Marianne
Marianne (pronounced
Marianne is displayed in many places in France and holds a
Marianne is a significant
History
20 French Centime with Marianne on Obverse. | |
---|---|
Obverse: Marianne wearing the Phrygian cap of liberty. | Reverse: Face value and French motto: "Liberté, égalité, fraternité". |
This coin was minted from 1962 to 2001. |
Since classical times it was common to represent ideas and abstract entities by gods, goddesses, and allegorical personifications. During the French Revolution of 1789, many allegorical personifications of 'Liberty' and 'Reason' appeared. These two figures finally merged into one: a female figure, shown either sitting or standing and accompanied by various attributes, including the cockade of France and the Phrygian cap. This woman typically symbolised Liberty, Reason, the Nation, the Homeland and the civic virtues of the Republic.[2] In September 1792, the National Convention decided by decree that the new seal of the state would represent a standing woman holding a spear with a Phrygian cap held aloft on top of it.
Historian Maurice Agulhon, who in several works set out on a detailed investigation to discover the origins of Marianne, suggests that it is the traditions and mentality of the French that led to the use of a woman to represent the Republic.
The use of this emblem was initially unofficial and very diverse. A female allegory of Liberty and of the Republic makes an appearance in
The First Republic
Although the image of Marianne did not garner significant attention until 1792, the origins of this "goddess of Liberty" date back to 1775, when
The imagery of Marianne chosen as the seal of the First French Republic depicted her standing, young and determined.[7] It was symbolic of the First Republic itself, a newly created state that had much to prove. Marianne is clad in a classical gown.[6] In her right hand, she wields the pike of revolution with the Phrygian cap resting on it, which represents the liberation of France.[7] Marianne is shown leaning on a fasces, a symbol of authority. Although she is standing and holding a pike, this depiction of Marianne is "not exactly aggressive",[7] representing the ideology of the moderate-liberal Girondins in the National Convention as they tried to move away from the "frantic violence of the revolutionary days".[5]
Although the initial figure of Marianne from 1792 stood in a relatively conservative pose, the revolutionaries were quick to abandon that figure when it no longer suited them. By 1793, the conservative figure of Marianne had been replaced by a more violent image; that of a woman, bare-breasted and fierce of visage, often leading men into battle.[7] The reason behind this switch stems from the shifting priorities of the Republic. Although the Marianne symbol was initially neutral in tone, the shift to radical action was in response to the beginning of the Terror, which called for militant revolutionary action against foreigners and counter-revolutionaries. As part of the tactics the administration employed, the more radical Marianne was intended to rouse the French people to action.[6] Even this change, however, was seen to be insufficiently radical by the republicans. After the arrest of the Girondin deputies in October 1793, the Convention sought to "recast the Republic in a more radical mold",[8] eventually using the symbol of Hercules to represent the Republic. The use of increasingly radical images to symbolise the Republic was in direct parallel to the beginning of the violence that came to be known as the Reign of Terror.
After the Reign of Terror, there was a need for another change in the imagery, to showcase the more civil and
The symbol of Marianne continued to evolve in response to the needs of the State long after the Directory was dissolved in 1799 following the coup spearheaded by
The Second Republic
On 17 March 1848, the Ministry of the Interior of the newly founded
Two "Mariannes" were authorised. One is fighting and victorious, recalling the Greek goddess
Town halls voluntarily chose to have representations of Marianne, often turning her back to the
The Second Empire
During the Second Empire (1852–1870), this depiction became clandestine and served as a symbol of protest against the regime. The common use of the name "Marianne" for the depiction of "Liberty" started around 1848/1851, becoming generalised throughout France around 1875.
The Third Republic
The usage began to be more official during the Third Republic (1870–1940). Much of the popularity of Marianne was due to the fact that she symbolized French republicanism while at the same time being neutral enough to make her into a symbol that appealed to most people.[10] The legacy of the French Revolution tended to divide people in France as different people in France had different revolutionary heroes and villains, and unlike the United States, the French had no cult of "the Founding Fathers" whose memory was venerated by all.[10] For this reason, the French state tended to promote abstract symbols like Marianne as an unifying national symbol instead of using personalities from history as a national symbol in the manner which the United States used George Washington and Venezuela used Simon Bolivar as national symbols in the 19th century.[10] As a symbol of the Revolution and of the republic, Marianne was sufficiently inoffensive enough to appeal to most people without causing any controversy.[10] Marianne's femininity made her appear less threatening as a symbol of the republic than a male figure would have been.
