Upcoming
To publicise an upcoming conference or symposia featuring the work of David Jones, write to us at: [email protected]
Past
David Jones: Theory of Art; Theory of Culture, David Jones Research Center
7-8 March, 2019, Booth Special Collections, Georgetown University Library (3700 O St NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA)
From the DJRC website:
The work and thought of the British artist and WWI veteran David Jones (1895-1974) commands a unique perspective on the deeply intertwined questions of the theory of art and the theory of culture in the 20th century. Jones not only had extensive first-hand experience of total war, both as a private in the trenches of WWI and as a Londoner during the Blitz, but also communicated his experience in an interpenetrated corpus of visual art, prose, and poetic writing. Jones’s sense of artistic form crosses the boundaries of the visual and the verbal in order to respond to the crisis of what he described as “unmaking” in his 1937 poem of WWI, In Parenthesis.As Mark Greif’s (2015) and Alan Jacobs’s (2018) recent studies indicate, the postwar period presented a unique “crisis” for artists and intellectuals in the West who found themselves confronted with challenges to traditional narratives about human identity and the nature of human flourishing. The work of David Jones places the theory of art at the very center of this crisis, drawing on the thinking of neo-Artistotelian-Thomist philosophers such as Jacques Maritain to regard the fine arts in light of the gamut of human making and so broaden the discussion to show how art encompasses more fundamental questions of human work, technology, religion, leisure, and politics.
This seminar situates the contribution of Jones’s cultural and aesthetic theory and multimedia corpus in the immediate context of 20th-century artistic practice and theories of art and culture. It will particularly seek to show the unique light that Jones sheds on the understanding of war in the 20th century, narratives of modern secularization, and experiments in visual and poetic form that respond to the ruptures and new continuities that these cultural shifts incur."
For more information, including full list of speakers and preliminary timetable, as well as registration see the website: www.davidjonesresearch.org/upcoming/
7-8 March, 2019, Booth Special Collections, Georgetown University Library (3700 O St NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA)
From the DJRC website:
The work and thought of the British artist and WWI veteran David Jones (1895-1974) commands a unique perspective on the deeply intertwined questions of the theory of art and the theory of culture in the 20th century. Jones not only had extensive first-hand experience of total war, both as a private in the trenches of WWI and as a Londoner during the Blitz, but also communicated his experience in an interpenetrated corpus of visual art, prose, and poetic writing. Jones’s sense of artistic form crosses the boundaries of the visual and the verbal in order to respond to the crisis of what he described as “unmaking” in his 1937 poem of WWI, In Parenthesis.As Mark Greif’s (2015) and Alan Jacobs’s (2018) recent studies indicate, the postwar period presented a unique “crisis” for artists and intellectuals in the West who found themselves confronted with challenges to traditional narratives about human identity and the nature of human flourishing. The work of David Jones places the theory of art at the very center of this crisis, drawing on the thinking of neo-Artistotelian-Thomist philosophers such as Jacques Maritain to regard the fine arts in light of the gamut of human making and so broaden the discussion to show how art encompasses more fundamental questions of human work, technology, religion, leisure, and politics.
This seminar situates the contribution of Jones’s cultural and aesthetic theory and multimedia corpus in the immediate context of 20th-century artistic practice and theories of art and culture. It will particularly seek to show the unique light that Jones sheds on the understanding of war in the 20th century, narratives of modern secularization, and experiments in visual and poetic form that respond to the ruptures and new continuities that these cultural shifts incur."
For more information, including full list of speakers and preliminary timetable, as well as registration see the website: www.davidjonesresearch.org/upcoming/
Inaugural Research Seminar, David Jones Research Center
Washington, D.C., 7-8 June, 2018
The David Jones Research Center at Washington Adventist University (Takoma Park, MD) was officially opened on 1 March 2018. As described on its webpage: 'this center is devoted to the study of the works of the poet and artist David Jones and associated subjects. Its mission is to:
The Center held an inaugural seminar 7-8 June, 2018 to discuss the current state of Jones Studies and the directions it could take. Paper proposals are due 7 April. For more information about the Center and the inaugural seminar's program, see the Center's webpage:
www.davidjonesresearch.org/past/
Washington, D.C., 7-8 June, 2018
The David Jones Research Center at Washington Adventist University (Takoma Park, MD) was officially opened on 1 March 2018. As described on its webpage: 'this center is devoted to the study of the works of the poet and artist David Jones and associated subjects. Its mission is to:
- foster original scholarship concerning David Jones and associated subjects
- support emerging scholars in the field
- facilitate focused research seminars to be held once per year with the aim of publication
- depending on interest and resources, organize or support further public lectures, exhibitions, and conferences'
The Center held an inaugural seminar 7-8 June, 2018 to discuss the current state of Jones Studies and the directions it could take. Paper proposals are due 7 April. For more information about the Center and the inaugural seminar's program, see the Center's webpage:
www.davidjonesresearch.org/past/
| cfp_dj_center_2018.pdf |
Starlight Order, Artworker's Guild (6 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AT),
11 March, 2017, 10.00-18.00
A one-day symposium celebrating 20 years of the David Jones Society with papers by Hilary Davies, Tom Durham, Richard Kindersley, Ewan Clayton, and John Matthews. Will include a film showing of David Jones: The Ultimate Year and performance of Three Symphonies (by Tony Conran) by Conran Poetry Chorus. Co-hosted by The David Jones Society, The Temenos Academy, and Agenda.
