French Primitives Exhibition,1904

In the end of ninetieth century and early twentieth century, art had become a more and more important standard to judge the success of a civilization. The wide spread of nationalism encouraged the mass to defend and explore the ancient painting and sculpture. The "Early French Art Exhibition" [Exposition des Primitifs francais] organized in Paris 1904, which has a core of patriotism, was a response for the success of "Early Flemish Art Exhibitor" [Expositions des Primififs flamands] in Bruges. A huge amount of workpiece emerged, to the surprise of most people, France witnessed an important birth of such local schools. However, because the exposition was hold with very sharp intention, which to explain the status of French art in early Renaissance, it leaded to criticize on the exhibition, and eventually promoted the academic development for French art. Therefore, this paper will focus on this particular exposition, through a deep study on the exposition itself, art connoisseurs' criticize on the exposition catalog, and the academic works from later art historians, to explore the study of this exposition on those neglected art works, and those archives deeply sealed, and finally expose the position of early French arts within early Renaissance in Europe, and to define the question of what is the true traditional French painting.