Untitled (Study of Cave Painting), 1951-52
Jay DeFeo: A Symposium
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Now postponed until May 28, 2021
Lecture Theatre 1, first floor
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Vernon Square, Penton Rise, King’s Cross
London, WC1X 9EW (temporarily relocated to the new campus at Vernon Square)
Organized by
Dr. Jo Applin, Professor, Head of History of Art Department
Dr. Pia Gottschaller, Senior Lecturer, Department of Conservation
From the 1950s, the avant-garde artist Jay DeFeo (1929-1989) was a member of a vibrant bohemian community of artists, musicians, poets and writers based in San Francisco. Best known today for her magisterial painting titled The Rose (1958-1966), which the artist described as “a marriage between painting and sculpture,” over the course of her long career DeFeo experimented widely and intensely with a range of unorthodox materials, exploring the parameters and expansive limits of painting, sculpture, drawing, collage, photocopies and photography.
This one-day conference brings together a group of scholars based in the United States, Europe, and the UK, to discuss the work of DeFeo, shedding light on aspects of her work from a range of new perspectives. Speakers include: Lucy Bradnock (University of Nottingham), Judith Delfiner (Editor-in-Chief Perspective, INHA, Paris), Pia Gottschaller (The Courtauld Institute of Art), Suzanne Hudson (University of Southern California), Corey Keller (Curator of Photography at SFMOMA, California), and Catherine Spencer (University of St Andrews).
Supported by The Jay DeFeo Foundation