Even new ways of writing the introduction of punctuation and of
using spaces to separate words occurred during this period in Old
English were once thought to have been invented by the Irish or
Germans, but actually appeared in many cultures around the same time,
Nees said.
There was a lot of cross-cultural movement in the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms, he said. Its almost impossible to look at a painting and
tell if an Irish or Italian or French artist painted it.
With such contemporary issues as migration and Brexit, the move for
the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, in the news in recent
years, those planning the British Library exhibition wanted to make sure
to include a wider European perspective.
The cultures of the U.K. and the
European continent are very entangled, with links and networks
developing constantly, Nees said. A major part of my scholarship and
my teaching concerns this.
The University of Delawares Department of Art History
is known for a focus on American art, but faculty members work in many
geographic areas and have established numerous professional connections
with institutions, scholars and students internationally, Nees said.
Indeed, it was a lecture he gave about race and ethnicity a couple of
years ago at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, attended by a
British Library curator, that led to his current lecture invitation at
the library.
Our faculty have many personal contacts, but our program itself is
quite well-known also, Nees said. When European institutions are
looking for a partner to study American art, they come to UD.
Of course, at this [British Library] conference, there will also be
people who wont have heard of UD, so its a good opportunity for them
to learn about us.
Article by Ann Manser; photos courtesy of the British Library