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Mia Foale, Jenkins, Emily. The Visualization of a Nation: Tàpies and Catalonia, Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 58, Issue 4, October 2022, Pages 527–528, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqac058
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Extract
Emily Jenkins presents a compelling argument for the location of art within politics. Tracing the work of Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies within twentieth-century Spain, Jenkins interrogates the relationships between art, affect, emotion and narrative, providing an interdisciplinary study of the artist’s role in the formation of modern Catalan and Spanish national identities. In the introduction Tàpies is situated within a canon of renowned Spanish artists, and a broad survey of Catalan national identity and the wider histories of twentieth-century Spain is also provided. Jenkins lays out a complex web of personal, public, historical, national and theoretical narratives, whilst maintaining a sharp focus on key research questions, including ‘why has Tàpies’s art become iconic in Catalonia?’ (p. 1), ‘what were the sociopolitical circumstances that affected the artist’s ascent to prominence?’ (p. 2), ‘how does context affect his artworks’ reception?’ (p. 2) and more broadly, ‘how does political art impact national thought?’ (p. 2). The book’s coverage is admirably comprehensive, particularly considering the lack of substantial scholarship on Tàpies.
