In Context - The official blog of the Department of Art History at UST

In Context

Faculty, Graduate Student, Museum Studies, Research, Research Travel

Research at the Rijksmuseum

In the summer 2023, Dr. Amy Nygaard and graduate students Michaela Peine and Madeleine DeGrace travelled to Amsterdam with the support of a Graduate Research Team Grant from the Center for Faculty Development at UST. Their research project titled, Decoloniality, Decentering, and Didactics: Close Analysis of Antiracism Methodologies in the Rijksmuseum, closely examined 77 gallery labels that were written to highlight each object’s connection to the human slavery for the museum’s 2021exhibition “Rijksmuseum & Slavery”. These 77 labels were juxtaposed with the existing object labels for that exhibition. When the research team visited the Rijksmuseum in 2023, many objects included in the “Rijksmuseum & Slavery” had new, what the team called “third label or reconciled” label that synthesized information from the previous two labels. With all of this text in hand, the research team set out to do a careful rhetorical analysis of labels.

Photo from interview of Rijksmuseum’s curators taken in August 2023 by Dr. Amy Nygaard, Assistant Professor of Art History and Director of Museum Studies.  From Left to Right: Michaela Peine, Graduate Student in Art History and Museum Studies Certificate; Eveline Sint Nicolaas, Senior Curator of History at the Rijksmuseum; Maria Holtrop, Curator of History at the Rijksmuseum; Madeleine DeGrace, Graduate Student in Art History and Museum Studies Certificate

October 14, 2024 by
Conference Presentations, Graduate Qualifying Paper, Research

Michaela Peine presenting at 40th Annual Art History Graduate Student Symposium

In the beginning of March, Michaela Peine was invited to present her paper, “Tangible Devotion: A Tactile Understanding of Fra Angelico’s Virgin Enthroned,” an excerpt from her QP research, at the Florida State University 40th Annual Art History Graduate Student Symposium. Presenting this paper gave Michaela an opportunity to hone her research and writing, presenting a facet of her work and receiving feedback that will contribute to her ongoing research.

Michaela’s paper focused on a small double-sided panel entitled Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Peter, Paul, and George, Four Angels, and a Donor, painted c. 1446 by Fra Angelico. This research argues that this panel shares many key similarities with deschi da parto—the trays presented to women upon giving birth—b​ut also that it also contains vital elements that mark it as a devotional object, not meant to be given to a new mother, but instead deliberately borrowing the iconography of birth trays in order to operate as an item of devotion for a male donor. Virgin Enthroned is not a static art piece; rather, the physical qualities of this panel reveal that this is an object that is meant to be held closely, turned over, and passed from hand to hand. By understanding the tactile qualities of this painting and imagining the spatial and physical environment it would have inhabited, it is possible to examine the psychological and spiritual narratives within Virgin Enthroned. Through this methodology she seeks to “embody” the piece, understanding its spiritual impact through its sensory qualities. Activated by the physical presence of the viewer, this tiny panel encapsulates the complex relationship between art, religious devotion, civic engagement, and the gendered gaze in quattrocento Italy.

Michaela was invited to submit her paper for publication with Athanor, the graduate publication of the Art History department at Florida State University. Her paper will be published in November, and she will present her QP in December.

September 2, 2024 by
Research, Research Travel, Students

Harrison Peck in Sveti Klement, Croatia (summer 2024)

Harrison Peck is an Art History/Archaeology Graduate student at the University of St. Thomas. His work over the summer of 2024 in Sveti Klement, Croatia was focused on the archaeological site at Soline Bay under professors Ivancica Schrunk and Vanessa Rousseau. His areas of focus in academics are Republican Rome and Early America, and he is particularly interested in archaeology and museum administration.

During the 2024 excavation at Soline Bay, Harrison worked with a Roman site that likely produced salt, wine, olive oil, and garum (a type of fish-sauce). He also assisted with both the actual excavation and the cleaning and organizing process afterwards on-site. This project followed an interdisciplinary approach through combined work from staff, faculty, and students with a variety of backgrounds in archaeology, history, geology, and art history. Harrison’s overall project focus for this season was the field of museum ethics and cultural heritage. Specifically, he analyzed museum methodology, cultural approaches toward history, and Croatian cultural property laws to identify how different countries both recognize and utilize historical and archaeological sites/objects.

