-curator of the exhibition. The panelists consider the deep history, present position, and possible new directions of studio pottery in Britain. Participating are Simon Olding, co-curator of the exhibition; Magdalene Odundo, a potter who synthesizes myriad sources into serenely resolved, sculptural forms; and Clare Twomey, the artist whose monumental eighty-vase installation, "Made in China," populates the Entrance Court and other spaces in the Yale Center for British Art this fall.
Recorded on location: Yale Center for British Art
This study day concluded the display of the exhibition Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery, which had been presented at both institutions.
This study day featured a keynote address from independent crafts expert and writer Tanya Harrod. Delegates also heard from the three original curators of the exhibition: Simon Olding (Director of the Crafts Study Centre, Farnham) and Martina Droth (Deputy Director of Research, Exhibitions and Publications, and Curator of Sculpture at YCBA) who spoke about the origins of the exhibition and its display at YCBA, where the exhibition was first shown, and Glenn Adamson (Senior Research Scholar at YCBA) who analysed the differences in the reception of the exhibition in the UK and USA, and discussed the future of British studio pottery. Helen Ritchie, in-house curator of the exhibition at the Fitzwilliam, spoke about decisions made regarding the design of the exhibition at the Fitzwilliam, and artists included in the exhibition, Alison Britton and Halima Cassell were ‘in conversation’.
What is sculpture? It’s not a simple question, because sculpture is a loaded word. Not only because it sounds like a category (when in reality there are many) but also because it invokes a hierarchy—between the “fine” and “decorative” arts, between the aesthetic and the functional, between art and craft, and between craft and industry. In developing the exhibitionSculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837–1901(now on view at Tate Britain) the question of what we count as sculpture—and why, or why not—continually presented itself. Not everyone would count a seven foot majolica elephant, made by Minton for the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle, as a piece of sculpture. But for us it became an emblem for the project. It shows that, as a profession, sculpture fluidly ranged across materials and processes; that sculpture and industry could exist in a productive (rather than destructive) relationship; and that sculpture’s function as a victorious symbol of empire was expressed through the inseparable continuum of iconography and materiality. This talk sets out the rationale of the exhibition—its object choices, its themes—and argues that in order to gain an historical sense of how sculpture functioned at a given time, we need to open up our purview to a larger body of material evidence.
Organized by Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, the event is funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the NYU Center for the Humanities and is free of charge. It will be followed up by a hands-on professional development workshop at the College Art Association annual meeting in February, open to all CAA registrants at no extra cost.
Sculpture is generally static. It tends to be thought of as solid, inert, and physically grounded. These qualities are deeply associated with some of its most traditional functions – to commemorate, memorialize, and provide permanent public symbols. But throughout its history, sculpture’s immobility has been held in tension with the fantasy of its potential motion and animation. This tension plays out in the dualities of its association with life and death. The potential of the statue coming to life, as in the Pygmalion myth, has been a constant reference point for sculpture and how it is written about. This interdisciplinary session examines the various ways in which sculpture has been put in motion, literally and metaphorically, and considers what drives this desire to animate sculpture. Areas of investigation include the devices and artistic strategies that induce motion or an illusion of life – for example, turning statues on rotating pedestals; viewing statues by candlelight; the tinting and colouring of sculpture to create life-like effects; sophisticated technologies and mechanical devices such as animatronics, automata, and kinetics; the ‘living statue’ and the tableau vivant; bringing sculpture to life in text; the suggestion of movement in photographs of sculpture; the appearance of sculpture in film. The papers in this session range from the medieval period to the early 20th century.
Martina Droth (YCBA) and Sarah Victoria Turner (PMC): Introduction
Emily Knight (University of Oxford): Death Masks: Casting and reanimating the dead
Johanna Roethe (The Architectural History Practice): ‘Nought but perfect breathing art’: Dannecker’s Ariadne animated
Linda Hinners (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm): Torches and Torsos: Experiencing sculpture in artificial light – some Swedish examples from around 1800
Nicola Jennings (Courtauld Institute of Art): Carrying Christ, Conversion and Control in Early Modern Spain
Jane Wildgoose (King’s College London): ‘The effect of it will long be remembered by the multitudes’: The Duke of Wellington’s Funeral Car - in Motion, and at Rest
Damian Taylor (University of Oxford): Medardo Rosso and the Printed Page as a Site of Sculptures’ permanent becoming
Tess Korobkin (Yale University): Augusta Savage’s Living Sculptures: Photographic and cinematic portrayals, 1929-1939
Sharon Hecker (Independent Scholar): Moving Ahead: Walking and the birth of modern sculpture
The View From Here is organized by the Yale Center for British Art and the Lens Media Lab at Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Applications will be accepted from students currently enrolled in a Greater New Haven public school in the eleventh or twelfth grade, or who finished high school in 2020. First-year undergraduates who are currently enrolled in a public college or university in the Greater New Haven area are also invited to apply. Applications are due January 22.
Session chairs: Martina Droth (Yale Center for British Art) and Sarah Victoria Turner (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
To submit a proposal, please e-mail an abstract of no more than four hundred words and a short CV or bio of no more than two pages to martina.droth@yale.edu and svturner@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk.
