Drawing Empire: Revolution, Colonialism, and Draughtsmanship in French-Occupied Egypt
Thadeus Dowad, Assistant Professor of Art History, Northwestern University,
This paper analyzes the role of drawing (le dessin) as an apparatus of colonialism during the French occupation of Egypt (1798–1801). Framing the Egyptian occupation as a unique site of French Revolutionary artmaking, this paper focuses on the draughtsman's role as a colonial agent and the imbrication of drawing in the Republic’s imperial project in the Ottoman Eastern Mediterranean. At the same time, this paper puts pressure on received understandings of French Revolutionary art by demonstrating that the meanings and functions of drawing were reshaped by local forces of Ottoman modernity. In occupied Egypt, French drawing became an unexpected arena for the articulation of Ottoman political aspirations.
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The Eighteenth-Century Seminar is designed to foster research and inquiry across the scholarly disciplines in eighteenth-century studies. It aims to provide a methodologically diverse forum for work that engages ongoing discussions and debates along this historical and critical terrain. Each year the seminar sponsors one public lecture followed by questions and discussion, and two works-in-progress sessions featuring pre-circulated papers.