Social Science and Cutlural Studies Speaker Series: Prof. Amy Gansell on Concepts of Feminine Beauty and Adornment in Ancient Mesopotamia
9:53 AM
Social Science and Cultural Studies Speakers Series
Presents
Presents
Professor Amy Gansell
Visiting
Assistant Professor of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
on
Concepts of Feminine Beauty and Adornment in Ancient Mesopotamia Illuminated through Near Eastern Cultural Practices of the Twentieth-century to the Present
March
6th, 5pm
Dekalb Hall
Seminar
Room 208
Pratt Institute
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Amy Gansell is a Visiting Assistant
Professor in Pratt's History of Art and Design department. She
is a specialist of ancient Mesopotamian visual and material culture,
c. 3000 to 500 BCE. Her areas of scholarly interest include ancient
aesthetics, figural representation, ivory sculpture, dress, and
landscape. She has written a number of essays and articles, as well
as contributed to museum catalogues and educational publications. She
is currently writing a book about female beauty in ancient
Mesopotamian royal court during the early first millennium BCE.
Abstract:
If
beauty
is in the eye of the beholder, how can we recuperate notions
of beauty from the depths of the past? While we cannot ask the
ancient Mesopotamians what they see as beautiful, interdisciplinary
research can uncover multiple facets of their aesthetics. In an
effort to interpret ancient Mesopotamian ideals of feminine beauty, I
have examined surviving artworks, texts, archaeological remains, and
Near Eastern cultural practices of the twentieth century to the present.
A primary theme of my investigation, across media and disciplines, is
adornment. In relation to
ancient evidence, this paper particularly discusses my field research,
conducted in 2003 and 2006, on traditional Syrian bridal costume and
earlier ethnographic reports documenting regional values of feminine beauty.
More information: http://www.pratt.edu/academics/art_and_design/history_of_art_and_design/faculty_and_staff/bio/?id=agansell
Pratt Institute
Main Brooklyn Campus
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
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