ECR French Nineteenth-Century Art Network Research Forum:

Impressionism at the Margins: Colonialism and the Critical Reception - Dr. Allison Deutsch

French impressionism has come to be understood as a standard bearer of Frenchness, modernity, and more recently, whiteness. Yet in the nineteenth century, one of the most common modes of marginalising impressionism was to argue that it instead threatened notions of national identity, racial identity, and progress. This talk introduces a colonial imaginary in the critical reception of impressionism that was one register through which writers expressed and deflected anxiety about the art. The issues at stake for early audiences—of colour and legibility, training and tradition, centres and margins—were framed in the context of imperialism, population shifts, and immigration. Their writing bears its mark.

Allison Deutsch is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of History of Art at Birkbeck, University of London. A specialist in nineteenth-century French painting, she received her BA from Williams College and her PhD from University College London. She is the author of Consuming Painting: Food and the Feminine in Impressionist Paris, published by Penn State University Press in 2021.

This event will take place at 5pm (GMT) / 6pm (CET) / 12pm (EST)

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.