newsletter - issue 41
DESCRIPTION
January 2015TRANSCRIPT
The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
NEWSLETTERYale University January 2015 Issue 41
Director of Studies: Mark Hallett Deputy Director of Studies: Martin Postle
Assistant Director for Finance and Administration: Sarah Ruddick Assistant Director for Research: Sarah Victoria Turner
Advisory Council: Iwona Blazwick, Alixe Bovey, David Peters Corbett, Penelope Curtis, Anthony Geraghty, Michael Hatt,
Nigel Llewellyn, Richard Marks, A ndrew Moore, A ndrew Saint, Shearer West, A lison Yarrington
Company Registered in England 983028 Registered Charity 3138
The Paul Mellon Centre 16 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JA Tel: 020 7580 0311 Fax: 020 7636 6730 www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk
Since 1996 the Centre has been situated in ahandsome Georgian townhouse at number 16Bedford Square, a development which was lauded atthe time of its construction in the late eighteenthcentury as ‘without exception the most perfectsquare’ in London. Now, owing to a pressing need toexpand our facilities – and a desire to remain in thepresent location – the Centre is to expand into theadjoining property at number 15, the two buildingsbeing brought together to provide an enhancedspace and improved facilities for our readers andthose who attend our ambitious programme ofacademic events.
The complexities and sensitivities involved inuniting two historic Grade I listed properties havebeen at the forefront of the expansion project. TheCentre is therefore delighted to have secured theservices of the architects, Wright and Wright, whohave extensive experience in projects of this delicate nature, notably joining together fourtownhouses on the west side of Bedford Square forthe Architectural Association.
While respecting the historic interiors andintegrity of numbers 15 and 16 Bedford Square, theexpanded premises of the Paul Mellon Centre willprovide improved storage and readers’ facilities for our growing library and archives collections,new lecture rooms and seminar rooms, as well as adedicated common room and lecture room for ourYale in London programme, which will serveundergraduates from Yale University.
As a result of the expansion, and the relatedconstruction and refurbishment, we will be closed tothe public until late summer 2015.
During the renovation period regular updatesabout the Centre’s activities, its staff, collections, and
Front elevation, 15–16 Bedford Square © Wright & Wright Architects
The Paul Mellon Centre – A New Chapter
external events programmes will be published on ourwebsite, blog (http://blog.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk),and social media platforms. We will share news of theprogrammes that will continue to receive our support,and report upon some exciting online developments atthe Paul Mellon Centre.
THe PAUL MeLLON CeNTRe COLLECTIONS
The expansion of the Paul Mellon Centre creates a fantastic opportunity to
improve resources for the Centre’s Library, Archives and Photographic
Archive, readers and staff. Space has been a particular issue as the collections
have grown considerably over the past twenty years and have completely filled
No. 16 Bedford Square, spreading throughout almost all the rooms.
With this in mind, when the expansion project started, the Librarian and
Archivist surveyed all of the material and requested that the architects try to
provide twenty years’ worth of expansion space. Better facilities for readers
and staff as well as increased security for the collections were also required.
The architects have produced plans that will bring all the material together
in the lower ground floor and Collections staff will be accommodated in new
offices there, with more space to work. The Archive and some of the Library
will be stored in mobile shelving with improved temperature and humidity
control. Other exciting developments include an exhibition area to display
collections material, as well as improved facilities for researchers such as extra
material on open access and a designated area to have a drink and eat lunch.
As the building work will be so extensive, it was decided to move the
Collections out of the building for the duration. In preparation for the move,
the material has been assessed and sorted, the Library and Photographic
Archive have been cleaned, and many books and journals have been bound.
The Archives have been re-organised, and much material has been sent for
conservation.
Jamie Briggs, a removals company with experience of moving library
collections, was selected and discussions began to prepare the move. The
building, a five-storey Georgian townhouse, with no lift, posed considerable
access issues. An external lift (one of only four in the country) was used to
remove material through upper windows and down to the lorry below.
