Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University Collaborate on Art History Series
PRESS CONTACT: Christine Ferrara, (609) 734-8239
For the sixth year, the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study and the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University will collaborate to present a series of public lectures examining diverse facets of today’s art history scholarship. Leading academics in the field will address a range of subjects and periods in art, from medieval abstraction to Velazquez, Renaissance art, Malevich and Paul Klee.
The series is organized by Yve-Alain Bois, Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute, and Irene Small, Professor in the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University.
“We are particularly excited by the deeply insightful group of lecturers in this year’s series,” said Bois. “This is an opportunity to hear from the front lines of new investigations into the inner workings of art in the context of its time.”
The series began in October and continues through April 2014. The first lecture at the Institute will occur on Monday, December 9, at 5:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus. Alexander Nagel of New York University will discuss the “Orientations of Renaissance Art. ”
In this lecture, Nagel will illustrate some ways in which art produced during the Renaissance period points eastward towards Constantinople, towards the Holy Land, and to places further east, even as far as China. Nagel will focus on the forms this “orientation” took between 1492-1507, years during which new lands were being discovered, to great fanfare, but were still believed to belong to the continent of Asia. These themes will be explored through an extended examination of works by the Italian painter Andrea Mantegna.
Alexander Nagel is Professor of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. His book, The Controversy of Renaissance Art (University of Chicago Press, 2011) won the Charles Rufus Morey Book Award from the College Art Association. His most recent book, Medieval Modern: Art Out of Time, was published by Thames and Hudson in 2012. This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information on this and other lectures at the Institute, visit www.ias.edu/news/public-events.
Upcoming talks at Princeton University and the Institute include:
Tuesday, February 4, 2014, 5:00 p.m. – Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study
“Malevich’s Nervous System”
Briony Fer, University College London
Tuesday, February 25, 5:00 p.m. – Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study
"Paul Klee, Wilhelm Hausenstein, and the 'Problem of Style'"
Charles W. (Mark) Haxthausen, Williams College
Tuesday, April 15, 5:00 p.m. – Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study
“Neither Breakthrough nor Breakdown: Episodes from a History of Medieval Abstraction”
Aden Kumler, The University of Chicago
Tuesday, April 22, 5:00 p.m. – 106 McCormick Hall, Princeton University
“Constructions of Difference in the Spanish Painting of Siglo de Oro: Joseph’s Coat and Vulcan’s Forge by Velazquez”
Margit Kern, University of Hamburg
About the Department of Art and Archeology at Princeton University
The Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, founded in 1883, has long been a leading center for the study of art, architecture and archaeology. Besides covering all periods of European art and architecture, current faculty members teach in areas as diverse as Chinese bronzes, pre-Columbian objects, Islamic art, Japanese prints, African art, American art, the history of photography, and theory and criticism.
About Art History at the Institute
The history of art has been represented at the Institute since 1935, when Erwin Panofsky 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, whose publications have become key references for generations of art historians. In addition to its permanent Faculty, each year the School hosts scholars from around the world who come to pursue studies in a range of areas within art history. These scholars work alongside fellow Members specializing in the range of humanistic disciplines, from socioeconomic developments, political theory and modern international relations, to the history of science, philosophy, music and literature.
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 curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities – the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of no more than 28, 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 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Some 33 Nobel Laureates and 38 out of 52 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.
About the Institute for Advanced Study
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 curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures 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 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 40 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.