After a turbulent first decade in the 1870s, by the 1880s the republic was accepted by most people in France and as such, the French state did not need history to justify itself, using Marianne as the unifying symbol of the republic.[11] The only historical event that was regularly honored in France was Bastille Day, as the storming of the Bastille in 1789 was the revolutionary occurrence that appealed to most of the French, and the rest of the events of the revolution were not officially honored in order to keep the memory of the revolution as harmonious as possible.[11] It was the strategy of the republican leaders to use symbols and the memory of history in such a way to create as wide a national consensus as possible in favor of the republic, which was why Marianne became such a prominent symbol of the republic.[11] By contrast, the newly unified German Reich had too many historical traditions to draw upon, reflecting the histories of the various German states, none of which could appeal to everybody, leading to a situation where the British historian Eric Hobsbawm noted: "Like many another liberated 'people', 'Germany' was more easily defined by what it was against than in any other way."[11] Hobsbawm argued for this reason, that unlike Marianne who was a symbol of the republic and freedom in general, her German counterpart, Deutscher Michel "...seems to have been essentially an anti-foreign image".[12]
The
From the signing of the
The American historian Michael Nolan wrote in the "hyper-masculine world of Wilhelmine Germany" with its exaltation of militarism and masculine power, the very fact that Marianne was the symbol of the republic was used to argue that French men were effeminate and weak.[14] In this regard, it is significant in German cartoons and posters, Marianne usually faced off against a male figure representing Germany, who was either a typical German soldier or Kaiser Wilhelm II himself and Marianne only very rarely took on Germania.[14] In French cartoons and posters, it was Marianne who took on Wilhelm II, whose bombastic pomposity lent itself well for ridicule, and she almost never took on Deutscher Michel, leading Nolan to comment that French cartoonists missed a great chance for satire since even in Germany itself, Deutscher Michel is portrayed as rather "dim-witted".[14] On occasion, Marianne was portrayed slightly more favorably in Germany as in a cartoon from May 1914 in the magazine Kladderadatsch where Deutscher Michel is working in his garden with a seductive and voluptuous Marianne on one side and a brutish muzhik (Russian peasant) on the other; the message of the cartoon was that France should not be allied to Russia, and would be better off allied to Germany, since Deutscher Michel with his well tended garden is clearly a better potential husband than the vodka drinking muzhik whose garden is a disorderly disaster.[15]
Marianne differed from Uncle Sam, John Bull, and Deutscher Michel in that Marianne was not just a symbol of France, but of the republic as well.[12] For those on the French right, who still hankered for the House of Bourbon like Action Française, Marianne was always rejected for her republican associations, and the preferred symbol of France was Joan of Arc.[16] As Joan of Arc was devoutly Catholic, committed to serving King Charles VII, and fought for France against England, she perfectly symbolized the values of Catholicism, royalism, militarism and nationalism that were so dear for French monarchists.[17] Joan was apparently asexual, and her chaste and virginal image stood in marked contrast to Marianne, whom Action Française depicted as a prostitute or as a "slut" to symbolize the "degeneracy" of the republic.[17] The contrast between the asexual Joan vs. the unabashedly sexualized Marianne who was often depicted bare-breasted could not have been greater.[18] Finally, because of Joan's status as one of France' best loved heroines, it was difficult for republicans to attack Joan without seeming unpatriotic.[19] However, the royalist attempt to have Joan of Arc replace Marianne as the symbol of France failed, in large part because most of the French people accepted the republic, and Marianne unlike Joan was the symbol of the republic.[20] In the middle of the 19th century, Marianne was usually portrayed in France as a young woman, but by late 19th century, Marianne was more commonly presented as a middle aged, maternal woman, reflecting the fact that the republic was dominated by a centre-right coalition of older male politicians, who disliked the image of a militant young female revolutionary.[21] After British and German newspapers began to mock the middle-aged Marianne as a symbol of supposed French decline, around 1900 the younger Marianne came back into vogue to symbolize that the republic was not in decline.[21]
In World War I, in German propaganda, Marianne was always depicted as dominating Russia, represented variously as a bear, a thuggish-looking Cossack or by the Emperor Nicholas II, with Marianne being drawn as an angry and emasculating wife.[22] By contrast, John Bull was always depicted in German cartoons as dominating both Marianne and Russia, reflecting the German perception that Britain was the most dangerous of all of Germany's enemies.[23] When John Bull was depicted in the company of Marianne in German cartoons, she was always the submissive one.[23]
Few Mariannes were depicted in the First World War memorials, but some living models of Marianne appeared in 1936, during the government of the
Fifth Republic
Marianne's presence became less important in French imagery after World War II, although under the presidency of
During the bicentenary of the Revolution, in 1989, Marianne hardly made any public appearance. The
Origin of the name
At the time of the French Revolution, as the most common of people were fighting for their rights, it seemed fitting to name the Republic after the most common of French women's names: Marie (
A recent discovery establishes that the first written mention of the name of Marianne to designate the Republic appeared in October 1792 in
Some believe that the name came from the name of the Spanish
The description by artist
The name of Marianne also appears to be connected with several republican secret societies. During the Second Empire, one of them, whose members had sworn to overthrow the monarchy, had taken her name.