The move, which saw approximately one kilometre of books, journals,
photographic images and archive material packed up and moved offsite in only
five days, was a huge success and it is all now in secure specialist storage with
appropriate environmental conditions.
Collections staff are now looking forward to moving everything back in to
new and improved storage areas and re-opening the Public Study Room in 2015.
Collections Expansion Project
The Centre hosted a number of study days and
workshops for researchers and curators in the autumn
term, including one at the National Museum of Wales to
coincide with the Richard Wilson and the Transformation ofEuropean Landscape Painting exhibition; a brainstorming
meeting for curators and researchers associated with
Gainsborough’s House in Suffolk; a workshop on the topic
of Moral Painting and Social Satire around 1750: Hogarthand Europe at Tate Britain; an exhibition development
workshop at the V&A entitled The Work of England:Luxury Embroideries of the Middle Ages 1170–1539; and a
scholars’ morning for the Constable: The Making of aMaster exhibition at the V&A.
The autumn term Research Seminar series, which focused
on art and visual culture in the twentieth century, took
place on consecutive Wednesday evenings in October.
Professor Lynda Nead, Professor Anne Wagner and
Professor Lisa Tickner were the trio of distinguished
scholars who gave exciting and thought-provoking papers.
We collaborated with British Museum curators Lloyd de
Beer and Naomi Speakman and academic advisors,
Professor Sandy Heslop and Dr Jessica Berenbeim, on
Invention and Imagination in British Architecture 600 – 1500,a conference at the British Museum (30 October–1
November). The event sold out and was an extremely lively
gathering of students, curators and researchers in the
field.
Research Events, September to December 2014
Part of the Paul Mellon Centre Archive is
moved from the top floor of No. 16 Bedford
Square to street level.
Photograph: Frankie Drummond-Charig
ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES THe PAUL MeLLON CeNTRe
THE PAUL MELLON LECTURES 2015Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain
Sculpture on the ThresholdMondays, 19 January–16 February 2015, 6.30–7.30 pm, Sainsbury Wing Theatre, The National Gallery
This series of five lectures, sponsored by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies
in British Art, takes a wide-ranging look at the underlying forms of
sculpture. Focusing on four key aspects – the vertical, the horizontal, the
closed and the open – the lectures explore sculptural forms across time, and
suggest fundamental continuities. Taking examples from the early medieval
to the present, and looking at utilitarian as well as idealising formulae, the
series suggests that we bring a deep subliminal understanding to our
experience of sculpture, and that sculpture occupies a position on the
physical and conceptual threshold of our familiar world.
Penelope Curtis, now Director of Tate Britain, has published principally on
sculpture after Rodin, but as curator of the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds
she also developed a wide-ranging programme examining the materials and
meanings of sculpture across time and place. These lectures draw on that
experience.
19 January: The Vertical (From Nelson’s Column to the Ruthwell Monument)
26 January: The Horizontal (From Westminster Abbey to Keith Arnatt)
2 February: The Closed (From Pandora’s Box to Damien Hirst)
9 February: The Open (From Martin Creed to Castle Howard)
16 February: The ensemble (From Bethan Huws to Rilke’s Rodin)Harry Bates, Pandora, exhibited 1891Photo: © Tate, London 2014
Whilst the Centre is closed, we are collaborating on a
number of events off-site, details of which can be found
on our website.
In partnership with the National Gallery and Birkbeck,
University of London, the Centre is co-organising a major
conference, Animating the Eighteenth-Century Country House(5–6 March 2015). Mark Hallett and Sarah Turner are
convening a panel at the next Association of Art
Historians conference which will be held at the University
of east Anglia from 9–11 April. Their panel, British Artthrough its Exhibition Histories, 1760 to now, will take
exhibition culture as a lens through which to examine the
history, presentation, marketing and reception of British
art, both in the UK and internationally.
