“The Fusion of Neo-Classical Principles” conference at National Gallery

This conference “The Fusion of Neo Classical Principles: Scholars, artists, architects, builders and designers in the Neo Classical period” brings together a prestigious multi-disciplinary panel of scholars who combine a range of approaches to the study of the neoclassical period in Irish and European art and architecture. This period, corresponding to the “˜long century’ between the early eighteenth to the mid nineteenth centuries, saw the development and establishment of the defining styles and principles of much of early modern art and architecture. The conference will take place on Friday 22nd May, 2009 at the National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square, Dublin 2.

The conference will consider and appraise the manner in which neoclassical principles and knowledge were translated into practice and adopted by the artists, designers, builders and decorative artists of the neoclassical period. One specific focus of the conference will be the dissemination of technical knowledge and aesthetic principles through the published editions and model codes, guides, notebooks and stylistic pattern books that circulated at the time.

A unifying theme addressed by many of the speakers will be the implementation of neoclassical principles through the primary influence of architecture. Specific consideration is given to the return to the classicism of antiquity as inspired by the architects Robert Adam, James C. Murphy, C.R. Cockerell and others responsible for discovering and recording in detail the rules, principles and styles of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.

The conference will further explore the influence of neoclassicism as a dominant style on material culture in late eighteenth/early nineteenth century Europe including in Ireland. In this particular regard the conference will address the manner in which neoclassical principles found their way into the design and production of interiors, sculpture, textiles, furniture, fittings, ceramics and other everyday objects.

Registration fee €40. Concessions and registered students €20. Registration form and further information from: http://www.ucd.ie/arthistory/neoclassicalprinciples.html