La Maison Française will host an illustrated lecture dedicated to French modernist art in partnership with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, an evening with Goncourt First Novel Prize winner Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, and a new French book club led by renowned author Catherine Cusset, among other events.
All events are held at La Maison Française, 16 Washington Mews (between University Place and Fifth Avenue), and are free, open to the public and in English, unless otherwise noted. Seating for free events is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call 212.998.8750 or visit La Maison Française. Subways: R, W (8th Street); 6 (Astor Place); A, B, C, D, E, F, M (West 4th Street).
Wednesday, September 11, 7:00 p.m.
Hidden Histories in Paint from Manet to Picasso: Re-examining the Thannhauser Collection
Illustrated lecture on French modernist art with speakers from the Guggenheim Museum:
JULIE BARTEN - Senior Painting Conservator and Associate Director of Conservation Affairs
MEGAN FONTANELLA - Curator, Modern Art and Provenance
VIVIEN GREENE - Senior Curator, 19th and early 20th-Century Art
Co-organized by La Maison Française and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Friday, September 13 & Saturday, September 14
The Moles – Philippe Quesne
French theater director and visual artist PHILIPPE QUESNE invites you into a parallel universe where there are no humans and no words. In this mysterious underground world, larger-than-life moles are not solitary creatures, but the architects of something between a utopian community and a punk rock band.
Performances at NYU Skirball, 566 LaGuardia Place
More information and tickets ($20-$30) at nyuskirball.org
Parade of the Moles
Thursday, September 12 at 2 p.m.
Phillippe Quesne’s moles explore Greenwich Village in this free event open to the public.
Night of the Moles
Friday, September 13 & Saturday, September 14 at 7:30 p.m.
A wordless theater experience from the founder of the imaginative Vivarium Studio. Ages 16+.
Afternoon of the Moles
Saturday, September 14 at 3 p.m.
A family-friendly performance, including pre-show activity for children and their families.
Tuesday, September 17, 7:00 p.m.
Prepositional Existence, or Perhaps Only a Preposition Can Save Us
IRVING GOH, Assistant Professor of Literature, National University of Singapore (NUS), and the author of L’existence prépositionnelle; The Reject: Community, Politics, and Religion after the Subject, delves into the nature of existence by exploring the preposition “to.”
Co-sponsored by the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of French Literature, Thought, and Culture
Wednesday, September 18, 6:30 p.m.
Daughters of 1968
LISA GREENWALD, author of Daughters of 1968: Redefining French Feminism and the Women’s Liberation Movement (University of Nebraska Press, 2019), examines the story of French feminism between 1944 and 1981.
Institute of French Studies Book Event
Monday, September 23, 7:00 p.m.
An evening with JEAN-BAPTISTE DEL AMO
The author of Pornographia, Le sel, and Une éducation libertine, for which he won the Goncourt First Novel Prize, joins La Maison Française to discuss his work. Animalia is his first novel to be published in English.
Co-sponsored by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and La Maison Française
Wednesday, September 25, 6:30 p.m.
Writing Matters: How to Reach a Wider Readership
A new year-long series dedicated to helping graduate students and faculty share their ideas with a larger audience, this inaugural roundtable features editors, authors and academics discussing everything from voice, style and structure, to form, narrative and reading experiences.
TIM DUGGAN – editor and publisher, Tim Duggan Books/ Crown
MARTHA HODES – Professor of History, NYU
MICHAEL MASSING – author and journalist
Moderated by MELANIE BAVARIA, journalist and Ph.D. student at NYU, and STÉPHANE GERSON, Professor of French Studies, French, and History at NYU
Organized by the Center for the Humanities, co-sponsored by the Institute of French Studies
Register at NYU Center for the Humanities
Location: 20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor
Friday, September 27, 6:00 p.m.
THE MEWS FRENCH BOOK CLUB
Celebrated French writer Catherine Cusset will lead a FRENCH BOOK CLUB exploring new tendencies in French and Francophone literature in a relaxed setting. Discussion will be in French.
The series will take place at La Maison Française of NYU on three Friday evenings from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Friday, September 27: Edouard Louis, Qui a tué mon père?
Friday, November 1: Annie Ernaux, Mémoire de fille
Friday, December 6: Michel Houellebecq, Soumission
Books will be available for purchase in advance at Albertine Books (972 Fifth Avenue).
Register for the fall series at The Mews French Book Club.
Editor’s Note
For over six decades, La Maison Française of New York University has served as a major forum for French-American cultural and intellectual exchange, offering contemporary perspectives on myriad French and Francophone issues. Its rich program of lectures, symposia, concerts, screenings, exhibitions, and special events provides an invaluable resource to the university community, as well as the general public. For more, please visit La Maison Française.