Emotions and Senses in 18th Century Visual Art and Culture (Londres, 6 Juin 25)

Emotions and Senses in 18th Century Visual Art and Culture (London, 6 Jun 25)

Hogarth’s House, Hogarth Lane, Great West Rd, London W4 2QN, Jun 06, 2025
Deadline: Jan 31, 2025

We invite scholars at all stages to submit papers for our upcoming conference, « Senses and Feelings: Exploring Eighteenth-Century Visual Art, » to be held on Friday 6 June 2025 at Hogarth’s House, Chiswick. This conference aims to investigate the interplay between emotions and sensory experiences in the visual arts and cultures of the eighteenth century.

Recent research has highlighted the nuanced understanding of emotional expression through its historical and contextual relevance. The eighteenth century has been identified by historical scholar such as Retford, Dixon, and Boddice as a critical era of change within emotional landscapes. Art theorists, importantly have identified the nuanced role art plays in symbolising in an historical era and arousing emotions in its viewers.

We invite papers for an academic conference to mark the opening of a special exhibition on the Senses and Feelings in the Art of Hogarth. We encourage submissions that engage with these contemporary perspectives. Therefore, we welcome papers that explore topics including, but not limited to:

· The representation of emotions in painting and printmaking
· The representation of sensory practices and experience in visual culture
· The role of sensory perception in shaping artistic practices
· The intersection between the senses and the emotions in visual culture and artistic practice and expression
· Interdisciplinary approaches connecting art history and sensory studies
· The influence of societal and cultural shifts on artistic expressions of feeling or sensory experience
· The interplay between visual arts and culture and the ways social space, communities and practices are defined or ordered by sensory or emotional practices.
· The interpretation of sensory and emotional experience through visual culture in contemporary public or heritage settings

Please submit a 300-word abstract and a brief bio by 31 January 2025 to angela.platt@stmarys.ac.uk and stewart.mccain@stmarys.ac.uk.

Selected papers will be presented at the conference, fostering rich discussions on how the visual arts of this pivotal era resonate with contemporary understandings of emotion and sensory experience.