A guide to fall symposiums

Editorial Staff Art, Furniture & Decorative Arts

To celebrate the fall season we’ve compiled an extensive—though not exhaustive—list of several upcoming symposiums that present an exciting and diverse roster of talks related to art history, decorative arts, design, and visual culture. We hope that you will have a chance to attend some.

October 1-2, 2009
“A Long and Tumultuous Relationship”: East-West Interchanges in American Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

This two-day symposium explores the interactions between American and Asian artists and visual traditions from the eighteenth century to the present. Papers by both senior and emerging scholars and curators will explore cultural interactions in a variety of “contact zones” ranging from the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States to venues of artistic production in India, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

For more information: http://www.americanart.si.edu/research/symposia/2009/

October 2, 2009
Dutch Utopia: Ameri­can Artists in Holland, 1880-1914
The Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia
9:00 am-5:00 pm

In conjunction with the exhibition Dutch Utopia: Ameri­can Artists in Holland, 1880-1914 the Telfair Museum of Art presents a day of lectures by five scholars who contributed to the catalogue and exhibi­tion project.

For more information: http://telfair.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/du-symposium-brochure_v9.pdf

Saturday, October 3, 2009
USC’s Annual “Expanding the Visual Field” Graduate Student Symposium—Peripheral Visions: Colonization, Resistance, Representation
Getty Research Institute Lecture Hall, The Getty Center, Los Angeles
9:30 am-5:00 pm

Inspired by the Walls of Algiers: Narratives of the Colonial City exhibition, this symposium seeks to discover fissures and tensions in the relationship between colonizer and colonized, and to examine the role of the visual in articulating these phenomena.

For more information: http://www.getty.edu/research/scholarly_activities/events/peripheral_visions/

 October 7-10, 2009
Transatlantic Craftsmanship: Scotland and the Americas in
the 18th and 19th Centuries
Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, Winterthur, Delaware
This landmark four-day symposium will explore the artistic and cultural relationship between Scotland and the Americas in 18th and 19th centuries.

For more information: http://www.winterthur.org/calendar/calendar.asp?Month=10&Year=2009

October 9, 2009
Augustus Saint-Gaudens in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Morning session: 10:00 am-12:30 pm; Afternoon session: 2:00-4:45 pm

This one-day symposium gathers leading international scholars to discuss a variety of topics related to the special exhibition Augustus Saint-Gaudens in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

For more information: http://www.metmuseum.org/calendar/ca_program.asp?Eventid={3687B4D9-7B36-417D-8F1E-14A2E2FFCAF4}&DisplayDate=

October 16, 2009
Contemporary Art at the AIC-Case Studies of Selected Works on View
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
10:30 am-5:00 pm

This symposium on contemporary art will consist of 30-minute talks and group discussions led by well-known artists, art historians, and curators focused on individual artists whose work is on view in the inaugural installation of the AIC’s new Renzo Piano-designed Modern Wing.

For more information: http://www.artc.edu/aic/calendar/event?EventID=6406&EventType=9

October 16-17, 2009
Thirty-Sixth Annual Saint Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies
Père Marquette Gallery, DuBourg Hall, 2nd floor, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri
9 am-5pm
For over one hundred years the Albani Psalter has intrigued, confounded and amazed medievalists. This presentation will offer new readings for many of the more obscure illustrations in the Psalter and point out new sources, themes and interrelationships that link the initials with the lives of the abbot Geoffrey of Gorron and the anchoress Christina of Markyate. Guest speaker: Dr. Patricia Stirnemann (Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes/Bibliothèque nationale de France).

For more information: http://libraries.slu.edu/special/vfl/conference/current.html

October 16-18, 2009
From Kimono to Couture: The Evolution of Japanese Fashion
The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.

