WILLIAMS COLLEGE GRADUATE STUDENTS PRESENT QUALIFYING PAPERS AT THE CLARK'S SPRING SYMPOSIUM

For Immediate Release

May 23, 2013

Williamstown, MA—In the eighteenth annual Graduate Program Symposium held at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, the twelve students in the Williams College/Clark Graduate Program in the History of Art, class of 2013, will present papers as part of the final qualification for their M.A. degrees on Friday, May 31. The program starts at 9:30 am and will conclude at 6 pm.
Graduate students will speak for twenty minutes each, with a discussion period following each group of three. In order of appearance, they are:

Elisabeth Lobkowicz, “Bruegel’s Pastures of Plenty.” Lobkowicz addresses the Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s individual adaptation of a humorous and fantastical utopian tradition.

John Witty, “Into the Wall: Sinopie and the Meaning of Making.” Witty looks closely at the sinopia technique, a lesser known drawing method of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, emphasizing the central role that drawing played in the studio practice of early Renaissance artists. More than just a process for planning the composition of a large-scale mural, sinopia was an opportunity to explore the intellectual rigor and creative power of studio processes.

Antongiulio Sorgini, “Veronica’s Veil and the Divine Image Maker.” Sorgini considers Giorgio Vasari's Christ on the Way to Calvary and its relationship to the place where it has hung since it was completed in 1572: the Buonarotti chapel in the Florentine church of Santa Croce.

Ginia Sweeney, “Ungendered Lines: Michelangelo’s Cleopatra.” Sweeney examines how a c. 1533 drawing of Cleopatra by Michelangelo complicates early modern gender roles and elucidates the intimate, mysterious relationship between the artist and a young Roman nobleman.

Rebecca Goldstein, “Schiele’s Women.” Goldstein explores alternative avenues of meaning by proposing that Egon Schiele’s drawings and studio practice were actually empowering to his female models, rather than exploiting them.

Natalie Dupêcher, “Martin Kippenberger and the Comedy of Citation.” Dupêcher focuses on three series dating from 1989 to 1991, exploring how Kippenberger's work invokes other artists to explore questions of authorial presence.

Cathy M. Zhu, “Imagined Portraiture and the Chinese Garden.” Zhu explores the aesthetic and philosophical affinities between the artist Qiu Ying’s (1494–1552) paintings of famous historical figures and their settings in Chinese gardens.

Danielle Canter, “From the Academy to the Asylum: Van Gogh’s Copies.” Canter examines an unusual series of drawings Vincent van Gogh produced after his own paintings in the summer of 1888, within the broader context of the artist’s lifelong copying practice.

Isabelle Gillet, “Who Is She? Sargent’s Elusive Mlle J.” Gillet shares archival research that settles many of the most basic questions about the sitter in John Singer Sargent’s painting long known as Mlle Roger-Jourdain—including her real name and life dates—thus focusing on Sargent’s effective portrayal of the mysteries of a child’s personality.

Sarah Mirseyedi, “Sargent’s Moroccan Whites: Painting and the Photographic Monochrome.” Mirseyedi explores the aesthetic choices in John Singer Sargent’s Fumée d'ambre gris in the context of the artist's engagement with photography during his travels in North Africa, and questions the place of this painting in a visual culture dominated by photographic images of travel.

Elizabeth Rooklidge, “Cobwebbed Waves of the Divine: Wallace Berman and the Verifax Collage.” By performing a close reading of Wallace Berman’s Verifax collage Radio/Aether, Rooklidge reveals the work’s thematic thread of spiritual pursuit, and the value of dedicating such sustained attention to this under-examined series.

Martha Joseph, “Aligherio Boetti’s Afghan Embroideries.” By looking at one of Italian artist Alighiero Boetti's embroideries sewn by unknown Afghan women in 1989, Joseph opens up questions surrounding the conceptual and physical act of artistic making.

About the Graduate Program

Williams College, in cooperation with the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, offers a two-year course of study leading to the degree of master of arts in the history of art. The program provides a thorough professional preparation for academic and museum careers and equips graduates of the program to pursue further study and research.
Housed at the Clark, the graduate program is exceptional in drawing upon the rich art history resources—the professional staffs, libraries, and art collections—of the two institutions.

About the Clark

Set amidst 140 acres in the Berkshires, the Clark is one of the few major art museums that also serves as a leading international center for research and scholarship. The Clark presents public and education programs and organizes groundbreaking exhibitions that advance new scholarship. The Clark’s research and academic programs include an international fellowship program and conferences. Together with Williams College, the Clark sponsors one of the nation’s leading master’s programs in art history. The Clark receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The galleries are open daily in July and August (open Tuesday through Sunday from September through June), 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $15 June 1 through October 31; free November through May; and free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303. The Clark’s library will be closed for renovation June 1 through September 3, 2013.
-30-

PRESS CONTACT:
[email protected]