Chara Kolokytha
Northumbria University, School of Arts & Social Sciences, Department Member
- French art, Histoire de l'art, Visual Culture, Visual Studies, Art Theory, Art Criticism, and 31 moreSociology, Art Market, Art History, Visual Arts, Tériade, Christian Zervos et les Cahiers d'Art, Maurice Raynal, École de Paris, Art and Art History, History, Cultural Theory, Critical Theory, Art, Social History of Art, Abstract Art, Historiography (in Art History), Modernism (Art History), Fascism and Modernism, 20th Century European Modernism, Cubism, Modernism, Cultural Studies, Sculpture, History of Sculpture, Histoire De L'art Médiévale, Art History, Publishing, Manuscrits Enluminés, Bibliothèque Nationale De France, Paris, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Collecting and Collections, and History of Collectionsedit
- Research interests: Art, politics, culture, 20th century France The activity of Teriade and Christian Zervos The ... moreResearch interests:
Art, politics, culture, 20th century France
The activity of Teriade and Christian Zervos
The art reviews Cahiers d'Art (1926-1960) and Verve (1937-1960)
Art criticism-art publishing in modern Europe
Post-war aesthetics - French reconstruction
Formalism-Ideology in 20th century Art
e-mail: charakolokytha@aol.comedit
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By studying the importance of specialist art periodicals in creating the artistic, economic and cultural-historical value of modern art and visual culture, this volume is dedicated to the history and legacy of specialist art reviews,... more
By studying the importance of specialist art periodicals in creating the artistic, economic and cultural-historical value of modern art and visual culture, this volume is dedicated to the history and legacy of specialist art reviews, bulletins, and magazines across Europe—and their echoes elsewhere—in the early to mid-twentieth century. It assembles historical case studies on European modern art periodicals (British, French, German, Belgian, Finnish, Danish), presenting new research on the multiple meanings that such specialist publications assume within the history of modern art. Paying special attention to the interdependence of the art market and the art press, and reflecting upon the fresh insights that new forms of reading bring, each chapter adds to our historical understanding of the modern art review.
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Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Art History, Media and Cultural Studies, Digital Humanities, Architectural History, and 11 moreMediation, Francophone Literature, History of Art, 20th Century French Literature, Art Criticism, 19th Century French Literature, History of photography, 18th-20th century Modern/Comtemporary Art, Cinema Studies, Art Theory and Criticism, and French and Francophone Studies
The thesis examines the activities of Cahiers d’Art as a magazine, gallery and publishing house active in Paris from 1926 to 1960 with special attention, and without particular regards to biography, to the intellectual development of its... more
The thesis examines the activities of Cahiers d’Art as a magazine, gallery and publishing house active in Paris from 1926 to 1960 with special attention, and without particular regards to biography, to the intellectual development of its founder Christian Zervos from his early years in Alexandria at the beginning of the century to his professional establishment in the French capital. Its originality resides in the presentation of a significant corpus of unpublished archival information and the examination of the role that the network centred arounnd Cahiers d’Art played in the institutionalisation of independent art in the first half of the century, the propagation of abstraction through the popularisation of European primitivism which was presented as a direct link to the modern era, and the passage from the Mechanist to the Atomic Age, its effects in the artistic domain and the ideological connotations it encased. The overall analysis focuses on particular transitional phenomena that marked the course of the 20th century. Particularly, the passage from analysis to synthesis which found diverse expressions in the contemporary artistic discourse since the beginning of the century giving birth to an increased interest in pragmatist approaches to art and architecture, social engagement, and a course towards formal simplification. The thesis observes the way in which the medieval and the primitive past contributed to the consecration of the international School of Paris and the conflicts of interest of their exponents. It furthermore pays close attention to Zervos’ position-taking with regards to these conflicts, his disdain for antiquity, its aftermath in western art, and the way that these positions affected his presentation of Picasso’s work in the voluminous catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work. Finally, it seeks to re-appreciate from the perspective of Cahiers d’Art, a significantly influential network of worldwide reputation, issues associated with the consecration and popularisation of international independent art in France and abroad, as well as the conflicting aspirations for decentralisation in a context dominated by Eurocentric attitudes and the formal and ideological projections of post-WWII liberal critique.
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"Studying prehistory backwards: Breuil, Frobenius and Zervos' valuing of Palaeolithic art" in Art before Art: Uomo Cosciente e l’arte delle origini: con e dopo Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, eds. T. Casini, A. Ducci, F. Martini, Fondazione Ragghianti/ Museo e Istituto Fiorentino di Preistoria, 2022.more
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“Contesting French Supremacy in the Arts. Sélection (1920–1933) and Constructive Expressionism as an International Northern Current,” in M. Gee, K. Kangaslahti, Ch. Kolokytha (eds), Modern Art REVIEWed: Art Reviews, Bulletins and Journals in Europe, 1910-1945, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022, pp. 133-152.more
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Kolokytha, Chara: Museum Acquisition Policies in Germany and France, in: Drost, Julia, Ivanoff, Hélène und Vernerey-Laplace, Denise (Hrsg.): Arts et politiques: Le marché de l'art entre France et Allemagne de l'Entre-deux-guerres à la... more
Kolokytha, Chara: Museum Acquisition Policies in Germany and France, in: Drost, Julia, Ivanoff, Hélène und Vernerey-Laplace, Denise (Hrsg.): Arts et politiques: Le marché de l'art entre France et Allemagne de l'Entre-deux-guerres à la Libération, Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2022 (Passages online, Band 13), S. 52-73.
