Enfilade

This year’s Lewis Walpole Library Lecture takes place on Friday:

The Ladies Library: Or, Benjamin Franklin’s Sister’s Books
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 8 November 2013

The Twentieth Annual Lewis Walpole Library Lecture, 5:30pm

Professor Jill Lepore, National Book Award finalist and author of Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin, will discuss her work reconstituting the lost library of Benjamin Franklin’s sister Jane (1712–1794). Most of what Jane read, she borrowed, but she was an avid and discriminating reader, writing to her brother, “I Read as much as I Dare.”

Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her books include New York Burning, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; The Name of War, winner of the Bancroft Prize; The Mansion of Happiness, a finalist for the Carnegie Medal; The Whites of Their Eyes, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; and The Story of America. Her 2008 novel, Blindspot, written jointly with historian Jane Kamensky, was also a Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. In October 2013, Book of Ages, Lepore’s landmark biography of Benjamin Franklin’s youngest sister, was
published and nominated for the National Book Award.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

From the Sydney Intellectual History Network (SIHN) at the University of Sydney:

Laura Auricchio | Hero and Villain: Lafayette’s Legacies
University of Sydney, 12 November 2013

Tuesday, 12 November 2013, 6:00 pm, New Law School Foyer

Americans have long hailed the Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) as an extraordinarily admirable figure—a wealthy French nobleman who, at the age of 19, volunteered to fight in the War of Independence and prodded his king to support the rebel cause. But in France, Lafayette is seen by partisans on both the left and the right as an opportunist, a misguided dreamer, even a traitor. In her talk, Auricchio will consider how Lafayette, a man who lived by a principle that he called “moderation,” could have garnered such disparate reputations. While part of the answer lies in the very different roles that he played and decisions that he made in the French and American revolutions, this talk focuses on the importance of visual, material, and print cultures in shaping and sustaining Lafayette’s divided legacies.

Laura Auricchio is Associate Professor of Art History and Dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies at The New School in New York. She has published widely on French and American visual culture in the Age of Revolution and on topics in twentieth-century American art. Her next book, The Marquis, a visually informed biography of the Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolution, will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2014.

This event is co-sponsored by Sydney Ideas and the Sydney Intellectual History Network (SIHN@Sydney). For further information about SIHN@Sydney, please contact Jennifer Milam, Professor of Art History and Eighteenth-Century Studies (jennifer.milam@sydney.edu.au).

Information on the full 2013–14 seminar series on the History of Libraries is available from the Institute of English Studies:

John Goldfinch: The Survival of the Old Royal Library Collections, 1660–1760
British Library, London, 3 December 2013

A series of research seminars on the history of libraries, freely open for anyone to attend, has been organized by the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. They are jointly sponsored by the Institute of English Studies, the Institute of Historical Research, and the Library & Information History Group of CILIP. The December 3rd session is to be held in the Board Room of the British Library, Euston Rd., St. Pancras. Everyone attending is asked to meet at 5.20 at the British Library’s reception desk on the ground floor. As the Library needs to know numbers in advance, if you are intending to attend, please send a message to Jon Millington, john.millington@sas.sc.uk.

Please forgive the short notice, but news of the event is a useful marker of the launch of the Centre for Enlightenment Studies at King’s College London in partnership with the British Museum (stay-tuned for the Centre’s website). –CH

Enlightenment Bodies – from Apollo to Automata
King’s College London, The Strand, London, 15 October 2013

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The Centre for Enlightenment Studies at King’s in partnership with the British Museum, presents Enlightenment Bodies – from Apollo to Automata, on Tuesday, 15 October 2013, 19.30–20.30 at the Edmond J Safra Lecture Theatre, Strand Campus, King’s College London.

