From the 1950s the avant-garde artist Jay DeFeo (1929-1989) was a member of a vibrant bohemian community of artists, musicians, poets and writers based in San Francisco. Best known today for her magisterial painting titled The Rose (1958-1966), which the artist described as ‘a marriage between painting and sculpture’, over the course of her long career DeFeo experimented widely, and intensely, with a range of unorthodox materials, exploring the parameters and expansive limits of painting, sculpture, drawing, collage, photocopies and photography.

This one-day, online conference brings together a group of scholars based in the United States, Europe, and the UK to discuss the work of DeFeo, shedding light on aspects of her work from a range of new perspectives. Speakers include Lucy Bradnock (Associate Professor University of Nottingham), Judith Delfiner (Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History, Paris Nanterre University), Pia Gottschaller (Senior Lecturer, The Courtauld), Suzanne Hudson (Associate Professor of Art History and Fine Arts, University of Southern California), Corey Keller (Curator of Photography and Acting Department Head, Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), Joy Mazurek (Assistant Scientist, Getty Conservation Institute), and Catherine Spencer (Lecturer, University of St Andrews).

The symposium is organised by Professor Jo Applin (Professor in the History of Art, Head of History of Art Department) and Dr Pia Gottschaller (Senior Lecturer, Department of Conservation). 

Papers will include: