Primitivism and the politics of identity: The art of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson.
Item
-
Title
-
Primitivism and the politics of identity: The art of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9959197
-
identifier
-
9959197
-
Creator
-
Kurtz, Gayle Rodda.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Diane Kelder
-
Date
-
2000
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Art History | Philosophy | History, European
-
Abstract
-
The term primitivism has traditionally been associated with European art from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, art historical texts recognize that interest in other cultures considered primitive derived from ideas disseminated in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In this dissertation, I look closely at these notions, particularly in the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. During the French Revolution, Rousseau's political and social theories were used as models for the new republic and its citizens. Girodet started his artistic career during this crucial period. Studied within its historical and theoretical context, Girodet's work reveals many aspects of the multiple facets of primitivism. Rousseau made extensive reference to the human body as a metaphor for his concepts. The dissertation focuses on Girodet's depiction of the body and the ways in which desire is figured as a means to correlate these two bodies of work. The central thesis of this dissertation is that the obsession with primitivism is more enlightening about modern Western culture than about any so-called "primitive peoples." I argue that primitivism is a term that describes a particular mindset of the modern subject and is integral to the social theory of individualism.;Girodet's painting Hippocrates Refusing the Gifts of Artaxerxes of 1792 is described in Chapter One as presenting an archetype of the new republican citizen---virtuous and without desire---namely, the Rousseauist paradigm of primitive man. The Scene from a Deluge of 1806 is considered for its depiction of a family in light of revolutionary doctrine. Ossian Receiving the Shades of the French Heroes of 1802 and its relationship to the fabrication of nationalism based on myths of origin are studied in Chapter Two. In Chapter Three I examine Girodet's oeuvre of non-Western subjects, including Jean-Baptiste Belley of 1797, Entombment of Atala of 1808, and The Revolt of Cairo of 1810, in contrast to his portraits of the French bourgeoisie. The similarities between the Sleep of Endymion of 1791 and Pygmalion and Galatea of 1819 are explored in Chapter Four as exemplars of the notion of a golden age.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
