February 1, 2025 - 2:00PM - 4:00PM - Via Zoom Videoconferencing 
Topic: Mariane Goldberger Memorial Lecture

The Image of the Female Body: Three Challenges to Conventional Interpretations of Celebrated Ancient Civilizations

Scholars like Sir James Fraser, Erich Neumann, Joseph Campbell, Will Durant and most Biblical Scholars of the19th and early 20th centuries wrote persuasive stories about the meanings of the figurines found by archeologists studying Prehistory, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt. These scholars argued that the figurines represented mother goddesses, fertility, and perfect images of elite or royal Egyptian women. Modern feminist archeologists have questioned these visual tropes and have discovered that entirely different realities lay behind the stereotyped images. Like the fixed and usually idealized mental images of their parents that our patients carry from childhoods, these stereotyped images are difficult to dislodge. With new archeological findings and depictions of the figurines, I shall paint a very different picture of the ancient icons, illustrating how an analytic perspective of the past can reveal fresh and liberating insights into both the past and the present.
Register

Event Location

February 1, 2025 - 2:00PM - 4:00PM - Via Zoom Videoconferencing 

About the Event.

Scholars like Sir James Fraser, Erich Neumann, Joseph Campbell, Will Durant and most Biblical Scholars of the19th and early 20th centuries wrote persuasive stories about the meanings of the figurines found by archeologists studying Prehistory, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt. These scholars argued that the figurines represented mother goddesses, fertility, and perfect images of elite or royal Egyptian women. Modern feminist archeologists have questioned these visual tropes and have discovered that entirely different realities lay behind the stereotyped images. Like the fixed and usually idealized mental images of their parents that our patients carry from childhoods, these stereotyped images are difficult to dislodge. With new archeological findings and depictions of the figurines, I shall paint a very different picture of the ancient icons, illustrating how an analytic perspective of the past can reveal fresh and liberating insights into both the past and the present.

About Our Speaker.

Laurie Wilson, PhD

Laurie Wilson, PhD is a psychoanalyst, art historian, and art therapist. She received psychoanalytic training at PANY and is on the faculty at PANY (affiliated with NYU School of Medicine). Dr. Wilson has published extensively, across her three fields of expertise. Her publications include two full-length, psychoanalytically-informed biographies of prominent 20th-century artists: Alberto Giacometti: Myth, Magic and the Man (Yale, 2003) and Louise Nevelson: Light and Shadow, (Thames & Hudson, 2016). Dr. Wilson is currently working on a volume about the image of the female body in Western art.

Learning Objectives.

  1. Discuss 19th century stereotypes concerning prehistoric “Venus” figurines
  2. Describe the vast discrepancy between modern and 19th-20th century understanding of Mesopotamian “fertility figurines”
  3. Discuss the “life giving” role of images in Ancient Egyptian Art
Register

CME/ CE Statement.

ACCME Accreditation Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Psychoanalytic Association of New York. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure Statement

The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support. 

Psychoanalytic Association of New York (affiliated with NYU Grossman School of Medicine) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0112.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York, affiliated with NYU School of Medicine is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0124.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P0064.

Psychoanalytic Association of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0304.

CME/ CE Credits Available: 2
Register

Citations.

Register

Sign up for our newsletter.

Sign up

Psychoanalytic Association of New York
NYU Department of Psychiatry
One Park Avenue, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10016

Telephone: 646-754-4870
Fax: 646-754-9540
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Sign-up for our email mailing list