In any case, she has become a symbol in France: considered as a personification of the Republic, she was often used on republican iconography – and sometimes caricatured and reviled by those against the republic, especially royalists and monarchists.
Models
The official busts of Marianne initially had anonymous features, appearing as women of the people. From 1969, however, they began to take on the features of famous women, starting with the actress Brigitte Bardot.[4] She was followed by Michèle Morgan (1972), Mireille Mathieu (1978), Catherine Deneuve (1985), Inès de La Fressange (1989), Laetitia Casta (2000) and Évelyne Thomas (2003).[30]
Laetitia Casta was named the symbolic representation of France's Republic in October 1999 in a vote open for the first time to the country's more than 36,000 mayors. She won from a shortlist of five candidates, scoring 36% among the 15,000 that voted. The other candidates were
In July 2013, a new stamp featuring the Marianne was debuted by President François Hollande, allegedly designed by the team of Olivier Ciappa and David Kawena. Ciappa claimed that
Government logo
Blue-white-red, Marianne,
Debate about Islamic dress
Marianne has featured prominently in the Islamic scarf controversy in France as a symbol of a certain idea of Frenchness and femininity. The American historian Joan Wallach Scott wrote in 2016 that it is no accident that Marianne is often depicted as bare-breasted regardless of where she is or what she is doing, as this reflects the French ideal of a woman, which has been used as an argument for why Islamic dress for women is not French.[39] Scott wrote the topless Marianne has become "...the embodiment of emancipated French women in contrast to the veiled woman said to be subordinated by Islam".[39]
Later in 2016, the French Premier Manuel Valls stated in a speech that the burkini swimsuit was an "enslavement" of women and that Marianne was usually topless which The Economist noted: "The implication seemed to be that women in burkinis are un-French, while true French women go topless."[40] In a speech on 29 August 2016, Valls said: "Marianne has a naked breast because she is feeding the people! She is not veiled, because she is free! That is the republic!".[41] Angelique Chisafis of The Guardian newspaper reported: "The inference that bare breasts were a symbol of France while the Muslim headscarf was problematic sparked scorn from politicians and derision from historians and feminists".[41] The French president François Hollande sparked much debate in France with his controversial statement "The veiled woman will be the Marianne of tomorrow".[42]
Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic logo
Marianne is one of the elements of the official emblem of the 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, combined with the gold medal and the Olympic and Paralympic flame, which is the first time in history with the same emblem.
See also
- Columbia, an equivalent symbol for the United States of America.
- Government of France
- National personification, contains the list of personifications for various nations and territories.
- American Declaration of Independence.
Notes
- ^ Marianne on French stamps
- ^ Compare the Statue of Liberty, created as Liberty Enlightening the World by French artist Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, with a copy in both Paris and Saint-Étienne.
- ^ Agulhon 1981.
- ^ a b c d e Anne-Marie Sohn. Marianne ou l'histoire de l'idée républicaine aux XIXè et XXè siècles à la lumière de ses représentations (in French)
- ^ a b c d Hunt 1984, p. 62.
- ^ a b c Agulhon 1981, p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e Hunt 1984, p. 93.
- ^ Hunt 1984, p. 94.
- ^ a b Hunt 1984, p. 118.
- ^ a b c d Hobsbawm & Ranger 1983, p. 272.
- ^ a b c d Hobsbawm & Ranger 1983, p. 278.
- ^ a b Hobsbawm & Ranger 1983, p. 276.
- ISBN 978-1-60497-822-3.
- ^ a b c d e f Nolan 2005, p. 58.
- ^ Klahr 2011, pp. 544–545.
- ^ Hanna 1985, pp. 215–216.
- ^ a b Hanna 1985, p. 216.
- ^ Jennings 1994, p. 713.
- ^ Hanna 1985, pp. 218–219.
- ^ Hanna 1985, p. 217.
- ^ a b Klahr 2011, p. 546.