Research Programme Spring 2015
Tickets are available now at £6 (£4 concessions) per lecture:
Online: via The National Gallery
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/calendar/paul-mellon-lecture-19-january-2015
In person: Tickets can be purchased on the door
Invention and Imagination in British Architecture 600 – 1500 conference at
the British Museum
CURATORIAL ReSeARCH GRANTS
Compton Verney to help support a research curator for 8
months to work on the project Hart Silversmiths: A Legacy
The Foundling Museum to help support a research curator
for 1 year to work on the project The Fallen Woman
Gainsborough’s House to help support a research curator
for 1 year to work on the project Cataloguing andResearching the Collection of Gainsborough’s House
Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College to
help support a research curator for 1 year to work on the
project Painted Hall Conservation: Understanding Sir JamesThornhill’s Masterpiece
National Museums Liverpool to help support a research
curator for 1 year to work on the project Online Dictionaryof the Liverpool Autumn Exhibitions and Spring Exhibitions(1871–1938)
The National Trust to help support a research curator for
3 years to work on the project National Trust FurnitureResearch, Publication and Online Catalogue Project
Nottingham City Museums and Galleries to help support
a research curator for 1 year to work on the project TheBallantyne Collection of 20th-century British Studio Ceramics
Turner Contemporary to help support a research curator
for 1 year to work on the project The Waste Land
University College London to help support a research
curator for 1 year to work on the project Cultural Legaciesof British Slave-Ownership
PUBLICATION GRANTS (AUTHOR)
Mirjam Brusius: The Absence of Photography: WilliamHenry Fox Talbot, Photography and the Antique
Sacha Craddock: The Contemporary Art Society: A Biography
James Delbourgo: The Man Who Collected the World: SirHans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum
John Hannavy: The Victorian Photographs of Dr ThomasKeith and John Forbes White
Karen Hearn: Cornelius Johnson
Owen Hopkins: From the Shadows: The Architecture andAfterlife of Nicholas Hawksmoor
Samuel Shaw: From Bradford to Benares: The Art ofWilliam Rothenstein
Mark Swenarton: Cook’s Camden: The Housing Programmeof the London Borough of Camden under Sydney Cook1965–73
Nick Thurston: Somebody’s Got To Do It: Selected Writingsby Pavel Büchler since 1986
Beth Williamson: Between Art Practice and PsychoanalysisMid-20th Century: Anton Ehrenzweig in Context
George Younge: Old English Sources of the TheologicalWindows at Canterbury Cathedral (1174–c.1200)
THe PAUL MeLLON CeNTRe GRANTS
Grant AwardsAt the October 2014 meeting of the Centre’s Advisory Council the following Fellowships and Grants were awarded:
PUBLICATION GRANTS (PUBLISHeR)
Afterall: Designing Exhibitions, Exhibiting Participation:‘an Exhibit’ 1957
Boydell and Brewer Ltd: The Art of the Church Screen inMedieval Europe (Making, Meaning, Preservation)
Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi: The Stained Glass ofHerkenrode Abbey in England
Dulwich Picture Gallery: Winifred Knights 1899–1947
Heraldry Society: The Display of Heraldry: The HeraldicImagination in Arts and Culture, 1500 to the Present Day
Lund Humphries Publishers: Edward Ardizzone
National Museums Scotland enterprises Ltd: ScottishPhotography: The First Thirty Years
Pallant House Gallery: Leon Underwood: PioneerModernist
Paul Holberton Publishing: Cornelius Johnson
Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies: The SmithfieldDecretals (BL, Royal MS 10 E IV): Tales from the Margins ofa 14th-century Law Book
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum: Slade Painters inDorset: The Edwardians
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland: Scottish Glass1750–2006
The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of
Leeds: George Morland: Art, Traffic and Society in late18th-century England
UCL Press: Project 75
University of Greenwich Galleries: Stockwell Depot(1967–1982) and The London Artists’ Studio Movement
Walpole Society: The British in Spain
Williamson Art Gallery and Museum: From Renaissanceto Regent Street: The Della Robbia Pottery and the Influence ofthe Cultural Tourist
ReSeARCH SUPPORT GRANTS
Juliet Davis for research on Dispersal: A Landscape on theEdge
Natasha eaton for research on The Conditional Image:Art, Indenture and Empire in the Indian Ocean,c.1780–c.1947
James Finch for research on David Sylvester: Art Writings
Clare Griffiths for research on Clare Leighton(1898–1949): A Life Engraved
Sharon Irish for research on Stephen Willats, 1970–2012:Coded Landscapes, Cybernetic Towers, and Urban Journeys
Sandro Jung for research on Thomas Stothard,18th-Century Book Illustration, and his Designs for JamesHarrison, Thomas Cadell, and William Davies
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS THe PAUL MeLLON CeNTRe
31 January 2015 is the closing date for applications
for the next round of Fellowships and Grants.
