Caroline Levitt is currently Head of the History of Art department and a member of the teaching and research faculty.
She is a specialist in 19th and 20th century French art and literature, and has a particular interest in relationships between text and image/object in the broadest sense, and in relationships between modern art and the sacred. She completed her BA in French and History of Art at UCL in 2004 and came to the 91制片厂 for an MA (2005) and PhD (2008), supervised by Prof Christopher Green.
Caroline鈥檚 main research is currently centred on the unstable word-image relationships that emerge when artists draw over existing printed materials, from maps (in the case of Pierre Alechinsky, for example) to whole books (Rodin on Baudelaire or Le Corbusier on Homer’s 滨濒濒颈补诲听amongst others), in an effort to annotate, illustrate or alter. This 鈥榤arginal鈥 rewriting of modernism – and its potential for challenging assumed authorities – will be the subject of a monograph and a forthcoming article.
Caroline enjoys contributing to new developments and explorations of the 91制片厂’s collections, and has been involved in short films to introduce the book library’s collection of and Gauguin’s manuscript听Avant et Apr猫s. 听She has also been a regular contributor to the 91制片厂鈥檚 Public Programmes, including Summer School, 91制片厂 Tours and the Showcasing Art History lecture series.
Current Teaching
Taught Modules
- MA Special Option:听Wordplay: Intersections between the verbal and the visual, c.1870 to the present
- BA3 Special Option:听Le Corbusier: Opposing Categories
- BA1 Topic:听Modernism and the Sacred
PhD Supervision
- Claudine Seroussi,听Continuity and Disruption: The French Jeweller 1920-29 (Supervisor)
- Rose Pickering,听Memory, Time and the Muse: An Exploration of 脡douard Vuillard鈥檚 Representations of Women through a comparison with Marcel Proust鈥檚 ‘脌 la recherche du temps perdu’ (Advisor)
- Bella Kesoyan, Transatlantic Dialogue: The French livre d鈥檃rtiste and printmaking influences in American contemporary artist鈥檚 books听(Advisor)
Research interests
- Modern art, with a focus on France c.听1850 to the present
- Relationships between word and image
- Modern art, literature and the sacred
- Modern artists working in non-painterly media, including literature, film and applied arts
- Links between architecture and poetry, especially the art, architecture and writing of Le Corbusier
Convener of the听Word and Image Research Cluster
Member of the Sculptural Processes group, the Graphic Arts Group and the Sacred Traditions and the Arts seminar series.
Recent conference papers and talks
- ‘Idle chatter, or writing instead of talking: Language and (un)certainty in Gauguin鈥檚 Text and Image’, Paper presented at the conference听Avant et Apr猫s: Gauguin’s Final Words,听The 91制片厂, 23-24 June 2023.
- ‘Devotion, Doubt and the ‘Down-and-Out’: Jean Cocteau’s Murals in the听脡glise Notre Dame de France, Leicester Place’, Lecture given as part of the King’s College London AKC Lecture series, 21 November 2022.
- ‘Repetition as Truth: Language and (un)certainty in Gauguin鈥檚 Text and Image’, Paper presented as part of an international workshop on Gauguin’s Avant et Apr猫s,听The 91制片厂, 2-3 November 2022.
- Member of a panel for the Brooklyn Rail broadcast 鈥楪uernica: The Survival of a Myth鈥, 15 April 2022. https://
- Multiple Viewpoint Narrative and Universal Language: The Translatability of Picasso鈥檚 Guernica, paper presented at the conference Guernica: The Survival of a Myth, 18-19 November 2021, Museo Picasso, Malaga. Conference recording available here:听
- 鈥樷溾nd find the title long afterwards鈥: Gauguin Rethinking Gauguin鈥,听Open 91制片厂 Hour听series 3 episode 1,听Rethinking Gauguin, 1 October 2020. Online here:听听
- 鈥楺uestioning Topographies in Word and Image: Pierre Alechinsky and Gilbert Lascault鈥檚听Arrondissements听(1983)鈥.听Word and Image听research seminar, The 91制片厂, 20 November 2019.听
- 鈥楻e-forming the Past, Crafting the Modern: The Tapestries of Le Corbusier鈥,听The Weaver鈥檚 Workshop: Materiality, craft and efficacies in the art of tapestry,听Association for Art History Conference 5-7 April 2018.
