UQ Art Museum Public Programs: History of Emotions Lecture 2014: Professor Laurinda Dixon 'A Privileged Profession: Artists and Melancholia'.
Event Details
- Date:
- Wednesday, 22 October 2014
- Time:
- 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
- UQ Location:
- Sir Llew Edwards Building (St Lucia)
- URL:
- www.artmuseum.uq.edu.au
- Event category(s):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Ms Gillian Ridsdale
- Phone:
- 67793
- Email:
- g.ridsdale@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- The University of Queensland Art Museum
Event Description
- Full Description:
- ‘Feeling blue?’ ‘Down in the dumps?’ ‘In a bad humour?’ Most people have expressed these sentiments at one time or another in their lives. But these words once described a real medical disorder, ‘melancholia’, ruled by the planet Saturn and the element of earth. By labelling themselves as melancholic, artists created and defined a new elite identity in which self-worth did not depend on noble blood or material wealth, but rather on talent and intellect. They expressed this concept in their own self-portraits, which appealed to an audience whose gaze was trained to discern the invisible internal self by means of external appearances. Through the centuries, the troubled persona of the artist-genius, invented by Albrecht Dürer, has continued to embody the alienating and depersonalising forces of civilisation.
Laurinda S. Dixon is Professor of Art History in the Department of Art and Music Histories at Syracuse University, New York. Her scholarly specialty is the relationship of art and science before the Enlightenment, and she lectures widely on the subject at universities and museums throughout the world. She is the editor of 'In Sickness and in Health: Disease as Metaphor in Art and Popular Wisdom' (University of Delaware Press, 2004); and author of 'Bosch: Art and Ideas' (Phaidon Publishers, 2003) and 'The Dark Side of Genius: The Melancholic Persona in Art, ca. 1500–1700' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013).
Presented by The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (Europe 1100–1800) and The University of Queensland Art Museum.
Free. All welcome.
RSVP Friday 17 October 2014
Bookings essential as numbers are limited
artmuseum@uq.edu.au
07 3365 3046
Refreshments will be served, after the lecture, in the foyer of the UQ Art Museum.
Our current exhibitions 'Five Centuries of Melancholia' and 'Lindy Lee: The Dark of Absolute Freedom' will be open for viewing.
Please note this public lecture will be held in the Sir Llew Edwards Building (No. 14),
St Lucia campus. Metered parking is available at various locations on campus. Please check signage or visit www.uq.edu.au
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
-
- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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