See details and application forms at
www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/259/
Sherry Lindquist for research on Nude Trinities andOther Anomalies in Books of Hours made for the ButlerFamily of London
Claudia Marx for research on The Restoration of MajorMedieval Churches in Victorian England and Wales
Nathan O’Donnell for research on BLAST and the‘Springs of Creation’: An Investigation of Vorticism, IrishArt and the Connections between Wyndham Lewis & EileenGray
Judy Raymond for research on The Colour of Shadows:Richard Bridgens and his Images of Slavery in Trinidad
Maria Stavrinaki for research on Prehistoric Modern. Thedifferent Uses of Prehistory by ‘Force One’ and theIndependent Group
Mengting Yu for research on Women Artists, the AvantGarde and London: 1901–1914
eDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMe GRANTS
Art Institute of Chicago towards a two-day symposium
Ireland: Art on a World Stage, 1690–1840, 20–21 March
2015
Birkbeck College and Tate towards a two-day
symposium Artist and Empire: New Perspectives, 1780 toNow, 27–28 Nov 2015
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery towards a seminar Howto Interpret Art and the British Empire for 21st-centuryAudiences: Roderick MacKenzie’s Delhi Durbar of 1903 in
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, mid-February 2015
Centre for eighteenth-Century Studies, University of
York towards a three-day international conference
Disseminating Dress: Britain and the World, 28–30 May
2015
Victoria & Albert Museum towards a two-day
symposium A Collector of Secrets: Sir Balthazar Gerbier(1592–1663) in Cultural Diplomacy and the Arts, 4–5 June
2015
ANDReW WYLD ReSeARCH SUPPORT GRANTS
(funded by the Andrew Wyld Fund)
Ben Pollitt for research on The Drawings andWatercolours of Kamchatka by John Webber
Marrikka Trotter for research on Creative Landscapes:Geology and Architecture in Robert Adam’s LateWatercolours
BARNS-GRAHAM ReSeARCH SUPPORT GRANT
(funded by the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Charitable
Trust)
Beth Williamson for research on America in the Borders:William Johnstone’s Landscape Painting
George Romney A Complete Catalogue of His PaintingsAlex Kidson
This magnificent catalogue, in 3 volumes and with
nearly 2,000 illustrations, will restore George Romney
to his long-overdue position – with his contemporaries
Reynolds and Gainsborough – as a master of
18th-century British portrait painting. With this
product of impressive and thorough research
undertaken over the course of twenty years, Alex
Kidson asserts Romney’s status as one of the greatest
British painters, whose last catalogue raisonné was
published over 100 years ago. In more than 1,800
entries, many supported by new photography, Kidson
aims to solve longstanding issues of attribution,
distinguishing genuine pictures by Romney from works
whose traditional attribution to him can no longer be
supported. The author’s insights are guided by rich
primary source material on Romney – including account
books, ledgers, and sketchbooks – as well as secondary
sources such as prints after lost works, newspaper
reports and reviews, and writings by Romney’s
contemporaries.
