In the week 23-27 May 2010 MA students in Art History and related fields will have the opportunity to participate in the annual Van Gogh Museum Visiting Fellow in the History of Nineteenth-Century Art seminar, sponsored by the Van Gogh Museum and the Universiteit van Amsterdam.

The aim of the Van Gogh Museum Visiting Fellow in the History of Nineteenth-Century Art seminar is to provide Master’s students with the opportunity to study a single yet wide-ranging subject in nineteenth-century art through an intensive one-week workshop taught by a leading scholar in the field and supported by the Van Gogh Museum. The seminar will introduce students to important issues in the study of nineteenth-century art and provide an impulse for further research. Its aim is to encourage interest in various aspects of the discipline, and to provide students not only with factual information, but more importantly with new methodological and theoretical perspectives on this important period in the history of art.

This year’s Visiting Fellow is Prof. Gabriel P. Weisberg of the University of Minnesota. Since the mid 1970's Prof. Weisberg has prepared a series of comprehensive exhibitions, catalogues, books, and articles that have focused on a variety of themes affecting French art from the middle of the nineteenth century until World War I. Many of these museum-based exhibitions and publications have played a role in redefining issues and re-conceptualizing the ways in which movements and artists in this era are now viewed and discussed. He is currently co-curating an exhibition in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum entitled Illusions of Reality. Naturalist Painting, Photography and Cinema (1875-1918), to open in Amsterdam in the autumn of 2010.

Illusions of Reality:

Naturalist Painting, Photography and Early Cinema, 1875-1918

The series of three three-hour seminars will investigate the ways in which the Naturalist movement was established throughout Europe during the last decades of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century. By examining the themes artists selected from countries as diverse as England, France, Belgium, Scandinavia, Russia and the United States a common awareness of social and religious issues emerges, addressed in large-scale paintings that were often on extended public view in Salons and museums. These paintings frequently contained a didactic message that the general public could easily understand, thanks to the readability and accuracy of a painting style that was both photographic and modern.

The seminar will investigate the ways in which Naturalist paintings were identified by critics and the types of themes that were singled out for discussion. It will also explore the role of photography as a tool assisting painters in constructing their compositions, the types of photographs used and their display, which helped increase the late nineteenth century public’s awareness of the medium. Finally, we will look at the ways in which films for the public advanced progressive Naturalist themes by referencing both popular literary sources and Naturalist paintings, thereby further disseminating the Naturalist message.

The seminar will consist of three sessions of three hours each, plus an afternoon excursion. A public introductory lecture will take place at the Van Gogh Museum on Sunday, 23 May. The seminar meetings will take place in the Library of the Van Gogh Museum (Museumplein 4) on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings (times to be announced); the excursion will take place on Tuesday afternoon.

Students will be supplied with the themes of the sessions and a list of readings in advance (December/January). These will introduce the material and issues, and will provide them with a series of questions and/or works of art which they will be expected to research before the seminar begins.

Extra information

Although students will be awarded 5 EC and a grade for participating in the seminar, it is not an official part of the Master’s program. It cannot be used to substitute either for core courses or electives. Students will be expected to work largely independently and to keep up with the course as an addition to their regular program.

An application for admission (CV and letter of motivation) is required.

Interested? Contact Dr. Rachel Esner: r.esner [at] uva.nl for more information (please put “VGM Visiting Fellow” in the subject line)

For information on registering from outside the University of Amsterdam see:

http://www.studeren.uva.nl/bachelor/object.cfm/objectid=f5844fde-b496-4288-876fc6d8a62066dd