Invitation to the lecture by Dr. Hans Maes (Kent) at the Institute of Philosophy UW, 13.09.2017

The Institute of Philosophy invites you for the lecture by
Dr Hans Maes
(University of Kent)
Portraits of Philosophers and the Philosophy of Portraits
13th September, Wednesday, room 209 at 17.00
Institute of Philosophy, Krakowskie Przedmieście 3
Coordinatior: dr Adam Andrzejewski (adam.epoche@gmail.com)

This paper presents a close analysis of Steve Pyke’s famous series of portraits of philosophers. By comparing his photographs to other well-known series of portraits and to other portraits of philosophers we will seek a better understanding of the distinctiveness and fittingness of Pyke’s project. With brief nods to Barthes, Baudrillard, Berger, Hegel, and Schopenhauer and an extensive critical investigation of Cynthia Freeland’s ideas on portraiture in general and her reading of Steve Pyke’s portraits in particular this paper will also aim to make a contribution to the philosophical debate on portraiture.

Hans Maes is Senior Lecturer in History and Philosophy of Art and Director of the Aesthetics Research Centre at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. He has authored papers on a variety of topics in aesthetics, including the art of portraiture, the role of intention in the interpretation of art, and the relation between art and pornography. The latter is the subject of two essay collections: Art and Pornography (co-edited with Jerrold Levinson, Oxford University Press, 2012) and Pornographic Art and The Aesthetics of Pornography (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013). His latest book is entitled Conversations on Art and Aesthetics (Oxford University Press, 2017). It contains interviews with, and portraits of, some of the world’s leading philosophers of art.