ECR French Nineteenth-Century Art Network Research Forum:
Between Two Worlds: Picturing the Mirror in the Age of Realism - Dr. Nikki Georgopulos (University of British Columbia, Vancouver)
While seemingly ubiquitous throughout the history of European art, the mirror appeared with unprecedented frequency and potency in French painting of the mid-nineteenth century. Chemical and mechanical advances in mirror-making technology and the boom of consumer capitalism meant that mirrors were more readily available than ever before. Artists responded in kind, using the mirror as both a formal and symbolic motif as a proving ground for questions of mimesis, truth, objectivity, and selfood occasioned by contemporary discourses of Realism. This talk provides an overview of what is very much a work in progress: a book project attending to the confluence of these two concomitant developments: the popularity and availability of mirrors brought on by the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of Realism as a critical aesthetic tendency. Though both the mirror and the Realist painting ostensibly share the expectation of a straightforward, mimetic reflection of the world, Realist mirrors more often bend, warp, dazzle, and distort. Acting as a metaphor for its own making, the Realist mirror is a lens through which we can interrogate our long-held assumptions about Realism and its supposedly positivist, empirical mode of representation.
Nikki Georgopulos is an Assistant Professor in the department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Specializing in European art of the nineteenth century, she received her PhD from Stony Brook University in 2020, and has held positions at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Morgan Library and Museum in New York
This event will take place at 5pm (GMT)
This is a virtual event - the Zoom link will be sent out on the day. For any issues please get in contact via email and we will try and help as best we can.
This event is open to anyone with an interest in the topic discussed and is not limited to current PhD's like our other events.
About the Research Forum:
ECR French Nineteenth-Century Art Network Research Forum is a virtually held research forum that allows recent PhD graduates, early career researchers as well as research fellows to present their most recent research. The forum aims to expose new and emerging scholarship and scholars engaging in exciting areas of research. The sessions will last around one hour with the opportunity to engage with the research with questions and answers after. The events are open to all.