Research Events

Dr Karen Lang has recently returned from Moscow where she delivered a lecture entitled 'The German Past and the Painter's Hope: Gerhard Richter at the Jewish Museum, Moscow'. The event took place on 26th January at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.

Our photo (right) shows Karen with Liya Chechik, Director of Education at the Museum. Liya studied for her History of Art MA here in the Department just a few years ago.

Missing Venice or looking forward to heading there this autumn? Tune in to our colleague from Classics, Dr Michael Scott, on BBC iPlayer.

Welcome back to all all students, including those returning from Venice. We wish you all a great start to the new term and academic year. I particularly look forward to meeting first year and diploma students during our Welcome Reception next week on Thursday 19th January from 5-6.30 pm in the Millburn House Foyer (at the side of the building).

Louise Bourdua, Head of Department

History of Art Associate Professor Lorenzo Pericolo joined members of the Royal Shakespeare Company this week at their rehearsal of a new play The Seven Acts of Mercy. The play tracks the creation of Caravaggio’s famous work of the same name which shows seven acts of kindness in a single scene, and which was painted after the artist had killed a man and fled from Rome. Dr Pericolo, author of two books on Caravaggio, answered questions about the artist's approach to painting, his life and reputation, and how he created The Seven Acts of Mercy. The Company included the play’s writer Anders Lustgarten, director Erica Whyman and Patrick O’Kane, who is playing Caravaggio. Find out more on the RSC news page.

The Seven Acts of Mercy opens in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on 24 November.

There is a coach trip for students at the University of Warwick on 24 November.

Professor Tracy E. Cooper (Temple University, Philadelphia) to deliver lecture on The Last Dogaressa: Material Presence, Gender, and Elite Identity in Early Modern Venice.

Alumni, friends and former staff are gathering in Venice this weekend to celebrate 40 years of teaching History of Art in Venice. Special events include tours and talks led by current and former staff, a careers session led by our alumni for current students, and an evening reception for all at the Warwick Palazzo. Our alumni can see more about this event on the Facebook group page: Warwick History of Art Alumni.

Dr Claire FitzGerald will give a talk today on the early twentieth-century stained-glass artist Margaret Rope. It will take place at Shrewsbury RC Cathedral at 2pm in front of some of Margaret's greatest works. The lecture is one of the activities complementing the Margaret Rope ‘Untold Story’ exhibtion at the Shrewsbury Art Gallery.

Jenny Alexander appeared this week in the first episode of Phil Spencer's Stately Homes. With Phil she looks at the masons' marks on the Roman Stair and at original documents from the archive. The programme, first shown on 9th August, is available for viewing for a limited time on the Channel 4 website: Episode 1 - Burghley House.

What happens when fine artists engage with architecture and urban space? What forms can such engagements take? What political issues arise at the junctures between these disciplines?

During the modern period, when artists and critics have often complained that fine art is overly remote from everyday life, one common way of overcoming this gap has been to draw on the greater social efficacy that architecture can seem to provide. However, in other instances artists have used their relatively autonomous position to criticise or interrupt the relationship between architecture, urbanisation and power.

This conference will explore these issues as they arise in practices spanning the period from the 1960s to the present, exploring intersections between art, architecture and urbanism both within and outside Europe and North America.

Organised by Bill Roberts, Teaching Fellow, History of Art.

Artists' Critical Interventions into Architecture and Urbanism,