Impressionism Across Fields. New Interdisciplinary Perspectives.

Impressionism celebrates its 150th anniversary. This "plein air" art, whose anniversary we are celebrating, remains relevant by raising issues—related to territory and the environment, time and climate, or even the dialogue of arts—that resonate in our changing world. Viewing impressionist paintings in 2024 means putting into perspective this present moment filled with questions—around ecology, gender, plural identities, or the digital—that inevitably shape our perspective and enrich the understanding of this movement born in 1874.
Initiated by the University of Paris Nanterre, as part of its Impressionism research program supported by the University Foundation, in partnership with the Contract Normandy - Paris Ile-de-France : Impressionism Destination, this conference is co-organized with the musée d'Orsay on the occasion of the exhibition Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism.
Its aim is to discuss how impressionism is understood today by scholars from all over the world in different fields of research, and to deal with the history and the historiography of Impressionism. The conference will highlight new interpretations and readings of the movement.

On May 16th and 17th, the conference will take place at the auditorium of the Musée d'Orsay
Esplanade Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 75007 Paris
Free admission upon reservation
On May 18th, the conference will be held at the auditorium of the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA)
2, rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris
Free admission subject to availability
For registration please visit: https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/agenda/evenements/limpressionnisme-travers-champs
The conference will be fully translated in English and streamed live on the musée d'Orsay's YouTube channel.

THURSDAY, MAY 16, MUSÉE D'ORSAY, AUDITORIUM

10:00 AM: WELCOME
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM – OPENING REMARKS
Ségolène Le Men, Professor Emerita of Contemporary Art History, Paris Nanterre University
Paul Perrin, Chief Curator - Director of Conservation and Collections, Musée d'Orsay

11:00 AM - 12:30 AM – BEING IMPRESSIONIST?
Chair: Sylvie Patry, Chief Curator of Heritage/Artistic Director, Mennour, Paris
Christophe Charle, Professor Emeritus of Contemporary History, Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University
Being an Impressionist Artist: A Social History Attempt Through the Personal Archives of an Ambiguous Group
Marnin Young, Associate Professor and Chair of Art History at Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University
The Point of View of the Impressionists: Berthe Morisot in 1874
Alexandra Morrison, Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, New York Museum of Modern Art
Jacques-François: The Marquise de Rambures (1844-1924)

2:30 PM - 5:30 PM – ECOLOGY, TERRITORY, AND ENVIRONMENT
Chairs: Mary Morton, Curator and Head, Department of French Paintings, Washington, National Gallery of Art, and Olivier Schuwer, Associate Researcher at the Impressionism Program and General Coordination Manager MAGFF
Greg M. Thomas, Professor in the Department of Art History, University of Hong Kong
Impressionism’s Industrial Ecology
Genevieve Westerby, PhD candidate, University of Delaware
Impressionism and Extraction Ecologies on the Seine
Anna Lea Albright, Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) Fellow; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Do Certain Paintings by Turner and Monet Depict Trends in 19th Century Air Pollution?
Clare A.P. Willsdon, Professor of the History of Western Art, University of Glasgow
Impressionist Gardens at Argenteuil and Pontoise as Spaces of Artistic Renewal
Marion Duquerroy, Associate Professor in Contemporary Art History, Catholic University of the West (Angers)
Those Hovering Fogs: Claude Monet – Ólafur Elíasson, Environmental Perspectives

FRIDAY, MAY 17, MUSÉE D'ORSAY, AUDITORIUM

10:00 AM: WELCOME
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM: FROM EXHIBITION DISPLAY TO EXHIBITION MEDIUM
Chair: Félicie Faizand de Maupeou, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Paris Nanterre University
Isabelle Enaud-Lechien, Associate Professor Habilitated to Supervise Research in Contemporary Art History, University of Lille
Modelling the "Mr. Whistler's Exhibition" as a Tool of Evaluating the Coherence between Aesthetic Principles and the "Implementation" of a Pioneering Exhibition
Christian Huemer, Director of the Belvedere Research Center (Vienna)
"These Are Terrible Effects of Success": Monet's Serial Production and the International Art Market around 1900
Margot Degoutte, Temporary Teaching and Research Assistant in Contemporary Art History, Paris Nanterre University
Impressionism at the Venice Biennale in the 1930s: An Ambivalent Exhibition
Elise Wehr, Cultural Mediator, Graduate of the École du Louvre
Exhibiting Impressionism One Hundred Years Later: The Year 1974 Between Tradition and Revision

