STUDY TRAVEL
Would you love to go to France…and travel back in time?
199 T he Splendor and Spoils of France: French Culture, Art, and Design in the 17th and 18th Centuries Dates: Wednesday, 5:30-8:15 PM, June 7–July 29 Lecture Credits: 2 Prerequisites: 101/501 or 640
This year, NYSID is offering a virtual study abroad course that will feature lectures, active discussions, virtual site visits, film, and music, and explore a time when France emerged as the art and design capital of the world. In this online course, students will immerse themselves in all aspects of French life in order to investigate religious upheaval, royal rule, the rise of the bourgeoisie, and the experiences of the common man, all of which contributed to one of the most notorious moments in history, the French Revolution. French design in this period was a holistic practice and sought to create an overall mood that intertwined fine art, decorative arts, architecture, literature, fashion, and music. People met in social groups known as salons to discuss and debate all of these topics and often saw women play an integral role. By emulating salon culture, we will meet notable characters like King Louis XIV, whose ego was the only thing that could rival the exuberance of his glittering palace of Versailles. We will virtually visit the chateaux of the French countryside and explore Parisian hôtels de villes where we will encounter a new attitude in society that embraced comfort and transitioned into a more personal, intimate, and modern way of living, even though they loved to gild everything, from sconces to furniture to whole rooms. We will also consider the political,
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Château de BelOeil, Salon des Maréchaux Valencay-Le Château
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economic, and social conditions of the merchant class and day laborers that made all of this possible. And we will reconsider the role of the monarchy through the experience of the most famous Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. Instructor: Ann Bell Ann Bell teaches design history at the New York School of Interior Design, where her academic expertise is in European design of this period. She received her Master of Arts degree in art and design history from the prestigious Bard Graduate Center and also serves as the Assistant Manager of School Programs at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.
