New York City, February 3-6, 2027
Call for Papers
Download the CFP as a PDF by clicking here.
Title: The Emotional Agency of Netherlandish Art
Organizer: Dafna Nissim
The uses and functions of early Netherlandish paintings from a devotional perspective have been the subject of ample studies. As Ingrid Falque observes in an article surveying the field of research, among these concerns, studies of Panofsky, Marrow, and others, referring to devotional images as emotional and affective objects have paved the way for understanding the changing spirituality of the period. Nevertheless, the vibrant discourse on the history of emotions and its related methods offers an exciting opportunity to explore how artworks actively participated in shaping emotional, social, and devotional life within Netherlandish, German, or Franco- Flemish communities. Categories of thinking like “emotional communities” (Rosenwein), “emotives” (Reddy), and “emotionology” (Stearns), when intertwined with art historical methods, have the potential to reframe artworks as active agents in shaping emotional behavior, thoughts and actions.
This session invites papers on Northern art that explore how they were supposed to emotionally affect their audience and how these emotions contributed to the political, religious, and social agenda of the communities. Related questions that might be explored include the artistic rhetoric chosen to elicit such feelings; how these strategies contributed to emotional learning of individuals and communities; how they might have promoted ethical life inwardness; and how the cognitive and emotional processes contributed to a sense of selfhood.
This session seeks to broaden the spectrum of works under examination. Proposals might encompass not only religious images but also imagery associated with secular literature, decorated objects, tapestries, and other related material objects.
Please submit a presentation title and abstract (250 world limit) along with a short CV (2 pages) directly to Dafna Nissim at dafnani@post.bgu.ac.il by August 31, 2026.
Your HNA and CAA memberships will need to be current at the time of the conference.