Enfilade

From UCL:

Revolution under a King: French Prints, 1789–92
UCL Art Museum, London, 11 January — 10 June 2016

Curated by David Bindman and Richard Taws

We are pleased to announce that in January 2016 we’ll be opening the exhibition Revolution under a King: French Prints, 1789–92, featuring a selection of prints from the early, highly volatile years of the French Revolution, curated by Professor David Bindman and Dr Richard Taws, in collaboration between UCL Art Museum and UCL History of Art. It is well known that a chain of key historical events characterised the French Revolution, making it effectively the biggest political media event of its time. These events were communicated extensively throughout Europe in print culture and the combination of image and text, employed extensively in newspapers and graphic works, made for powerful satire and caricature.

It is, however, not always realised that the pivotal moment, the Fall of the Bastille, was in fact followed by three years in which the king of France still nominally presided over the dissolution of the old feudal order. It is this period that is the focus of the exhibition, tracing the early years of the Revolution from the ‘June Days’ of 1789, through the Fall of the Bastille, to the eventual deposition of the Louis XVI in 1792. The exhibition will consist of vivid coloured prints of major events from the period, and a selection of medals, including one made from ‘chains of servitude’ supposedly found in the ruins of the Bastille.