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Book Release Panel: Dr. Alison Perchuk's "The Medieval Monastery of Saint Elijah: A History in Paint and Stone"

Book Release Panel: Dr. Alison Perchuk's "The Medieval Monastery of Saint Elijah: A History in Paint and Stone" Online

Blending innovative art historical analysis with archaeology, epigraphy, history, liturgy, theology, and landscape and memory studies, The Medieval Monastery of Saint Elijah: A History in Paint and Stone is the first comprehensive interdisciplinary study of a deeply intelligent yet understudied male Benedictine convent near Rome. The only monastery known to have been dedicated to the prophet Elijah in the Latin West, it was rebuilt c.1122–26 with papal patronage. Today, the monastery is represented by its church of Sant’Elia, a stone basilica endowed with its original Cosmati marble pavement and liturgical furnishings, early and high medieval sculptures and inscriptions, and vibrant wall paintings that include unique depictions of the prophet Elijah and the twelve tribes of Israel as warriors, an apse program with a distinctly elite Roman origin, and an important narrative cycle of the Apocalypse. An outlying chapel marks the site of a theophany that sanctified the landscape and gave the monastery its raison d’être. The Medieval Monastery of Saint Elijah makes significant contributions to current art historical debates concerning communal identity and the construction of social memory, artistic creativity and processes, the multisensory and exegetical capacities of works of visual art, intersections of topography and sanctity, and the effects of medievalism on our understanding of the Middle Ages. 

In celebration of the book’s release, the discussion panel will include a welcome by Karyn A. Smith of New York University and editor of the series Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages. Panel members include Dr. Maureen C. Miller, Professor of Medieval History, UC Berkeley: https://history.berkeley.edu/maureen-c-miller   [she/her] and Dr. Nicola (Nick) Camerlenghi, Associate Professor of Architectural History, Dartmouth College: https://arthistory.dartmouth.edu/people/nicola-camerlenghi   [he/him] 

 

Alison Locke Perchuk is an art historian specializing in the study of the art and architecture of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean basin, with a particular emphasis on twelfth-century Rome and central Italy. Her recent book, The Medieval Monastery of Saint Elijah: A History in Paint and Stone (Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages, no. 17, Tunrhout: Brepols, 2021) examines the intersecting roles of the visual arts, architecture, ritual, and landscape in the creation of communal identity as well as the role of 19th-century perceptions of the Middle Ages in shaping our understanding of the era. She publishes and speaks nationally and internationally on medieval Italian landscape, architecture, and painting, and on medievalism, with a special emphasis on California (including Forest Lawn), and her scholarship has been recognized with the 2018 Van Courtlandt Elliott Award of the Medieval Academy of America and with fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton and the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Dr. Perchuk holds a BA in art history from Williams College, an MA in medieval studies from the Catholic University of America, and a PhD in the history of art from Yale University. Currently Associate Professor of Art History at California State University Channel Islands, she teaches courses on ancient, medieval, and Islamic art. She has served as treasurer of the Italian Art Society, councilor of the Medieval Association of the Pacific, and board member of the International Center on Medieval Art, and she is currently a member of ICMA’s Finance Committee and of the Programs Committee for the Italian Art Society. 

The University encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation, or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Disability Accommodations and Support Services at (805) 437-3331 or accommodations@csuci.edu as soon as possible, but no later than 7 business days prior to the event.

Related LibGuide: Art & Art History Research Guide by Catherine Paolillo

Date:
Friday, February 25, 2022
Time:
11:00am - 12:00pm
Time Zone:
Pacific Time - US & Canada (change)
Online:
This is an online event. Event URL will be sent via registration email.
Categories:
  Lecture Series > Affinity Month Lecture  
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Event Organizer

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Colleen Harris

Hi! I'm Dr. Colleen Harris, one of your librarians at Broome. I'm happy to help with your research and information needs. 

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