Vanderbilt University History of Art Blog

Computational Archaeologist Isaac Ullah to Present Lecture at DH Center on October 2

Isaac Ullah, assistant professor of anthropology, San Diego State University, will deliver a lecture on “Computational Modeling, Archaeology, and the Anthropocene” at the Center for Digital Humanities on Tuesday, October 2, from 3:00-4:30 pm.

Ullah (PhD, Arizona State University, 2013) is a computational archaeologist who employs GIS and simulation modeling to understand the long-term dynamics of humans and the Earth System. He is particularly interested in the social and environmental changes surrounding the advent of farming and animal husbandry. His focus is on Mediterranean and other semi-arid landscapes, and he conducts fieldwork in Jordan, Italy, and Kazakhstan. His field work includes survey for and excavation of early agricultural sites as well as geoarchaeological analyses of anthropogenic landscapes. His specialties include landscape evolution, complex adaptive systems science, computational methods, geospatial analysis, and imagery analysis.

In his lecture Ullah will discuss a computational archaeology approach that takes the perspective that the Anthropocene is the accumulated physical record of ancient “Social-Ecological Systems” (SES). “I will discuss how we can build, test, and use simulation models from archaeological data, and will showcase a suite of new modeling validation techniques that can help us connect simulation results to the physical proxy record of past human land-use to help us verify model output,” said Ullah. “These new techniques are expandable and ultimately should help us to more fully understand the dynamics of SES in the Anthropocene.”

Cosponsors for the lecture are the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, the Program in Environmental and Sustainability Studies, the Department of the History of Art, the Program in Classical and Mediterranean Studies, and the Department of Anthropology.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 26, 2018 in Digital Humanities, Events, HART, Lectures, News, Technology, Vanderbilt University, VRC

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Kevin Murphy to Host Commodore Classroom in NYC on September 30

New York’s historic Hudson Valley has been a crucible for art making since the mid-nineteenth century. Since the publication of Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow in 1820, the region’s storied history has excited the imaginations of literary figures, visual artists and patrons, including the Vanderbilt family.

Kevin Murphy, chair and professor of history of art, will host the Metro NY September 2018 Commodore Classroom in New York City on September 30. Murphy will introduce Vanderbilt alums to some of the major cultural figures of the Hudson Valley, from Washington Irving to Edith Wharton to Frederick Church—the Hudson River School painter and builder of “Olana.”  His lecture, “The Historic Hudson Valley: Crucible of the Arts,” will conclude with remarks from guest artist Vincent Pomilio who paints in the Hudson Valley and whose work is currently on view at the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, New York.

*Olana is the home, studio and designed landscape of Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). Built between 1870 and 1872, Olana is a hybrid of Victorian and Middle Eastern architectural styles, designed with the help of Calvert Vaux, one of the architects of Central Park.

 

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 25, 2018 in Events, HART, Lectures, News, Student/Alumni, Vanderbilt University, VRC

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Joseph Rife to Examine Caesarea Maritima and Excavations in September 27 AIA Lecture

Joseph Rife, associate professor and director, Classical and Mediterranean Studies, will deliver the Archaeological Institute of America Lecture on Thursday, September 27, at 6 pm in Cohen Hall 203 on the Peabody campus. In his lecture, entitled “A City by the Sea: Caesarea Maritima in Israel and the New Vanderbilt Excavations,” Rife will explore the site’s historical development and modern exploration, highlighting the results of the first season of excavation in 2018 by the new Vanderbilt University campaign to uncover the heart of the Roman and Medieval city.

From the earliest years of the Roman Empire through the fall of the Crusader Kingdom in the Holy Land, Caesarea Maritima was a thriving hub of wealth and power. One of the largest ports on the eastern Mediterranean seaboard alongside Alexandria to the south and Antioch to the north, Caesarea was a booming harbor that received frequent traffic from throughout the Mediterranean world. Caesarea also emerged as a pivotal locale for the assertion and contestation of authority by the Abrahamic religions both new and old.

It is therefore not surprising that Caesarea is one of the richest archaeological sites along the eastern Mediterranean seaboard and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Israel. In short, the archaeological site offers a field laboratory of unparalleled abundance, complexity, and preservation for studying the evolution of a Mediterranean community during Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Free and open to the public, the lecture is cosponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America, the Program in Classical and Mediterranean Studies, and the Department of History of Art. Parking is available, free of charge, anywhere in Lot 95 on the western edge of Peabody campus, accessible from 21st Avenue South.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 21, 2018 in Events, HART, Lectures, News, Vanderbilt University, VRC

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Kevin Murphy and Rebecca VanDiver Among 2018-2019 Warren Center Faculty Fellows

The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities will host a year-long interdisciplinary faculty seminar to explore the significance of printed words and images in Early Modern Europe and North America. Kevin Murphy, Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities and professor of history of art, and Mark Hosford, chair and associate professor of art, will co-direct the 2018-2019 Warren Center Fellows Program entitled “The World of Print(s): Multiples and Meanings in Early Modern Europe and North America.”

