On the basis of the art and architectural displays at the 1878 Exposition Universelle Internationale à Paris, this thesis investigates the conflicting claims of nationalism; the late nineteenth-century tensions between tradition and modernity; and the disparities between the intentions of the organizers and the perceptions of the visitors. Creating connections between methodological and theoretical issues of interest to art history and museum studies, the argument explores further and refines our understanding of what has been constitutive of Exhibitions. This thesis takes the 1878 Exposition Universelle Internationale à Paris as its focus, in order to further appreciate the extent to which Exhibitions were able to influence their visitors’ minds and bodies. It scrutinizes a wide range of material generated as part of the national participation of the United Kingdom to this event in specific case studies for both breadth and depth of understanding. The examination of material published in 1878 newspapers provides evidence of a critical gaze within the Exhibition boundaries. International and universal Exhibitions have been significant events in producing and conveying various messages about diverse topics to unprecedentedly large audiences. Their rich content entailed the production and consumption of diverse experiences and meanings beyond attempt of controlling bodies and behaviours. The study of the British participation in the 1878 International Street or Rue des nations uncovers the tensions between symbols, taste and technology in architecture. Original research in the archives of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, gives a particular insight in the role of a key institution in the preparation of a national visual arts exhibition in the 1878 Paris Exposition. The examination of the reception of a particular artwork provides a useful counterpoint to these first institutionally-oriented analyses. Focusing on W. P. Frith’s The Railway Station (1862) offers a different perspective to understand the way a vast array of contemporary meanings could impact the reception of a particular work. The investigation of the critical reception of British paintings in 1878 France emphasizes the strength of cultural narratives beyond the specific vision for the Exhibition.

This study examines the role of social media in maintaining interest in classic cinema in today’s media culture. Ethnographic analyses and case studies were performed within a robust classic cinema fan network on the social media blogging site Tumblr. The practices of these bloggers and their online platform are framed against the traditional structure of the curator and museum, indicating that they serve many of the cultural functions attributed to these institutions. This study further demonstrates that these Tumblr networks serve as a resource for young people to discover, share, and create communities relating to classic cinema. Due to the networking capabilities of Tumblr’s youth-oriented platform, these fan activities reach a broad range of individuals, exposing them to scenes and actors from classic cinema, stimulating interest in and acceptance of the cinematic framework of classic films. This content visibility and distribution potentially draws those outside the community into the extant fan network. These communities and practices represent previously unexplored methods by which classic cinema appreciation may develop and thrive within the fast-paced media culture of the 21st century. / text

Le progrès scientifique et technologique n'est pas sans faille – les conséquences imprévues de son application peuvent causer de nouveaux problèmes. Tel est le constat machiavélien sur lequel est fondé le projet En imparfaite santé : la médicalisation de l'architecture du Centre Canadien d'Architecture (2011-2012), présenté sous forme d'exposition et de catalogue. Ce mémoire étudie comment les deux plateformes, la première étant expérientielle et la seconde théorique, formulent une critique du processus de la médicalisation actuelle, lequel est entré dans le champ de l'architecture contemporaine. L’exposition est approchée comme discours et comme installation d’objets pour un public; une attention particulière est alors portée à la scénographie et au parcours du visiteur. D’autres réflexions ont pour objet le graphisme, un outil soutenant le leitmotiv de confrontation. Dans l’étude du catalogue, l’accent est mis sur l’essai d’introduction, qui est implicitement traversé par le concept fondamentalement ambivalent de pharmakon. Le péritexte, l’encadrement physique du contenu principal de l’ouvrage, est aussi examiné. Ensuite, l’analyse comparative propose que chaque plateforme véhicule un propos différent, une stratégie rendue possible par l’ambivalence de la notion de corps, entendue littéralement et métaphoriquement. La conclusion finale du mémoire esquisse une courte proposition de contextualisation, autant de cette dualité que de la remise en question de l’autorité du discours techno-scientifique. Bien qu’En imparfaite santé dirige sa critique envers la persistance de la vision moderniste de l'architecture, nous avançons que le projet concerne tout autant, sinon plus, l'omniprésence actuelle du numérique. Ce dernier, à l’instar de l’architecture moderne, ne modifie pas seulement la conception du corps humain et architectural, il renforce également une croyance positiviste dans la technologie qui n'est pas toujours contrebalancée par la pensée critique. / Scientific and technological progress is not without fault – the unforeseen consequences of its implementation may cause new problems. This is the underlying Machiavellian observation of the project Imperfect Health: the Medicalization of Architecture by the Canadian Centre for Architecture (2011-2012), presented as an exhibition and a catalogue. This dissertation studies how both platforms, the first being experiential, and the second theoretical, put forward a critique of today's medicalization process that has entered the field of contemporary architecture. The exhibition is approached as a discourse as well as an installation of objects for the public. A special focus is directed towards the scenography and the path of the visitor through it. Another aspect considered is the role of the graphic design, which serves as an instrument supporting the leitmotif of confrontation. In the study of the catalogue, the emphasis is put on the introductory essay, in which the fundamentally ambivalent concept of the pharmakon, while never stated, continually runs through it as an implicit theme. The peritext, which designates the physical framing of the catalogue’s main content, is also examined. A comparative analysis follows and concludes that each platform communicates a different message, proposing that this strategy has been made possible by the ambivalence of the concept of the body, understood literally and metaphorically. The conclusion of the dissertation presents a brief opening towards a contextualisation of this dual interpretation and of the questioning of the authority held by technical and scientific discourse. Even if Imperfect Health directs its critique towards the modernist vision of architecture that still prevails, we infer that the project is as much, if not more, about today's omnipresence of the digital. The latter, like modern architecture, does not only impact the understanding of the human and architectural body, it also reinforces a positivist belief in technology that is not always counterbalanced by critical thought.

