Iveta Slavkova
Assistant Professor
- Department: Art History and Fine Arts
- Office:C-504
- Office Hours:By appointment
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Professor Slavkova has a PhD in Art History from Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne dealing with the reaction of several avant-garde art movements to the humanism crisis around World World I. Stemming from this interdisciplinary dissertation, her monograph “Réparer l'homme. La crise de l’humanisme et l’Homme nouveau des avant-gardes autour de la Grande Guerre (1909-1929)” (2020, Dijon, Presses du Réel) explores the New Man of Futurism and the Bauhaus, their faith in the construction of a better world thanks to the Great War, their take on the evolving definitions of the self and the humanist subject in the beginning of the 20th century. Prof. Slavkova is actually working on a second book on artworld in Paris after World War II, focussing on the largely downplayed concept of abhumanism, and artists such as Jacques Audiberti, Camille Bryen and Wols. This project participates in a larger scholarly effort to reassess the European avant-garde after the Second World War, and to redefine the very notion of the avant-garde after this second catastrophe in the heart of the European civilization. She has edited volumes and published papers on topics related to art in the context of the world wars as well as on art education.
Education/Degrees
- PhD, Modern and Contemporary Art History, Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne
- MA, Modern and Contemporary Art History, Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne
- BA, Art History and Archaelogy, Université de Montpellier II Paul-Valéry
News
Articles Accepted for publication in Peer-reviewed Journals:
- “Camille Bryen Avant-gardist/Abhumanist: A Reappraisal of an artist who called himself the ‘best-known of the unknown’”, Arts, 10th anniversary issue, forthcoming in Winter 2022
- “The strange destiny of Wols, the « French Pollock ». Reflections on abhumanism and the the Parisian avant-garde in “Periphery” after World-War II,” for the special issue “Art in the Periphery — hommage to Foteini Vlachou", Revista de História da Arte, Lisbon (expected Fall 2020)
Editing
- Crisis, Berlin, De Gruyter. 7th volume in the series “European Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies”, co-edited David Ayers (University of Kent), Sascha Bru (University of Leuven), Kate Kangashlahti (University of Leuven), forthcoming 2022
- Earth as a Desert. Ecology and Surrealism, Delaware, Vernon Press, co-edited with Anne-Marie Butler (Kalamazoo College), Donna Roberts (University of Helsinki), Fall-Winter 2023
Conference organization
- 3d conference of the ISSS (International Society for the Study of Surrealism), Paris Fall 2021 (partners DFK/Centre Allemand d’Histoire de l’art Paris, Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle, Université Lyon-Saint-Etienne)
Papers and Panels accepted for conferences
- “Circus Wols, a reflection of Performance and the Avant-garde after the Collapse of Civilization”, June 2020, University of Brno Theatralia 2021: “Czech Historical Avant-Garde in the European Context”
- “Earth as a Desert: The Ecology of Surrealism in the Face of the Climate Crisis facing the crisis”, Panel for the CAA (College Art Association) Annual Meeting 2021 (February 2021, NYC), with Anne Marie Butler (Kalamazoo College)
Translation
- Translation from English into French The European Avant-Gardes, 1905-1935. A Portable Guide, Edinburgh University Press, 2018 by Sascha Bru (KU Leuven) (
- Publication in French expected in 2022-2023
- Translation from English into French The European Avant-Gardes, 1905-1935. A Portable Guide, Edinburgh University Press, 2018 by Sascha Bru (KU Leuven) (https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-european-avant-gardes-1905-1935.html)
