Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], circa 1488–1576), “Venus with an Organist and Cupid,” circa 1550–1555, oil on canvas, 591⁄8 by 857⁄8 inches. © Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. — “Whose Nudes? Painting, Collecting, Displaying the Body in Early Modern Europe,” a scholarly symposium open to the public, will take place at the Clark Art Institute on Friday, September 23, from 1 to 5 pm in the Michael Conforti Pavilion.
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), “Fortuna,: 1636–38, oil on canvas, 71¾ by 395⁄8 inches. © Photographic Archive. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
Presented in conjunction with the Clark’s exhibition “Splendor, Myth and Vision: Nudes from the Prado,” the symposium is jointly organized by the Clark’s Research and Academic Program and its Museum Program. Welcome remarks will be delivered by Dena and Felda Hardymon Director Olivier Meslay, followed by introductory remarks by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, Interim curator of paintings and sculpture.
The event brings together a group of international scholars, specializing in Italian, Spanish and Netherlandish art, to create a public conversation around the role and representation of the nude, as well as broader practices of display and collecting of Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century European art. Topics and speakers include:
“Titian’s Europa: When a Nude Is More than a Nude — But Not That Much More,” Hilliard Goldfarb, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal;
“Uncovering the Uncovered: The Nude in Spanish Sculpture Collections,” Kelley Helmstutler Di Dio, University of Vermont;
“Erotic Heroic: Masculinity, the Male Nude, and the Clash of Conventions in Netherlandish Art around 1550,” Tianna Uchacz, Columbia University;
“Exempt from Indecency: Rubens’s Nudes for the Spanish King,” Alejandro Vergara, Museo Nacional del Prado; and
“Michaelina Woutiers in the Company of Bacchus: The Power of Unruly Self-Representation,” Katlijne Van der Stighelen, KU Leuven.
Developing from the central themes of “Splendor, Myth and Vision,” the symposium seeks to rethink and challenge issues relating to the nude by Northern and Southern European artists in the early modern period. A source of delight, anxiety and wonder, the nude body was — and remains — a significant vehicle for artistic expression and experience.
Advanced registration is required at www.clarkart.edu or 413-458-0524. The event is free with admission. The Clark is at 225 South Street.
