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Art Nouveau, Art of Darkness: African Lineages of Belgian Modernism, Part I

2011; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/662515

2153-5558

Debora Silverman,

Cultural Identity and Heritage

This article is the first of a two-part study. Part I identifies Belgian art nouveau as a specifically Congo style and as "imperial modernism," created from Congo raw materials and inspired by Congo motifs—the lash, the vine, and the elephantine. Focusing closely on works by Victor Horta, Henry van de Velde, and Philippe Wolfers, Part I suggests how stylistic forms of modernism expressed a displaced encounter with a distant but encroaching imperial violence—the return of the repressor in visual form. Part II, which will appear in the next issue of West 86th, focuses on the history, visual culture, and ongoing renovation of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (originally opened in 1910), highlighting new research on expressive forms of violence, past and present, within Belgium and outside it.