The international conference asks how after 1800 a "northern" imagery could establish itself in the arts of Northern Europe. By what motifs could the "North" be identified as "North" at all? Was it alone specific subjects or representations of natural phenomena in landscapes through which "Nordic" topics spread? What institutional and social structures fostered these developments? Did specific "ethnic types" come into focus in order to represent another characteristic of "Nordic" art? Did techniques of “scientific” landscape depictions as well as the emphasis on ethnic characteristics lead to national isolation? Recent museological and curatorial debates about a decolonization of images and objects are part of the discourses this conference is also interested in.
“Inventing the pictorial North” aims to present results that resonate in the current humanities and discuss representations of the “North” in a novel way. This happens not only with the intention of portraying the "North" beyond the individual national narratives but also as the overarching topos of an art history that has since the 19th century repeatedly tried to associate geographical spaces with specific motifs and iconographies. The visual construction of the "North" represents a gap that still has to be filled in the humanities. Currently the questions about the attraction of the “North” and its subjects, which were already virulent in the nineteenth century, are re-emerging: as a romantic place of mythical images, as well as places that, in the discourse of worldwide migrational movements, fosters new narratives of longing.
Scientific Chairs
Nico Anklam M. A. (Greifswald/Berlin)
Professor Dr. Kilian Heck (Greifswald)
THEORIA Research Group
Romantic Painting in Northern Europe – transcultural connections and receptions
Kurt-von-Fritz-Endowment for the humanities and social sciences in the State of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania 2017 – 2020
Speakers
Nico Anklam (Greifswald/Berlin)
Christel Bair (Greifswald/Jever)
Jan Cox (Sommerset)
Michelle Facos (Bloomington)
Kilian Heck (Greifswald)
Gry Hedin (Faaborg/Ishøj)
Cordelia Heß (Greifswald)
Timo Huusko (Helsinki)
Knut Ljøgodt (Oslo)
Thor Mednick (Toledo)
Carl-Johan Olsson (Stockholm)
Eva Wattolik (Erlangen/Nürnberg)
Information
Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald
Martin-Luther-Straße 14
17489 Greifswald
Sebastian Brose
Phone +49 3834 420-5029
Fax +49 3834 420-5005
sebastian.brosewiko-greifswaldde
Venue:
Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald
Martin-Luther-Straße 14
17489 Greifswald
Pomeranian State Museum
Rakower Straße 9
17489 Greifswald
Registration
The international conference is funded by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, Essen, and the German Research Foundation, Bonn.
PROGRAMM
Thursday, 10 January 2019
Location: Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald, Martin-Luther-Straße 14, 17489 Greifswald
7.00 pm – 8.30 pm
Welcome words by Kilian Heck and Nico Anklam
Public Key Note Lecture
The Romantic Image of the North
Knut Ljøgodt (Oslo)
Moderation: Kilian Heck (Greifswald)
afterwards: Welcome Dinner
Friday, 11 January 2019
9.00 am – 11.00 am
Session I
The “North” as a Topos in National Art Histories
Welcome words by Christian Suhm, Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg
Two Paths Crossing. Finnish National Identity and the Idea of Nordic Art in Germany
Timo Huusko (Helsinki)
Let´s construct an Opponent to the Renaissance – The Evocation of the North in German Art History after 1900.
Kilian Heck (Greifswald)
11.00 am – 11.30 am Coffee break
11.30 am – 1.30 pm
Session II
The “Northern” Landscape between Science and Fiction
Northern landscapes? Geology and archeology in Danish 19th century landscape paintings
Gry Hedin (Faaborg/Ishøj)
Shaping Perception: Visions of the Swedish Landscape
Michelle Facos (Bloomington)
1.30 pm – 3.00 pm Lunch break
3.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Session III
The Transatlantic and (Post-)Colonial “North”
Welcome words by Holger Wandsleb, ministry of education, science and culture of Mecklenburg-Pomerania
Art of the Arctic: From North Cape to Baffin Island
Jan Cox (Sommerset)
A Different North for Indigenous Peoples: The Christianization of Greenland and Sápmi in 20th Century Historiography
Cordelia Heß (Greifswald)
“Norway through the Stereoscope” – American Points of View around 1900
Eva Wattolik (Erlangen/Nürnberg)
Saturday, 12 January 2019
Location: Pommersches Landesmuseum, Rakower Street 9, Greifswald
9.00 am – 11.00 am
Session IV
National Narratives and Contact Zones in Northern Germany and Southern Denmark
Welcome words by Birte Frenssen, Pomeranian State Museum
Three Cheers for the Fatherland: Agnes Slott-Møller and the Shifting Contours of Danishness
Thor J. Mednick (Toledo)
Artificial Borders? Painting in Denmark, Schleswig & Holstein in the Second Half of the 19th Century
Christel Bair (Greifswald/Jever)
11.00 am – 11.30 am Coffee break
11.30 am – 1.30 pm
Session V
The “Northern” Landscape as a Pictorial Discourse between Medium, Space and Beholder
Topography & Constitutive Blanks – on the subjective narrativity of landscape painting
Carl-Johan Olsson (Stockholm)
On the limits of the world and the semantics of an infinite landscape: dynamics of expansion and closure in Danish painting of the 19th Century
Nico Anklam (Greifswald/Berlin)
1.30 pm – 3.00 pm Lunch break
3.00 pm – 4.00 pm Visit of the collection of the Pomeranian State Museum with Birte Frenssen
4.00 pm Farewell words by Kilian Heck and Nico Anklam followed by a reception in the courtyard of the Pomeranian State Museum