College Art Association Annual Conference, February 12–15, 2025
Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art affiliate panel session
Call for Papers


Taking and Making: Artistic Reckonings with Cultural Property Theft in the Long Nineteenth Century

Chair: Nancy Karrels, PhD, JD, karrels.nancy@gmail.com

The nineteenth century witnessed a profusion of incidents of cultural property theft accompanied by coercion and violence and often driven by imperial and colonial agendas. From the notorious spoliation of Beijing’s Old Summer Palace during the Opium Wars to the seizure of sacred Native American belongings under the guise of scientific inquiry, these acts of looting left communities grappling with profound cultural losses that still reverberate today.

This panel explores the complex dynamics of artistic exchange and expression engendered by these traumatic events. Drawing inspiration from Bénédicte Savoy’s transnational approach to the cultural exchanges that resulted from the French spoliation of Germanic princely collections in post-Revolutionary Europe, we aim to investigate the ways in which forcible transfers of cultural patrimony globally catalyzed shifts in artistic value and meaning during the long nineteenth century, and how these contentious processes sparked cross-cultural discourse and innovative avenues of creative expression among artists directly impacted by or complicit in them. From the interplay between looting and artistic production to the evolution of techniques and styles in the aftermath of plunder, we encourage contributions from diverse cultural perspectives and methodological approaches.

Submission are due August 29 through the CAA conference portal.

Proposals are open to all, but once accepted, presenters will need to update their memberships in both CAA and AHNCA by the time of the conference.

The Research Associate position provides the opportunity to gain firsthand experience and professional training in curatorial work, specializing in works of art on paper. The postholder will be fully integrated into the department and will contribute significantly to exhibition planning, research, organization, and installation as well as other departmental activities. They will be trained in cataloging and handling of works on paper and in provenance research. The Postgraduate Research Associate will undertake research on works in the permanent collection and will gain training in acquisitions and collections development. The postholder will participate in the development of upcoming exhibition projects including William Blake; the origins and history of the mezzotint engraving technique; the Trinidadian artist Michel Jean Cazabon; and British pastels.

Join our team! The American Historical Print Collectors Society is seeking an
organized and energetic person to coordinate outreach to new and existing members.

Tasks include database maintenance and entry, promotional mailings, working with
editors and communication team to develop outreach programs to attract new
members, and communication about AHPCS events and functions. Our current
membership is approximately 250 individuals and institutions.

This position would work closely with the AHPCS governing board. Responsibilities
include:

• Coordinating and consulting with AHPCS contractors and board members to
develop and execute actions and tasks to rebuild membership and expand visibility of
AHPCS programs

• Tracking data related to membership activities
• Consultation with AHPCS President and Board on long-term AHPCS mission,
activities, and outreach
• Consultation AHPCS President and Board on developing AHPCS strategic plan
• Delivering brief monthly reports, either in writing or verbally to the AHPCS Board
• Submitting semi-annual reports in writing to the AHPCS Board
Necessary qualifications include:
• Experience with WordPress and basic database functions
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Punctual and timely execution of responsibilities
• Ability to produce written reports from website data and other sources
• Basic knowledge of historical American art and visual culture

Those with a background in historical American culture and art history are
encouraged to apply.

This position is for an independent contractor, willing to work remotely. The AHPCS does not have a permanent office.

Compensation: $25 / hour, with a maximum of 20 hours per month, $6,000 for the
year. Payable upon invoice.

Those interested can send a message to
board.ahpcs@gmail.com . Please include your resume and a cover letter stating why
you would be well suited for this role.

Application deadline: August 31, 2024

SAGA is happy to announce its 3rd Mini Gems Open Call. Get ready to submit your miniature prints for jurying consideration by September 6, 2024.

SAGA’s Mini Gems is a national, juried miniature print exhibition, held in our gallery in Union Square, NYC since 2022. This year we will show 200 miniature prints on Saturdays from December 7, 2024 to January 4, 2025, giving over $1000 in awards. This is a call open to all print artists across the country.

Juror: Katie Michel, founder & director of Planthouse Gallery, NYC.

