ASSOCIATION of ART HISTORIANS Registered Charity No
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August 1993 BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF ART HISTORIANS Registered Charity No. 282579 Editor: Jannet King, 48 Stafford Road, Brighton BN1 5PF For information on advertising & membership: Kate Woodhead, Dog and Partridge House, By ley, Cheshire CW10 9NJ Tel: 0606 835517 Fax: 0606 834799 NEWS REPORTS CHAIR'S BRIEFING There has been a good response to the • Some feel that the annual conference is • Positive steps to provide better resources Chair's Report tabled at the April 1993 an important event but not so important for Art History teaching in higher AGM and printed in the last Bulletin. that it should exhaust a disproportionate education are being taken; we are trying Several members of the Association have percentage of the Association's human to get the law changed to enable written expressing their views about some and financial resources. institutions to have slides made for of the suggestions we put forward and teaching purposes without infringing more responses either to 'Open Forum' or The Way Forward copyright, and a conference is planned privately directly to me would be very On the Executive we are trying to establish in association with the British Library's welcome. Here are some extracts and our priorities from the numerous Standing Conference on Art and Design. synopses from the post-bag: suggestions thrown up by 'The Way • Some assumed that the 'proposals' in Forward' discussions. At present we have Eastern Europe the Annual Report would automatically identified several areas for immediate The Executive Committee still needs become policy. I would like to reassure action: contact addresses in Eastern Europe of the membership that neither the Chair • We are considering proposals from the worthy educational institutions to benefit nor the Executive intends to ignore the Schools Subcommittee and elsewhere from the scheme to offer free subscriptions strong democratic base upon which the to make the Association more useful to to Art History. There are twenty sub• Association is built. Any important school teachers obliged to teach hist• scriptions on offer for 1994 and although changes will be put before the orical and critical studies under the terms we have some good suggestions for Poland membership at General Meeting under of the National Curriculum for Art. and Hungary we need contact names and the terms of the Constitution. • We are drawing up plans for AAH addresses for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, • There is a wide-spread feeling - probably activities on a regional basis. Roumania and Slovakia. The Executive accurate - that the establishment of a • We are thinking hard about present hopes that the republics of the former permanent, staffed AAH office would categories of membership and whether Yugoslavia may be included in the scheme be impossibly expensive. or not to bring a new scheme to the in due course. • Several members are interested in further members at the 1994 AGM. debate about the very nature of the • A list of East European institutions to Nigel Llewellyn Association: should it try to become a receive free subscriptions to Art History Chair 'professional group' on the lines of the is being made. July 1993 BMA or a 'club for people with an • We are encouraging the HEFCE to interest'? This is an important establish a satisfactory unit of resource consideration, coming as it does when for History of Art, Architecture and we are seeking to expand the Design and to correct the unfair membership and raise more income. arrangements so incompetently applied Would more members amongst school in the aftermath of the 1992 Research teachers and students represent a Selectivity Exercise. (Departmental disincentive to potential members heads and Vice-Chancellors are being among museum professionals? written to about this.) NEWS REPORTS SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS It was felt by the EC that reports submitted university funding. It was felt that research of Art, as President, Gillian Elinor, to the committee by subcommittee chairs had to be assessed if it was to be part of University of East London, Vice- would be of interest to members in that government and local authority funding President. COSAAD had suggested they would give some idea of the scope of decisions. that the AAH provide a database of the work undertaken by the subcommittees It was agreed that the members of the members. It was agreed that this be and keep members up to date with the AAH subcommittee should see themselves referred to the EC. Further, it was issues being discussed. as the logical body to propose both the agreed that reports from this The following reports were submitted assessment group membership and the subcommittee be exchanged with to the EC meeting on 23 June 1993. criteria for assessment research. To COSAAD. Working party for contact Remarks in square brackets refer to accomplish this it was decided that case with COSAAD: Gillian Elinor, Keith comments or decisions taken at the EC studies should be gathered in order to define Robinson, David Peters Corbett. meeting. on what basis research assessment could 5 Thesis prize be judged. Recognising the success of this scheme, Members of the subcommittee were a working party to administer this Art Galleries and asked to volunteer case studies and forms year's prize was set up: Gillian Elinor, Museums of evidence on which we might construct Gudrun Schubert, Colin Cruise. acceptable performance indicators. 