HomeThe intimate and the public
The intimate and the public
L’intime face au public
The face in 18th and 19th century public sculpture in France and in the German sphere
Le visage dans la sculpture publique des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles en France et dans la sphère germanique
Published on Wednesday, April 03, 2024
Abstract
This study day devoted to sculpture will focus on one element in particular: the face. As an essential part of the sculpted figure, the face has the dual role of enabling identification and expression. This dual role became more apparent in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the rise of portraiture, as well as the interest in the inner self and more broadly, the intimate. The aim of this exhibition is to draw a parallel between two contradictory concepts : the intimate and the public. As sculpture is the art par excellence of the public space, the aim is to confront the face, which is intimate, with the imperatives of public sculpture. The aim of this study day is to examine the representation of the face in Franco-German public sculpture in the 18th and 19th centuries, analysing its theories, practices, techniques, possible typologies and the way it is perceived by the viewer.
Announcement
Argument
"Le visage ou la face comprend ce qui dans toute l'étendue superficielle de la tête se présente contre la partie chevelue & le cou" (Encyclopédie, Diderot et D'Alembert, 1765, entry "visage" written by Jaucourt, p.335.b). From the outset, the Chevalier de Jaucourt defined the face as belonging to the field of the visible, since it represents the surface of the head. But more than just an envelope, the face defines an individuality and plays an essential role in the process of identifying a person. As a key element in the representation of a person of distinction, it is also the first element to be broken or mutilated during changes of power. The figuration of the face in the sculptural medium is a questionable concept in the Franco-German 18th and 19th centuries, caught between idealisation and resemblance. This question is all the more relevant for statues in public spaces, which were subject to constantly changing decorum throughout the 19th century. The portrait was and remains the preferred type of statuary, whether full-length or in bust form. As a means of honouring a person, a propaganda tool and an official image, the sculptural face had many functions, which began to take shape in the 18th century and became clearer in the 19th, as sculpture shifted from a religious and royal function to a civic one.The faces of the Great Men represent not only their individuality, but topoi of collective imagery, as shown by the series of "Illustrious Men" in France and the busts from the Walhalla in Bavaria. France and the German speaking countries are territories with constantly evolving conceptions. Although they are very different, there are similarities in their artistic and textual origins (G. Scherf, "La France n’était pas pour eux l’Etat français, mais un état d’esprit. Un état des lieux de la sculpture française du XVIIIe siècle en Allemagne" Art français et art allemand au XVIIIe siècle, regards croisés, P. Michel (dir.), Paris, École du Louvre, 200, p.173-199), as evidenced by the shared influence of pseudo-sciences and the hegemony of the French style in the 18th century, which tended towards the affirmation of a « national » German style in the 19th century. In the same way, these two states saw a public statue fever, a "statuomania" (M. Agulhon, « La statuomanie et l'histoire », Ethonologie française, t.8, n°2/3, 1978, p.145-172.) to use Maurice Agulhon's terms (for the French case), emerge and flourish in the 19th century within a few decades of each other. This infatuation with monuments occurs in urban spaces, i.e. "places accessible to the public, surveyed by the inhabitants, whether or not they live nearby" (T. Paquot, L'Espace public, Paris, La découverte, coll. "Repères", 2015, p.3.). This notion is all the more relevant to the study of sculpture because it is public art par excellence (work by M. Baker and A.-B. Weinshenker, A God or a Bench, 2008), and its evolution is thus correlated with that of the public space. It is symptomatic of political developments (E. Naginski, Sculpture and Enlightenment, 2009), and its forms themselves embody the gradual arrival of Enlightenment thinking, the Revolution (in the case of France) or national affirmation (for the German case). As Guilhem Scherf points out, this period was marked by a "proliferation of sculpted portraits. Reference images took over the public sphere as exempla virtutis. At the same time, the private sphere was the preferred place for the expression of values celebrating the intimate qualities of sensitivity". (Portraits publics, portraits privés, 1770-1836, 2006, p.28). At this time, public and private were not in total opposition (D. Goodman, "Public Sphere and Private Life: Toward a Synthesis of Current Historiographical Approaches to the Old Regime." History and Theory, vol. 31, no. 1, 1992, pp. 1-20), and the aim of this study day is precisely to bring these two spheres together by analysing the way in which the face allows the intimate to shine through in public representations. The aim is to question and analyse the motif of the face in the French and German public spheres in the 18th and 19th centuries, and to consider its stylistic development, its conception, its place in urban space and its reception.
