Date: 5 March 2025 (Wednesday)
Time: 10 a.m. - 12 noon
Format: Hybrid mode
(Onsite: LI-6376, 6/F, Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin Building, City University of Hong Kong
/ Online via ZOOM: https://cityu.zoom.us/j/85801411371 or Meeting ID: 858 0141 1371)
Language: English
Registration:  Please complete the online registration form HERE on or before 2 March 2025.
                               Successful registrants will receive a confirmation email not later than 3 March 2025. 

Speaker: 
Professor Maryan W. Ainsworth (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Discussant:
Professor Marc Walton (Professor of Museum Studies, Faculty of Arts, The University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

Technical Art History as a field of study and a particular methodology has evolved over the years from its early origins in traditional connoisseurship. As most recently defined by Erma Hermens (Director of the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge), “Technical Art History places the object itself at the forefront of investigation as the primary source of information. It addresses the ‘when, why, who, what, where and how’ questions of Art History, by prioritizing the understanding and contextualizing of an object’s making and material composition. Technical Art History employs a holistic, multifaceted, and interdisciplinary research approach to construct object biographies and itineraries, offering comprehensive answers to these questions.”

In this lecture, I will introduce the method of Technical Art History from its incipient stages of traditional connoisseurship—focused mainly on discovering the authenticity, attribution, and date of works of art—to its evolution toward a broader holistic approach. The development over the last century of the scientific examination of works of art has completely altered the way that we evaluate objects. Employing an increasingly wide range of analytical tools, researchers from the fields of art history, conservation, and conservation science are demonstrating the value of working together in an interdisciplinary manner. I will explore the evolution of this methodology through four main topics: the origins of the approach in connoisseurship studies, the development of laboratories in museums, a brief history of interdisciplinary collaborations, and new directions developing today. 
 

Biography
Professor Maryan W. Ainsworth
Curator Emerita, European Painting, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Former Kress-Beinecke Professor, CASVA, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Visiting Professor, Chinese and History Department, CityUHK, Hong Kong

All are welcome!

Inquiry：
Department of Chinese and History
Tel.：3442 2054
Email：cah@cityu.edu.hk