The project’s initial stages involved setting up the excavation site and estimating the location of the old Roman wall. The located wall was in much better condition than expected – walls from the early Roman period are usually better cut than those from later periods and were almost always repurposed for other structures. Excavation continued to the lower layers where the digging ran close to bedrock and the wall’s foundation could be identified, which took most of the remaining time that had been allotted for the dig. The excavation team had other projects running alongside the primary excavation, which members of the crew assisted with as needed.

The geology team focused on core sampling and surveying, which added to the knowledge of the site’s geographic evolution; other areas of the site were cleared of brush and debris to allow for surface level examination. During the excavation, Harrison assisted Tom Schrunk with the archaeological photography of the site, taking photos and measurements of both the primary excavation and other areas. Toward the end of the excavation, the crew worked to clean and organize discovered pottery by layer, allowing future research to more easily examine the material and conclude roughly when and where it was deposited. The dig concluded with laying geocloth and backfilling the site to protect the old Roman wall. Discoveries from this year’s dig include a large number of tesserae (rectangularly-cut pieces of stone used to create mosaics), an ancient coin, and some fresco work. Additionally, they uncovered a great deal of different types of pottery; some retained slip, others were likely locally-made, and still others were imported, as they contained clay types identified as coming from the Levant and other areas.

At three points during the trip (before, during, and after the excavation), Harrison visited museums, archaeological archives, and local tourism-oriented sites of historical influence to investigate the cultural use of historical objects and their roles in modern Croatian culture. During these trips, he spoke with a number of experts including archaeologists, divers, museum managers, and curators to investigate Croatian cultural heritage laws and their application. The combined experience of the museum studies element and the excavation itself provided Harrison with a solid foundation for both museum-centric cultural heritage theory and hands-on archaeological experience.

September 2, 2024 by
Graduate Qualifying Paper, Research, Research Travel

Nicole Petersen in Siena

In September 2023 Art History graduate student Nicole Petersen (@nicole.etal_ travelled to Florence and Siena via a travel grant awarded by the department. They visited Italy to work on their Qualifying Paper project, which focuses on the hexagonal bowl in Pietro Lorenzetti’s “Birth of the Virgin” altarpiece (1335-1342) and how women experienced the work in its original placement in Siena Cathedral.

 

Detail of Pietro Lorenzetti’s Birth of the Virgin altarpiece in Siena

The first photo shows a selfie of them from the top of the Torre del Mangia with Siena Cathedral in the background. The second photo shows one of the many detail photos of “The Birth of the Virgin” they captured to utilize in their paper.

Nicole Peteresen on Torre del Mangia, looking toward Siena Cathedral

August 29, 2024 by
Conference Presentations, Graduate Student, Presentations

2024 Travel Highlights: Emily Ross in Chicago

Emily Ross (she/her) is a graduate student in the Art History department. She works at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and her focus of studies is on the reinterpretation of medieval art in later revival eras. 

In April of 2024, she presented her paper, “Adorning Mary: The Brooch in Latter Quattrocento Florence,” to the Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) annual conference in Chicago. The paper focused on the presence of brooches in Madonna and Child paintings in Florence, and their relative boom in the 1460s and 1470s, corresponding to the height of productivity for goldsmith-painters and sumptuary law prescribing and limiting the wearing of brooches for women at the time. Other papers in the panel discussed violence and sensuality in Florentine mannerist sculpture and the continuous motif of Mary revealing Christ from under a blanket in Paduan art. 

The conference was held at the Art Institute of Chicago, and at the various buildings that the School of the Art Institute owns, with keynote addresses surrounding the opening of the exhibition “Picasso: Drawing from Life.” There were also tours of the prints and drawings study room and of the Smart Museum’s Modern Meiji exhibition.

Emily’s talk was very well received, garnering compliments from those who had not even been in attendance but heard it was a highlight from those who did attend. 

