Conversation X: “That Invisible Dance": Art and Literature under the British Empire from the 1800s and Beyond.

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

Image not available
Conversation X: “That Invisible Dance": Art and Literature under the British Empire from the 1800s and Beyond.
Stephen Goddard, curator
Sorcha Hyland, curator
20/21 Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

The 10th edition of our Conversation series, That Invisible Dance, investigates the commonalities among art and literature produced within the British Empire during the intensely prolific 19th and early 20th centuries. Divided into three physical locations, each exhibition space focuses on a literature-driven context using visual material and installation “notebooks” to explore intersections among selected artists, writers, and their creative processes. Notebook one, installed in the Process Space, features quotes relating to Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley. Notebook two, installed in the East Conversation Wall, cites mainly British poets and writers, with an emphasis on the literary nature of scientific writing from the period. Notebook three references Irish and Anglo-Irish poets, with particular attention given to Ireland’s post-imperial position.

In investigating the commonalities among visual and literary objects, That Invisible Dance explores to what degree, if any, 19th-century and early 20th-century writers and visual artists operate as synergistic networks. How did the new mass media and the development of scientific observation impact literary and visual media, or vice versa? What roles did literature and art play in subverting or validating the Empire? What did artists and writers choose to make visible or indeed “invisible”?

This exhibition would not have been possible without the participation of two University of Kansas colleagues: Karen S. Cook, Special Collection Librarian, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, and Dr. Kathryn Conrad, Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of English.

Exhibition images

Works of art

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Sidney Chafetz
1978
Hablot Knight Browne
1800s
Etienne Carjat
circa 1863
Sidney Chafetz, James L. Battersby, Robert Tauber, Logan Elm Press
2005
Andy English
2005
Frank C. Eckmair
date unknown
Oscar Gustav Rejlander
circa 1863
Oscar Gustav Rejlander
circa 1863
Alvin Langdon Coburn
circa 1900
Alen MacWeeney
1965
Alen MacWeeney
1965
Alen MacWeeney
1965
Alen MacWeeney
1965
Alen MacWeeney
1965
Utagawa Yoshitora
1861, 2nd month, Edo period (1600–1868)
Clare Leighton
1900s
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
D. Appleton & Company, Goupil and Co., Jacob Lewis Webb
1893
Félix Edouard Vallotton
1891
William Blake
circa 1819
Anna Atkins
circa 1851–1854
William Sharp, John Fisk Allen
1854
William Morris
1890
Alvin Langdon Coburn
circa 1900
Félix Edouard Vallotton
date unknown
David Octavius Hill, Robert Adamson, Jessie Bertram
circa 1845
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907
Hablot Knight Browne
1800s
Hablot Knight Browne
1800s
Hablot Knight Browne
1800s
Elliot and Fry
circa 1865
William Nicholson
1897
William Nicholson
1897
William Strang
circa 1900
Leon Pescheret
mid 1900s
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
circa 1907

Events

February 26, 2011
Workshop
10:30AM–12:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
February 26, 2011
Workshop
1:30–3:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
March 12, 2011
Workshop
10:30AM–12:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
March 12, 2011
Workshop
1:30–3:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
May 5, 2011
Talk
6:00–8:00PM
309 Auditorium
May 7, 2011
Talk
2:00–3:30PM
309 Auditorium
May 11, 2011
Tour
3:00–4:00PM
Gallery 405

Resources

Documents