Vanderbilt University History of Art Blog

Student-Curated Exhibit Features Objects from Ancient China

From Tomb to Temple: Unearthing Ancient China Through the Vanderbilt University Art Collection, an exhibit organized by the Department of History of Art in conjunction with the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, will open on Thursday, June 19, in Cohen Memorial Hall on the Peabody campus. The exhibit represents the first student-curated exhibit to be displayed in the Cohen gallery.

Origin legends generally offer insights into what people think is most important in their culture. According to the Chinese, man is not the culminating achievement of creation, but is integral to the natural world. Spirituality is found in nature, from the circular dome of heaven wherein celestial bodies revolve, to the earth below on which mountains and rivers were formed. Objects on display in this exhibition represent the divine forces of heaven and earth, gods and ancestors.

China looks back upon the oldest continuous artistic tradition existing in the world today. Other civilizations predated the Chinese, but only in China does a current civilization exist in unbroken continuity for well over four thousand years. Many characteristics of ancient Chinese art have persisted or recurred throughout centuries. This exhibition samples two concentrations that distinguish the holdings of the Fine Arts Gallery: the personalized sculpture of the tomb, and universalized objects of the temple. It is arranged with respect to these subcategories, while emphasizing the relationship among tomb, temple, and divine mountains.

This exhibition, which closes on October 12, is curated by students of the course Exhibiting Historical Art: The Sculptural Traditions of Imperial China—Hana Betts, Corey Bowen, Jessica DeAngelo, Lucy Gonzalez, Emily Grant, Thasin Jaigirdar, Jenna Lindley, Ming Yang Lu, Elisa Marks, Laura Payne, and Alex Penn.

Vanderbilt alumnus Fan Jeremy Zhang, Curator of Asian Art, Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida, will present a History of Art Alumni Lecture and Gallery Talk on October 9 at 4:10 p.m. in Cohen 203. His lecture is entitled “Chinese Funerary Art in its Cultural and Architectural Context.”

Gallery hours (June 19-August 19) are 12-4 pm, Tuesday through Friday; 1-5 pm, Saturday; and closed Sunday and Monday. From August 20-October 12, the gallery will be open from 11 am-4 pm, Monday through Friday; and 1-5 pm, Saturday and Sunday.

Free and open to the public, the Fine Arts Gallery is housed in Cohen Memorial Hall, 1220 21st Avenue South, on the western edge of the Peabody College campus. Parking is available in Lot 95 outside Cohen Hall, off 21st Avenue South on the Peabody campus and across from Medical Center East. For further information, please visit vanderbilt.edu/gallery.

* Horse with Rider, Western Han dynasty (206 BCE-9 CE)
Earthenware with pigment, 13 1/2 x 11 3/4 x 4 1/2″
Gift of Chauncey P. Lowe, 2000

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on June 11, 2014 in Events, Fine Arts Gallery, HART, Lectures, Student/Alumni

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Book by Christopher Johns Set for Fall 2014 Release

Until relatively recently, most scholars considered the notion of a Catholic Enlightenment either oxymoronic or even illusory, since the received wisdom was that the Catholic Church was a tireless and indefatigable enemy of modernist progress. According to Christopher Johns, Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Professor of History of Art, the eighteenth-century papacy recognized many of the advantages of engaging with certain aspects of enlightenment thinking, and many in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, both in Italy and abroad, were sincerely interested in making the Church more relevant in the modern world and, above all, in reforming the various institutions that governed society.

In his latest book Johns presents the visual culture of papal Rome as a major change agent in the cause of Catholic enlightenment while assessing its continuing links to tradition. The Visual Culture of Catholic Enlightenment, to be released in the fall by Penn State University Press, sheds substantial light on the relationship between eighteenth-century Roman society and visual culture and the role of religion in both.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on June 10, 2014 in HART, VRC

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Awards Presented at Reception for 2014 HART Graduates

History of Art majors and minors and their families were honored at the department’s reception for graduating seniors on Thursday, May 8, in the atrium of Cohen Memorial Hall.

Elizabeth Schoenberg, who plans to attend medical school, received the Cooley Prize ($250) for the highest grade point average in the history of art. Three students were recognized with an honorable mention ($50 each): Erin Baldwin, who will attend law school at Yale University, Grace Coggins, and Camden Martin, who plans to attend medical school.

Jenna Lindley, Zachary Richards, and Elizabeth Schoenberg were recognized as recipients of the Frances and John Downing Undergraduate Research Travel Awards earlier in the academic year. These grants, which provide assistance for up to $1,500 in travel cost to exhibitions and research centers, are awarded in the fall and spring of each academic year.

