Sight/Geluid/Geruch/Gout/Tocco
Jessica Sternbach + Megan Reddicks Pignataro
The five senses are an integral part of our individual and cultural experience of the world. Between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the cultures across Europe experienced a rapidly changing world view filled with new and sensational stimulants. The fifteenth century saw the creation of the Gutenberg printing press and the mass production of the written word, the first microscopic images appeared in the mid-seventeenth century, and the continued exploitation of resources of other countries by Europe to bolster their own economies. This exhibition encourages you to enhance your experience of art by highlighting the ways in which early modern artists across Europe explore and tempt each of the five senses.
As you scroll through the exhibition objects, turn your attention to each of your senses. Notice what’s happening beyond your immediate sight. Notice any physical sensations emerging, arising, or falling away as your focus moves through each of the senses based on your own personal experiences.
Meet the Curators
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Art History ‘23
Jessica Sternbach is a PhD candidate at Temple University. Her research centers around the experiential and intersensorial quality of Dutch early modern paintings and material culture. Her research has been presented at the Renaissance Society of America conference and Renaissance Society of Southern California. She has written for Fugitive Leaves (2017) and Smarthistory (2021). She received her Bachelor’s in Art History from Willamette University (2013) and her Master’s in Art History and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts (NYU, 2016), where her thesis received honors.
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Art History ‘22
Instagram: @megan.pignataroMegan Reddicks Pignataro is a PhD candidate in art history at specializing in non-linear perspective in Quattrocento painting and sculpture in Florence. Her dissertation has been supported by the Renaissance Society of America (2021) and Temple Rome (2019). She received her BA (Honors) in Art History, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies (2010) and her MA in Art History (2011) from the University of Toronto. She currently holds a research assistantship in collections management at the Detroit Institute of Arts as a part of a Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This exhibition has been made possible through the generous collaboration of the Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery,
Temple University Special Collections Research Center, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The curators would like to thank the following individuals for their support and collaboration in the process of this exhibition:
Kati Gegenheimer, Associate Director of Academic Enrichment Programs, Tyler School of Art, Temple University
Margery N. Sly, Director, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries
Kimberly Tully, Librarian and Curator of Rare Books, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries
Dr. Chassica Kirchhoff, Assistant Curator of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Detroit Institute of Arts
Dr. Ashley West, Associate Professor of Northern Renaissance and Baroque Art and Graduate Director in Art History