"The Incomplete" in the Long Nineteenth Century

The Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Association (INCS) at CAA 2025. The theme of our panel is art and imagery related to the concept of “INCompleteS,” broadly construed. Possible topics might include: Unfinished sculptures or paintings; the meaning of the sketch; art that thematized ideas of absence, the partial, the fragmented, or the dismembered; fiction or criticism treating the undeveloped or unfinished artwork; or disability studies perspectives that counter nineteenth-century definitions of deficiency. We are especially looking for interdisciplinary papers that consider how notions of “the incomplete” might in turn shed light on the nineteenth-century investment in the idea of whole and the totalizing. Topics from “the long nineteenth century” of any country or culture welcome.