Representations of Motherhood in French Visual Culture, 1910-1940
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LA MÈRE MODERNE: REPRESENTATIONS OF MOTHERHOOD IN FRENCH VISUAL CULTURE, 1910-1940 Davenne Essif A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Art History. Chapel Hill 2018 Approved by: Daniel J. Sherman Edouardo Douglas Donald M. Reid Mary Louise Roberts Tatiana C. String ©2018 Davenne Essif ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Davenne Essif: La Mère Moderne: Representations of Motherhood in French Visual Culture 1910-1940 (Under the direction of Daniel J. Sherman) Between 1910 and 1940 in France, the ideal of motherhood fueled important political decisions, promoted dreams of a powerful nation, and defined French women’s roles as citizens. Within this context, visual images played a key role in reinforcing motherhood’s centrality to French cultural identity by distilling a range of values into readily accessible and widely distributed representations. Historical and art-historical studies that have addressed the role played by visual imagery for the most part reinforce the conventional tie between representations of mothers and themes of self-sacrifice, patriotism, and especially tradition. Yet between 1910 and 1940, much as today, motherhood embodied more than these conventional tropes. Representations of mother figures also actively participated in the construction of highly complex cultural identities and even modernity. In four thematic chapters, this study builds a complex and varied view of images of motherhood that acted as a medium to introduce and explore rapid social, cultural, and political change rather than stasis or timelessness. First presenting an overview of conventional visual- cultural representations of motherhood, it then moves to a more focused investigation of two Paris monuments, The Monument to Marguerite Boucicaut and Clara de Hirsch by Paul Moreau-Vauthier (1914) and The Monument to French Mothers by Henri Bouchard and Alexandre Descatoire (1938), and paintings by Giorgio de Chirico, Marie Laurencin, Fernand iii Lèger, Tamra de Lempicka, Suzanne Valadon, and Francis Picabia. As the chapters use the methodologies of feminist art history and cultural history to investigate the images, policies, social practices, philosophies, and even artists’ biographies in and behind such varied representations, they offer a new interpretation of early-twentieth-century French history. Mother figures were not straightforward cultural icons, looking strictly back to tradition. Rather, much as they still do today, representations of motherhood created between 1910 and 1940 in France acted as a site of speculation, hope, anxiety, and change. iv for my father, whose immeasurable confidence in me has never wavered v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am both humbled and inspired by the many people and institutions that have helped make this project a reality. First and foremost, I must thank my advisor, Daniel J. Sherman, whose dedication to his students and their work is unparalleled. His patience, steady guidance, and high standards enabled and challenged me to transform a broad interest into this dissertation. Thank you also to my committee members whose insightful and stimulating feedback helped shape this study and lay a groundwork for its next iteration. Early in this project, Mary Sheriff challenged me to keep visual analysis at the heart of my work. Eduardo Douglas’s comments have helped me to pause and ponder, adding great richness to my writing. As I strove to combine the approaches of art history and cultural history, Don Reid provided much needed guidance and support. From the beginning, Mary Louise Roberts’s research played a pivotal role in this project and I am honored by her enthusiasm for my work. Her comments have helped me to add depth to my thesis and my understanding of this period. Finally, Tatiana String has helped me to broaden my art historical knowledge and tighten and strengthen the structure of this study. I am also very grateful for the institutions that supported my graduate studies and the completion of this dissertation. Thank you to the UNC Art Department for all their backing during my studies and years of dissertating. Thank you to the Ackland Art Museum for the opportunity to act as the Object-Based Teaching Fellow 2016-2017 and to learn from Carolyn Allmendinger and Elizabeth Manekin a way of looking that subtly, but significantly, changed my approach to visual analysis. Thank you to the UNC Graduate School for continued support of this project. The Kathryin Miller Glass Summer Research Fellowship and the Off-Campus vi Dissertation Fellowship allowed me to spend essential research time in Paris and London. The Dissertation Completion Fellowship gave me the space and time to finish this study. While in London and Paris in summer 2013 and spring 2016, I made many contacts and incurred many debts of gratitude. First, I would like to thank Jean-Pierre Brun whose generosity, along with the graduate school’s fellowships, enabled me to spend extended time in Paris. Next, I would like to extend my gratitude to Laurence Bertrand-Dorleac who helped bring me to Paris as an invited doctoral candidate at the Centre d’histoire de Sciences Po, and whose lively conversation and generous invitations to talks and dinners enabled me to discuss and refine my ideas with French scholars. Also at Sciences Po, I would like to thank Marc Lazar, Isabelle de Vienne, and Danièle Legalloudec. I spent many hours at the libraries and archives in Paris and I would like to thank the librarians and staff at the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Institut national d’histoire de l’art, the Archives Nationales, and the Archives de Paris. I received generous support from curators and staff at the Tate Modern, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Centre Georges Pompidou whose head archivist, Camille Morando, took a special interest in this project. Finally, I would like to thank Robin Holmes for her insightful comments and unfailing support. Les Essif has provided invaluable comments and guidance. Debbie Essif and Ainara Rice have added great richness to this project by giving motherhood meaning in my own life. And I am truly grateful for James Rice whose constancy, much needed humor, and never-ending confidence in my work sustained this project from its inception. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: IDEAL MOTHER: THE ICON OF FRENCH MOTHERHOOD IN VISUAL CULTURE ............................................................................................................... 20 Early Pronatalism and Ideals of Motherhood in France ................................................... 21 1910s: The Pre-war Years and World War I .................................................................... 33 1920s and 1930s: The Interwar Years .............................................................................. 49 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 74 CHAPTER 2: SILENCE: BUILDING A NATIONAL RHETORIC OF MATERNITY ............ 76 Honoring an Ideal: Calls to Build ..................................................................................... 79 Aesthetic Choices: The Sculptors and the Monuments’ Forms ........................................ 87 Social Harmony: Location and Class ...............................................................................101 French Mothers: Issues of Race and Identity ...................................................................112 Collective Identity: Feminism and Women’s Roles in the State and Society .................120 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... CHAPTER 3: EMPTINESS: QUESTIONING THE IDEAL OF MOTHERHOOD THROUGH ABSENCE ...............................................................................................................135 Giorgio de Chirico: The Theatrical Emptiness of The Painter’s Faimly .........................138 Tamara de Lempicka: The Vacant Femme Moderne and Motherhood ........................... ............................................................................................................................................151 Francis Picabia: The Absence of Life ..............................................................................162 viii Conclusion .......................................................................................................................178 CHAPTER 4: SURROGACY: SUBSTITUTION AS POSSIBILITY ........................................180 Cultural Representations of Single and Surrogate Motherhood in Interwar France ........183 Fernand Léger: Surrogacy and the Mixing of Modernity and Tradition .........................190 Another View: Suzanne Valadon and Marie Laurencin ..................................................200 Valadon: Re-inventing the Breastfeeding Mother Image ................................................205 Laurencin: Fashioning the Modern Living Woman Outside of Maternal Fulfillment........................................................................................................................218