Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
FranceandtheevolutionofarthistoryintheCentralandEasternEurope.Threecases...
ThethirdandlastcaseIamgoingtoconsider
-PierreFrancastelattheFrenchInstituteinWar-
saw-isinturnalittledifferent.WhenFrancastel
wasappointedchairmanoftheinstitute,in1930,
hewasayoungscholarthathadonlyjustdefended
hisdoctoraldissertationontheartofVersailles.His
actionattheinstituteischieflydidactic.
AsecondfocusofFrancastel’sactivityisthe
publicationanddiffusionofworksofPolishhis-
toriansinFrance.Between1935and1937,the
Bibliothèquedel’InstitutfrançaisdeVarsoviepu-
blishedFrenchtranslationsofworksbyTadeusz
Szydłowski,professorattheJagiellonianUniversi-
ty,LeretabledeNotre-DameàCracovie,andMichał
Walicki,professorattheUniversityofWarsaw,La
peintured’autelsetderetablesenPologneautemps
desJagellons18.
Thepublicationofthelatter,inparticular,was
theoccasionofapolemicdebatethatlastedforsev-
eralyears.Thisdebate,onceagain,isindicativeof
thenationalistictensionsthatrunthougharthis-
toryatthistime.
Walicki’sessaycamewithaprefacebyFrancas-
telhimselfthatamountedtoacriticalreview.In
particular,Francastelreproachedtheauthorforhis
methodbasedon“comparisons”(rapprochements),
anapproachwewouldnowratherterm“connois-
seurship”
.AccordingtoFrancastel,thismethodwas
tooabstract,asitdidnottakeintoaccountsocial
factorssuchasthemarketforartistsandworks,
andthisfundamentalfaulthadinducedWalickito
overratetheGermancomponentoftheartworks
hestudied,forgettingallabouttheirFrenchmod-
els.MieczysławGębarowicztookhispentodefend
Walickiwithanarticlethatcameoutin1938,in
French19.
Thisdisputewasresurrectedin1944-45,when
FrancastelheldacycleoflecturesatClermond
FerrandUniversity.Hewouldlaterpublishthem
asArthistory,atoolofGermanpropaganda20.The
problemofPolishartanditshistorytooksome
ofthecentralchapters.Itwasacrucialstakein
hisanti-Germandiscourse,andFrancastelwould
comebacktoitinarticlesandlectures.Inthesec-
ondWoldWar,whereFranceandGermanywere
againonoppositesides,Francasteltendedtoread
thepositionsofWalickiandGębarowiczasaproof
25
that“Germanpropagandaholdsinitsswayeven
thosewhoaresincerelyattachedtothecultureand
historyoftheirhomeland”21.
Toconcludethisquickoverviewofthepresence
ofFrencharthistoryanditsinstitutionsinCentral
andEasternEuropeinthefirsthalfofthe20thcen-
tury,twopointsmustbestressed.
First,thedevelopmentofamodernarthistory
inthesecountrieswasafundamentalstrategicstake
forFrance.Itscontributiontothepromotionoflo-
calresearchunderthepatronageofFrenchinsti-
tuteshasanevidentanti-Germanpointe.French
methodsandmodelswerewelcomedwithgreater
orlesserenthusiasm(comparetheOprescu-Focillon
relationshipononehandandtheWalicki-Francas-
teldebateontheother),butitseemstomethatthe
presenceofFrencharthistoryasan“inside”forceis
afactorthatmustbetakenintoaccountwhenat-
temptingtowriteahistoryoftheoriginsofmodern
arthistoryinCentralandEasternEurope.
Second:theseattemptsatadisseminationof
FrencharthistoryinCentralandEastEuropean
countriesareaparticularlyclearinstanceofthe
strongconnectionbetweennationalisttendencies
andtheestablishmentofinternationalrelation-
shipsintheintellectualfieldofearly20thcentury
Europe.Thisconnectionis,infact,aconstantfea-
ture.Thisambivalenceisanissuethatahistoryof
arthistoryinCentralandEasternEuropewillhave
toaddress.
Bibliography
Chaubet2006=ChaubetFrançois:Histoireintellec-
tuelledel’entre-deuxguerres.Cultureetpolitique,
Paris2006
Focillon1992=Lettresd’HenriFocillonàGeorges
Opresco,specialissueofRevueroumained’histoire
del’art,19,1992
Francastel1945=FrancastelPierre:L’Histoiredel’art
instrumentdelapropagandegermanique,Paris1945
Gębarowicz1938=GębarowiczMieczysław:“Lapein-
turepolonaiseàl’époquedesJagellons”
,LaFranceet
laPolognedansleursrelationsartistiques.Annuaire
historiqueéditéparlaBibliothèquepolonaisedeParis,
1,1938
Godin1998=GodinAndré:Unepassionroumaine.
Histoiredel’InstitutfrançaisdeHautesétudesen
Roumanie(1924-1948),Paris1998
18Szydłowski(1935)andWalicki(1937).
19Gębarowicz(1938).
20Francastel(1945).
21Francastel(1945:232).
