SMArt Talks: A Positivist Art History? The Natural Sciences in the Works of the Catalan Architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch

24. dubna 2025
18:00 – 19:30
Knihovna Hanse Beltinga

Přednáška bude v anglickém jazyce.

Lucila Mallart A Positivist Art History? The Natural Sciences in the Works of the Catalan Architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch

Abstract

The paper analyses the impact of "positivism" and objective knowledge in the art historical works of Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867–1956). Puig was a renowned Catalan architect, politician and art historian, widely known abroad for his contributions to the history of Romanesque art and architecture. The presentation examines Puig's use of methodologies derived from natural history and the natural sciences, and questions the extent to which these borrowings should be considered "positivist." In doing so, Dr. Mallart discusses how science-based approaches influenced the writing of art history at the turn of the 20th century, through changing historical, political and intellectual contexts. Thus, the paper explores the meaning of "positivism" in core intellectual milieus such as France and Germany, as well as in less explored geographies such as the Catalan and Spanish-speaking worlds.

Lucila Mallart is a cultural and art historian of modern Europe. She received her PhD in Modern European History from the University of Nottingham (2016) and is currently a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Her research explores the role of visual culture, urban planning, public exhibitions, and knowledge devices in the making of national identities in modern Spain. She has been a visiting researcher at Harvard University (2023), New Europe College, Institute of Advanced Study of Bucharest (2021–2022), and the University of Helsinki (2019). Her work has appeared in journals and with publishers such as Cultural History, Urban History, Nations and Nationalism, Oxford University Press, Routledge and Peter Lang.

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