- Publication in French expected in the Fall 2021
Research project
- « L’abhumanisme et l’art à Paris d’après-guerre. Réflexion sur une histoire oubliée. » (working title), HDR (Habilitation à diriger des recherches/equivalent of a second Ph.D in the French University system), supervisor Fabrice Flahutez (Professor, Université Lyon-Saint-Etienne), expected end 2023
Publications
BOOKS
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2020, Réparer l’homme. La Grande Guerre, la crise de l’humanisme et l’Homme nouveau du futurisme et du Bauhaus, Presses du réel (Dijon), 2020 (https://www.lespressesdureel.com/ouvrage.php?id=2218)
EDITED VOLUMES
- 2010, “Les Années 1930 : art et résistance. Éveil politique et engagement des artistes”, Dissidences, n°9, coedited with Jean-Paul Salles (Université de la Rochelle) and Vincent Chambarlhac (Université de Dijon)
- 2013, “Histoire des arts: une méthode des exemples”, Documentation photographique/La documentations française, n° 8091, co-written with Marianne Cojannot-Le Blanc (Université de Paris Ouest)
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS
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2021, “The strange destiny of Wols, the « French Pollock ». Reflections on abhumanism and the the Parisian avant-garde in “Periphery” after World-War II,” for the special issue “Art in the Periphery — hommage to Foteini Vlachou", Revista de História da Arte, n°9, May 2021, 83-97. (https://institutodehistoriadaarte.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/rha_w_9.pdf)
- 2020, “Cemetery=Civilization: Circus Wols, World War II and the collapse of humanism”, Arts: special Issue “World War, Art, and Memory: 1914 to 1945”, Volume 9, Issue 3, 93 (https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/9/3/93)
- 2018, « Entre charme et effroi. « Circus Wols », le récit de Wols des années terribles », in Nathalie Ponsard and Jean-Pierre Caron (ed.), La France en guerre : cinq « années terribles » 1792-1793 / 1814-1815 / 1870-1871 / 1914-1915 / 1939-1940, Rennes, PUR.
- 2017, “Histoire de l’art, histoire, culture visuelle”, Histoire@politique, n°33; special issue edited by Cécile Pichon-Bonin, Anastasia Simoniello, Jerôme Bazin: Image, éducation et communisme dans l’Europe des années 1920-1930 (http://www.histoire-politique.fr/index.php?numero=33&rub=pistes&item=39)
- 2013, “L’homme entre alpha et omega : vertus et périls de l’unité absolue. Le logo de Schlemmer pour le Bauhaus”, Histoire de l’art, n° 71 ; special issue edited by Camille Morando : L’Écrit dans l’œuvre
- 2013, “Surviving the Collapse of Humanism after World War II: the ‘Abhumanist’ Response of J. Audiberti and C. Bryen”, Contemporary French & Francophone Studies SITES, vol. 3, n°17
- 2011, “La bouteille de Wols, la plume de Sartre et une histoire à réécrire”, Food & History, vol. 9, n°1; special issue edited by Valérie Boudier and Frédérique Desbuissons: Inebriating Creations ; from the 16th to the 20th Century. Alcohol as Motor, Motif, and Metaphor in (Early) Modern Art
- 2010, “L’Exil avorté de Wols au comité Fry. Pour une multiplicité des résistances”, Dissidences n°9 ; special issue edited by Vincent Chambarlhac, Jean-Paul Salles and Iveta Slavkova: Les Années 1930 : art et résistance. Éveil politique et engagement des artistes
- 2007, “Deux aspects de la crise de l’humanisme dans l’entre-deux-guerres”, Mélusine, n°XXVII
PROCEEDINGS
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2018, « Entre charme et effroi. « Circus Wols », le récit de Wols des années terribles », in Nathalie Ponsard and Jean-Pierre Caron (ed.), La France en guerre : cinq « années terribles » 1792-1793 / 1814-1815 / 1870-1871 / 1914-1915 / 1939-1940, Rennes, PUR.
