Dr. Basile Baudez
Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology
George H. and Mildred F. Whitfield Preceptor in the Humanities
Ph.D., Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, 2006; MA, Ecole nationale des Chartes, Paris
Basile Baudez specializes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European architecture. Focusing on the role of architecture in politics and society, his latest research investigates the ways in which textile elements shape our understanding of urban space. His first book Architecture et Tradition Académique au Siècle des Lumières (2012) questions the nature of the relationship between political bodies and architects in early-modern European academies. His co-edited volume Chalgrin. Architectes et Architecture entre l’Ancien Régime et l’Empire(2016) considers the impact of the French Revolution on a generation of neo-classical, European architects. He has curated exhibitions on architectural drawings at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. His latest book, Inessential Colors: Architecture on Paper in Early Modern Europe (Princeton University Press, 2021) questions the role of color in Western architectural representation from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century under the concepts of imitation, convention, and affect. He argues that color is only used by architects at moments when their trade comes closer to either the cartographic world of engineers or the picturesque realm of painters.
Currently, Baudez is working on his next book, tentatively entitled Fabric and the City: Textile in Eighteenth-Century Venice. Based on visual, literary, and archival material, this book aims to dress a model of reading soft architecture as a sign of resistance against the intrusion of the State in the private lives of its citizens. This book takes on the assumption that most textile elements that are seen in an urban context – carpets on balconies, curtains and awnings, market stalls, flags, parasols, and garments worn outside of homes – help to blur the rigid boundaries between private and public space.
Baudez joined Princeton’s faculty in 2018. Previously, he was assistant professor of architectural history at the Paris-Sorbonne University. He has also served as visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Pratt Institute. His research has been supported by grants from the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts (CASVA), the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and the Getty Research Institute.
Victoria Bergbauer
Princeton University Department of History, Third Year PhD Candidate
Cohort: 2019-2020
Victoria Bergbauer studies French and European history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her dissertation traces the fate of imprisoned adolescent boys and girls and their life beyond prison in nineteenth-century Europe. Exploring the history of juvenile criminality in a comparative frame, Victoria’s research will shed light on the international dialogue that emerged around the reintegration project of formerly incarcerated people.
After earning an undergraduate degree with First Class Honors at University College London, Victoria completed her MA research degree and thesis, entitled “La Marque de la Prison : Trajectoires des jeunes libérées en France (1830-1880)”, with distinction in Contemporary History at the Université de Paris-1, Panthéon Sorbonne.
Currently her interests focus on the relationship between disease, criminality, and architecture in French and European history. Her article, “Prosthetic Village”(link is external), appeared in e-flux journal in November 2020 and explored how the physical legacies of World War One shaped new architectural experiments. Victoria presented her research at conferences, including the annual meeting of the Society for French Historical Studies, and conferences held at the Paris Institut d'Études Politiques and Université Paris-1, Panthéon-Sorbonne.