I International Symposio "Transnational Relations and the Arts": Fluctuating Alliances. Art, politics, and diplomacy in the Modern Era (XVI-XVIIIth Centtuires) (original) (raw)
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Art and Power in the International Arena
Much of what has been important about the transition from an industrial society to an information society has not involved the appearance of qualitatively new social processes, phenomena, and events. Instead, previously invisible processes are becoming visible, appreciation of some processes considered relatively trivial earlier is increasing, and relationships among–and therefore the relative importance of–diverse processes are being rearranged. This is the case with the use of art in the exercise of political power.
'Trojan Horses in a Cold War: Art Exhibitions as an Instrument of Cultural Diplomacy, 1945 - 1985'
The present thesis investigates the instrumentalization of art as a tool in foreign policy, taking as a case study the organization of art exhibitions in other countries by the Soviet Union during the Cold War period. Full use of archival materials has been made, and this evidence has been supplemented through interviewing. The thesis thus proposes to add to our knowledge both of the cultural Cold War in particular and of the employment of art in cultural diplomacy in general. The contribution made by Joseph S. Nye, the originator of the term ‘soft power’, has been a seminal one both in promoting and in shaping the study of cultural factors in interstate relations, but the phenomena under discussion require an analysis that goes beyond ‘soft power’. In particular, it is necessary to rehabilitate the category of ‘the arts’, as a distinct field within ‘culture’, if we are to be able to frame adequate theories of how states have sought to make paintings, literature, music, and drama serve political and diplomatic ends. The organization of art exhibitions overseas represents a convenient and under- explored area of cultural diplomacy, and also one that is of considerable intrinsic interest in view of the light it can shed on broader questions concerning the relationships between visual culture and state power. And the case of the USSR during the Cold War presents us with an example of a state that made active and deliberate use of art exhibitions, in the context of a comparatively intense cultural and ideological rivalry between the Eastern and Western blocs. On the basis of a detailed examination of particular exhibitions, and also of both Soviet and Western literature on the subject, the thesis demonstrates that the Soviet authorities organized art exhibitions in a differentiated manner that reflected wider foreign policy priorities with regard to the host states. This involved, in the first instance, a systematically different approach to exhibitions in (a) fellow socialist countries, (b) capitalist countries, and (c) newly independent states; but further distinctions were then drawn within each of these broad groupings, in ways that can only be understood against the backdrop of the Kremlin’s shifting relations with each individual state. This analysis lays the foundations for productive further research, which promises to extend and deepen our understanding of states’ motivations in instrumentalizing the arts and also to establish reasonable criteria for assessing how politically effective such cultural and artistic initiatives may be.
Conflict Management in Modern Diplomacy (1500–1914), 2018
Only a few years before the outbreak of the First World War the Royal Academy at Berlin decided to hold two exhibitions of English and French artworks from private property. The exhibits were owned by numerous collectors from London and Paris, who had astonishingly agreed to send their most valuable art treasures abroad, in order to present them to the German public. When the Exhibition of Old English Masters and the Exhibition of French artworks of the 18th century were held in 1908 and 1910, the relationship between the Kaiserreich and its neighbouring states rested on unsteady foundations. Since the turn of the century various diplomatic crises in connection with Emperor William’s fleet policy and the imperial endeavours of the great power states had worsened their already intricate relations and the tense political atmosphere had successively devolved on their populaces. To overcome the hatred between the nations, new diplomatic strategies were developed especially within the cultural area. Intercultural exchange became a means to restore mutual respect and appreciation. In this regard, the Academy’s loan exhibitions can truly be seen as ‘Ententes of Art’. While the English exhibition had allegedly been arranged on the Kaisers’ special request after his state visit to London in 1907, the French art works were exhibited with the help of a far-reaching transnational network of diplomats like ambassador Jules Cambon as well as several German and French politicians, collectors and museum members. Still, both events were used to express cordiality and to emphasise the importance of international friendship and political collaboration. My paper will examine these unique exhibitions by focussing on coeval press reports and records in order to discuss their political dimensions. I argue, that they can be regarded as important diplomatic gestures at the interface of privatand public spheres to help fixing the complicated political relationship between the Empire and its neighbours via cultural diplomacy.
