Hunting Family Faculty Fellow
About
"Topologies of the Codex – Space in Early Medieval Manuscripts"
Books have always been thought of and perceived as spaces in both abstract and very concrete ways. My project investigates the visual and material impact of this notion in early medieval manuscripts. It is a thematic study of early medieval manuscripts made in and between Carolingian Francia and the English kingdoms, ca. 700 to 1100 CE. I consider the spatial values of the surfaces that make a medieval codex, the images found to construct pictorial spaces, and the formats that capitalize on the notion of the book as space. Material and visual aspects are closely intertwined in early medieval European manuscript culture. This is particularly evident when considering manuscript images in relation to the topologies of the codex – pages, leaves, bifolia, quires, etc. My project draws upon and critically evaluates book historical, codicological, and art historical approaches, considering early mise-en-page, the image field and the frame, and the paradigms of pictorial space to present a focused analysis of “spatial” features in the making and viewing of illuminated manuscripts, which I examine through the categories of the built, the graphic, and the organic.
Tina Bawden is Assistant Professor of History of Art.