New Submissions – Deadline December 1, 2024
The purpose of the book and essay awards is to recognize and encourage outstanding scholarship in the field, as defined in our mission statement: prints depicting or reflecting North American history and culture, made either in America or elsewhere. Original research, fresh assessments, and the fluent synthesis of known material will be taken into account. The emphasis is on quality and on making an outstanding contribution to the subject.
Essays between 3,000 and 10,000 words will be considered. Works should be submitted in published form as a hard copy or digital attachment. The Society’s Newman Award Committee will serve as the jury to evaluate both books and article submissions. Jurors are all AHPCS members and include collectors, curators, and scholars of American prints.
Publications remain eligible from the year of publication through the following year, a period of approximately two years. Once a work has been reviewed by the jury, it will not be considered in a subsequent cycle except in a substantially revised edition. Submissions received by December 1st will be considered for the award announced the following spring.

Contact information
To submit material to the committee for consideration, please mail a copy to: Helena E. Wright, 4628 49th Street NW, Washington, DC 20016.
For additional information, please contact the Committee chair at: wrighthelena16@gmail.com
Publishers and authors, please note: if it is possible to provide multiple copies, it would facilitate distribution of the publications among the Committee and speed their work. Please contact the Committee chair for individual addresses. Thank you.

The AHPCS is a non-profit corporation that encourages the collection, preservation, study, and exhibition of prints depicting or reflecting North American history and culture, made either in America or elsewhere. For further information about the Society, please visit the website at https://ahpcs.org . A list of all Newman Book Award winners to date can be found at https://ahpcs.org/newman-award-winners/ .

APS-sponsored Session Proposal, RSA 2025
Organized by by Dr. Ulrike Keuper (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich) and Jun.-Prof. Dr. Hui Luan Tran (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz)

Every artwork is subject to decay and is therefore involved in a metabolic process. Due to
the printing process printmaking also bears the natural decay of the plate or the
woodblock and each printed sheet. This can be seen as a characteristic of this technique,
just as the division of labour: Pre-drawing, transferring, cutting/engraving/etching and
printing are steps in a working process executed by one or more actors. In material terms,
this means that metal was mined, paper was produced using water, black pigments and
solvents should not be forgotten and in the case of etching, acid came into play. From
the perspective of environmental history, resources were processed whose availability was
unstable and potentially exhaustible and waste materials were generated which were
harmful to the environment. One step further in the production process, the question of
reuse or recycling arises. Was there an afterlife of plates and woodblocks? Were they
reused? How was paper recycled and how did printed sheets find new purposes in
different contexts? And was there an ecological consciousness or urge for sustainability?
The ecological footprint of early modern printmaking is out of proportion to today's
climate crisis. Nevertheless, the situation demands our responsibility as scholars of a
historical discipline. Indeed, printmaking as a medium of reproduction can be seen as a
proto-industrial technique and a medium of capitalism. Besides an ecocritical view of
printmaking, the session hopes to provide a deeper insight to the technique by
questioning its materials, their circumstances of extraction and utilisation.

Please send your full name, current affiliation, paper title (15-word maximum), abstract (200-word maximum), PhD completion date (past or expected), keywords, and a 1-page non-narrative curriculum vitae to the organizers: Ulrike Keuper (Ulrike.keuper@kunstgeschichte.uni-muenchen.de) and Hui Luan Tran (hl.tran@uni-mainz.de).

APS-sponsored Session Proposal, RSA 2025

Organizers: Katherine Calvin (Assistant Professor of Art History, Kenyon College) and Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College)

The creation of money and the making of prints were closely aligned, both materially and conceptually, in the early modern period. Not only did the production of coins and prints share reproductive technologies, but the ready circulation of both objects connected vast geographies through trade and exchange. Coins, along with medals, emblems, and seals, were replicated in illustrated books, inflecting their creation, use, and worth for scholarly and elite audiences. While early modern coins were often modeled on classical precedents, prints became a key medium for developing notions of ancient architecture and ornament. Further, reproducibility provoked anxiety about the authenticity, originality, and value of both currency and prints. Although scholars have recently reexamined the social and cultural dimensions of money, the shared dialogue between printmaking and coinage has been overlooked in art historical literature. This panel invites submissions for 20-minute papers that examine the intersection of printmaking and money across geographies, raising new methodological and topical approaches to numismatics and print studies. In focusing new attention on the relationship between currency and printmaking, this panel aims to illuminate early modern considerations of value, worth, and exchange.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

