ULEMHAS REVIEW 2003 ULEMHAS Review
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Birkbeck Continuing Education History of Art Society ULEMHAS REVIEW 2003 ULEMHAS Review EDITORIAL CONTENTS his is the first issue of the ULEMHAS Review in a new Preview of the Late Gothic format, and on an annual rather than a twice-yearly Exhibition - Eleanor Townsend 3 Tbasis. The change has been made for several reasons: it enables us to upgrade production values (although it is not an economy, costing rather more than two photocopied The Battle for Culture: issues); it provides space for items which connect the Review Tradition & Modernism in more closely to ULEMHAS activities and concerns; and it Fascist Italy and Germany gives more time for the gathering of suitable material. It is our aim to continue the tradition of scholarly and - Anna Leung 6 wide-ranging articles that Elizabeth Pillar, Erika Speel and the editorial panel have maintained so effectively over the The Travels of Correggio's previous eighteen issues. We also intend to carry regular previews of important exhibitions and reviews of books of School of Love - Norman Coady 8 interest in the art history field. It may be noted that there is a review in this issue of a Commissioned Visions book by a ULEMHAS member, and others of works by a present and an erstwhile tutor for the Diploma. Some of the - Roger Toison 10 contributors are also members of the Society. We are confident that ULEMHAS is an unexplored repository of Platonic Geometry and the interesting ideas for future issues, and very much hope that you will be inspired to communicate these. Cathedral of Bourges - Anne Scott 12 Review Editorial Panel Recollected in Tranquillity: Claire Andrews, Terry Bingham-Daly, Rosalind Brooke Ross, Ann Halliday, Erna Karton, Elizabeth Lowry-Corry, Hazel the founding of ULEMHAS 14 Morris, Liz Newlands, Anne Scott Book Reviews 15 ULEMHAS NOTICE BOARD ULEMHAS Programme 2003/04 16 The Review goes out as part of our main early autumn mailing to ULEMHAS members, and will carry some information which was previously sent out separately, though a small card programme will continue to be produced, as members find it useful. Full details and application forms for the autumn study day and the 2004 study tour are also going out now, but those for the spring study day and the trip will In this issue Claire Andrews describes the founding of the be posted with the AGM papers in December; please make University of London Extra-Mural History of Art Society - a note of the dates now if the subjects interest you. ULEMHAS. A decade later, when another funding crisis At the AGM in January a warning was given that a steep caused the abolition of the Extra-Mural Department, Birkbeck rise in the cost of transport, and of venues for meetings, and College took over its Diploma programme, which now the need to offer more realistic (although still quite modest) flourishes as part of the Faculty of Continuing Education. fees to lecturers will give rise to an increase in the annual subscription in 2004. The exact amount has still to be calculated, and will be notified in December. We will keep it Professor Peter Lasko, who died on 19 May 2003, was the to a minimum and hope that it will still be seen as good first President of ULEMHAS. He was Director of the Courtauld value, providing as it does six free lectures and access to Institute at the time, and gave much encouragement to the other activities at cost. fledgling Society. ULEMHAS Review: No reproduction or transmission without prior consent. FRONT COVER: Bust of Henry VII 1509-1511, Painted Views expressed are not necessarily those of the editors. We cannot accept terracotta by Pietro Torrigiano (1472-1528) © Victoria liability for loss or damage of material which is submitted at owner's risk. and Albert Museum ULEMHAS Review 3 GOTHIC: ART FOR ENGLAND 1400-1547 by Eleanor Townsend A major exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum (9th October 2003 to 18th January 2004) Bust of Henry VII 1509-1511, Painted terracotta by Pietro Torrigiano (1472-1528) © Victoria and Albert Museum n October 9th 2003 a new exhibition exploring the of the inherent fragility of the objects, and the cost of visual culture of England in the fifteenth and early ensuring that they can be transported and displayed safely. Osixteenth centuries opens at the V&A. It will include Deciding how to organise an exhibition of this size and everything from jewellery to armour, and tapestries to scope was not easy. This period of art history has long been stained glass, and will be the largest medieval exhibition in seen as hiatus between the glories of the thirteenth and this country for over 15 years. fourteenth centuries, and a so-called Renaissance under the Gothic is part of a series of medieval exhibitions held in Tudors. Previous studies have tended to focus on one type of London since the 1980s. These included The Making of artistic production (for example Lawrence Stone's