August 26, 2024 by
Graduate Qualifying Paper, Research, Research Travel

2024 Research Travel: Madeleine DeGrace in London, Kew, and Beaulieu House, Southhampton

In January of 2024, Madeleine DeGrace had the opportunity to complete research for her Qualifying Paper at Beaulieu Palace House near Southampton, the British National Archives in Kew, and the Imperial War Museum in London.

How far along are you in the program?

  • 2 years, this is my 4th semester! I am planning on graduating in December 🙂

What is your area of interest?

  • English country house architecture and their uses in WWII as espionage training schools

Do you work? On campus/off?

  • I have an internship at Minnestoa History Center in their Interpretive Programming division, and I am one of the gallery guards in the American Museum of Asmat Art at St.Thomas

Where were you traveling?

  • I went to England for one week, specifically to Southampton and London to visit Beaulieu Palace House, the Imperial War Museum and the National Archives to see first-hand the sites and artifacts connected to my Qualifying Paper with Professor Victoria Young.

Image of Beaulieu Palace House from January 5th, 2024

Why did you have to go there?

  • It was primarily to view Beaulieu House in person and gather as much information as I possibly could that wouldn’t be available in the US. For architectural research (as with all research) it’s important to see and be in the space you are interpreting, otherwise you don’t really feel a connection to the space. The British National Archives are pretty locked down in terms of online access, so a lot of the primary source documents I needed had to be accessed in person.

What institution/person did you work with at the location?

  • I scheduled a visit with Beaulieu palace house staff to have them give me a private tour walking through the house, and that was quite valuable, but at the IWM and the National Archives, that was primarily led by me. I was able to reserve a ton of documents to view at the national archives and they had them ready for me to look through.

SOE field radio at the IWM’s exhibit on secret operations and spies

What was the content of your research?

  • I was looking at the house and its history, most importantly, looking at how it was used as a training school for the SOE in WWII. Most of the documents I was pulling at the National Archives and the research I was doing at the Beaulieu House focused on the SOE training schools at these sites and how a grand old country house could be used as a training school.

How were your days structured?

  • Most days were a quick breakfast, museum/site visit trip for the whole day, hunker down for dinner and relax. It was pretty lowkey and chill because it was pretty cold and got dark really early, and both my dad and I ran out of steam after a long day of museums (museum fatigue is really real!)

What was your favorite part of the findings/research results?

  • This research is a continuation of my undergraduate senior thesis, in which I studied female agents of the SOE, so for me to get to walk on the same grounds as these women whom I looked up to is really important to me. I found that research so important since many of these women were looked down upon in the immediate post war, so for me to see them in exhibit galleries on walls or to see objects that were connected to them directly was my favorite part of the research. Also, at the National Archives, I pulled out the personnel files of all of the women I studied and to see their handwriting and look through their documents was also so special to me and important.
Madeleine pouring over SOE documents at the national archives

Madeleine pouring over SOE documents at the national archives

Anything else notable about the trip/the work you did?

  • My dad and I drove on the wrong side of the road down country lanes in the New Forest and it was very stressful! But it was very fun! My mom is also a flight attendant for United so we flew standby there and back and we were able to fly business class both ways, which slays.
  • I got to hear Big Ben and St Paul’s Cathedral’s chimes, which was very cool!
August 14, 2024 by
Graduate Qualifying Paper, Graduate Student, Research Travel, Uncategorized

Renaissance Florence: Ghirlandaio’s quattrocento goldsmith promotional frescoes

In a seminar on early Renaissance Florentine art with Dr. Lois Eliason, Ingrid became interested in the frescoes of Domenico Ghirandaio (1448-94), one of the most celebrated artists of the late 15th century in Florence. Her research on his Birth of the Virgin (1485-90) fresco in the Tornabuoni Chapel at Santa Maria Novella became the foundation for her Qualifying Paper topic, and draws on a variety of methodologies – including stylistic, feminist, materialistic, and theories about sensory experience in art – to better understand the artist’s work and contributions.

Ingrid at the Tornabuoni Chapel of Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Ingrid had two hypotheses that were crucial to investigate in-person: Firstly, how did Ghirlandaio intentionally introduce sound into his frescoes, creating a multi-sensory experience? Secondly, how did Ghirlandaio’s involvement in his family’s goldsmith business influence his art in comparison with his contemporaries?