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"Picasso vs. Fougeron". In Realisms of the Avant-Garde, (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2020) doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110637533-024
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This paper discusses several aspects of the “art des masses” concept that flourished in Paris during the Popular Front years (1936–1938) and the contribution of three of the most important Parisian art magazines to the establishment of a... more
This paper discusses several aspects of the “art des masses” concept that flourished in Paris during the Popular Front years (1936–1938) and the contribution of three of the most important Parisian art magazines to the establishment of a visual imagery: Cahiers d'art, Minotaure, and Verve. These magazines addressed in each case the ideological and formalist concerns of their editors in respect to the contemporary discussions on the place of the artist in society, the leftist anti-capitalist discourse against social inequality, and the Popular Front cultural policy as reflected in the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. Discussing the period of the 1930s, it is pertinent to consider the conditions of artistic production during the Great Depression along with the sociopolitical turmoil that the rise to power of Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) and Joseph Stalin's (1878–1953) dominion in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics reinforced. Focusing on Verve magazine, this article seeks to identify the factors that led this publication to put into practice, as early as 1937, the idea of a “museum without walls” that André Malraux (1901–1976) would explore on a theoretical level during the following decades and the editorial lines that this luxurious art magazine adopted in reference to the developments in the artistic and intellectual spectrum only a few years before the outbreak of World War II.
Research Interests: Art History, Publishing, Cultural Heritage, Visual Culture, Abstract Art, and 63 moreSurrealism, Archives, Walter Benjamin, History of Art, Modernism (Art History), French art, Art Criticism, The Great Depression of 1930s, Pablo Picasso, Histoire de l'art, Automatism, Salvador Dali, WWII, Andre Malraux, Paris, French Communist Party, PCF, 1930s Art History, Picasso, Fraquismo, Guernica, Tériade, Popular Front, Surréalisme, Littérature, Esthétique, Naive Art, Folk Art, Decorative and Craft Arts, Georges Braque, Exposición Internacional de París de 1937, Pabellón Español 1937, Art press, Automatisme, Andre Breton, Christian Zervos et les Cahiers d'Art, Art Press Interwar Period, Fine Art Reproduction, L'intransigeant, David Smart, Albert Skira, Arnold Gingrich, Stalinism Socialist Realism, Guernica, Alfred Barr, Front populaire, Andre Gide, Paris Modernity and Conflict 1937, Réalisme Socialiste, French Socialist Realism, 1937 Exposition Internationale Des Arts Et Techniques Dans La Vie Moderne, 1937 World Fair Paris, Jean Lurçat, Ambroise Vollard, Maison De La Culture, Bettina Bedwell, Abraham Rattner, Masters of Popular Painting, Tresors De La Peinture Francaise, La Bete Noire, Revue Europe, Museum Without Walls, Verve Magazine (1937-1960), Cahiers D'Art (1926-1960), Minotaure Magazine (1933-1939), Art Des Masses, Julien Cain, Cubism and Abstract Art, and 1937 Paris Exhibitions
The paper reviews the exhibition Matisse, The Essence of Line - Selected Prints (1900-1950) held at the Marlborough Galleries.
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Research Interests: Art History, History of Art, French art, Modernism, Pablo Picasso, and 13 morePassages & galeries of Paris, Contemporary Art Art History Art Theory Writing in Visual Art Art writing Artistic Research Artists’ Books Curation Art ‘beyond the gallery’ Culture Gender Interdisciplinarity Visual Studies, 20th Century German Art, Art Gallery, Marché de l'art, Will Grohmann, Christian Zervos et les Cahiers d'Art, Art Galleries, Cahiers D'Art (1926-1960), Alfred Flechtheim, French modernism, School of Paris, and galeristes
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Cette étude vise à l’examen de l’édition artistique en France pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale à travers l’exemple de la Maison d’Editions Verve. Spécifiquement, l’article présente les conditions sous lesquelles un nombre considérable... more
Cette étude vise à l’examen de l’édition artistique en France pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale à travers l’exemple de la Maison d’Editions Verve. Spécifiquement, l’article présente les conditions sous lesquelles un nombre considérable d’enluminures médiévales françaises ont été reproduites dans les pages de la revue Verve entre les années 1939 et 1944, afin de questionner le rôle qu’a joué l’art médiéval pendant l’occupation en termes idéologiques, symboliques et formalistes. A la suite de deux expositions de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Les plus beaux manuscrits français du VIIIe au XVIe siècle de 1937 et Arts de l’Iran de 1938, la maison Verve en collaboration avec l’Imprimerie Draeger Frères ont achevé de mener à bien la reproduction fidele, pour la première fois dans l’histoire de l’édition en France, des chefs-d’œuvre des manuscrits médiévaux préparant le terrain pour la publication d’une série de luxueux livres d’artistes modernes illustrés par les plus célèbres artistes du vingtième siècle.
