Elisian is a first-year doctoral candidate at Keble College, Oxford. She studies nineteenth century French print culture from an art-historical as well as literary perspective, with emphasis on collectible illustrated books.
Her thesis examines the illustrations of Symbolist and Decadent luxury books (‘Livres de Luxe’) in the context of fin-de-siècle bibliophile societies in Paris. The focus of her work is the reciprocal relationship that develops between book and bibliophile, rooted in the dual role assumed by collectors who simultaneously acted as amateur editors in this period. The organic ornamentation which dominates fin-de-siècle books is employed as a means of exploring the complex interplay between reflections of selfhood and embodiments of alterity in the elite male-dominated world of French bibliophilia. Elisian’s research engages with the conflicted relationship of man to nature in the Decadent era by exploring bibliophile editions through an ecological lens, based on the concept of ‘Biophilia’: the inherent attraction of humans to diversity and difference in nature, which functions as a mechanism for understanding the self.
Background
Elisian holds an MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture from the University of Oxford and an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Studies from the University of Cambridge. Prior to her graduate studies, she obtained an MArch (5-year integrated professional Masters in Architecture) from the National Technical University of Athens. She is a licensed architect and a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece.
During her time as an architecture student, Elisian also participated in several exhibitions, such as the 16th International Exhibition of the Venice Architecture Biennale (Greek Pavilion, ‘The School of Athens’).
Her graduate studies have so far been generously supported by scholarships from the following funding bodies in Greece: The Foundation for Education and European Culture (IPEP), the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS - SYN-ENOSIS), the NEON Organisation for Culture and Development and the Lilian Voudouri Foundation.
Research Interests
Elisian’s research interests revolve around the 19th and early 20th centuries (1848-1914) in France. She specifically works on the dialogue between the visual arts, architecture and literature in this period (especially in the illustrated novel and the popular press). Particular areas of interest include:
Text and image relationships; Decadent literature and its relationship to art and material culture; bibliophilia and collecting; perceptions of urban space as conveyed through literature, visual culture and the popular press; the changing perception of time at the turn of the century as expressed in visual culture and literature; the appropriation and exotification of the past (especially the Middle Ages) for modern narratives in the second half of the 19th century; imaginaries of the past and the future.