20th century European art history

Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” (1987)

Please find below the eligible paper topics for this semester’s version of ARTH 4451. You need my prior approval for any topic that is not on the list. Topics not on the list must have a comparable level of originality and difficulty. The topics below are chosen for their originality (i.e. they could lead to original research that may potentially be publishable — as opposed re-hashing existing information). In most cases you will find little to no information on the internet, which is intentional. However, rest assured that for each topic enough information is available to write exciting and highly original papers. Your challenge is to learn how to find and access this information; and, in the next step, to synthesize it into original, engaging, clearly written (no garbled sentences!), and grammatically correct research papers. Of course, it is assumed that revised papers display a picture-perfect command of scholarly apparatus (footnotes, bibliography, captions, in-text references to illustrations, etc.).

• Victor Brauner and/or Jules Perahim and Surrealism in Romania
• Paul Morand’s opinions on the Historical Avant-Garde
• Louis Rigal and His Decorative Programs in the U.S. (Palmer House, Chicago; Waldorf Astoria, NY; alternatively: Rigal at the Villa Abd-el-Tif and his drawings for publications of Paleolithic stone paintings in the Algerian desert)
• The French Academy in Rome between the Two World Wars
• Balthus as Director of the French Academy in Rome
• Italian mosaicists, 1920s to 1950s
• MisiaSert, Coco Chanel and Art
• Coco Chanel as Art Patron
• José Maria Sert and Dali
• Mariano Andreu and Theater Design
• Jean Cocteau and Picasso
• The Rivalry between Matisse and Picasso
• Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in Sweden
• Carlo Maria Mariani and the Anachronismo movement
• The Sculptural Program of the EUR, Rome
• The Belated Symbolism of Léonard Sarluis
• Pierre Roy and the Trompe-l’oeil Tradition (alternatively: Pierre Roy and the Hawaiian inspiration)
• Modern porcelain design by Sèvres
• The Palais de France Project in New York
• Claude Verlinde’s Art of the Imagination
• Marie-Laure de Noailles as Art Patron
• Lothar Günther Buchheim as collector and author
• André Gide and Modern Art
• Jean-Jacques Henner’s Students in the Twentieth-Century
• Yves Saint Laurent’s Taste as a Collector of Modern Art
• Peggy Guggenheim and Her Impact on the Venetian Art Scene during the Post-War Years
• Andé Malraux’s Art Theories: Their Influence and Their Origin
• François Schuiten and Fantastic Comic Art From Belgium
• Mario Tozzi and Academic Modernism in Italy
• Pierre Le-Tan’s Art and Social Circles
• Alexandre Roubtzoff’sTunisia
• Jacques Majorelle’s Morocco
• The Singer-Polignacs as Art Patrons
• François Augieras’ Primitivism
• Franz Radziwill and the Northern German Landscape
• Avant-Garde Art in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
• Marc Halingre and the Poetics of the Railroad
• The Fate of André Breton’s Apartment and Collection
• Konrad Klapheck’s Surrealist Machine Aesthetics
• Gaetano Pesce’s Pop Design
• The “Monument aux morts” as sculptural form
• The Role of Photography in André Malraux’s “Muséeimaginaire”
• Greek Artists in France
• Jean Metzinger’s “Retour à l’ordre”
• Memphis Design in the 1980s
• NapoleoneMartinuzzi’s Work in Glass
• The Circus in the Art of Serge Ferat
• The Fresco Circle in the Palais des Colonies, Paris
• The Panorama Museum in Bad Frankenhausen
• Was Beuys a Hoax Artist? Western German opinions on Beuys in the 1970s and 1980s
• GrishaBruskin and Postmodern Russian Art
• Raymonde Heudebert’s Life and Work
• The Cubist Porcelain of RoberLallemant
• Odette Pauvert, first female Prix de Rome winner and female professor at the ENSBA
• The Opening of the National Museum of Modern Art, Paris in 1937
• The Düsseldorf Art Academy until 1945
• Jorge Camacho and the Dance of Death
• Indian Maharajas as art patrons in Paris between the World Wars
• The Aesthetic Thought of Jean Clair
• Henri Le Sidander’s Intimist Symbolism
• Jean Despujols and Mannerism
• Carlo Scarpa’s Design in Architecture and Glass
• Eugène Robert Poughéon’sGraphic Design for Bank Notes
• Jean Dupas’ Fashion Advertisement
• Cassandre’s Art Deco Poster Design
• Marcelle Ackein’s Africa
• Bernard Boutet de Monvel and Fashion
• Marcel Delmotte and the Versatility of Belgian Modern Art