Rienzi’s Biennial Symposium
“A Sense of Proportion: Architect-Designed Objects, 1650–1950”
Friday, September 23, 2016 to Saturday, September 24, 2016

Rienzi, the house museum for European decorative arts of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, hosts the biennial symposium, “A Sense of Proportion: Architect-Designed Objects, 1650–1950”. The symposium aims to focus on objects that are the embodiments or extensions of an architect’s ideas or aesthetic. Scholars are asked to discuss objects made for particular spaces, objects used to explore new design sources and objects intended to be part of an integrated space. In short, why do objects that have been designed by architects look the way they do?

Rienzi houses a significant collection of European paintings, sculpture, furniture, porcelain, and silver from the mid-17th through mid-19th centuries. Built in 1953 as a residence and opened to the public as a house museum in 1999, Rienzi evokes fine European houses of the 18th century with architecture reminiscent of the Italian Palladian style, surrounded by period European decorative arts and paintings. Recently, Rienzi acquired the, elegant, nine-foot-long Dundas Sofa, designed by Robert Adam (1728-1792), renowned neoclassical architect of the 18th-century and made by the celebrated English furniture maker, Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779). It is from the only suite of furniture known to be a collaboration between these two masters.

CALL FOR PAPERS
Master's and doctoral students as well as entry level and mid-career professionals are invited to submit a 400-word abstract outlining a 20-minute presentation, along with a CV, by June 1, 2016. Selected participants will be notified by July 15, 2016 and offered a $600 stipend for travel and lodging. All presentations are given Saturday, September 24, 2016, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The keynote lecture is held Friday evening followed by a reception at Rienzi.

Possible themes of investigation may include, but are not limited to:


• Architecture
• Design
• Decorative Arts
• Functional objects
• Interiors
• Travel
• Works of Art