Sculpting a national career abroad: Belgian sculptors at the Paris Salon

The Paris Fine Art Salon dominated French artistic life throughout the nineteenth century, but also had a substantial influence in its neighbouring country, Belgium. Though the Belgian Salons (yearly alternating between Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels) were popular, artists still aspired to exhibit at the more prestigious Paris Salon to launch or perpetuate their reputations. Consequently, their presence at the Paris Salon grew extensively from 1852 to 1881. This paper focusses on Belgian sculptors struggling to make a career in Belgium and abroad, and elucidates the problems they faced trying to exhibit at the Paris Salon, the networks they used to do so, the role their nationality played and the way their presence at the Paris Salon changed their lives and careers, both in Belgium and abroad. This way, the intricate role of the Paris Salon in the formation of a Belgian sculpture school is examined.