Eva Kernbauer: History in the Present. The Contemporary History Painting

Sometimes history paintings tell us more about their own present than about the past they claim to depict. At the same time, whether the present is worthy of being considered part of history, and of being depicted at all, and thus the question of how to place it within the (historical) picture, is a challenge to painting. The lecture explores the fragile relationship between history and references to the present in history painting, and, in particular, traces how they are claimed in contemporary art.

Lecture in German

Eva Kernbauer is Professor of Art History at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her research focuses on artistic engagements with history (most recently: Art, History, and Anachronic Interventions since 1990, Routledge 2022, and Kunstgeschichtlichkeit, ed., Fink, 2015), on contemporary art since the 1960s, and on the development of art exhibitions and concepts of the art public (Der Platz des Publikums, Böhlau, 2011; Höfische Porträtkultur, de Gruyter, 2016).

Entrance free