LEADING ACADEMICS EXPLORE THE SENSUOUS IN ART

PRINCETON, N.J. - September 29, 2006 - The Institute for Advanced Study has joined with Princeton University to create an innovative lecture series for the 2006-2007 academic year entitled The Sensuous in Art. Organized by Yve-Alain Bois, Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, and Hal Foster, Chair of the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, the series will offer seven lectures, alternating between Wolfensohn Hall at the Institute and McCormick Hall at the University.

Professors Bois and Foster collaborated on identifying and inviting leading scholars from a broad range of art historical disciplines to present the lectures. Seven esteemed art historians from around the country will each present a provocative and engaging view of various aspects of the sensuous in art.

"In art history today there seems to be what we could call a 'return to the object,' after, and benefiting from, two decades of intense theorization," stated Yve-Alain Bois of the Institute. "Exploring the theme of the sensuous -- which is different from, but related to, that of the sensual -- will allow us to reflect not only upon the different effects works of art were meant to have on human senses in different times and places, but also upon the way we can respond today to their summon. How is visual pleasure, for example, regulated by the context of an artwork's occurrence? Is there such a thing, even, as purely visual pleasure? Do a medieval nun, a Persian calligrapher, a contemporary artist and Renaissance humanist have anything in common when it comes to the production and reception of an art object? This is the type of questions, both historical and anthropological, that will hopefully be raised in this series of lectures, and the responses promise to be as diverse as the subfields of art history that will be invoked."

The series will begin with the talk Behaving Globally, delivered by Anne Wagner, Professor of Modern Art in the Department of History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley, on Tuesday, October 24 at 5:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall. Hal Foster of Princeton University will be the respondent.

Subsequent to Anne Wagner's lecture, the series will continue with the following talks, each of which will all take place at 5:00 p.m.:

“As it Were”: Mysticism, Visuality and the Odor of Sanctity
Jeffrey Hamburger
Professor, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
Wednesday, November 15 - McCormick Hall, Princeton University

Invisible Nymphs Revisited: Materialism, Sensation, and Human Nature in Venetian Art, 1500-1520
Stephen Campbell
Professor and Chair, Department of the History of Art, Johns Hopkins University
Thursday, December 7 - Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study

“The Eye is Favored for Seeing the Writing’s Form”: On the Sensual and the Sensuous in Islamic Calligraphy
David Roxburgh
Professor, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
Thursday, January 18 - McCormick Hall, Princeton University

Family Tragedy on the Walls of Pompeii
Natalie Kampen
Chair, Department of Women’s Studies, Barnard College, and Faculty, Department of Art History and Archeology, Columbia University
Tuesday, February 27 - Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study

Activating the Senses: The Body Royal and the Body Politic in a Mesopotamian Visual Aesthetics of Power
Irene Winter
William Dorr Boardman Professor of Fine Arts, Department of Fine Arts, Harvard University
Tuesday, March 6 - McCormick Hall, Princeton University

Veronese’s Allegories of Love
T.J. Clark
George C. and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Art History, University of California, Berkeley
Tuesday, April 17 - Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study

The lecture series is made possible with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The lectures are free and open to the public.  No reservations are required, but seating is on a first come, first served basis.  For more information, visit www.ias.edu or call 609-734-8175.

Tradition of Art History at the Institute
The history of art has been represented at the Institute since 1935, when Erwin Panofsky (Professor, 1935-62, Emeritus, 1962-68) was appointed to the Faculty of what was then the School of Humanistic Studies. Formalized as the School of Historical Studies in 1949, the School has been home to some of the world's leading art historians, including Millard Meiss (Professor, 1958-1974, Emeritus, 1974-75), Irving Lavin (Professor, 1974-2001, Emeritus, 2001-present) and Kirk Varnedoe (Professor, 2002-2003). A specialist in 20th-century European and American art, Yve-Alain Bois joined the Faculty in 2005.

Publications by Faculty in the School of Historical Studies have become key references for generations of art historians, and each year the School hosts scholars from around the world, who come to pursue their studies in a range of areas within art history. These scholars work alongside fellow Members specializing in Greek and Roman civilization; the history of Europe (medieval, early modern, and modern); the Islamic world; East Asia; and modern international relations, among other areas. Such interaction promotes interdisciplinary research and cross-fertilization of ideas, thereby encouraging the creation of new historical enterprises.

About the Institute
The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support fundamental scholarship – the original, often speculative, thinking that produces advances in knowledge. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of younger scholars by a permanent Faculty of twenty-six, and it offers all who work there the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.

The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership in the United States and abroad. Some twenty-one Nobel laureates, and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists, have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.