Noémie Etienne | University of Vienna (original) (raw)

Books by Noémie Etienne

Tourisme – Nationalisme – Orientalisme– Périphérie– Taxinomie– Racisme – Esclavagisme – Exotisme ... more Tourisme – Nationalisme – Orientalisme– Périphérie– Taxinomie– Racisme – Esclavagisme – Exotisme – Fabulisme – Féminisme. This book brings together ten articles along with the Eternal Tour Festival 09 programme. An analytical and informative product born of a collective venture, it was modelled upon the almanac – a well-known editorial format in the Frenchspeaking part of Switzerland. Between historical and contemporary culture, it indicates and juxtaposes theoretical or visual schemas that result in a game of cross-references and confrontations.

Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural... more Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural sciences, to name a few. Their use developed during the nineteenth century, following reforms aimed at reinforcing the educational dimension of museums. While dioramas with human figures are now the subject of healthy criticism and are gradually being dismantled, a thorough study of the work of artists and scientists who made them helps shed light on their genesis. Among other displays, this book examines anthropological dioramas of two North American museums in the early twentieth century: the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the New York State Museum. Sites of creation and mediation of knowledge, combining painting, sculpture, photography, and material culture, dioramas tell a story that is always political.

Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural... more Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural sciences, to name a few. Their use developed during the nineteenth century, following reforms aimed at developing the educational dimension of museums. This book examines anthropological dioramas of two North American museums in the early twentieth century: the American Museum of Natural History in New York (whose Life Groups were assembled by the German anthropologist Franz Boas), and the New York State Museum (whose Groups were overseen by the Seneca archaeologist Arthur C. Parker). While dioramas with human figures are now the subject of harsh criticism and are gradually being dismantled, a thorough study of the work of artists and scientists who made them helps shed light on their genesis. Sites of creation and mediation of knowledge, combining painting, sculpture, photography, and material culture, dioramas tell a story that is always political. They create visions of otherness but also of ancestry that blurs space and time within the museum.

The decades following the 1973 publication of Alessandro Conti’s Storia del Restauro have seen co... more The decades following the 1973 publication of Alessandro Conti’s Storia del Restauro have seen considerable scholarly interest in the history of restoration in France in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Restoration of Paintings in Paris, 1750–1815, however, is the first book to situate this work within the broader historical and philosophical contexts of the time.
Drawing on previously unpublished primary material from archives in Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Venice, Noémie Étienne combines art history with anthropology and sociology to survey the waning decades of the Ancien Régime and early post–Revolution France. Initial chapters present the diversity of restoration practice, encompassing not only royal institutions and the Louvre museum but also private art dealers, artists, and craftsmen, and examine questions of trade secrecy and the changing role of the restorer. Following chapters address the influence of restoration and exhibition on the aesthetic understanding of paintings as material objects. The book closes with a discussion of the institutional and political uses of restoration, along with an art historical consideration of such key concepts as authenticity, originality, and stability of artworks, emphasizing the multilayered dimension of paintings by such important artists as Titian and Raphael. There is also a useful dictionary of the main restorers active in France between 1750 and 1815.
See more on: http://shop.getty.edu/collections/conservation/products/the-restoration-of-paintings-in-paris-1750-1815-practice-discourse-materiality-978-1606065167#

En restituant avec précision une période essentielle de l’histoire de la restauration de peinture... more En restituant avec précision une période essentielle de l’histoire de la restauration de peinture, ce livre ouvre de nouvelles perspectives pour la recherche en histoire de l’art et souligne que les œuvres sont perpétuellement transformées et instables. Chaque modification invite à redéfinir ce qu’est un tableau, au gré des époques et des pays. L’activité de restauration s’apparente alors à une forme de réception mais aussi de recréation des peintures, dans laquelle le geste est inséparable de la pensée, et la pratique de la théorie.

