UCD School of Art History & Cultural Policy

Scoil Stair na hEalaíne agus an Pholasaí Chultúrtha UCD

School News & Events

Ornament Matters: Rethinking Architectural Decoration

A collaboration between the School of Art History at UCD and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Trinity College, Ornament Matters is intended to build on recent initiatives at UCD and TCD with the aim of establishing Ireland as a centre of research excellence for the study of architectural decoration. Taking the form of a series of lectures, it will provide a significant contribution to expanding fields of academic enquiry in visual and material cultures, re-assessing the role decoration within historiography of early modern architecture and building culture. The innovative research of the selected speakers will appeal to academics and students of architecture, design history, material culture and conservation, and will also appeal to a wider community of independent scholars involved in researching and safeguarding Ireland’s cultural heritage.

Forth lecture in the series:

20 Nov, 'The hand that flourished without rival': drawing, movement & form in eighteenth-century decorative plasterwork by Jenny Saunt. Ornament Matters 5

Ornament Matters Programme (All lectures take place at 7.30 pm in the Neill/Hoey Theatre, Long Room Hub, Trinity College

Support by UCD Seed Funding Scheme & TRIARC

Professor Rosemarie Mulcahy

It is with great sadness that the UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy announces the sudden death of our esteemed colleague, Professor Rosemarie Mulcahy, on 5th September, 2012. Rosemarie was our current Adjunct Professor in Art History, and had served in that role for one year. She had an enduring relationship with University College Dublin, both as a student and an occasional lecturer. In 1973 she graduated with a BA, and between 1989 and 2003 she taught an annual seminar module in the then Department of the History of Art. Rosemarie was also appointed Honorary Senior Research Fellow in 1997-2003. A generous and popular teacher, she was Visiting Professor in Renaissance Studies at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, during the Spring semester of 2009.

Professor Mulcahy was a world-renowned scholar of 16th- and 17th-century Spanish art. She produced four books on the subject, including the seminal The Decoration of the Royal Basilica of El Escorial, which developed from her PhD thesis submitted to Trinity College Dublin. It appeared in an English edition under the imprint of Cambridge University Press in 1994 and was awarded the prestigious Eleanor Tufts prize from the American Society of Hispanic Art Historical Studies. In addition, Rosemarie had published almost thirty articles and essays in leading peer-reviewed journals and in the scholarly catalogues accompanying exhibitions held in major European and American museums. Her standing in the field was reflected in her membership of the consultative committees of two major art-historical journals: The Burlington Magazine and Archivo Español de Arte. In 2001 the Spanish state recognised Professor Mulcahy's outstanding contribution to the scholarship of its visual culture by awarding her the Officer's Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (La Cruz de Oficial de la Orden de Isabel la Católica).

The UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy extends its condolences to Rosemarie’s family, and in particular her beloved husband, Seán. She will be greatly missed.

Obituary - El Pais, 24 Sept 2012

Recent Publications

A Culture of Translation: British and Irish Scholarship in the Gennadius Library 1740-1840

This publication is a study of British and Irish scholarship in the collection of the Gennadius Library, Athens. The volume arises out of two seperate symposia that took place organised by the School of Art History and Cultural Policy, UCD. The first symposium was in Athens in the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies Athens in June 2010 and the Gennadius Library of the Amerian School of Classical Studies, Athens. The symposium was concluded with an exhibition of these precious holdings in the Gennadius library, Athens. The second symposium was held in the Humanities Institute, UCD in June 2011. Various themes explored are in this book which relate to material culture and art and architecture as encountered, recorded and published by British and Irish scholars during 1740-1840 as a result of travels in Greece, Asia Minor and the Levant.

The Fusion of Neo-Classical Principles (Wordwell)

Edited by Lynda Mulvin this book of essays makes a wide-ranging and stimulating contribution to current scholarly debates about the nature of Neo-Classicism, that critical cultural development that signals the arrival both of recognisable modernity and of internationalism in the western tradition. Written by some of the leading experts on the subject this book considers the manner in which Neo-Classical principles and knowledge were translated into practice and adopted by the artists, designers, builders and decorative artists of the Neo-Classical period. This publication is the result of a conference held in May 2009, organised by the School of Art History & Cultural Policy in association with the Irish Architectural Archive and National Gallery of Ireland. [Irish Times]

