The following study traces modern Quebecois art from the beginning of the twentieth century with specific reference to the question of the redefinition of identity. The study mainly consists of an analysis of different strategies used by certain progressive artists like Paul-Emile Borduas, Francoise Sullivan and Jean-Paul Riopelle to impose a new reality which was simultaneously contemporary, rooted and distinct in the context of a Quebec that was emerging in modernization. By using popular or marginalized artistic forms and by seizing certain ancient models belonging to the distant past---in the non-western world or precolonial America---and by using different strategies of deconstruction and transgression of normative codes defined by the dominant ideology, these artists were able to avoid current hegemonic models in order to assert new spaces for expression and representation. Taking on modern Quebecois art from an approach belonging to diverse social sciences and humanities, this study aims to renew the analytical parameters of the traditional art history. The main challenge lies in zeroing in on the ways in which the development of modern identity (meaning the affirmation of the right to be different and to self-determination, and the development of subjectivism and expressivism) influenced avant-garde artistic productions, and which strategies artists used to replace the values imposed by traditional institutions and the dominant ideology, which in turn sparked a renewal of identity. Modern identity is based upon a principle that is modeled on two foundations: on the image that the subject will have of himself, and the impression that the Other (a bordering neighbour, cultural cousin, colonial authority or political oppressor) will have of him. In fact, this "stranger" will essentially assume the role of guaranteeing the recognition of the proposed identity. The phenomena of mythical constructions of symbolical imagination and of primitivism, in this study,
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.36725 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Vigneault, Louise, 1965- |
| Contributors | Ross, Christine (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Art History.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001764451, proquestno: NQ64686, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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