Agnieszka Taborska

Senior Lecturer - Theory + History of Art+Design

Agnieszka Taborska has been an art historian, writer and lecturer at RISD since 1989. She teaches late 19th and 20th century European art, film and literature. Her main area of interest is the image of women in fin de siecle Western art and literature, French Surrealism, the significance of women in the movement and the impact Surrealism has on contemporary art. She produced RISD annual Cabarets (1992-1997). She taught at Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art, Pont-Aven, France (1996-2004). She has curated exhibitions of Surrealist art in France and Poland and written scripts for documentary films related to Surrealism. She is the author of 11 books published in Poland, US, France, Germany, Japan and Korea. Her works of fiction have received literary prizes in Germany, were adapted for stage and brought to screen in form of animated films awarded at International Film Festivals. The excerpts of her new book, The Unfinished Life of Phoebe Hicks, were published in The Saint Ann’s Review (Fall 2009, Fall 2010). Her books include Conspirators of Imagination. Surrealism(collection of essays published in Poland), The Whale, or Objective Chance” (collection of short stories published in Poland), and “The Dreaming Life of Leonora de la Cruz (published in Poland, France and the US).

Academic research/ areas of interest

  • Femmes Fatales figures in late 19th and early 20th century Western art
  • Relationship between academic painting and early Hollywood films
  • “High” art versus “low” art: academic painting and early postcards
  • French Surrealism: literature, film, photography, collage, surrealist objects
  • Role of women inside the Surrealist group: female artists versus muses
  • Impact of Surrealism on contemporary art
  • Surrealism and contemporary media

Courses

Wintersession 2025 Courses

THAD H323-101 - LIVES AS ART: WOMEN PAINTERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, WRITERS, FILM DIRECTORS, AND PERFORMANCE ARTISTS
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Wintersession 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H323-101

LIVES AS ART: WOMEN PAINTERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, WRITERS, FILM DIRECTORS, AND PERFORMANCE ARTISTS

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Wintersession 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2025-01-03 to 2025-02-06
Times: TH | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 02/06/2025 - 02/06/2025; W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 02/05/2025 - 02/05/2025; M | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 02/03/2025 - 02/03/2025; TH | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/30/2025 - 01/30/2025; M | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/27/2025 - 01/27/2025; TH | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/23/2025 - 01/23/2025; W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/22/2025 - 01/22/2025; TH | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/16/2025 - 01/16/2025; M | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/13/2025 - 01/13/2025; TH | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/09/2025 - 01/09/2025; W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/08/2025 - 01/08/2025; M | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/06/2025 - 01/06/2025 Instructor(s): Agnieszka Taborska Location(s): College Building, Room 412 Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

The course will examine how female painters, photographers, performance artists and film directors use their bodies and elements of their biographies to build their art upon. We will read interviews with them and analyses of their work, watch documentary films, study self-portraits in painting and photography. We will try to define the special attraction and therapeutic role autobiographic art has for women. Among the artists discussed will be: Claude Cahun, Cindy Sherman, Ana Mendieta, Faith Ringgold, Marina Abramovic, Shirin Neshat, Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Maya Deren, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Agnes Varda, and Francesca Woodman. Students will do weekly readings; write weekly papers, as well as a final paper about a chosen artist. Active participation in class discussions is required.

Elective

THAD H662-101 - THE MYTH OF THE CITY IN 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY WESTERN ART
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Wintersession 2025
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H662-101

THE MYTH OF THE CITY IN 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY WESTERN ART

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Wintersession 2025
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2025-01-03 to 2025-02-06
Times: T | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/28/2025 - 01/28/2025; F | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/24/2025 - 01/24/2025; T | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 02/04/2025 - 02/04/2025; F | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/31/2025 - 01/31/2025; T | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/21/2025 - 01/21/2025; F | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/17/2025 - 01/17/2025; W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/29/2025 - 01/29/2025; W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/15/2025 - 01/15/2025; T | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/14/2025 - 01/14/2025; F | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/10/2025 - 01/10/2025; T | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/07/2025 - 01/07/2025; F | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM | 01/03/2025 - 01/03/2025 Instructor(s): Agnieszka Taborska Location(s): College Building, Room 412 Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course will examine the role played by urban mythology in 19th and 20th - century European and American art. We will study the late - 19th - century idea of the flaneur, which influenced both visual arts and literature. We will discuss the Futurists' fascination with machines and the Surrealists' concept of a city perceived as a human body. We will analyse the Impressionists' views of Parisian streets, Frans Masereel's woodcuts The City, de Giorgio Chirico's metaphysical paintings and Edward Hopper's nostalgic images of the American metropolis. We will study how the interest in urban reality has influenced the development of new art movements of the last two centuries.

Elective

Spring 2025 Courses

THAD H102-05 - CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H102-05

CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: TTH | 11:20 AM - 12:20 PM; M | 1:10 PM - 2:40 PM Instructor(s): Agnieszka Taborska Location(s): Auditorium, Room 132; College Building, Room 410 Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

Continuing from critical frameworks established in H101: Global Modernisms, the second semester of the introduction to art history turns to designed, built, and crafted objects and environments. The course does not present a conventional history of the modern movement, but rather engages with a broad range of materials, makers, traditions, sites, and periods in the history of architecture and design. Global in scope, spanning from the ancient world to the present, and organized thematically, the lectures explicitly challenge Western-modernist hierarchies and question myths of race, gender, labor, technology, capitalism, and colonialism. The course is intended to provide students with critical tools for interrogating the past as well as imagining possible futures for architecture and design. 
Required for graduation for all undergraduates. 

First year students are registered into sections by the Liberal Arts Division.

Transfer students should register into the evening section offered in the Spring semester. Pre-registration into this section is managed by Liberal Arts Division.

Major Requirement | BFA

THAD H102-06 - CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H102-06

CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: TTH | 11:20 AM - 12:20 PM; W | 1:10 PM - 2:40 PM Instructor(s): Agnieszka Taborska Location(s): Auditorium, Room 132; College Building, Room 412 Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

Continuing from critical frameworks established in H101: Global Modernisms, the second semester of the introduction to art history turns to designed, built, and crafted objects and environments. The course does not present a conventional history of the modern movement, but rather engages with a broad range of materials, makers, traditions, sites, and periods in the history of architecture and design. Global in scope, spanning from the ancient world to the present, and organized thematically, the lectures explicitly challenge Western-modernist hierarchies and question myths of race, gender, labor, technology, capitalism, and colonialism. The course is intended to provide students with critical tools for interrogating the past as well as imagining possible futures for architecture and design. 
Required for graduation for all undergraduates. 

First year students are registered into sections by the Liberal Arts Division.

Transfer students should register into the evening section offered in the Spring semester. Pre-registration into this section is managed by Liberal Arts Division.

Major Requirement | BFA

THAD H219-01 - SURREALISM IN FRANCE AND ELSEWHERE
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H219-01

SURREALISM IN FRANCE AND ELSEWHERE

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: F | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM Instructor(s): Agnieszka Taborska Location(s): College Building, Room 412 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course will show how the ideas of the historical French avant-garde movement founded in Paris in 1924 have spread across borders and influenced artists of central Europe. It will also focus on the relationship between surrealist European artists of the 20th century and Mexican art. Our goal will be to see how certain ways of thinking and seeing the world can be shared by artists living in different places and under different political regimes.

Elective