The presentations are a commemorative tribute to acknowledge the achievements of David Jones, as well as the legacy he has left us. The occasion also celebrates 21 years of The David Jones Society, in the same venue from which the Society was launched. Appropriately, The Art Workers’ Guild at Queen’s Square is close to where the headquarters of the publishing house, Faber and Faber David Jones’s publisher, was situated at that time.
Jones’s achievements were many and varied. He was an undisputed Modernist who left us an amazing and diverse collection of visual art: drawings, wood- and metal-engravings, paintings in both oil and watercolour, and mixed media, the content of which ranged through many themes. Once he had ‘discovered’ his theory of art as a sign of something other, Jones seldom deviated from investing his visual endeavours with connotations, symbols and allusions. To this end he went on to ‘make a shape in words’ which further enriched his output as a‘maker. His interest in both image and text were consolidated in his ‘painted inscriptions’ which are possibly the apotheosis of the concept of unity in which he so delighted.
See attachments below for more information about the Speakers and a current Timetable.
£40, full admission to symposium (incl. refreshments and performance)
£10, performance only.
For further information and to REGISTER, send an email Anne Price-Owen at: [email protected]
with the headline 'Starlight Order' and including in the body your name and the number attending.
Cheques payable to 'The David Jones Society,' 22 Gower Road, Sketty, Swansea SA2 9BY
Bank Transfer The David Jones Society, Bank: HSBC, Account No.: 91158082; Sort Code: 40-43-32; with Reference 'Starlight Order'
11 March, 2017, 10.00-18.00
A one-day symposium celebrating 20 years of the David Jones Society with papers by Hilary Davies, Tom Durham, Richard Kindersley, Ewan Clayton, and John Matthews. Will include a film showing of David Jones: The Ultimate Year and performance of Three Symphonies (by Tony Conran) by Conran Poetry Chorus. Co-hosted by The David Jones Society, The Temenos Academy, and Agenda.
The presentations are a commemorative tribute to acknowledge the achievements of David Jones, as well as the legacy he has left us. The occasion also celebrates 21 years of The David Jones Society, in the same venue from which the Society was launched. Appropriately, The Art Workers’ Guild at Queen’s Square is close to where the headquarters of the publishing house, Faber and Faber David Jones’s publisher, was situated at that time.
Jones’s achievements were many and varied. He was an undisputed Modernist who left us an amazing and diverse collection of visual art: drawings, wood- and metal-engravings, paintings in both oil and watercolour, and mixed media, the content of which ranged through many themes. Once he had ‘discovered’ his theory of art as a sign of something other, Jones seldom deviated from investing his visual endeavours with connotations, symbols and allusions. To this end he went on to ‘make a shape in words’ which further enriched his output as a‘maker. His interest in both image and text were consolidated in his ‘painted inscriptions’ which are possibly the apotheosis of the concept of unity in which he so delighted.
See attachments below for more information about the Speakers and a current Timetable.
£40, full admission to symposium (incl. refreshments and performance)
£10, performance only.
For further information and to REGISTER, send an email Anne Price-Owen at: [email protected]
with the headline 'Starlight Order' and including in the body your name and the number attending.
