Berea College Hosts Free Symposium on Horses in Art on Saturday,
October 30
The Berea College Art Gallery at Berea
College in Berea, Ky., will
present a free public symposium, “The Reign of the Horse: Exploring
Cultural Connections Through Equine Images in Art,” from 9 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. on Saturday, October 30, 2010. The symposium has been organized to
coincide with the art exhibition, “The Horse in Japan, 1615-1912,” on exhibit through
November 12 in the Upper Traylor Gallery in the Traylor
Art Building
at Berea College. The symposium will take place
on the Berea campus in Room 218 of the Frost Building.
For more information about the symposium, contact symposium organizer, Dr.
Elizabeth Tobey at [log in to unmask] or
540-687-6542 x 11.
The dominant theme of the symposium will be on the role of the horse in
the development of cultural connections and how widely Kentucky’s influence extends
throughout the world by virtue of its prominent role in the world of horsemanship.
Curator and art historian Dr. Sandy Kita’s research on woodblock prints
from Japan’s Edo
period (1615 – 1868) examines the role of the horse in Japan’s cultural and military
history and in its art. Dr. Kita will discuss how the connections established
throughout history continue into the present day, connecting Japanese culture
and Kentucky
traditions in surprising and significant ways. Dr. Kita is Senior Scholar at Chatham University
in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Dr. Ingrid Cartwright will examine connections between equestrian imagery
created in the American Revolutionary period and early Republic and the
European artistic traditions from which they spring. Dr. Cartwright is an
Assistant Professor of Art at Western Kentucky University
in Bowling Green, Ky., and is the curator of
“Hoofbeats and Heartbeats: The Horse in American Art,” which is on
view at the Art Museum at the University of Kentucky in Lexington through
November 21.
Dr. Elizabeth Tobey will discuss the similarity of cultural roles of
the horse throughout history, specifically how Italian city states cultivated
diplomatic and trade ties with European and Ottoman courts through the
equestrian activities of riding, racing, and horse breeding. Her contributions
to the exhibition and the symposium will highlight the present-day connections
between Kentucky and Japan through the Thoroughbred
racing and breeding industry. Dr. Tobey is the Director of Research &
Publications at the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg, Va.
The exhibition features woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), paintings on silk, and a rare Edo-period book on
horse ornaments, all with equestrian subject matter. In addition to selections drawn
from the permanent collection of the Berea College Art Museum, the Jordan
Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Ore.; the National Sporting Library &
Museum; and Mr. and Mrs. Walter and Dörte Simmons have lent works to the
exhibition. The show was co-curated by Drs. Kita and Tobey. For more
information on the exhibition, call 859-985-3530 or visit www.berea.edu/art/dug/
Elizabeth Tobey, Ph.D., Director of Research &
Publications
National Sporting Library & Museum
P.O. Box 1335 (102 The Plains Rd.)
Middleburg, VA 20118-1335
540-687-6542 x 11
[log in to unmask]
http://www.nsl.org/