Basler Chair Public Lectures
Dr. Molly Faries, ETSU Basler Chair, Fall 2010
- Thursday 9/23/2010- 7 p.m. 127 Ball Hall
PAINTING FORENSICS
Popularized by programs such as CSI, Bones, and the History Detectives, forensic method has become a ‘hot” topic. It may come as a surprise to learn that many of these analytic techniques have been used for years in the arts, especially archeology and technical art history. This lecture will focus on study using infrared techniques, the area of the speaker’s expertise, and discuss the implications this and other investigative methods have for academe: devising a more responsible preparation of students for our increasingly technological society and evaluating the incentives and obstacles to interdisciplinary teaching and research.
- Thursday 9/30/2010- 7 p.m. 127 Ball Hall
THE BUSINESS OF ART
Technical investigations of early European painting have provided us with a new understanding of artists’ activity. It is now possible to describe how painters set up their small workshop businesses, increased production, delegated tasks to shop assistants, and adapted their products to patrons, local and international art markets. This lecture will illustrate how technical studies have elucidated workshop procedures and show how entrepreneurial developments during this period have profoundly influenced our understanding of art today.
- Tuesday 11/16/2010- 7 p.m. 127 Ball Hall
THE POWER OF OIL PAINTING
During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, oil painting was considered one of society’s technological assets, much as we would regard computer technology today. For this reason, it is illuminating to review oil painting’s special qualities and advantages from this point of view. The Hockney/Falco-Storck debate will also be discussed. To what extent can oil painting be understood according to the well-publicized premise of the contemporary painter, David Hockney: “they did it all with mirrors”.
4. Thursday 12/2/ 2010- 7 p.m. 127 Ball Hall
TECHNICAL INVESTIGATION OF MODERN “OLD MASTERS”
In recent years more and more modern painters have been investigated by the technical means that are already well established in the study of Renaissance art. These investigations have led to new perceptions about iconic figures of modern painting: that Van Gogh used a perspective frame; that Picasso worked up his paintings like a sketch pad; that Mondrian’s paintings are as much physical as they are cognitive. In addition, art-technological change during the Impressionist era led to a new democratization of painting.