Other Vanderbilt professors participating in the program are José A. Cárdenas Bunsen (Spanish and Portuguese), Jana Harper (art), Paul C. H. Lim (Divinity School and history), David Price (religious studies), and Rebecca VanDiver (history of art). The visiting fellow is Patricia Fumerton (English) from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Though the current age is often considered unique in terms of the amount of information constantly flooding the airwaves and the Internet, it is important to historicize the current phenomenon in comparison to the Early Modern period when there was an explosion of printed materials that similarly saturated the West. The advent of cheap print in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries meant that larger audiences than ever before had access to the marketplace of written words, some serious and thoughtful, some salacious and sensational. Images on woodblocks combined with moveable type made possible the publication of a variety of illustrated texts as well. The visual culture brought about by the advent of this technology in the Early Modern period was the backdrop to the work of some of the most celebrated printmakers of all time.

The seminar participants will put printed works—comprising both textual and visual elements—at the center of an analysis that sees them as representations of discourses external to the objects and, at the same time, as material things. Seminar participants will draw upon contemporary scholarship through various disciplinary lenses, including literary theory and art history.  By bridging a variety of disciplines, scholars in the seminar will produce a synthetic view of Early Modern visual culture and its role in shaping political and social opinion. This collaborative work will lead to new perspectives on current debates regarding the presentation and circulation of information and images in the twenty-first century.

The group will meet regularly and will have access to generous program funds from the Warren Center that can be used for visiting speakers, conferences, or other appropriate program‑related expenses. The seminar provides an unusual opportunity for scholars with a variety of specializations to work cooperatively on a common issue in a sustained manner.

*Albrecht Dürer (German,1471–1528). Melencolia I, engraving, 1514.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 17, 2018 in HART, News, Vanderbilt University, VRC

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Vivien Fryd to Present Paper at Smithsonian Archives of American Art

Vivien Fryd, professor of history of art, will deliver a paper, “Henry Ries’ Iconic Photograph of the Berlin Airlift,” on October 18 at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Washington, DC. The seminar is sponsored by the Archives, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The iconic photographs of Henry Ries (1917-2004), a celebrated photojournalist for the New York Times (1947-1955), especially in Germany, documented the destruction of Berlin after WWII and the Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1947-1949). His most iconic photograph, Landing of the Candy Bombers at Tempelhof Airport (1948), can be found on post cards sold in various Berlin museums and tourist destinations (i.e., the TV Tower, Holocaust Museum, and Museum Berggruen), on the U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamp in 1998 to honor the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Blockade, and on Wikipedia under “Berlin Blockade.”

The photograph also formed the basis of a variety of exhibitions in Berlin and the United States between 1948 and 2008, including the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Goethe Haus in New York City, the Willy-Brandt Haus in Berlin, the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin, and the German Historical Museum in Berlin. It was on display in an exhibition held in 2003 in conjunction with the German government awarding Ries the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit, the highest award for citizens of other countries.

“This paper will argue that the photograph, taken by this transatlantic photojournalist who is my uncle, signifies not only hope but also the transformation of the U.S. from an enemy to a friend, indeed a rescuer in the midst of what marks the end of WWII, the beginning of the Cold War, and the resultant division between East and West Berlin,” said Fryd.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 14, 2018 in Events, HART, Lectures, News, Vanderbilt University, VRC

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Photographer B. S. Shivaraju Documents the Lives of Unsung Heroes

Named one of India’s top 15 rising artists, photographer B. S. Shivaraju (aka Cop Shiva) documents the complexity of rural and urban India through portraiture. He is fascinated with the idea of masquerade and the roles people play in public and private. His first professional project, “Being Gandhi,” reflects this interest in documenting the lives of unsung heroes.

Shivaraju will present a talk at 4:10 pm on Thursday, September 20, in Buttrick Hall 206 in conjunction with the exhibition On Being Gandhi: The Art and Politics of Seeing at the Leu Art Gallery in the Lila D. Bunch Library, Belmont University (opening September 28). One of Shivaraju’s most critically acclaimed projects, the exhibition features his photographs of Bagadehalli Basvaraju, a village schoolteacher who routinely impersonates Mahatma Gandhi. “This project has evolved to include a broader reach, which is to look at Gandhi’s ideals in contemporary India,” wrote Shivaraju.

