Research project National art and global movements
A comparative study of Japonism and transcultural manifestations in turn-of-the-century Poland and Sweden.
What is national art? The question is as old as the modern nation, but the rise of nationalist movements in Europe has given it renewed relevance. The aim of this art history project is to pave the way for a deeper understanding of the importance of cross-cultural exchanges in the creation of this art that has been considered to be particularly characteristic of a nation.
Project description
The focus of the study is the cultural context and art of Sweden and Poland. These are countries where the idea of national identity was linked to visual art in which the influence of Japonism is particularly evident. The paradox is that while modern art in Sweden and Poland since the late 19th century followed different narratives of national art and identity, they share the aesthetics of Japonism and the visual similarities are striking.
This study asks what types of cultural appropriation played a role in the development of national art. The question is answered through a comparative study between the collection of the Thielska Gallery in Stockholm and the Feliks Jasieński Collection, Kraków. These art collections are exemplary for discourses on national art and for the presence of Japonism. The art and its reception will be studied through formalist, materialist and historiographical methods, as well as through theories of transculturation, hybridization and cultural nationalism.
To understand the determinants of what national art and cultural canons mean in a globalized world, we need to examine how cultures overlap in the creation of the art under debate. The significance of this three-year project therefore lies in its ability to demonstrate the political agency of art from earlier periods, as well as uncovering the transnational origins of discourses around national canons that haunt democracies across Europe.
Project members
Project managers
Ewa Machotka
Professor
Members
Katarina Wadstein MacLeod
Professor
