Oct. 2020: Welcome to 3 new ThIS-researchers, (soon) starting their PhD research: Margot Missoorten, Tom Packet & Bart Nuytinck
UGent, Art History/ ThIS, official partner in the Wiki's Women Design project of Vlaams Architectuurinstituut (VAi) i.s.m. Wikimedia Belgium
16-17 Oct. 2020: conference Cultures of Belgian Space (1850-1924) / Cultures de l'espace belge (1850-1924) @ Kasteel d’Ursel, Hingene - POSTPONED due to COVID-19. More info to follow.
New edited volume in the XIX-series of Brepols out now: M. Sterckx & Tom Verschaffel (eds.), Sculpting Abroad. Nationality and mobility of sculptors in the nineteenth century, XIX. Studies in 19th-century arts and visual culture, vol. 3 (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2020).
9 July 2020: Anna Rademakers defends her PhD "Moederstad en vaderland. Nationale identiteit en lokale trots in de schilderswereld van het Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (1815-1839)" at Groningen University
14 April 2020: Thijs Dekeukeleire defends his PhD 'Men shaping man. The formative power of the male nude in fin-de-siècle Belgium'
13 March 2020: lecture 'Enduring masculinity' by Anthea Callen at Vandenhove, Gent
28-02-2020 until 14-03-2020: Expo Strike a pose: 19th-century Academic Nudes in Ghent Collections at Vandenhove, Ghent (Opening: 27/02, 19.00)
31 Jan. 2020: ESNA Winter Seminar in The Hague, RKD: Eye-openers: ThIS-members among presenters & organisers
Master in de Kunstwetenschappen Marie Becuwe stelt op 8 dec. 2019 haar boek over 19de-eeuwse kunstenaarsherbergen in België voor.
Werkgroep XIX blaast 10 kaarsjes uit op 6 dec. 2019! En viert dat met een studiedag in Antwerpen.
Marjan Sterckx Laureaat van de Klasse Kunsten 2019 van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten
New ThIS-member Maude Bass-Krueger gives a lecture on "French Fashion, Women, and the First World War: the Practice of Exhibition Making at the Bard Graduate Center, New York" at Vandenhove, Gent, on 21 Nov. 2019, 19.00.
ThIS has a new, homemade logo! (c) Ann Verdonck
Marjan Sterckx gives the keynote lecture at a conference on Nordic women sculptors 1870–1940 in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
Stefan Huygebaert obtains FWO postdoctoral grant and is nominated for the Vlaamse PhD Cup
Ulrike Müller defends her PhD Between public relevance and personal pleasure. Private art and antique collectors in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent, ca. 1780-1914 on 4 July 2019, 16h.
Stefan Huygebaert defends his PhD Visual Ideals of Law and Justice: An Iconological Inquiry into Nineteenth-Century Belgian Legal Art on 17 May 2019, 17h.
16 mei 2019, Gent, Vandenhove: pop-up expo 'Locus delicti. Interbelluminterieurs in België door de lens van de forensische fotografie' i.h.k.v. het Onderzoeksseminarie: Kunst, Interieur en Design (MA Kunstwetenschappen, UGent)
jan. 2019: New book series XIX at Brepols Publishers on 19th-century art and visual culture launched. First volume on Ensor by H. Todts published.
jan. 2019: New assistant Malika M'rani Alaoui starts PhD research on the Belgian triennial Salons (1814-1914).
jan. 2019: Programma Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Design 2019 (2 mei 2019, Het Pand, Gent) beschikbaar
Wendy Wiertz defends her PhD thesis "Adellijk en artistiek. Amateurkunstenaressen met blauw bloed in België (1806-1914)" at KULeuven on 4 July 2018, 13h30.
Vlad Ionescu (UH but affiliated to ThIS) is awarded Laureaat Klasse Kunsten van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Wetenschappen & Kunsten (Dec. 2017)
Oct. 2017: New researcher Eline Stoop starts FWO-funded research on modernism and wallpaper in Belgium.
juni 2017: ThIS werd officieel erkend door het BOF als alliantieonderzoeksgroep UGent & VUB.

CFPs

CFP Cultures of Belgian Space/Cultures de l'espace belge (1850-1924), Hingene, Oct. 2020
CFP ESNA Conference 2020: Thinking in the Box. The Benefits of Artistic Tradition in the Nineteenth Century , The Hague, 14-15 May 2020
CFP ESNA Winter Seminar 2020 in The Hague: Eyeopeners
CFP Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Design 2020 (30/04/2020). Deadline voor voorstellen: 11 nov. 2019
CFP ESNA Conference 2019: ‘Frictions and friendships. Cultural encounters in the nineteenth century’
CFP Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Design 2019 gelanceerd! Deadline voor voorstellen: 11 nov. 2018
Call for participants Summer School Arts in Flanders: Belgian Fin-de-siècle (June 24 - July 4, 2018)
CFP voor de volgende Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Design (vr. 28/04/2018): deadline 11/11/2017
Conference Male Bonds in Nineteenth-Century Art, Ghent, 15-16 May 2018. CFP now launched
Conference Clay Matters. Thinking and exhibiting matter in recent art, Hasselt, 16-18 nov. 2017. CFP launched.
CFP ESNA Conference 2017: Food, glorious food: Food at the heart of nineteenth-century art, Antwerp, Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS), June 8-9, 2017
CFP Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Ontwerp 2017 (27 apr. 2017) online.