To celebrate the exhibition Contemporary Japanese Fashion: The Mary Baskett Collection this two-day symposium presents a close look at the rich history of Japanese fashion, from the kimono to today’s street wear. Presentations by leading scholars and experts include Sharon Takeda, Senior Curator and Head of the Department of Costume and Textiles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Harold Koda, Curator in Charge, Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For more information: http://www.textilemuseum.org/calendar/calendar.htm

October 17, 2009
Women as Visionaries: Women as Participants
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
10:00 am-3:00pm
The Everson Museum of Art in collaboration with the Arts & Crafts Society of Central New York presents this free one-day symposium where four scholars will discuss a range of topics including the general history of women in the arts & crafts movement, and ceramic arts during the arts & crafts period and its importance to the Syracuse area.

For more information: http://www.everson.org/education/filmsandtalks.php

October 19, 2009
Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick
Bard Graduate Center, New York, New York
2:00-5:30 pm

This afternoon symposium complements the exhibition, Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick-an exhibition that explores the world of van Varick and her family, and the possessions she accumulated over an eventful lifetime-celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage and the legacy of Dutch culture in New York.

For more information: http://www.bgc.bard.edu/news/events/symposium-dutch-new-york-between.html

October 30-31, 2009
Is Paris Still the Capital of the Nineteenth Century?
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

This two-day symposium brings together leading scholars examines the preeminence of painting relative to other forms of visual culture and raises the questions: Does anyone still care about Impressionist Paris? Is this field still producing radical scholarship that affects the whole discipline?

For more information: http://www.clarkart.edu/research/content.cfm?ID=331

November 6-7, 2009
The Sewell C. Biggs Winterthur Paintings Conference
Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, Winterthur, Delaware

Building on the themes of the exhibition, Faces of a New Nation: American Portraits of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this conference will explore the aesthetic and cultural information contained within early American portraits. Invited speakers include Carrie Rebora Barratt, Ellen G. Miles, Wendy Bellion, Leslie Reinhardt, Lance Mayer, Gay Myers, Anne Verplanck, Mark Bockrath, and Carolyn J. Weekley.

For more information: http://www.winterthur.org/calendar/calendar.asp?Month=11&Year=2009

November 7, 2009
Sargent and the Sea: A Symposium
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
9:00 am-5:00 pm
This symposium complements the exhibition Sargent and the Sea, which brings together for the first time more than 80 paintings, watercolors, and drawings depicting seascapes and coastal scenes from the early career of John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).

For more information: http://www.corcoran.org/sargentsymposium/

November 13, 2009
Chic It Up! Winterthur Design Conference
Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, Winterthur, Delaware
This third annual Winterthur design conference focuses on design of the 1940s. Experts will address topics ranging from the influence of World War II on American decorative arts and design, the changing styles of houses and gardens after the War, the importance of new materials, and much more.

For more information: http://www.winterthur.org/calendar/calendar.asp?Month=11&Year=2009

November 14, 2009
Focus on Landscapes, Seascapes, Village Views, and More
American Folk Art Museum, New York
9:30 am-5:00 pm

This symposium, followed by a panel discussion, will include presentations on 19th-century marine and landscape painter Thomas Chambers and newly discovered marine painters, the Erie Canal as a locus of art and craft production and as an agent of change, Shaker village views, conservation, and restoration.

For more information: http://www.folkartmuseum.org/default.asp?id=1223

November 20, 2009
The Impact of the Bauhaus in Hungary
Museum of Modern Art, Theater 3 (The Celeste Bartos Theater), Museum of Modern Art, New York
10:00 am-5:00 pm
Complementing the exhibition Bauhaus 191-1933: Workshops for Modernity, this daylong symposium, organized in conjunction with the Extremely Hungary Festival, surveys the extensive participation of Hungarians in Bauhaus activities such as photography, graphics, furniture, textiles, product design, film, music, and performance art.

For more information: http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/events/7646

If you would like to suggest any additional events, please leave information in our comments section, or email tmaedit@brantpub.com.

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