Prof Stéphane Laurent

Executive Dean: Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture
Name: Stéphane Laurent
Location: Lower Ground Floor FADA Building Bunting Road Campus
Executive Deans, FADA Management Staff  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: Tel: 011-559-1110/1120/1111/1022
Fax: Fax: 011-559-1119

Personal/Executive Assistant: Ms Ina Louw

About Prof Stéphane Laurent

Prof. Dr. Stéphane LAURENT is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg. He served as head of the Art and Industry studies at the University of Pantheon-Sorbonne and director of research at the Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Paris. He spent several years in the Middle East, where he was professor and served as Dean of a College of Fine Arts and Design in the Middle East, and was Executive Director of Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut) branch in Paris. His fields of research deal with cross-cultural studies in Art and History, the History of modern and contemporary Art and Architecture, the History of Design and of the Decorative Arts. He has published several books: an essay on the ornament and one on Gustave Courbet, a biography on the French painter Bernard Buffet, a survey on the history of design and numerous books on the history of the applied arts education in France, which were based on his PhD dissertation. He recently published an essay revolving around the relationship between craftsmanship and art (to be translated in Chinese) and he is preparing a book discussing the history of design in France. He graduated in interior design from the Ecole Boulle, Paris. He gained a MA in design and passed successfully a higher teaching certificate in Fine Arts (Agrégation) at the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (University Paris-Saclay). He earned a MPhil in History of Architecture, a PhD (1996) and a Habilitation (2006) at the University Pantheon-Sorbonne. In 2004, he was expert for the prestigious Medici Villa fellowship in Rome. Since 2013 he is expert in Art and Design for the French Ministry of Culture, and since 2015 he is member of the acquisition committee of the Mobilier National, founded by the Sun King and in charge of the furniture for French embassies and ministries. The following year, he has been appointed expert in Art and Design for the European Union (H2020 fellowships). In 2005, he was senior fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; in 2006, he was invited as a visiting scholar by the Japan Foundation at the University of Tokyo; in 2008, he was visiting scholar at the Centre for Chinese Studies in Taiwan; in 2009, he was visiting professor in Brazil and in 2020 visiting professor and director of research in China. He delivered many lectures in France, Europe, the Americas and Asia. He is also a painter, who exhibited his works internationally. 

Qualifications

Diploma of Drawing and Painting, Institute for The Fine Arts and the Restoration (Florence, Italy), 1988.

Diploma of German Language, University of Vienna (Austria), 1991.

Master Phil. of History of Art and Architecture of the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1992.

Curator national competitive examination laureate, Institut national du Patrimoine, INHA, Paris, 2004.

Higher Teaching Certificate (Agregation), Visual Art, Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris-Saclay), 1991.

BFA, Interior Design and Furniture Design, Ecole Boulle, Paris, 1987.

MFA, Design, Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris-Saclay)/University Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, 1990.

PhD, History/History of Art, University Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, 1996.

Experience

Visual Artist, painter.

Art Historian, Writer, Thinker.

Graphic Designer, French Cultural Center, Lubumbashi, Zaïre (Congo DRC), 1989-1990.

Internship, Gerard François, Interior Design Studio, Paris, France, June-July 1986.

Internship, Knoll International, Interior Design, Paris, France, July 1991.

Professor, Art and Design, Zayed University, Dubai campus, United Arab Emirates, 2009-2011.

Adjunct professor, Académie Charpentier/Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Interior design programme, Paris, France, 1992-2000.

Adjunct faculty, summer courses, University of Berkeley Extension, History/Art History Paris, France, 1997-1999.

Lecturer (Allocataire Moniteur Normalien), History of Art Department, University of Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, France, 1993-1996.

Senior lecturer, History of Art Department, University Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France, 1996-1999.

Assistant professor, History of Art Department, University Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, France, 1999-2000.

Associate professor, History of Art Department, University Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, France (tenure), 2000-2006.

Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2011-2012.

Executive Director, Trinity-College-in-Paris, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA/Paris, France, 2014.

Head of the Art and Industry (Decorative, Fashion and Design) historical and theoretical studies, University Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, France, 2012-2020..

Research Director, University Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, France, 2006-2020.

Research interests

Visual Art practice.

History, Epistemology and Anthropology of the Ornament

Cross-cultural studies and Global History

Epistemology, Antrhopology of Objects, Art and Buildings

History and Theory of Art, Architecture, Design, Decorative Arts.