Alex Kidson is Senior Research Fellow, Paul Mellon
Centre for Studies in British Art, London, and was
curator of the 2002 bi-centenary exhibition GeorgeRomney 1734–1802.
June
960 pp. 305x254mm. 1600 colour + 350 b/w illus
HB Boxed Set ISBN 978-0-300-20969-3
£180.00
THe PAUL MeLLON CeNTRe FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS
A Natural History of EnglishGardening 1650–1800Mark Laird
Inspired by the pioneering naturalist
Gilbert White, who viewed natural
history as the common study of
cultural and natural communities,
Mark Laird unearths forgotten
historical data to reveal the complex
visual cultures of early modern
gardening. Ranging from climate
studies to the study of a butterfly’s
life-cycle, this original and fascinating
book examines the scientific quest for
order in nature as an offshoot of
ordering the garden and field. Laird
follows a broad series of
chronological events – from the Little
Ice Age winter of 1683 to the
drought summer of the volcanic 1783
– to probe the nature of gardening
and husbandry, the role of amateurs
in scientific disciplines and the
contribution of women as
gardener-naturalists. Illustrated by a
wealth of visual and literary
materials – paintings, engravings,
poetry, essays and letters, as well as
prosaic household accounts and
nursery bills – the book
fundamentally transforms our
understanding of the english
landscape garden as a powerful
cultural expression..
Mark Laird is an historic landscape
consultant. He teaches landscape
history at Harvard University
Graduate School of Design.
May
448 pp. 290x248 mm. 300 colour + 100 b/w illus.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-19636-8 £45.00
The People’s Galleries: Art Museums and Exhibitions inBritain, 1800–1914Giles Waterfield
This innovative history of British art
museums begins in the early 19th
century. The National Gallery and the
South Kensington Museum (now the
Victoria & Albert Museum) in
London may later have been at the
centre of activity, but museums in
cities such as Glasgow, Leeds,
Liverpool, Manchester and
Nottingham were immensely popular
and attracted enthusiastic audiences.
The People’s Galleries traces the rise of
art museums in Britain through to the
First World War, focusing on the
phenomenon of municipal galleries.
This richly illustrated book argues
that these regional museums
represented a new type of institution:
an art gallery for a working-class
audience, appropriate for the rapidly
expanding cities and shaped by liberal
ideals. As their appeal weakened with
the new century, they adapted and
became more conventional. Using a
wide range of sources, the book
studies the patrons and the publics,
the collecting policies, the temporary
exhibitions, and the architecture of
these institutions, as well as the
complex range of reasons for their
foundation.
Giles Waterfield is an independent
curator and writer.
June
304 pp. 280x245mm. 40 colour + 240 b/w illus.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-20984-6 £45.00
British Silver: State HermitageMuseum CatalogueMarina Lopato
Despite its comparatively small size –
just over 370 items, dating mainly
from the 18th century – the collection
of British silver in the Hermitage is
renowned for its variety and quality.
Over the course of the 18th and 19th
centuries, the introduction of
european dining habits and Russian
Anglophilia contributed to the
acquisition of large quantities of
British silver. Most of the pieces were
functional rather than decorative,
such as dinner or toilet services
specially commissioned by members
of the imperial family and the
aristocracy. Marking the 250th
anniversary of the State Hermitage
Museum, this catalogue offers a grand
presentation of these glorious silver
items, supported by new research and
documents. In her introduction,
Marina Lopato details the
complexities of Russian and
Hermitage history to set the scene for
the objects. Sumptuous illustrations
showcase the exceptional nature of
the Hermitage’s British silver, most
evident in four monumental wine
coolers that are among the best
known pieces of British silver
anywhere in the world.
