Alfred-Louis Brunet-Debaines, (French, 1845–c. 1935), College Interior, from the series Scenes of Oxford and Cambridge, c. 1880. Etching, 14 1/8 x 10 1/4 in. University acquisition, 1965. Open in Lightbox

Laura Evers, PhD candidate in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences, discusses a selection of late nineteenth-century etchings and engravings made by French, British, and American printmakers. Pastoral and Gothic motifs dominate these college-town prints of Oxford and Cambridge (i.e., Oxbridge). Evers considers how some scenes depict communal, varied uses of space, while other scenes suggest a closed-off intellectual environment. This contrast also underpins dark academia, a term first coined on the internet by artistic communities to describe moody campus aesthetics. From nineteenth-century printmaking to twenty-first-century digital self-fashioning, this talk asks: how have artists shaped our understanding of who and what university spaces are for? A question as relevant today as it was centuries ago.

Free and open to the public.

About the Speaker 

Born and raised in the Midwest, Laura Evers has taught courses on topics ranging from opera in the world to citizen science. Her research develops a reading methodology to understand how college students experience loneliness in novels, films, and poetry. She is a PhD/Postdoc Career Coach at WashU’s Center for Career Engagement, and she has received support from the Indiana University Writers’ Conference and Lit Youngstown’s Fall Literary Festival. In her spare time she serves as an associate editor for RHINO, a poetry journal based in Chicago, and helps produce the Poetry for All podcast hosted by Abram Van Engen and Joanne Diaz. Her writing can be found in The Rumpus, The Georgia Review, the Chicago Review of Books, and elsewhere.

ASL Interpretation

American Sign Language interpretation can be arranged for public events upon request. This service is free, but we ask for two weeks' notice. Requests can be made by contacting kempereducation@wustl.edu.

New Perspectives

New Perspectives talks are opportunities to learn more about the Museum’s collection from emerging scholars. The talks are given by graduate students in Arts & Sciences and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and focus on one or more works from the collection, often aligning with the students’ own expertise and scholarly interests.