Pour respecter les droits d'auteur, la version électronique de ce mémoire a été dépouillée de ses documents visuels et audiovisuels. La version intégrale du mémoire a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal. / Ce mémoire, consacré à la mise en exposition des œuvres d’art spoliées par les nazis, est particulièrement dédié à la vague d’expositions actuelles opérant de 2005 à 2010. À travers cet événement muséal unique de l’ordre d’une exposition temporaire par an en moyenne, prédomine un regain d’intérêt envers les événements liés à Seconde Guerre mondiale. Partant de ce constat singulier, nous avons retracé les grands enjeux actuels de ces expositions. Ce mémoire présente une rétrospective de ces dernières de 1946 à 2010. L’exposition d’œuvres spoliées en France fit l’objet d’une recherche inédite de la part de l’influente historienne de l’art Reesa Greenberg en une périodisation muséographique d’où sont issus trois cycles s’étendant de 1933 à la publication de son article en 2004. L’association d’une seconde périodisation à celle de Reesa Greenberg, de l’ordre de l’événementiel, fut ajoutée à l’analyse, celle-ci concernant deux cycles de politique publique de restitution en France de l’historienne Claire Andrieu. La combinaison de ces deux sources témoigne de deux phases importantes de restitution et de mise en exposition, soit une première après 1945 et une seconde à la fin des années 1990, mettant en lumière de nombreuses associations entre la spoliation des œuvres et l’Holocauste, les diverses persécutions faites aux Juifs et l’évolution de notre regard sur ces événements. La poursuite de cette réflexion fut rendue possible grâce à l’étude de cas consacrée à la mise en exposition d’une partie des œuvres restituées en 2006 par le gouvernement de Hollande à la belle-fille du collectionneur juif Jacques Goudstikker, dont la galerie fut spoliée en 1940 à Amsterdam par Hermann Göring. De ce fait, une visite de l’exposition au Jewish Museum de New York en 2009 fut incluse à l’analyse globale des expositions européennes actuelles. Au sein de cette nouvelle phase de mise en exposition, alors que la restitution des œuvres est régulièrement contestée, la relation entre la mémoire des disparus devenus les fantômes de l’Holocauste et leurs biens est omniprésente. Ainsi les expositions, en ce début du XXIe siècle, nous permettent plus que jamais d’affirmer que les événements liés au pillage artistique font encore partie d’un récit toujours inachevé. / This thesis, dedicated to the display of looted art by Nazis after World War II, is particularly dedicated to the wave of current exhibitions operating from 2005 till 2010. Throughout this unique museum event, which consists of one temporary exhibition per year on average, a renewed interest for the events pertaining to World War II prevails. Considering this singular statement, we examined the major current stakes in these exhibitions. This thesis presents a retrospective of these exhibitions from 1946 till 2010. Looted art exhibitions in France have been the object of important research by the influential art historian Reesa Greenberg and were presented in a museographic periodisation from which arise three phases contained between 1933 and 2004, the year of her article’s publication. The addition of two cycles based on French public restitution policy by the historian Claire Andrieu, besides the one proposed by Reesa Greenberg, was included in our analysis. In embodying these two sources, we have testified to two important phases of restitution dealing with exhibition, beginning after 1945 for the first one and at the end of the 1990s for the second one, bringing to light numerous associations between the artistic plunder and the Holocaust, the manifold persecutions against Jews and the evolution of our perception on these events. The pursuit of this reflection was made possible thanks to the case study dedicated to the exhibition of the art collection that was partly returned in 2006 by the Netherlands’government to the daughter-in-law of the Jewish collector Jacques Goudstikker, whose gallery was looted in 1940 in Amsterdam by Hermann Göring. Therefore, a visit of the exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York in 2009 was included in the global analysis in order to facilitate our understanding of the current exhibitions. Within this new phase of exhibition, where the reclaiming of the looted paintings is regularly disputed, the relation between memory, the dead and the missing persons who have become the ghosts of the Holocaust and their stolen properties is omnipresent. Thus the exhibitions, at this beginning of the XXI century, allow us more than ever to assert that the events bound to the artistic plunder are still a part of a yet unfinished chapter.

