Description
Inaugural lecture of Professor Claudia Hopkins ‘The Alhambra in Franco’s Spain around 1950' at Edinburgh College of Art. Chaired by Dr Tamara Trodd, History of Art, ECA.Abstract: The Alhambra palace-fortress in Granada, the iconic monument of Spain’s Islamic past (Al-Andalus, 711-1492) has enjoyed a rich afterlife in the global imagination. Depending on one’s perspective, it may encapsulate Europe’s ‘Other,’ the Maghreb’s ‘lost paradise,’ or Spain’s ‘Orient within.’ It has played a crucial role in shaping both national and regional identities in Spain and has frequently been mobilized in political discourse concerning East-West relations. This lecture begins with the question of what we can learn about attitudes to the Alhambra in Franco’s Spain by focusing on art, architecture, and film around 1950, a period of political realignment. At that time the regime began to open to the West, while simultaneously attempting to maintain a protectorate in Morocco and ties to the Arab world. The Alhambra was viewed through traditional and modernist aesthetic lenses, catalyzing beliefs, aspirations, and dreams relating to colonialism, race, nation, and modernity. Two kinds of nostalgia were at play: restorative and reflective. In a broad context, how does this nostalgia recalibrate theoretical understandings of ‘Orientalism’? How important is the study of overlooked regions and frontier zones like Spain and Morocco to current calls for a ‘global’ history of art and architecture?
| Period | 9 Oct 2024 |
|---|---|
| Held at | Edinburgh College of Art |
| Degree of Recognition | International |