- ^ Klahr 2011, pp. 543–545.
- ^ a b Klahr 2011, p. 543.
- ^ Jennings 1994, pp. 712–713.
- ^ Jennings 1994, p. 714.
- ^ Jennings 1994, p. 715.
- ^ Jennings 1994, p. 720.
- ^ Poitou-Charentes Region. "Monument commémoratif du Centenaire de la Révolution".
La statue, réalisée par le sculpteur Gustave Michel, a été fondue par Louis Gasné. Elle représente une Liberté coiffée d'un bonnet phrygien ceint d'une couronne végétale. Elle porte un glaive suspendu à un baudrier, brandit de la main gauche le flambeau de la Liberté et maintient au sol de la main droite les Tables de la Loi, soit une position inverse de la statue de la Liberté de Bartholdi.
- ^ Agulhon 1981, p. 10.
- ^ "Bardot, Deneuve, Casta... Elles ont incarné Marianne avant (peut-être) Simone Veil". SudOuest.fr (in French). 13 February 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ Laetitia Casta as Marianne Archived 10 August 2003 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "FEMEN's Inna Shevchenko inspired France's Marianne stamp". BBC. 15 July 2013.
The artist who designed the new Marianne image for French stamps has revealed that he was inspired by topless activist Inna Shevchenko.[...] The Ukrainian, who belongs to the protest group FEMEN, was recently granted political asylum in France.
- ^ "Timbre Marianne: David Kawena affirme être le seul auteur et porte plainte contre Olivier Ciappa". Yagg. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ "Timbre Femen : vers un procès en France". Lefigaro.fr. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ "Olivier Ciappa: Pourquoi j'ai choisi une Femen pour Marianne". Huffingtonpost.fr. 15 July 2013. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ "Timbre Marianne: Olivier Ciappa se justifie, David Kawena sort de son silence". Yagg. 3 March 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ "Droit de réponse d'Olivier Ciappa". Yagg. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ Service d'Information du Gouvernement (24 September 1999). "Charte Graphique de la Communication Gouvernementale" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
- ^ a b Scott, Joan Wallach (7 April 2016). "The Veil and the Political Unconscious of French Republicanism". Orient XXI. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
- ^ "Ill-Suited France's Identity Politics". The Economist. 3 September 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
- ^ a b Chrisafis, Angelique (30 August 2016). "French PM suggests naked breasts represent France better than a headscarf". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
- ^ "A president shouldn't say that ... but Hollande did anyway". Middle East Eye. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
References
- Agulhon, Maurice (1981). Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France, 1789–1880. Translated by Lloyd, Janet. Cambridge University Press. OL 4116261M.
- Hanna, Martha (1985). "Iconology and Ideology: Images of Joan of Arc in the Idiom of the Action Française, 1908–1931". French Historical Studies. 14 (2): 215–239. JSTOR 286583.
- OCLC 916128381– via Internet Archive.
- Hunt, Lynn (1984). Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. OL 3184718M.
- Jennings, Eric (1994). "'Reinventing Jeanne': The Iconology of Joan of Arc in Vichy Schoolbooks, 1940–44". The Journal of Contemporary History. 29 (4): 711–734. S2CID 159656095.
- Klahr, Douglas (2011). "Symbiosis between Caricature and Caption at the Outbreak of War: Representations of the Allegorical Figure Marianne in "Kladderadatsch"". Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte. 74 (1): 437–558.
- Sohn, Anne-Marie (1998). "Marianne ou l'histoire de l'idée républicaine aux XIXè et XXè siècles à la lumière de ses représentations" [Marianne or the History of the Republican Ideal in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries in the Light of its Representations]. In Agulhon, Maurice; Charle, Christophe; Laloutte, Jacqueline; Sohn, Anne-Marie; Pigenet, Michel (eds.). La France démocratique : (combats, mentalités, symboles) : mélanges offerts à Maurice Agulhon [Democratic France : (battles mentalities, symbols) : mélanges offered by Mauritius Agulhon]. Histoire de la France aux XIXè et XXè siécles (in French). Vol. 45. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. OCLC 61083007.
- Nolan, Michael (2005). The Inverted Mirror: Mythologizing the Enemy in France and Germany, 1898–1914. Oxford: Berghahn Books. ISBN 1-57181-669-0.
Further reading
- Censer, Jack R.; Hunt, Lynn (2001). Liberty, Equality and Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-02088-1.
External links
- Marianne - Official French website (in English)
- Marianne (French embassy in the USA)
- Marianne (French Prime Minister's office)