Pour respecter les droits d'auteur, la version électronique de ce mémoire a été dépouillée de ses documents visuels et audio-visuels. La version intégrale du mémoire a été déposé au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal. / L’exposition Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi : Father and Daughter Painters in Baroque Italy se tint au Metropolitan Museum of Art à New York du 14 février au 12 mai 2002. De tout ce qui fut écrit en lien avec cet événement, il ressort deux tendances principales. Tandis que certains clament la prééminence d’Orazio Gentileschi sur sa fille en se basant sur le message véhiculé tant dans l’exposition que dans son catalogue, d’autres, rassemblés autour des féministes, remettent en question cette vision en relevant les partis-pris culturels jouant en défaveur des femmes. Le jumelage expositionnel constitue un événement muséal temporaire dans lequel deux artistes sont juxtaposés afin de faciliter un jugement comparatif. Parmi les épisodes récents de cette nature, on compte notamment Matisse-Picasso. Nous nous pencherons ensuite sur deux artistes issus d'une même famille, mais appartenant à deux générations différentes, à savoir : Orazio et Artemisia Gentileschi. En relation avec l’exposition qui leur fut dédiée en 2002, nous nous demanderons plus précisément comment la prédominance que désiraient accorder les commissaires à Orazio Gentileschi s'articule devant la célébrité affirmée d’Artemisia depuis 1916. Le dossier critique de l'événement servira de point de départ à notre étude. Toute exposition constituant un discours, nous analyserons les commentaires et critiques provenant tant des revues savantes que populaires. La théorie de la réception de Stuart Hall aidera à catégoriser les différentes interventions selon qu'elles appartiennent au code hégémonique, c'est-à-dire à la vision exprimée par les commissaires, au code oppositionnel, correspondant ici à la critique féministe, ou encore au code négocié qui représente une synthèse des deux tendances précédemment mentionnées. / Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi: Father and Daughter Painters in Baroque Italy took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 14 February 14 to 12 May 2002. Of all that was written about the event, two main tendencies stand out. While some claim Orazio’s preeminence by basing their assumption on both the exhibition and its catalogue, feminists call into question this assumption by drawing attention to cultural biases that disfavor women’s artistic recognition. The exhibitional pairing formula constitutes an extension of this phenomenon by allowing the public to make up their own judgement. Among recent episodes of that nature, we can think of Matisse-Picasso. We are also going to study two artists of the same family, to wit, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi. Relative to the exhibition dedicated to them in 2002, we are going to ask ourselves how Orazio’s dominance defended by the two exhibition organizers is articulated with Artemisa’s celebrity. The critical dossier of the event will serve as the starting point of our analysis. Considering that every exhibition constitutes a discourse, we are going to examine both popular and academic comments and critiques of the event. Stuart Hall’s reception theory is also going to assist us in determining if these interventions belong to the exhibition curators’ dominant code, the feminist critique’s oppositional code or the negotiated code that represents a blend of the former two positions.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Les musées d’art sont des lieux privilégiés pour contempler les productions artistiques du passé et d’aujourd’hui. En vertu de leur mandat, ceux-ci ont la tâche difficile de concilier leurs fonctions de délectation et d’éducation du public. Certains favorisent une approche plutôt que l’autre, mais tous portent un regard subjectif sur ce qu’ils exposent. Même si les oeuvres semblent être disposées naturellement dans les salles, tout ce qui relève de la conception et de la réalisation des expositions est savamment construit et résulte d’un parti-pris de la part du musée. En fonction de ses choix, c’est-à-dire de ce qu’elle présente ou non et comment elle le fait, l’institution muséale participe à la définition de ce qu’est l’art et influence la signification des oeuvres. En conséquence, chaque musée est producteur d’un discours qui véhicule notamment sa vision de l’histoire de l’art et ses valeurs institutionnelles. Ce discours est produit tant par les écrits qui sont installés auprès des oeuvres que par l’ensemble du dispositif muséographique qui les entoure. Ce mémoire explore, à travers l’analyse comparative de quatre musées des beaux-arts québécois, les éléments constitutifs d’un tel discours ainsi que les relations qui s’instaurent entre les différentes composantes du discours muséal et ce qui est montré dans leurs salles d’exposition. / Art museums are the perfect settings to gaze at past and actual works of art. According to their mandate, the museums have to conciliate two functions that can be difficult to manage, that is to say their functions of enjoyment and education. Some favor one approach instead of the other, but each museum is subjective in the way it exhibits works of art. Even if the art seems to be displayed naturally in the galleries, everything that is related to the conception and the realisation of the exhibition is the object of a construction and results from a decision of the museum. In accordance with their choices, that is to say which objects are presented or not, and the way they are exhibited, the museums contribute to define what art is, and influence the meanings of the works of art. Consequently, each museum transmits its own vision of art history and its institutional values. This particular discourse can be foregrounded as much by the writings installed near the works of art as by the museography around them. With a comparative analysis of four fine arts museums from the province of Quebec (Canada), this thesis explores a typology of museums discourses, as well as the intertwined relations between the different components of those discourses and the works of art that are shown in their galleries.

