IMMIGRATION IMPACT ON FRENCH CULTURE
A MULTIPLE INFLUENCE There are several ways to live one s culture in migration For centuries, designers have settled down in France for artistic choice or political reasons Immigrant artists have invented new forms, mixing cultures from here and there The influence is multiple and does not join in a specific artistic tradition Instead, their art travels back and forth between here and elsewhere
VITALITY AND FRENCH INTERNATIONAL BRILLANCE The immigrants and their off-springs never not stopped contributing to the French cultural "genius in : Popular arts, Songs or Cooking, Painting and Modern Art, Literature, Architecture, Decoration and Fashion design.
IMMIGRATION IMPACT ON FINE ARTS
PABLO PICASSO MALAGA, SPAIN, 1881 MOUGINS, FRANCE, 1973 In 1907, Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d Avignon. This painting marked the mutual influences which linked France and foreign artists. This picture makes a reference to the Iberian and African arts.
OSSIP ZADKINE 1890, VITERBESK, RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 1967, PARIS, FRANCE French-Russian sculptor in his workshop of Assas street in Paris. He was considered one the greatest masters of the Cubist painting. Here is a bust of the Russian poet Alexandre Pushkin.
MARC CHAGALL VITEBSK, RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 1887 SAINT-PAUL-DE-VENCE, 1985 Marc Chagall settled down in France in 1923 and acquired the French nationality in1937. His painting were inspired by the Jewish and oriental popular art.
AMEDEO MODIGLIANI 1884, LIVORNO, ITALY 1920, PARIS, FRANCE Representational Italian painter and sculptor of the Ecole de Paris He created works in stretched shapes and faces with empty looking that ressembled masks. They remain symbolic of the rising Modern Art.
«L ECOLE DE PARIS» What s the Ecole de Paris"? Is it a style, a movement, a trend? Nothing of that kind. It represents the gathering of immigrant artists. At the beginning of the XXth century, artists came from the whole world and took up residence in Paris. They were either attracted by the cultural profusion of the city or attached to the country of the Freedom. Each one of them contributed in turning Paris into the international home of the artistic creation up to the 1960s.
CHAIM SOUTINE 1893, SMILAVICHY, BIELORUSSIA 1943, PARIS, FRANCE Soutine was a Lithuanian painter. He belonged to the same school. The characters whom he represented were melancholic. They look like caricatures. Their bodies were spectacularly distorted and dressed in suits offering deep contrasts of color.
MOÏSE KISLING 1891, KRAKOW, POLAND 1953, SANARY- SUR-MER, FRANCE Painter of Polish origin, he joined the Ecole de Paris and participated actively to its fame
OTHER ARTISTS FROM THE «ECOLE DE PARIS» Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), sculptor of Romanian origin. Léonard Foujita (1886-1968), painter of Japanese origin. He was naturalized in 1955.
MORE CONTEMPORANEOUS ARTISTS RENÉ GOSCINNY & ALBERT UDERZO Comic book authors In 1959, the cartoonist Albert Uderzo, son of Italian immigrants and the scriptwriter René Goscinny, son of Polish immigrants, created a character that became an emblem of the French comic strip: Astérix. The funny adventures of the small Gallic warrior and his friend Obélix fighting against the Roman occupants won a worldwide success!
KIMSOOJA TAEGU, KOREA, 1957 Kimsooja drew from her Korean roots the material of preference, named bojagi. It is composed of traditional fabrics used by the Koreans to tidy up or transport personal objects. Since the 1980s, this Woman- Needle has not stopped folding, unfolding, sewing, transforming these materials into named bundles of clothes called bottari. For her last moving exhibition, she used French fabrics that she got from Emmaüs, a French charity, founded by Abbé Pierre, that helps people in need. She lives and works in between Paris and New York
BARTHÉLÉMY TOGUO M BALMAYO, CAMEROON, 1967. He is a nomadic artist who lives and works between Paris, Düsseldorf and Bandjoun in Cameroon. He belongs to these artists who did not choose between Africa, Europe or the rest of the world where they exhibit their works. In Boat of Exodus, Toguo revisits the notion of journey and trips. He explores the theme of exile, but also implicitly, the beginning of another life. Indeed, Toguo s creations question the status of the foreigner, the migrant, the immigrant, and the difficulty of establishing one s identity.
IN BRIEF Toguo says : «As an immigrant, particularly after the fall of the Berlin wall, I realised how deep was the desire to depart, travel and discover. Exile is a notion inscribed in the human condition without any distinction of race or cultural origin.»
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! G UI LLAUME ZERBONE, 2 G T