Museo de Arte de Ponce announces symposium on “Treasures of the Collection in Context: The Pre-Raphaelites”

In an unprecedented event for Puerto Rico, on Saturday, 4 February 2012, Museo de Arte de Ponce will host an international symposium titled “Treasures of the Collection in Context: The Pre-Raphaelites in the Museo de Arte de Ponce Collection,” Art Daily reports. From 10 am to 5 pm, renowned specialists in art history and Victorian literature will meet in this south-coast Puerto Rico city to discuss the artists and works contained in the museum’s world-famed collection. This conference represents the most important academic event ever held on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in Puerto Rico. For more information, http://repeatingislands.com/2011/12/31/museo-de-arte-de-ponce-announces-symposium-on-treasures-of-the-collection-in-context-the-pre-raphaelites/

 Edward Coley Burne-Jones, The Sleeping Beauty from the small Briar Rose series. Oil on canvas, 60 x 115 cm. Puerto Rico, Museo de Arte de Ponce.

Talk by David Mabb at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 12 January 2012

"On the Passage of a Few Patterns through a Rather Brief Moment in  

Time: David Mabb’s Appropriations of William Morris 1999-2011"

William Morris thought that interior design had a fundamental role to  play in the transformation of everyday life. This essentially  political motivation - a commitment to the radical potential of design  - is behind much of his work as a designer and craftsman and the setting up of Morris &  Co. Morris's designs are highly schematized  representations of nature, where it is always summer and never winter;  the plants are always in leaf, often flowering, with their fruits available in abundance, ripe for picking, and with no human labor in sight. Mabb's paintings, photographs, textiles and videos, work with and against Morris's designs by contrasting them with the work of Malevich, the Russian Constructivists, modernist architecture, photographs of industry and recently images of slogans. These combinations produce unstable picture spaces that are never fixed, where a Morris pattern and the other image never merge or separate.

This lecture has been organised to accompany the exhibition William Morris: Story, Memory, Myth which is open until 29 January 2012 at Two Temple Place. The exhibition draws upon the remarkable collections of  

the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, which is closed for major refurbishment until July 2012. Organised in collaboration with The Courtauld Institute of Art, this exhibition is the first in the annual series of exhibitions by The Bulldog Trust which are intended to draw on and increase the visibility of collections across the country, and to provide opportunities for young and emerging curators.

Thursday, 12 January 2012
6 p.m.
Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN UK

"Palaces of Art: Whistler and the Art Worlds of Aestheticism," symposium 27-28 October at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

"Palaces of Art: Whistler and the Art Worlds of Aestheticism," a two-day symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, features presentations by international scholars consider how issues of patronage, collecting, display, and critical interpretation shaped the Aesthetic art movement, its theories and practices, and its reception in a global context. Through the introduction of new approaches to Aestheticism, scholars challenge conceptions about the place of James McNeill Whistler and his international circle of contemporaries within the Aesthetic movement.
This symposium honors the achievements of Professor Margaret MacDonald of the University of Glasgow. It is organized by the Lunder Consortium for Whistler Studies, a scholarly collaboration of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Colby College Museum of Art, and the University of Glasgow. It is the first in a series of conferences supporting the consortium’s mission of promoting innovative scholarship on the art of James McNeill Whistler and his international circle of contemporaries.
“Palaces of Art: Whistler and the Art Worlds of Aestheticism” is made possible by the generosity of the Lunder Foundation.
The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. The proceedings will be archived and available online for future reference.

Thursday and Friday, 27-28 October 2011
Meyer Auditorium
Freer Gallery of Art
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC

For more information, contact:

Margaret Laster
Fellow, Lunder Consortium for Whistler Studies
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
LasterM@si.edu

Image: Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen. James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903). Oil on wood panel, 1864. Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, F1904.75a.

Update on the William Morris Gallery

An exciting new project will redisplay one of the world’s finest collections of William Morris artefacts.
The William Morris Gallery is the only public gallery devoted to Morris’s life, work and influence. Housed in Morris’s early home in Walthamstow, it holds an internationally significant collection of textiles, designs, wallpapers, furniture, ceramics and books associated with Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement. This exciting project will refurbish and extend the Gallery, transforming it into world-class cultural destination and a centre of excellence for the study of Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement.
When the Gallery reopens in July 2012 in time for the Olympics, more of the outstanding collection will be on display and it will be reinterpreted to appeal to all ages and backgrounds. There will be a new learning centre, a research library and a temporary exhibition space, as well as a new website and an excellent tea room and shop.
Architect’s impression of the rear of the Gallery showing the new extension to the left.

