This seminar aims to bring together French and British research on gardens and landscapes in an interdisciplnary fashion, connecting the aesthetic with social, scientific, ideological and cultural perspectives. It is based at the Maison Française, Oxford (2-10 Norham Road, OX2 6SE), with the support of the Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities.
Information can be found on http://www.mfo.ac.uk/en/events
The first seminar will take place on March 16th, 10-6 pm.
“RUSTIC NATURE AND ARTISTIC RUSTICITY”
Maison Française, Oxford/ Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities,
Saturday, March 16th, 2013- 10am-6pm
Eighteenth-century British gardens are often said to be punctuated by neo-classical and gothic structures, a balancing act between ‘Greeks’ and ‘Goths’. On the one hand, white, neat and clean stones, and on the other hand, coloured, rough and rustic elements. Books and articles have given ample evidence on these rustic features from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century in Italy, France and Britain alike. Jean Stone devoted a full-length study entitled The Rustic Garden (Batsford, 1992), which, in her words, “depends on the use of unhewn branches, twigs, and even roots for the construction of its architecture, furniture and ornament” (p.11). But the historiography of rusticity in European gardens deserves further investigation. To mark its inaugural Garden and Landscape History Seminar, the University of Oxford will be hosting a study day on rusticity at the Maison Française on Saturday, March 16th, 2013.
Speakers: Edwina Fitzpatrick, Paula Henderson, Marc Jeanson, Isabelle Levêque, David Marsh, Monique Mosser, Angela Palmer, James Stevens Curl, Susan Wilson.
More information will be advertised at a later date.
Anyone interested in participating or wishing to obtain further information for registration, please contact laurent.chatel@all.ox.ac.uk.