Recent Guest Lectures

'Associations promoting art in the public sphere: new exhibiting spaces in the Enlightenment and Romanticism' [April 5, 2012] - a lecture by J. Pedro Lorente, University of Zaragossa
'Outside the Canon of High Renaissance Art: Masterpieces by Leone and Pompeo Leoni in Spain', [March 29, 2012] - a lecture by Dr Rosemaire Mulcahy, Adjunct Professor at UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy
'Heroes and Kings of the Shahnama: The Iranian National Epic and the Chester Beatty Library', [February 1, 2011] - a lecture by Dr. Elaine Wright, Curator of Islamic Art, Chester Beatty Library
'David Chipperfield: Public Works', [November 11, 2010] - a lecture by internationally acclaimed British architect Sir David Chipperfield, presented in association with the Office of Public Works and the National Gallery of Ireland.
'Patrons, Piety and Self-Promotion in Venetian Renaissance Painting', [September 23, 2010] - a lecture by Professor Peter Humfrey, University of St Andrews
'From the Spanish Match to the Spanish Civil War: The British and Irish in Spain 1623- 1939' [April 8, 2010] - a lecture by Dr David Howarth, Reader in History of Art, Edinburgh University.
'Irish Farmhouse Interiors through Artists' Eyes: Genre Painting as evidence for 19th century Material Culture' [March 25, 2010] - a lecture by Dr Claudia Kinmonth.
'The Royal Hospital & the Collins Barracks' [February 25, 2010] - a guest lecture by Dr Edward McParland.
‘interludium’ [January 26, 2010] - a lecture by Sean Shanahan who created an installation in the stairhall of Newman House which engages with the architecture and interior decoration of this Georgian townhouse.

Public Lectures and Conference Paper

Kathleen James-Chakraborty, 'The Architecture of Modern Memory: Architecture and Identity in the Federal Republic of Germany', Discussions in Architectural History and Theory , Washington University in Saint Louis, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, 15 April 2013.
Conor Lucey, ‘Plastering over the decorative arts’, Annual Meeting of the College Arts Association (CAA), New York, 14 February 2013.
Lynda Mulvin, 'The Triconch and Stibadium in Late Roman Architecture: the essence of modernity?', 8th Savannah Symposium: Modernities Across Time and Space, 7-9 February, 2013.
Conor Lucey, ‘Between head and hand: working practices from the historical record’, Décors intérieurs dans l’architecture de l’époque moderne, Université de Namur, Belgium, 14 December 2012.
Conor Lucey, 'Consumer non-choices in the eighteenth-century home', Institute of Historical Research, University of London, 7 November 2012.
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, 'Modernist Memories: Architecture and Identity in the Federal Republic of Germany', Wesleyan University, 25 Sept 2012
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, 'From the Bauhaus in Calcutta to the Swiss Minaret Debate: Who wants Modern Architecture and Why?', 2012-2013 Benjamin West Lecture Series , Bryn Mawr College, 24 Sept 2012.
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, 'Between Form and Function: German Industrial Architecture in the 1920s', Royal Hibernian Academy, 19 September 2012
Conor Lucey, ‘Merrion Square and the building culture of Georgian Dublin', Merrion Square 250, Irish Architectural Archive, 5 September 2012.
Lynda Mulvin, 'Nuremberg and The Ruins of Baalbek, otherwise Heliopolis in Coelosyria: overlapping historical processes?', CIHA conference - The Challenge of the Object, Nuremburg, 15 July 2012
Roisin Kennedy, 'The Post-impressionist exhibitions in Dublin in 1911-12', Dublin City Gallery, the Hugh Lane, 24 June 2012
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, 'Belonging in postwar sacred architecture in the Federal Republic of Germany', Belonging: Cultural Topographies of Identity Conference, UCD School of Langauges and Literatures, 8-9 June 2012
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, 'Beyond the Avant-Garde: Addressing Vernacular Modernism', European Architectural History Network, Brussels, 2 June 2012
Lynda Mulvin, 'Cyrene and Apollonia: the classical urban plan as a measure of opposites', The Classical Urban Plan: Monumentality, Continuity and Change Session, European Architectural History Network, Brussels, 31 May 2012
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, 'Bauhaus: Art as Life', Goethe-Institut, 21 May 2012
Lynda Mulvin, 'Roman Religious Practices at Baalbek, Lebanon', Classical Association of Ireland, Sligo Branch, 17 May 2012
Paula Murphy, 'St Patrick's Cathedral, Nineteenth-Century Sculpture', St Patrick's Cathedral, 10 May 2012
Roisin Kennedy,'A revolution in Paint. Paul Cézanne at Aix en Provence', Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland, 24 April 2012
Conor Lucey, 'From Rococo to Rot: Interior Decoration in Dublin 1760-1800', Society of Architectural Historians Conference, Detroit, 20 April 2012
Emily Mark-FitzGerald, 'Commemorating the Irish Famine: Monuments & Memory in Ireland and the Diaspora', Art History Seminar Series, University of Melbourne, 18 April 2012
Lynda Mulvin, 'Perge and Side: the 'Mad Men' or Rival cities of Roman Pamphylia', Society of Architectural Historians Conference, Detroit, 18 April 2012
Emily Mark-FitzGerald,'Remembering the Irish Famine', Public lecture, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 5 April 2012
Paula Murphy, 'Vincent van Gogh: in search of the Light', Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland, 28 March 2012
Roisin Kennedy, 'Fantasy versus reality in Irish Art', National Gallery of Ireland, study morning on Fables and Fairy Tales in Irish Art, 24 March 2012
Lynda Mulvin, 'Late medieval friaries in Ireland: a review of architectural form', From Ireland outwards: interactions between Ireland and western Christendom in the late medieval period Symposium, University College Cork, 23 March 2012
Emily Mark-FitzGerald, 'Monuments, museums & the memory of migration in Canada', University of Limerick Symposium Famine Memory and the Irish Diaspora: Migrants, Remembrance, Performance, 22 March 2012
Lynda Mulvin, 'Gothic Nuremburg', Celebrating Pugin Lecture Series, Irish Architectural Archive, 13 March 2012
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, 'The Great American Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright', National Gallery of Ireland, 8 March 2012
Pat Cooke, 'Do Irish museums have a great future behind them?', Irish Museums Association Annual Conference, 25 February 2012
John Loughman, 'The Cuyp Workshop and the Construction of Social Identity in Dordrecht', College Arts Association 2012 Annual Conference, 23 February 2012
Emily Mark-FitzGerald, ‘Remembering the Irish Famine: Commemorating the Famine Graveyard and Workhouse, 1990-2011’ for session 'Where the Bodies Lie: Landscapes of Mourning, Memory, and Concealment', College Arts Association 2012 Annual Conference (Los Angeles), 22 February 2012

