THE IMAGINARY EAST | The Lure of the Exotic in French Decorative and Fine Art in the 19th Century with Sylvia Sagona

From the time the French Jesuits arrived in China in the 18th century, exotic porcelain became the cutting edge of chic for collectors such as Madame de Pompadour. By the 19th century as Japan opened up to trade and the French expanded their colonial Empire throughout Africa and the East, there was an increased fascination in these societies which, in Social Darwinian terms, were now in a state of decadence. This lecture will look at Orientalism and the impact of the great Paris Exhibitions of 1878 and 1889.

SYLVIA SAGONA is a Fellow of the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne specialising in 19^th century French art and society.