Captive Markets: Artists in Prison in the French Revolution
Hundreds of artists found themselves in prison during the French Revolution. While confined surprising numbers resumed painting, sculpting, drawing and even engraving. Few prisons were without some level or artistic production and exchange. Based on unpublished research of French prison archives and prison-made works of art, this lecture addresses some basic questions.
Who were the artists, and why were they imprisoned? What did they make and for whom? Using select case studies, this talk will propose some basic categories and functions of the prison-made object and present a model for its interpretation. It will also consider some of the wider implications of this curious and little-known area of cultural production for our understanding of the political prison in France in the period 1793-5.
Sophie Matthiesson is Curator of International Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. She has taught art history at the universities of Sussex, Manchester and Leeds. Her most recent publications are in the field of British Modernism, Surrealism, and cubism. The topic of the 2009 Margaret Manion lecture is drawn from her doctoral research on the artist in prison in the French Revolution.
6.30pm Tuesday 13 October 2009
Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre
The University of Melbourne
Weekend ReadingSome articles and blogs on art, architecture and gardens that have caught my eye over the past week. To be enjoyed with a cup of tea and possibly some kind of delicious cake.
Tom Turner "Rescue garden archaeology before the Olympic equestrian event in Greenwich" via Gardenvisit.com
Martin Bailey "Secret scandal of British Museum director’s masterpiece" via The Art Newspaper.
Three recent blog entries from Plinius at Some Landscape on Chinese landscapes and poetry:
The landscape of the bland
The Peach Blossom Spring
On a Tower Beside the Lake
