Please join the Remarque Institute and the Department of Art History at NYU as Charlotte Guichard, Ecole Normale Supérieure/CNRS, ENS Visiting Fellow Remarque Institute, presents her work on The Art of Embarquement: Empire, Commerce and the Sea in Eighteenth-Century France.
With the development of transnational commerce and empire in eighteenth-century France, scenes of embarkation, seafaring, and trade acquired new meaning in French visual arts, transforming a predominately military and “gallant” body of imagery into one with commercial and imperial associations. This talk will present some issues relating to this “art of Embarquement” in dialogue with Hans Blumenberg’s Shipwreck with Spectator (1996). It will discuss drawings executed during the La Pérouse expedition of 1785-1788 as well as the fashion for marine paintings in the eighteenth century; the ambivalent attitudes these paintings express towards the sea; and the contrast between their pacified scenes of “doux commerce” and the violence exerted on the populations they depict.
Part of the Remarque Institute's ongoing Friday Lunch Seminar series, this is a hybrid event. For the in-person session from 12pm-2pm, advance registration is strictly required and vaccination will be checked at the door.
For inquiries and in-person RSVPs, email us at remarque.institute@nyu.edu.