My exhibition The House that Jack built was on show at the artist-run gallery HAVN (Hamilton Audio Video Node), with a reception the evening of Friday January 8 and opening hours continuing the afternoons of both Saturday and Sunday January 9 and 10. I was very happy with the response: over 150 people attended over the course of the weekend and commented that the works were “compelling,” “disturbing,” and “powerful”; several people said I was “brave.” Indeed it took a lot of courage and I feel positive, confident and proud with the outcome. It meant a lot to me to share eleven of the works I had been creating over the course of a number of years. I also did two performances on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I offer a full list of the works in the show (PDF). My thanks to Amy McIntosh and the HAVN collective for welcoming me to their gallery. (posted 25 January 2016)
Some “seats” are still available in Art History 1AA3, World Art & Cultural Heritage II. Watch the video above for an overview of the course.
Here’s what Dr. McQueen has to say about the course: “World Art & Cultural Heritage II offers students the opportunity to complete course work at their own pace. Dynamic presentations include materials on art works and UNESCO World Heritage Sites from around the globe, from the Renaissance period to the present day. Assignments take students off campus to explore galleries and museums in their local communities. Tutorials include specially created interviews that introduce students to art world professionals across the province, from the Art Gallery of Ontario to the National Gallery. This innovative online course is designed to help students understand the significance of fostering knowledge and preserving cultural heritage in today’s complex world, and to learn how they can become leaders contributing in their local communities and as global citizens.”
From a student who enrolled in the course last year:
“This past winter term I completed ART HIST 1AA3 and found the course incredibly well organized and informative in its online format. I thoroughly enjoyed the assignments and tests, and I gained a lot from the practical exercises (ie. going to a local gallery). I wanted to thank you for creating such an innovative online course experience! As a science student it can be difficult to pursue interests in the humanities, but your course made it very possible to do so.” (posted 26 November 2015)
Join me for my free public lecture An Evening with Paul Cézanne, Monday January 19th, 7:30 pm in MDCL 1105. We will discuss Cézanne’s work throughout his career and help to place in context the exhibition of still life paintings on at the Art Gallery of Hamilton through February 8th. All Welcome! (posted 19 January 2015)
World Art & Cultural Heritage II (Art History 1AA3) is now live. Registered students can go to ATL to begin this exciting online class! (posted 6 January 2015)
Art History 1AA3 available through Avenue to Learn beginning the week of January 5th – only ten seats still available! (posted 31 December 2014)
McMaster University, where I am a professor, recently appointed its first female Chancellor. The woman selected for the position is a good choice for many reasons and certainly sends a meaningful message from an institution that appointed its first Chancellor in 1887 and has appointed its own governors since it became non-denominational in 1957.
As it is 2013 this year, the appointment also piqued my curiosity. I wondered: when did other universities appoint their first female Chancellors? And, are we making any progress as a society in how we assign the title of ceremonial head of our universities? Many of us who work at universities like to think that as institutions they are among the most progressive in our society. I wish I could say that was the case, but I’m not confident it is. The assignment of chancellorships is, of course, simply one benchmark and perhaps I’ll look at others to follow. Given the modest gains in the numbers of women who have served as the ceremonial head of Canadian universities, one wonders what the list looks like for the empowered, decision-making positions as Presidents and Provosts/Vice-Presidents Academic.
Below is the fruit of more effort than I might have liked. My list starts with UBC, where the first female University Chancellor was appointed in 1961. The greatest number of female Chancellors, 4, have been appointed at: the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, and Lethbridge University.
At different points in their histories, various Canadian universities have proudly announced the appointment of their “first female Chancellor…” I suggest that some may wish to either revisit the idea and appoint another, or consider referring to the person who ended her term between fifteen and twenty-five years ago as “the only female Chancellor ever appointed at X university.” Positive PR spin should only be used for so long.
9 Canadian Universities have never appointed a female Chancellor: Bishop’s University, Brock University, Ryerson University, Saint Mary’s University, Université Laval, University of Regina, Université de Québec à Montreal, University of Windsor, and York University.*
Other interesting points: The longest-serving female university Chancellor in Canada is Marcia Anastasia Christoforides (aka Lady Beaverbrook) who served a twenty-two-year term at Dalhousie University, 1968-1990.