PreSSeS univerSitAireS De renneS -2012 © Presses Universitaires de rennes Campus de la harpe 2, r... more PreSSeS univerSitAireS De renneS -2012 © Presses Universitaires de rennes Campus de la harpe 2, rue du doyen Denis-leroy -35044 rennes Cedex www.pur-editions.fr Mise en pages APex Création (Corps-nuds) pour le compte des Pur Dépôt légal : 2 e semestre 2012 iSBn : 978-2-7535-2059-2 iSSn : 1272-1603 7 Remerciements Ce livre est issu d'une thèse de doctorat soutenue en 2011. Je remercie mes directeurs de thèse à Genève et Paris : le professeur Mauro natale, d'une part, pour m'avoir transmis son amour pour les objets tout au long de ma formation, ainsi que pour m'avoir suggéré le sujet de cette recherche, et enfin avoir accueilli avec bienveillance mes différentes interrogations ; le professeur Dominique Poulot, d'autre part, qui a généreusement accepté de suivre ce travail encore balbutiant, et qui m'a ensuite orientée par son savoir et son exigence. Je remercie aussi les membres de mon jury, les professeurs Martin rueff, Bénédicte Savoy, Katie Scott et tristan Weddigen, pour avoir bien voulu contribuer par leurs connaissances à l'évaluation de ce travail.

Edited Books by Noémie Etienne

Volume 7 in the series Contact Zones, Studies in Global Art, edited by: Lars Blunck, Bénédicte Savoy and Avinoam Shalem. Full volume. Open Access made possible by the Swiss National Fund (SNF), 2021

Circulation and imitation are key factors in shaping the material world. The authors in this volu... more Circulation and imitation are key factors in shaping the material world. The authors in this volume explore how technical knowledge, immaterial desires, and political agendas impact the production and consumption of visual and material culture across times and places. Their essays map multidirectional transactions for cultural goods in which source countries can be positioned at the center. Rhapsodic— literally to stitch or weave songs—paired with objects—from thrown against—intertwines complexity and action. Rhapsodic objects thus beckons to the layered narratives of the objects themselves, their making, and their reception over time. The concept further underlines their potential to express creativity, generate emotion, and reveal histories, often tainted by violence.

Citation : Biro, Yaëlle and Etienne, Noémie. Rhapsodic Objects: Art, Agency, and Materiality (1700–2000). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110757668

Circulation and imitation are key factors in shaping the material world. The authors in this vol... more Circulation and imitation are key factors in shaping the material
world. The authors in this volume explore how technical knowledge,
immaterial desires, and political agendas impact the production and
consumption of visual and material culture across times and places.
Their essays map multidirectional transactions for cultural goods in
which source countries can be positioned at the center. Rhapsodic—
literally to stitch or weave songs—paired with objects—from thrown
against—intertwines complexity and action. Rhapsodic objects thus
beckons to the layered narratives of the objects themselves, their
making, and their reception over time. The concept further underlines
their potential to express creativity, generate emotion, and reveal
histories, often tainted by violence.

Pourquoi un objet, une œuvre d’art, voire une personne, sont-ils considérés comme « exotiques » ?... more Pourquoi un objet, une œuvre d’art, voire une personne, sont-ils considérés comme « exotiques » ? Comment se construit le regard sur les choses ou les gens qui semblent appartenir à d’autres régions, d’autres cultures ? Ces questions sont explorées ici dans un contexte précis : le siècle des Lumières en Suisse. Pour la première fois, des chercheuses et des chercheurs universitaires et des spécialistes du monde des musées sont réunis pour repenser la période au prisme de cette géographie. Ce livre rassemble des articles ainsi que des textes plus courts centrés sur des images, des objets, des livres, ou des spécimens naturels issus des collections muséales helvétiques. « Exotique » désigne dans ce contexte ce qui vient d’ailleurs et peut être utilisé et « amélioré » au profit des puissances européennes. Ce terme invite à reconsidérer à la fois le long XVIIIe siècle et l’histoire internationale de la Suisse.

