Forthcoming Issues
The next two issues will be devote to The Art and Architecture of Rome and to aspects of Australian Art. A call for contributions for the Rome issue is found below. Details of the Australian Art issue will be available shortly.
Call for Contributions and Expressions of Interest
The Art and Architecture of the City of Rome 1200-1940
The next issue of Melbourne Art Journal will take the form of an edited book devoted to Rome from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, from a topographical perspective. The above title is provisional.
As with the last few issues of MAJ, the production will be in full colour, with the highest quality printing. The design and layout will be revised to a more book-like format.
Because this publication will be presented as a scholarly book accessible to the general reader, the editor will be encouraging contributors to base their offerings in research in their own particular specialism, but to contextualise them fully, so that their contribution opens a window onto a particular part or parts of Rome.
Because of the high production values contributors will be encouraged to make their contributions visually impressive, by using as many old view paintings, drawings, and maps as appropriate, as well as high quality photographs of Rome today. I would draw your attention to the British Museum prints and drawings image database, which represents an extraordinary resource of drawings and prints. These are downloadable, and free for scholarly publications. I also have a range of photographs of Rome which I can make available to contributors.
The particular focus of contributions may vary. They may include such approaches as: urbanistic studies of particular areas of Rome; architectural history studies of particular buildings; studies of views of Roman sites; studies of particular monuments (sculpture, painting, mosaic) in situ (or recovering their original installations); patronage or collection studies that are place-centred; historical events as viewed through paintings, drawings and prints; any many others. In all cases contributors must be prepared to accept some direction in shaping their core research into chapters that support the shape of the volume as a whole.
The topographical range may extend from the city of Rome to the surrounding Campagna.
Some expressions of interest already received include: a study of the fishmarket area (the peschiera, around the Porticus of Octavia) in the High Middle Ages; the topography and views of the Tiber valley from Ponte Milvio to La Crescenza in the 17th-19th centuries (the ‘Promenade de Poussin’); Roman church facades of the period 1710-1730.
Contributions can be of book chapter length – i.e. 5000-8,000 words, including sections that may need to be developed to develop the context.
MAJ has an ‘A’ rating in the Australian Government ERA (research rankings) exercise. This volume will have an ISSN and ISBN number, so that contributions can be identified as book chapters or refereed journal contributions as required. MAJ has been published since 1997.
Contributors receive 5 copies.
Expressions of interest should reach the editor as soon as possible, but no later than January 31. Full texts and photographs need to be received by the end of May. Publication is planned for the end of 2011.
Send expressions of interest or contributions to: david.marshall@unimelb.edu.au