Research Interests: Art History, Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Medieval Studies, Illumination (Manuscripts, Books), History of Art, and 38 moreHistory of Collections, Medieval Art, Collecting and Collections, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, France, Paul Valéry, Histoire de l'art, History of Art History, Paul Claudel, Medieval Art, Illuminated Manuscripts, Medieval History, Vichy France (Social History), Art History, Publishing, Jean Fouquet, BNF, German Occupation, Art and Art History, Manuscrits Enluminés, Manuscrits Médiévaux, Philippe Pétain, Medieval Miniature, Bibliothèque Nationale De France, Paris, Histoire De L'art Médiévale, Occupied France, Vichy collaboration, Vichy Regime, Pétain, Colour Reproduction, Julien Cain, Pierre Betz, Revue Le Point, Henri Malo, Musée Condé, Très Riches Heures Du Duc De Berry, Jean Bazaine, Adrienne Monnier, Livres D' Artiste, Livre Illustré, and Zone Libre
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Metamorphoses of the Past: The iconographic stimuli of Picasso’s creative imagination and their critical interpretation by Christian Zervos', in Magdalena Nová, Marie Opatrná (eds), Old and New, conf. proceedings, Katolická teologická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy v Praze, Prague, 2016, pp. 225-232.more
Research Interests: Iconography, Art History, Art, Portraiture, History of Art, and 14 moreCubism, Modernism (Art History), Art Criticism, Modernism, Pablo Picasso, Histoire de l'art, Art Theory and Criticism, Picasso, Christian Zervos et les Cahiers d'Art, Art History and Criticism, Du Cubisme, Les Demoiselles D'Avignon, Cahiers D'Art (1926-1960), and Critique d'art
(forthcoming)
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The paper comments on the event Destroy...Alexandros Iolas held on the occasion of the re-edition of Iolas' biography, twenty five years after the collector's death.
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Conference proceedings, La Demarche Critique, CESL, Tours, September 2013. Au début des années vingt, L’Art Vivant d’André Salmon a exercé une influence considérable sur la jeune critique d’art en France. Avec l’expansion de la presse... more
Conference proceedings, La Demarche Critique, CESL, Tours, September 2013.
Au début des années vingt, L’Art Vivant d’André Salmon a exercé une influence considérable sur la jeune critique d’art en France. Avec l’expansion de la presse artistique, être critique est devenu une profession, voire une profession digne d’estime. Cette communication vise a l’examen du discours critique de Tériade et de Christian Zervos, le directeur de la revue Cahiers d’Art, en commentant leurs principales prises de positions, leur rôle dans le domaine artistique, et leur contribution au développement du discours critique professionnel à Paris pendant l’entre deux guerres.
Au début des années vingt, L’Art Vivant d’André Salmon a exercé une influence considérable sur la jeune critique d’art en France. Avec l’expansion de la presse artistique, être critique est devenu une profession, voire une profession digne d’estime. Cette communication vise a l’examen du discours critique de Tériade et de Christian Zervos, le directeur de la revue Cahiers d’Art, en commentant leurs principales prises de positions, leur rôle dans le domaine artistique, et leur contribution au développement du discours critique professionnel à Paris pendant l’entre deux guerres.
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Η παρούσα ανακοίνωση επιχειρεί να εξετάσει τις κοινωνικό-ιστορικές και καλλιτεχνικές εξελίξεις που πλαισιώνουν την δραστηριότητα του Τεριάντ στο Παρίσι του 20ου αιώνα μέσα από την ανάλυση του ρόλου και της σημασίας της ίδρυσης του... more
Η παρούσα ανακοίνωση επιχειρεί να εξετάσει τις κοινωνικό-ιστορικές και καλλιτεχνικές εξελίξεις που πλαισιώνουν την δραστηριότητα του Τεριάντ στο Παρίσι του 20ου αιώνα μέσα από την ανάλυση του ρόλου και της σημασίας της ίδρυσης του εκδοτικού οίκου Verve και την έκδοση της ομώνυμης επιθεώρησης από τον Δεκέμβριο του 1937 έως τον Ιούλιο του 1960. Ένας από τους βασικούς στόχους της ανακοίνωσης είναι ο σχολιασμός και η αποτίμηση της αλληλεπίδρασης που σημειώνεται μεταξύ των ιδεολογικών και αισθητικών κατευθύνσεων και επιλογών του Τεριάντ κατά το πέρας τριών σχεδόν δεκαετιών συνεχούς δράσης στο πεδίο των τεχνών. Τέλος, δίνεται έμφαση για πρώτη φορά, με βάση την υπάρχουσα βιβλιογραφία, στον ιδεολογικό προσανατολισμό του Τεριάντ και την αντίληψη του περί προέλευσης της γαλλικής τέχνης όπως διαφαίνονται μέσα από μια πολύχρονη και πλούσια εκδοτική παραγωγή που αγγίζει ταυτόχρονα τα όρια του ακραίου αισθητισμού και του μετριοπαθή εθνικισμού.