One woman, Pauline Mills McGibbon, has served as Chancellor for two universities (University of Toronto 1971-1974 and University of Guelph 1977-1983).
McGibbon is also one of two women who were appointed the first female Lieutenant Governor of their respective provinces, appointments that came during the final year of their chancellorships. McGibbon served as the first female Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, from 1974-1980. Margaret Norie McCain was Chancellor at Mount Allison University, 1986-1994, and the first female Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, 1994-1997.
My list starts with the earliest appointment, gives the term of the appointment, the name of the university, and the name of the woman appointed. If that university has appointed any other female chancellor(s), their term dates and names follow. The list then moves on to the year of the next earliest appointment at another institution. I have used individual names and not titles on this list, as it has not always been possible to determine titles applicable during chancellorships.
1992-2000 | Lois Wilson
n.b. The religious affiliations of Mount Saint Vincent University, Saint Francis Xavier University, and Université de Sherbrooke result in prescribed Chancellor appointments for each. Athabasca University does not have a ceremonial head.
* Despite my efforts, I have not been able to receive confirmation from either Université Laval or the University of Regina, and their respective websites do not provide clear information. If there are any errors, I will be only too happy to include details on additional female chancellors on this list. (posted 13 December 2013)
I’m happy to announce I’m working on a biography Eugénie, the last empress of France.
I am in turn surprised and dismayed at how difficult it is to find information on the female historical figures in Eugénie’s time. I’m working on a section on Eugénie’s staff and am looking into the women who were appointed as her attendants just before her marriage to Napoléon III. Eugénie’s staff were all chosen for her. The women who were assigned the duties of grande maîtresse, dame d’honneur and 6 positions as dames du palais were all important political appointments. There are no entries on these women in the Dictionnaire du Second Empire (1995) and from the entries on their family members, you would think they never existed. Archival documents identify the women by their titles: the princesse d’Essling, the duchesse de Bassano etc, which gives us information on their husbands’ positions. I am busy at work locating their actual names and sorting out why the government selected them for the most important positions on Eugénie’s staff. (posted 25 November 2013)
Read the most recent review of my book Empress Eugénie and the Arts just published in Nineteenth-Century Studies. (posted 31 October 2013)
“In this pioneering study, Alison McQueen examines an important and yet largely overlooked phenomenon: the engagement with the visual arts of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. McQueen draws upon her extensive work in the archives throughout Europe and years of sustained consideration of this subject to argue that Eugénie’s patronage and collecting activities were distinctly political in nature, critical to the fashioning of her private and public personae, and central to the art world. A declared aim of this book is to challenge ‘the coherence of studies on art in nineteenth-century France’ (5) by showing how Empress Eugénie’s involvement in the visual culture of the Second Empire puts pressure on traditional art-historical narratives about this period…This is an ambitious study that argues for the empress’s exemplary status as a supporter of the arts and as a public figure who recognized and exploited art’s political potential. Furthermore, this book demonstrates the necessity of revising traditional frameworks used to discuss Second Empire French art and culture, and, thus, McQueen’s book promises to generate fruitful scholarly conversations for years to come.” (posted 10 December 2012)
“[A] fascinating account of how the public persona of empress Eugénie was constructed through artworks of all kinds…This summary cannot do justice to the book, which presents an enormous wealth of surprising facts and insights about Eugénie’s life and activities, nor to the complex, in-depth analyses of its selected artworks and projects. McQueen’s study enriches our understanding of a woman of power and independence during the nineteenth century.” (posted 5 November 2012)
“McQueen navigates the difficulties of visualizing a powerful female sovereign….in McQueen’s book Eugénie emerges as a leader for women’s social justice and a thoughtful patron of the arts. For though Salic law prevented the empress from inheriting the throne, McQueen argues that Eugénie used the visual arts as the primary means to establish an autonomous position beyond that of consort. McQueen’s book is especially noteworthy for her painstaking archival research, by which she reconstructs all of Eugénie’s charitable and artistic commissions. Eugénie was remarkably progressive in her altruism, especially with regard to women’s rights; however, artists diminished her role in much of the visual culture depicting her activities. For though McQueen’s research reveals Eugénie’s active oversight of her charitable societies, artists instead portrayed her as simply accompanying her husband, Emperor Napoléon III. This observation sets up a tension at stake throughout the rest of McQueen’s analysis, as Eugénie struggles to balance her own ambitions as a diplomatic figure with the demand that she be suitably submissive. This tension is particularly evident in McQueen’s chapter on Eugénie’s portraits. By far the most intriguing study in the book…McQueen’s success in linking the patronage of [this empress] to the political and artistic currents of their respective ages demonstrates the folly in divorcing such figures from our study of avant-garde artwork in early modern and modern eras.” (posted 30 May 2012)
