The Visual Afterlife of les gueules cassées: Artistic rRception from the Interbellum to documenta 13

Abstract

The article discusses the representation of facial and bodily deformation as both a subject and an expressive means in diverse artistic media throughout the twentieth century until today. First, it wishes to provide a bibliographical overview of the recent research that delves into the problem from diverse methodologies. Second, it aims at tracing a timeline of how the imagery of ‘broken faces’, sometimes not directly related to the gueules cassées, yet persistent and recognisable, changed its use as a trope in the hands of modern and contemporary artists. Their works bear similarities in the dramatic accent on the deformation and decomposition of the body used to narrate collective trauma and a sense of confusion. Finally, the essay wishes to illustrate the complexity of this type of representation by contextualising some artworks within social and ethical contexts.