Mascot subjects reflected an age of globalization and colonization. The fanciful interpretation of these foreign subjects has more to say about French values than the reality of the subjects depicted. The rediscovery and excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 was a global sensation, and Ancient Egyptian motifs occur frequently in art and decorative objects across Europe and North America.
“The American West” was another motif popular with the French consumer. France was also a major force in the European colonization of Africa. This influenced another art movement, Primitivism, in which European artists sought aesthetic purity by incorporating styles of people deemed “primitive” — usually the very people being colonized by Europe.
