Charles Barber

Professor of Art History

Office: 118 Decio

Department of Art, Art History and Design
306 Riley Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5673
Phone: 574-631-7686
Fax: 574-631-6312
E-mail: cbarber@nd.edu
Office Hours: By appointment

Research Interests

Works primarily on Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Has written extensively on theories of the image in Byzantium. This will continue to be a dominant aspect of his work. Immediate projects include the influence of Aristotelian thinking on eleventh-century habits of viewing; publishing (with students) the Snite Museum collection of Greek and Russian icons; examining the poetics of post-Byzantine painting. Snite Icon Project

Co-directs a Biennial Workshop in Byzantine Intellectual History.

Teaching Interests

Teaches undergraduate lecture courses on all aspects of Early Christian, Byzantine and Medieval Art. Seminars focus on Byzantine art. Recent topics include: iconoclasm; the icon; art and worship; the book; vision and ecstasy. Courses Taught

Recent Publications

Contesting the Logic of Painting: Art and Understanding in Eleventh-Century Byzantium (Leiden: Brill, 2007) See more on Contesting the Logic of Painting

Reading Michael Psellos ed. Charles Barber and David Jenkins (Leiden: Brill, 2006) See more on Reading Michael Psellos

Figure and Likeness: On the Limits of Representation in Byzantine Iconoclasm (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002) See more on Figure and Likeness

The Theodore Psalter (British Library Add. 19352): A CD-ROM Facsimile (Urbana-Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000) See more on the Theodore Psalter

"In the Presence of the Text: A Note on Writing, Speaking and Performing in the Theodore Psalter," Art and Text in Byzantium (Cambridge, 2007): 83-99

"Living Painting, or the Limits of Pointing? Glancing at Icons with Michael Psellos," Reading Michael Psellos (Leiden, 2006): 117-30

"Icons, Prayer, and Vision in the Eleventh Century," Byzantine Christianity (A People's History of Christianity vol. 3) (Minneapolis, 2006): 149-63

"Art History," Palgrave Advances in Byzantine History (New York, 2005): 147-56

"Theotokos and Logos: The Interpretation and Reinterpretation of the Sanctuary Program of the Koimesis Church, Nicaea," Interpreting the Mother of God (Aldershot, 2004): 51-59

"A Sufficient Knowledge: Icon and Body in Ninth-Century Byzantium," Interpreting Christian Art (Macon, 2004): 65-80

"Icon and Portrait in the Trial of Symeon the New Theologian," Icon and Word (Aldershot, 2003): 25-34

"Mimesis and Memory in the Narthex Mosaics of the Nea Moni on Chios," Art History 24 (2001): 323-337

"Early Representations of the Mother of God," in Mother of God (Athens, 2000): 253-261

"Writing on the Body," in Desire and Denial in Byzantium (Aldershot: Variorum, 1999): 111-120

"The Truth in Painting: Iconoclasm and Identity in Early-Medieval Art," Speculum 72 (1997): 1019-1036

"Homo Byzantinus?" in Women, Men and Eunuchs: Gender in Byzantium (London: Routledge, 1997): 185-199

"From image into art: art after Byzantine iconoclasm," Gesta 34 (1995): 5-10

"The monastic typikon for art historians," in The Monastery of the Theotokos Evergetis and eleventh-century monasticism, BBTT 6,1 (Belfast, 1994): 198-214

"The body within the frame: a use of word and image in iconoclasm," Word and Image 9 (1993): 140-53.

"From Transformation to Desire: Art and Worship after Byzantine Iconoclasm," Art Bulletin 75 (1993): 7-16.

"Reading the garden in Byzantium: nature and sexuality," Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 16 (1992): 1-19.

"The Koimesis Church, Nicaea: the limits of representation on the eve of Iconoclasm," Jahrbuch der Oesterreichischen Byzantinistik 41 (1991): 43- 60.

"The imperial panels at San Vitale: a reconsideration," Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 14 (1990):19-42