UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Foreign artists versus French critics Exhibition strategies and critical reception at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris (1884- 1914) van Dijk, M.E. Publication date 2017 Document Version Final published version License Other Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): van Dijk, M. E. (2017). Foreign artists versus French critics: Exhibition strategies and critical reception at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris (1884-1914). General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:07 Oct 2021 Foreign Artists versus French Critics: Exhibition Strategies and Critical Reception at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris (1884-1914) by Maite van Dijk University of Amsterdam 2017 Foreign Artists versus French Critics: Exhibition Strategies and Critical Reception at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris (1884-1914) ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op vrijdag 24 november 2017, te 13:00 uur door Maite Eva van Dijk geboren te Utrecht 1 Promotiecommissie: Promotor(es): Prof. dr. C.M.K.E. Lerm-Hayes Universiteit van Amsterdam Copromotor(es): Dr. R. Esner Universiteit van Amsterdam Dr. L.A.M. Jansen Huygens ING Overige leden: Prof. dr. F. Grijzenhout Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. J.T. Leerssen Universiteit van Amsterdam Dr. G.M. Langfeld Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. W.E. Krul Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Prof. dr. A.R.W. Blühm Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Prof. dr. N.F. McWilliam Duke University, USA Faculteit: Geesteswetenschappen Externe financiering: Het archiefonderzoek dat ik in Parijs heb uitgevoerd voor dit proefschrift is mede mogelijk gemaakt door een reisbeurs van het Amsterdams Universiteitsfonds, beursnummer 11/5006, 2011. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 5 INTRODUCTION 9 PART 1 THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 1.1. The French Exhibition System and the Salon des Indépendants Avant tout société d’artistes et de camarades (Yves Alexis, 1924) Images 26 From Salon to Salons 30 The Salon des Indépendants: A Turbulent Start 33 The First Exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants 36 Early Successes 37 Transitional Period 39 A Revival 40 1.2. The Critical Climate L'interprétation des arts ‘nationaux’ est si complexe que mieux vaut parler en parabole (Jean Lurçat, 1924) Images 48 Art Criticism at the time of the Salon des Indépendants 49 Universalist and National Ideals 54 The Paradigm of National Schools 59 In Search of French Art 63 PART 2 FOREIGN IDENTITY AND EXHIBITION STRATEGIES 2.1. Identity and Alterity Tu es étranger, avec toi pas de voisinage! (D-O. Widhopff, 1924) Formation and Perceptions of Identity 68 Defining ‘The Other’ 70 Visiting and Settling Foreigners 72 Different Types of Foreign Artists 73 Statistics on Foreign Artists 74 2.2. Exhibition Strategies Ceux qui, par leur travail et leur talent, finissent par ‘percer’ comme on dit, de leur génie national à l'art français (Démétrius Galanis, 1924) The Myth of the Impulsive Artist 82 French Exhibition Tactics 84 Between the French and the Foreign 85 3 PART 3: CASE-STUDIES 3.1. Adaptation and Emulation: Darío de Regoyos Images 87 A Basque in Brussels 96 The Spanish Boom 98 España Negra 101 Exhibiting in Paris 102 3.2. Alienation & Provocation: Edvard Munch Images 113 The Nordic identity 118 Testing the waters (1896) 121 A Mad Genius (1897) 123 The Outsider Identity 125 The Artist Must Be Present 129 3.3. Acculturation: Vincent van Gogh Images 132 Myth of the Unsuccessful Artist 136 The First Time at the Salon des Indépendants 139 Great Ambitions 144 Painter of the Provence 147 Posthumous 151 CONCLUSION: THREE WAYS TO SUCCESS 155 APPENDICES 1. Reasoned selection of periodicals 165 2. Chart of most successful foreign artists 170 3. Figures of foreigners & nationalities 171 BIBLIOGRAPHY 172 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 195 SUMMARY 199 SAMENVATTING 200 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 201 4 PREFACE The Querelle des Indépendants In 1923, the committee of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, under the responsibility of its long- time president Paul Signac (1863-1935), decided to organize the installation of the next year’s exhibition in national schools. This led to a large and intense debate, reported in detail in the press, which came to be known as the ‘Querelle des Indépendants’. It was started by an open letter of