Cultural Profile
France, the largest country in Western Europe, is a complex and diverse land that includes a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Its population includes many immigrants from Africa, the Far East, and other European nations. The official language is French, one of the world’s most widely used languages, which is now spoken by over 124 million people in 43 countries. It is home of the Tour de France, the birthplace of tennis, and of Louis Braille, inventor of the embossed printing system that enables blind people to read. The French were pioneers in medicine, science and automotive technology and developed the first motorized carriage in 1769.
France is renowned for its great art in all disciplines. For centuries Paris was the art centre for the Western world—the place to view the old masters and experience and study the great new movements in art. French painters and sculptors, from Monet to Cézanne, and Rodin to Picasso, have become art icons worldwide. France is also renowned for its outstanding architecture. Its great Gothic churches, the palace at Versailles, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower are just a taste of the breathtaking structures. French literature has also had a durable impact in many cultures with names such as Hugo, Balzac, Camus, Voltaire, Zola or Sartre, as the French language was spread around the globe during colonial times. The great French composers such as Debussy, Ravel and Fauré have contributed hugely the world’s classical repertoire performed around the world. Today, France is renowned for its culinary arts as well. It is the world’s leading producer of wine, making about 10 billion bottles a year, and creates the greatest number of cheeses internationally. From pastries, soufflés to its delectable cassoulet, France is considered the gastronomic capital of the world.
Textile arts in France are varied and have an equally long and illustrious history. Embroidery on religious pieces was done during medieval times with gold and silver thread. The town of Arras rose to prominence during medieval times as a tapestry production center, due to the availability of high-quality wool in the area, and was so well-known that the name of the town became the word used to designate tapestries in Italian, English or Polish. Aubusson also became an important center in this trade in the 17th century, with tapestries still being done in the town to this day, as they are in the Gobelins workshop in Paris. Lyon is renowned for its production of exquisite silks, often used in the haute-couture industry. Lace making has also been done on a large scale in France. Different areas developed their own styles and techniques, such as Chantilly, Alençon, Caen, Puy or Villedieu-les-Poêles. Embroidery is still practiced today, with goldwork being done in the Charente region, or Fontenoy, in Lorraine. The country is also the world’s biggest linen producer and exporter.
Canada’s ties with France go back as far as the 16th century when Jacques Cartier claimed northern North America for the French king. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain crossed the Atlantic to establish one of the oldest permanent settlement on the continent, the city of Québec. Eastern Canada was known as New France, and the French have had a considerable influence on, and been instrumental in, the building of this nation. Acadia, on the East Coast, was also an important French settlement in Canada, with a large proportion of the population still speaking French today. A large number of immigrants settled in what is now Québec and in 1665, les Filles du Roy were part of the first sponsored immigration to Canada designed to increase the country’s population. Eventually other settlers, who became trappers and voyageurs or who followed their own trades, began moving west across the country, with important French-speaking communities in eastern and northern Ontario and in Manitoba
The French influence, however, is still most obvious in Québec where a large portion of the population maintains the French language, separate school system and civil law system that originated in France. French culture, however, has also affected the rest of Canada, from the use of French as an official language, to haute couture (high fashion), and haute cuisine (fine cooking) accessible across the country. Galleries from coast-to-coast exhibit the works of artists such as Jean-Paul Riopelle, Paul-Emile Bourduas and Claude Tousignant, and books by French-Canadian novelists such as Gabrielle Roy, Germaine Guèvremont and Anne Hébert, are read the world over. There are other sizable French communities outside of Québec in New Brunswick, Eastern and Northern Ontario and Manitoba. Montréal is the largest French-speaking city in the world outside of France, and French-speaking Canada is the second largest member of La Francophonie, the world organization of French-speaking nations.
Sponsor: Conseil de Vie Française, Cornwall, Ontario, Mario, Paolo and Vivianne Panizzon | Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons
