The Circumpolar World, 1850-1940: From Scandinavia to North America

This autumn, the History of Art department and Centre for Modern Studies at the University of York will stage a Circumpolar art history workshop, with papers addressing various aspects across the time and space of the Circumpolar region. Papers are likely to include research on Inuit art, and the art of Scandinavia, Canada, North America, and the UK. In the 21st century the arctic and polar landscape dominates the news, thanks to climate change and global warming; however, in the period from 1850-1940 the race for the north and south poles captivated the imaginations of millions and spawned generations of polar explorers. With these two moments in mind, what we vitally need is a genealogy of the visual culture surrounding the polar landscape. The papers featured within this workshop will bridge the disciplines of art history, interdisciplinary polar studies, visual culture studies, archaeology, and anthropology.

The informal, question-posing symposia will present new research from established scholars and doctoral candidates, giving short position papers of no more than fifteen minutes, to maximise the time for discussion. With a line-up that includes Professor Michael Hatt (University of Warwick), Professor David Jackson (University of Leeds) and Professor Jason Edwards (University of York), alongside Dr Meg Boulton (University of Leeds), Martha Cattell (PhD Candidate, York), and Isabelle Gapp (PhD Candidate, York), – this event seeks to open up discussion onto what a Circumpolar art history might look like in the early 21st century.

This is a free event, but we ask that you please RSVP if you wish to attend, as numbers are limited. For more information and to RSVP please email Isabelle Gapp, icbg500@york.ac.uk