Two blog posts in one day, you can tell it's my day off. Also if you're not interested in academic blathering and geeking out, feel free to skip over this post.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from Dr. Erma Hermens, convener of my Master's program, about the program and prepping for the academics before we arrive. This included a reading list, and, like the total intellectual weirdo I am, this made my entire day. I'm not kidding.
I've only received two of my books in the mail so far, but I AM OBSESSED. And I definitely know I chose the right program after starting to read through these books. They are all from a collection of exhibition catalogues from the National Gallery of Art in London's series of Art in the Making exhibitions, which started in the 1990s. They include general essays on the period or artist under consideration, their workshop, and methods and materials commonly used, and then a collection of case studies, which are my favorite part. There are tons of images, including x-ray, radiographs, and paint-chip analysis, showing how the different pieces were created, and examining them on a whole new level. It's science and art and cultural history all combined, and considering this is what I want to do with my life, I LOVE IT VERY, VERY MUCH. Seriously, ask anyone on staff with me if I've been geeking out, because I have.
The first one is Italian Painting Before 1400, which is so cool. There are artists I've studied in depth and pieces I've seen in person from my trip to Siena and Florence in 2011. And, funnily enough, an entire subchapter about a book I bought in the Uffizi gift shop because I thought it sounded interesting, The Craftman's Handbook, by Cennino Cennini. It's a primary source from the 15th century, pretty much a giant treatise on artistic methods and materials from the period in Florence, and it's central to the study of that period in the National Gallery catalogue. And three years ago, I was already interested in that side of the study of art history. If only I had realized it earlier, I could have saved some faffing about regarding grad program decisions :p
The second book is one on Rembrandt, which is also exciting, as I really love him and the whole 17th century Dutch artist period. (Fun fact: the sample essay I included was on de Hooch, a Dutch genre painter, and Erma Hermens specializes in Dutch genre paintings so really I think that only helped my application). I haven't had as much time looking through this one, but it's still really exciting.
The final book is on Impressionists, which are my actual most favourite, ever, but I'm still waiting on it to be delivered. I'm really thrilled about the selection of periods and artists were focusing on with these three books, however, because they're all representative of some of my favourite periods to study. In my application, I talked about how I wanted to take a more survey-based master's program because I had no idea what I wanted to specialize in because I was split several different ways between medieval manuscripts and frescos, Dutch genre paintings, and more modern art like Impressionists, which are all very different directions in the academic world. And somehow, I lucked out that we're covering all three from this perspective I'm very interested in, the materiality and methodology behind the production of the art, which I think will be very helpful in focusing my research interests for further study. But I still have lots of reading to do before I leave! And an added 8 pounds to my luggage, oh dear.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from Dr. Erma Hermens, convener of my Master's program, about the program and prepping for the academics before we arrive. This included a reading list, and, like the total intellectual weirdo I am, this made my entire day. I'm not kidding.
I've only received two of my books in the mail so far, but I AM OBSESSED. And I definitely know I chose the right program after starting to read through these books. They are all from a collection of exhibition catalogues from the National Gallery of Art in London's series of Art in the Making exhibitions, which started in the 1990s. They include general essays on the period or artist under consideration, their workshop, and methods and materials commonly used, and then a collection of case studies, which are my favorite part. There are tons of images, including x-ray, radiographs, and paint-chip analysis, showing how the different pieces were created, and examining them on a whole new level. It's science and art and cultural history all combined, and considering this is what I want to do with my life, I LOVE IT VERY, VERY MUCH. Seriously, ask anyone on staff with me if I've been geeking out, because I have.
The first one is Italian Painting Before 1400, which is so cool. There are artists I've studied in depth and pieces I've seen in person from my trip to Siena and Florence in 2011. And, funnily enough, an entire subchapter about a book I bought in the Uffizi gift shop because I thought it sounded interesting, The Craftman's Handbook, by Cennino Cennini. It's a primary source from the 15th century, pretty much a giant treatise on artistic methods and materials from the period in Florence, and it's central to the study of that period in the National Gallery catalogue. And three years ago, I was already interested in that side of the study of art history. If only I had realized it earlier, I could have saved some faffing about regarding grad program decisions :p
The second book is one on Rembrandt, which is also exciting, as I really love him and the whole 17th century Dutch artist period. (Fun fact: the sample essay I included was on de Hooch, a Dutch genre painter, and Erma Hermens specializes in Dutch genre paintings so really I think that only helped my application). I haven't had as much time looking through this one, but it's still really exciting.
The final book is on Impressionists, which are my actual most favourite, ever, but I'm still waiting on it to be delivered. I'm really thrilled about the selection of periods and artists were focusing on with these three books, however, because they're all representative of some of my favourite periods to study. In my application, I talked about how I wanted to take a more survey-based master's program because I had no idea what I wanted to specialize in because I was split several different ways between medieval manuscripts and frescos, Dutch genre paintings, and more modern art like Impressionists, which are all very different directions in the academic world. And somehow, I lucked out that we're covering all three from this perspective I'm very interested in, the materiality and methodology behind the production of the art, which I think will be very helpful in focusing my research interests for further study. But I still have lots of reading to do before I leave! And an added 8 pounds to my luggage, oh dear.
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