Dr. Alicia Caticha

Biography

Alicia Caticha specializes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European sculpture and decorative arts, with a particular focus on issues of materiality, colonialism, and popular culture. Her book project, tentatively titled “Sculpting Whiteness: Marble, Porcelain, Sugar Eighteenth-Century Paris,” examines the career of the eighteenth-century French sculptor Étienne-Maurice Falconet, focusing on the replicas of his work in porcelain and sugar. This case study seeks to understand the rise of the classical marble ideal and its long-term aesthetic and racial implications. Caticha's research challenges existing assumptions by placing the fetishization of porcelain and the conditions of sugar production, which relied on France’s participation in the Atlantic slave trade, in dialogue with eighteenth-century theories of whiteness. In addition to her ongoing research, her teaching interests include the relationship between popular culture, fashion, and art history from the eighteenth century to the present day. She has published on these topics in Journal18, Eighteenth-Century Fiction, and American Quarterly.

Research Interests

Experience