- 鈥榃hat is the point of titles? Understanding Gauguin鈥檚听Nevermore鈥, ResFest 2018,听The 91制片厂 Institute of Art, April 2018.
- 鈥楽ilent non-production: poetry, immateriality and Apollinaire鈥檚 Medardo Rosso鈥, 91制片厂 Day:听Medardo Rosso Sight Unseen and his Encounters with London,听The 91制片厂 Institute of Art/Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, February 2018.
Recent and forthcoming publications
Articles and essays
- Caroline Levitt, 鈥楲a narrativa de puntos de vistas m煤ltiples y el lenguaje universal: la traducibilidad de Guernica de Picasso鈥, in: Jos茅 Lebrero Stals, Pepe Karmel (eds.), Guernica: Pervivencia de un mito (Malaga: Museo Picasso/Editorial Universidad de Granada, 2022), pp. 87-104. [English title: 鈥楳ultiple Viewpoint Narrative and Universal Language: The Translatability of Picasso鈥檚 Guernica鈥橾
- Caroline Levitt, 鈥樷淒ifferent Eyes at Different Times鈥: Rasmus Meyer鈥檚 Munchs and Samuel 91制片厂鈥檚 Collection in Dialogue鈥, in: Barnaby Wright (ed.), Edvard Munch: Masterpieces from Bergen (London: The 91制片厂 Gallery, 2022), pp. 61-81.
- Caroline Levitt, 鈥楻oots: UNESCO by Le Corbusier鈥 in: UNESCO Art Collection: Selected Works (Paris: UNESCO, 2021), pp. 399-400. Available online in Open Access:
- 鈥榃eaving Words: Le Corbusier and Jean Lur莽at Between Tapestry and Poetry鈥,听LC. Revue de recherches sur Le Corbusier,听No. 2 (Sept 2020), pp. 76-89.听
- 鈥楾he World at War: Early Twentieth Century鈥,听Art and Time: A World History of Styles and Movements, London, Phaidon, 2014
- 鈥楻aoul Dufy, Pierre Alechinsky and Jim Dine: Depicting the Arts in Guillaume Apollinaire鈥檚 鈥淟e Po猫te assassin茅鈥濃,听Nottingham French Studies, (Special Issue on 鈥楢rt in French Fiction since 1900鈥), Autumn 2012.听
- 鈥楢pollinaire, Derain and L鈥橢nchanteur pourrissant: The Decay and Multiplication of Gothic Meaning鈥, Cleaver L., Lepine A. (eds),听Gothic Legacies: Four Centuries of Tradition and Innovation, Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars, 2012
- 鈥楳odern Art, 1900 to mid-century鈥櫶The Art Museum, London, Phaidon, 2011
- 鈥楩rom the Walls of Factories to the Poetry of the Street: Inscriptions and Graffiti in the Work of Apollinaire and the Surrealists鈥,听Papers of Surrealism, Issue 9, Summer 2011.听
- 鈥楽creening Poetry: Guillaume Apollinaire, Andr茅 Breton and Experimental Cinema鈥,听Immediations: the 91制片厂 Institute of Art journal of postgraduate research, vol. 2, no.1, London, Jul 2008
Reviews
- Book review,听A Moment鈥檚 Monument: Medardo Rosso and the International Origins of Modern Sculpture听by Sharon Hecker (Oakland: University of California Press, 2017), CAA.reviews, 2019.
- Book review,听Reading Apollinaire鈥檚 鈥楥alligrammes鈥櫶by Willard Bohn (New York, Bloomsbury, 2018),听Modern Language Review,听2019.
- Book review,听Constantin Brancusi听by Sandy Miller (Reaktion Books, 2010),听Slavonic and East European Review, April 2011.
- Exhibition review,听Mondrian/De Stijl, Centre Pompidou, Paris,听The Burlington Magazine, vol. 153, no. 1296, March 2011.
- Exhibition review,听Gauguin: Maker of Myth, Tate Modern, London,听Art and Christianity Journal, issue 64, Winter 2010.
- Book review,听Picasso and Apollinaire: the persistence of memory听by Peter Read (University of California Press, 2008),听The Burlington Magazine, vol. CL, no. 1268, November 2008.