EMPIRE LINES

Dr. Céline Ventura Teixeira shines light on the fusion of Eastern motifs and European iconography, in a set of azulejos – or decorative tiles - produced for a church altar in 17th century imperial Portugal.

Azulejos – or decorative tiles – were the crowning glory of Portugal’s church altars. Known as ‘ceramic carpets’, they borrowed motifs from Indo-Persian and Oriental textiles, which flooded Lisbon’s markets with the expansion of the Portuguese Empire. More than mere mimics, the Portuguese tile-makers reinterpreted these symbols in line with existing European religious traditions. From pagodas to the camellia Japonica, these tiles fuse Oriental ornaments and European iconography, revealing a global network of associations.

PRESENTER: Dr. Céline Ventura Teixeira, associate professor of Modern Art History at Aix-Marseille Université.

ART: Frontal of a Three-Section Altar, Carmelite Convent in the Coimbra Region (17th Century).

IMAGE: ‘Frontal of a Three-Section Altar’. 

SOUNDS: TRG Banks.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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Dr. Paulina Banas unravels the purported Persian roots of 17th century Polish identities, through the Czartoryski Polonaise Carpet.

Imported from the Safavid Persian Empire, Polonaise carpets were highly prized across the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – so much so that they were often mistaken as Polish-made. But beyond symbols of wealth, these textiles served a particular purpose for the Polish upper-classes, who looked East to consolidate their domestic rule. Weaving together Persian patterns with a Polish coat of arms, the Czartoryski Carpet challenges theories of exotic consumption, exposing transimperial textiles and identities.

PRESENTER: Dr. Paulina Banas, post-doctoral fellow and faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

ART: The Czartoryski Polonaise Carpet (17th Century).

IMAGE: ‘The Czartoryski Carpet, 17th Century’.

SOUNDS: Metastaz.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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Dr. Henry Dee uncovers the global footprint of radical black activism in 1920s South Africa, through the cartoons of James Christie Scott.

James Christie Scott’s cartoons illuminate black experiences of 1920s colonial capitalism. Commissioned by South Africa’s first major black trade union, his works subvert contemporary ideas of race, and imagine transformative moments of emancipation. ‘Scotty’ is best known today for his towering Black Samson mural. But arguably, his miniatures - his striking cartoons for the widely circulated The Workers’ Herald – had an even bigger global impact.

PRESENTER: Dr. Henry Dee, post-doctoral research fellow at the International Studies Group, University of the Free State.

ART: Cartoons for The Workers’ Herald, James Christie Scott (1920s).

IMAGE: ‘When He Awakes’ in The Workers’ Herald (1926).

SOUNDS: Uhadi.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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Akemi Luisa Herráez Vossbrink depicts relations between imperial Spain and the Americas, through Francisco de Zurbarán’s paintings, The Tribes of Israel.

From Seville’s most acclaimed religious artist, Francisco de Zurbarán’s portrait series The Tribes of Israel (1640s) depicts the Old Testament patriarch Jacob and his twelve sons. The only such painting series to be found in Europe, de Zurbarán’s works inspired colonial reinterpretations in Peru and Mexico.  Produced in Spain, destined for Latin America, and currently housed in the north of England, The Tribes of Israel reflect global artistic exchanges and power dynamics.

PRESENTER: Akemi Luisa Herráez Vossbrink, doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, and Meadows Museum Center for Spain in America (CSA) Curatorial Fellow.

ART: The Tribes of Israel (Jacob and his Twelve Sons), Francisco de Zurbarán (1640s).

IMAGE: ‘Joseph, from Jacob and His Twelve Sons’.

SOUNDS: Gnawledge.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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Dr. Laura Fernández-González explores the circulation of visual trends between imperial Lisbon and India, through the design for the Bengali Colcha with Triumphal Arch of the Flemish.

