Professor Alison McQueen signs her new book, Empress Eugénie and the Arts: Politics and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century
On Tuesday, October 5th, Professor Alison McQueen, held the Canadian book launch of her new book, Empress Eugénie and the Arts: Politics and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century. The book launch was held at the Gallery on the Bay in Hamilton. Professor McQueen’s research on Eugénie has taken her to France, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Egypt and the United States where this past February, she presented a paper “Empress Eugénie and representations of Fashion in Second Empire France” at the College Art Association conference in New York City.
Professor McQueen, an associate professor of Art History at McMaster University, is the first scholar to examine Eugénie (1826-1920, wife of Napoleon III), in the context of her importance to the development of France’s institutions and international relations. This aspect of Eugénie’s life has, until now, been overlooked. McQueen’s book also studies the artistic transformation of Eugénie from her identity as an Hispanic woman into a leading figure in French politics.
Said Professor McQueen “Empress Eugénie will inspire many today as a significant patron of the visual arts and as a leading female public figure of the modern period.”
For further information about Empress Eugénie and the Arts: Politics and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century or the Friends of Art History lecture series at McMaster University, please contact Alison McQueen at ajmcq@mcmaster.ca.