Leaflet Programme From Canefield to Teacup conference

From Cane Field to Tea Cup: the Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Art and Design Friday 23 & Saturday 24 February 2007 Lecture Theatre, 10.30–17.00 This international conferenc

From Cane Field to Tea Cup: the Impact

of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Art and Design

Friday 23 & Saturday 24 February 2007

Lecture Theatre, 10.30–17.00

This international conference marks the bicentenary

commemoration of the 1807 Parliamentary bill which outlawed British slave trading Rarely are the realities that link Western design and the decorative arts to the Transatlantic slave trade openly

addressed Museum collections not featuring African collections often maintain a misleading distance from engagement with the complex histories of slavery

This conference aims to examine and recontextualise the links

between the Transatlantic slave trade and the production and

collection of such objects of material culture as domestic and

decorative artefacts The focus of the conference will mirror the V&A collections – including furniture, ceramics, textiles, metalware,

architecture and works on paper

The bicentenary is being recognised through a three-pronged

approach at the V&A The academic conference seeks to explore the latest original research in the subject area whilst trails throughout the permanent collections will highlight the V&A’s own relevant holdings To underscore the continued impact of the trade in human beings, visitors will also discover interventions of new commissions and contemporary artworks throughout the V&A’s public spaces in the exhibition ‘Uncomfortable Truths’

This conference will benefit historians of art, design and the social sciences, cultural geographers, museum professionals, and

members of heritage bodies as well as students, educators and artists

PROGRAMME

Day One

10.30 Welcome to the V&A

10.35 Museums and Collecting

Chair: Zoe Whitley, V&A

10.40 ‘It’s Part of My DNA’: the Embedded Life of the

Slave Ship Icon

Keynote address: Professor Cheryl Finley, Cornell University

11.20 Silver Service Slavery: the Black presence in

the British home

Helen Mears, V&A

12.00 Re-interpreting the Collection: the Medieval

and Renaissance Galleries at the V&A

Anne-Marie Eze, Courtauld Institute of Art & British

Library

12.40 Panel discussion

Chair: Zoe Whitley

Opportunity to experience ‘Uncomfortable Truths’ and ‘Traces of the Trade’

14.00 Methodological and geographic approaches to

the West Indies

Chair: Geoff Quilley, Curator of Maritime Art, NMM

14.05 Art and Emancipation in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes

Belisario’s ‘Cries of Kingston’

Gillian Forrester, Yale Center for British Art

14.45 The Other Way: European Influences in the

Ceramics of the Diaspora

Thomas C Loftfield, Barbados Museum and Historical Society

15.55 Visual culture of the plantation

Tim Barringer, Yale Center for British Art (To be read by Geoff Quilley)

16.35-17.00 Panel discussionChair: Geoff Quilley

Day Two

10.30 Welcome to the V&A

10.35 Britain and nationalism

Chair: James Walvin, Centre for 18 th century Studies, University of York

10.40 The Representation of Slavery

Marcus Wood, Sussex University

11.20 Collective meanings: slave-grown cotton,

economic growth and cultural investment in industrial Manchester

Emma Poulter, Manchester University

12.00 ‘A true report’: Gabriel Bray’s drawings of

the Guinea coast, NMM

Geoff Quilley, National Maritime Museum

12.40 Panel discussion

Chair: James Walvin

Opportunity to experience ‘Uncomfortable Truths’ and ‘Traces of the Trade’

14.00 19 th century design by slaves

Chair Ulrich Lehmann, V&A/RCA

14.05 Victims of fashion: French woodblock prints

and textiles for the African market

Christina Shannon, V&A

14.45 Pierre Dutreuil Barjon vs His Creditors: the

Story of a St Domingue Émigré Cabinetmaker in New Orleans

Cybele Gontar, Metropolitan Museum of Art

15.55 Dark Saturnalia: A Consideration of African

Dancing in the New World, 1700-1850

Debra Jackson – Metropolitan Museum of Art

16.35 Panel discussion

Chair: Ulrich Lehmann

TICKET PRICES

£52 for one day (including V&A Members and Patrons) Concessions:

£44 senior citizens; £20 disabled people, ES40 holders and students Two days: £100/£88/£36 Ticket price includes morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea

BOOKING INFORMATION

Online:

By phone:

Credit card bookings can be made on 020 7942 2211 between 10.00 and 17.30

By post:

Credit card details or cheques payable to Victoria & Albert Museum should be sent to: Bookings Office, V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

We regret we are unable to invoice you or accept official orders

Concessions

Please note that proof of status (such as a valid student card, ES40 card etc.) must be provided when booking to obtain concessionary rates If booking by post, a photocopy is acceptable We reserve the right to limit concessionary places

Cancellations

Cancellations must be made at least two weeks before any event to obtain a refund All cancellations are subject to a 10% cancellation fee

Access

The building does not have full independent access, however please let us know if you have any disability and we will make every effort

to facilitate your visit The Lecture Theatre has an induction loop

Carers/Teachers

One carer accompanying a disabled person, or one teacher

accompanying a group of ten or more students, will be admitted free of charge

Tickets

Tickets for the conference are available for sale in the V&A on the day of the event from the admissions desks, however advance booking is recommended

VAT

Education services are provided by The Victoria and Albert Museum

as an agent on behalf of V&A Enterprises Ltd All fees are inclusive

of VAT

The V&A reserves the right to alter the programme at short notice

[credit] Wedgwood slave medallion by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Ltd, c 1787