Study on Matisse's artistic activities during the Second World War: From the view point of Frenchness and war culture

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02283
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fine art history
• Research Institution: Kyoto Tachibana University
• Principal Investigator: Okubo Kyoko 京都橘大学, 発達教育学部, 教授 (70293991)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山本 友紀 日本女子大学, 人間社会学部, 研究員 (30537882)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: マティス / 第二次世界大戦 / パリ国際博覧会 / フランス性 / 中庸 / プリミティフ / 戦争文化 / モダニズム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The study investigated the artistic activities of Matisse during the World War Ⅱ period, aiming at clarifying the"Frenchness"in discourse related to him from the perspective of war culture. It included comparison with the avant-garde modernists. Matisse's reputation as a moderate modernist, which sets his work apart from avant-garde modernism, was inseparably linked to a national identity of moderateness under occupation, namely Frenchness. Matisse was perceived as embodying the French tradition and its cultural superiority, but what characterized Matisse's champ d'art during this period was that it was located in the political middle zone, keeping a certain distance from the war. It was also characterized by the mechanism of being a symbol of French art due to this"absence".

Free Research Field

美学美術史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、1937年パリ国際博覧会でマティスの関与が拒まれたという通説を事実関係の調査によって覆し、マティスがフランス性に繋がる評価を得ていたことを明らかにし、一方、時の政権による前衛的なモダニスト擁護の姿勢を明確にして、フランスの文化政策の要諦を示し、この時期の美術史研究に新視座を提示した。さらに国際シンポジウム「第二次世界大戦期のフランスをめぐる芸術の位相」を実施して国内外に向けて問題提起を行い、反響を得、戦争文化の視点から戦時下のフランス美術研究の新局面を開くことに成功した。