2:30 PM - 4:00 PM – IMPRESSIONISM ON PAPER
Chair: Anne-Sophie Aguilar, Assistant Professor, Paris Nanterre University
Dialogue between Hollis Clayson, Professor Emerita of Art History, Bergen Evans, Professor Emerita in the Humanities, Northwestern University
The Impressionist Intaglio Print: Oxymoron or Modernist Genre par Excellence?
and Ashley Dunn, Associate Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
Defining Impressionist Printmaking (Again)
Julien Faure-Conorton, Research and Scientific Valorization Officer for Collections, Albert-Kahn Departmental Museum
The Truth Lies Elsewhere: Pictorialism in the Context of Impressionism

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM: MATERIALITIES
Chair: Anne Robbins, Painting Curator, Musée d'Orsay
Anne Robbins, Nicoletta Palladino, Doctoral Candidate in Material Science, C2RMF, and Johanna Salvant, Conservation Scientist, PhD, Painting & Polychromy Group, C2RMF
The Modern Palette: New Perspectives on the Use of Zinc White in Impressionist and 19th Century Paintings
Fabienne Ruppen, Assistant Curator in the Department of Prints and Drawings, Kunstmuseum Basel
Sourcing the Support: Cézanne and the Impressionist Paper Trail

SATURDAY, MAY 18, INHA, JACQUELINE LICHTENSTEIN AUDITORIUM

9:00 AM: WELCOME
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM – RECONSIDER SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ART HISTORY
Chair: Richard Thomson, Professor in History of Art, University of Edinburgh
Dialogue between Andre Dombrowski, Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Associate Professor of 19th Century European Art, Department of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania
Monet's Perspective: Painting from the Customs Officer's Point of View
and Laura Anne Kalba, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Minnesota
Portraits at the Exchange/Portraits of the Exchange: Selfhood, Stereotype, and the Marketplace

10:45 AM - 12:00 AM – REVIEWING THE HISTORIES OF IMPRESSIONISM
Session: Barthélémy Jobert, Professor of Contemporary Art History, Sorbonne University
Neil McWilliam, Walter H. Annenberg Professor Emeritus of Art & Art History, Duke University
Seeing through Impressionism: Pierre Francastel and the Sociology of Modern Art
Jeremy Melius, Lecturer in History of Art, University of York
Elliptical Description: Roger Fry, Adrian Stokes, and the Eclipse of Impressionism

12:00 PM - 12:45 PM – IMPRESSIONIST RESEARCH NEWS
Félicie Faizand de Maupeou, Olivier Schuwer, Natacha Pernac, Paris Nanterre University
Presentation of the Impressionism program and its digital platform
France Nerlich, Pioneer of the Daniel Marchesseau Resource and Research Center, Musée d'Orsay
Presentation of the Center

2:00 PM - 4:30 PM – IMPRESSIONISM ON A GLOBAL SCALE
Chair: Kimberley A. Jones, Curator of Nineteenth-Century French Paintings, Washington, National Gallery of Art
Todd Porterfield, Professor in Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies, New York University
Impressionism and Empire
Tamara Dìaz Calcaño, Lecturer in Art History and Humanities, University of Puerto Rico
Impressionism as the Aesthetic of Nature and Labor in the 19th Century Caribbean
C.C. McKee, Assistant Professor of History of Art at Bryn Mawr College - Mads Øvlisen Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Copenhagen
Impressions of the Tropics, Prescient and Belated: Painting Labor, Race, and the Environment in the post-emancipation Danish West Indies
Marie Laureillard, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies Habilitated to Supervise Research, Lyon 2 University
Perceptions of Impressionism in Republican China (1912-1949)