Ce papier vise à l’examen des développements socio-historiques et artistiques qui encadrent l’activité de Tériade à Paris au vingtième siècle à travers l’analyse du rôle et de l’importance de la fondation de la maison d’éditions Verve qui publiait l’homonyme revue artistique et littéraire à partir de décembre 1937 jusqu’à juillet 1960. Le but principal de cette conférence c’est de commenter et d’évaluer l’interaction entre les directions esthétiques et idéologiques de Tériade au cours de presque trois décennies d’activité dans le domaine des arts. En tenant compte de la bibliographie existante, enfin, on présente ici pour la première fois l’orientation idéologique de Tériade et ses idées autour des origines de l’art français comme en témoigne sa riche production éditoriale qui a fini par devenir l’emblème d’un esthétisme extrême et, en même temps, d’un nationalisme modéré.
Ce papier vise à l’examen des développements socio-historiques et artistiques qui encadrent l’activité de Tériade à Paris au vingtième siècle à travers l’analyse du rôle et de l’importance de la fondation de la maison d’éditions Verve qui publiait l’homonyme revue artistique et littéraire à partir de décembre 1937 jusqu’à juillet 1960. Le but principal de cette conférence c’est de commenter et d’évaluer l’interaction entre les directions esthétiques et idéologiques de Tériade au cours de presque trois décennies d’activité dans le domaine des arts. En tenant compte de la bibliographie existante, enfin, on présente ici pour la première fois l’orientation idéologique de Tériade et ses idées autour des origines de l’art français comme en témoigne sa riche production éditoriale qui a fini par devenir l’emblème d’un esthétisme extrême et, en même temps, d’un nationalisme modéré.
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Book Review L’âge critique des Salons: 1914-1925. L’école française, la tradition et l’art moderne by Claire Maingon, Presses Universitaires de Rouen et du Havre, 2014. 350 pp. ill. ISBN : 979-10-240-0105-0. 34 €
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Kolokytha, Chara. Maho Jonathan (Section Editor), ,Evans Emily (Managing Editor), ,Goodrum Sarah (Managing Editor), ,Maho Jonathan (Managing Editor), , "Galerie M.A.I.." Bloomsbury Art Markets. . London: Bloomsbury, 2022. Bloomsbury... more
Kolokytha, Chara. Maho Jonathan (Section Editor), ,Evans Emily (Managing Editor), ,Goodrum Sarah (Managing Editor), ,Maho Jonathan (Managing Editor), , "Galerie M.A.I.." Bloomsbury Art Markets. . London: Bloomsbury, 2022. Bloomsbury Visual Arts. Web. 26 Mar. 2023. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350924406.34298>.
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Kolokytha, Chara. Maho Jonathan (Section Editor), ,Evans Emily (Managing Editor), ,Goodrum Sarah (Managing Editor), ,Maho Jonathan (Managing Editor), , "Galerie Cahiers d’art." Bloomsbury Art Markets. . London: Bloomsbury, 2022.... more
Kolokytha, Chara. Maho Jonathan (Section Editor), ,Evans Emily (Managing Editor), ,Goodrum Sarah (Managing Editor), ,Maho Jonathan (Managing Editor), , "Galerie Cahiers d’art." Bloomsbury Art Markets. . London: Bloomsbury, 2022. Bloomsbury Visual Arts. Web. 26 Mar. 2023. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350924406.31723>.
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Kolokytha, Chara. Schuppert Mirjami (Section Editor), ,Evans Emily (Managing Editor), ,Goodrum Sarah (Managing Editor), ,Maho Jonathan (Managing Editor), , "Jackson-Iolas Gallery." Bloomsbury Art Markets. . London: Bloomsbury, 2022.... more
Kolokytha, Chara. Schuppert Mirjami (Section Editor), ,Evans Emily (Managing Editor), ,Goodrum Sarah (Managing Editor), ,Maho Jonathan (Managing Editor), , "Jackson-Iolas Gallery." Bloomsbury Art Markets. . London: Bloomsbury, 2022. Bloomsbury Visual Arts. Web. 26 Mar. 2023.
