Society of Fellows News American Academy in Rome
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SOCIETY OF FELLOWS NEWS AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME PORTRAITS SPRING 2003 From the Editors Stefanie Walker FH’01, Catherine Seavitt FA’98 This issue of the SOF NEWS presents how we have to adjust our modern Society of Fellows NEWS itself with an attractive color cover concept of portraits when looking at SPRING 2003 and graphics that are aligned with the one two millennia old. We learn that Published by the Society of Fellows of Academy-wide revamping of its let- visual formulae for beauty and social The American Academy in Rome terhead and publications. The new ideals adhere to the basic concept 7 East 60 Street look comes thanks to the creative that outer appearance corresponds New York, NY 10022-1001 USA enthusiasm and hard work of to inner character. Such conventions tel 212 751 7200 www.aarome.org Co-Editors: Stefanie Walker FH’01 Catherine Seavitt FA’98, whose efforts were more important than individu- Catherine Seavitt FA’98 - we hope you agree - have paid off alized features or the creator's hand, Contributors: Joanne Spurza FC’88 handsomely. leaving the "real" Livia enigmatic Brian Curran FH’94 Many of the contributions center and open to, for example, literary SOF Liason: Elsa Dessberg on portraits of all different kinds, manipulation. from the funky spring chicken on the "Creator" and "sitter" imply an Contents cover, a self-portrait for the Academy active and a passive role, however SOF President’s Message 3 7 East 60 Street 4 FV’98 bar by Douglas Argue , to the this gets more complicated in the Via Angelo Masina 5 quietly dramatic photographs by Judy self-portrait where the artist (self) News From Rome 6 Dater VA’98, from the reverie on the consciously chooses the method and Portrait of Livia Elizabeth Bartman FH’83 8 ill-fated Beatrice Cenci by Pamela Portrait of Anna Judy Dater FV’98 9 tone of his or her own representa- Recent Events 10 Keech FS’82 to Households by Mark tion. The series of pictures from the Upcoming Events 11 Robbins FD’97, where personal acces- Academy bar is not only a welcome Rome Prize Winners 2003-2004 12 sories help explain what lies behind record of past Fellows but also doc- Portraits at the Bar Catherine Seavitt FA’98 14 the pose. With her tribute to Awards and Publications 16 uments the moods and preferences Exhibitions and Performances 18 Lawrence Richardson jr. FC’50, RC’79, of former decades. As we sip our Other News 20 Adele Chatfield-Taylor FD’84 even morning cappuccino or afternoon Households Mark Robbins FD’97 21 managed to address the portrait aperitivo, we muse about those lined Recent Books 22 In Memoriam 24 theme in her president's note. We are up along the walls. We wonder what Roman Views 27 very grateful to all the Fellows, their Rome was like and whether AAR Field Abbreviations Residents, and Visitors who shared their Academy experience could their work. F Fellow ME Medieval Studies have possibly been as marvelous as R Resident MEC Mellon East-Central Successful portraits, in whatever ours. A Architecture European Visiting medium, go beyond the descriptive AN Ancient Studies Scholar ASCR MO to offer a deeper glimpse of the cre- The focus of the upcoming Fall 2003 issue American School Modern Italian of the SOF NEWS will be the theme of of Classical Studies Studies P ator and the sitter. The action of the Letters. Despite the rapidity of our world of in Rome Painting first unlocks facets of the personality B Oscar Bronner R Post-Classical email and text messaging, letters still Fellow Humanistic and of the latter which are not readily achieve the reflective suspension of time C Classical Studies Modern Italian apparent, perhaps not even to the sit- and distance. We seek contributions to the and Archaeology Studies CHP RE ters themselves or those close to topic of Letters from Rome/Letters to Rome Conservation/ Renaissance and in any medium or period. Please submit Historic Preservation Early Modern Studies them. Since the creator's act is inter- D Design S Sculpture your contribution to the Editors, in care of pretation, it always reveals something DTH Dinkeloo SRVA Southern Regional the American Academy in Rome’s New Traveling Fellow Visiting Artist of him or herself as well. This may York City office, by August 1st, 2003. FF Fulbright Fellow V Visual Art be accepted wisdom in our times, but H History of Art VA Visiting Artist L Landscape VC Visiting Curator Elizabeth Bartman FH’83 the piece by Architecture VS Visiting Scholar on the Roman empress Livia shows COVER: Douglas Argue FV’98 Portrait, 2002 M Musical