History of Art and Architecture

Josie Landback Colloquium

Date

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm

"Sketching Narratives: Debating Intentionality in Whistler's The Artist in His Studio (1865)"

Scholars from 1905 to 1998 used imagined narratives to construe the value of artistic intentionality on an unusual early self-portrait by American artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), now titled The Artist in His Studio (1865).  In this paper, Josie examines the painting's unconventional composition and history to reconsider the narrative framing of intentionality and present some alternatives.