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(Entries on ‘Leopold Plotek’, ‘Narcisse Poirier’, ‘Christopher Pratt’, Diane Obomsawin’, Peter Winslow Milton’, ‘Marilyn Minter’, ‘Helen Mirra’, ‘William Laparra’, ‘Marie Adrien Lavieille’, ‘Constant LeBreton’, ‘Pierre LeFaguays’, ‘Jules... more
(Entries on ‘Leopold Plotek’, ‘Narcisse Poirier’, ‘Christopher Pratt’, Diane Obomsawin’, Peter Winslow Milton’, ‘Marilyn Minter’, ‘Helen Mirra’, ‘William Laparra’, ‘Marie Adrien Lavieille’, ‘Constant LeBreton’, ‘Pierre LeFaguays’, ‘Jules Lefranc’, ‘Edouard-Auguste Noel’, ‘Donald Frederick Price Neddeau’, ‘John Cullen Nugent’, ‘Rita McKeough’, ‘Maurice Levis’, ‘Emile Levy’, ‘Michael Mazur’, ‘Robert Theodore McCall’, ‘Robert Pearson McChesney’, ‘Justin McCarthy’, ‘Rita McKeough’, ‘Tanya Mars’, ‘Louis Moullin’, ‘Octave Morillot’, ‘Erich Konstantin Pehap’, ‘Jean-Paul Pepin’, ‘Wes Mills’, ‘Paul Rand’, ‘William Raphael’, ‘William Reid’, ‘George Agnew Reid’, ‘Maurice Raymond’, ‘Harry Roseland’, ‘Guy Rose’, ‘Benjamin Rowland’, ‘Charles Ringness’, ‘Walter Ruhman’, ‘Jim Robb’, ‘Donald Robertson’, ‘Joe Rosenthal’).
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La Maison d’Editions Verve a été fondée par le critique d’art et éditeur grec, Tériade (1897-1983), avec le financement de David Smart, directeur de la corporation américaine Esquire-Coronet Inc (1937-1939). Verve a acquis une solide... more
La Maison d’Editions Verve a été fondée par le critique d’art et éditeur grec, Tériade (1897-1983), avec le financement de David Smart, directeur de la corporation américaine Esquire-Coronet Inc (1937-1939). Verve a acquis une solide réputation internationale, au cours des trente-six ans d’activité, tout en poursuivant des résultats de haute qualité pour la reproduction en couleurs des œuvres d’art à travers la publication de la revue artistique et littéraire Verve (1937-1960) et la série de vingt-sept livres de peintres (1943-1975) illustrés par l’élite des artistes contemporains. La thèse présente l’activité d’éditeur et de critique d’art de Tériade (Cahiers d’Art, l’Intransigeant, Minotaure, La Bête Noire) à partir du moment de son arrivée à Paris en 1916 jusqu’en 1973, quand l’exposition Hommage à Tériade a eu lieu aux Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais à Paris, en mettant en lumière des aspects inconnus de la vie et l’œuvre de cet éditeur à travers la contextualisation de plus de 200 documents inédits et l’analyse d’un demi siècle de vie artistique en France ; de la fin du cubisme au triomphe de l’école de New York. Le deuxième volume de la thèse présente un répertoire complet de plus de 300 textes critiques de Tériade, une liste de ses publications, un index complet des textes et des illustrations de la revue Verve, photographies, images d’archives et 55 notices biographiques.
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In the course of the twentieth century, modern art was pioneered by two succeeding artistic centres, Paris and New York, which held the reins of artistic production and innovation. What both centres shared in common was the contrasting... more
In the course of the twentieth century, modern art was pioneered by two succeeding artistic centres, Paris and New York, which held the reins of artistic production and innovation. What both centres shared in common was the contrasting pair past-present and present-future which remained crucial in the contemporary artistic discourse raising issues of tradition, evolution and continuity. Despite the recognition of the same era as the generator of modernist aesthetics it becomes evident in the contemporary literature of art that the issues that these generations of painters, critics and historians had to face originated in a time long past with most discussions dealing with the colour-line debates (established since Vasari’s times), the 'anciens et modernes' opposition, classicism, tradition, evolution and artistic education. This project aims to examine the twentieth century Parisian artistic networks during a period of new classifications in modern art and history which prescribed the outcome of the post-1960s modernist era planting the seeds for technical development and mass culture production. Focusing on the period laying from the early 1920s to the late 1950s this paper seeks to discuss the efforts that took place in the Parisian art world to establish a visual culture and the way these efforts were affected by the contemporary socio-political crisis. The field of art publishing is at the centre of attention since it contributed extensively to the establishment of a new order in the artistic domain while it reflected the influence that the concurrent political turmoil exerted over the art historical and critical discourse produced during the period in question. In all respects art criticism and art publishing in France of the twentieth century developed under the formalist directions in art history established since the previous century. Consequently, in the light of the 1930s, a period of strong politicisation and fluidity, it is important to understand to what extent the contemporary crisis affected formalist thinking.
