Fondation DRG Visiting Scholar Lecture Series: Guillaume Cassegrain (Université Grenoble Alpes)

The Department of Art History is pleased to present the next installment of our Fondation DRG Visiting Scholar Lecture Series, featuring Guillaume Cassegrain.

The Poetics of Shoes in European Painting

Shoes are countless in classical and modern painting. Worn by the feet of the protagonists of the story, shoes play a secondary, ornamantal role in the functioning of the images. However, painters have often given greater importance to shoes, over time making them a motif in their own right, such as Van Gogh's famous pair of shoes. By placing them alone, abandoned in a corner of the painting, at the threshold of a space, as in the Arnolfini Portrait, painters have turned these everyday objects into a fascinating motif that resists quick interpretation. Shoes take on multiple functions and stand out as objects of great significance. Looking closely at shoes, one sees issues related to sexuality, civility, politics, memory, and, of course, painting.

PLEASE NOTE: Registration is requested for this event. To register, please follow this link.