Calendar

Colloquia 2024-2025

Abstract

When historians use the term ‘visual culture’ they generally mean to signal that they are thinking in broad inclusive terms, going beyond the boundaries that the notion of ‘art’ implies. That approaches indebted to visual culture studies are applicable to institutions seems obvious enough, but precisely how they might be used requires consideration. In this talk I explore some of the ways in which the theme of ‘representing institutions’ can be developed when visual culture is centre stage. One argument will be that detailed case studies are indispensable, and accordingly I draw upon my work on national portrait galleries and medical organisations. A related argument will focus on portraits since they have had such intimate roles in the construction and propagation of institutional identities. This genre is underused by historians for analytical purposes and examples tend to be included in publications as mere placeholders. We can do far more with portraits than that, and institutions provide an excellent starting point.

Brief biography

Ludmilla Jordanova is Emeritus Professor of History and Visual Culture at Durham University, which she joined in 2013 having previously held posts at the universities of Cambridge, London, York, East Anglia and Essex. Her original training was in the natural sciences and history and philosophy of science, followed later by a master’s in art history and theory. Current research interests include the history of portraiture since 1600, the history and nature of historical practice and the relationships between art, science and history between 1850 and 1930. Her books include Sexual Visions (1989), Defining Features (2000), Physicians and their Images (2018) and History in Practice (3rd edition 2019).  

Colloquia 2023-2024