Cross cultures speak

Adopting a ‘de-centered’ approach to the themes and subjects of 18th-century British art seems crucial to me. My PhD training and my teaching at the Courtauld have enabled me to develop a specialised knowledge of the field and I have learnt from – and worked alongside -some of the world’s leading art historians. Yet before becoming a ‘dix-huitièmiste’ I worked in publishing and my initial post-graduate degrees were from French and American universities – a masters in 19th-century French literature from the Université de Paris IV (Sorbonne) and in art history and archaeology from the University of Maryland. I continue to speak and write in French about the subjects that interest me and I maintain a strong interest in texuality, in word/image dialogues and art history as writing. Living outside of the United Kingdom for the last couple of years has been tremendously stimulating: it has enabled me to share my subjects with people working in all sorts of capacities and with different life-experiences or alternative areas of specialization.

In Israel for the French community (an organisation called Israel Acceuil) I introduced art history discussion sessions on different aspects of the permanent collection at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Our first session took place in June 2017 and was on portraiture. The second session is scheduled for 20th March 2018 on landscape painting in 17th and 18th centuries.

With the Cultural Services of the French Institute I have helped organised an exhibition on the history of caricature and a public discussion on free speech (see below).