PAST activities (co-)organised by ThIS, or participated at by ThIS members:

Conference Frictions and friendships. Cultural encounters in the nineteenth century, 19-20 June 2019, The Hague, Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD). Programme and registration.
Pop-up tentoonstelling Locus delicti. Interbelluminterieurs in België door de lens van de forensische fotografie in Vandenhove, Gent (16 mei 2019)
Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Design 2019
ESNA Winter Seminar 2019: Game changers, 25 jan. 2019, Den Haag, RKD
Conference Male Bonds in 19th-century art, Ghent, 15-16 May 2018: program available and registration open: http://www.malebonds.ugent.be/ https://www.facebook.com/events/599483510426231/
Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Ontwerp 2018: programma en registratie: http://www.historischinterieurenontwerp.ugent.be/programma/
Conference GOTHIC MODERNISMS, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 29-30 June 2017: registration open
Renewed journal Tijdschrift voor Interieurgeschiedenis en Design has been launched on the Studiedag Historisch Interieur & Ontwerp in Ghent on 27 april 2017.
ESNA Conference 2017: Food, glorious food: Food at the heart of nineteenth-century art, June 8-9, 2017, Antwerp, Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS)
Causerie “A Tale of Two Cities: Rechtsiconologische vergelijking van de decoraties voor het Hof van Assisen van Antwerpen (1885-1893) en Brabant (1908-1914)" door Stefan Huygebaert, UGent, Instituut voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, vergaderzaal, 7 Maart 2017, 16u
Symposium "Ouvrir l’atelier. Un siècle d’ateliers d’artistes en Belgique (1830-1930)", 24 March 2017, Brussels (organ. ULB, i.s.m. UGent, ThIS)
Programme Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Ontwerp 2017 (Gent, 27 apr. 2017) online
Session "‘Re-sourcing’ material practices in the nineteenth-century urban interior in Belgium and France: new avenues and prospects" at the Conference "Domestic Space in France and Belgium: Art, Literature and Design (c.1850-1920)", Belfast, Queen's University, 16-17 sept. 2016.

About

The research group The Inside Story: Art, Interior and Architecture 1750-1950 (ThIS), launched in 2016 by Marjan Sterckx, investigates art as related to the interior and to architecture, between c. 1750 and 1950. We focus on the role and place of art within the context of the interior and of architecture, on the history of interiors, the decorative arts, and arts and the decorative, departing from the artwork, art object or artist, and inspired by the challenges of present-day living and the possibilities of new technologies and methods. ThIS concerns an interdisciplinary, collaborative research group between Ghent University (UGent) and the Free University of Brussels (VUB), between departments of Art History and of Architectural Engineering.

Geographically, ThIS mainly focuses on Belgium, albeit in an international context, as there is still a great deal of research potential. In order to encourage research into art as related to design, interiors and architecture between 1750 and 1950 in Belgium and abroad, ThIS annually organises a colloquium in Ghent, entitled Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Design, that brings together heritage professionals and researchers from various disciplines and institutions. Within heritage policy, historic interiors are still underexposed in Belgium: often unknown and inaccessible and thus vulnerable. Through knowledge and expertise exchange, impetus can be given to better protection and preservation of exceptional interiors.

Keywords: art, architecture, interior design, historic interiors, design, applied arts, long 19th century, 18th century, interwar period, gender, space

ThIS will focus on the following topics:

Fine arts and/in historic interiors & architecture

Fine arts in/and architecture, e.g.: ornamental sculpture; monumental painting; monumental sculpture;...
The artistic representation of the (historic) interior; the material culture of historic interiors
The (artistic) presentation of art in the interior (public or domestic); art collections; art salons
Artists’ studios and homes, Studio practices

Decorative arts & design, arts & the decorative

The (artistic) decoration of the interior
Sculpture, painting and the decorative; the decorative arts at (world) exhibitions; art, craft and technology/industry;
Interiors, decorative arts, and gender;
Textile and fashion history

De onderzoeksgroep The Inside Story. Kunst, interieur en architectuur 1750-1950, opgericht in 2016 door Marjan Sterckx, legt zich toe op het onderzoek naar de rol en plaats van kunst in de context van het interieur en de architectuur tussen ca. 1750 en 1950, en op de geschiedenis van het interieur en de interieurkunsten, alsook kunst en het decoratieve, vertrekkend vanuit het kunstobject. Het betreft een interdisciplinaire alliantieonderzoeksgroep die onderzoekers uit de UGent en de VUB groepeert, zowel van departementen Kunstwetenschappen als Ingenieurswetenschappen.

De klemtoon van het onderzoek ligt op België, weliswaar in internationale context, aangezien er nog veel waardevol doch onontgonnen onderzoekspotentieel is. Om het onderzoek naar kunst, interieur en architectuur ca. 1750-1950 in België te stimuleren, organiseert ThIS jaarlijks de Studiedag Historisch Interieur en Design aan de UGent. In het beleid Onroerend Erfgoed is het historisch interieur nog onderbelicht: vaak onbekend en ontoegankelijk en bijgevolg ook kwetsbaar. Door kennis- en expertise-uitwisseling kan een impuls worden gegeven aan een betere ‘bescherming’ en een beter behoud van uitzonderlijke interieurs.

Researchers