9th International Colloquium Art Collections in Portugal and Brazil in the 19th and 20th Centuries (MODUS OPERANDI) (16-18 novembre 2022, Portugal)

9th International Colloquium Art Collections in Portugal and Brazil in the 19th and 20th Centuries (MODUS OPERANDI) (16-18 novembre 2022, Portugal)

School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon – November 16,
The Ajuda National Palace – November 17 and 18, 2022

The 9th International Colloquium Art Collections in Portugal and Brazil in the 19th and 20th Centuries promoted by ARTIS – Art History Institute of the School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon and the Visual Arts post-graduate programme (PPGAV) at Rio de Janeiro Federal University’s School of Fine Arts, sees this edition associated with the History of Art Today – Modus Operandi Symposium, on the occasion of Professor Vítor Serrão’s retirement (b.1952).
Both scientific events seek to reflect on the MODUS OPERANDI involved in the craft of art historians, both in dealing with the artistic phenomenon and in art collections.
The moment of homage is also a moment of reflection on the importance of Art History in general, and of the History of Art Collections in Portugal and Brazil, in particular, in the search for answers to the questions: Is Art History important in society today? How have narratives developed from art collections and how much do they interfere in the practices and foundations of art history?

In broad terms, Art History and the History of Art Collections have been traversed some fundamental avenues, from prehistory to the present day:

1) the multidisciplinary perspective of research around the work of art and the artist, of collections and collectors, uniting plural visions and using different humanistic and scientific disciplines, to clarify the artistic problem at hand;
2) the trans-contextual perspective of art, valuing not only the time of commission and production – in their temporal connection (iconographic, ideological, stylistic, etc.) – but also the follow-up of the life of the work, including its owners (private and institutional collections), in its moments of glory, of undifferentiation or silencing up to present times;
3) the crypto-artistic perspective, in which the artistic study is not limited to physical presence, as missing, mutilated works of art or even those that have not progressed from plans or initial design stages cannot be forgotten;
4) the micro-artistic perspective, expanding the field of analysis and valuing the so-called periphery or regional production, or “trivial” collections;
5) the dialectical perspective between the experience of the work of art, individually or in a collection, and its material fragility, which imposes on the art historian the imperative of safeguarding, in the coordinated action of study, conservation, musealization and enjoyment;

The organization welcomes the submission of proposals for communications related to the above mentioned points, by sending an abstract with a maximum of 300 words, accompanied by a small biographical note of the author(s), with about 200 words, up until March 31, 2022, to: Organizing Committee for the 9th International Colloquium Art Collections in Portugal and Brazil in the 19th and 20th Centuries – Modus Operandi (artis@letras.ulisboa.pt).