Current Situation
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Paris Nanterre University, affiliated with the research unit “Histoire des arts et des representations,” where I am conducting a research project in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou on the history of exhibitions at the Musée national d’art moderne, prior to its relocation to Beaubourg (1947-1976).
Since 2024, I have also been carrying out a study on the collections of the Fonds régionaux d’art contemporain (Frac)—a network of 22 public collections of contemporary art in France—, supported by the Frac association, Platform. This study aims to establish a prosopography of all Frac directors since 1982 and to analyze the conditions under which a public collection of contemporary art is conceived and developed.
In 2026, I will be a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution, affiliated with the Archives of American Art in Washington, for a research project also supported by a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Grant. This project focuses on the history of exhibitions at New York galleries from the post-war period to the early 1980s.
Academic Background
I hold degrees in art history, literature, and philosophy from the École du Louvre, the Paris Sorbonne University, and the Paris Cité University. I completed my PhD in Art History and Theory in 2022 at the University of Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis. My dissertation, titled The State against the Norm: The Turn of Public Institutions Towards Avant-Garde Art, 1959-1977 (West Germany, United States, France), was supervised by Jérôme Glicenstein within the research unit “Art des images et art contemporain”. It was supported by a doctoral contract and a research grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Based on the consultation of numerous archives and interviews conducted in Albany, Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Kassel, Krefeld, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and Washington, my doctoral research aimed to explain the surprising rapprochement, from the 1960s-1970s, between states, museums, and the avant-garde, ending a century-old opposition between modern art and official institutions.
In 2023, my PhD dissertation was awarded the “Valois” prize by the French Ministry of Culture. A revised version has been published in October 2025 by CNRS Éditions, the publishing house of the National Center for Scientific Research, in the “Culture and Society” series directed by Gisèle Sapiro, under the title The State against the Norm: Public Institutions and Avant-Garde Art (France, United States, Germany).
Research and Teaching Activities
I have published the results of my research in peer-reviewed journals such as Biens symboliques, Critique d’art, Cultural Trends, Histoire de l’art, La Vie des idées, Marges, Perspective, Regards croisés, Revue d’histoire culturelle, Sociologie de l’art, Visual Resources, etc. I have also presented my work at conferences and symposia organized by various academic institutions (Institut national d’histoire de l’art, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, German Centre for Art History, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Paris Nord, German Historical Institute, France Stele Institute of Art History, Universities of Paris 1, Paris Est-Créteil, Paris Nanterre, Rennes 2, etc.), as well as at several museums and art centers (National Gallery, Centre Pompidou, Grand Palais, Musée de l’Orangerie, Palais de Tokyo, Capc Bordeaux, etc.).
I was a member of the editorial board of Marges, published by the Presses universitaires de Vincennes, for eight years, personally overseeing four issues. The latest, published in April 2024, is dedicated to the “Sociology of Contemporary Art“. I have also served as a reviewer for Visual Resources, Revue d’histoire culturelle, and The Artl@s Bulletin. I am a member of the French Committee for the History of Art (CFHA), the Association of Professors of Archaeology and Art History in Universities (APAHAU), and The International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA).
Since 2016, I have been teaching art history, philosophy of art, and sociology of art at the Universities of Paris 8, Rennes 2, Lille, and Paris Cité.