VARIE Publications
List of books and conference papers published in book form by VARIE and Ashgate.
- Roger Fry's Journey: From the Primitives to the Post-Impressionists (2008)
- Locus of the City (2008)
- Shahnama: the Visual Language of the Persian Book of Kings (2004)
- The Stuart Court in Rome: The Legacy of Exile (2003)
- Soil and Stone: Impressionism Urbanism Environment (2003)
- Britannia, Italia, Germania: Taste and Travel in the Nineteenth Century (2001)
- Locus of the City (2008)
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The Watson Gordon Lecture 2006
Roger Fry's Journey:
From the Primitives to the Post-Impressionists
Caroline Elam
National Galleries of Scotland and University of Edinburgh, 2008
48pp | ISBN 9781906270117
The Watson Gordon Lecture 2006 by Caroline Elam, on Roger Fry's negotiation of the art of Seurat and the early Italians.
Established following the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the Chair of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh and named after the painter Sir John Watson Gordon, the Watson Gordon Lectures typify the long-standing and positive collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the National Galleries of Scotland: two partners in the Visual Arts Research Institute, Edinburgh.
This lecture, the first in the series to be published, was given by Caroline Elam, an eminant scholar of the Italian Renaissance and former editor of the Burlington Magazine. Her illuminating lecture links Roger Fry's analysis of the paintings of Seurat with his deep understanding of Italian Renaissance art, and explores the connections between his taste for the Post-Impressionists and his love of the early Italians.
Locus of the City
Karen Forbes and Gordon Brennan
ECA/VARIE, January 2008
120 pages | ISBN 9781904443148
Locus of the City examines the narratives and visual codes of Edinburgh's
Grassmarket to define its past, current and future state.
How do you experience the spaces you encounter every day? How can you see afresh the interconnections and meanings of place and context? This innovative book mixes up urban photography, performance documentation and new commissioned artwork to examine the Grassmarket - an area in the heart of Edinburgh - in terms of its narratives and visual codes. Looking at the city from numerous perspectives - the geologist, architectural historian, architect, minister, artist, lawyer, inhabitant - it places these perceptions within a multi-layered matrix which is embodied in the site.
Shahnama:
The Visual Language of the Persian Book of Kings
Ed. Robert Hillenbrand
VARIE / Ashgate, 2004
184 pages | ISBN 0754633675
This volume contains the papers delivered at a conference on 'Shahnama' imagery.
The Shahnama project is a collaborative initiative which was started by the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh in 1999. It focuses on Firdausi’s epic poem, Shahnama or Book of Kings, written in Persian around 1000 AD. It is the longest poem ever written by a single author and retells the mythical and historical past of Iran (Persia) from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquests of the 7th century. To find out more, visit the website of the Shahnama project.
The project's second conference, Shahnama: The Visual Language of the Persian Book of Kings was organised in collaboration with VARIE and was held in Edinburgh in March 2001. Most of the papers delivered on that occasion are published in this volume. Offering fresh insights through a range of varied art-historical approaches, the essays reveal how subtle changes in text and image document changes in taste and style. They also show how they can be understood as reflections of the changing role of the national epic in Iranian society.
To view an excerpt of the book online, click here.
The Stuart Court in Rome:
The Legacy of Exile
Ed. Edward Corp
VARIE / Ashgate, 2003
175 pages | ISBN 0754633241
This book contains the papers delivered at a conference on 'The Stuart court in exile, 1689-1766,' which took place in Edinburgh in June 2001.
The conference involved the collaboration of the University of Edinburgh, The National Museums Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland and the Royal Collection. It coincided with the exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, The King over the Water, which was also the result of close cooperation between these institutions.
Edited by Edward Corp, Professor of British History at the Université de Toulouse and an eminent scholar on Jacobitism, this publication contains contributions by historians and curators, with topics ranging from the iconography of Jacobitism to the acquisition of Stuart silver by the Dukes of Hamilton.
To view an excerpt of the book online, click here.
Soil and Stone:
Impressionism, Urbanism, Environment
Eds. Frances Fowle and Richard Thomson
VARIE / Ashgate, 2003
175 pages | ISBN 0754636852
This volume contains the conference papers of 'Soil & Stone: Impressionism Urbanism Environment', held in October 2001.
The conference served two purposes. One was to explore issues that would be considered in detail in the 2003 exhibition 'Monet: The Seine and the Sea', then in preparation by the National Galleries of Scotland. The second aim was to re-engage with the complex and deep-seated relationships between city and country in France between 1850 and 1900.
Organised by VARIE, the conference was an exchange between different disciplines; art history, economic history, literary history and social history. This volume includes contributions by Professor John House (Courtauld Institute, University of London), Professor David Hopkin (University of Glasgow) and Professor Richard Thomson (University of Edinburgh).
To view an excerpt of the book online, click here.
Britannia, Italia, Germania:
Taste and Travel in the Nineteenth Century
Eds. Carol Richardson and Graham Smith
VARIE, 2001
191 pages | ISBN 0953986306
Conference papers of 'Britannia, Italia, Germania: Taste and Travel in the Nineteenth Century', held in November 2000.
The conference bridged two exhibitions concurrent in Edinburgh in the autumn of 2000:
A Poet in Paradise at the National Gallery of Scotland, and Views of Germany from the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
This volume is the first in the series of Occasional Papers published by VARIE. It contains the contributions of the curators of the respective exhibitions, and includes papers by Professor Graham Smith (University of St Andrews) and Iain Gordon Brown (National Library of Scotland).