Why is an object, an artwork, or a person deemed “exotic”? How does one’s gaze get directed onto ... more Why is an object, an artwork, or a person deemed “exotic”? How does one’s gaze get directed onto things or people seemingly belonging to other regions or cultures? These questions are examined here in relation to a specific context: the Enlightenment era from the Swiss perspective. This publication brings together research by academics and museum specialists for the first time in order to rethink this time period and geography. It contains essays and shorter texts centered on pictures, objects, books, and natural specimens from Swiss museum collections. “Exotic” in this context refers to things that come from elsewhere and that can be used and “improved” for the benefit of European powers. The term invites us to reconsider both the long eighteenth century and the international history of Switzerland.

https://journals.openedition.org/culturemusees/2197

Twenty years ago, Publics & Musées dedicated an issue to dioramas. This device, which has since b... more Twenty years ago, Publics & Musées dedicated an issue to dioramas. This device, which has since been updated in various forms, particularly in contemporary art, is the subject of a new contribution. This reappraisal problematizes characteristic aspects of the dioramas, such as their narrative power, their hyperrealistic lure, as well as their specific relationship to reality and knowledge. The aim is to refocus the diorama on a study of museum institutions, from production to reception, with an emphasis on their materiality and some of their extreme forms.

This special issue of the Material Culture Review is concerned with things being used in a contex... more This special issue of the Material Culture Review is concerned with things being used in a context other than the one in which they originated. Delocalization and relocalization of material culture happen on different scales—not only between different continents, but also within the same country or inside a single apartment. This perspective allows to study the migration of objects from one territory to another.

Papers by Noémie Etienne

Tangram, 2023

Koloniales Erbe der Schweiz / La Suisse et ses héritages coloniaux / La Svizzera e i suoi retaggi... more Koloniales Erbe der Schweiz / La Suisse et ses héritages coloniaux / La Svizzera e i suoi retaggi coloniali. @Swiss Commission against Racism.

Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural... more Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural sciences, to name a few. Their use developed during the nineteenth century, following reforms aimed at developing the educational dimension of museums. This book examines anthropological dioramas of two North American museums in the early twentieth century: the American Museum of Natural History in New York (whose Life Groups were assembled by the German anthropologist Franz Boas), and the New York State Museum (whose Groups were overseen by the Seneca archaeologist Arthur C. Parker). While dioramas with human figures are now the subject of harsh criticism and are gradually being dismantled, a thorough study of the work of artists and scientists who made them helps shed light on their genesis. Sites of creation and mediation of knowledge, combining painting, sculpture, photography, and material culture, dioramas tell a story that is always political. They create visions of otherness but also of ancestry that blurs space and time within the museum.

Citation : Biro, Yaëlle and Etienne, Noémie. Rhapsodic Objects: Art, Agency, and Materiality (1700–2000). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110757668

https://journals.openedition.org/culturemusees/2197

Tangram, 2023

Museum and Social Issues, Routledge , 2022

Recently, museums have been under growing scrutiny. The public debate has focused mainly on two t... more Recently, museums have been under growing scrutiny. The public debate has focused mainly on two things: The way cultures and objects are presented and displayed in museum galleries and the questions of restitution. However, 80-99% of a museum's collection is and will probably remain in storage. This paper changes the focus from exhibition or restitution to conservation, understood as a set of practices preserving and giving access to art and material culture. More precisely, I study preventative conservation and collection management as political actions. Building upon the unvaluable work carried by conservators in the US and beyond, but also including other voices and alternative gestures, I aim to start a conversation about what conservation could be in a postcolonial museum.

"Blurring Objects. Life Casts, Human Remains and Art History", in F. Bodenstein, D. Otoiu, E-M Troelenberge (eds.), Contested Holdings. Museum Collections in Political, Epistemic and Artistic Processes of Return, New York, Berghan, 2022, pp. 81-96.

As houses of memory and sources of information about the world, museums function as a dynamic int... more As houses of memory and sources of information about the world, museums function as a dynamic interface between past, present and future. Museum collections are increasingly being recognized as material archives of human creativity and as invaluable resources for interdisciplinary research. Museums provide powerful forums for the expression of ideas and are central to the production of public culture: they may inspire the imagination, generate heated emotions and express conflicting values in their material form and histories. This series explores the potential of museum collections to transform our knowledge of the world, and for exhibitions to influence the way in which we view and inhabit that world. It offers essential reading for those involved in all aspects of the museum sphere: curators, researchers, collectors, students and the visiting public.

