Weekend Reading

I have been planning some new posts, but I also have the most enormous pile of marking that I have been studiously avoiding and now have to spend the whole weekend on. So just imagine me under a pile of papers with a coffee or a wine (depending on which end of the day it is) crying over split infinitives and too much wikipedia in bibliographies.

In the meantime here are some links to some things I have read recently and wanted to share.

A blog I have just discovered called Enfilade, the writer describes it as a 'Serial Newsletter for the Historians of Eighteenth Century Art & Architecture'. I really admire this blog it has a range of links and short articles that relate to various aspects of the eighteenth century. From notes on important scholars, info on fellowships, discussions of exhibitions, and so on. Intelligent, but not overly wordy. A really good academic blog, which I think is quite an achievement.

A few articles from The Art Newspaper (you can follow them on twitter now too). I particularly like this one about the 19th century Spanish Queen Isabella II knowingly pulling the wool over the eyes of Pope Pius IX and giving him a fake painting.

I also enjoyed this one about Umberto Eco as guest curator for the Louvre, his subject is 'The infinity of Lists'. I love lists and art so naturally I really like the sound of this exhibition. Now I just need some kind of instant and free travel portal to take me to Paris to see it....

Finally, a funny piece on the types of Women you encounter in the art world.

Oh and in case you are curious (which I sincerely hope you are as being curious is a most attractive quality) the photo is of the library in the Abbey of St Nilus at Grottaferrata, south east of Rome. It is still reserved primarily for the use of the monks that live there, one of whom was kind enough to show us around when I visited last year.

Artists in Prison and weekend reading

A reminder about the lecture next week by Sophie Matthieson (curator of International Art at the NGV).

Captive Markets: Artists in Prison in the French Revolution

Hundreds of artists found themselves in prison during the French Revolution. While confined surprising numbers resumed painting, sculpting, drawing and even engraving. Few prisons were without some level or artistic production and exchange. Based on unpublished research of French prison archives and prison-made works of art, this lecture addresses some basic questions.

Who were the artists, and why were they imprisoned? What did they make and for whom? Using select case studies, this talk will propose some basic categories and functions of the prison-made object and present a model for its interpretation. It will also consider some of the wider implications of this curious and little-known area of cultural production for our understanding of the political prison in France in the period 1793-5.

Sophie Matthiesson is Curator of International Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. She has taught art history at the universities of Sussex, Manchester and Leeds. Her most recent publications are in the field of British Modernism, Surrealism, and cubism. The topic of the 2009 Margaret Manion lecture is drawn from her doctoral research on the artist in prison in the French Revolution.

6.30pm Tuesday 13 October 2009
Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre
The University of Melbourne

Weekend Reading

Some articles and blogs on art, architecture and gardens that have caught my eye over the past week. To be enjoyed with a cup of tea and possibly some kind of delicious cake.

Tom Turner "Rescue garden archaeology before the Olympic equestrian event in Greenwich" via Gardenvisit.com

Martin Bailey "Secret scandal of British Museum director’s masterpiece" via The Art Newspaper.

Three recent blog entries from Plinius at Some Landscape on Chinese landscapes and poetry:
The landscape of the bland
The Peach Blossom Spring
On a Tower Beside the Lake