Louise Nelstrop - Art and Mysticism: Interfaces in the Medieval and Modern Periods

Mysticism and Art is, it seems, suddenly la mode. Within the arena of contemporary art, interest in both spirituality and mysticism has been steadily growing as a number of recent exhibitions bear witness: the 2017 exhibition Au-del des toiles. Le paysage mystique de Monet Kandinsky at Le Muse dOrsay, and the 20162017 exhibition Mystical Landscapes: Masterpieces from Monet, Van Gogh and More at The Art Gallery of Ontario, curated in conjunction with Muse dOrsay. The purpose of this book is to tease out some of the implications of the relationship between art and mysticism, between the material and the ineffable, in both medieval and modern art by exploring developments in the Latin West from the eighth to the sixteenth centuries, and examining how modern and contemporary art responds to the medieval.

This volume offers multiple points of entry into the relationship between art and mysticism. The essays grew out of conversations first begun at the 2016 Mystical Theology Network conference, Art and Articulation: Illuminating the Mystical, Medieval and Modern (St Hildas College, Oxford). The conference brought scholars from diverse fields together with contemporary artists to examine the theme of art and mysticism. An art exhibition, As Above So Below, curated by Ellen Hausner, was an integral part of the conference. The catalogue was a joint academic-artistic enterprise, reflecting on how and why a number of contemporary artists feel that the mystical and the spiritual intersects with and informs their work. Several keynote lectures were likewise delivered by artists, leading to lively and fruitful discussions concerning how the mystical and the spiritual are understood within contemporary society, and whether art, as product/practice/craft, is the place in which mystical engagement is most readily to be found a theme picked up by Kate Kirkpatrick in the opening chapter of this book.

The conference could not have taken place without the support of The Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature , The Eckhart Society and St Hildas College. A few people deserve special mention: Ellen Hausner, for curating a beautiful exhibition; the artists who exhibited alongside Ellen Julian Dourado, Francesca Nella and Matthew Kay; Pol Hermann (conference photographer); and our anonymous peer reviewer. We would also like to thank The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Closer to Van Eyck: Rediscovering the Ghent Altarpiece (Getty Foundation) for granting permission to use their images.

Finally, we would like to extend our sincere and grateful thanks to the team at Routledge, especially Josh Wells and Jack Boothroyd, for their support and encouragement.

> [accessed 2 April 2017]. The latter exhibition also featured a series of talks and workshops covering the relationship between art and mysticism, mindfulness and the current state of religiosity in the West: [accessed 2 April 2017]. These followed the groundbreaking Traces du Sacr 2008 and Hilma af Klint: peintre inspire exhibitions.

> [accessed 2 April 2017].

> [accessed 2 April 2017], @MysticTheology.

Helen Appleton is a Career Development Fellow in Early Medieval English at Balliol College, Oxford. She has published on early medieval poetry and hagiography, and is also a co-organiser of The Oxford Psalms Network . Her principal research area is the relationship between religious devotion and the environment in Anglo-Saxon England.

Barbara Baert (www.illuminare.be) is Professor at the University of Leuven. She teaches in the field of Iconology, Art Theory and Analysis, and Medieval Art. In 2006 Barbara Baert founded the Iconology Research Group, an international and interdisciplinary platform for the study of the interpretation of images (www.iconologyresearchgroup.org). Her articles have appeared in a variety of scientific A1/ISI/peer review journals. She founded as editor-in-chief two series: Studies in Iconology (www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=9995) and Art & Religion (www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=10015). In 2016, Barbara Baert was awarded the prestigious Francqui Prize for her bold approach to and pioneering work in medieval visual culture and the worship of relics.

Roberta Bassi holds a doctorate in Old English Literature and has studied in Bergamo, Leeds, Durham, and Bergen. She is an Honorary Fellow and a member of the CriLeF, the Centre for Linguistics and Philology, at the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Bergamo, Italy. She works primarily on Anglo-Saxon hagiography and has published on St Oswald in early English chronicles and narratives.

Inigo Bocken is the Scientific Director of the Titus Brandsma Institute for the Study of Spirituality at Radboud University, Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. Born in Schoten, Belgium in 1968, Inigo first studied in Antwerp at UFSIA, before attaining a Masters in Philosophy (1990) and also a Masters in Medieval Studies (1991), both at KU Leuven. He gained his doctorate at Radboud University in 1997 in the Faculty of Philosophy and was appointed lecturer there in 1999. Since 2004 he has been a scientific researcher at the Titus Brandsma Institute. Additionally, he is a visiting lecturer in the department of History at Primorsk University, Koper, in Slovenia. His recent publications focus on Thomas Aquinas, Nicolas of Cusa and the pictorial treatises of Charles of Bovelles.

Sheila Gallagher is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and associate professor of Studio Art at Boston College. Working in many media including live flowers, smoke, melted plastic, and video, Gallaghers work explores the relationship between materiality and theological inquiry. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally, including at the Moving Image Festival, London; The Crystal Bridges Museum, Arkansas; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA. Together with philosopher Richard Kearney, she is co-director of Guestbook Project, an international creative peacebuilding initiative.