Claire Trevien

Revolutionary Prints as Spectacle

Supervisors: Dr. Katherine Astbury (Warwick) and Dr. Phillippa Plock (Waddesdon Manor)

Year Started: 2008

Funding: AHRC

Quick Links: Publications, Conferences, Poster Presentations, Teaching

My research project: This PhD aspires to investigate the notion of spectacle and theatricality within the visual culture of the French Revolution. The aim is to not reduce prints to simple historical witnesses or illustrations conveniently presented to suit an argument. Instead, it is a study of metaphorology in the prints, a method that sheds new light on the links that exist between theatre, politics and visual culture during the French Revolution.

My first chapter deals with the notion of performability in prints, and in particular the relationships between lyrics and images, and between the spectator and the print.

The second chapter explores the role of the carnivalesque in the construction of the Fete de la Federation of 1790, as well as in prints employing Commedia dell’Arte characters to comment on politics. It hopes to demonstrate similarities between the carnivalesque in Revolutionary events as well as its use in the imaginary space.

The third chapter investigates the spectacle of science and the connection Revolutionary politics had with new inventions. What the prints have in common too is a preoccupation with the idea of illusion, not just as a negative act of deception but as a creative and potentially empowering process, allowing the viewer to see beyond reality into a brighter future.

Finally, the fourth and last chapter uses theories of hauntology to comment on Revolutionary prints and plays depicting deceased characters in heaven, hell, and haunting the living. A term often used in the title of these works, ‘ombre’, suggests that depictions of the afterlife were deeply entrenched with the interplay of light and darkness. I therefore explore how these depictions of an imaginary world are linked to the fad for shadow plays (introduced by Seraphin to the general public in 1784) as well as the technical advances that allowed for greater subtlety in shading the stage.

The Institution: Part of this PhD involves cataloguing a collection of 500 Revolutionary prints held at Waddesdon Manor in four volumes called Tableaux de la Révolution française. The cataloguing is in collaboration with Paul Davidson, a PhD student from Queen Mary's, University of London. My research is based on these volumes as well as the larger collections held in Parisian libraries. In April 2011, an exhibition, 'A Subversive Art: Prints of the French Revolution', curated by Paul Davidson and I based on these volumes opened to the public. You can book tickets to visit Waddesdon Manor and find out more about the exhibition on their website.

Paul and I took part in a Special Interest Day on these volumes on 6 October 2011 where we lectured on the volumes and gave a detailled tour of some of the key pieces within them.



Below are some of the images from Waddesdon's catalogue. The catalogue can be consulted here.











Brief C.V.

2004-2007: BA (Hons), English Literature, University of Warwick.

2007-2008: MA (Distinction), Translation, Writing and Cultural Difference, University of Warwick

2008- : PhD, Department of French Studies, University of Warwick.

Publications

  • 'The Spectacle of Science: the Art of Illusion in Prints of the French Revolution', Special Issue: Art and Science, Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 3.1 (2011) pp. 42-51.
  • 'Le Monde à L’Envers: The carnivalesque in prints of the Construction of the Fête de la Fédération of 1790', French History (March 2012).
  • 'Théâtre de l’ombre: Visions of Afterlife in Prints of the French Revolution', ed. by Mark Darlow and Marion Lafouge, Shadows of the Enlightenment: chiaroscuro in early-modern France and Italy, a study in analogy and metaphorology. Provisional publication date: 2012.

Conferences 

  • 'Why is Theatre Revolutionary? The Marriage of Marat and Beaumarchais in Revolutionary prints’ IAS Colloquium, 8 March 2012, University of Warwick.
  • 'Théâtre de l’ombre: Visions of Afterlife in Prints of the French Revolution’, Department of French Studies Postgraduate Conference, 9 March 2012, University of Warwick.
  • 'The Spectacle of Science: the Art of Illusion in Prints of the French Revolution', British Society for the History of Science Postgraduate Conference, 4-6 January 2012, University of Warwick.
  • 'The Spectacle of Science: the Art of Illusion in Prints of the French Revolution', Arts Faculty Seminar Series, 16 November 2011, University of Warwick.
  • 'Le Monde à L’Envers: The Rôle of the Carnivalesque in prints of the Fête de la Fédération of 1790', Society for the Study of French History Annual Conference, 14-15 July 2011, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge
  • 'The Spectacle of Science: (dis)illusion in prints of the French Revolution', Department of French Studies Postgraduate Conference, 11 March 2011, University of Warwick.
  • 'Hercules versus Harlequin: The Conflicting Images of Festivals in the French Revolution', The French Revolution in 2010: the Bicentenary comes of age?, 5-6 July 2010, University of Portsmouth
  • 'Topsy Turvy: The Rôle of the Carnivalesque in the Fête de la Fédération of 1790', Transgressions and its limits, 29-30 May 2010, University of Stirling.

Conferences I have helped at:

  • Physionomy: from Della Porta to Lavater, Queen Mary University of London (6-8 November 2008)
  • Paper Traces: Ephemera from the Past, Waddesdon Manor (28 May 2009)
Impact Talks

  • 'Detecting Prints: Printmakers and Artists of the Tableaux de la Révolution', Special Interest Day: Can you Judge a Book by its Cover: Magnificent Books and Bindings at Waddesdon, 6 October 2011, Waddesdon Manor.
  • 'The Poetry of Storytelling: a reading and creative writing workshop', Open Book Society, 27 January 2011, Bradfield College.
  • Widening Participation - Academic Support, Uni Taster Day, 25 May, 10 July 2012

Poster Presentations

Teaching Experience

Marker for FR2012 and FR401, 2012.

French Final Year Oral Invigilator, 25-26 April 2012.

French Culture and Society (FR115). Part-time lecturer 2010-2011, Marker.

French Revolution (FR401) Revision Seminar, 2009

French and English Romanticism (EN262) Revision Seminars and Marking, 2009.

Performing Molière and La Fontaine, with Dr Ingrid de Smet (FR234) 21 November 2008

Claireheadshot

image by Richard Davenport (http://rwdavenportblog.co.uk/)

Claire Trevien

c dot l dot trevien at warwick dot ac dot uk

You can follow me on twitter @CTrevien

Latest News: The Waddesdon Catalogue is now live, featuring the work Paul Davidson and I did over the course of three years!