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Sculpting the face : from theory to practice
The representation of the face has been particularly influenced since the Renaissance by the many treatises, both artistic and scientific, that have attempted to unlock the secrets and understand the workings of the face. Unlike the rest of the body, the face plays two fundamental roles in our understanding of a person: on the one hand, the face defines a unique visual identity, making it possible, thanks to permanent features, to recognise a person and attribute to him or her an identity of their own; on the other hand, the face is considered to be a "theatre of passions" where the inner self becomes visible. In this way, it expresses both the unchanging nature of identity and the shifting nature of emotions. These two aspects of the face were of particular interest to theorists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a period marked by a boom in studies of the face in the wake of Charles Le Brun's work on the expression of passions. This research was structured around the two functions attributed to the face, and was grouped under the notions of physiognomy and pathognomy. The artistic texts of Winckelmann, Caylus and Falconet were complemented by the scientific, and often pseudo-scientific, theories and experiments of Lavater, Gall and Lichtenberg, which spread throughout the nineteenth century. All of these studies were theoretical, and the few experiments were confined to the scientific sphere. We therefore need to look at how sculptors appropriated this knowledge, and how they were able to translate it into their works. This link between theoretical knowledge and artistic practice is fundamental, and it also leads us to question the role played by institutions, particularly in the training of sculptors. In France, an interesting example of this is the tête d'expression competition created at the end of the eighteenth century at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, which continued into the nineteenth century.
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A growing emphasis on the intimate
All this theoretical production, reinforced by a focused artistic practice, gives us a good idea of the craze surrounding the face, but also of the importance given to understanding and mastering how it works. To understand the face is to understand man, and therefore to be able to control him better. The domestication of the face, which is considered necessary in society because it corresponds to the ideal of the honest man, was nevertheless called into question in the artistic field from the 18th century onwards. With the advent of sentiment, the representation of emotions was increasingly in demand, leading to the production of expressive portraits, usually in the private sphere. On the other hand, in the public sphere, the domain par excellence of sculpture, the official nature of commissions did not, in principle, authorise this expression, relegating emotion to the private sphere. What takes precedence is the identification of a person and their status. Initially, however, public sculpture was more interested in identifying the face than in expressing it, but from the eighteenth century onwards, this second function was given greater prominence, with increasing importance being placed on intimacy and feeling. It therefore comes down to bringing together two opposing temporalities: the ephemeral one of emotions and the enduring one of identity, official status and materials.We need to see to what extent sculptors have or have not taken account of changing tastes and expectations, while at the same time respecting the expectations associated with the official art of sculpture in the public space.
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The identification imperative versus typological expectations
The question of reconciliation is not only valid between the two functions of the face, but also within the primary function of identification. If sculptors have to ensure that the sculpture resembles the model so that the viewer can recognise him or her, they have to combine the model's physical characteristics with society's expectations of aesthetics and propriety. The statue in the public space is what we might call an official image of the figure represented, which tended to fade away over the course of the 19th century. The official image was conceived in response to the artistic trends of the time. From the idealisation of the antique, the representation of the face evolved into an unfiltered likeness. A typology linked to status had to be reconciled with more singular characteristics linked to the individual. The artists thus represent a person, but also a function. Following this postulate, a philosopher will not necessarily be represented in the same way as a warrior general. In this respect, the face seems to be part of a representative typology that includes its predecessors. The representation of a character is included in a typological genealogy so that it is as similar as possible. The sculptor must therefore strike a balance between the individual and the typological. It is the evolution of this balance over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that is of interest, as it reveals the expectations placed on sculptural art in the public space. It will also be particularly interesting to study the parameters that can pose problems during the performance and upset this balance. The question of age is an eloquent example: what stage of life should be represented? For models who are still alive when the sculpture is made, the question may seem trivial, but for models who are deceased, it poses a real question as to the age given to the figure. Another variable that can have an impact on iconographic choices is the sex of the model. While the majority of figures sculpted in the public space are men, what about women's faces ? Does it meet the same imperatives as those of men ? Is the typology of the female face similar to that of the male face ?
- Giving shape to the face: techniques and materiality
The aim is to analyse the choices made by sculptors, and to understand how they construct faces. Certainly on the basis of a theoretical foundation and taking into account the expectations of viewers, but also how, from a more practical point of view, they create their works. What techniques are used? The treatment of the surface, in particular the skin but also what's underneath the skin, is relevant. What materials are chosen? And to what extent do the properties of a material influence the sculptor's choice of representation? In the case of certain sculptures executed in several materials, such as marble and bronze, it would be interesting to see whether the execution of the face is identical or whether there are adaptations. In this respect, two types of study are encouraged: on the one hand, the study of the face as a whole, understood as a whole, and, on the other, a more fragmentary study of the face, focusing only on certain parts.
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The face in the public space
However, the face in a public sculpture cannot be seen as an isolated motif. It is part of a whole - the sculpture in its entirety - and more than that, it is part of an environment. Erected in the public space, the sculpture constitutes what Abbé Grégoire called "a speaking monument" in 1794. By virtue of its materiality and agentivity, it conveys a message that is made visible and legible by its placement in the urban space. Often located at the centre of a specially designed square, it plays a major role in urban planning. In the 18th century, for example, a number of towns such as Montpellier, Reims and Paris were equipped with a royal square with an equestrian or pedestrian statue of the king at its centre. These statues played a structuring role in the city, and were the source of embellishment work such as the alignment of streets, the creation of uniform facades and the construction of several radiating roads linking the sculpture to other strategic locations in the city, thereby increasing the number of viewpoints. These urbanistic changes continued throughout the 19th century in both France and Germany, with new civic sculptures taking over a wide range of locations : squares, large circular squares, crossroads, gardens, monuments and theatres. It would then be relevant to see whether the type of public space in which the sculpture is displayed has an impact on how the face is represented.
