- Rendez-vous de l'Institut
- Conference
Sites de séduction: jardins et folies du 18e siècle français by Eric HASKELL – Château de Bénouville
Sites for seduction: 18th century French gardens and follies
The aesthetics of exoticism and the configurations of eroticism as associated with dangerous acquaintances are at the very heart of this conference which illustrates the reaction to the 17th century “formal garden” before focusing on the “follies” that were built the following century in the shade of the guillotine. Over our tour round Monceau, the Désert de Retz and the Hameau de la Reine in Versailles, we will of course recall fertile historic, cultural and artistic contexts (architecture, decorative art, etc…) in order to better grasp the framework within which these landscapes were created.
Eric HASKELL
Eric Haskell is a professor in French studies at the Scripps College, Claremont University, California, where he is also director of the Clark Humanities Museum. He also studied history of art and architecture within the context of the higher education programme offered by the UCI and the École du Louvre in Paris. Dr Haskell’s lectures focus on the study of the political and social traditions that have shaped France. He has published around thirty works in English and French on a range of subjects, ranging from 19th century poetry to the history of gardens. In the specific field of the history of gardens and the aesthetics of landscape, Dr Haskell has organised over a dozen exhibitions.
Further reading :
Le Nôtre’s Gardens, RAM Publications, 1999
Les Jardins de Brécy : Le Paradis Retrouvé, Editions du Huitième Jour, 2007