OSK/Van Gogh Museum Visiting Fellow in the History of 19th Century Art
The Gendering of Collecting: Women as Tastemakers and Philanthropists
Visiting fellow: Prof. Dr. Frances Fowle – University of Edinburgh
Dates: 12-17 June 2022
Venue: Van Gogh Museum & University of Amsterdam
Open to: RMA students
Credits: 6 EC
Coordination: Dr Rachel Esner (UvA)
To register: Please contact Dr. Rachel Esner: r.esner@uva.nl (putting “VGM Visiting Fellow” in the subject line). Please supply a short statement of motivation.
In the week of 12-17 June 2022 (Research) 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 University of Amsterdam.
The aim of the Van Gogh Museum Visiting Fellow in the History of Nineteenth-Century Art seminar is to provide MA 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. Dr. Frances Fowle, Chair of Nineteenth-Century art at the University of Edinburgh and Senior Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland. Fowle is Chair of the Association for Art History and board member of the International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA), of which she is co-founder. She has published widely and curated exhibitions on French, British, American and Nordic art c.1880-1910, with an emphasis on collecting, the art market, national identify, cultural revival and artistic networks. A recent focus has been the role of women collectors of impressionism and post-impressionism, the subject of this year’s seminar.
Until recently women’s agency in the arts, both as collectors and museum patrons, has been largely overlooked. Nevertheless, their role in the early reception of modern French art was pioneering. This year’s seminar will focus on women collectors and agents in Europe and the USA, from Bertha Honoré Palmer and Mary Cassat to the Davies sisters. Preceded by a public lecture, provisionally entitled Spinsters and Speculators: Women Collectors of Nineteenth-Century Art, the seminar sessions will consider such issues as class, philanthropy, financial independence, gender bias, the role of the agent or art dealer, social networks and nationalism.
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, 12 June. The exact location and days of the seminar and the excursion will be announced well in advance.
Students will be supplied with the themes of the sessions and a list of readings in advance (mid-January). These will introduce the material and issues of the seminar and are required, whether you are taking the seminar for credit or not (see below).
Extra information
As part of any art-history or related Research Masters program, the Van Gogh Museum Visiting Fellow seminar can be followed as a 6 EC tutorial (limited to 5 students). On the basis of the readings supplied, tutorial students will be expected to develop a research question and proposal, plus a bibliography on their chosen topic for a paper of 3,000-3,500 words, on which their grade will be based. During the spring semester (March-May) these students will meet three times together with the supervising lecturer (Dr. Rachel Esner) to discuss their proposed project. Before the start and after the end of the seminar students will then be expected to work on their projects independently. The final paper will be due at the end of June (date to be announced). Exact instructions will follow in January.
Students from the UvA can register as they would for a regular class (from 2 December). Students from other universities should send an email to the coordinator. As the number of places is strictly limited, preference will be given to Research Masters students; students from other programs will be admitted on a first come, first serve basis.
Auditors (MA students and professionals) are, however, also welcome.
Interested in either the tutorial or attending as an auditor? Contact Dr. Rachel Esner: r.esner@uva.nl for more information (please put “VGM Visiting Fellow” in the subject line).