Image: Reliquary bust of one of Saint Ursula’s virgins, anonymous, c. 1325 - c. 1349. Copyright Rijksmuseum.
The full program (download pdf) is now available for the conference Art, Objects and Emotions, 1400-1800 at the University of Melbourne. Registrations for the conference and conference dinner are now open, please register ASAP if you plan to attend.
Conference details
Date: Tuesday 15 November to Wednesday 16 November 2020
Venue: Woodward Conference Centre, 10th floor, Melbourne Law (Building 106), 185 Pelham Street, Carlton VIC 3053
Contact: Ms Julie Davies (daviesja@unimelb.edu.au), 03 8344 5981
‘Art’ wrote Susanne Langer ‘is the objectification of feeling.’ A century earlier, Paul Cezanne had made the more extravagant claim ‘A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.’ Although the impulse to define art in such succinct and finite terms might be deemed an essentially modern one, the wider notion of the inseparability of art and emotion, and the power of art to evoke strong feelings in viewers has a long history. In more recent times scholars have also begun to explore the role of material objects in human relationships through their power to evoke strong emotions. Artistic and non-artistic objects can generate desire and also violence, pride, belonging, devotion and disgust.
This collaboratory will consider the manifold ways in which art and objects depict, reflect, symbolise, communicate and regulate emotion in Europe in the period from c.1400 to c.1800, a period when objects of all kinds circulated widely and began to be systematically collected and displayed. From so-called fine art such as painting and sculpture, to decorative art and all manner of objects, we will examine the role of emotion in shaping our conception of art and objects, and likewise, of art and objects in shaping our understanding of emotion.