In partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts is pleased to introduce "Romantic Prints on the Move." This symposium takes its lead from the 2013 PMA exhibition and corresponding collection catalogue, The Enchanted World of German Romantic Prints (Yale University Press, 2017). The series of public lectures in the afternoon is preceded by two object-based study sessions, which will enable students of various fields — from art history to German studies to studio arts — to gain first-hand knowledge of this remarkable era of printmaking.

Inspired by recent debates about the circulation and pricing of contemporary art, “Romantic Prints On The Move” sets out to bridge the nineteenth and the twenty-first centuries. To that end, the conference creates a stimulating conversation among academics, curators, and contemporary collectors. In particular, this conversation will focus on connecting nineteenth-century technologies with the current media revolution, thus bringing material history into the digital present. The goal is to shed more (and new) light on the economic, aesthetic, and geographical aspects of the production, dissemination, and collection of these prints in an era of burgeoning new printmaking technologies, while discussing their continuing appeal and marketability.

The public program will begin at 1:30 pm on February 1, 2019 in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts and will feature a keynote lecture by John Ittmann (Philadelphia Museum of Art). The program will continue at 1:00 pm on February 2, 2019 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and feature a keynote lecture by Jay A. Clarke (Art Institute, Chicago).

Speakers include:

• Charles Booth-Clibborn (Paragon Press, London)
• Fiona Chalom (Los Angeles)
• Jay A. Clarke (Art Institute of Chicago)
• Peter Fuhring (Fondation Custodia, Paris)
• Johannes Grave (Universität Bielefeld)
• John Ittmann (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
• Michael Leja (University of Pennsylvania)
• Carlo Schmid (C.G. Boerner, Düsseldorf)

Organized by Cordula Grewe (Art History, Indiana University Bloomington) and Catriona MacLeod (German, University of Pennsylvania) with support from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the University Research Foundation; the School of Arts & Sciences; the Departments of Germanic Languages & Literatures, History; History of Art; the Program in Comparative Literature & Literary Theory; the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, and the Wolf Humanities Center.