Abstract From the first third of the 15th century onwards, panel paintings with marbled reverses increasingly appeared in Flemish art. The fronts of these panels primarily depicted religious narrative scenes or portraits. The backs were decorated with an abstract pattern, referred to as marbling. These painted marble facsimiles often differed in terms of design from other examples of stone imitations such as those used on the frame decorations of other panels. Unlike these frames, which suggest a greater illusionistic intention, the marbled reverses appear to function as abstract ornamentation. However, this article proposes that the painted backs are thematically linked to the pictorial narratives of the fronts. The marbled backs of Rogier van der Weyden’s Crucifixion and the Portrait of Margareta van Eyck will be considered in the context of a profane and a theological iconography. Both panels feature a reverse that can be identified as both an imitation of red porphyry and a representation of liquid paint. Metaphysical, material–semantic, and theological references will be revealed in the pictorial examples.

Abstract In contemporary architecture, a border between an exterior and an interior—a façade—is variously designed in terms of form, style, response to climate or culture, individual approach or tools used. Despite the diversity and multi-tread theoretical and practical discourse, the Authors propose the typology of contemporary façades for public buildings (open to society) in the context of European cities by extracting comprehensive architectural features. The term systematic reflects the complexness of the issue by the newly proposed element. Namely, it is a representation of a particular architectural feature with the use of scale. The elaboration consists of (1) an introduction with a literature review and thesis, (2) our aim and method, (3) a historical background; case studies, and systematics introduction (4) conclusions with typology proposal.

Abstract This paper presents the theoretical assumptions and design praxis concerning colour schemes used in the multi-threaded Moderne, Streamline Moderne and Art Deco styles, which were used in Germany during the interwar period to design commercial facilities. We based our analysis on selected cases of department stores built in the years 1927–1930 in Berlin and Wrocław (Breslau at the time). Streamline Moderne and Art Deco, which was present in Germany alongside Expressionism, operated using a simple spatial structure that followed the precepts formulated by the Bauhaus:it featured rhythmically divided, disciplined facades clad in ceramics, sandstone or travertine, as well as large storefront windows with brass frames. These Modernist compositions were enriched with ceramic or brass cornices and friezes, overhangs and full-figure sculptures that were often gilded. The buildings’ interiors, designed following the principles of efficiency and functionality, had spatially accentuated and colour-marked entrance zones and grand, glazed courtyards that were given an expressive décor via ceramics, stone or exotic wood. The expression of these compositions was underscored by linear illumination and cascade-like chandeliers that formed light sculptures. In our paper, we also presented problems associated with the contemporary revitalisation and reconstruction of such buildings. We specifically focused on research findings that identified original ceramics production technologies and methods that allowed the recreation of the texture and colour of the facade of the A. Wertheim department store in Wrocław.

Abstract In 1989, the artist Jan Vercruysse (1948–2018) stated that he was “the last Flemish Primitive”.This comment, despite being only a fragment of a lengthy interview with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev,became a trope in subsequent writings on Vercruysse. I argue that the statement was part of a deliberate strategy by Vercruysse in shaping his identity as a (Belgian) artist. First, I focus on Vercruysse’s Portraits of the Artist (1979–1984), a series of photographic works in which he uses the genre of the self-portrait—thereby implicitly referring to the Flemish Primitives—as a means to express the constructedness of artistic identity. Second, I explore Vercruysse’s construction of his identity and his relationship vis-à-vis the notion of Belgian art. Finally, the statement uttered in 1989 will be contextualized within the changing political and cultural context of Belgium and Flanders in the 1980s. I demonstrate how the statement can be read as invoking a radically different conception of Belgian art during this period.

Abstract Evidence for industrial scale production of numerous manufacturing processes has been attested in all phases of occupation at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). A subset of these, tools for the production of textiles and fibers, indicates that textile crafts were manufactured on a large scale as a part of a centralized and organized industry. These industrialized practices occurred within and around the monumental seventh and sixth century BCE complexes which displayed architectural decoration bearing iconographic themes that served to secure the positions of the aristocratic elites.This paper investigates the stamped decoration present on rocchetti and its relationship to the architectural decoration present on the monumental structures of the site. As small moveable objects used by members of the community, rocchetti present an opportunity to investigate the movement of elite images through the non-elite population of a community and their reception of aristocratic ideology presented in monumental structures.

Abstract This article investigates the role of wall surfaces as an interactive medium in the First Pompeian Style, referring to examples from Pompeii. Five different aspects are investigated in more detail: (1) surfaces and their relation to the core; (2) surface qualities; (3) surfaces as image carriers; (4) surfaces and their relation to the physical space; (5) surfaces and their relation to the social space. These aspects allow for a deeper understanding of the First Style’s ornamental, pictorial and spatial qualities. In this view, surfaces can be conceived as media interfaces.

Abstract The aim of the article is to present the remarkable changes in architecture that took place in the 20th century. They can easily be called a revolution regarding the architectural form and the color scheme. Progress was being made through the development of reinforced concrete production methods. In the German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich), this material quickly found applications in more and more interesting solutions in architectural structures. In Wrocław (formerly Breslau), then located in the eastern German Empire, exceptional architectural works were realized before and after the First World War using new technology. In 1913, an unusual building was erected—the Centennial Hall, designed by Max Berg (inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2006). Berg’s work was inspired by the works of both Hans Poelzig and Bruno Taut. On the one hand, it was a delight with the new material (the Upper Silesian Tower at the exhibition in Pozna ´n, designed by H. Poelzig) and, on the other hand, with the colorful architecture of light and glass by B. Taut (a glass pavilion at the Werkbund exhibition in Cologne). Max Berg left the concrete in an almost “pure” form, not hiding the texture of the formwork under the plaster layer. However, stratigraphic studies of paint coatings and archival inquiries reveal a new face of this building. The research was carried out as part of the CMP (Conservation Management Plan—prepared by the authors of the article, among others) grant from The Getty Foundation Keeping It Modern program. According to the source materials, the architect intended to leave the exposed concrete outside of the building, while the interior was to be decorated with painting, stained glass, and sculpture. The stratigraphic tests showed that the external walls were covered with a translucent yellowish color coating. Thus, the Centennial Hall shows a different face of reinforced concrete architecture.