Both the aesthetics and the workings of the human body were key themes of the eighteenth-century European Enlightenment. This is, therefore, an ideal topic with which to launch King’s College’s new interdisciplinary research centre, which will bring together our expertise in this area across a wide range of departments, and will build on our close relationship with the Enlightenment Gallery curatorial team at the British Museum. Join us for an exploration of the importance of the human body to Enlightenment life and thought with a panel of experts:

Athena Leoussi, University of Reading, Co-director of European Studies, University of Reading and author of
Nationalism and Classicism: The Classical Body as National Symbol in Nineteenth-Century England and France (1998);
Anna Maerker, Senior Lecturer in History of Medicine, King’s College London, author of Model Experts: Wax Anatomies and Enlightenment in Florence and Vienna, 1775–1815 (2011);
Simon Schaffer, Professor of History of Science, University of Cambridge and TV presenter of Mechanical Marvels and Clockwork Dreams, a recent programme for BBC 4.

The panel discussion will be followed by a drinks reception. The event is free, though booking is required.

From the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU:

Anne Lafont | Proposals for an Atlantic Portraiture: Paris, Philadelphia, Saint-Domingue, ca. 1800
Institute of Fine Arts–NYU, New York, 8 October 2013

Anne Lafont will consider visual cultures of alterity in the era of Atlantic Revolutions (eighteenth and nineteenth century). First, she will identify an unrecognized body of works and discuss the opportunity of studying it as a whole. Next she will address the pictorial and academic category of portraiture when discussing images of Haitian heroes. Finally, she will consider how three stylistic communities – Paris, Philadelphia, Saint-Domingue – are working together across continents

Anne Lafont is an Associate Professor of Modern Art History at the University of Paris-Est Marne la Vallée and Chief Editor of Perspective, la revue de l’INHA (French National Institute of Art History). A former fellow at the Villa Medici, she devoted her thesis to the painter Anne-Louis Girodet and has since worked on artistic theory and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century visual arts, with a special attention to the revolutionary period, race and aesthetics, and gender issues.

Tuesday, October 8, 12:30pm
Institute of Fine Arts-NYU, Loeb Room, 1 East 78th Street, New York
Reservations are required; please click here.

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Rendez-vous

In Fall 2013, the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU inaugurates Rendez-vous, a seminar on French art (18th to 20th centuries) held monthly throughout the 2013–2014 academic year. International scholars are invited to present their research in an informal and creative setting for approximately 30 minutes, followed by an open discussion with students and colleagues. Rendez-vous focuses on French art in the broadest sense: ‘French’ is interpreted in an extensive way, including global exchanges, political dimension and colonial history, and ‘Art’ includes painting, architecture and sculpture, but also material and visual culture. Rendez-vous offers an occasion to learn about current innovative research by international and engaging scholars. The seminar aims to open up an exchange of methodologies, thoughts and ideas in a participatory atmosphere.

Rendez-vous is organized by Noémie Etienne, IFA/Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow (2013–2015). These lectures begin at 12:30pm in the Loeb Room at the Institute of Fine Arts. They are open to the public, but RSVPs are required.

Upcoming Lectures

8 November 2013 | Chonja Lee, University of Zurich
L’Âme de Lotus: Floral Animations in French Art around 1900

9 December 2013 | Merel van Tilburg, Centre allemand d’histoire de l’art, Paris
Embroidery and Tapestry as History Painting in Belgium and France around 1900: Colonialist Exhibition Pieces by Hélène de Rudder and Georges Rochegrosse

17 February 2014 |Carole Blumenfeld, Palais Fesch-Musée des Beaux-arts d’Ajaccio
Marguerite Gérard: The Most Successful Genre Painter of her Time

The National Trust & Apollo present

Perspectives on the English Country House: Preserving our Cultural Heritage
The National Portrait Gallery, London, 23 September 2013

This event celebrates the publication of this year’s National Trust Historic Houses and Collections Annual. The journal features essays that bring to light the great range of research currently being undertaken at the Trust’s properties, giving us a better and deeper perspective on its work.

