Elena Chestnova // Art and architecture of identity among popular audiences of the nineteenth century
Discussions of art and architecture during the nineteenth century opened up to an increasingly broad audience. A number of "popular" formats of engagement emerged during the period including the illustrated periodical, the cheap book, the display (both commercial and philanthropic), and the public lecture. In parallel to this, the possibility of consuming artistic productions through copies, engravings and objects of design also grew significantly. Rather than treating these events as pedagogical undertakings that disseminate knowledge down the social hierarchy, this project proposes to look at them as discourses in their own right. It postulates that "popular" audiences were much more than passive recipients of instruction on the issue of "correct" taste. It examines how they engaged with art and architecture during the nineteenth century and how this engagement interacted with performances of individual, group, and national identity.