Through a travel grant awarded by the Art History department, Ingrid was able to explore these questions onsite in Florence, providing her with an a wealth of contextual information that simply would not have been possible through digital or library research alone. Some particularly valuable scholarly experiences including attending a mass a Santa Maria Novella to experience the acoustics Ghirlandaio would have been working with, and the discovery of a golden plate at the Bargello Museum that was nearly identical to one depicted in Ghirlandaio’s Santa Fina fresco (1477-78). These will be important contributions to her qualifying paper.

August 9, 2024 by
Graduate Qualifying Paper, Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel, Students

2023 Travel Highlights: Michaela Peine in Boston

Michaela Peine (she/her) is a graduate student in the department of Art History. She is in her 4th semester at St. Thomas, and plans to finish the program in 5 semesters. Michaela’s area of interest is in the relationship between tangible/sensory qualities and psychological narratives in Italian Renaissance art. When she is not attending classes, Michaela works as a gallery guard at the AMAA, as well as with UST Campus Life. Off campus, Michaela holds an internship with the Cathedral of St. Paul, where she is working with their archives – developing an exhibit connecting their art and architecture to the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.  

Michaela in Boston!

In 2023, Michaela conducted research in Boston from November 9-14th . With Dr. Lois Eliason as her faculty advisor, Michaela connected with Frederick Ilchman, the chair of European Art at the Museum of Fine Arts. Here are some questions we asked Michaela regarding her research and her time at the Boston MFA: 

Q: What was the purpose of this project? What was the content of your research?
MP: The panel that I’m writing my QP on (here) (Virgin Enthroned by Fra Angelico) is in the MFA collection, and I was able to meet with Mr. Ilchman to examine the panel, dig through their curation files, learn about the provenance, curation, and conservation of the piece. In particular, a lot of my theories about this panel were founded on the question of if it was double-sided. Mr. Ilchman confirmed that the panel was double sided, and I was able to read through the MFA’s documentation of everything that is known about the panel’s reverse. 

Q: How were your days structured?
MP: I spent most of my time at the MFA. I first took a day to visit their collections and my panel again – while I was there, they had an amazing exhibit on that related to many of my research questions. I went back another day to meet with the European Art department and the conservation staff who had worked with my piece. Another day I spent in the Massachusetts Historical Society, where I looked through journals, photographs, and materials relating to the provenance of the panel. 

Q: What was your favorite part of the findings/research results?
MP: In the curation materials about my panel was an old slide with a color photograph of the back side of my panel! The reverse of the panel was split from the painting, and is now separate from the work on display in the MFA, in a (very secret) private collection. This was the first time I saw any image of reverse, and it was incredible to have so many of my hypotheses supported!! I think I sent Lois an email entirely in capslock, out of excitement.  

Q: Anything else notable about the trip/the work you did?
After I finished my work in the MFA, Mr. Ilchman brought me down (through many many levels of security) to the MFA’s collections to show me paintings and works not on display.  At one point he pulled out a rack that had three paintings by Monet. 

February 15, 2024 by
Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Summer 2023 Travel Highlights: Etruscan black-glaze pottery with Ingrid Cologne

Ingrid Cologne (she/her) is an Art History/Archaeology Graduate student at the University of St. Thomas. As a Graduate Student Assistant, she works in supporting the development of a South Italian pottery database with Professor Mark Stansbury O’Donnell. Ingrid’s academic interest is in Early Renaissance Florence, South Italian and Attic Pottery. Her favorite art historical activity is getting down in the dirt to excavate!

The final result of sorting and analyzing all the pottery shards.

 

Over the summer, Ingrid worked with Dr. Francesca Silvestrelli, an expert in Etruscan, Attic, and South Italian pottery and professor of archaeology at the University of Salento in Lecce, Italy. Onsite in the University’s archaeological laboratory, they processed a large amount of high-quality black-glaze pottery that has been recovered over the last 20 years from the Campo della Fiera site in Orvieto – an extremely significant area that is hypothesized to have been the seat of the Etruscan Fanum Volumnae: the elusive, all-important federal sanctuary where delegates of the 12 Etruscan regions would gather. Rich in material culture, the site was the last to fall to the Romans in the 3rd century BCE.

