Appel à publication : Anthology of Historical Art in the Long Nineteenth Century

2021 saw the publication of ‘Representing the Past in the Art of the Long Nineteenth-Century: Historicism, Postmodernism, Internationalism’ by Routledge. That edited collection aimed to nurture new perspectives on historical painting, bring new countries into the frame, and challenge established wisdoms about what historical art was in the period between 1789 and 1914. History Painting, historical genre painting, and documentary artistic practices engaging multiple media were all touched upon with case studies from around the globe including Australia, China and Turkey, in order to offset the Western focus of traditional historiography on this subject.

Routledge have now commissioned a new anthology aimed at providing a reader for historical art of the long nineteenth century as a follow-up to the edited collection. The ambition is to provide an ambitious selection of texts and topics, supplementing canonical case studies that have been available via publication for decades and which are now easily accessible in previous anthologies or even online.

Language skills are obviously a limit to one person undertaking such a project, so only through collaboration can such an ambitious project be realised to its full potential. Hopefully this will also be a springboard for future collaborative activity on this subject. I am therefore looking for art historical collaborators to assist in identifying significant but less accessible texts to help researchers broaden their horizons in understanding this phenomenon. These may not, at first sight, appear to be on the subject of ‘historical art’ even, but which nevertheless reveal historical-mindedness in artists, art critics, and art historians of the long nineteenth century. Once the source texts have been agreed, collaborators will translate these in full or in part into English (c. 2500-3000 words) and then provide a short contextual essay (c. 2500-3000 words) to accompany them. The latter will provide critical analysis, historical background to activities and individuals referred to in or connected to the source, and explore new approaches to understanding the historical visions and perceptions on display in these interventions. The deadline for the translation and accompanying essay will be 15 December 2025.

If you are interested in participating in this activity please contact me with your ideas or questions: matthew.potter@northumbria.ac.uk.

Matthew C. Potter
Professor of Art and Design History
Northumbria University