The Gaulish and the feudal as lieux de mémoire in post-war French abstraction

Abstract

If gestural abstract painting was an artistic practice that turned away from figuration and legible meanings, there was nevertheless a struggle over its interpretation and orientation in post-war Paris. This struggle is exemplified by two exhibitions that took place in the 1950s: Pérennité de l’art gaulois, at the Musée pédagogique in 1955, which was organized by the art critic Charles Estienne in association with the surrealist group; and Les Cérémonies commémoratives de la deuxième condamnation de Siger de Brabant, at the Galerie Kléber in 1957, which was organized by the abstract painters Georges Mathieu and Simon Hantaï. Each exhibition was oriented against the classical foundations of modern French culture and the French nation-state, and each was identified with a site of memory in French culture. This article undertakes to identify and comprehend the significance of these cultural choices, in relation to the political and cultural options of the 1950s.