TSEG/ Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, 2020
In their seminal book Careers and Canvases (1965), Harrison and Cynthia White introduced the concept of the dealer-critic-system in order to explain the demise of the French Académie and the traditional, state-funded exhibition circuit, and the simultaneous rise of some determining features of the modern art market during the second half of the nineteenth century. 1 Although often criticized, revised and expanded by successive generations of researchers, White and White's study remains a milestone in the history of the nineteenth-century art market, and the social history of art in general. That Careers and Canvases continues to inspire new research questions and innovative methodologies is beautifully demonstrated by the collection of essays Art Crossing Borders. The Internationalisation of the Art Market in the Age of Nation States, 1750States, -1914, edited by Jan Dirk Baetens and Dries Lyna. While the Whites sketched some of the crucial changes that characterized the Parisian art world, Art Crossing Borders aims for a rigorously international perspective and transnational approach. After all, the (long) nineteenth century experienced not only the triumph of the nation state in the West and the breakthrough of national discourses that penetrated all aspects of social, cultural and artistic life, but it was also the period that saw an unprecedented expansion and internationalization of the art market. It is precisely this -at first sight paradoxical -relation between the national and the international that is addressed in Art Crossing Borders. The central questions put forward in this volume are how the increasingly international art market was connected to modes of thinking related to national identity, and which role different actors in the art market sphere played in these processes of internationalization.
Art World Fields and Global Hegemonies
International Studies Quarterly, 2022
This paper investigates the art world as a setting for hegemonic status or prestige politics. Powerful states engage in art world status-seeking but appear to face challenges distinct to the art world in so doing. To explain, I adopt a Bourdieusian forms of capital approach, framing the art world as a social field with distinctive contentious dynamics and symbolic politics. I argue states must work through art world networks and institutions to pursue status there, observing local rules in so doing. I frame art world prestige as symbolic capital-the overt, observable pursuit of which tends to undermine any gains. Hegemonic incumbents and challengers face differing such constraints. The existing global art world models rules and standards by homology on that of the current hegemon. A challenger must adapt to this status quo before they can revise it. I unpack these dynamics in the cases of America, China, and India. I focus on their shifting standing in the global art market and performances of national aggrandizement at a recurring global art world event: the Venice Biennale. En este artículo se investiga el mundo del arte como un escenario para el estatus hegemónico o la política de prestigio. Los Estados poderosos participan en la búsqueda de estatus en el mundo del arte, pero al hacerlo parecen enfrentar desafíos distintos al mundo del arte. Para explicarlo, adopto un enfoque bourdieusiano de las formas de capital, enmarcando el mundo del arte como un campo social con políticas simbólicas y dinámicas contenciosas distintivas. Sostengo que los Estados deben trabajar a través de las redes e instituciones del mundo del arte para buscar el estatus allí, observando la normativa local en el proceso. Enmarco el prestigio del mundo del arte como un capital simbólico, cuya búsqueda evidente y observable tiende a socavar cualquier beneficio. Los titulares hegemónicos y los aspirantes se enfrentan a diferentes limitaciones de este tipo. El mundo del arte global actual establece las reglas y los estándares por homología con los de la potencia hegemónica actual. Un aspirante debe adaptarse a este statu quo antes de poder reformarlo. Explico estas dinámicas en los casos de Estados Unidos, China e India. Me centro en su posición cambiante en el mercado global del arte y las actuaciones de engrandecimiento nacional en un evento mundial recurrente del arte global: la Bienal de Venecia. Cet article étudie le monde de l'art en tant qu'environnement de statut hégémonique ou de politique de prestige. Les États puissants s'engagent dans une quête de statut dans le monde de l'art mais semblent ce faisant être confrontés à des défis distincts du monde de l'art. Pour l'expliquer, j'adopte une approche bourdieusienne des formes de capital en cadrant le monde de l'art comme un domaine social dont les dynamiques conflictuelles et les politiques symboliques sont distinctes. Je soutiens que les États doivent passer par les réseaux et les institutions du monde de l'art pour y obtenir un statut en respectant les règles locales. Je caractérise le prestige du monde de l'art comme un capital symbolique dont la poursuite manifeste et observable tend à saper tout gain. Les détenteurs du pouvoir hégémonique et leurs challengers sont confrontés à des contraintes différentes. Le monde de l'art international existant modèle ses règles et ses normes par homologie avec celles de l'hégémonie actuelle. Un challenger doit s'adapter à ce statu quo avant de pouvoir le réviser. J'analyse ces dynamiques dans les cas des États-Unis, de la Chine et de l'Inde. Je me concentre sur l'évolution de leur standing sur le marché international de l'art et sur leurs déclarations performatives de glorification nationale lors d'un événement récurent du monde de l'art international : les biennales de Venise.