- 2016, “From eternal knight to modern hero. The aviator as the New Man of the avant-garde at the outbreak of the Great War”, 1914: Guerre et Avant-gardes, Presses universitaires de Paris Ouest, edited by Marine Branland
- 2012, “The Saatchi Collection Between Art Loving and Self-interested Investment”, Modernity of Collection, Torun, Contemporary Art Centre/University of Copernic,
- 2011, “Le Futurisme entre propagande et revendication libertaire”, Art & Propagande : jeux inter-dits/Gevaarlijk spel tussen kunst en propaganda, published as special issue of Témoigner/Getuigen, revue pluridisciplinaire de la Fondation Auschwitz, n°111, edited by Luba Jurgenson et Philippe Mesnard
- 2010, “Dalí entre 1925-1929. Le désir n’est pas humaniste”, Dalí. Sur les traces d’Eros, edited by Geneva, Editons Notari, edited by Frédérique Joseph-Lowery and Isabelle Roussel-Gillet
- 2009, “La Révolution surréaliste, un travail collectif pour défaire le sujet”, La Fabrique surréaliste, actes du séminaire du Centre de Recherches sur le Surréalisme/University of Paris III, edited by Maryse Vassevière: http://melusine-surrealisme.fr/henribehar/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/5.-Fabrique_BAT.pdf)
- 2004, “Circus Wols, un projet de Wols au camp des Milles”, Les Ecrits d’artistes depuis 1940, Caen, Editions de l’IMEC, edited by Françoise Levaillant
BOOK CHAPTERS
- 2019, “Utopies sociales et politiques des avant-gardes 1912-1968”, La vie intelectuelle en France xixe et xxe siècles, Paris, éditions du Seuil, edited by Laurent Jeanpierre (in vol. 2, first edition 2016)
- 2014, “La marginalité comme condition de l’art : l’alcoolisme de Wols vu par Sartre”, Arts drogués. Expériences psychotropiques et création artistique, Presses universitaires de Paris Ouest, edited by Miguel Egaña et Fabrice Flahutez
- 2011, “L’Humanisme aussi est un mythe. Prolégomènes à une peinture abhumaniste”, Art et mythe, Presses universitaires de Paris Ouest, edited by Thierry Dufrêne and Fabrice Flahutez (https://books.openedition.org/pupo/1994?lang=fr)
EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
- 2017, « Horreur et rédemption dans l’œuvre de guerre de Zinoview », Alexandre Zinoview. Un peintre russe sur le front français (1914-1918), edited by Cécile Pichon-Bonin et Alexandre Sumpf, Paris, Editions Gallimard ; exhibition at Péronne, Historial de la Grande Guerre, May 18—December 10 2017
- 2008, Work comments for five artworks in Le Futurisme et Paris, edited by Didier Ottinger, Paris/Milan, Editions du Centre Pompidou/5 Continents, translated into English and Italian; exhibition at the MNAM/Centre Pompidou, October 15, 2008—January 29, 2009
TEXTBOOKS
- 2011, French Literature Textbook, High school Junior Year, Paris, Editions Nathan: Hard copy textbook: conception and writing of sixteen double pages “History of the Arts” according to the curriculum topics
- Digital textbook: text and interactive resources (3D animation, and interactive formal analysis)
- Guide for the Professors (suggestions for answers to the assignments, and additional development on the images)
BOOK REVIEWS
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2019, « Utopie et réalité de la fin de l’art. L’art russe de la révolution d’Octobre à la mort de Staline au Grand Palais », Mémoires en jeu/Memories in stake, n° 9, Summer : Fall 2019 (exhibition) https://www.memoires-en-jeu.com/actu/rouge-art-et-utopie-au-pays-des-soviets/
- 2009, Catherine Wermester, Grosz, l’homme le plus triste d’Europe, Paris, Allia, 2008, 72p, notice 117, Critique d’art n° 33
- 2009, Chants exploratoires/Minotaure/La revue d’Albert Skira, 1933-1939, Genève, Cabinet des Estampes du musée, 2008, 111p, notice 246, Critique d’art n° 33
- 2009, Laurence Bertrand Dorléac, Maurice Fréchuret, Fernand Léger, Les Constructeurs, Paris, réunions des Musées nationaux, 2008, 55p, notice 197, Critique d’art n° 33
- 2009, Nicolas Beaupré and al., L’Autre Allemagne : rêver la paix (1914-1924), Milan, 5 Continents/Péronne, Historial de la Grande Guerre, 2008, 112p, notice 242, Critique d’art n° 33
GENERAL PUBLIC MAGAZINES
- 2021, “Camille Bryen, the Forgotten Glory of Saint-Germain-des-Prés”, La Gazette Drouot, October 2021, https://www.gazette-drouot.com/article/camille-bryen-the-forgotten-glory-of-saint-germain-des-pres/28430
- 2021, “Supports/Surfaces: Painting above All”, La Gazette Drouot, May 2021, https://www.gazette-drouot.com/en/article/supports%252Fsurfaces%253A-painting-above-all/24675
