Mellon Research Initiative: Events

Surfaces (15th-19th Centuries)

March 27, 2015
Organized by Noemie Etienne, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

This one-day symposium addresses the issue of surface in paintings, but also in sculptures, architecture and the decorative arts in Europe between the 15th and 19th centuries. The focus of this reflection is an examination of how surfaces function: how do their specific properties challenge representation or the viewer? How do they determine the consumption and engagement with the object? Later variations such as graffiti, repairs, or traces of multiple hands, may also be of interest in understanding how the surface of an artwork is redefined over time.

watch "Surfaces"online

SPEAKERS:
Daniella Berman, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU
Diane Bodart, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University 
Francisco Chaparro, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU
Christina Ferando, Visiting Assistant Professor, Williams College, Williamstown
Catherine Girard, Lecturer and Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University
Charlotte Guichard, Researcher, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
Matthew Hayes, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU
Etienne Jollet, Professor, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Laura Panadero, M.A. Candidate in Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU
Kari Rayner, M.A. Candidate in Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU
Susan Sidlauskas, Professor, Department of Art History, Rutgers University
Juanita Solano, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

DISCUSSION MODERATORS:
Finbarr Barry Flood, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of the Humanities, Institute of Fine Arts and College of Arts and Sciences, New York University

Jonathan Hay, Deputy Director for Faculty and Administration; Ailsa Mellon Bruce Professor of Fine Arts, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

Michele Marincola, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

RSVP information:

This event is open to the public, but an RSVP is required. To make a reservation for this event, please click here . Please note that seating in the Lecture Hall is on a first-come first-served basis with RSVP. A reservation does not guarantee a seat in the lecture hall. We will provide a simulcast in an adjacent room to accommodate overflow.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:
Public conference agenda:

9:00am 
Registration

9:30am
Introduction, Noémie Etienne, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

9:45am                 
Session I: An Anthropology of Surfaces

Charlotte Guichard, Researcher, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris:
Scratched Surfaces: Graffiti in Early Modern Rome

Catherine Girard, Lecturer and Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University:
Ambiguous Ref(l)ection: Experiencing French Rococo Paintings of Hunting Meals

Juanita Solano, Ph.D. Candidate, and Laura Panadero, M.A. Candidate in Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU:
Search of Depth: Deterioration and Consumption of Daguerreotype and Albumen Photographs

11:15-11:45am
Discussion
Moderated by Jonathan Hay, Deputy Director for Faculty and Administration; Ailsa Mellon Bruce Professor of Fine Arts, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

11:45am-1:00pm
Break

1:00pm
Session II: Making and Seeing

Diane Bodart, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University: Los borrones de Ticiano: The Venetian brushstroke and its Spanish translations

Francisco Chaparro, Ph.D. Candidate, and Matthew Hayes, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU: “Distant Strokes”. The Surface and the Painter in Las Meninas

Daniella Berman, Ph.D. Candidate, and Kari Rayner, M.A. Candidate in Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU: “Is this the stuff of painting?”: The Question of Finish in Eighteenth-Century France

2:30-3:00pm:
Discussion
Moderated by Michele Marincola, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of Conservation, Institute of Fine Arts-NYU

3:00-3:30pm
Break

3:30pm
Session III: Surface as Contact Zone: Texture and Touch

Etienne Jollet, Professor, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne: The Touch of Things: Surface Contacts in Chardin's Still-lives 

Christina Ferando, Visiting Assistant Professor, Williams College, Williamstown: The Deceptive Surface: Perception and Sculpture's Skin

Susan Sidlauskas, Professor, Department of Art History, Rutgers University: John Singer Sargent and the Physics of Touch

5:00-5:30pm: Discussion
Moderated by Finbarr Barry Flood, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of the Humanities, Institute of Fine Arts and College of Arts and Sciences, New York University

5:30pm                 
Reception (Loeb room)