Art & the History of Art William Christian: "Postcards of Praying: French Peasants and Algerian Muslims from the Web"

Lecture - "Postcards of Praying: French Peasants and Algerian Muslims from the Web"

In France in the heyday of picture postcards at the start of the twentieth century, two kinds of depictions of outdoor prayer were popular: on the one hand postcards of peasant couples praying in fields, reproducing or based on Jean-François Millet’s Angelus, and on the other, photo and art postcards of Muslims in prayer in North Africa. Drawing on thousands of copies offered on a collectibles website, this lecture, prepared in collaboration with Amira Mittermaier, compares the two sets of postcards, their senders, receivers, and messages.

William A. Christian Jr. is an independent scholar who writes about Catholicism in Spain and Southern Europe from the Middle Ages to the present, combining archival research with anthropological fieldwork. His most recent books are Visionaries: The Spanish Republic and the Reign of Christ; and Divine Presence in Spain and Western Europe.

This lecture is made possible through the generous support of the Lamont Fund, Amherst College.