Abstract The space invested by contemporary art galleries is of utmost importance. Not only is it essential to have suitable premises, but they must also be in the right place: The physical address carries a lot of weight. The benefits to galleries of being concentrated in the same areas are twofold: They are close to their competitors, which means they are close to the art market, and thus, by their collective presence, can boost the market by encouraging collectors to go to the same places built up as art districts. Moreover, the district’s qualifying function comes about through the collective construction of this grouping of galleries from which it benefits. Today in Paris, it is the Marais neighborhood—a sector that started developing in the 1970s but even more in the 1980s and 1990s—that pitomizes the place to be for contemporary art galleries. The implantation of contemporary galleries in Paris clearly results from a historical process that led them from the 8th arrondissement to the Marais, stopping briefly at Saint-Germain-des-Prés (or the 6th arrondissement)mostly for small avant-garde structures. Studying the implantation—here in Paris—of contemporary art galleries over time illustrates the dynamics that gird the installation choices and also shows how alive the urban fabric is. Galleries enter the transformations of the urban fabric, and when they are numerous enough, they also participate directly in its development.

Abstract This is a short introduction to the hieroglyphic nature of ancient Egyptian material culture and its polyvalence using a bronze statuette of a lioness-headed goddess in front of an obelisk (formerly in the Omar Pasha Sultan Collection) as a case study. Because the lioness is not identified by an accompanying inscription, the essay demonstrates methods by which the identification and significance of the image can be unpacked.

Abstract Since its inception in 2013, the Arte Útil archive has become a collective steadily expanding as a tool for research and a resource for social practitioners. The archive is available for consultation at the website and consists of a growing database of around three hundred case studies that use art as a tool for societal change. It provides artistic strategies, a historical perspective, and a nexus between theory and praxis, besides being a platform to connect artistic projects and “users” from different geographies and contexts. Overall, it has become a nomadic pedagogical device able to trigger the discussion and the analysis of socially engaged art practice, its nature and its context involving not just artists but social agents and communities. As co-curators of the archive and educators, we interrogated ourselves regarding if curating as a social practice could expand the notion of education.Could we embrace the methodology of social practice to curate and generate pedagogical conditions fostering sustainability? Could we go beyond the conventional spaces and dynamics of academia?Could we integrate concepts like co-authorship and co-curating to cross from the arts to collective learning environments? How do we relate with the archive in other local contexts? In the last five years, we have implemented an evolving methodology that addresses all these questions, activating the Arte Útil archive as a pedagogical catalyst. The archive allowed collective experimentation and became a tool to infiltrate social practice both in the academic domain and galleries and museums’ educational ecosystems. In this article, we will analyse two different examples as case studies: from a research and artistic environment, a conversation with Onur Yıldız and Naz Kocadere, co-authors of “Art in use: case studies in Turkey” in May 2018, from a two-day workshop organised in collaboration with the Office of Useful Art at SALT Galata, Istanbul (TR); and from an educational perspective, the recent curriculum developed as part of the International Master Artists Educator (iMAE) in ArtEZ,Armhen (NL).

Abstract In May 1969, Charles Harrison reviewed Morris Louis’ exhibition at the Waddington Galleries in London. Months later, he helped to install the exhibition When Attitudes Become Form at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Harrison also wrote the catalogue text, published in Studio International. Those two texts marked a significant point in Harrison’s career. They were indicative of his disillusionment with modernist criticism, and of his burgeoning interest in the work of post minimal and conceptual art. In this respect, the two essays mark a transition from modernism to post-modernism in the space between a formalist analysis of the art object and a more dispersed field of artistic practice, where a changed relationship between art practice, criticism, and curating was taking place. However, in the 2000s, Harrison came to reflect upon this cardinal moment. Harrison referred to his recollected experiences of the late 1960s as a ‘cherished moment of involuntary realism’,opening up issues around art writing which remain pertinent to the practice of art history.

Abstract In 1992, artist David Lamelas installed Quand le ciel bas et lourd at the temporary exhibition America: Bride of the Sun—500 Years of Latin-America and the Low Countries at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), a show that explored the cultural, economic, and political exploitation of indigenous America by European forces, and its project of colonization and erasure. Lamelas’ work remained a public installation in KMSKA’s garden until March 2021 when it was dismantled as a result of the museum’s years-long renovation. This article examines the work in the context in which it was exhibited and later destroyed as a lens to examine two aspects of contemporary art and history in Flanders. Firstly, it foregrounds the complex, transnational heritage that Lamelas’ work presents and considers its implications upon the local, cultural scene in which it resided from the 1960s to 70s, in the 1990s and in the present. Secondly, the text frames Quand le ciel bas et lourd and America: Bride of the Sun as reverberating with the emergence of nationalism in Flanders and a global, postcolonial discourse in the art world. This article considers how aspects of Lamelas’ work and its elusive meanings over space and time might challenge monolithic understandings of Flemish art.