Visualizing the Nation

By Joan B. Landes

Subjects: Symbolic aspects, Human Body, Art, France, social conditions, Druckgrafik, Compagnie Rêvolution, Nation, Art and the revolution, France, history, revolution, 1789-1799, French Art, Nationalisme et art, Nationalisme, Corps humain, Symbolic aspects of the Human body, Kunst, Art français, Art, french, Histoire, Art, political aspects, Geschichte, Nationalismus, Political aspects of Art, France, history, 18th century, Allégorie, Französische Revolution, Franse Revolutie, Allégories, Tugend, Allegories, Frau, Cultuurgeschiedenis, 15.70 history of Europe, Politik, Aspect symbolique, Rôle selon le sexe dans l'art, Human body, Allegory (artistic device), Sekserol, Aspect politique, Sex role in art, Europe, History, Nationalism and art, Art et révolution, Political aspects

Description: "Popular images of women were everywhere in revolutionary France. Landes highlights the widespread circulation of images of the female body, notwithstanding the political leadership's suspicions of the dangers of feminine influence and the seductions of visual imagery. The use of caricatures and allegories contributed to the destruction of the masculinized images of hierarchic absolutism and to forging new roles for men and women in both the intimate and public arenas. Landes tells the story of how the depiction of the nation as a desirable female body worked to eroticize patriotism and to bind male subjects to the nation-state. Despite their political subordination, women too were invited to identify with the project of nationalism."--BOOK JACKET.