Cheques payable to 'The David Jones Society,' 22 Gower Road, Sketty, Swansea SA2 9BY
Bank Transfer The David Jones Society, Bank: HSBC, Account No.: 91158082; Sort Code: 40-43-32; with Reference 'Starlight Order'
| starlight_order_speakers.pdf |
| so_timetable.pdf |
Modern Gods: Religion and British Modernism, 1890-1960, Hepworth Gallery (Wakefield, U.K.),
24 September, 2016
A one-day conference accompanying the exhibition Stanley Spencer: Of Angels and Dirt. ‘Modern Gods: Religion and British Modernism’ will investigate the religious beliefs of a variety of British artists and critics who were active during Spencer’s lifetime in relation to their work. Dr Sarah Turner (Deputy Director for Research at the Paul Mellon Centre) and Dr Sam Rose (Lecturer at the University of St Andrews) will give the keynote addresses.
Programme: ripassetseu.s3.amazonaws.com/www.hepworthwakefield.org/_files/documents/sep_16/FENT__1473857585_Modern_Gods_Programme.pdf
Watch the talks here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vx-Po-q6Ys
24 September, 2016
A one-day conference accompanying the exhibition Stanley Spencer: Of Angels and Dirt. ‘Modern Gods: Religion and British Modernism’ will investigate the religious beliefs of a variety of British artists and critics who were active during Spencer’s lifetime in relation to their work. Dr Sarah Turner (Deputy Director for Research at the Paul Mellon Centre) and Dr Sam Rose (Lecturer at the University of St Andrews) will give the keynote addresses.
Programme: ripassetseu.s3.amazonaws.com/www.hepworthwakefield.org/_files/documents/sep_16/FENT__1473857585_Modern_Gods_Programme.pdf
Watch the talks here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vx-Po-q6Ys
David Jones: Dialogues with the Past, University of York (York, U.K.),
21-23 July, 2016
In 'Past and Present' (1953), David Jones claimed: 'The entire past is at the poet's disposal'. The interweaving of this 'entire past' with the present moment fundamentally characterises Jones's art and thought, from his visual reimagining of historical figures, to the etymologically rich allusions of his poetry, to the unusual philosophy of history manifested in his essays and letters. The analysis of Jones's visual or poetic works often reflects the act of excavation: the unique layering of images, words and ideas, the resonant symbolism and shades of meaning, the blending of cultural traditions and dynamic interweaving of whole civilisations. As 2016 marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, which profoundly shaped Jones's imagination and thought, it provides an ideal moment for this conference to reconsider the entirety of Jones's engagement with the many, various, elusive and intertwined 'pasts' through which he conceived history and culture. It will be an opportunity to explore Jones's own style, subject matter, allusive practice and intellectual questions including the role of 'memory', 'inheritance' and 'history' in art and life, while also reflecting upon Jones's own past and contemporary moment.
Keynote speakers: Tom Dilworth; Paul Hills & Adam Schwartz
Performances: 'An Artist's Retrospect: Fragments of Lost Jones Interviews and Programmes,' with Anne Price-Owen and Leo Aylen;
'DAVID JONES: July 1916, The Battle of Mametz Wood from In Parenthesis,' by Opus Anglicanum - An English Music
Art Exhibition: 'Landscape, Sign, Sacrament,' with works of Bryan Hawkins and words of David Jones
More information about the conference, including recordings of most of the talks and a photo gallery can be found on the website: www.davidjonesdialogues.com
21-23 July, 2016
In 'Past and Present' (1953), David Jones claimed: 'The entire past is at the poet's disposal'. The interweaving of this 'entire past' with the present moment fundamentally characterises Jones's art and thought, from his visual reimagining of historical figures, to the etymologically rich allusions of his poetry, to the unusual philosophy of history manifested in his essays and letters. The analysis of Jones's visual or poetic works often reflects the act of excavation: the unique layering of images, words and ideas, the resonant symbolism and shades of meaning, the blending of cultural traditions and dynamic interweaving of whole civilisations. As 2016 marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, which profoundly shaped Jones's imagination and thought, it provides an ideal moment for this conference to reconsider the entirety of Jones's engagement with the many, various, elusive and intertwined 'pasts' through which he conceived history and culture. It will be an opportunity to explore Jones's own style, subject matter, allusive practice and intellectual questions including the role of 'memory', 'inheritance' and 'history' in art and life, while also reflecting upon Jones's own past and contemporary moment.
