Monumental Painting in Byzantium and Beyond: New Perspectives, Byzantine Studies Colloquium, Dumbarton Oaks, The Oak Room, Fellowship House, 1700 Wisconsin Avenue NW, November 4, 2016
The study of Byzantine monumental painting is ripe for critical assessment. While research into monumental pictorial art in countries such as Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, and increasingly Turkey remains a mainstay of art historical inquiry, in the United States this area of study has received less attention in recent years. Yet the monumental painting of the Byzantine world holds great potential for future research, not least because the material is tremendously rich and continues to be expanded with the discovery and publication of new pictorial ensembles.
This colloquium, organized by Ivan Drpić and Tolga Uyar, brings together new voices and well-established scholars to reinvigorate the study of Byzantine monumental painting. It will foster dialogue and pose new questions about reception, materiality, and the interplay of different representational forms and systems of signification. Topics range from how paintings evoked sound, to the role of liturgical practices, visual narrative, and non-figural imagery in decorated sacred spaces, to collaboration and interaction between patrons, architects, painters, and theological advisers. While some papers will focus on specific sacred landscapes such as Naxos and Cappadocia, others draw wide-ranging connections across Byzantium, the Slavic world, and the Mediterranean.