The production and reception of numismatic books
Notions of value as they relate to prints and money
Questions about authenticity and security of prints and money
The shared imagery of prints and coins
Collecting practices of prints and currency
Prints and coins as stores of value
Technologies of making prints and money

https://www.rsa.org/forms/FormResponseView.asp?id=FE620981-26CC-40F6-9494-58C35F578EAB

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is seeking a collaborative, detail-oriented and experienced Works on Paper Specialist to support a three-year project to catalog and digitize the Frank Raysor bequest of 7,655 works on paper.

Ideal candidates have experience handling and cataloging works on paper, art historical training in the history of European or American art, and a desire for hands-on experience working with an important collection of works on paper. The Raysor Collection encompasses works on paper made in Europe and North America from the late 15th through the 20th centuries. The collection is especially strong in 17th-century prints, including extensive holdings of the work of Wencelaus Hollar, and work associated with the Etching Revival.

This position is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Made from discarded blue rags, early modern blue paper was a humble material. Despite that, its manufacture required expert knowledge and its impact on European draftsmanship was transformative.

This call seeks proposals for 20-minute papers that address the history of European blue paper from the fourteenth century until 1800. Open to art historians, curators, conservators, conservation scientists, paper historians, papermakers, and dyers, successful proposals will demonstrate original archival research and/or object-based approach to their discussion of works on blue paper. While all topics will be considered, organizers encourage papers related to the following subjects:

● blue paper production outside the Italian peninsula and the Netherlands;

● color shift in blue paper and its implications;

● technical and/or scientific examination of blue paper;

● artistic uses of blue paper;

● non-artistic uses of blue paper;

● blue paper as means of transcultural exchange;

● intersection between blue paper production and textile trade and technological developments.

Co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of Amsterdam, this interdisciplinary online symposium will take place November 12–13, 2024, over two morning sessions Pacific Standard Time.

Proposals should include: Author’s name, title, and an abstract not to exceed 500 words. Submissions should be sent to drawings@getty.edu by July 31, 2024. Please put “Drawn to Blue” in the subject. Accepted speakers will be notified by mid-August.

With support from Getty through its Paper Project initiative, Tamarind Institute invites applications from early-career curators and print scholars to participate in an immersive, hands-on workshop on fine art lithography. Ten participants will be selected for the workshop, which takes place at Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 19-23, 2025.

Tamarind Education Director Brandon Gunn will lead the workshop, providing an overview of the materials and technical process of lithography, printing demonstrations, and hands-on instruction with the assistance of Tamarind printers. Participants will also learn about the collaborative exchange between artist and printer at Tamarind. An evening program provides workshop participants an opportunity to share information about their home institution collections and research. Following the workshop, participants will be asked to report back for a virtual public panel discussion in June to present on a topic of interest gleaned from the workshop and plans for future research that may result from this program.

Travel, lodging, meals, and transportation will be covered by Tamarind. Participants will receive a $250 stipend. The workshop will include a full itinerary, with three days in the workshop, presentations by Tamarind staff, and visits to Takach Press, the Tamarind Archives at the University of New Mexico Art Museum and the Center for Southwest Research. The overarching goal of the workshop is to encourage curatorial access to Tamarind Institute, its related archives and resources, with the objective of sharing material knowledge and encouraging diversity within the print field.

Preference will be given to early-career curatorial professionals (curators, curatorial or research assistants/associates, postdoctoral fellows) who completed a graduate degree (or equivalent) within the last ten years. Advanced graduate students and independent scholars with demonstrated interest in printmaking and print history will also be considered. Applicants will be notified in early December 2024.

Applications are due November 1, 2024.