Since the 1990s, diorama displays in anthropological and natural history museums have come under ... more Since the 1990s, diorama displays in anthropological and natural history museums have come under fierce criticism. At the opening ceremony in 2004 of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D. C., Richard W. Hill, assistant to the director and a member of the Tuscarora (Skaruhreh) Nation, declared them intrinsically problematic: Dioramas are in themselves a throwback to the old-style museums that freeze Indians in the past. … Will museums forever associate Indians with dioramas containing life-size figures? Will museum visitors always expect to see casts of Indians next to the stuffed animals, mechanical dinosaurs, and replicated fauna?1 Earlier judgments were less damning. In 1943, Claude Lévi-Strauss published an article in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts (which he then republished in La voie des masques [1975; The Way of the Masks, 1982]) in which he described the museography established by the anthropologist Franz Boas at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), located west of Central Park, at the heart of Manhattan Island:

What is the role of conservation in a postcolonial museum? Does it allow cultural dialogue or per... more What is the role of conservation in a postcolonial museum? Does it allow cultural dialogue or perpetuate colonial violence?

Objets nomades, A. Fennetaux, A.M. Miller-Blaise, N. Oddo (eds.), 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,... more All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Une Suisse exotique? Regarder l'ailleurs au siècle des Lumières, Zurich, Diaphanes, 2020

Pourquoi un objet, un vêtement, voire une personne, sont-ils perçus comme « exotiques » ? Plus la... more Pourquoi un objet, un vêtement, voire une personne, sont-ils perçus comme « exotiques » ? Plus largement, comment se construit le regard sur les choses ou les gens qui nous semblent appartenir à d'autres régions, d'autres continents ? Enfin, comment les objets « exotiques » conservés dans les musées sont-ils parvenus jusqu'à nous, et dans quelle mesure ont-ils conservé, voire accru, à travers le temps leur dimension exotique ? Ce livre, et l'exposition qui s'y rattache, proposent une perspective historique pour comprendre l'émergence de ce regard et des gestes qui l'accompagnent. En effet, rien n'est « exotique » en soi : l'exotique est le produit de représentations, de marchandisations, et de traductions qui assignent une place aux choses et aux gens dans un contexte historique, géographique et politique donné. Dans le cadre de ces médiations, la perspective posée est largement influencée par l'identité culturelle, la provenance géographique, le genre, ou encore le statut social du sujet regardant.

Exotic Switzerland. Looking Outwards in the Age of Enlightenment, 2020

Une Suisse exotique? Regarder l'ailleurs au siècle des Lumières, Zurich, Diaphanes, 2020

Un service à thé en porcelaine est posé sur un plateau bordé d'une frise dorée. Six tasses et sou... more Un service à thé en porcelaine est posé sur un plateau bordé d'une frise dorée. Six tasses et soucoupes sont assemblées. De petits personnages tracés en orange, rose et vert se détachent sur la surface de la théière, des assiettes, des bols et des tasses. Une seule est encore remplie de liquide. Quatre sont retournées, pour signifier la fin du service, tandis que la dernière est déposée dans un grand bol. Les petites cuillères sont posées de différentes manières : orientées vers le haut au sommet du plateau, ou au contraire vers le bas dans la partie inférieure. L'image donne à voir les objets sous divers angles, présentant l'intérieur et l'extérieur des pièces. Deux tranches de pain beurré reposent au centre de la composition. Une troisième semble avoir été partiellement man-gée et ses fragments occupent différents espaces du tableau, notamment sur la grande table rouge cuivrée au premier plan. La partie supérieure est une large bande foncée, unie et vide de toute représentation, qui tranche avec les éléments plus clairs de la partie inférieure. Rien dans cette nature morte ne semble entièrement laissé au hasard, et l'on croirait que le peintre a ordonné ce plateau après le départ de ses hôtes, pour montrer tous les aspects de ces objets. Ce tableau, aujourd'hui conservé au Getty Museum de Los Angeles, a été peint dans les années 1780 par le peintre Jean-Étienne Liotard (Genève, 1702-1789).

In: Noémie Etienne, Claire Brizon, Chonja Lee, Etienne Wismer (ed.), Exotic Switzerland? Looking ... more In: Noémie Etienne, Claire Brizon, Chonja Lee, Etienne Wismer (ed.), Exotic Switzerland? Looking Outward in the Age of Enlightenment, Zurich, Diaphanes, 2020.

