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This conference coincides with the exhibition Taking Shape: Finding Sculpture in the Decorative Arts (2 October 2008 – 4 January 2009), which explores the connections between sculpture and the decorative arts, focusing on baroque and rococo furniture. Historically, not only have sculptors been employed to supply models for the decoration of objects such as porcelain or tableware, but decorative artists and practitioners, such as furniture-makers, have also developed complex sculptural programmes, often of highly symbolic value, within otherwise functional objects. Elaborate sculptural compositions, often involving themes of fantasy and metamorphosis, are evident in objects ranging from tables to lamps, vases to door-handles, picture frames to fireplaces. But while the sculptural elements may be prominently visible in the objects themselves, their meaning and role is often left unexamined.
This conference seeks to explore the vivid and rich sculptural language that underpins the history of decorative arts, by focusing on the iconographic, symbolic and metaphoric meaning sculpture brings to objects intended for functional, ornamental or ceremonial use. While the exhibition is focused chiefly on the 17th and 18th centuries, we would also welcome submissions addressing these ideas in earlier or later periods. We invite submissions from scholars, curators and practitioners to develop visual and critical approaches to the complex conceptual, visual and material interplay between sculpture and decorative art. Submissions are particularly sought from object-based case studies with a theoretical or thematic focus. MD
Please send a proposal of no more than 600 words, and a brief CV, to Ellen Tait, ellen@henry-moore.ac.uk. Deadline: 1 May 2008
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