6 FE research project The Art Galleries and Museums The next meeting was arranged for Shirley Walker was waiting for EC Subcommittee has had two meetings since Monday 19 July at 14.30 in the Victoria approval [granted] to approach possible the London AAH Conference. The first and Albert Museum. funding bodies. An invitation for a meeting was taken up with discussion researcher to undertake this proposal focusing on the aims and objectives of the Sylvia Lahav would be published in the next Bulletin. subcommittee. Many suggestions were Chair, Art Galleries and Museums It was agreed that she should go ahead put forward concerning 'the way forward' June 1993 [see under Announcements], but that and how best to organise a programme the matter would be passed forward to which would address issues of common EC. FE working party: Shirley Walker, interest while still acknowledging the Universities and Ella Beaumont. diversity of the group. There was some discussion concerning A rt History and how Colleges 7 HEFCE research funding for History of Art and Art and Design the group might influence the content and 1 Membership nature of the journal. A draft letter from the Chair of the sub• Following the reconstitution of the committee to Heads of relevant N Hilary Gresty from VAGA spoke a little subcommittee at the 1993 AGM, the Departments was circulated for about the history of VAGA, its role and 17 members elected at the jointly held present membership. comment. The substance of the letter meeting were confirmed. The was commended, but it was agreed It was agreed that the next meeting membership is drawn from all that a clearer invitation to respond should focus on a current issue of concern, constituencies of the subcommittee: should be included. In addition EC Performance Indicators, and it was decided the 'old universities', higher and would be asked to approve that a letter to invite Michael Podro to come along and further education colleges. from the Chair of the Association be address the group. Michael Podro, 2 Meetings sent to Vice-Chancellors and Heads of Professor of Art History at Essex The first meeting was held on Friday institutions to alert them to the University, was a member of the assessment 12 June. A calendar of meetings was Assocation's views. [It was felt the panel for research into Performance agreed at that meeting: 29 November letter should come from Nigel Indicators in Art History Departments of 1993,4 March 1994, 10 June 1994. Llewelyn.] universities, established by the University 3 Operation of subcommittee 8 Subcommittee constitutency Funding Council on recommendations from It was agreed that the subcommittee's the AAH. Difficulties in locating contact names business was best handled through the for mailings relating to committee The second meeting looked at the operation of working parties with matters should be rectified through a proposals which the Department ofNational specific tasks. Some already existed systematic gathering of names of Heads Heritage is discussing concerning the from the previous year. Others were or other contacts. Working party: Will introduction of Performance Indicators into set up. Vaughan, Pauline Ridley, Shirley National Museums and Galleries. Michael 4 COSAAD Walker. Podro began by putting arts research A change of officers was reported, funding into perspective with other with Barry Jackson, Falmouth School NEWS REPORTS 9 Theory and Practice teaching of visual history might also agreed that a working party be formed Further discussion - perhaps a day be included. Working party: Sue to decide a strategy. Working party: conference on the teaching of art history Wragg, Colin Cruise, Pauline Ridley. Andrew Causey, David Peters Corbett, in the context of practical art - was 10 Higher Education Research in Art Anne Massey, Claire Donovan. proposed to follow the interest shown History at the 1993 Conference. The interest Various issues relating to research William Vaughan shown by gallery and museum curators (funding, assessment, research degrees, Chair, Universities and Colleges had surprised the organisers. The supervision) need vigilance, and it was June 1993 REGIONAL GROUPS Local activities under the AAH umbrella One of the initiatives being actively national AAH events such as the Annual Any individuals or groups of members considered by the Executive Committee is Conference. who have views about Regional Groups or the establishment of a network of Regional Such Regional Groups should probably would like to take part in running one are Groups within the AAH.