Zeitschrift für Medien- und Kulturforschung, 2020

Dioramas are museum displays that resemble photographs. Defined by their multi-mediality (uniting... more Dioramas are museum displays that resemble photographs. Defined by their multi-mediality (uniting painting, sculpture, lightening but also collected material culture, casting or taxidermy), dioramas are devices belonging to the fields of natural history, anthropology, history, but also to popular culture in fairs and malls since the 19 th century. Often made in order to reproduce a scene in a mimetic way, they are inventing a reality that never existed, as Umberto Eco already argued. 1 Moreover, dioramas are complex three-dimensional installations made of a variety of materials, such as paint, wood, plaster, fur, iron, or paper. Even though dioramas necessarily involve a mixture of media and material, they inevitably become an image from a chosen angle when reproduced in an article such as this one. Thus, when they are photographed, dioramas look like twodimensional pictures. Their multimedia and multidimensional characteristics are masked by their reproduction.

Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural... more Dioramas are devices on the frontier of different disciplines: art, anthropology, and the natural sciences, to name a few. Their use developed during the nineteenth century, following reforms aimed at developing the educational dimension of museums. This book examines anthropological dioramas of two North American museums in the early twentieth century: the American Museum of Natural History in New York (whose Life Groups were assembled by the German anthropologist Franz Boas), and the New York State Museum (whose Groups were overseen by the Seneca archaeologist Arthur C. Parker). While dioramas with human figures are now the subject of harsh criticism and are gradually being dismantled, a thorough study of the work of artists and scientists who made them helps shed light on their genesis. Sites of creation and mediation of knowledge, combining painting, sculpture, photography, and material culture, dioramas tell a story that is always political. They create visions of otherness but also of ancestry that blurs space and time within the museum.

https://journals.openedition.org/culturemusees/2197

Bénédicte Savoy, Charlotte Guichard, Christine Howald (eds.), Acquiring Cultures. Histories of World Art on Western Markets, Berlin, De Gruyter, pp. 15-30, 2018

in Caroline van Eck et al., The Materiality of Display, 2018

"Chinoiserie", Kunst und Architektur in der Schweiz, 2018

A l’aide d’exemples provenant des domaines des arts décoratifs et des beaux-arts, nous montrons q... more A l’aide d’exemples provenant des domaines des arts décoratifs et des beaux-arts, nous montrons que la brillance des surfaces devient l’un des enjeux majeurs de l’économie des chinoiseries. Les artisans et les artistes suisses ont connaissance des porcelaines, des laques et des textiles qui se diffusent partout en Europe. Leur circulation est liée aux ambitions diplomatiques et économiques des pays impliqués (Chine, Japon, Siam, France, Allemagne, Angleterre, Hollande…). En Europe il s’agit dès lors de maitriser ces techniques pour les développer et les commercialiser. De plus, les acteurs cherchent à traduire leur brillance et leur texture dans différents médias : les objets importés de Chine ou du Japon transforment ainsi l’univers sensoriel en Europe, stimulant l’imitation de certaines matières et rendus plastiques, tels le luisant et le nacré. Par exemple, dans la Nature morte du Getty, le peintre genevois Jean-Etienne Liotard se confronte directement aux propriétés matérielles et aux formes des laques asiatiques, introduisant un nouvel horizon visuel et tactile en Europe.

https://www.journal18.org/nq/exotic-a-curators-note-by-noemie-etienne/, 2020

The first room of the exhibition Exotic? Switzerland Looking Outward in the Age of Enlightenment,... more The first room of the exhibition Exotic? Switzerland Looking Outward in the Age of Enlightenment, on view until February 2021, gathers a multitude of objects from the collections of the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne. What are these objects? What among them is considered “art,” and what is not? What is old, and what is new? No accompanying information is provided, except in the form of a QR code granting access to a list of the room’s contents and to the series of questions that reverberate throughout the space in the form of a sound installation. The effect of this display is unsettling. It introduces the exhibition curated by a group of scholars at the University of Bern whose research focuses on the global and colonial histories of the Old Swiss Confederacy between 1660 and 1815 (today’s Switzerland, with the addition in 1815 of Geneva, Neuchâtel, and the Wallis).
https://www.journal18.org/nq/exotic-a-curators-note-by-noemie-etienne/

