Dandona Nature and the Nation in Fin-de-Siècle France

The Art of Emile Gallé and the Ecole de Nancy
Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-1-351-70877-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 228 Seiten

Reihe: The Histories of Material Culture and Collecting, 1700-1950

By the time of his death in 1904, critics, arts reformers, and government officials were near universal in their praise of Art Nouveau designer Emile Gallé (1846–1904), whose works they described as the essence of French design. Many even went so far as to argue that the artist’s creations could reinvigorate France’s fading arts industries and help restoreits economic prosperity by defining a modern style to represent the nation. For fin-de-siècle viewers, Gallé’s works constituted powerful reflections on the idea of national belonging, modernity, and the role of the arts in political engagement. While existing scholarship has largely focused on the artist’s innovative technical processes,a close analysis of Gallé’s works brings to light the surprisingly complex ways in which his fragile creations were imbricated in the political turmoil that characterized fin-de-siècle France. Examining Gallé’s works inspired by Japanese art, his patriotically inflected designs for the Universal Exposition of 1889, his artistic manifesto in support of Dreyfus created in 1900, and finally, his late works that explore the concept of evolution, this book reveals how Gallé returns again and again to thequestion of national identity as the central issue in his work.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dandona, Jessica M.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunstgeschichte Kunstgeschichte: 20./21. Jahrhundert

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

List of figures Acknowledgments IntroductionObject nation: The role of the decorative arts in defining a modern style for France

Chapter OneCarved into the flesh of France: Gallé and the Franco-Prussian War

Chapter TwoClear water: Japonisme, nature, and the formation of a national style

Chapter ThreeGallé and Dreyfus: A Republican vision

Chapter FourOne for all or all for one? Gallé and the Ecole de Nancy

Conclusion: A fragile legacyWorks cited Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jessica M. Dandona is Associate Professor of Liberal Arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She earned her PhD in the History of Art from the University of California at Berkeley. Recent publications include contributions to Picturing Evolution and Extinction (2016) and toPlace and Locality in Modern France (2014).