Keynote speakers: Tom Dilworth; Paul Hills & Adam Schwartz
Performances: 'An Artist's Retrospect: Fragments of Lost Jones Interviews and Programmes,' with Anne Price-Owen and Leo Aylen;
'DAVID JONES: July 1916, The Battle of Mametz Wood from In Parenthesis,' by Opus Anglicanum - An English Music
Art Exhibition: 'Landscape, Sign, Sacrament,' with works of Bryan Hawkins and words of David Jones
More information about the conference, including recordings of most of the talks and a photo gallery can be found on the website: www.davidjonesdialogues.com
The Unorthodox Orthodoxy: Catholicism, Modernisms, and the Avant-Garde,
University of Notre Dame London Centre (London SW1Y 4HG)
25 September, 2015
In Jacques Maritain’s endnotes to his Art et Scholastique, citations from Thomas Aquinas sit side-by-side with extracts from Jean Cocteau, Pierre Reverdy and accounts of Cezanne. Yet, this creative tension has proved difficult to reconcile with existing assumptions about the avant-garde: religion can be construed as one more bourgeois prejudice from which the artist needs to free him or herself; or else artistic productions can be accorded a quasi-religious reverence that circumvents the need for institutional religion. Failing that, and thanks to the unacknowledged influence of various secularisation theories, one might think it impossible to be forward-thinking and yet hold religious views. The key historical event around which these ideas coalesce is the 1907 Papal Bull, Pascendi Dominici Gregis which condemned a range of new intellectual movements under a single heading: “modernism”. While apparently inauspicious for the creative tension this conference plans to examine – one recent critical study has suggested that literary modernism took its impetus from a positive appropriation of the term from Catholic discourse – attempts to steer clear of suspicious topics gave rise to wide-ranging discussion of aesthetics within Catholic circles. Viewed more widely, there are numerous instances in English and French decadence, the artistic communities centred on Eric Gill at Ditchling and Capel-y-ffin and the crop of post-war British Catholic novelists – alongside the work of figures such as Pasolini, Gaudí and Marechal – where artistic experimentation has become manifest as an outpouring of intense Catholic renewal. Recognition of this phenomenon demands a far-reaching revision to the narratives told about twentieth-century artistic endeavour and, indeed, a re-consideration of the way in which Catholicism has come to position itself in relation to society.
This one-day conference will initiate this revisionary process by foregrounding the stimulus Catholic thought has provided for artistic experimentation, across the globe, from the 1890s onwards.
Keynotes: Richard Canning, Paul Robichaud, and Martin Stannard
Programme: avantgardecatholicism.wordpress.com
Publication: Special issue of Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature (forthcoming)
University of Notre Dame London Centre (London SW1Y 4HG)
25 September, 2015
In Jacques Maritain’s endnotes to his Art et Scholastique, citations from Thomas Aquinas sit side-by-side with extracts from Jean Cocteau, Pierre Reverdy and accounts of Cezanne. Yet, this creative tension has proved difficult to reconcile with existing assumptions about the avant-garde: religion can be construed as one more bourgeois prejudice from which the artist needs to free him or herself; or else artistic productions can be accorded a quasi-religious reverence that circumvents the need for institutional religion. Failing that, and thanks to the unacknowledged influence of various secularisation theories, one might think it impossible to be forward-thinking and yet hold religious views. The key historical event around which these ideas coalesce is the 1907 Papal Bull, Pascendi Dominici Gregis which condemned a range of new intellectual movements under a single heading: “modernism”. While apparently inauspicious for the creative tension this conference plans to examine – one recent critical study has suggested that literary modernism took its impetus from a positive appropriation of the term from Catholic discourse – attempts to steer clear of suspicious topics gave rise to wide-ranging discussion of aesthetics within Catholic circles. Viewed more widely, there are numerous instances in English and French decadence, the artistic communities centred on Eric Gill at Ditchling and Capel-y-ffin and the crop of post-war British Catholic novelists – alongside the work of figures such as Pasolini, Gaudí and Marechal – where artistic experimentation has become manifest as an outpouring of intense Catholic renewal. Recognition of this phenomenon demands a far-reaching revision to the narratives told about twentieth-century artistic endeavour and, indeed, a re-consideration of the way in which Catholicism has come to position itself in relation to society.
This one-day conference will initiate this revisionary process by foregrounding the stimulus Catholic thought has provided for artistic experimentation, across the globe, from the 1890s onwards.
