Leah Gouget-Levy

PhD student

Thesis: The Séeberger frères’ ‘reportage photographique de mode’, 1919-1939 : temporality and experience in early twentieth century fashion photography

Supervised by Dr Rebecca Arnold

Funded by the Consortium of the Humanities and the Arts South-East England

Between 1909 and 1939, the Séeberger frères, photographers based in Paris, documented high fashion as it was worn by society figures and celebrities. Originally published in magazines, over 37,000 images are preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. This extensive archive of early fashion photography has received remarkably little scholarly attention, yet it offers a rich resource with which to explore themes of fashion and fashion photography in 20thcentury modernity.

Through analysis of the Séeberger work, this project explores the relationship between fashion and time. Key questions that it tackles include: What is the nature of the temporality of fashion? How is this represented and experienced through photography?


Education

2016  MA History of Art: Documenting Fashion, The Courtauld Institute of Art (Distinction)

2014 BA (Hons) History of Art, University College London (First Class)


Scholarships

2017-2020 Doctoral Studentship, Consortium of the Humanities and the Arts South-East England

2015-2016 Michael G. Wilson Scholarship, The Courtauld Institute of Art


Research Interests

  • Fashion Photography
  • Time and Temporality
  • ‘Street Style’ Fashion Photography
  • Early Twentieth Century Fashion

Conferences and Publications

2019, Associate Editor, Immediations: The Courtauld Institute of Art Journal of Postgraduate Research

2018, ‘Fashioning Le Bonheur’, in a limited edition publication for The Experimental Library: Agnès Varda, Café OTO and Curzon   

2018  ‘Temporality’ Panel Chair, Wording Art History, Postgraduate Colloquium at The Courtauld Institute of Art, 17 March 2018

2018  Addressing Images Chair, Public Discussion Group Seminar, The Courtauld Institute of Art Research Forum, January and June 2018

2017 ‘Nothing changes yet everything changes. Temporality and couture in La Mode rêvée (1939): a Bergsonian analysis’, in Immediations: The Courtauld Institute of Art Journal of Postgraduate Research, volume 4, number 2


Teaching

2018/19  Associate Lecturer, BA and MA History of Dress, The Courtauld Institute of Art

2018/19  Teaching Assistant, BA Frameworks for Interpretation, The Courtauld Institute of Art

2017  Visiting Lecturer, BA and MA History of Dress, The Courtauld Institute of Art

Citations