The project began with sorting thousands of pottery shards based on intensive stylistic analysis – examining each piece based on the quality of its glaze, thickness, rim-style, and diameter – which then allowed the team to categorize the shape the sherd likely came from. From there, the pair worked to identify joins: sherds that fit together to form a single vessel. Once the joins were established, Ingrid was tasked with restoring the pottery and creating archaeological profile drawings to document the vessels found for future research. Once this was completed, she analyzed the clay composition using the Munsell Color System, which involved close examination of the clay fabric to document color and texture, which then give important information on the mineral content and density of the clay that was used. Much of Dr. Silvestrelli’s recent scholarship has focused on kilns used to fire black-glaze pottery; so, she also taught Ingrid how to identify the visual markers that provide clues into the firing process. For example: a well-fired cup presents a luminous, even black gloss on both the inner and outer surface, but fragments with red or brown discolorations indicate problems during the final oxidized phase of firing, and grey fragments demonstrate incorrect temperature control during the second phase. When put together, all of this information provided valuable insight into the context of the massive amount of pottery sherds that were found at this site. A crash course in an archaeological lab, this opportunity provided Ingrid with invaluable hands-on experience that will be crucial to her success and competitiveness in the field after graduation. 

February 15, 2024 by
Graduate Qualifying Paper, Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Great Conversations Changed the Direction: Thoughts on Meeting Artist Andrea Carlson

Dakota Hoska is a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Art History program. Dakota was awarded a Department of Art History Research Grant to support travel and research for her Qualifying Paper.

Carlson’s tools in her studio

There’s a lot I thought I knew. I had seen Andrea Carlson speak several times, and I had watched many of her interviews. We hold her piece Sunshine on a Cannibal at the Minneapolis Institute of Art where I work, and I have seen it installed on a few occasions. I thought I had good insights on this artist as a topic for my Qualifying Paper (QP), but, even so, many things changed after I was able to travel to Chicago and meet with Carlson in person. The opportunity to travel to Chicago was supported through a grant from the University of St. Thomas Department of Art History.  I am very thankful that I was afforded that opportunity because it really influenced the direction of my final paper.

Andrea Carlson, taking a break for a recorded conversation after touring the Field Museum Collection

Andrea Carlson is a deeply thoughtful artist with a very complicated deliberation process as it relates to the visuals found in her work. It would have been very difficult for me to whittle down which direction to take in my analysis of her work without meeting with her in person. Before going to Chicago, I had a 3 ½ page outline of things that I believed were possible to address in my QP. After meeting with Carlson, I was able to carve 2 ½ pages off my outline. Not simply because the topics were no longer relevant, but because after speaking with Carlson I realized the subjects were either SO meaningful for the artist that I would need considerable more time to address them than the QP allowed, or because I discovered the issues didn’t relate to the artist in the way I had assumed.

Andrea Carlson, studio visit. Carlson’s work is often so large, she can only see sections of it at a time because of her small space.

Traveling to the artist’s location allowed me to visit her museum, meet her friends, and tour institutions where she often serves as an advisor or where she simply goes for inspiration and learning opportunities. This helped me prioritize the subjects I wanted to address in my QP as well as develop a new and very important professional relationship.

After leaving Andrea after a long day of touring the Chicago Art Institute, she directed me to cross through this park to return to my hotel where I had a lovely skyline view of the city of Chicago.

One day, I would like to do the first major exhibition of Carlson’s work, as well as produce her first monograph. I don’t know if I’ll get that opportunity, but if I do, it is this trip that began my journey towards that destination. I think non-academics may assume that we scholars are sitting home in front of our computers with stacks of books in front of us, seldom seeing the light of day. (OK, that is very true some of the time). But I think the best scholarship is closely tied to the personal experience, and travel grants like this one help to make those kinds of individual encounters possible.

A sneak peek of some of the imagery Carlson is working on for her next big painting, Red Exit.

My deepest thanks go to the University of St. Thomas Department of Art History for my grant. It really changed the trajectory of my paper, helped me streamline my research, and allowed me create a strong and lasting relationship with this very important Native artist, who I’m sure will continue to be a focus for me throughout my career.

March 26, 2019 by