The formation of art history as a discipline during the 19th century has been variously associated with the politics of national identity, a growing bourgeois public in search of cultural capital and the expanding art market. However, the role of art training, and art practitioners themselves in the shaping of art history remains unexamined. Courses in art history had been systematically introduced into the curricula of art and architecture academies since the late 18th century, and spaces of art education, were among the first institutional homes of the discipline, well before the establishment of autonomous university chairs.

How did the institutional framework of art education and exposure to the problems of artistic practice affect the historical study of art? How did scholars’ engagement with contemporary art evolve alongside the growing academic recognition of art history within the university? How did artists themselves react to the emergence of a community of professional specialists claiming control over art discourse? To what extent did practitioners propose parallel or counter discourses in their works, writings or teachings? This conference aims to explore the interactions and productive tensions between art practice and art scholarship in the 19th century.

Program

Thursday, July 7
Venue: Technische Universität Berlin, Main Building (Hauptgebäude), Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Room H3005

14.30
Registration

15.00
Eleonora Vratskidou, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung/Technische Universität Berlin: Introduction. Art history, a discipline rooted in practice?

I. Art history in the art school: Institutional frameworks
Panel 1
Chair: Olga Medvedkova, CNRS-ENS

15.30
Heinrich Dilly, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg: Christian Friedrich Prange (1756-1836) und die älteste Provinzialkunstschule Preußens in Halle an der Saale

15.55
Eric Garberson, Virginia Commonwealth University: Wilhelm Stier’s (1799-1856) architectural history at the Bauakademie, Berlin

16.20
Discussion

17.00
Coffee break

Panel 2
Chair: Olga Medvedkova, CNRS-ENS

17.30
Pascal Griener, Université de Neuchâtel: Another wolf in the sheep yard: David Sutter (1811-1880) and the teaching of art history at the École des beaux-arts in Paris

17.55
Annalea Tunesi, Independent researcher: The polymath Aleardo Aleardi (1812-1878), professor of estetica applicata alle arti at the Art Academy in Florence

18.20
Foteini Vlachou, Universidade Nova de Lisboa: Defining the object of art history: Teaching at the Lisbon Academy of Fine Arts c. 1874-1911

18.45
Discussion

19.30
Reception

Friday July 8
Venue: Technische Universität Berlin, Main Building (Hauptgebäude), Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Room H 1035

I. Art history in the art school: Institutional frameworks
Panel 3
Chair: Andrea Meyer, Technische Universität Berlin

9.30
Bénédicte Savoy, Technische Universität Berlin: Das Museum als Ort der Künstlerausbildung um 1800

9.55
Deborah Schultz, Regent’s University London/University of Oxford: Photo archives and the role of photography in art education: The case of the Royal Academy in London in the late 19th century

10.20
Julia Witt, Technische Universität Berlin: Die Kunstgeschichte und die Reformen der deutschen Kunstakademien ab 1910. Eine unauflösliche Diskrepanz?

10.45
Discussion

11.30
Coffee break

II. Art history and the art of the present: Scholars and artists
Panel 1
Chair: Hubert Locher, Philipps-Universität Marburg

12.00
Robert Skwirblies, Technische Universität Berlin: „Die Einfalt der alten Zeiten“ und eine Bürgerschaft von Künstlern: Geschichtskonstruktion als Programmatik bei Johann David Passavant um 1820

12.25
Spyros Petritakis, University of Crete: Rudolf Steiner’s engagement with contemporary artists’ groups: Art-theoretical discourse within the anthroposophical milieu in Germany in the early 20th century

12.50
Émilie Oléron Evans, Institut d’Études Avancées, Strasbourg: Crafting the history of decorative arts: Das Kunstgewerbe in Elsass-Lothringen (1900-1906)

13.15
Discussion

14.00
Lunch break – free time

Panel 2
Chair: Hubert Locher, Philipps-Universität Marburg

15.30
Petra Brouwer, University of Amsterdam: Colliding times: The contemporary in 19th-century architectural history books

15.55
Melanie Sachs, Philipps-Universität Marburg: Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Kunstgeschichte für die mitlebende Kunst: Historismuskritik in kunsthistorischen Schriften um 1900

16.20
Yannis Hadjinicolaou, Humboldt Universität Berlin: ‘Die Neue Sachlichkeit Rembrandts’: Aby Warburg’s Claudius Civilis

16.45
Discussion

17.30
Coffee break

Panel 3
Chair: Eleonora Vratskidou, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung/Technische Universität Berlin

18.00
Pier Paolo Racioppi, IES Abroad Italy, Rome: The men of letters and the teaching artists: Debating invention at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome during the first decades of the 19th century

18.25
Lena Bader, Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte Paris: Künstler vs. Kunsthistoriker? Streit der Interpretationen im Holbein-Streit

18.50
Discussion

Saturday July 9
Venue: Technische Universität Berlin, Main Building (Hauptgebäude), Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Room H 1035

3. Art history by artists: The artist as producer of art discourse
Panel 1
Chair: Eleonora Vratskidou, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung/Technische Universität Berlin

10.00
Claire Barbillon, Université de Poitiers: How did 19th-century French sculptors write the history of ancient Greek sculpture?

10.25
Wibke Schrape, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: From artists to art historians: Art discourse in transition in 19th-century Japan

10.50
Discussion

11.30
Coffee break

Panel II
Chair: Bärbel Küster, Technische Universität Berlin

12.00
Michael Thimann, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen: Kunsthistorisches Praxiswissen: Carl Wilhelm Oesterley (1805-1891) als Professor an der Universität Göttingen

12.25
Margherita D’Ayala Valva, Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa: Artists’ reading and copybook practice as a form of self-taught education

12.50
Anne Gregersen, University of Copenhagen: Artists’ collections as producers of alternative art historical narratives: The example of J. F. Willumsen’s collection

13.15
Discussion

14.00
Lunch break – free time

Panel 3
Chair: Pascal Griener, Université de Neuchâtel

16.00
Léa Kuhn, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München: Configuring the gaze: Matthew Pratt’s painterly in(ter)vention

16.25
France Nerlich, Université François-Rabelais de Tours: Setting new paradigms for art and science: Art history by Friedrich Overbeck and Paul Delaroche

16.50
Jan Dirk Baetens, Radboud University Nijmegen: Bruegel the Elder, Bruegel the much much Younger, and the Antwerp Raphael: The invention of Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the work of Henri Leys and his followers

17.15
Discussion

18.00
Closing roundtable

Concept: Eleonora Vratskidou, Alexander von Humbildt Postdoctoral Fellow, Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Kunstwissenschaft und Historische Urbanistik, Fachgebit Kunstgeschichte der Moderne, Contact: evratskidou@gmail.com

Admission is free, but space is limited.
Please register at: conference.ahfa@gmail.com
Conference languages: Englisch, German

Adress
Technische Universität Berlin
Hauptgebäude | Main Building
Straße des 17. Juni 135
10623 Berlin
July 7: Room H3005
July 8-9: Room H1035 (Senatssitzungsaal)

More information
www.arthistoryforartists.com
www.kuk.tu-berlin.de