Hilary Giroux received the Vanderbilt Wattles Fellowship, which offers a one-year, fully integrated position in the London insurance market at Lloyd’s of London. Jordan Comstock will attend medical school at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Zachary Richards has plans for law school.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on May 13, 2014 in Events, HART, Student/Alumni, VRC

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Halle O’Neal to Present Lecture at Cheekwood on May 15

Celebrated for its flexibility and strength, the perennial bamboo has enjoyed diverse lives in Japanese art and culture—from delectable edibles and delicately carved tea utensils to bold ink splashes and conceptual sculptures.

Hallie O’Neal, Mellon Assistant Professor of History of Art, will explore these various manifestations, many of which balance on the edge of function and art, in a lecture at Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art on Thursday, May 15, at noon. Her lecture, entitled “Bending Blades of Grass: Bamboo in Japanese Art and Culture,” is part of the Lunch and Lecture series and will be held in the Potter Room of Botanic Hall (also known as the Visitor Center).

O’Neal’s lecture is coordinated with a current exhibit at Cheekwood, “Modern Twist: Contemporary Japanese Bamboo Art,” that explores the rising awareness of bamboo as an innovative art form.

*Uematsu Chikuyu, Sound of Wind, 1991. Bamboo (madake), rattan, lacquer.
Photo © Susan Einstein

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on May 13, 2014 in HART, HART in Nashville, Lectures, VRC

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Farandole—An Elegy in Art and Poetry On View Through June 5

Farandole: An Elegy in Art and Poetry, presented as a companion exhibition to History’s Shadow: German Art and the Formulation of National Identity, brings together two European cultural figures of the latter part of the twentieth century: artist Hans Hartung (1904-1989) and novelist and poet Jean Proal (1904-1969). Published in 1972 as a portfolio of lithographs by Hartung with an accompanying poem by Proal, Farandole, the title of Proal’s poem and the collaboration itself, is taken from the name of an open-chain community dance popular in Provence.

Hartung, a German-born French artist, became interested in painting following his studies in music, astronomy, philosophy, and religion. His work was strongly influenced by the Expressionists, in particular, Oskar Kokoschka, who is featured in History’s Shadow. Hartung developed his signature calligraphic style in the 1930s. He returned to Berlin in 1935, but left soon after for Paris to escape harassment by the Nazi party. Like several other artists featured in the companion exhibition, Hartung served in the military, in his case, the French Foreign Legion, and he was severely injured.

Proal was a French writer of a dozen novels, a series of nonfiction works, and a number of poems. Proal also served in the military but was discharged after one year for health reasons. Later he moved to Saint-Remy-de-Provence, where he began a friendship with the poet, novelist, and journalist Louis Aragon and such painters as Hans Hartung and Mario Prassinos. Proal received the Grand Prize from the Society of Men of Letters for his novel Salt and Ash in 1953.

On view through June 5, Farandole—An Elegy in Art and Poetry is organized by the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery and curated by Joseph Mella, gallery director.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4 pm, and Saturday, 1-5 pm from May 1-June 5. Free and open to the public, the Fine Arts Gallery is housed in Cohen Memorial Hall, 1220 21st Avenue South, on the western edge of the Peabody College campus. Parking is available in Lot 95 outside Cohen Hall, off 21st Avenue South on the Peabody campus and across from Medical Center East.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on May 5, 2014 in Fine Arts Gallery, HART, VRC

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Department to Honor HART Graduates at Reception on May 8

History of Art majors and minors and their families are invited to attend the department’s reception for our graduating seniors on Thursday, May 8, from 2 to 4:00 p.m. The event will be held in the atrium of Cohen Memorial Hall on the Peabody campus, and awards will be presented at 3:00 p.m.

Graduates and their families attending the reception are also invited to view the current exhibit in the Fine Arts Gallery near the atrium from noon to 4:00 p.m. Presented as the first survey of German art from the Fine Arts Gallery’s collections, History’s Shadow: German Art and the Formulation of National Identity addresses the role of history in shaping German art and how that history has influenced the formulation of German identity.

The gallery will also be open on Commencement Day (Friday, May 9) from noon to 4 p.m., and Saturday, May 10, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on May 5, 2014 in Events, Fine Arts Gallery, HART, Student/Alumni, VRC

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Free Coffee Available in the VRC Now Through Thursday, May 1

As the spring semester comes to an end, the Visual Resources Center invites students, faculty, and staff to join us for a free cup of coffee—or two or three—in Cohen 134. Coffee will be available throughout the day from now through the last day of exams, which is Thursday, May 1.