Marina Lopato is curator of
european silver at the State
Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
June
400 pp. 305x254mm. 750 colour + 150 b/w illus.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-21320-1 £100.00
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS THe PAUL MeLLON CeNTRe
Arts & Crafts Stained GlassPeter Cormack
Beautifully illustrated and based on
over three decades of research, Artsand Crafts Stained Glass is the first
study of how the late 19th-century
Arts and Crafts Movement
transformed the aesthetics and
production of stained glass in Britain
and America. A progressive school of
artists, committed to direct
involvement both in making and
designing windows, emerged in the
1880s and 1890s, reinventing stained
glass as a modern art form. Using
innovative materials and techniques,
they rejected formulaic Gothic
Revivalism while seeking authentic,
creative inspiration in medieval
traditions. This new approach was
pioneered by Christopher Whall
(1849–1924), whose charismatic
teaching educated a generation of
talented pupils – men and women –
who produced intensely colourful and
inventive stained glass, using
dramatic and often powerfully moving
design and symbolism. Peter Cormack
demonstrates how women made
critical contributions to the renewal
of stained glass, gaining meaningful
equality with their male colleagues,
more than in any other applied art.
Peter Cormack is a noted scholar of
19th- and 20th-century British and
American stained glass, William
Morris, and the Arts and Crafts
Movement.
July
336 pp. 285x245mm. 200 colour + 50 b/w illus.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-20970-9. £50.00
The Cobbe Cabinet of Curiosities:An Anglo-Irish Country HouseMuseumedited by Arthur MacGregor
This lavishly produced volume
presents a survey and analysis of a
fascinating cabinet of curiosities
established around 1750 by the Cobbe
family in Ireland and added to over a
period of 100 years. Although such
collections were common in British
country houses during the 18th and
19th centuries, the Cobbe museum,
still largely intact and housed in its
original cabinets, now forms a unique
survivor of this type of private
collection from the Age of
enlightenment. A detailed catalogue
of the objects and specimens is
accompanied by beautiful, specially
commissioned photographs that
showcase the cabinet’s component
elements. Reproductions of portraits
from the extensive collection of the
Cobbe family bring immediacy to the
narrative by illustrating the
personalities involved in the
collection’s development. Included are
essays outlining, among other topics,
the place of the cabinet of curiosities
in enlightenment society and the
history of the Cobbe family. extracts
from the family archive place the
collection in its social context.
Arthur Macgregor retired in 2008
from the Department of Antiquities
in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
March
480 pp. 308x249mm. 200 colour + 100 b/w illus.
HB with slipcase ISBN 978-0-300-20435-3
£75.00
Samuel Palmer: Shadows on the WallWilliam Vaughan
Samuel Palmer was one of the
leading British landscape painters of
the 19th century. Inspired by his
mentor, the artist and poet William
Blake, Palmer brought a new
spiritual intensity to his
interpretation of nature, producing
works of unprecedented boldness
and fervency. Pre-eminent scholar
William Vaughan – who organised
the Palmer retrospective at the
British Museum in 2005 – draws on
unpublished diaries and letters,
offering a fresh interpretation of one
of the most attractive, sympathetic,
yet idiosyncratic figures of the 19th
century. Far from being a recluse, as
he often is presented, Palmer was
actively engaged in Victorian cultural
life and sought to exert a moral
power through his artwork.
Beautifully illustrated with Palmer’s
visionary and enchanted landscapes,
the book contains rich studies of his
work, influences and resources.
Vaughan also shows how, later,
enthralled by the Pre-Raphaelite
movement, Palmer manipulated his
own artistic image to harmonise with
it. Little appreciated in his lifetime,
Palmer is now hailed as a precursor
of modernism in the 20th century.
William Vaughan is professor
emeritus of History of Art at
Birkbeck, University of London.
May
368 pp. 280x245mm. 80 colour + 140 b/w illus.