Composition W Writing 2 SPRING 2003 SOF President’s Message Pamela Keech FS’82 In September 1981, when I arrived in Rome for Transports about, of course, Beatrice. John Keats and St. Clare of my Fellowship year, I was an unforgivable roman- Assisi were in it too, with a cameo by Pio Nono. It starred certain tic. I was a recent MFA from Ohio State Fellows who are now at the top in their fields. I shall not name University, and had never been outside the United them. States except for a trip to Canada when I was Bea will always be with me. On a recent trip to Rome I was twelve. My thesis show had been called Lust at Fox wrestling with the problem of what pseudonym to use when Gorge and consisted of an enormous installation of phoning a restaurant for reservations. This is a common problem five life-size rooms and a garden that filled the uni- when your last name, like mine, in unpronounceable in Italian. versity gallery. This visual escapade was accompa- Someone mentioned that they use the name of a historic Italian nied by a short novella of the same name that I who is a particular hero of theirs. So later, when I called Vecchia had written in about a month, and was actually Roma for a table, and they asked "nome?", I replied, "Cenci." (seems hard to imagine) typeset and printed by a There was a very chilly silence on the other end of the line, dur- friend who worked in a printing plant. ing which I realized what brutta figura is all about. In Rome, a por- The novella presented the plot, and the installa- trait lives a long time. tion was the house in which it was all set. The I have amassed a small collection of "knock-off" portraits - a story was a Victorian murder mystery in which the late 19th century print, a tatty little souvenir plate, a bad copy by peri-menopausal oldest sister murdered her entire an unknown art student. I love these. family, one by one, by poisoning them, got off, and Portrait of Beatrice Cenci Print from the collection of Pamela Keech lived in the house until she wasted away. As you will see, I was truly primed for Rome. It did not take long for me to discover Beatrice Cenci (1577-1599), Renaissance girl interrupted. She, sentenced to death at the age of 21 for engi- neering the murder of her monstrously abusive father. She, beheaded on my favorite bridge (Ponte S. Angelo). She, buried so close to the Academy (S. Pietro in Montorio). As she won the hearts of Shelley, Stendahl, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Orson Welles, she also became my obsession. And it all started with that famous portrait originally thought to be by Guido Reni. There has been an art historical soccer match over whether or not Portrait of Beatrice Cenci is actually by Guido Reni (on the internet translated as "I guide kidneys!"). I don't particularly care and will always picture Signor Reni/Kidneys there in the jail cell with her, Beatrice. He has his sketchpad on his knee and is capturing her, so modest with that long scarf wrapped around her head, so tender after unspeakable tortures, looking back over her shoul- der for life before her father's brutality. That fall at the Academy, I staged a performance art piece called Ancient Crimes / Voluptuous SOF NEWS 3 7 East 60 Street Adele Chatfield-Taylor FD’84 When the editors announced that they were devoting this tion of its constituents over the past century than any school or uni- issue of the SOF newsletter to portraits, I decided to versity. Part of that, of course, is to be laid to Rome itself, and part devote my space to a portrait of and tribute to Lawrence to the plant and faculty, but most belongs to the Fellows themselves Richardson, jr. FC’50, RC’79. Larry was born in 1920, and and their education of one another. The scholars come to Rome to began his connection with us when he won the Rome study the monuments and bring history and its problems into focus Prize in the 1940s, very soon after the Academy re-opened and discover as well important affinity with composers working with following World War II. Thereafter, he was Field electronics. The artists come to Rome to bring to bring fresh ways of Archaeologist 1952-55, a Trustee 1969-92, Chair of the the new world and the future to the dingy precincts of tradition and Committee of Classical Studies and Library Committees, often develop fruitful and lasting friendships with the archaeologists. Classical Studies juror, Mellon Professor 1980-81, and Almost everyone profits enormously from time spent at the Director of the Summer Seminar 1978. He has received American Academy and in due course conceives a love for the place numerous awards and honors, and written many books.