Minority art, vernacular art, is marginal art. Only on the margins does growth occur.

This is a roadside attraction,’ said Wednesday. ‘One of the finest. Which means it is a place of power.

Modern nationalism swept Europe alongside the flourishing of industrialisation. Across the continent, poets and intellectuals cultivated and often heavily modified vernacular languages to be bearers of 19th century modernity. These guardians of language faced significant...