- 2021, “Wols between Myth and Reality”, La Gazette Drouot, February 2021, https://www.gazette-drouot.com/en/article/wols-between-myth-and-reality/21611
Conferences & Lectures
ORGANIZATION OF ACADEMIC CONFERENCES
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November 11th-14th 2021, 3d conference of the ISSS (International Society for the Study of Surrealism), https://surrealismstudies.org/isss-surrealisms-2021-schedule-and-how-to-join/
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December 14-15, 2010: Auditorium of the University of Paris Ouest, International conference “Les années 30: Art et Résistance”, with the Research lab HAR and the journal Dissidences (presentation of the special issue, the articles and authors, debates and round tables)
ACADEMIC CONFERENCES AND INVITED GUEST LECTURES
- March 15, 2019: “Abhumanism after World-War II Paris: a “Periphery” within a “centre””International conference “Art in the Periphery”, Instituto de História Contemporânea da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa e Instituto de História da Arte da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (Lisbon)
- November 2, 2018: “L’homme n’est peut-être pas le centre de l’univers” : Surrealism and Abhumanism, “SURREALISMS: Inaugural Conference of the ISSS”, Bucknell University Humanities Center
- September 6, 2018: “Abhumanism as realism: assuming a cruel humanity”, Realisms, EAM (The European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies), University of Münster
- March 12, 2018, “World War I and Commemoration”, guest lecture (invited), seminar Memory and Commemoration in Europe taught by Yael Hirsch, CIEE Paris
- September 15, 2017: “Oscar Schlemmer’s logo for the Bauhaus: the dictate of totalizing unity”, Dictators and degenerates. Modernism, Fascism and the Pursuit of Culture, University College Dublin
- June 17, 2016, « Entre charme et effroi. « Circus Wols », le récit de Wols des années terribles », La France en guerre : cinq « années terribles » 1792-1793 / 1814-1815 / 1870-1871 / 1914-1915 / 1939-1940, University of Clermont-Auvergne
- July 18, 2014: “The aviator, the avant-garde and the Great War. The crossing of the skies between ultimate spirituality and ultimate potential of destruction”, in Annual Conference of the “Space in Between” Society
- December 5, 2013: “L’aviateur : chevalier éternel, héros moderne, Homme nouveau des avant-gardes”, 1914 : Guerre et avant-garde, Université Paris Nanterre
- March 15, 2013: “La marginalité comme condition de l’art : l’alcoolisme de Wols vu par Sartre”, presentation of the article published in Les arts drogués (Presse Universitaires de Paris Nanterre), round tables and debates at Maison Rouge-Fondation Antoine-de-Galbert, Paris in relation to the exhibition Sous influences. Artistes et psychotropes, 15 février—19 mai 2013
- September 7, 2012: “Rethinking Camille Bryen's Materiality within the Framework of his Own Abhumanist Theory”, in Material meanings, EAM (The European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies), University of Kent, Canterbury
- April 11, 2011: “Le futurisme entre propagande et revendication libertaire”, in Art & Propagande : jeux inter-dits/Gevaarlijk spel tussen kunst en propaganda, Auschwitz Foundation/Bibliothèque royale Albertina, Brussels
- June 7, 2010 : Round table “The End of the Avant-Gardes” (invited), Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris
- September 26, 2009: “La bouteille de Wols”, in La Création ivre. L’alcool comme métaphore, moteur et motif artistique (16-20e siècles), Institut National d’Histoire de l’art (INHA), Paris
- July 2, 2009: “The New Man and Humanism: Back to the Difference between Dada and Futurism”, in Back to the Futurists: Avant-Gardes 1909-2009, Queen Mary University London, University of London, Swansea University with the collaboration of the Estorick Collection for Modern Italian Art
- October 17 2008: “The Saatchi Collection between Art Loving and Self-interested Investment”, Modernity of Collections, Center of Contemporary Art, Torun
- August 18, 2007: “Dalí entre 1925-1929. Le désir n’est pas humaniste”, Dalí. Sur les traces d’Eros, Cerisy-la-Salle
- June 16, 2007: “La Révolution surréaliste démythifie l’humanisme” (invited), Mythes autour de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, seminar at the Institut National du Patrimoine organized by Fabrice Flahutez
