Talking About Art: the French Royal Academy Salons and the Formation of the Discursive Citizen

Abstract

The early Salons of the French Royal Academy spawned broader participation in critical discourse by the general public not only by providing an egalitarian site for the expression of personal opinions, but by theorizing the legitimacy of amateur response in a field previously limited to experts. Theorists of the period encouraged those with little or no technical experience in art to speak their minds about paintings, in pursuit of taste and individual distinction. Paradoxically, pursuing critical autonomy and individuality in this way entailed the assimilation of consensus values and protocols. Thus, the Salons prefigured the modern ethic of aesthetic self-expression that channels the pursuit of individuality and personal distinction into social order and hierarchy.