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The paper discusses the francophone review of art and literature Sélection published in Brussels (1920-1922) and Antwerp (1923-1933), Belgium, by André de Ridder and Paul-Gustave van Hecke. It takes as a point of departure the concept Le... more
The paper discusses the francophone review of art and literature Sélection published in Brussels (1920-1922) and Antwerp (1923-1933), Belgium, by André de Ridder and Paul-Gustave van Hecke. It takes as a point of departure the concept Le Génie du Nord (Genius of the North), which was the title of a 1925 book published in Antwerp by De Ridder. The book mainly consisted of essays previously published in Sélection between 1923 and 1924. De Ridder argues that France should not claim autonomy in the field of cultural production throughout the centuries since Nordic influence has always played a central role to its evolution. Although the book drew little attention from the contemporary press, it offers a novel approach to the Nordic idea through the anticipation of a new classic order that distinguished itself from Southern classicism. While German expressionism was equally renounced, the book proposed a synthetic style - similar to the one that marked the gothic period - that also found expression in the art presented in Sélection, which furnished a visual model for the invention of a new classic order stemming from the successful mingling of French rationalism with Flemish expressionism, or in different terms a ‘constructive expressionism’ that came to be regarded as a condition for a universal Nordic culture. The magazine was supportive of those French and Belgian artists who achieved a combination of the two, an eclectic dualism in Edmond Picard’s words. To illustrate the thesis of Le Génie du Nord, the book presents examples derived from art and literature, shifting in time between the present and the Middle-Ages. Taking the origins of Gothicism and the Nordische Gesellschaft as case points, the Génie du Nord concept forms an alternative discourse which intervenes in an ongoing art historical and cultural debate centred here on the identity of Sélection.
Research Interests: Periodicals, Magazines, Antwerpen, Illustrated magazines, Nordicism, and 12 moreBelgian Art, Nordic culture, Belgian art history, Belgian art history research - Belle Epoque - Interbellum, art periodicals, belgian modernism, flemish expressionism, André de Ridder, Paul Gustave van Hecke, North-South, Revue Selection, and Galerie Selection
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The paper discusses the activity of Christian Zervos as a gallery owner and his interactions with several German art dealers such as Alfred Flechtheim, Curt Valentin and Otto Ralfs. It comments on the similarities between the role of the... more
The paper discusses the activity of Christian Zervos as a gallery owner and his interactions with several German art dealers such as Alfred Flechtheim, Curt Valentin and Otto Ralfs. It comments on the similarities between the role of the editor and the galerist that he undertakes from 1934 onwards. Zervos, in collaboration with his wife, Yvonne Marion and her gallery MAI, organised several exhibitions until 1970. The paper focuses on their interest in architecture attempting to observe a certain shift in their aesthetic choices from the 1930s to the post-war years. An important part of Zervos' correspondence with Flechtheim is presented and a rich amount of archival material relating to the function of the gallery Cahiers d'Art.
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The paper discusses the cosmopolitan character of Paris, the greatest artistic metropolis of the modern era, examining the influence it exerted over the Greek and several other European societies during the first half of the 20th century.... more
The paper discusses the cosmopolitan character of Paris, the greatest artistic metropolis of the modern era, examining the influence it exerted over the Greek and several other European societies during the first half of the 20th century. Focusing on the example of Tériade, an influential art critic and editor of Greek origin, it is pertinent to consider his role in the phenomenon of cultural mobility and artistic diffusion throughout his career as a critic and editor. Tériade was born to a bourgeois family on the Greek island of Lesbos at the end of the nineteenth century. In his youth, he was raised under the influence of French culture, he wrote poetry and practiced painting in an amateurish impressionist style, deeply influenced by the modern trends that Paris, the ‘centre’ of western civilisation, diffused to the European ‘peripheries’ mostly by means of periodical publications such as the Écho des deux mondes, Vers et Prose and La revue des deux mondes to name but a few French periodicals and papers of wide circulation. In 1916, he moved to Paris to study Law and over a decade later he launched with his compatriot, Christian Zervos, the influential art magazine Cahiers d’Art (1926-1960). Together with Zervos, they established a Paris based international art network propagating the aesthetics of French modern art abroad and thereby encouraging an important number of Spanish, German, Argentine, Russian and Greek artists to move to Paris and benefit from the ideas of Parisian modernism. This suggestion is supported by archival information. What is important about Tériade and Zervos is that they form a significant example in the phenomenon of ‘transculturation’, since they assimilated several aspects of Greek philosophy and culture to the Parisian modernist tenet in order to generate novel ideas that contributed to the establishment of modern classic aesthetics. This is evident in their art critical writings. The paper will examine the way the work of foreign artists is presented in Cahiers d’Art during the inter war period and the contribution of Tériade and Zervos to the establishment of transnational aesthetics in modern artistic production. It aims to bring into light the role of art publishing and the contribution of the Parisian art networks to the diffusion of ideas and their escalating influence in Europe and overseas. The example of Tériade will be used here to highlight both the ‘passive’ and the ‘active’ role of this editor in the phenomenon of cultural diffusion and mobility.
