Paris and Havana: A Century of Mutual Influence

<p>This dissertation employs an interdisciplinary approach to trace the history of exchange and influence between Cuban, French, and Francophone Caribbean artists in the twentieth century. I argue, first, that there is a unique and largely unexplored tradition of dialogue, collaboration, and mutual admiration between Cuban, French and Francophone artists; second, that a recurring and essential theme in these artworks is the representation of the human body; and third, that this relationship ought not to be understood within the confines of a single genre, but must be read as a series of dialogues that are both ekphrastic (that is, they rely on one art-form to describe another, as in paintings of poems), and multi-lingual. Finally, I contend that these translational relationships must be examined within the greater context of twentieth-century modernisms, particularly Surrealism. I apply critical, theoretical and philosophical frameworks articulated by Edouard Glissant, Antonio Benitez Rojo, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty to four case studies of inter-genre, inter-national, multilingual dialogues unfolding over the course of the century to reveal dynamic figurations of bodies that are at once visual, poetic and performative. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

French

Grantor

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Pedro, Laila

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mary Ann Caws

• English Language and Literature
• History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology
• Latin American Languages and Societies
• Latin American Studies
• Aesthetics
• Cuba
• France
• Painting
• Poetry
• Visual Culture

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/264

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-1263