Speakers include:
Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust
Oscar Humphries, Publisher of Apollo Magazine
Nicky Haslam, English interior designer
Robert Sackville-West, on his ancestral home, Knole House
Professor Maurice Howard, speaking about The Vyne

Chaired by Oscar Humphries, Publisher of Apollo Magazine, and Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust, this panel discussion will examine the personal stories behind a number of great houses, exploring the different ways in which people are connected to, or have been influenced by them – whether that means shaping their aesthetics, their cultural politics, or their academic research.

Discussion begins 7pm. Drinks reception afterwards. Tickets £20. Click here to book tickets.

Chris Jeppesen is the AHRC cultural engagement fellow working on a project entitled “East Meets West: Caribbean and Asian Colonial Cultures in British Domestic Contexts” with The East India Company at Home team, The Legacies of British Slavery team, and the British Library. From the British Library:

Chris Jeppesen | Uncovering Connections between the East India Company and the Caribbean
British Library, London, 3 July 2013

Chris Jeppesen, Research Associate at the UCL Department of History, talks about his recent work on the Library’s collections tracing links between the East India Company and the Caribbean through the movement and correspondence of families.

Historians have tended to draw a binary between British involvement in India and the Caribbean. Rarely, do they acknowledge the intricate connections between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds that facilitated the transfer of people, capital and goods during the late eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries. Chris’s ongoing research project based between UCL and the Library, has sought to uncover some of the connections between the East India Company and the Caribbean and to suggest ways that other interested researchers can expand our understanding of these links.

Crucial to many exchanges were family networks that spanned India, Britain and the Caribbean, allowing members access to opportunities that promised wealth and prestige. This talk will seek to demonstrate how by following one family – the Martins of Antigua – through the Library’s collections, one can start to uncover the all too often ignored links between India and the Caribbean.

Organised with support from the Eccles Centre for American Studies. This talk is part of the Summer Scholar’s programme. To book a space please email: summer-scholars@bl.uk

Wednesday, 3 July 2013, 12.30-14.00, Foyle Suite, Centre for Conservation, The British Library. Free, booking essential.

Programming from CRASSH at the University of Cambridge:

Things: Material Cultures of the Long Eighteen Century
Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), Cambridge, ongoing series

The seminar meets alternate Tuesdays 12.30-2.30pm in the Seminar Room, Alison Richard Building, West Road. Please note that there will not be sandwiches served this term, so the seminar will start promptly at 12.30. You are welcome to join the speakers for lunch afterwards.

The early-modern period was the age of ‘stuff.’ Public production, collection, display and consumption of objects grew in influence, popularity, and scale. The form, function, and use of objects, ranging from scientific and musical instruments to weaponry and furnishings were influenced by distinct and changing features of the period. Early-modern knowledge was not divided into strict disciplines, in fact practice across what we now see as academic boundaries was essential to material creation. This seminar series uses an approach based on objects to encourage us to consider the unity of ideas of this period, to emphasise the lived human experience of technology and art, and the global dimension of material culture. We will build on our success discussing the long eighteenth century in 2012-13 to look at the interdisciplinary thinking through which early modern material culture was conceived, adding an attention to the question of what a ‘thing’ is, to gain new perspectives on the period through its artefacts.

Each seminar will feature two talks each
considering a way of thinking about objects.

30 April 2013 — Printed Things
Sean Roberts (University of Southern California) and Elizabeth Upper (UL Munby Fellow)

14 May 2013 — Paper, Making, Things
Elaine Leong (Max Planck Institute, Berlin) and Helen Smith (University of York)

28 May 2013 — Handling Things
Melanie Vandenbrouck (National Maritime Museum), Felicity Powell (Artist), and Ben Carpenter (University of Wolverhampton)

11 June 2013 — Painted Things
Matthew Hunter (McGill University) and Mark Hallett (Paul Mellon Centre)

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