Jeffrey Hamburger, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art & Culture, Harvard University

“He used small lines to find the greatest truths”: Diagrams in the Latin West

This seminar considers how images travel through time, dropping in and out of linear histories and reshaping perception, institutions, and social practices along the way. We will study images and objects that are at odds with the moment of their appearance, whether they outlived their initial function or lost contact with their original cultural contexts. Monuments to unjust pasts; icons manifesting fallen gods; ancient ruins in modern structures; replicas and forgeries; old images restored by new technologies: these images force a paradox into view.

Events include speakers, reading groups and writing workshops that intersect art history, religious studies, history, anthropology, literature, and film, and cut across divisions separating premodern and modern, as well as European, Atlantic, and Pacific spheres.

This seminar is open to all interested participants and is organized by Prof. Megan R. Luke (Art History) with Prof. David Albertson (Religion) and Prof. Nancy Lutkehaus (Anthropology). For inquiries or suggestions for future programming, please contact mluke@usc.edu.

RSVP to vsri@usc.edu for Zoom information or to be added to our Slack workspace.