“This study by McQueen will overturn longstanding perceptions of Eugénie. McQueen harnesses an impressive array of primary and secondary sources to correct basic facts and complicate received ideas in the literature on Eugénie. To understand why the empress appeared in certain roles and activities and not others, McQueen skillfully explores Eugénie’s power and Western perspective as well as her dependence and vulnerability as an imperial consort and foreigner. She delineates the empress’s agency in her patronage and public persona. Readers will discover many unfamiliar 19th-century works of art that McQueen masterfully analyzes and incorporates into her argument..” (posted 12 May 2012)
“McQueen has produced a valuable, readable, jargon-free text that will be appreciated by scholars of French history, art history, women’s studies and many other fields. With the publication of McQueen?’s book, Eugénie has regained her rightful place in the history of nineteenth-century art and politics, to which she can now be clearly seen as a key figure in this history… McQueen has unquestionably reestablished Eugénie’s reputation for future generations.”(posted 14 April 2012)
“McQueen’s mission and accomplishment in this assiduously researched book are to reconstruct Empress Eugénie’s position as a private collector and public patron during the 18 years of the Second Empire in which she reigned beside her husband. McQueen has taken the subject and shaken it hard and interestingly, to reveal new truths about Empress Eugénie; and her book is a valuable contribution to the bookshelf.” (posted 5 March 2012)
What drew you to writing about Eugénie and why is it important that we study her legacy?
I was attracted to studying Second Empire France when I was a graduate student. It was then that I saw how historians and art historians marginalized Empress Eugénie’s contributions and had effectively written her out of history. At the same time I read a primary source, memoirs of a curator at the Louvre in the nineteenth century, someone who had known Eugénie personally, and he praised her contributions to the arts and gave some indication that she was a controversial political figure. It is very satisfying to feel one is helping to set the record straight when the significance of an important figure such as Eugénie has been diminished for reasons that can only be understood as gender and national bias. Eugénie was not only a woman holding a position of some authority – acting as regent and actively participating in the meetings of the Council of Ministers – she did so as a foreign-born, Hispanic woman in France, a country traditionally governed by Salic law which excluded women from inheriting the throne. Despite resistance, she made significant contributions through her patronage of art and architecture and she helped to establish many aspects of the social system that still exist in France. She was an activist who worked to establish daycare for women working outside the home, veteran’s services, juvenile prison reform, women’s access to education, including university education, and medical school. I think she is an inspiring figure who serves as an excellent example to men and women who want to make a difference in our world today.
As a female figure of authority, what messages do leaders like the Empress leave for women today? Are there presently any political figures that embody those same values?
Eugénie was a persistent and, at times, stubborn personality. She picked her political battles and she fought for them with determination. She was not always successful but she would learn from her experiences and continued to strive for what she believed in. Women are often the sensitive caregivers of their families and communities and it can be challenging to reconcile those roles with positions of leadership and authority that require resilience in the face of public scrutiny. Eugénie rose to the challenge and found ways to reconcile the competing roles she filled. She was committed to helping others and sought to make her contemporary world a better place. In Canada, we are yet to elect a female head of a political party as Prime Minister; we have had a short-term appointed female Prime Minister in Kim Campbell, but not one who has been elected to that leadership role. We still have a ways to go in accepting female leadership at a variety of levels in our society. Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, successive Secretaries of State in the U.S., are two diplomatic and political figures that have had prominent international profiles. I was also very interested to read the article in Saturday’s Globe and Mail [8 October 2011] about Leymah Gbowee, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Tawakkul Karman, who have jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize. These are women campaigning for social change in two different cultural contexts, Liberia and Yemen, and their leadership and activism is inspiring!
How might education in the Arts allow McMaster students to achieve accomplishments similar to yours? Do you have any advice for them?
