This Saturday, April 29 at the MAMAC auditorium, Alexandre Gady, Professor of Modern Art History at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and Director of the André Chastel Center, will lead the conference “Art of Living and Social Theater: The Parisian Private Mansion (17th-19th Centuries).”
People talk about the palaces of Old Nice as they do about Italian palazzi or private mansions in the Marais in Paris. But what exactly does this term encompass? And what remains today of this civil noble architecture?
Developed in the Middle Ages, the formula of the Parisian mansion “between courtyard and garden” became, in the modern era, the quintessence of the French art of living. A place of residence, but also a venue for social demonstration, the homes of the Parisian elite needed to combine monumental architecture and richly decorated interiors, serving increasingly sophisticated distribution and ever more refined hospitality. Beyond the French Revolution, the mansion, like the castle, experienced a last golden age in the 19th century, demonstrating a remarkable capacity for adaptation.
Alexandre Gady
Born in 1968, Alexandre Gady is a Professor of Modern Art History at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and Director of the André Chastel Center (Research Laboratory in Art History). A specialist in architecture and urban planning in 17th and 18th century France, as well as in heritage, he has devoted numerous articles and books to royal architecture (Versailles, the Louvre…), Parisian monuments (Les Invalides), and private mansions, which he has studied for nearly twenty years.
In addition to curating several architecture exhibitions (Nancy Museum of Fine Arts, 2005; Carnavalet Museum, 2008, City of Architecture, 2011, …), Alexandre Gady is also President of “Sites et Monuments” (a national association recognized as being of public utility), a member of the National Commission for Historic Monuments, and the Regional Heritage and Sites Commission of Île-de-France.
In 2012, Alexandre Gady was appointed Knight of Arts and Letters.