His lecture at Vanderbilt is sponsored by the Departments of History, Political Science, Art, History of Art, Religious Studies, and Asian Studies.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 14, 2018 in Events, HART, Lectures, News, Vanderbilt University

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Rebecca VanDiver to Coordinate Seminar at Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities

Rebecca VanDiver, assistant professor of African American art, Moses Ochonu, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of History, and Tasha Rijke-Epstein, assistant professor of history, will coordinate a seminar this fall at the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. This seminar, entitled “Critical Approaches to African Studies,” will bring together faculty and students from diverse fields across campus to explore cutting-edge topics relating to Africa’s past and present. Meetings are scheduled at noon on September 19, October 31 (featuring Abdulbasit Kassim, doctoral student in religion, Rice University), and November 14.

Reflecting Africa’s long-standing central place in the modern world, the seminar will foreground historical and contemporary experiences of commercial, political, cultural and ecological changes across and beyond the continent. Participants will delve into such subthemes as entrepreneurialism, urban life, religious traditions, violence, and artistic expression. Through engagement with leading scholarship across a range of fields, this workshop invites participants to sharpen their analytical and theoretical approaches to African studies.

 

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 11, 2018 in HART, News, Vanderbilt University, VRC

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Fine Arts Gallery Features Panel Discussion About Current Exhibit on September 12

More than 200 people filled the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery and atrium of Cohen Hall for the opening of I AM: Middle Eastern Women Artists and the Quest to Build Peace on Thursday, August 30.

“We fail to leave an impact on the world unless we broadly engage the many ways that people are experiencing it,” said Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos who hosted the event. “Vanderbilt and Nashville are uniquely positioned as a beacon for driving global understanding. We welcome all voices and all ways that lead to learning.”

Other special guests included The Rev. Paul-Gordon Chandler, founding president of CARAVAN, and featured Bahranian artist Sheikha Lulwa Al-Khalifa.

On view through October 10, the exhibit features the work of 31 premier Middle Eastern women artists from 12 countries, visually celebrating the pivotal contributions that women make to the enduring global quest for harmony and peace.

The next program scheduled in conjunction with the exhibit is a panel discussion on Wednesday, September 12, at 5 pm in Cohen 203. Free and open to the public, this panel will feature Nahed Artoul Zehr, executive director of the Faith and Culture Center; Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair of Fine Arts, and Joseph Mella, director of the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, as moderator. The exhibit and program are supported by the Office of the Chancellor.

The Fine Arts Gallery is located in Cohen Memorial Hall at 1220 21st Avenue South on the Peabody College campus. Gallery hours are from 11 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday, and from 1 to 5 pm weekends.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 7, 2018 in Events, Fine Arts Gallery, HART, Lectures, News, Vanderbilt University, VRC

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Heeryoon Shin Presents Paper at European Conference on South Asian Studies

Heeryoon Shin, Mellon Assistant Professor of Asian Art, presented a paper, “Winged Fairies in the City of Shiva: The Amethi Temple in Banaras and Courtly Culture at the Margins,” at the European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS) held July 24-27 in Paris, France. The overall theme addressed by Shin’s conference panel was “Major Patrons in Minor Courts: Rethinking Early Modern Cultural Production.” Her paper will be published in an edited volume on Banaras.

Shin and other panelists examined the role of patrons and artists “at the margins” in the fashioning of early modern culture, i.e., outside the main cultural centers of North India, including small courts, religious centers, and elite households.

*Winged bracket figures from the Amethi Temple in Banaras, India

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on September 7, 2018 in Conferences, Events, HART, Lectures, News, Vanderbilt University, VRC

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Kevin Murphy Attends Printmaking Workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

Kevin Murphy, professor of history of art, participated in a two-week printmaking workshop (August 12-24) at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine. The workshop, “Lasting a Day, Forever: Screen Print & Ephemera,” was led by Emily Arthur, a printmaker who teaches at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and incorporates found ephemeral imagery into her art. She works with zoologists and botanists to elucidate the craft and knowledge-based disciplines of art and science at this moment when both are being distorted and devalued.

“Considering the history of ephemera, as well as its presence in contemporary art,” said Murphy, “the workshop was an ideal complement to the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities year-long interdisciplinary faculty seminar (The World of Print(s): Multiples and Meanings in Early Modern Europe and North America) that Mark Hosford and I are leading this year, and in which Rebecca VanDiver is also participating.” The Warren Center will host the 2018-2019 Faculty Fellows Program to explore the significance of printed words and images in Early Modern Europe and North America.

Posted by vrcvanderbilt on August 29, 2018 in HART, News, VRC

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