“From Sacred to Secular”

 Art History Supplement, January 2015

Deadline for submission of 150-word abstracts: December 1, 2013

Deadline for submission of final papers: July 1, 2014

Contact: Katherine T. Brown, Guest Editor, ktbrown@walsh.edu

Art History Supplement seeks papers about works of art from any time period or culture that embody a dichotomy of the sacred and secular, especially works whose meanings or functions changed from devotional to civic, or vice versa, soon after creation or over an extended period of time. As an example, the image of the Madonna della Misericordia, or Mary of Mercy, has origins in Marian devotion but was adopted by lay confraternities as civic emblems of charity in 14^th-century Italy. In a more well-known example, Michelangelo originally sculpted the David in a religious context for placement on the Florentine Duomo. Yet after its completion in 1504, the work became a civic symbol for the Florentine Republic in its placement outside the Palazzo della Signoria. Likewise, Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes of 1460 depicts an Apocryphal theme that also served as a political metaphor for Medici rule in Florence.

Papers must contain a minimum of 3,000 words. Authors are responsible for securing high-quality digital images and securing rights to reproduce them electronically. Additional author guidelines can be found here: http://www.arths.org.uk/about/journal/author-s-guidelines

Call for papers
Art History Supplement, vol. 3, no. 6, November 2013
Deadline October 15, 2013

Advertising images / Art as advertisement

Images with advertising attitude frequently draw forms and figures from artworks. This appropriation is commonly discussed in each case as a reference to the particular work of art being discussed in the image of the advertisement, when it comes to an art history curriculum. The reception of that artwork would be the primary concern of that study. For instance, see John Berger (1972) Ways of Seeing, London: BBC and Penguin Books, chapter seven. The role of advertisement is primarily to communicate a certain message in order to support, in one way or another, the promotion, the sale or the awareness of a particular product. This product may be a commodity; including a person or an idea, for instance. Such a perspective inevitably brings art historians in front of a certain quandary.

When are these advertising images becoming part of a history of art (art history) curriculum on their own status? Could advertising images bridge the gap, if such a gap exists indeed, between history of art and history of images?

On the other hand, according to OED (2nd edition), for instance, an advertisement could be defined as: a) the turning of the mind to anything, b) the action of calling the attention of others; admonition, warning, precept, instruction, c) the action of informing or notifying; information, notification, notice, d) a (written) statement calling attention to anything; a notification, a ‘notice’, e) a public notice or announcement: formerly by the town-crier; now, usually, in writing or print, by placards, or in a journal; spec. a paid announcement in a newspaper or other print.

Yet, Hoepli describes the current meanings of pubblicità as a) L’essere fatto in pubblico, b) azione del far conoscere al pubblico, c) complesso delle varie forme di propaganda aventi lo scopo di far conoscere e di incrementare il consumo e l’uso di un prodotto commerciale, di un servizio, d) mezzo con cui si fa conoscere al pubblico, a scopo commerciale, un determinato prodotto, e) piccola pubblicità, nei giornali, la rubrica degli annunci economici.

While, John Florio (1611) in his Italian – English dictionary annotated the meaning of publicatione as a publication, a proclamation, a manifestation, a making knowen (p.408).

Wouldn’t all these above qualities be able to describe images regarded, for example, as renaissance and/ or early modern art? A) Religious or humanistic art communicating a political or cultural message, B) “preaching” through images, C) the narration or the narrative element of early modern painting, D) the dictum that images can be the Book of the illiterates, E) public devotional or secular commemorative art or the diffusion of engravings. The drawing of such intriguing parallels could be alleged to the role and the use of those art images in those times, based on the theoretical and their rhetorical structures, as patronage and reception studies, built upon the Panofskian model of “cultural” signs.

Papers and short notes are sought to support, or not, the advertising images as a traceable chapter in a history of art survey course; concerning the use of these images, along with any stylistic dimensions these images have. Moreover, submissions are being welcomed to investigate earlier examples of advertisements through renaissance and early modern religious, or not, paintings, portraits, engravings and ephemera.

For more information on author’s guidelines, visit http://www.arths.org.uk/about/journal/author-s-guidelines.

Note: Contributions to previous Art History Supplement CFPs are accepted anytime, since all our call for papers are mere thought provoking; as an ongoing research on the study of public and oral art history, and in art histories that have shaped art history, as well. Past CFPs can be found under http://arths.hypotheses.org/category/cfp.

More, artists are invited to submit artworks to be featured as cover page art. Send artistic contributions (jpeg or tiff, min. 300 dpi) to editor@arths.org.uk . In addition, Art Histories Society is looking for people, ideas and perspectives to actively contribute in its research and user generated content projects. Further, the calling for guest editors at Art History Supplement can be found at http://arths.hypotheses.org/269.