University of Missouri scholar to present lecture on ancient Greek pottery April 24
Dr. Susan Langdon, associate professor and director of graduate studies in art history and archaeology at the University of Missouri, will give a free lecture, “The Telltale Hearth: Geometric Pottery and the Greek Family,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in Room 126 of John Roach Center for the Liberal Arts at the University of St. Thomas.
Greek pottery usually is studied for its formal and geometric designs, which set the stage for a return of human figures into Greek art in “a seemingly limited repertoire of funerals, warriors, chariots and occasional battles,” reminds Langdon, who approaches geometric iconography more holistically. “Approaching geometric iconography through gender, object biography, mortuary and contextual study enables us to restore painted vessels to the center of Greek life. … We discover a visual discourse intimately related to marriage, children and community.”
This presentation is the fourth in the “Looking @ Greek Vases” lecture series sponsored by St. Thomas’ Art History Department and the University of Minnesota Classical and Near Eastern Studies Department.
During her visit to the Twin Cities Langdon will give a second lecture, “It’s a Man’s Man’s World: Social Identity and Early Greek Pottery,” at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 25, in Room 155, Nicholson Hall, on the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus. A reception follows.
For more information, call the UST Art History Department, (651) 962-5660, or visit the Art History Department Web site.
