ECR NINETEENTH-CENTURY ART NETWORK
About the Network:
The ECR French Nineteenth-Century Art Network is a forum for early career researchers working on the art of France and the Francophone world across the long nineteenth-century. It offers a platform for scholars to connect (both online and in person); present and share their research; engage with new areas of research; and develop skills and tools for a career within the fields of art history, museums, further education, and beyond. While all are welcome to attend sessions, share constructive comments, and ask informed questions, the Network aims to serve the needs of prospective and current graduate students as well as those who completed their graduate studies within the last ten years.
The Network meets principally online and is free to participate. We offer regular events as well as a monthly email bulletin with calls for papers, notices, job opportunities, and other relevant news and information. Our member directory fosters contact with other Network members.
We welcome more senior scholars to attend Research Forums and Network Sessions, keeping in mind that our principal aim is to platform, support, and engage positively with early career researchers.
About our Research Forums:
The Research Forum is a bi-monthly virtual forum in which an early-career scholar presents their recent research. Topics range from a chapter from a recently defended thesis or published book, an overview of a major research project, or as a session in which to develop in-progress ideas on a major project. The forum is a space for emerging scholars to publicly share their work in a supportive environment. A question-and-answer portion following the presentation allows attendees to engage with the topic and ask about content and process.
The events are open to all to attend.e welcome proposals from ECRs who are interested in presenting; email your proposed topic and possible dates to info@ecrfrenchart.com
About our Network Sessions
Our bi-monthly Network Sessions bring together multiple perspectives on predetermined topics reflecting a range of research questions and methodological approaches. Previous Network Sessions have taken the form of multi-speaker panels on a shared research theme; behind-the-scenes curatorial roundtables; lightning talks; as well as professional and pedagogical development (e.g. publishing, funding applications, using archives). Our Network Sessions each follow a different format, but broadly involve multiple speakers to bring in different points of view and encourage open dialogue through question-and-answer segments. We welcome presentations on in-progress projects to offer our members an opportunity to pose questions and receive feedback from our community. Network Sessions tend to be more fluid and informal, relative to our Research Forums .
The events are open to all to attend. We welcome proposals from ECRs who are interested in organizing or participating in a session.
Committee:
The network is organised by five committee members that ensure integrity, diversity, and inclusion in the network. The five committee members at present are as follows:
Matthew French (University of Birmingham)
Matthew French is a PhD candidate in the History of Art at the University of Birmingham. His thesis, ”Toulouse-Lautrec, caricature, and the marketing of modern art,” traces the proliferation of caricature that took place at the fin de siècle, setting this within the context of the infrastructural changes that occurred of art's politics. More broadly, his research also considers the work of the Nabis, dealers and critics, and the history of art history. He is co-founder of the ECR Nineteenth-Century French Art Network.
Dr. Nikki Georgopulos (University of British Columbia)
Nikki Georgopulos is an assistant professor of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European art history at the University of British Columbia. She previously served as the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow in the Department of French Paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where she worked on the curatorial team of the landmark exhibition, Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment. She received her PhD in Art History & Criticism from Stony Brook University in 2020, and has published widely on the work of Mary Cassatt. Her current book project examines representations of mirrors and reflections in nineteenth-century French art.
Dr. Jordan Hillman (The Bruce, New York)
Jordan Hillman is a curatorial associate at the Bruce Museum. Before coming to the Bruce, she was an Annual Subject Fellow at the Centre allemand d’histoire de l’art, Paris. In 2023, she received her PhD in Art History from the University of Delaware with a dissertation that examined the ways in which artists subverted police authority through image making in turn-of-the-century Paris, a subject she has explored in several publications. Previously, she was a curatorial research assistant in the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art for the exhibition “Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power and Protest.” Her current curatorial project examines Odilon Redon’s noirs through the lens of late nineteenth-century scientific advancements and the anxieties that attended them.
Allison Perelman (Washington University in St. Louis)
Allison Perelman is a PhD candidate in Art History and Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in the art and decorated spaces of nineteenth-century Europe. Her dissertation is titled “Private Space, Public Self: Studios of the Avant-Garde in Fin-de-Siècle France.” She previously served as the dedicated research associate for nineteenth-century exhibitions in the Department of Painting and Sculpture of Europe, Art Institute of Chicago, contributing to Van Gogh’s Bedrooms (2016) and Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist (2017), among others. Her writing has been published by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée d’Orsay, the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Oxford University Press, and Thames & Hudson.
Oriane Poret ( Université Lyon 2)
Oriane Poret is a PhD candidate in Art History at Université Lyon 2, France. After contributing to the 2022 Rosa Bonheur monographic exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay, she embarked on her doctoral research. Her dissertation explores the ways in which animals were appropriated and exploited as part of artistic practices in the nineteenth century, through the case of Rosa Bonheur. Her research is generously supported by the Fondation des Amis pour le Rayonnement des Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie and Université Lyon 2. Oriane has presented her work at various international conferences and has contributed to exhibition catalogs for institutions such as the Musée d’Orsay and the Barnes Foundation. She is a Visiting Scholar at Wesleyan University under the supervision of Kari Weil from January to April 2025.
Member Directory:
The network also has a member directory for members to find scholars working in their or different fields. To access the directory please add your details to the form, upon which you will be granted access to the member directory. Please use this to network with others working in the field of nineteenth century French visual culture. Please also send respectful requests and only make appropriate, professional contact with someone.