La France Croisée

Romaine Brooks, La France Croisée, 1914, oil on canvas, 45 ³⁄₄ x 33 ¹⁄₂ in. (116.2 x 85.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1970.69

Artwork Details

Title: La France Croisée
Artist: Romaine Brooks
Date: 1914
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 45 ³⁄₄ x 33 ¹⁄₂ in. (116.2 x 85.0 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the artist
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Landscape — France
Figure female — knee length
Occupation — medicine — nurse
Landscape — coast
Object Number: 1970.69
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1970.69

Artwork Description

In La France Croisée, Brooks voiced her opposition to World War I and raised money for the Red Cross and French relief organizations. Ida Rubinstein was the model for this heroic figure posed in a nurse's uniform, with cross emblazoned against her dark cloak, against a windswept landscape outside the burning city of Ypres. This symbolic portrait of a valiant France was exhibited in 1915 at the Bernheim Gallery in Paris, along with four accompanying sonnets written by Gabriele D'Annunzio. The gallery offered reproductions for sale as a benefit to the Red Cross. For her contributions to the war effort, the French government awarded Brooks the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1920. This award is visible as the bright red spot on Brooks's lapel in her 1923 Self-Portrait.

The Art of Romaine Brooks, 2016