Art, Nation and Gender

This title was first published in 2003. The essay collection explores the conjunctions of nation, gender, and visual representation in a number of countries-including Ireland, Scotland, Britain, Canada, Finland, Russia and Germany-during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The contributors show visual imagery to be a particularly productive focus for analysing the intersections of nation and gender, since the nation and nationalism, as abstract concepts, have to be "embodied" in ways that make them imaginable, especially through the means of art. They explore how allegorical female figures personify the nation across a wide range of visual media, from sculpture to political cartoons and how national architectures may also be gendered. They show how through such representations, art reveals the ethno-cultural bases of nationalisms. Through the study of such images, the essays in this volume cast new light on the significance of gender in the construction of nationalist ideology and the constitution of the nation-state. In tackling the conjunctions of nation, gender and visual representation, the case studies presented in this publication can be seen to provide exciting new perspectives on the study of nations, of gender and the history of art. The range of countries chosen and the variety of images scrutinised create a broad arena for further debate.

Tricia Cusack, Convenor of the Humanities Curriculum Development and Research Group and Lecturer in History of Art, Architecture and Design School of Continuing Studies, University of Birmingham, UK and Síghle Bhreathnach-Lynch, Curator of Irish painting at the National Gallery of Ireland, Ireland

Contents: Introduction: art, nation and gender, Tricia Cusack Part I: Women as Allegories of the Nation: From Britannia to Mother Russia 1. Domesticating Britannia: representations of the nation in Punch 1870-1880, Anne Helmreich 2. Anima Celtica: Embodying the soul of the nation in 1890s Edinburgh, Murdo Macdonald 3. (Dis-)embodying the nation: female figures, desire and nation-building in early 20th-century Finland, Johanna Valenius 4. Putting Mother Russia in a European context, Linda Edmondson Part II: Regendering National Culture 5. Visual Marianism and national identity in Ireland 1920-1960, John Turpin 6. From the zero hour: transparency, gender and architecture in post-war Germany, Deborah Ascher Barnstone Part III: Women's Art: Expanding National Identity 7. True patriot love: Joyce Wieland's Canada, Christine Conley 8. Becoming women: Irigaray, Ireland and visual representation, Hilary Robinson Bibliography Index