Global Symposium
Montparnasse and its Legacies
November 13 & 14, 2026
Columbia Global Paris Center | Reid Hall
Paris, France
Hosted by Columbia University’s Reid Hall & the Columbia Global Paris Center, and organized in collaboration with the Associations L’AiR Arts and Cité Falguière, this symposium marks the beginning of Montparnasse International, a community-initiated programme designed to reaffirm the Montparnasse district as a historic epicenter for artistic creation and intercultural exchange.
Montparnasse has long been internationally recognized as a cradle of artistic production, renowned for the multicultural and heterogeneous avant-gardism that ignited at the dawn of the twentieth century. French artists and global practitioners alike were drawn to the district by its reputation for creative innovation and radical freedom. Yet, despite its deep association with some of the century's most celebrated figures—including Brâncuși, Soutine, Zadkine, Foujita, Modigliani, Picasso, and others—Montparnasse remains markedly under-examined and under-theorized as a holistic creative ecosystem.
While the first École de Paris (1905–1940) anchors the neighborhood's reputation and mythology, the artistic culture of Montparnasse continued to resonate into the postwar period, animated by figures such as Alberto Giacometti, Yves Klein, Niki de Saint Phalle, Agnès Varda, Frans Krajcberg, and Claude de Soria. Today, the legacy of the École de Paris serves as a powerful historical model for cultural hospitality, at a time when the necessity of cross-cultural dialogue is more pressing than ever.
This symposium aims to unite currently disparate but interlinked strands of research—spanning art history, museum studies, cultural anthropology, disability studies, gender studies, and queer theory—to initiate a long-term project decoding the complex creative ecosystem of Montparnasse, both past and present. In doing so, we seek to reexamine the relationship between Montparnassian creators and place, interrogating what made—and continues to make—this area a unique site of global creative fusion.
This event will be held primarily in English; no simultaneous translation will be provided.
Program Schedule
Day 1: Friday, November 13
Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc: 9 am - 4 pm
Salle de Conference: 4:30 pm - 7 pm
Registration
8:30
Welcome
9.00 - 9.15 am
Marie Doezema, Senior Special Projects Manager, Columbia Global Paris Center: Reid Hall Today: Where Scholarship and Creativity Converge in the Heart of Montparnasse
Olivier Solère, Conseiller du 6ème arrondissement, délégué à la culture, au patrimoine, au devoir de mémoire et aux universités
Symposium Overview
9.15 am - 9.30 am
Overarching Themes
Stephanie Nadalo, Association Cité Falguière and Clare Patrick, Association L’AiR Arts
Session 1
9.30 am - 11.00 am
Mapping Montparnasse: the human and structural geographies of a cultural quartier (Panel)
Borcuch, Matylda: Beyond Montmartre: Alice Halicka, Louis Marcoussis and the Polish Artistic Milieu of Montparnasse
Legé, Alice S.: The Ecole de Paris: from Montmartre to Montparnasse, a new Parisian Identity
Moheng, Anne-Cécile: Zadkine in Montparnasse, from the studio to the museum
Ruckdeschel, Annabel: Exhibiting the Carrefour du monde: Café Exhibitions and the Making of Montparnasse as a Global Art Center, 1921–1930
Chair: Stephanie Nadalo
Break
Session 2
11.30 am - 1.00 pm
Lost histories of Montparnasse: challenging the structural erasure of artist identities (Panel)
Valori, Mario: Designed Not to Register: Nena Saguil and the Archives of the École de Paris
Patrick, Clare: In Her Hands: Recontextualising Adrienne Fidelin amidst Surrealist Circles
Peng, Ziqi: Reconstructing Zhang Hua (1898–1970): An Overlooked Artist in the Montparnasse Network
Chair: Alexandra Franklin
Lunch break 1.00- 2:30pm
Please see info page for recommended restaurants in Montparnasse known for artistic gatherings.
Session 3
2.30 pm - 4.00 pm
Disseminating Montparnasse: the international impact of Montparnasse (Panel)
Helwig, Sherri: She Came Back Prudence Heward: A Feminist Arts Management Reading of the Impact of les Années Folles in Montparnasse on the Development of Canadian Art
Herold-Marme, Amanda: The Spanish School of Paris: Montparnasse as a marker of political and artistic identity
Kluczewska-Wójcik, Agnieszka: Reinterpreting the École de Paris in Poland: Historiography, Canon Formation, and the Contribution of the Polish Institute of World Art Studies
Chair: Stephanie Nadalo
Break
Session 4
4:30 pm - 7 pm
Institutions of Montparnasse Forum: Building resilient spaces together
Salle de Conference
We are excited to gather key thinkers, creatives, researchers, cultural workers, museum professionals and activists from Montparnasse-based organisations for a discussion on strategies for building resilient cultural spaces. Styled in a forum format, this networking session will allow for a range of contributions from participants, fielding key themes around sustaining creative work, building lasting relationships, and affirming the importance of cultural practice throughout history and today. By convening both heritage and contemporary practitioners in one conversation, we believe this will be an opportunity to unite often disparate but interlinked strands of practice—spanning art history, museum studies, cultural anthropology, and contemporary artistic production.