She said: What is history? And he said: History is an angel being blown backwards into the future... more She said: What is history? And he said: History is an angel being blown backwards into the future He said: History is a pile of debris And the angel wants to go back and fix things To repair the things that have been broken But there is a storm blowing from Paradise And the storm keeps blowing the angel backwards into the future -Laurie Anderson, For Walter Benjamin, 2001 1 Kader Attia collects things. His work features fingernails, actions, traces. Houses, towns, and landscapes. Maps, masks, and books. It is as if he has dismantled the stands of a Universal Exhibition to put them back together in his own way. Or as if he slipped over to the exit of a colonial fair from the 1900s to gather up its fragments, its junk, and then mount them in photographs, sculptures, spaces. His frequent use of slides projected side by side in a technique introduced by the Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölfflin in the late 19th century is also the art of creating links: Open Your Eyes (2010), for example, juxtaposes repaired African statues with photographs of soldiers who suffered facial disfigurement in the First World War. Both humans and sculptures have been transformed, the latter often with the addition of exogenous material such as a nail replacing an eye, or a piece of plastic. But what is the difference between objects and subjects in the slide show? The soldiers with the scarred faces were mere cannon fodder who mattered little for the men who sent them to the front. On the other hand, the sculptures, most of which seem rare and precious, were not ethnographic objects for their creators, but rather regalia, ancestors, tools, and so on. They were active and powerful. They remain subjects because they have been repaired and their transformation creates an effect: as new hybrid artifacts, they have a place in a world that they put back into play.

Organisation: Sven Dupré, Jenny Boulboullé, Jill Briggeman, Esther van Duijn and Mariana Pinto In... more Organisation: Sven Dupré, Jenny Boulboullé, Jill Briggeman, Esther van Duijn and Mariana Pinto
Institutions: Utrecht University, University of Amsterdam, NICAS and Rijksmuseum
Date: 8, 9 and 10 May 2019
Locations: Academiegebouw, Utrecht and Rijksmuseum Ateliergebouw, Amsterdam

Mellon Research Initiative, Institute of Fine Arts, December 2013.

Auch in Schweizer Museen unde Privatsammlungen befinden sich zahlreiche aussereuropäische Werke. ... more Auch in Schweizer Museen unde Privatsammlungen befinden sich zahlreiche aussereuropäische Werke. Ihre Geschichte zu erforschen, ist Herausforderung und Chance zugleich.

Congress of the International Committee for the History of Arts Call for Papers. Deadline: Sept.... more Congress of the International Committee for the History of Arts
Call for Papers. Deadline: Sept. 15, 2023. Conference: June, 2024. Heritage conservation is a political matter that needs to be understood historically and theoretically based on a long-term and broad geographical scope. What were the ways of caring before conservation became a science in the 20th century? What were the guidance and criteria to follow? And what were the practices beyond Europe and the United States?

Museum conservation in the West has long focused on the physical preservation of objects. Today, ... more Museum conservation in the West has long focused on the physical preservation of objects. Today, the heritage regime is being questioned and challenged in many ways. If collecting, storing, and exhibiting have participated as epistemological tools in the classification of the world, can artifacts be reconnected to living practices? What changes are needed for concerned communities to take agency in storage? How can we rethink cultural transmission and reconceive the role of collections without reconducting the cultural hegemonies inscribed in their history?

Ce cycle de conférences entend explorer l’usage des objets en histoire et en histoire de l’art, q... more Ce cycle de conférences entend explorer l’usage des objets en histoire et en histoire de l’art, que ce soit comme sujets d’études ou témoins. Sans hiérarchie préalable de qualité ou de nature, il s’agit d’interroger les statuts et les usages des objets dans le temps. Ainsi, nous questionnons la capacité des sciences historiques à mener une histoire comparée et internationale qui adresse la singularité des objets tout au long de leur existence, en saisissant aussi leur transformation (remploi, traduction, restauration, conservation, exposition, etc.). En nous appuyant sur des études de cas, que ce soit en histoire, histoire de l’art, sociologie, anthropologie, archéologie…, nous embrassons des objets extraordinaires (objets miraculeux et magiques, œuvres d’art, objets anciens) comme des objets communs (objets du quotidien, utiles, populaires). Il conviendra d’interroger les catégories qui permettent de saisir et penser les choses – marchandises ou œuvres, objets anciens, d’occasion ou neufs, authentiques ou faux, abandonnés ou transmis, protecteurs ou médicinaux. Au final, ce séminaire propose de réfléchir aux manières de mobiliser, de décrire et d’écrire les objets dans les sciences humaines et sociales. Le séminaire est ouvert à toute personne intéressée et sans inscription.

