Can Art be National? Japonisme and Transculturation in Turn of the Century Sweden and Poland.

Motivated by a revival of discourses on national canons of art across Europe, the aim of this project in Art History is to advance a critical understanding of the role of transculturation in the construction of national art in the 19th c.

In focus are the parallel cultural contexts in Sweden and Poland, both renegotiating their national identity, and the role of Japonisme in shaping these national imaginations.The paradox is that while modern art in Sweden and Poland pursued divergent narratives of national culture, it shared engagements with Japonisme.

Art that emerged in this transculturation became a part of the national canon.

This prompts the question what acts of cultural appropriation play a role in the emergence of national art in European nations?

The project will conduct comparative studies of Thielska Gallery Collection, Stockholm and Feliks Jasieński Collection, Kraków.

Viewed as articulations of discourse on national art and Japonisme they will be studied via formalist and materialist methodologies, and theories of transculturation, hybridization and cultural nationalism.To understand what national art and cultural canon means in today’s globalized world we need to interrogate the overlaps of cultures constructing the premise for this art.

The significance of this project is its potential to demonstrate political agency of art, and expose the ideological fallacy of current discourses on national cannons of art afflicting democracies across Europe.