Keynotes: Richard Canning, Paul Robichaud, and Martin Stannard
Programme: avantgardecatholicism.wordpress.com
Publication: Special issue of Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature (forthcoming)
David Jones: Christian Modernist? St. Anne's and Regent's Colleges, University of Oxford
(Oxford, U.K.), 10-13 September, 2014
This conference will examine the paradox of Jones the ‘Christian modernist’. Does the very concept of cultural ‘modernism’ perhaps need reassessment when confronted with his example? How is his experimental art, poetry and cultural theory relevant to theology? How does his work relate to the theological controversies of his day, especially the ‘modernist crisis’ within the Catholic church and beyond? How does the influence of other modernist art, theory and literature interact with Christian influences (whether theological or artistic) in his work? What was Jones’s influence upon other thinkers and creative artists, both those who shared his religious views, and those who did not? And is his complex vision of human beings as makers and artists who participate in divine creativity through their sign-making – while also hiding this from themselves – still relevant today? Or should it rather be analysed as a product of its time, an unfortunate idealisation that at one point even led Jones to affirm a limited sympathy for the ‘fascist and Nazi revolutions’? It is the aim of this conference to confront the paradoxes and pleasures of reading and studying Jones head-on, in order to refine and extend our critical vocabulary to encompass an artist, poet and thinker who continues to challenge our preconceptions. Finally, perspectives that challenge the fruitfulness of the whole idea of Jones as ‘Christian modernist’ are also welcome. Are there reasons for steering clear of both terms? Is Jones’s work perhaps better seen as transcending or collapsing such categories?
Organised in conjunction with the 'Modernism and Christianity Project' out of the University of Bergen, Norway.
Keynotes: Thomas Dilworth, Paul Fiddes, Alison Milbank, Micheal O’Siadhail, and Anne Price-Owen
Exhibition: 'David Jones: The Furrowed Line,' arranged and introduced by Noel White
Exhibition Catalogue published as David Jones: The Furrowed Line, ed. Rebecca White (Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, Oxford: 2014)
Publication: David Jones: Christian Modernist?, ed. Erik Tonning, Paul Fiddes, Jamie Callison and Anna Johnson (Brill, forthcoming)
(Oxford, U.K.), 10-13 September, 2014
This conference will examine the paradox of Jones the ‘Christian modernist’. Does the very concept of cultural ‘modernism’ perhaps need reassessment when confronted with his example? How is his experimental art, poetry and cultural theory relevant to theology? How does his work relate to the theological controversies of his day, especially the ‘modernist crisis’ within the Catholic church and beyond? How does the influence of other modernist art, theory and literature interact with Christian influences (whether theological or artistic) in his work? What was Jones’s influence upon other thinkers and creative artists, both those who shared his religious views, and those who did not? And is his complex vision of human beings as makers and artists who participate in divine creativity through their sign-making – while also hiding this from themselves – still relevant today? Or should it rather be analysed as a product of its time, an unfortunate idealisation that at one point even led Jones to affirm a limited sympathy for the ‘fascist and Nazi revolutions’? It is the aim of this conference to confront the paradoxes and pleasures of reading and studying Jones head-on, in order to refine and extend our critical vocabulary to encompass an artist, poet and thinker who continues to challenge our preconceptions. Finally, perspectives that challenge the fruitfulness of the whole idea of Jones as ‘Christian modernist’ are also welcome. Are there reasons for steering clear of both terms? Is Jones’s work perhaps better seen as transcending or collapsing such categories?
Organised in conjunction with the 'Modernism and Christianity Project' out of the University of Bergen, Norway.
Keynotes: Thomas Dilworth, Paul Fiddes, Alison Milbank, Micheal O’Siadhail, and Anne Price-Owen
Exhibition: 'David Jones: The Furrowed Line,' arranged and introduced by Noel White
Exhibition Catalogue published as David Jones: The Furrowed Line, ed. Rebecca White (Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, Oxford: 2014)
Publication: David Jones: Christian Modernist?, ed. Erik Tonning, Paul Fiddes, Jamie Callison and Anna Johnson (Brill, forthcoming)
David Jones: Culture and Artifice, Washington Adventist University (Washington, D.C.)
29 & 30 March, 2012
Publication: Flashpointmag Web Issue 18 (2016)
http://www.flashpointmag.com/fp18_Kathleen_Staudt_Introduction_David_Jones_and_Artifice.htm
29 & 30 March, 2012
Publication: Flashpointmag Web Issue 18 (2016)
http://www.flashpointmag.com/fp18_Kathleen_Staudt_Introduction_David_Jones_and_Artifice.htm
Cover Image: Page of In Parenthesis (Part VII), Early Manuscript Draft. National Library of Wales, David Jones Papers, LP1/1
The First World War Digital Archive, University of Oxford [Copyright Notice] ©
The First World War Digital Archive, University of Oxford [Copyright Notice] ©