Moderators: Renaud Cousin, Stephanie Nadalo, Clare Patrick
Day 2: Saturday, November 14
Salle Ginsberg-Leclerc
Session 5
9.00 am - 10.30 am
Les Montparnassiennes: women artists and their networks (Panel)
Boularand, Elisa & Vertray, Jason: From the Académie de la Grande Chaumière to the Impasse du Maine: a female creative ecosystem in Antoine Bourdelle’s classes and studio.
Biebuyck, Brunhilde : Forgotten but Not Lost: American Women Artists and the Girls' Art Club in Montparnasse, 1893–1914
Keny, Tara: Circles of Influence: Natalie Clifford Barney's Garden of Friendship
Chair: Lillian Davies
Break
Session 6
11 am - 12.30 pm
New biographies of Montparnasse artists (Panel)
Masurovsky, Marc: "I am what I am' [Shirley Goldfarb and Gregory Masurovsky]
McMurrey, Fiona: Accumulations and Dispersals: Malachi Farrell and The Plasticity of Memory
Rinne-Kanto, Sini: Montparnasse As Seen Through the Eyes of Tove Jansson
Winiarski, Artur: Jean Lambert-Rucki: A Sculptor at the Margins of the École de Paris? Identity, Collaboration, and the Question of Attribution
Chair: Sofiya Glukhova
Lunch break 12.30-2.30 pm
Please see info page for recommended restaurants in Montparnasse known for artistic gatherings.
Session 7
3.00 pm - 4.30 pm
Broadening the Canon: Contemporary practice with historic sites and sources (Panel)
A panel bringing together cultural workers (artists, practice-based researchers and curators) who practice in historic sites or draw from historic and archival material in their contemporary practices - tracing legacies of history into the creative work of today.
Cipriano, Miguel: The Hand in the Machine
Davies, Lillian: Tracing a circle: artist networks and formalist patterns in artmaking, from 1909 to today.
Gooden, Mario: Citations: At the Intersections of Astrophysics and Black Study(s)
Woodson, Rachael: Rafael Serrano and the Spaces In-Between
Chair: Tatiana Grigorenko
Break
with movement intervention by Hiie Saumaa
Session 8
5 pm - 6.30 pm
Transnational Contemporaries: Facilitating artistic development & creative practice through exchange in Montparnasse (Roundtable)
This roundtable will examine, collectively and in conversation, the experiences of working transnationally today, while reflecting on the context of Montparnasse as an historic birthplace of international artistic networks. Gathering both curators and artists, based in Paris or with ties to Paris through residencies, the conversation will offer an opportunity for each speaker to share their experiences and invite deeper understanding of the importance of artistic mobility and exposure to new spaces, people and perspectives.
Chankalun (Chan, Karen): Tracing the Invisible
Depaule, Judith : A New School of Paris? The Atelier des Artistes en Exil: A Contemporary Response to Artistic Exile
Harsanyi, Anna: The Work of Gathering
Lee, Jay: Nomadic Material Research
Lefèvre, Guillaume: The Artist Residency Ecosystem and Its Networks: Dialogues Between Past and Present, and Contemporary Dynamics in Paris's 14th Arrondissement
Reverón Blanco, Ricardo: Modes of Engagement
Chair: Sherri Helwig
Concluding Remarks
Closing Event
7 pm - 9 pm
In Other Words: A conversation with Greek artist Christina Nakou and Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez
To close out the Montparnasse and Its Legacies symposium, we invite you to a conversation between author Juan Gabriel Vásquez, 2023 – 2024 Fellow of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and artist Christina Nakou, a current Fellow of the Institute. Separate registration is required - RSVP
Proposals were submitted via the open call from scholars, artists, and cultural professionals from around the world.
The full program details, including abstracts and speaker bios, will be available soon.
Montparnasse International Week
The symposium, Montparnasse and its Legacies, opens Montparnasse International Week (15-21 November). Hosted by local cultural institutions, this dynamic week offers public events, site visits, and walking tours designed to immerse you in the neighborhood's living arts ecosystem. Consider extending your visit to experience these events firsthand, celebrating both the legacy of the École de Paris and Montparnasse’s ongoing role as a global hub for creative exchange.
For recommendations on hotels and restaurants in the area, please consult our practical information page.
