The National Gallery Prague and the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v. v. i. invite conference contributions: “Artists Overseas: Foreign Artists in the Czech Lands and Czech Artists Abroad”, 21 – 22 May 2026, Prague – the 2nd Conference on Sources for the History of the Visual Arts.

The conference aims to examine the topic from multiple perspectives ranging from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. The organisers welcome papers focusing both on biographical portraits of figures who experienced artistic mobility, as well as on broader analyses of migration patterns among artists within particular periods or between specific countries and regions. Attention may also be given to the cultural transfer that mobility generated, or to the social aspects of the issue, such as the ways in which foreign artists became integrated into local structures and adapted to new environments. On a more general level, contributions may address perceptions of otherness and foreignness that the work and lives of migrant artists typically represented for their host societies. Finally, we also welcome papers dealing with the characteristics of important sources or source types, and analyses of how such materials can be used for research purposes.
The theme is open to art historians, archivists, historians and specialists from related fields. The only requirement is that each paper should be grounded in the evidence of archival sources. The organisers invite those interested in active participation to submit a proposal in the form of an abstract (maximum 1,000 characters) accompanied by a brief biographical note. The expected length of each presentation is 20 minutes. Publication of the papers is planned. The conference languages will be Czech and English.
The organising committee reserves the right to select papers.
Schedule:
31 December 2025 – registration and submission of abstracts
15 January 2026 – notification of acceptance/rejection after review by the expert committee
21 and 22 May 2026 – conference dates
by the end of 2026 – submission of papers for publication
Please send abstracts with brief biographies to: uhlikova@udu.cas.cz, radka.heisslerova@ngprague.cz

More: https://www.udu.cas.cz/archiv/content_cz/cfp_umelec_a_cizina_en_2.pdf