HB ISBN 978-0-300-20985-3 £50.00
ya l e c e n t e r f o r b r i t i s h a r t For complete details of the following exhibitions and programs, please visit britishart.yale.edu, phone +1 203 432 2800, or e-mail [email protected] Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 USA
EXHIBITION
The Critique of Reason: Romantic Art, 1760–1860
6 MARCH—26 JULY, 2015
Yale University Art Gallery 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven
The first major exhibition to be co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery brings together treasures from the collections of both museums. The show comprises works in different media by artists such as David d’Angers, William Blake, John Constable, Honoré Daumier, Eugène Delacroix, Henri Fuseli, Théodore Géricault, Francisco de Goya, and J. M. W. Turner that expand the view of Romanticism as a movement opposed to reason and scientific method. The broad range of works selected challenges the traditional notion of the Romantic artist as a brooding genius given to introversion and fantasy. Augmented with select loans from private collections and Yale’s Lewis Walpole Library, the exhibition celebrates the richness and range of Romantic art at the university, representing it afresh for a new generation of museumgoers.
The Critique of Reason: Romantic Art, 1760–1860 has been co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery. The curators are, at the Center, A. Cassandra Albinson, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, and Nina Amstutz, Postdoc-toral Research Associate, and, at the Gallery, Elisabeth (Lisa) Hodermarsky, Sutphin Family Senior Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, and Paola D’Agostino, Nina and Lee Griggs Assistant Curator of European Art; and Izabel Gass, Graduate Research Assistant, at the Center and Gallery. The exhibition has been made possible by the Art Gallery Exhibition and Publication Fund, and the Robert Lehman, ba 1913, Endowment Fund, as well as by funds from the Yale Center for British Art Program Endowment.
EXHIBITION OPENING LECTURETHURSDAY, 5 MARCH, 5:30 PM
Song without Words: The Romanticism Experience
Joseph Leo Koerner, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Victor S. Thomas Professor of the History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
Romanticism is perhaps best defined by its refusing definition. Intensifying the subjective nature of human experience, Romantic artists reached toward willfully indeterminate goals. They launched their work as songs without words, that is, as open-ended expressions that each individual viewer creatively completes. Joseph Leo Koerner puts words to some of the pictures in the exhibition The Critique of Reason: Romantic Art, 1760–1860. Reception to follow.
This program will be held in the Robert L. McNeil Jr. Lecture Hall, Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street. It is generously sponsored by the Martin A. Ryerson Lectureship Fund.
PAUL MELLON LECTURES
Sculpture on the Threshold: An Inquiry into the Underlying Forms of Sculpture
Penelope Curtis, Director, Tate Britain
The Paul Mellon Lectures are given biennially by an invited specialist in British art, first at the National Gallery, London, with the support of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and again at the Yale Center for British Art. The series of five lectures will be given at the National Gallery in London on 19 and 26 January, and 2, 9, and 16 February; and at Yale University on 16, 21, 23, 28, and 30 April.
Curtis’s lectures take a wide-ranging look at the underlying forms of sculpture. Focusing on four key aspects—the vertical, the hori-zontal, the closed, and the open—the lectures explore sculptural forms across time and suggest fundamental continuities. Taking examples from the early medieval to the present, and looking at utilitarian as well as idealizing formulae, the series suggests that we bring a deep subliminal understanding to our experience of sculpture, and that sculpture occupies a position on the physical and conceptual threshold of our familiar world.
As of January, the Yale Center for British Art is closed to the public for thirteen months while it implements the second phase of its interior conservation project. Both the public galleries and the Lecture Hall will be refurbished, and the Center’s infrastructure will be significantly upgraded. The project is guided by more than a decade of study that resulted in the
publication, in 2011, of a conservation plan dedicated to preserving and maintaining the Center’s landmark building designed by Louis I. Kahn (1901–1974).
For updates on the project throughout the year, visit britishart.yale.edu/bcp.
YCBA BUILDING CONSERVATION PROJECT
above: J. M. W. Turner, Fluelen: Morning (Looking towards the Lake), 1845, watercolour, gouache, and scratching out on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. below: Photo by Richard Caspole