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Les années trente constituent une période très complexe en ce qui concerne les effets sociopolitiques dans le domaine artistique français et international. Le Krach de Wall Street en 1929 et la crise économique mondiale ont créé un climat... more
Les années trente constituent une période très complexe en ce qui concerne les effets sociopolitiques dans le domaine artistique français et international. Le Krach de Wall Street en 1929 et la crise économique mondiale ont créé un climat d’instabilité propice à l’émergence du fascisme et la genèse des régimes totalitaires. La scène politique a été également marquée par les conflits idéologiques de la gauche entre Staline et Trotski, l’accession et la chute du Front Populaire, inaugurant une période pendant laquelle l’art fut considéré comme action politique. A travers l’examen de ces trois revues, je vise à mettre en lumière les débats idéologiques qui ont émergé dans le discours de gauche en France, entre les deux guerres, en présentant l’idéologie de ‘l’art des masses’ du Front Populaire et le concept ‘l’art pour les masses’ qui fut le slogan de la propagande communiste........
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Lecture given on the occasion of the exhibition Tériade and the Grands Livres held at the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens. It overviews the activity of Tériade as an art critic and editor from the late 1920s to the mid 1970s.
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The paper takes as its subject the theoretical reconsideration of the surrealist technique of automatism as put forth in the first issues of Minotaure magazine in 1933 and the influence it exerted over formalist thinking, notably in the... more
The paper takes as its subject the theoretical reconsideration of the surrealist technique of automatism as put forth in the first issues of Minotaure magazine in 1933 and the influence it exerted over formalist thinking, notably in the pages of Cahiers d'Art. It discusses the articles : Salvador Dali, ‘Interprétation paranoïaque – critique de l’image obsédante ‘L’Angélus’ de Millet. Prologue : Nouvelles considérations générales sur le mécanisme du phénomène paranoïaque du point de vue surréaliste,’ Minotaure 1, 1933, 65-67. Jacques Lacan, ‘Le problème du style et les formes paranoïaques de l’expérience,’ Minotaure 1, 1933, 68-69. André Breton, ‘Le message automatique’, Minotaure 3-4, 1933, 57. Christian Zervos ‘Automatisme et espace illusoire’, Cahiers d’art 3-5, 1936, 69-75
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[Workshop, 25 November 2020]
Deadline: 18 September 2020
Deadline: 18 September 2020
Research Interests: Cultural History, Cultural Studies, European Studies, Western Europe, Nordic Studies, and 14 moreNorth-South relations, Cosmopolitanism, Regionalism, Interwar Period History, 20th Century Belgium, Comparative Regionalism, Identity and Cosmopolitanism, Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism, Western European History, North and South Relation, Nordicism, Northern, Nationalism and identity construction, and northernness
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<jats:p>Henri Matisse is a key figure in French modernism and is considered to be the most influential colourist of 20th-century art. A French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, Matisse studied painting in Paris at the École des... more
<jats:p>Henri Matisse is a key figure in French modernism and is considered to be the most influential colourist of 20th-century art. A French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, Matisse studied painting in Paris at the École des Beaux Arts under Gustave Moreau, the École des Arts Décoratifs, and the Académie Julian under W.A. Bouguereau. Matisse's early paintings demonstrate a dark, somber, and dull palette and a naturalist approach to his selected themes (La liseuse, 1894). This progressively gave way to more vivid pure colors (Still Life with Oranges, 1899; Académie bleue, 1899–1900) and impressionist execution (Study of a Nude, 1899). In 1903, Matisse began to use intense pure colors, marking a break with both naturalist and impressionist traditions (Portrait d'André Derain, 1905). He inaugurated a new style that contemporary critics named Fauvism (Le Bonheur de vivre, 1905–1906). From the early 1920s, Matisse enjoyed a worldwide reputation, being famous both for his masterfully colored compositions and for the joyful atmosphere of his works, which became the hallmark of his overall artistic production. Works by Matisse can be found in most museums of modern art around the world in addition to primary displays at the Museum Matisse in Nice and in his birthplace, Le Cateau Cambrésis.</jats:p>
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The research programme Bibliographie de critiques d’art francophones (Bibliography of Francophone Art Critics) was launched in 2015, and went online in February 2017, by Marie Girspert and Catherine Méneux under the aegis of Labex CAP,... more
The research programme Bibliographie de critiques d’art francophones (Bibliography of Francophone Art Critics) was launched in 2015, and went online in February 2017, by Marie Girspert and Catherine Méneux under the aegis of Labex CAP, Hésam, HiSCA and the University Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne. The programme is supported by an online bibliographical database (http://critiquesdart.univ-paris1.fr/) dedicated to the writings of several francophone art critics active from the second half of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth. The database contains, so far, more than 17,000 references and the number will progressively increase with the addition of new entries. It is a significant contribution to art historical research as it offers the opportunity to access online exhaustive lists of primary and secondary bibliography, as well as presenting up-to-date indices of the archival sources available for each one of the critics presented. As cited in the objectives of the programme, the platform is unconcerned with appreciating the critical value of the texts, but seeks to present in its entirety, as far as possible, the bibliography concerning each author no matter what the field (literature, art, politics, history etc.) or the medium (photography, cinema, fine arts, architecture etc.). The data presentation focuses on the multidisciplinary diffusion