Pour yourself a cup and dash to class or stay for a while and review images streaming across the big screen at the end of our large study table or simply sit down and take some time to relax and enjoy a cup of java. The VRC is open weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on April 15, 2014 in HART, VRC

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Andrew Wilburn to Deliver Archaeology Lecture on April 10

Andrew T. Wilburn, associate professor of classics and archaeological studies at Oberlin College, will deliver the Archaeological Institute of America lecture at 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 10, at the Nashville Parthenon. His lecture is entitled “Sorcery in the Soil: Finding Magic at Graeco-Roman Karanis in Egypt.”

His areas of specialization are Graeco-Roman Egypt and the archaeology of ritual and magic. He has been involved in fieldwork at Abydos, Corinth, Tel Kedesh and Caesarea in Israel, and on Cyprus. In his book, Materia Magica: The Archaeology of Magic in Roman Egypt, Cyprus, and Spain (University of Michigan Press, 2013), Wilburn focuses on three sites in the Mediterranean—Karanis in Egypt, Amathous on Cyprus, and Empúries in Spain. He attempts to discover magic in the objects of daily life from antiquity, suggesting that individuals frequently turned to magic, particularly in times of crisis.

Free and open to the public, Wilburn’s lecture is sponsored by the Nashville Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, the Nashville Parthenon, and Vanderbilt’s Department of Classical Studies and Department of History of Art. Those who plan to attend the lecture are encouraged to call the Nashville Parthenon at 615.862.8431 to reserve a seat.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on April 8, 2014 in HART, Lectures, VRC

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HART Students to Present Papers at Writing Symposium March 30

Three of our students—Ashley Shan, Zachary Richards, and Hannah Berg—will present papers at the Undergraduate Writing Symposium held Sunday, March 30, at the Ingram Commons Center. Betsey Robinson, Associate Professor of History of Art, will chair the panel session, Art Across Time and Space, which will meet in room 233 from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Shan, a sophomore in sociology and history of art, will examine a series of prints by the Japanese artist Yoshitoshi based on her work with Halle O’Neal, Mellon Assistant Professor of History of Art. Her paper is entitled Capturing Uncertainty: Yoshitoshi and his Eimei Nijūsasshūku (Twenty-Eight Famous Murders with Verse).

Zachary Richards, a senior in history of art and philosophy, will speak on an ancient Roman cosmological floor mosaic at Merida, Spain, which he studied with Robinson and saw firsthand thanks to a Downing Grant. His paper is entitled The House of the Mithraeum and Its Cosmological Mosaic: Preserving Pagan Roman Tradition through Art.

Hannah Berg, a senior majoring in psychology and music, will speak on Tibetan amulet boxes and their role in helping their owners assert a physical and spiritual identity. Berg worked with Nancy Lin, Assistant Professor of History of Art, and her paper is entitled Ga’u and Perceived Space in Tibetan Thought.

The symposium features numerous panel sessions from 3 to 5:30 pm followed by closing remarks and a reception for panelists and their guests.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on March 26, 2014 in Events, HART, Student/Alumni, VRC

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Kevin Murphy to Speak at Film Theory and Visual Culture Seminar

Kevin Murphy, Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities and chair of the History of Art Department, and Sally O’Driscoll, associate professor of English, Fairfield University, will be featured speakers at the Film Theory and Visual Culture Seminar on Friday, March 28, from noon to 2 p.m. They will address “Ephemera as Intervention: Deploying the Visual” in the conference room of the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities on the Vanderbilt campus. Murphy and O’Driscoll are co-editors of Studies in Ephemera: Text and Image in Eighteenth-Century Print (2013).

Murphy’s work has focused on historicism in France and the United States, both with respect to new designs based on historic precedents and with regard to the preservation of historic sites. His publications include Memory and Modernity: Viollet-le-Duc at Vézelay (2000), Jonathan Fisher of Blue Hill, Maine: Commerce, Culture and Community on the Eastern Frontier (2010), several co-edited volumes, and numerous journal articles. He is currently working on a book that considers issues surrounding the commemoration of political revolution in the late 18th and 19th centuries by examining the contributions of the Marquis de Lafayette to French and American history.

O’Driscoll teaches 18th-century British literature and culture, women’s and gender studies, queer theory, and cultural studies. She has published in edited collections and in journals, including Signs, The British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Eighteenth-Century: Theory and Interpretation, and Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature.

This seminar aims to foster dialogue among faculty and graduate students across campus working in film, visual culture, art history, literature, and cultural studies, as well as anyone interested in theories of the image, philosophies of perception, aesthetics and critical theory, media histories, and the history of vision.

Lunch is included, and no RSVP is necessary. For more information, contact Jennifer Fay, seminar coordinator, at jennifer.m.fay@vanderbilt.edu.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on March 21, 2014 in HART, Lectures, VRC

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