Cotutelle de thèse France-Québec : Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 et Université de Montréal. Pour respecter les droits d’auteur, la version électronique de cette thèse a été dépouillée de certains documents visuels. La version intégrale de la thèse a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal. / Cette thèse a pour but d’étudier les diverses représentations du Moyen Âge au Québec à travers un corpus d’expositions parcourant le XXe siècle et le début des années 2000. Nous nous intéressons au rôle joué par l’espace muséal québécois dans la diffusion de discours sur cette période européenne. Chaque exposition est replacée dans son contexte de création afin de mettre en évidence les raisons d’ordres religieux, culturels, politiques et linguistiques qui incitent les musées à privilégier telle ou telle représentation du Moyen Âge. / This thesis aims to study the various representations of the Middle Ages in Quebec through a corpus of temporary exhibitions held during the twentieth century and the early 2000s. We question the role played by the Quebec museums in the diffusion of discourses about this European period. In order to highlight the religious, cultural, political or linguistic reasons for museums to focus on a specific representation of the Middle Ages, each exhibition is replaced within its original context of creation.

Master diploma thesis "The Media Portrayal of Czechoslovak attendance at International Exhibition in Montreal 1967 in contemporary press" intends to show media picture of Czechoslovak attendance at Expo 1967, through the use of analysis of selected daily press and social and cultural journals. It sets Czechoslovak attendance into political, cultural, ideological and media context and outline history and development of International Exhibition. Thesis also introduces Montreal exhibition and present information about attendance of Czechoslovakia. On this foundations arise the second part of the thesis, which propounds the media picture of this event in selected contemporary press and using analysis of self-mindedness that refers to rate of statement of facts and objectivity. Selected press and journals were monitored for a period of eight months and by researching there was considered form o reporting, ideological affection and general focus of selected press about this event. Important considered elements were also influence of freeing atmosphere of second half of sixties and fact, that exhibition took place in capitalistic state. Outcome of all these circumstances is media picture of this event, which is shown in conclusion of thesis.

v AJ The world exhibition in Brussels in 1958 marked an important event in the history of the Czechoslovakian totalitarian art history. Until today it is still a reminder of the high quality art handicraft, design and multimedia formation. In the atmosphere of the Cold war the EXPO 58 became a symbolical clash of the capitalist and socialist principles of government and a comparison of skills and abilities of their representatives (US and USSR). The attention of the visitors and the media surprisingly concentrated on the Czechoslovakian exposition, which apart from the traditional products presented also some new initiations in artistic and technological branches and contributed to the establishment of the so called Brussels life style. It was the Czechoslovakian success which helped the media to use the mechanisms of propaganda. Using three daily newspaper and two weekly magazines this work is trying to capture how was the Czechoslovakian participation showed to the public and what features of propaganda were used.