Colloque : “Under the Greek Sky : Imitation and Geographies of Art after Winckelmann”.

Anton von Maron, Portrait de Johann Joachim Winckelmann, 1768, toile, 138 x 99 cm, Weimar, Stiftung Weimarer Klassik und Kunstsammlungen.
Type : colloque.
Date : 15 et 16 juin 2017.
Lieu : King’s College London, The Warburg Institute, The British Museum, Londres.
2017 marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of the German classicist and art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, commonly regarded as the founding father of both archaeology and art history. Winckelmann’s writings heralded a revolution in approaches to the history of ancient art and culture, as well as contributing to the spread of neoclassical taste throughout Enlightenment Europe. This conference will re-evaluate Winckelmann’s legacy and his influence on art theory since the eighteenth century. The concept of imitation, central to Winckelmann’s theories and writings, proves to be a linchpin for modern ideas about the diffusion, appropriation, and musealization of art.
The first day of the conference will focus on the ‘culture’ of imitation. Winckelmann famously claimed, paradoxically, that one has to imitate Greece in order to become inimitable. From a range of historical and artistic perspectives, papers map the consequences this claim had for art’s theory, practice, and body politics since the eighteenth century.
The second day will discuss the ‘nature’ of imitation, and the consequences of the ecological boundaries set for it by Winckelmann. It will explore the implications of Winckelmann’s climate theory for neoclassical geographies of art and contemporary debates on aesthetic relativism in the age of nationalism.
The conference is free of charge. Pre-registration is required. Places are limited, in particular for The British Museum ‘Walking seminar’, and therefore admission can only be granted to those with booking confirmation.
The conference is organised by Katherine Harloe (Reading University), Hans Christian Hönes (The Warburg Institute / Bilderfahrzeuge Research Group), Daniel Orrells (King’s College London) and Sadie Pickup (Christie’s). Additional support has been provided by The British Museum, the Institute of Classical Studies, and Christie’s Education.
Programme
Jeudi 15 juin 2017
King’s College London
13:00 Daniel Orrells (KCL) and Katherine Harloe (Reading), Introduction.
13:15 William Fitzgerald (KCL), The Contour of Antiquity: Flaxman’s Iliad.
14:00 Daniel Orrells (KCL), Visualising Antiquity in the Eighteenth Century.
14:45 Coffee break.
15:00 Kate Nichols (Birmingham), A Jewish Ajax in an Australian Gold Mining Town: Reforming the Classical Body in Late Victorian Visual Culture.
16:00 Verity Platt (Cornell), Winckelmann’s Pharmacy: Description and the Phantasia of Restoration.
16:45 Break.
17:00 Whitney Davis (Berkeley), Imitation and Narcissism: Winckelmann under Psychoanalysis.
18:00 Reception.
Vendredi 16 juin 2017
The Warburg Institute / The British Museum
10:00 Hans Christian Hönes (BFZ), Introduction.
10:15 Aris Sarafianos (Ioannina/Birkbeck), Convenient Misunderstandings: Meteocultural Models in Britain, 1755–1830.
11:00 Coffee break.
11:30 Natasha Eaton (UCL), The Sublimity of Decline: Winckelmann in India.
12:15 Athena Leoussi (Reading), Beauty and the Sun: Aesthetics and Climate in the Making of the Modern European Nations.
13:00 Lunch break.
14:00 Mechthild Fend (UCL), Beauty in an ‘Unusual Guise’: On Colour and Adaptation.
14:45 Richard Wrigley (Nottingham), Winckelmann and Rome: An Aerial Perspective.
15:30 Coffee break.
16:00 Pascal Griener (Neuchatel), Winckelmann and Jacob Burckhardt: The Life of Antique Statues in the Modern Museum.
16:45 Closing remarks / Roundtable.
17:45 Ian Jenkins (Senior Curator of Greek and Roman Antiquities), ‘Walking Seminar’ at The British Museum.
20:00 Reception.
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Maxime Georges Métraux (1 mai 2017). Colloque : “Under the Greek Sky : Imitation and Geographies of Art after Winckelmann”. Groupe de Recherche en Histoire de l'Art Moderne. Consulté le 17 avril 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/p6gc