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From the gaze of sculptures…
From the modest bust of a writer to monuments with allegorical figures celebrating a politician, these commemorative works are generally located close to a place linked to the life of the hero represented and celebrated, redoubling the symbolic charge of the whole. So if sculpture is at the heart of these urban transformations and developments, what about its face? What about the orientation of the face, and particularly the gaze? It turns out that the orientation of the face was not left to chance. In fact, the statue of Joan of Arc erected in 1900 on the Place Saint-Augustin in Paris looks skywards, in keeping with the religious dimension of the site: it was located in front of the forecourt of the church of Saint-Augustin. Another example is the restored statue of Louis XV inaugurated in 1819 in the Place Royale in Reims, which seems to tilt its gaze slightly to the left in the direction of the people, illustrating the king's protective role towards his people. Does the public or intimate nature of a place have an impact on the gaze and, more broadly, on the face of the statue ?
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… to the viewer's eye
This question of the gaze can also be transposed to the spectator. It is essential to ask how the spectator perceived and should have perceived the face of a sculpture, and above all how he saw it. The face is an extremely detailed part of the body, with its various, often precise, elements - eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. - making it a difficult subject for the viewer to perceive. The face is an extremely detailed part of the body because of the different, often precise, elements that make it up - eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. - so it can be difficult for the sculptor to create a monumental work in which the face is situated at a great distance from the viewer's gaze. The face of a bust displayed at human height is more accessible than that of an equestrian statue. We need to look at how the faces were designed to be seen, and what adaptations the sculptors had to make depending on the type of sculpture. Did they simplify the features to make it easier to identify important elements? Or, on the contrary, did they favour a high degree of precision, which may have been offset by a change in proportions - increasing the size of the head in relation to the body - to ensure that the face was visible and legible to the viewer? This question of legibility is essential to ensure that the face fulfils its primary role in public sculpture, that of identification. In this respect, it is worth looking at the treatment inflicted on the faces of the statues during the unbolting operations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which reveal the importance of this identification role as symbols of a fallen power.
The aim of this study day is to return to a motif that is already well known and studied, the face, but this time by analysing it as an element at the junction of two spheres - the intimate and the public - through a body of sculpture. In addition to the obvious lack of studies devoted to this art form, the choice of focusing on sculpture is justified above all by its coherence with the areas of research: sculpture is mainly used to represent figures, and therefore faces, and it is the art form par excellence used in the public space.
Written submission must address one of these 8 major themes:
- The role of the face in the sculpture of public spaces
- Theories and practices of facial representation
- The relationship between the intimate and the public
- Individualisation and typology of faces
- The relationship between the face of a sculpture and the urban space
- Technique and materiality of sculpture
- Destruction or alteration of the face of a contested statue
- The gaze of the sculpture and/or the viewer / the sculpted figures in relation to each other
Submission guidelines
This call is open to all researchers, whatever their discipline or status, and we particularly encourage young researchers.
Proposals for papers in English or French (maximum 300 words, accompanied by a brief bio-bibliographical presentation) should be sent to the following address: sculptureparis24@gmail.com
before 15 May 2024
The selection committee will respond to proposals by 20 June 2024.
Timetable
- Deadline for submission: 15 May 2024
- Deadline for responses: 20 June 2024
- Dates of the study day: 25-26 November 2024
Scientific coordination
- Justine Cardoletti, doctoral student in art history at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
- Emilie Ginestet, doctoral student in art history at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès
- Sarah Touboul-Oppenheimer, doctoral student in art history at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Subjects
- Early modern (Main category)
- Mind and language > Representation > Cultural history
- Periods > Modern > Nineteenth century
- Mind and language > Representation > History of art
- Periods > Early modern > Eighteenth century
- Zones and regions > Europe > France
- Mind and language > Representation > Visual studies
- Zones and regions > Europe > Germanic world
Places
- Salle Vasari, Galerie Colbert - Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA) 2, rue Vivienne
Paris, France (75002)
Event attendance modalities
Hybrid event (on site and online)
Date(s)
- Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Keywords
- sculpture, art, visage, intime, public, xviiie, XIXe, France, Allemagne
Contact(s)
- Justine Cardoletti
courriel : sculptureparis24 [at] gmail [dot] com - Sarah Touboul-Oppenheimer
courriel : sculptureparis24 [at] gmail [dot] com - Emilie Ginestet
courriel : sculptureparis24 [at] gmail [dot] com
Information source
- Justine Cardoletti
courriel : sculptureparis24 [at] gmail [dot] com
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« The intimate and the public », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, April 03, 2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/w5si
