The increasing internationalization of the study of American art has altered the topography of the discipline in ways that are widely acknowledged but not yet clearly defined. This two-day event will map out the changes that are occurring in the field of American art as it becomes enmeshed in a global art history. Sessions will examine current trends of inquiry and suggest new directions for scholarship. 

Argument

The increasing internationalization of the study of American art has altered the topography of the discipline in ways that are widely acknowledged but not yet clearly defined. This two-day event will map out the changes that are occurring in the field of American art as it becomes enmeshed in a global art history. Sessions will examine current trends of inquiry and suggest new directions for scholarship. Shifting Terrain: Mapping a Transnational American Art History is the capstone event in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s five-part series The Terra Symposia on American Art in a Global Context, initiated in 2006 in response to the global turn.

Registration

The symposium is free, but registration is required at www.ShiftingTerrain2015.eventbrite.com.

The symposium will be available through a simultaneous webcast; an archived version will remain online indefinitely. For the webcast and abstracts of the speakers’ talks, visit AmericanArt.si.edu/terra15. This event is made possible by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Schedule

Friday, October 16

9:00–9:30 a.m., Registration and Coffee, McEvoy Auditorium Lobby

9:30–9:45 a.m., Welcome

• Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director, Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Elizabeth Glassman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Terra Foundation for American Art

9:45–10:15 a.m., Introduction

• Cécile Whiting, Chancellor’s Professor of Art History and Professor of Visual Studies, University of California, Irvine “The Transnational Turn in American Art History”

10:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m., Things

Chair: Jennifer L. Roberts, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University

• Jennifer Van Horn, Assistant Professor of Art History, George Mason University, “Re-membering War: Prostheses and Citizenship in Revolutionary America”
• Jennifer Jane Marshall, Associate Professor of North American Art, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, “Nashville, New York, Paris, and Nashville: William Edmondson, Mobilized and Unmoved”
• Ethan W. Lasser, Margaret S. Winthrop Curator of American Art and Head of the Division of European and American Art, Harvard Art Museums, “The End of the ‘American Gallery’: Integrated Collections and the Future of American Art History”

12:15–1:30 p.m., Break

1:30–3:30 p.m., Positions

Chair: ShiPu Wang, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, University of California, Merced

• Jacqueline Francis, Associate Professor of Visual and Critical Studies, California College of the Arts “Critical Race Art History: A Proposal”
• Asma Naeem, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings and Time-Based Media Art, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, “Leaving Yourself Behind: The Problem of Displacement in American Art History”
• Rita Gonzalez, Curator of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, “‘This Is Not America’: Positions and Politics in the Curating and Collecting of Contemporary American Art”

3:30–4:00 p.m., Coffee Break, Courtyard Café

4:00–6:00 p.m., Transactions

Chair: Alex J. Taylor, Terra Foundation Research Fellow in American Art, Tate

• Melody Barnett Deusner, Assistant Professor of Art History, Indiana University, Bloomington, “Constructing the ‘Deadly Parallel’: Paintings, Politics, and the Comparative Eye in Turn-of-the-Century Clubland”
• Yuko Kikuchi, Reader in Art and Design History, University of the Arts London, “Cold War Transnational Design: Russel Wright and ‘Asian Modern’”
• Jessica L. Horton, Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Delaware, “Oil, Sheepherding, and Outer Space: Contemporary American Indian Paintings in and around Iran, 1964–1966”

Saturday, October 17

9:30–10:00 a.m., Registration and Coffee, McEvoy Auditorium Lobby

10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., Networks

Chair: Vanessa R. Schwartz, Professor of History, Art History, and Film and Director of the Visual Studies Research Institute, University of Southern California

• Estelle Blaschke, Researcher, Université de Lausanne, “Creating Infrastructures: The Rise and Imaginary of Microfilm, 1920–1950”
• Nadya Bair, Ph.D. Candidate in Art History, University of Southern California, “New York, Paris, and the World: American Sponsorship and Magnum Photos’ Global Network”
• Fred Turner, Professor of Communication, Stanford University, “The Democratic Surround and the Politics of Multimedia”

12:00–1:30 p.m., Break

1:30–2:45 p.m., Graduate Student Lightning Round

Moderator: Amelia Goerlitz, Fellowship and Academic Programs Manager, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Emily Casey, Ph.D. Candidate in Art History, University of Delaware