Medieval Sculpture: the Matter of Body

This seminar explores the meanings and representations of the sculpted body in later medieval material culture. We explore architectural sculpture (monstrous, sinful, and beatific bodies); portable sculpture (martyred, suffering, and fragmented bodies); movable/ interactive/ articulated sculpture (enclosed, tormented, and unhinging bodies); funerary and macabre sculpture (dead, decomposed, and resurrected bodies); the so-called Andachtsbilder (bleeding, lactating, and mystical bodies); and the complex relationship between material and meaning (miraculous, edible, and translucent bodies). Our central concern is the exploration of the medium and its power to entangle the corporeal and the intangible, the concept and the object. Be prepared to read about disembodied heads, roving crucifixes, and impossible hybrids, and to consider all manner of media from wood to stone to gems to wax.