- February 3, 2007: “Détruire le sujet pour construire une communauté nouvelle. Réflexion sur Dada et le politique”, La Destruction et l’avant-garde, Institut National d’Histoire de l’art (INHA), Paris
- March 6-9, 2002: “Circus Wols, un projet de Wols au camp des Milles”, Les Ecrits d’artistes depuis 1940, École Normale Supérieure (Paris)/IMEC (Caen)
- April 5, 2001: “Wols entre la France et l’Allemagne”, conference and round table, Centre allemand d’Histoire de l’art (Paris)
GENERAL PUBLIC (SELECTION)
- May 28, 2019: « Le Futurisme », Université du Temps Libre, La Rochelle
- January 29, 2019: « La politique du corps sain : sport et société dans l’entre-deux-guerres », Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valence
- December 11, 2018: « Avant-gardes et sport à la Belle époque », Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valence
- February 10, 2017: “La nourriture dans l’art, du surréalisme à nos jours”, Amis du musée de Valence, lycée Notre Dame Valence
- October 12, 2017: “Cruauté et désir”, Université du Temps Libre, La Rochelle
- May 24, 2017: “Van Gogh et le Japon”, Université du Temps libre, La Rochelle
- February 16, 2017: “Cartographier/migrer: Art et expérience des lieux (art moderne et contemporain) ”, Amis du musée de Valence, lycée Notre Dame Valence
- March 17, 2015: “Varian Fry et les artistes candidats à l’exil”, Université du Temps libre, La Rochelle
- November 7, 2014: “Volontaire par culpabilité. Incitation et volontariat dans les affiches de recrutement de la Grande Guerre”, musée Promenade, Marly-le -Roi
- January 30, 2014: “Intégrité et morcellement. « Réparer » le corps après la Grande Guerre”, Université du Temps libre, La Rochelle
- February 20, 2013: “‘Nous ne resterons pas silencieux…’ Les artistes américains face à la guerre du Vietnam”, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valence
- November 21, 2012: “Histoire des arts : arts visuels, quelques clefs pour lire les images”, château de Grignan, Châteaux de la Drôme/ Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale
- February 12, 2012: “Le Corps comme empreinte” et “L’Objet dans l’art”, Amis du musée de Valence, lycée Notre Dame Valence
- January 27, 2011: “Renoir’s Nudes”, Association WICE Paris
- April 14, 2011: “Avant-garde et photographie”, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valence
- March 11, 2011: “Guernica de Picasso, mythe et engagement politique“, Université du temps libre, La Rochelle
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
- November 12 2021, “Earth as a Desert: Surrealism and Ecology (revisited)” Dr. Iveta Slavkova, Dr. Anne Marie Butler, Dr. Donna Roberts, Dr. Christina Heflin, Dr. Julia Drost, Dr. Samantha Kavky
- May 26 2021, “Penser le corps corps au-delà de l’humanisme, Jacques Audiberti et l’abhumanisme”, The politics and narratives of bodies/Politiques et récits du corps, May 26-28 2021, organised by Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (Argentina) and Fernando Gonçalves,Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxSNNPxkKW8&list=PLcXlcesjzxY_s3nIs0Oqip-tfwm_HvaI9&index=3 for my communication
- February 12 2021: “Earth as a Desert: The Ecology of Surrealism in the Face of the Climate Crisis facing the crisis”, Panel chair and organizer with Anne Marie Butler (Kalamazoo College), for the CAA (College Art Association) Annual Meeting 2021, online conference
- November 3d 2020: Presentation of my book Réparer l’homme at annual meeting of the “Association des Amis de Jacques Audiberti”
Affiliations
- 2019: External evaluator for the Research fellowship of the Auschwitz Foundation (Brussels)
- 2018: Member of the “International Society of the Study of Surrealism” (ISSS)
- 2017-present: Member of the association “Les Amis de Jacques Audiberti”
- 2016-present: Member of the Editorial Board of 20/21, Presses universitaires de Paris Ouest
- 2012-present: Member of the “European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies” (EAM)
- 2010-present, Member of the Research Lab “Histoire de l’art et des représentations” HAR, (EA 3461, Paris-Ouest-Nanterre)
- 2010-2014: Member of the editorial board of the journal Dissidences
- 2001-2012: Member of the Research Lab “Cultural and Social History of Art”, HiCSA (EA 4100, Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Research Areas
- Art, War, Politics, Humanism, New Man, avant-garde, modernism