Art History professor

This is a call for papers

Symbolist Movement: The Ancient Cultures (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia) and the Bible. 

The interpretation of ancient cultures and the Bible in various forms of art (visual arts, literature, and music) at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. 

In the second half of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, Symbolist artists, writers, and musicians drew inspiration from ancient cultures and biblical stories. They used them to create their works and to develop their own philosophy. For example, the second part of the 19th century was fascinated by strong Biblical women such as Salome/Hérodiade, Judith, Jezebel, Delilah, and others. Although these women often occupied a central part in works of Symbolists, the purpose of representing these biblical characters was often ideological and aimed at representing a woman as a danger to society. However, in the case of the English Pre-Raphaelites or Russian turn of the century artists such as Mikhail Vrubel or Nicolas Roerich, the purpose was to represent rather the complexity of an individual using the example of women. 

Often, Symbolists used the Biblical stories and their characters, like Salome, for example, to express various philosophical ideas as a symbol. It is a case of Oscar Wilde, for whom Salome is a symbol of his way of perceiving art, society, religion, and the relationships between the sexes. The idea of the Sphinx, which derives from Egyptian culture,  as well as some other images, also permeated Symbolist creations. 

In this conference, we will examine how Symbolist visual artists, musicians, writers, and poets drew inspiration from ancient cultures and the Bible in their works, shaping the Modernist/Symbolist philosophy and art, as well as the ideas of the fin de siècle. 

The conference will take place in Chicago, IL, from September 23 to 25, 2026. The registration fees are $390, and they include two lunches, a visit to the Museum of Ancient Cultures, and a membership in Art, Literature and Music in Symbolism and Decadence https://www.uis.edu/hosted-orgs/almsd/index.html.

Please send your proposals by November 15, 2025. 

Email: rosina-neginsky@att.net