In search of the authentic nation: landscape and national identity in Canada and Switzerland

While the study of nationalism and national identity has flourished in the last decade, little attention has been devoted to the conditions under which natural environments acquire significance in definitions of nationhood. This article examines the identity-forming role of landscape depictions in two polyethnic nation-states: Canada and Switzerland. Two types of geographical national identity are identified. The first – what we call the ‘nationalisation of nature’– portrays zarticular landscapes as expressions of national authenticity. The second pattern – what we refer to as the ‘naturalisation of the nation’– rests upon a notion of geographical determinism that depicts specific landscapes as forces capable of determining national identity. The authors offer two reasons why the second pattern came to prevail in the cases under consideration: (1) the affinity between wild landscape and the Romantic ideal of pure, rugged nature, and (2) a divergence between the nationalist ideal of ethnic homogeneity and the polyethnic composition of the two societies under consideration

Peter Kolisnyk

Comparing Kolisnyk's work to constructivism and minimalism, Nasgaard describes the artist's use of materials and analyses the work as literal object in relation to the context and the viewer. Biographical notes. 10 bibl. ref

Ron Martin : World Paintings

Nasgaard compares Martin's "World Paintings" and "One-Colour Paintings" and focuses on the phenomenological nature of the artist's work. Includes an extensive interview with Martin. Biographical notes. 5 bibl. ref

Yves Gaucher : A Fifteen-Year Perspective, 1963-1978 = Yves Gaucher : Une perspective de quinze ans, 1963-1978

The curator's extensive essay traces the development of Gaucher's work from 1963 to 1978 through an analysis of individual painting, print and relief series. Biographical notes. Circa 130 bibl. ref