Sculpture England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture 600-900 and The in Britain in the Middle Ages, London, 1955, or more recently Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art 966-1066, both at the British Kathleen Scott's Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390-1490, Museum, English Romanesque Art 1066-1200, organised by London, 1996). The book to accompany this exhibition is the Arts Council and held at the Hayward Gallery, and Age of therefore a particularly important contribution to the Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England (Royal Academy, 1986- literature. The curatorial team felt strongly that it should be a 7). Exhibitions like this do not happen often, largely because full catalogue with a photograph of every object, rather than 4 ULEMHAS Review from France and the Southern Netherlands. An exhibition on "English" art of this period therefore becomes meaningless. The Getty Grant Program awarded us a generous sum for researching the exhibition. We held a series of seminars with a range of leading scholars from a variety of disciplines including archaeology, literature, history and music as well as art history. These seminars addressed areas which we felt could become themes for the exhibition. It was clear that a thematic rather than a chronological approach must be taken - many late medieval objects cannot be dated accurately to within fifty years. A thematic approach also allowed us to provide context for the objects which were likely to be entirely unfamiliar to the general public, and fitted more closely with current thinking in art history than a chronological or materials-based approach would have done. We finally decided on the following sections: • Royal Patronage • War, Chivalry and Spectacle • Three groups of patrons (the Beauchamp and Neville families; Archbishop Chichele and Bishop Fox; Lady Margaret Beaufort) • Life and Art in the City • The Household (including the Great Hall, the Great Chamber and the Oratory) • Church and People (including Pilgrimage) • Death and Commemoration Swan Roll c. 1500, Ink and colours on vellum, Norfolk A small introductory area was deemed necessary to Record Office © Norfolk Record Office orientate the visitors, and the exhibition finishes with an area exploring the situation in 1547, the year of Henry VIII's death, simply an accompanying publication. It also includes essays by a variety of leading scholars, making it a comprehensive introduction to an area which has been relatively little studied*. There are other reasons why English artistic production between 1400 and 1547 has not been fully explored. It is clear that while in some areas (particularly architecture) native production remained at a high standard, evolving and developing throughout the period, in others (for example alabasters or vestments) where English products remained extremely popular at home and abroad, the quality began to decline in the later Middle Ages. In addition, many of the most fascinating and important objects remain in churches, colleges and livery companies, where they are not necessarily on display to the public, or known about in the literature. The first task for the curatorial team was to establish the parameters of the exhibition. We decided early on to focus exclusively on art in England. Wales and Scotland had such different experiences in the later Middle Ages that it was clear we would not be able to do them justice in a single exhibition on this period. We also decided to focus on the complete picture of art in England (including imports from continental Europe) rather than try to concentrate only on "English" art. During the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, English patrons had money to spend. They wanted the best they could afford, wherever it might come from. Increasingly foreign craftsmen congregated in England to Ex voto offerings, Late 15th century, Mould-cast wax, fulfil this demand, in areas as diverse as armour, stained Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral © Exeter City glass, printing and sculpture. Imports flooded in, particularly Museums ULEMHAS Review 5 when the monasteries had been dissolved, and the phenomenon of pilgrimage had ended, but the rest of the Reformation had not yet happened. At this point the future direction of art in England was completely uncertain. Had Mary succeeded her father, rather than the fiercely Protestant Edward VI, the image-laden art of the medieval Catholic Church in England might well have continued to flourish, rather than being wiped out. We discussed object selection with a wide range of colleagues. A core academic Advisory Group included both university academics, and colleagues from other museums and the V&A, and met regularly to monitor progress. But selecting items for an exhibition of this range meant that we Effigy of John Baret 1450s, Limestone with traces of relied on advice from others as well, including experts in paint, St.