The Birth of the Modern in France

July 6- July 17, 2009
Professor Anne-Marie Quette
Graduate PGDE 5420 Section A

Professor Anne-Marie Quette, with Xavier Chaumette Examine the development of French furniture, interiors, and fashion from the second empire to the post-war era. Lectures, museum visits, and excursions to significant sites enhance the study of styles and movements in the decorative arts, from mid-19th-century design eclecticism through the mid-20th century, a period of major transformation in French society. Explore the revival of historical styles—gothic, renaissance, rococo, neoclassic, and regency; the influence of China and Japan; and the rise of new movements, including art nouveau, art deco, and modernism. Consider the history and social implications of costume and fashion in relation to the rise of French couturiers and the establishment of Paris as a center of world fashion. The course will use the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Musée d’Orsay, the
Louvre, and other museums. Students visit the Château de Monte-Cristo, the Palais de la Porte Dorée, the Villa Savoye, and other sites. Students travel to Nancy, the epicenter of French art nouveau innovation. Before the course begins, students are required to write a short paper about an object in a Paris collection. In Paris, each student must make an on-site presentation about that
object. The course concludes with a short exam. Anne-Marie Quette, former conférencière at the Musées Nationaux and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, has written Le mobilier français: Louis XIII, Louis XIV and Le mobilier
français: Art Nouveau 1900. Xavier Chaumette, director of the fashion school Mod’Art International, is the author of Le Tailleur.