Image: Pringle Richards Sharratt
Visitors will learn in the main displays about Morris’s early years in Oxford, his association with the Pre-Raphaelites and the foundation and enduring success of Morris & Co. Hands-on, interactive exhibits will invite people of all ages to explore how products were designed and made, emphasising Morris’s preference for traditional craft techniques. They will also find out about Morris’s career as a writer and campaigner and his lasting influence as father of the Arts and Crafts movement.
The permanent exhibitions will be complemented by an ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions exploring aspects of Morris’s legacy – both historically and in contemporary art and design. In addition, a radical programme of Activities and Events will engage a wider, more diverse audience, whilst an innovative Schools Programme will inspire the next generation of artists, designers and makers.
The Development Project has been made possible by a grant of £1.52 million by the Heritage Lottery fund matched with £1.5 million from the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Funding has also been secured from a number of trusts and foundations and the Friends of the William Morris Gallery. With just 12 months left to go until reopening, the Gallery team have £850,000 left to raise. To find out more, including how you can get involved, visit www.walthamforest.gov.uk/william-morris.

For further information please contact:

Vicky Carroll
Museum, Gallery and Archives Manager
Tel: (44) 020 8496 4390
Email: vicky.carroll@walthamforest.gov.uk
www.walthamforest.gov.uk/william-morris

"Searching for a Famous Book: A Census of the Kelmscott Chaucer" - presentation 29 Septmeber at the Library of Congress

On Thursday, 29 September, the Library of Congress will hold a special event, "Searching for a Famous Book: A Census of the Kelmscott Chaucer." This presentation, by William S. and Sylvia Holton Peterson, celebrates the publication of their new book, The Kelmscott Chaucer: A Census, from Oak Knoll Press (2011). Two of the Library of Congress's copies of the Kelmscott Chaucer will be on view for the occasion.

Co-sponsored by the Library of Congress, the American Printing History Association, Chesapeake Chapter, and the William Morris Society n the United States.

Thursday, 29 September 2011
4 p.m.
The Lessing J. Rosenwald Room (LJ205)
The Rare Book and Special Collections Division
2nd Floor, Jefferson Building
Library of Congress
Washington, DC

For further information, please contact The Division at 202-707-2025
Request ADA accommodation five business days in advance
Contact (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov

Visit the Kelmscott Chaucer blog: http://kelmscottchaucer.wordpress.com/.

2012 Fellowship in Pre-Raphaelite Studies

A reminder about the 2012 Fellowship in Pre-Raphaleite Studies offered by the University of Delaware Library and the Delaware Art Museum:

The University of Delaware Library in Newark, Delaware and the Delaware Art Museum invite applications for the 2012 joint Fellowship in Pre-Raphaelite Studies. This one-month Fellowship is intended for scholars working on the Pre-Raphaelites and their associates. Up to $3,000 is available.

The Delaware Art Museum is home to the most important collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in the US. Assembled largely by Samuel Bancroft, Jr., the collection includes paintings, works on paper, decorative arts, manuscripts, and letters, and is augmented by the museum’s Helen Farr Sloan art library. With comprehensive holdings in books, periodicals, electronic resources, and microforms, the University of Delaware Library is a major resource for the study of literature and art. The Special Collections Department contains material related to the Pre-Raphaelites who are also well-represented in the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection of Victorian books, manuscripts, and artworks.

Application deadline: October 15, 2011

More information: www.delart.org/education/fellowships.html or write to:

Pre-Raphaelite Studies Fellowship Committee
Delaware Art Museum
2301 Kentmere Parkway
Wilmington, DE 19806 USA

New William Morris Society Website

We are happy to announce that the William Morris Society in the United States has a brand-new website. Everything from the "old" site—information about Morris's life and work, images of his s design work, events listings, texts, translations, details about Morris Society membership and publications, and the online Journal of William Morris Studies—is there, along with new features:

• streamlined payment system for new and renewing members
• full site search, available from every page
• higher-resolution images of Morris's designs
• improved navigation

The web address remains the same: www.morrissociety.org.