Dr. Javier Berzal de Dios

Early modern European art and architecture; critical theory, continental aesthetics, and phenomenology

(360) 650-3733

I received a PhD from the Ohio State University in 2014, having previously completed a BA/MA in philosophy and a BA in Art History at the City University of New York, Queens College in 2009. Though initially trained on Italian Renaissance art, my teaching and research interests spread across various fields and times periods. Some of these interests include: depictions, usage, and theories of space; theatricality and artificiality; and the modern afterlives of early modern artworks.

At Western Washington University, I teach survey courses on early modern art and architecture as well as advance lectures and seminars such as "Arts of Renaissance Venice," "Visual Arts in the Age of Contact, Exploration, and Colonization," "Space and Representation: Global Experiences of Place, Site, and Territory," or "Theatricality, Spectacle, and Performance in Early Modern Art and Architecture." This upcoming year I will be offering some exciting advance new courses, like "Arts of Spain," and "Critical Theory and Continental Aesthetics."

RECENT AND FORTHCOMING RESEARCH AND WRITING

Academic publications, print

“Uccello's Fluttering Monument to Hawkwood, with Schwob and Artaud," diacritics [forthcoming]

“Velázquez’s Democritus: Global Disillusion and the Critical Hermeneutics of a Smile.” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Reforme 39, no. 1 (2016)

“A Note on Deleuze and Renaissance Art.” SubStance 45, no. 1 (2016): 44-65

“Conjuring the Concept of Rome: Alterity and Synecdoche in Peruzzi’s Design for La Calandria.” Sixteenth Century Journal 45, no. 1 (2014): 25-50.

Non-fiction essays and entries, print and web.

“The Name of the Rose, as yet.” apt, Tenth Anniversary Issue (Winter 2015).

“Palladio and Scamozzi, Teatro Olimpico.” SmartHistory. October 2015. Web.

“Slow teaching.” Art History Teaching Resources. September 2015. Web.

“Learning Evolves.” Smart History Blog. August 2015. Web.

“Andrea Palladio, Villa Rotonda.” Smarthistory. September 2013. Web

“The Surrender of Breda by Diego Velázquez.” Smarthistory. May 2013. Web

“The Encyclopedic Palace — 55^th Venice Biennale.” The Art Founders Project. July 2013. Web.

“Stairs, Seizing.” apt 2 (Winter 2011): 43-54.

“The Virtues of Noise.” Revisions 6 (Spring 2009): 10-11.

Past and upcoming conference presentations

“Saturated Excess: Phenomenlogies from Carlo Crivelli. ”Renaissance Society of America Conference (Chicago, Illinois, 2017)

“Art History for Art Students: What’s the Use?” Co-presented with Monique Kerman, The Washington Art Education Association (Bellingham, Washington, October 2016) [upcoming]

“Ornament and Spatial Ambiguity in Mid-Cinquecento Scenography.”Sixteenth Century Society Conference (Bruges, Belgium, August 2016)

“Democritus in the Age of Contact and Exploration.” Sixteenth Century Society Conference (Vancouver, British Columbia, October 2015)

“The Question of the apparato: Plurality and Enclosure in Renaissance Theatrical Environments.” College Art Association Conference (New York, New York, February 2015)

“Que pueden significar estos aparatos: Disclosing Viewership in Beccafumi’s Scenographic View of Pisa." Sixteenth Century Society Conference (New Orleans, Louisiana, October 2014)

For more information see https://wwu.academia.edu/JavierBerzal

Year Started: 2014

Department/Program: Art & Art History

Location: FI119