Centre for the Study of Visual and Literary Cultures in France

8th Annual Conference
3rd-4th March 2007

Invitation au voyage

The Centre for the Study of Visual and Literary Cultures in France is an Arts Faculty Research Centre established jointly by the Departments of French and of History of Art.

The aims of the Centre are to promote contacts and exchanges between interested scholars locally, nationally, and internationally that focus on word and image studies and other interactions of the verbal and the visual in modern France. Its objectives are to organise conferences, colloquia and guest lectures, to attract PhD postgraduates or MPhil students, and to create and encourage publication projects.

The Centre arose from long-standing research interests and strategies shared by members of the two Departments and was formally constituted during the academic year 1999-2000. Although its early activities have reflected the interdisciplinary research of present members of Faculty, its remit is flexible and will develop in relation to input from new members of Faculty and from visiting scholars. Initiatives are welcomed and encouraged relating to various manifestations of visual and verbal cultures in France, including a range of media, and involving theory debates at all levels.

The Centre held its first international conference in 1999: France 1900 - Visual, Literary and Political Cultures, bringing strong representation from the USA as well as delegates from universities all over the British Isles and in one case from Australia. The Centre's first visiting scholar was Professor Richard Shiff of the University of Texas at Austin. Information about future activities is available on request. At least one conference is held in each academic year.

The founders of the Centre were Richard Hobbs (Department of French, e-mail R.Hobbs@Bristol.ac.uk) and Paul Smith (formerly Department of History of Art).

The present Director is Richard Hobbs.

Members of Faculty most active in the Centre and their research interests:

Richard Hobbs (Senior Lecturer in French)
Artists' writings, word & image theory, the Symbolists, problems of Realism. Books include Odilon Redon (1977), Impressions of French Modernity (ed.) (1998), Artists' Writings in Nineteenth-Century France (forthcoming).

Stephen Bann (Professor of History of Art)
Cultural history and theory. Books include: The Clothing of Clio - a study of representation in 19th-century Britain and France (1984), The True Vine - on visual representation and the western tradition (1989), The Inventions of History - essays on the representation of the past (1990), Paul Delaroche - history painted (1997).

Tim Unwin (Professor of French)
Nineteenth-century fiction, narrative theory, representations of the artist. He has recently completed major projects on Gustave Flaubert (The Cambridge Companion to Flaubert) and Jules Verne (Jules Verne: Journeys in Writing, forthcoming). He is co-moderator of the Francofil internet discussion list.

Ed Lilley (Senior Lecturer in History of Art)
French painting of the 18th and 19th centuries, French art criticism 1700-1850. Publications in Word & Image, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians and other scholarly journals.

Claire O'Mahony (Lecturer in History of Art and Director of Programmes for History of Art Lifelong Learning)
Fin de siècle art and design (1880-1920) with particular emphasis on Decoration, Symbolist art and Art Nouveau in France. Curator of the exhibition at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery planned for the 2006 Brunel 200 celebrations. Convenor of 2006 Autumn Art Lecture Series 'Designing a New World: Art and Industry'