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Portrait of a Nation: Depardon, France, Photography

Welch, Edward

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Authors

Edward Welch



Abstract

In 2003, Raymond Depardon was commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture to tour the country and produce a photographic portrait of the nation. By the time of its completion in 2008, the project will have been funded to the tune of some €400,000. This essay investigates Depardon’s photographic ‘Tour de France’. Its aim in the first instance is to explore the images of the country he has produced on his travels; but in doing so, it addresses the broader set of questions raised by the project about the place of photography in the contemporary French cultural order. Firstly, it considers the central role ascribed to photography by the country’s cultural and political institutions as a way of tracking and representing national identity and regional difference. Secondly, it investigates what the project reveals about Depardon’s own place in France’s cultural and photographic star system, as he transforms himself into an itinerant, state-sponsored investigator of that identity.

Citation

Welch, E. (2008). Portrait of a Nation: Depardon, France, Photography. Journal of Romance Studies, 8(1), 19-30. https://doi.org/10.3167/jrs.2008.080103

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Apr 1, 2008
Deposit Date Feb 1, 2010
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Romance Studies
Print ISSN 1473-3536
Electronic ISSN 1752-2331
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 8
Issue 1
Pages 19-30
DOI https://doi.org/10.3167/jrs.2008.080103
Keywords National identify, Regional identity, Space, Travel, Mission France, Datar.

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