Numerous Indian colchas, or wall hangings, were made for the orientalist markets of imperial Portugal. But this unique Bengali Colcha depicts a triumphal arch – the same temporary arch designed and erected in Lisbon by a foreign community of Flemish merchants, to welcome the Spanish king Philip II of Portugal (and III of Spain) into the capital in 1619. The mesmerizing architecture, figures, and flora depicted speak of several coeval artistic traditions, spaces, empires, and cultures.

PRESENTER: Dr. Laura Fernández-González, senior lecturer in Art/Architectural History and Theory at the University of Lincoln.

ART: Bengali Colcha with Triumphal Arch of the Flemish (Mid 17th Century).

IMAGE: ‘Indian, Bengal: Wall Hanging: Triumphal Arch, Mid 17th Century’.

SOUNDS: Sultan.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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Dr. Alex Bremner navigates London as the powerhouse of British technological imperialism, by looking at Electra House.

Home to the Eastern Telegraph Company, London’s Electra House became the centre of Britain’s global telecommunications empire at the turn of the twentieth century. The regulated mesh of its architecture similarly ensnared global geographies, submitting it to the whims of commercial and imperial prerogative. Electra House persists as an important artefact of corporate and technological empire, and a stark precedent for contemporary geopolitical struggles over 5G broadband.

PRESENTER: Dr. Alex Bremner, professor of Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh.

ART: Electra House, London (1902).

IMAGE: ‘Electra House’ in Electra House: The New Home of the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies (1902).

SOUNDS: Silicon Transmitter.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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Dr. Emile Chabal navigates the contemporary echoes – and explosions – of French colonialism, through Mathieu Kassovitz’s 1995 film La Haine.

Through the dangerous escapades of the young Vinz, Hubert and Saïd, La Haine explicitly depicts life in the French banlieue (‘suburbs’, or ‘projects’) - from aggressive altercations with the police and everyday racism, to social marginality and spatial exclusion. Kassovitz shows France as a damaged, post-colonial nation, unable to fulfil its promise of liberation and integration, echoing the fundamental contradiction at the heart of French colonialism.

PRESENTER: Dr. Emile Chabal, reader in History and former director of the Centre for the Study of Modern and Contemporary History (2016-2020) at the University of Edinburgh.

ART: La Haine, Mathieu Kassovitz (1995).

IMAGE: ‘La Haine (1995)’.

SOUNDS: Adrian Beentjes, David Cunliffe, Anthony Donovan, and Hopek Quirin.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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Journalist Megan Kenyon explores imperial relations between Britain and Ireland, through George Bernard Shaw’s 1904 play, John Bull’s Other Island.

Ireland was England’s first colony, and the first colonial state to become independent from imperial rule. Yet, with its cutting depiction of Anglo-Irish relations, John Bull’s Other Island famously made the observing English King Edward VII break off the arm of his chair with laughter. George Bernard Shaw depicts Ireland on the precipice of its emergence from conventional British imperial rule, and glimpses at the new forms of commercial imperialism to come.

PRESENTER: Megan Kenyon, journalist.

ART: John Bull’s Other Island, George Bernard Shaw (1904).

IMAGE: ‘George Bernard Shaw’.

SOUNDS: Audio Library.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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Dr. Peter Clericuzio observes complex imperial hierarchies between Mali and France, through the Great Mosque(s) of Djenné. 

Population 32,000, Djenné is a small city in Mali, itself one of Africa's less famous countries. Yet, the (third) Great Mosque of Djenné attracted international attention in the twentieth century, extolled as a symbol of the power and diversity of the global French Empire. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the architecture and complicated history of the Great Mosque(s) reveal the nuances of the French colonial enterprise during a stark transitional period. 

PRESENTER: Dr. Peter Clericuzio, professor of architectural history and heritage at the University of Edinburgh.

ART: The Great Mosque(s) of Djenné, Mali.

IMAGE: ‘The Great Mosque of Djenné’ in L’Illustration (1911).

SOUNDS: Andrew Oliver Kora Band.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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