Circulating Crafts: Art, Agency, and the Making of Identities (1600-2000) January 24th 2018: W... more Circulating Crafts: Art, Agency, and the Making of Identities (1600-2000)

January 24th 2018: Workshop at La Colonie, Paris
February 21st 2018 : CAA 2-parts Session in Los Angeles

Organized by Yaëlle Biro, Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Noémie Étienne, Bern Universität (Visiting Professor at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne).

Circulation and imitation of cultural products are key factors in shaping the material world – as well as identities. Many objects or techniques that came to be seen as local, authentic, and typical are in fact entangled in complex transnational narratives tied to a history of imperialism, and the commercial phenomenon of supply and demand. In the 17th and 18th centuries, artists and craftspeople in Europe appropriated foreign techniques such as porcelain, textiles, or lacquers that eventually shaped local European identities. During the 19th century, Western consumers looked for genuine goods produced outside of industry, and the demand of Bourgeois tourism created a new market of authentic souvenirs and forgeries alike. Furthermore, the 20th century saw the (re)-emergence of local "Schools" of art and crafts as responses to political changes, anthropological research, and/or tourist demand. This multi-parts conference will explore how technical knowledge, immaterial desires, and political agendas impacted the production and consumption of visual and material culture in different times and places. A new scrutiny of this back and forth between demanders and suppliers will allow us to map anew a multidirectional market for cultural goods in which the source countries could be positioned at the center.

Circulation and imitation of cultural products are key factors in shaping the material world – as... more Circulation and imitation of cultural products are key factors in shaping the material world – as well as identities. Many objects or techniques that came to be seen as local, authentic and typical are in fact entangled in complex transnational narratives tied to a history of appropriation, imperialism, and the commercial phenomenon of supply and demand.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, artists and craftspeople in Europe appropriated foreign techniques such as porcelain, textiles, or lacquers that eventually shaped local European identities. During the 19th century, Western consumers looked for genuine goods produced outside of industry, and the demand of Bourgeois tourism created a new market of authentic souvenirs and forgeries alike. Furthermore, the 20th century saw the (re)-emergence of local "Schools" of art and crafts as responses to political changes, anthropological research, and/or tourist demand. This multi-part conference will explore how technical knowledge, immaterial desires, and political agendas impacted the production and consumption of visual and material culture in different times and places. A new scrutiny of this back and forth between demanders and suppliers will allow us to map anew a multidirectional market for cultural goods in which the source countries could be positioned at the center.

Vingt ans après le numéro consacré aux dioramas par la revue Public & Musées sous la direction de... more Vingt ans après le numéro consacré aux dioramas par la revue Public & Musées sous la direction de Bernard Schiele (1996) qui questionnait le statut du diorama en muséologie, il importe de réinterroger ces installations. Ce numéro propose de remettre le diorama au centre d’une étude des institutions muséales, en insistant d’une part, sur la matérialité de ces dispositifs (Bennett, Joyce, 2010), et, d’autre part, sur l’identité de ceux qui les fabriquent. Il examinera également les questions liées à l’agentivité des dioramas et à leur réception par les publics. Enfin, l’authenticité des espaces ainsi créés sera au cœur des interrogations. Cette question est d’autant plus urgente que de nombreux musées discutent aujourd’hui de la conservation de ces dispositifs qui appartiennent à l’histoire des musées, mais aussi à son futur.