I believe it is important for each of us to be passionate about our life pursuits. I recommend students use this great opportunity they have to further their education and to continue to build their skills, and then follow their passion – this is a recipe for success. Arts students at McMaster develop the skills that are important and necessary for success in a world full of possibilities. Learning how to do in-depth research and developing analytic skills are crucial. Strong writing skills and an ability to speak publicly with confidence are also integral to one’s success. These are skills that we foster in our study of the Arts at McMaster and they are life skills. What I do also requires a lot of time management and organizational skills, as well as an ability to interact with people internationally and I am in contact with people often in a wide range of languages. I did primary research in 8 different counties and it took me 14 months of legal arrangements and negotiations with institutions and individuals in 9 different countries for the copyright and permissions for the 157 images for my book. I certainly encourage students to develop their abilities in foreign languages as this can make a significant difference in the opportunities that open before them, and international connections greatly enrich our life experiences. Also, I would say, be tenacious, be ambitious. Drive is integral to success. (posted 15 October 2011)
I read the following prepared remarks at the Faculty of Humanities meeting on Monday, March 1st, 2010:
“In the ten years I have taught in the Art History program at McMaster I have been very happy to witness the achievements of our students, who have gone on to build successful professional lives in fields including law, education, architecture, design, conservation and work in commercial galleries as well as public galleries and museums around the world. Art History has faced several challenges over the past few years. Among them is the fact that of the 66 students who have currently declared art history as their major, honours or joint honours program, one third are part- time students. Of the second year students who declared art history their major in 2009-10, nearly 50% are part-time. As each of us knows, these part-time students are not included in the full-time equivalent numbers that form an important statistic for each program at McMaster University. I am very proud of the successes of the men and women who have studied in our program. The Art History program has over 90% female students and it is, indeed, a field where women have been embraced for decades and where women have been able to achieve considerable leadership opportunities. Statistics published in the Toronto Star on December 1st, 2009 indicate women continue to have limited access to leadership opportunities in Canada: 6% in business, 13% in universities, and 22% in government. (A20) In the Hamilton community, for example, the director of both the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the McMaster Museum of Art are female. The National Gallery of Canada has also had two female directors, each of whom served for ten years, and the second of whom then went on to head the Canada Council for the Arts. Arts institutions are one of the few areas in which women have had notable leadership opportunities in Canada and professional training in art history has been integral to realizing this potential. I thank the faculty in Classics, Theater and Film Studies, Multimedia and Philosophy who have offered cross-listed classes that have been so important for the program. I particularly thank my colleagues in Art for the close and supportive relationship we have enjoyed. I would like to say what a great honour and pleasure it has been to teach art history in this high quality program.” (posted 4 March 2010)
“In the ten years I have taught in the Art History program at McMaster I have been very happy to witness the achievements of our students, who have gone on to build successful professional lives in fields including law, education, architecture, design, conservation and work in commercial galleries as well as public galleries and museums around the world.
Art History has faced several challenges over the past few years. Among them is the fact that of the 66 students who have currently declared art history as their major, honours or joint honours program, one third are part- time students. Of the second year students who declared art history their major in 2009-10, nearly 50% are part-time. As each of us knows, these part-time students are not included in the full-time equivalent numbers that form an important statistic for each program at McMaster University.
I am very proud of the successes of the men and women who have studied in our program. The Art History program has over 90% female students and it is, indeed, a field where women have been embraced for decades and where women have been able to achieve considerable leadership opportunities. Statistics published in the Toronto Star on December 1st, 2009 indicate women continue to have limited access to leadership opportunities in Canada: 6% in business, 13% in universities, and 22% in government. (A20) In the Hamilton community, for example, the director of both the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the McMaster Museum of Art are female. The National Gallery of Canada has also had two female directors, each of whom served for ten years, and the second of whom then went on to head the Canada Council for the Arts. Arts institutions are one of the few areas in which women have had notable leadership opportunities in Canada and professional training in art history has been integral to realizing this potential.
I thank the faculty in Classics, Theater and Film Studies, Multimedia and Philosophy who have offered cross-listed classes that have been so important for the program. I particularly thank my colleagues in Art for the close and supportive relationship we have enjoyed. I would like to say what a great honour and pleasure it has been to teach art history in this high quality program.” (posted 4 March 2010)