Recent & Forthcoming Publications

Books

Lynda Mulvin (ed.), A Culture of translation: British and Irish Scholarship in the Gennadius Library (1740-1840), The New Griffon 13, The Gennadius Library, American School of Classical Studies, Athens, 2012
Christine Casey & Conor Lucey (eds), Decorative plasterwork in Ireland and Europe: ornament & the early modern interior, Four Courts Press, 2012
Lynda Mulvin (ed.), The Fusion of Neo-Classical Principles, Dublin: Wordwell, 2012
Kathleen James Chakraborty, Anne Fuchs & Linda Shortt (eds), Debating German Cultural Identity since 1989, Camden House Press, 2011
Kathleen James Chakraborty & Sabine Stümper-Krobb (eds), Crossing Borders: Space Beyond Discipline, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011
Paula Murphy, Nineteenth-Century Irish Sculpture, Native Genius Reaffirmed, London: Yale University Press (April, 2010)

Articles, book chapters & catalogue essays

Conor Lucey, ‘Keeping up appearances: redecorating the domestic interior in late eighteenth-century Dublin’, in Elizabeth Fitzpatrick & James Kelly (eds), Domestic Life in Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, 2012
Conor Lucey, 'Building dialectics: urban scenography in late Georgian Dublin', in Gillian O’Brien and Finola O‘Kane (eds), Portraits of the City: Dublin and the Wider World, Four Courts Press, 2012.
Kathleen James Chakraborty, 'Beyond Cold War Interpretations: Shaping a New Bauhaus Heritage', New German Critique 116 (Summer 2012).
Kathleen James Chakraborty, 'Between Revolution and Reform: The Bauhaus in Context, 1919-23', in Barbican Art Gallery, Bauhaus: Art as Life, König Books, 2012.
Roisin Kennedy, Review of The Story of Irish Museums 1790-2000 by M. Bourke [Cork University Press, 2011], Burlington Magazine, CLIV, March 2012
Lynda Mulvin, 'Charles Robert Cockerell, Francis Johnston and the dissemination of Neo-Classical principles', in L. Mulvin (ed.) The Fusion of Neo-Classical Principles, Dublin: Wordwell, 2012.
Kathleen James Chakraborty, 'Neo-Classical commodities: from Coade Stone to the fall of the Wall and beyond', in L. Mulvin (ed.) The Fusion of Neo-Classical Principles, Dublin: Wordwell, 2012.
Conor Lucey, ‘Pattern books and pedagogies: neo-classicism and the Dublin artisan’ in L. Mulvin (ed.) The Fusion of Neo-Classical Principles, Dublin: Wordwell, 2012.
Lynda Mulvin [with V. Mulvin and J. Foley],'Finn’s Hotel, historic painted sign, Dublin Dental School and Hospital: a case study', in A. Rauch, L. O’Connor and Z. Reid (eds. ) Irish Professional Conservators and Restorers Association Conservation Activities in Ireland II Papers from the 2010 conference, Wordwell, 2011.
Conor Lucey, ‘Keeping up appearances: redecorating the domestic interior in late eighteenth-century Dublin’, Proceedings of Royal Irish Academy, 111C, 2011.
Nicola Figgis, Preface to Rachel Finnegan (ed.) Letters from Abroad: The Grand Tour Correspondence of Richard Pococke & Jeremiah Milles, vol. 1, Pococke Press, Piltown, 2011.
Emily Mark-FitzGerald, "Parity of Form", Irish Arts Review, summer [June-August] 2011
Kathleen James Chakraborty, "Louis Kahn's Monumentality: Theory and Practice", in Carsten Ruhl, ed., Mythos Monument: Urban Strategien in Architektur und Kunst seit 1945, Bielefeld: Transcript, 2011.

Professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty has been appointed Chair of the board of the Irish Architectural Foundation. Established in 2005, the IAF's role is to be a vibrant and passionate organisation that excites its audiences about the value of architecture. It serves a focal point for the many people and organisations who wish to champion the power of architecture and urban design, and co-ordinates the promotion of Irish architecture internationally.

Anglo-Irish orientalists, travellers, Dilletanti and architects: Ireland, the Mediterranean and book culture 1607-1810 - a one-day symposium that explored the theme of Ireland, the Mediterranean and book culture in the early modern period, celebrating the desire to gather and transport knowledge with a view to providing new information and creating impetus for artistic movements such as neo-classicism in Ireland, Europe and beyond. [Symposium Brochure]

Professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty elected to the RIA - Professor James-Chakraborty was among six UCD professors elected to membership of the Royal Irish Academy on 27th May. Membership of the RIA is awarded to those who have attained distinction in education and research. It is a public recognition of academic excellence and is the highest academic honour in Ireland.

Visual Artists' News Sheet - Beginning in May 2011 Dr Emily Mark-FitzGerald will be writing a column for the Visual Artists' News Sheet, the monthly magazine published by Visual Artists Ireland (the all Ireland development and resource body for professional visual artists, providing services, facilities and resources, operating an artistic programme and acting as an advocate for the interests of artists).

The Michael McCarthy Bequest of Books - UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy would gratefully like to acknowledge the bequest of a large number of books from the estate of the late Michael J. McCarthy, Professor of Art History at UCD between 1994 and his retirement in 2004. There are about 1200 volumes in total and are concentrated in the areas of British and Irish architectural history of the 18^th and early 19^th centuries, architectural theory and taste, the Grand Tour and cultural tourism, and British cultural and social history. These books will be made available to senior students with access to the Françoise Henry Reading Room. The bequest represents only part of Professor McCarthy’s library; prior to his death he made similar donations to the Irish Architectural Archive and to the Chester Beatty Library. We would like to express our gratitude to Michael’s family for facilitating this legacy. A reception was held in the School on the 1^st March, 2011, the first anniversary of his passing, to mark this generous bequest and to honour his memory. For an obituary of Professor McCarthy, please see Professor Michael J. McCarthy Obituary

ARTstor collaboration - The School of Art History and Cultural Policy is collaborating with ARTstor, the nonprofit digital library of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences, to share 620 images of the architecture and built environment of Dublin. These images provide a visual record of the development of Dublin's architecture from the medieval to the early modern period. Included are many of its major civic and ecclesiastical buildings, together with important examples of domestic architecture. The collection in ARTstor will include images of the exteriors, interiors, and decorative details of individual buildings as well as streetscapes and general views of the built environment.

Orientalism and Anglo-Irish scholarship 1740-1810 in the Gennadius Library, Athens - a one-day symposium on the subject of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Anglo-Irish Travellers to Greece and their published books. Held in the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies on 4th June, this event was organised by the School of Art History and Cultural Policy in association with the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens and the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies, Athens.

Book launch - Nineteenth-Century Irish Sculpture, Native Genius Reaffirmed by Dr Paula Murphy.