Dioramas are at the crossroads of artistic, scientific and cultural practices. They bring togethe... more Dioramas are at the crossroads of artistic, scientific and cultural practices. They bring together painters, sculptors, scientists, and collectors, thus providing an opportunity to reflect on the polyvalence of these actors and the definition of their expertise. In 1822, the painter and scientist Louis Daguerre coined the term " diorama " when describing his theater, the word diorama literally meaning " seeing through. " However, dioramas are not merely images or displays: they are also physical objects made of multiple materials and composite and hybrid things, created through cultural interaction and physical encounter. Multiple hands as well as various visions are involved in the process of their creation. Dio-ramas therefore allow for the study of contact zones and material exchanges between private and public spheres, as well as transcultural interactions in a global context.

Dioramas are at the crossroads of artistic and scientific practices. They bring together painters... more Dioramas are at the crossroads of artistic and scientific practices. They bring together painters, sculptors, scientists, and collectors, thus providing an opportunity to reflect on the polyvalence of these actors and the definition of their expertise. In 1822, the painter and scientist Louis Daguerre coined the term "diorama" when describing his theater. The word diorama means literally "seeing through." In accordance with this etymology, dioramas embody a sense of transparency and life--likeness. In addition to providing theatrical and visual experiences, dioramas are multidimensional installations that incorporate paintings, objects, stuffed animals or mannequins. Habitat groups mixing taxidermy and painted backgrounds were designed for natural history museums, while anthropological dioramas were disseminated all over Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century. They were usually life--sized and site specific but they could also be reduced to maquettes. To date, these installations have been studied by scholars from various disciplines, mainly as side topics. Media historians have considered them primarily as proto-cinematic, whereas within the fields of anthropology, museum studies and postcolonial studies, they are generally analyzed as displays that reflect political taxonomies and stereotyped representations. However, dioramas are not merely images or displays: they are also physical objects made of multiple materials, such as plaster, wood, paper, paint, glass, fur, wax, and metal. The discipline of art history thus provides us with the opportunity to approach the materiality of these installations. Indeed, dioramas are composite and hybrid things, created through cultural interaction and physical encounter. Multiple hands as well as various visions are involved in the process of their creation - and later on, during their conservation. Dioramas therefore allow for the study of contact zones and material exchanges between private and public spheres, as well as between Western and non--Western contexts. Finally, dioramas as objects of study within the field of art history enable us to address values such as authenticity and realism in various contexts.

Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 2024

Works of art change constantly. They are transformed in contact with the air, water, humans, and ... more Works of art change constantly. They are transformed in contact with the air, water, humans, and animals. Their materials grow old, yellow, and develop cracks. Canvases stretch and wood panels shrink, dry out, buckle and warp. Along with their existence in time, artworks also move in space. Paintings are shifted around, taken down, and put back up. They are removed from places of worship or private homes and transported elsewhere, notably to museums. These movements are often linked with a change of owners. They may also be the result of theft, war, conquest, or seizure of property. These circulations occur for a large number of objects, notably collections that were assembled by drawing on artifacts originally found in Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The question of who has the legitimacy to own and conserve these collections is not settled and continues to drive debates. This also concerns European artworks, including the Parthenon marbles and Italian masterpieces seized by Napoleonic troops at the beginning of the 19th century.

Afterword of Noémie Etienne The Restoration of Paintings in Paris, 1750–1815, Getty, 2017.

Daniel Di Falco, NZZ Geschichte, Oct. 2020.

Open-access online seminar organized with Manuel Charpy, @INHA.

Rhapsodic Objects: Art, Agency and Materiality (1700-2000), 2021

Citation: Biro, Yaëlle and Etienne, Noémie. "Introduction." In Rhapsodic Objects: Art, Agency, an... more Citation: Biro, Yaëlle and Etienne, Noémie. "Introduction." In Rhapsodic Objects: Art, Agency, and Materiality (1700–2000). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021, 7-15. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110757668

The University of Vienna is searching for two praedoctoral candidates interested in art history, ... more The University of Vienna is searching for two praedoctoral candidates interested in art history, cultural heritage, material culture, Indigeneity, critical race theory, diaspora, museums, ecology, and/or conservation. 4 years.

The University of Vienna is searching for a postdoctoral Fellow (5 years, starting March 2023) in... more The University of Vienna is searching for a postdoctoral Fellow (5 years, starting March 2023) interested in art history, cultural heritage, material culture, museums, provenance, display, Indigeneity, coloniality, and/or conservation sciences. The candidate will be part of a team of four people.