ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the national significance of the classical imagery that emerged in the art of the French avant-garde in the late nineteenth century. It shows how the traditional, classical motif of the nude in a landscape was modernized and became a national symbol for modern France. More generally, this chapter shows the role of culture, and especially that of the visual arts, in defining and projecting visions of national identity. By staging and enacting the national identity, and especially the national way of life, in a shorthand and stylized manner, art can capture and crystallize this life, give it definite form, and thus make it visible — ‘real' — and an object for public reflection (literally, a denkmal). Indeed, art can also act as a medium for communicating, propagating or reinforcing visions of national identity to the wider public. This chapter thus shares common ground with Carol Duncan, whose contribution to this volume shows both the centrality of classicism in French culture, and the role of art and of the art museum in nation-building.
