Art, Protest, and Failure in Fin-de-Siecle Europe

This dissertation aims to expand the remit of studies of imperial culture. Rather than examining the visual culture of pro-imperial propaganda, it is concerned with images that protested against imperial expansion: in this case that of the British in southern Africa. The Boer War (1899-1902) fought between the British and the two independent Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State caused international outcry. Largely since it was fought between two white nations, and especially after news broke of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the concentration camps set up by the British to house displaced Boer women and children. A significant minority within Britain also denounced the war. This investigation takes as its focus three protest periodicals, published in London, Munich and Paris between 1899 and 1901. Therefore this project expands the definition of imperial culture by examining images produced in countries not directly involved in this particular imperial episode, as well as by examining the anomaly of an imperial war fought between white nations. Each chapter treats one publication, using it as a case study for exploring the linkages between local visual culture and global events, and probing the precise nature of the connections which artists made in their contributed art works. Taking a comparative approach to this material reveals how in order to comment on the war artists in all three cities drew analogies between the local and the global utilizing preexisting visual culture. Such analogies were enabled by the anomalous nature of the conflict, and the increasingly immediate and blanket media coverage which heightened public awareness of distant events. Using analogical means to connect the local and the global had consequences which this dissertation also seeks to explore: surprising juxtapositions resulted, traditional figures were seen in a new light, and, although their form remained the same, their meanings were radically altered. The results were felt on a communal and a personal level and were to resonate through the years to come. In conclusion, I will argue that when considering the shifting terrain of European visual culture in the fin-de-siecle the global perspective must be accounted for.