the artist Fernand Léger (1881-1955) in the magazine Montparnasse, published on 1 December 1923. Léger was one of the fiercest opponents of the decision to introduce a nation-based installation, and decided to leave the committee.1 Another French painter, André Lhote (1885-1962), also disagreed with the decision, but published his choice to retain his place on the committee, as he believed he could achieve more for his comrades if he stayed on.2 The Bulletin de la vie artistique decided to devote a questionnaire to the affair, asking artists to give their opinion on the committee’s decision. In a total of four different issues, released in January and February 1924, a large selection of these responses by artists was published. First the reactions of artists of the committee were printed, followed by letters of foreign artists and concluded by the opinions of French artists. The Bulletin de la vie artistique opened the discussion on December 15, 1923 by publishing an account of the reasons behind the committee’s decision. The author Guillaume Jeanneau defended the decision and wrote: ‘Jusqu’à présent, sur les mêmes cimaises, nos hôtes voisinaient avec nous. Mais nos hôtes se sont multipliés; ils nous submergent quasiment et le mélange est si confus des formules diverses que la leçon générale du salon s’en trouve dénaturée. Le comité des Indépendants veut changer tout cela. Il a pris la décision qui s’imposait: le placement par nationalité. La majorité des artistes, les étrangers comme les Français, n’y virent point malice.’3 His argument raises several issues concerning national art, cultural métissage (‘le mélange est si confus des formules diverses’), degeneration (‘dénaturée’), the perception of the other (framed by Jeanneau as ‘nos hôtes’) and foreign domination. Jeanneau clearly invokes a divide and opposition between the French (‘nous’) and foreign (‘ils’) artists, accusing the Other of active ‘invasion’. He also reflected on the nature and constitution of the Salon des Indépendants, and stated that it was flooded by foreign art (‘ils nous submergent’). This ‘flooding’ of the Salon des Indépendants was a recurring concern in the responses, and art criticism in general, and not only explained in 1 Maingon 2014: 310. 2 Bulletin de la vie artistique, 1 January 1924: 13. 3 Bulletin de la vie artistique, 15 December 1923: 517. 5 xenophobic terms. Artists and critics complained that the Salon des Indépendants had turned into a bazaar full of mediocrity, just like the official Salons were attacked during the nineteenth century. The connection of the Salon to a bazaar carried commercial implications, and invoked the growing concerns over the commodification of art. Several artists accused the committee of commercial interests that had inspired their decision. The French artist Yves Alexis wrote: ‘Les motifs commerciaux qu’on invoque pour justifier cette mesure (attraction, intérêt nouveau) ne me paraissent guère solides (…) il ne faut point oublier que nous ne sommes pas entreprise commerciale, comme le voudraient certains, mais avant tout société d’artistes et de camarades.’4 Ossip Zadkine warned that ‘ce geste du Comité sera très, très mal interprété par les collectionneurs étrangers.’5 Another foreign artist, the Dutch painter Kees van Dongen, concealed his critique on the concept of art as a commodity and decoration in irony: ‘(…) nous sommes tout à fait de l’avis du Comité Directeur et de Messieurs les Actionnaires des Grands Magasins des Indépendants au sujet du mode de placement des articles étrangers. Par la même occasion, nous prenons la liberté de vous dire que nous avons actuellement dans nos magasins un stock de très jolis sujets (garantis fabrication française) pour salons, salles à manger, cuisines, offices, écuries, etc. qui constituent des cadeaux utiles à des prix défiant toute concurrence.’ His closing was full of mockery: ‘Espérant être favorisés par vos ordres, nous vous prions, Monsieur, d’agréer nos salutations tellement distinguées que nous en sommes nous-mêmes étonnés. VAN DONGEN, Registre du Commerce Seine n˚000.000.’6 This ‘registre du commerce’ was established in 1919, and registered French and foreign commercial enterprises and individuals. By referring to this register, which in reality did not record artists, Van Dongen embroidered on his implications that artists were positioned as merchants selling their articles made to order. The minimal number of his invented registration seems to imply that Van Dongen presented himself as a nonentity, as he was of foreign origin, bringing the nationalistic issue back into play.