of the texts without regard to typologies or other classifications. Art criticism expanded significantly in France during the period in question. The list of authors contains the names of some of the most important figures that defined the course of twentieth-century art, such as Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918), Louis Aragon (1897–1982), the director of the Luxembourg museum Léonce Bénédite (1859– 1925), Georges Besson (1882–1971), Maurice Denis (1870–1943), Felix Fénéon (1861– 1944), Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907), the founder and president of the Autumn Salon Frantz Jourdain (1847–1935), the cubist theoretician André Lhote (1885– 1962), Roger Marx (1859–1913), Léon Rosenthal (1870–1932) and so on. Whereas the programme refers to francophone art critics, the bibliography includes references to texts published in other languages and a list of translated titles. The bibliography is divided into a primary bibliography and a secondary bibliography. The primary bibliography brings together the entire corpus of the critics’ writings and the secondary bibliography cites thoroughly all the titles that refer to the critic and moves beyond
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Research Interests: Museum Studies and Arts
The article discusses the francophone review of art and literature Sélection published in Brussels (1920–22) and Antwerp (1923–33), Belgium, by André de Ridder and Paul-Gustave van Hecke. It takes as its point of departure the concept Le... more
The article discusses the francophone review of art and literature Sélection published in Brussels (1920–22) and Antwerp (1923–33), Belgium, by André de Ridder and Paul-Gustave van Hecke. It takes as its point of departure the concept Le Génie du Nord [The Genius of the North], which was the title of a 1925 book published in Antwerp by De Ridder. The book mainly consists of essays previously published in Sélection between 1923 and 1924. De Ridder argues that France should not claim autonomy in the field of cultural production since throughout the centuries Nordic influence played a central role in its evolution. Although the book attracted little attention from the contemporary press, it offers a novel approach to the Nordic idea through the anticipation of a new classical order that distinguished itself from Southern classicism. While German expressionism is equally renounced, the book proposes a synthetic style — similar to the one that marked the gothic period — that also found e...
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Cubism is an influential modernist art movement that emerged in Paris during the first decade of the twentieth century. The term was established by Parisian art critics, derived from Louis Vauxcelles, and possibly Henri Matisse’s... more
Cubism is an influential modernist art movement that emerged in Paris during the first decade of the twentieth century. The term was established by Parisian art critics, derived from Louis Vauxcelles, and possibly Henri Matisse’s description of Braque’s reductive style in paintings of 1908. Subsequently, it soon became a commonplace term and was widely used to describe the formalist innovations in painting pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque from 1907 to 1914. Cubism signals the break with Renaissance tradition through the rejection of three-dimensional illusionist composition. The dull and monochromatic palette (Picasso, Still Life with a Bottle of Rum, 1911) of early Cubist painting, in addition to its emphasis on geometry, can be alternatively viewed as a reaction against the pure bright colors of the Fauves and the spontaneous color treatment of the Impressionists. Cubist art was largely influenced by the late work of Paul Cézanne and the study of primitive art and, mo...
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The thesis examines the activities of Cahiers d’Art as a magazine, gallery and publishing house active in Paris from 1926 to 1960 with special attention, and without particular regards to biography, to the intellectual development of its... more
The thesis examines the activities of Cahiers d’Art as a magazine, gallery and publishing house active in Paris from 1926 to 1960 with special attention, and without particular regards to biography, to the intellectual development of its founder Christian Zervos from his early years in Alexandria at the beginning of the century to his professional establishment in the French capital. Its originality resides in the presentation of a significant corpus of unpublished archival information and the examination of the role that the network centred around Cahiers d’Art played in the institutionalisation of independent art in the first half of the century, the propagation of abstraction through the popularisation of European primitivism which was presented as a direct link to the modern era, and the passage from the Mechanist to the Atomic Age, its effects in the artistic domain and the ideological connotations it encased. The overall analysis focuses on particular transitional phenomena th...
Research Interests: Art History, Art, Art Theory, History of Art, Formalism, and 4 moreArtes, Tériade, Hostory Art, and Histoire De L Art
The paper comments on the state policies towards modern art throughout the interwar period identifying the private initiatives that sought to precipitate the creation of a museum of contemporary art in Paris. It seeks to discuss the... more
The paper comments on the state policies towards modern art throughout the interwar period identifying the private initiatives that sought to precipitate the creation of a museum of contemporary art in Paris. It seeks to discuss the debate over the necessity for the creation of a Museum of Modern Art in Paris that was initiated in the Parisian press shortly after the controversial “Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes”, in 1925, and was perpetuated with the re-organisation of the collections of the Louvre, the Luxembourg museum, and the Jeu de Paume in the late 1920s. The offi cial announcement, in 1934, of the creation of a museum of modern art in Paris, in 1937, initiated a new debate that concerned its collections. A series of exhibitions organised on the occasion of the “Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques”, in 1937, served as a model for the shaping of an evolutionary narrative for French art in which modern art that emerged from 1...