Deadline: November 7, 2018
Details about the conference can be found on the Association for Art History website
PANEL:
Samuel Bibby, Journal of the Association of Art Historians:
Reflections on Editing Art History
Petra T. Chu, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide
Reflections on Editing Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide
Kirk Ambrose, The Art Bulletin
Reflection on Editing The Art Bulletin
Alison M. Kettering, Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art Reflections on Editing the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art
Discussant: Gail Feigenbaum, Getty Research Institute
DATE: 4-5 Nov 2016
Conference proceedings available at
http://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-4/ycba-conference
A collaboration between the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut; the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London; and The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
This two-day international conference investigated the various ways in which ideas about Britain have been communicated, inflected, and contested through the photographic image. It questions how photographs are understood to mirror, reinforce, or interrupt what constitutes “Britishness” in national, local, imperial, colonial, and postcolonial contexts. Papers cover a wide range of international perspectives from the nineteenth century to today. The conference includes a panel discussion with practitioners, and delegates will be able to sign up for break-out sessions in the Yale special collections.
Friday, November 4
Keynote Lecture by Martin Parr: A Forty-Year Photographic Journey Through Great Britain
Martin Parr has taken photographs around the globe, but the one subject he continually returns to is Britain. In this talk he explains his journey from the early days of shooting black-and-white photographs in northern towns to his current project depicting the British establishment, in places like Oxford University and the City of London. He has photographed all social classes in all corners of the United Kingdom. His project is even more pertinent today, as the Union is set to potentially unravel in the coming years following the “Brexit” vote in summer 2016.
For details and to apply download the PDF.
Scholars and creative voices consider aspects of figuration in sculpture from 1300 to the present and the implications of artistic engagement with the literal, living presence of the human body.
The position is intended for recent recipients of the PhD (degree granted within the last three years) in British art or a closely related field. The PhD must have been awarded by the time the position begins.
The deadline for submitting applications is February 26, 2018. For details of how to apply please visit:
https://britishart.yale.edu/research/opportunity-postdoctoral-research-associate
The Center for the Humanities, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Study day with Martina Droth, Rachel Kousser, Ray Ring, Katherine Schwab, Harriet F. Senie, Rebecca Wade, Keith Wilson
The colloquium is organized by Martina Droth and Keith Wilson as a follow up to a symposium at CUNY, marking the new installation of Parthenon casts.
Speakers
Martina Droth – Introduction and welcome
Harriet F. Senie – The City College plaster casts collection
Keith Wilson – The Parthenon plaster casts at the Graduate Center, CUNY
Rebecca Wade – The history of plaster cast production and the formation of collections in Leeds
Katherine Schwab – The Fairfield University Plaster Cast Collection Timothy Rohan – Plaster casts in the Yale School of Architecture
The exhibition “Things of Beauty Growing” is co-curated by Martina Droth, Glenn Adamson, and Simon Olding, and will be on view at YCBA from September 14 - December 3, 2017. It will travel to The Fitzwilliam Museum in 2018.
This initiative calls for a series of interdisciplinary articles and features centered on the broad theme of " Objects in Motion " to appear in future issues of BAS.
The movement of objects and ideas across cultures represents a growing field of art historical research. The aim of this series is to explore the physical and material circumstances by which art is transmitted, displaced, and recontextualized, creating new markets, audiences, and meanings. We seek proposals that consider cross-cultural dialogues between Britain and the United States, focusing on any period before 1980 and any aspect of visual and material culture. Proposals should outline the ways in which the project/article will take advantage of the possibilities offered by the digital platform.
Authors of accepted proposals will be invited to a think-tank workshop at the Terra Foundation’s property in Giverny, France, May 3–5, 2018. The workshop will offer the opportunity to discuss the intellectual rationale of the projects in tandem with the digital tools entailed in their realization. Building on these discussions, BAS will work with a small group of selected authors to develop a series of single-authored or collaboratively written articles and features that examine cross-cultural dialogues between Britain and the United States. All articles will be subject to peer review, as is standard for BAS.
Proposals should include the following:
A description of no more than one thousand words that outlines the intellectual premise of the project and how it speaks to the theme of “Objects in Motion.”
The description must include details of how the project will take advantage of the digital platform. We are not looking for technical specifications but for a vision statement of how the digital platform will support or enhance the development and/or presentation of the project.
Names and short CVs (no more than two pages) for all co-authors and contributors.
Funding for travel and accommodation in Giverny will be provided to authors selected to participate in the workshop.
Inquiries and completed application materials in the form of PDFs should be sent to journal@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk. The deadline for applications is 11:59 pm GMT on Friday, September 1, 2017.
A session at the CAA annual conference, Los Angeles, February 21—24, 2018
Session sponsored by the Historians of British Art.
Chairs: Martina Droth, Yale Center for British Art, and Michael Hatt, Warwick University
The study of the representation of American Indians has gained increasing attention in recent scholarship. This history, however, has been almost exclusively written from a North American perspective. In nineteenth-century Britain a widespread fascination with Native American cultures was connected to wider debates about empire and the transatlantic world. But what Kate Flint termed the “Transatlantic Indian” in her pioneering study has remained largely unexamined. This interdisciplinary session seeks to explore the various ways in which native peoples from the United States and Canada, and the artifacts of their cultures, were being represented, portrayed, studied, and collected in Britain in the long nineteenth century. Possible topics for discussion might include: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows and other live performances; George Catlin’s Indian Gallery in London; ethnographic museums and displays; displays of sculptures at the international exhibitions and other venues; photography and its circulation; and illustrations and the printed press. We welcome papers that address specific case studies or larger conceptual issues.
To submit a proposal, please follow CAA guidelines. Proposals may be submitted directly to the session chairs.
martina.droth@yale.edu
m.hatt@warwick.ac.uk
Deadline for submissions: August 14, 2017
Long Shadows: Tradition, Influence, and Persistence in Modern Craft
Conference at the Yale Center for British Art, Friday, November 10, 2017