Richard Taws. The Politics of the Provisional: Art and Ephemera in Revolutionary France.

Abstract

In this stimulating book, Richard Taws explores what he describes as the provisional or ephemeral art of revolutionary France. Unlike the monumental artistic production associated with French medieval Christianity or that stimulated by the absolute monarchs, the revolutionary era produced little such art as a consequence of the constantly shifting political milieu. According to Taws, this ephemeral art, which included much that traditionally would not be characterized as art (paper money, passports, calendars, almanacs, and representations of transient or demolished monumental structures), provided the “means of negotiating the historical significance of the Revolution” in the midst of its ever-changing political culture (3). The valuable insights that Taws draws from his examination of this art confirm Lynn Hunt’s assertion of the importance of continued and innovative analysis of the visual sources of the Revolution (“The Experience of Revolution,” French Historical Studies 32, no. 4 [Fall 2009]: 671–678). The revolutionary paper currency, the assignat, was the most ubiquitous example of ephemeral art. Introduced to facilitate the sale of the church land, the assignat emerged as a widely circulated representation of revolutionary authority. Numerous symbols were packed into the assignat. Initially displaying a portrait of the king, Louis XVI, the notes also contained revolutionary symbols and became overtly republican in form after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792. Symbolizing the Revolution’s disdain for the church and resurrecting the fear of paper currency and of resulting economic catastrophe associated with the financial reforms of John Law, the assignat was an easy target for counter-revolutionary satirists whose caricatures belittling the assignat served as a means of challenging the legitimacy of the Revolution itself. The circulation of counterfeit notes provided counter-revolutionary artists with many avenues to launch attacks on the revolutionary enterprise. In contrast, Jacques-Louis David’s inclusion of an assignat in his well-known painting Marat assassiné strengthened the association of the journalist with the ideals of the Revolution. As Taws demonstrates, the assignat continued to be a subject of ephemeral art even after its withdrawal from circulation and the public destruction of large quantities of the currency.