BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.3//EN
TZID:America/Los_Angeles
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Los_Angeles
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:416@1718.ucla.edu
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230316T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230316T183000
DTSTAMP:20230131T171341Z
URL:https://1718.ucla.edu/events/the-past-present-and-future-of-le-rapt-de
 -la-negresse/
SUMMARY:The Past\, Present\, And Future of "Le Rapt De La Négresse"
DESCRIPTION:–Joanna Woodall (Courtauld Institute of Art\, University of L
 ondon)\n\nEvent co-sponsored by UCLA Department of Art History and the UCL
 A Center for 17th- &amp\; 18th-Century Studies.\n\nMade possible by Edward
  W. Carter Program Funds for European Art\n\nJoanna Woodall is Professor E
 merita at the Courtauld Institute of Art\, University of London. She has s
 pecialised in Netherlandish visual culture during the age of European glob
 al expansion. Her most recent publication is the edited volume Money Matte
 rs in European Artworks and Literature (Amsterdam University Press 2022). 
 She is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Historians of Ne
 therlandish Art and the Oxford Art Journal. Her lecture for UCLA is work-i
 n-progress from her current research project\, "Contemplating the Unspeaka
 ble in 17th-Century Netherlandish Art."\n\nThis lecture is concerned with 
 an extraordinary oil painting by the elite but little-known Dutch artist C
 hristiaen van Couwenbergh (1604–1667). After emerging onto the European 
 art market in 1970\, the picture found a home in the Musée des Beaux-Arts
  in Strasbourg\, France\, bearing the title Le Rapt de la Négresse. Apart
  from its date of 1632 and the monogram of the artist\, nothing is known a
 bout it. The subject is mysterious and disturbing: a naked woman of Africa
 n heritage resists a sexual assault by two young\, white European men\, in
  the presence of another man. Long ignored\, today the painting is regarde
 d by many viewers as an example of overt and vicious racism\, amplified by
  violence against a woman who has nothing. Following the worldwide "Black 
 Lives Matter" protests of 2020\, it has been consigned to the storeroom of
  the Strasbourg Museum\, in part to avoid causing offense. There are no pl
 ans to exhibit it\; some might wonder whether a work like this should be d
 estroyed. Yet the circulation of images of the painting on the internet me
 ans that it remains symbolically powerful and alive\, provoking interest a
 nd critical responses\, including works by contemporary artists.\n\nThe le
 cture explores the role and responsibilities of art historians when faced 
 with a work of art such as this one. Does ignoring its offensiveness by co
 nfining it to a museum storeroom risk cutting off the past from the presen
 t? And yet\, does understanding the historical circumstances in which it c
 ame into existence and its initial reception involve relativizing and expl
 aining away the awfulness of the subject matter? Or can art history connec
 t an historical past in which a picture such as this one was acceptable\, 
 to some people at least\, with a present that is beginning to expose and c
 hallenge structural misogyny and racism?
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://1718.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/01
 /JoannaWoodall_-_website.jpg
CATEGORIES:Cosponsored Event,Lectures
LOCATION:UCLA Dodd Hall\, Room 147\, 315 Portola Plaza\, UCLA Campus\, Los 
 Angeles\, CA\, 90095\, United States
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=315 Portola Plaza\, UCLA Ca
 mpus\, Los Angeles\, CA\, 90095\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE
 =UCLA Dodd Hall\, Room 147:geo:0,0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Los_Angeles
X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Los_Angeles
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20230312T030000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
END:VCALENDAR