Andrew Tallon

Faculty

Assistant Professor of Art

Office: Taylor Hall 306
Phone: 437-5223
Box: 77
Email: antallon@vassar.edu
Website: http://mappinggothicfrance.org

Andrew Tallon joined the faculty of Vassar College in 2007 and teaches medieval art and architecture. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University with distinction, M.A. from the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne), and B.A. from Princeton University, summa cum laude. His current research interests include architectural structure, medieval acoustics, the culture of building restoration in nineteenth-century France, and the virtual representation of architectural space. He has published a number of articles on Gothic architecture (see below) and is in the process of writing a book on Gothic structure. Recent research funding includes a grant from the Samuel Kress Foundation for a study of the architecture of the cathedral of Bourges using a laser scanning-based technique he innovated called spatial archeology, and a four-year grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation for a web-borne project entitled Mapping Gothic France, recipient of a 2010 Horizon Interactive Award. He recently curated an exhibition entitled Space, Time, and Narrative: Mapping Gothic France, currently on view at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. His research was featured in an Emmy-nominated PBS/Nova special entitled Building the Great Cathedrals, which aired nationally in October 2010, and in a feature-length documentary entitled Les cathédrales dévoilées, produced by Arte, which aired on public television in France and Germany in April 2011.

Selected publications

“La cathédrale de Bourges à la lumière du laser.” In La cathédrale de Bourges, edited by Olivier Nauleau and Marie-Reine Renon (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes), in press.

“Structure in Gothic.” In The Cambridge History of Religious Architecture of the World, edited by Richard Etlin and Stephen Murray (New York: Cambridge University Press), in press.

“La structure de la cathédrale de Chartres,” in La cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres: matériaux et techniques de construction, ed. Arnaud Timbert (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes), in press.

“Divining Proportions in the Information Age,” in Proportional Systems in the History of Architecture, ed. Matthew Cohen, in press.

“L’équilibre expérimentale de la prieurale de Saint-Leu-d’Esserent,” in Saint-Leu d’Esserent et l’implantation monastique dans la basse vallée de l’Oise, ed. Delphine Hanquiez, in press.

With Arnaud Timbert, “Le bâtiment gothique relevé par laser. Le cas de la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Noyon et la question de son contrebutement : première approche,” in Arch-I-Tech 2010: actes du colloque Cluny, 17-19 novembre 2010, ed. Juliette Rollier-Hanselmann, Bordeaux, 2011, 62-69.

“Archéologie spatiale: le bâtiment gothique relevé (et révélé) par laser.” In Architecture et sculpture gothiques: renouvellement des méthodes et des regards, ed. Arnaud Timbert and Stéphanie Daussy (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2011), 63-75.

“Rethinking Medieval Structure.” In New Approaches to Medieval Architecture, ed. Robert Bork, William Clark and Abby McGehee (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), 209-17.

“Nouveau regard sur les arcs-boutants des églises d'Etampes.” In Art et Architecture à Etampes au Moyen Age, ed. Elise Baillieul (Chamarande: Société historique et archéologique de l'Essonne et du Hurepoix, 2010), 67-83.

With Arnaud Timbert. “Les arcs-boutants du chevet de l’abbatiale de Pontigny.” Bulletin Monumental 166, no. 2 (2008), 99-104.

With Maria-Katerina Nikolinakou. “New Research in Early Gothic Flying Buttresses.” In Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Construction History, ed. Malcolm Dunkeld et al. (Cambridge: Construction History Society, 2006), 2347-61.

With Maria-Katerina Nikolinakou and John Ochsendorf. “Structure and form of early Gothic flying buttresses.” Revue Européenne de Génie Civil 9, no. 9-10 (2005), 1191-217.

“The Portuguese Precedent for Pierre Patte’s Street Section.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 63, no. 3 (2004), 370-77.

Recent pedagogical projects

Spherical panoramic photographs of Chartres Cathedral

Spherical panoramic photographs of Bourges Cathedral

Spherical panoramic photographs of the cathedral of Paris

Gigapixel image of the center portal tympanum at Vézelay

Gigapixel image of the north portal tympanum at Vézelay

Gigapixel image of the south portal tympanum at Vézelay

Gigapixel image of the western portal tympanum at Autun

Gigapixel image of the western portal tympanum at Conques

Gigapixel image of the portal tympanum at Moissac

Gigapixel image of the prophet Jeremiah at Moissac