Modern Paris
Baudelaire’s writing/conception of modern art and the contemporary subject
- What does it mean to be modern
- Emergence and rise of and prominence of photography – 1839 onwards
- Considered the etching revival (1850s)
- Baudelaire’s salon reviews of 1845, 46, 59 = herocism of modern life and
assertion of artists to be of their own time
- Idea of modern methods/modern ways of making art
- Idea of Paris as a modern metropolis – depictions of individuals/crowds
the city holds
HISTORY OF PARISIAN GOVERNMENT:
- Massive social and political changes that took place in France
- France had seen the downfall of the king, rise of a president, rise of an emperor
- Banking and merchant classes (upper middle classes) came to prominence
during the reign of Louis Phillippe, King of the French = rise of the bourgeoisie
- Even though he was part of the aristocrats… in demeanour, appearance and
approach he was a member of the bourgeoisie (business suits and hats)
, - Overthrown and Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected as President – became
frustrated on the limits placed upon his power and wished to stand again = with
the support of the army, he would usurp the thrown and turn the presidential
republic into a second empire = ruling as Emperor Napoleon III
4. The changing urban environment – Haussman’s ‘transformations’ of Paris
in the Second Empire, for Napoleon III. Admired or subverted by the
Impressionists?
- Emperor Napoleon III rebuilt the city of Paris and its ambience with the helps of
Hausmann who was the prefect of the Seine between 1853-1870 = renovation
of Paris it is referred to
- It was a huge programme of public works directed and overseen by Hausmann to
create a new city from the old
- Built wide avenues, laid out new parks and squares and created new civic
infrastructure such as the construction of new sewers, fountains and aqueducts
- Sense of not just creating these new wide avenues/apartment buildings for
functionality but actually creating spaces deliberately designed for leisure
NEW PARKS:
- Parc Monceau etc joined existing public gardens
- Transformation was of particular interest to Napoleon III = inspired by London
Hyde park in its layout and landscaping – work was carried out in a series of
phases = started in 1852 and culminated in 1858
,MANET, MUSIC IN THE TUILERIES:
- Tuileries is an old garden = focus of the older gardens rather than the newly
laid out parks
- Wilsdon (2003) = lot of old gardens painted could be a subtle protest for
new changes
- Spaces in which Parisians could spend some leisure time – immortalises in
Manet’s Music in the Tuileries
- Manet’s painting is carefully composed, harmonious, balance of colour, light
and dark
- Children playing in the foreground
- Menzel’s version is far more an exercise in realism = paints dogs fighting, pigeons
scattering = different to Manet’s more elegant, cohesive composition
- Menzel’s painting is a collection of individual scenes with distinct narratives – in
Manets, there is a sense more of cohesion
- Regular evening concerts that would have taken place in the spring and summer
evenings in the garden popular with all strata of Parisian society (rich and poor)
= however, in comparison, it is not a full cross section of contemporary
Parisian society (both high and low) = instead, beneath the trees, he paints
a perfectly selected assembly of Paris’ fashionably dressed, artistic, literary
circles = suggestive of a more high society reception rather than an open
event to all citizens
- Lots of Manet’s friends are within the painting – Baudelaire, Zola etc
- Zola (1879) judged the painting to be one of the most characteristic works of
Manet’s oeuvre – dictates of his eye and temperament
- Similarities of the flaneur and artist = the beauty of this as an art work lies in
the fact that it is not simply an incredibly realistic rendering of this event =
, rather it captures the impression of event such as this as seen by
Manet/understood by Manet = witnessing a scene that has been translated
through the individual experience/understanding of the artist
- Certain details are picked out far more clearly and some more sketchily
painted = as such like an observer trying to take in such a busy sequence =
cohesive whole of a singular narrative – within that, there are specific
moments/details that are understood sequentially rather than instantaneously
- Focus in on the smaller scenes/narratives/conversations that are taking
place
MENZEL, SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE TUILERIES:
- German artist Adolph Menzel
- Inspired by his earlier work to depict a similar scene in the same location
- Links to Manet’s work = gentlemen in the top hat right off centre resting
against the tree = similar compositionally to the figure in the white cream
coloured trousers
- Children playing in the foreground
- Menzel’s version is far more an exercise in realism = paints dogs fighting, pigeons
scattering
- Menzel’s painting is a collection of individual scenes with distinct narratives
PHOTOGRAPHY:
- Parks and leisure areas are the subject of photography with the likes of Charles
Marville taking it up
- Began his career as an illustrator and took up photography in the 1850s = in
1850, he received a commission from the city to document the newly
Baudelaire’s writing/conception of modern art and the contemporary subject
- What does it mean to be modern
- Emergence and rise of and prominence of photography – 1839 onwards
- Considered the etching revival (1850s)
- Baudelaire’s salon reviews of 1845, 46, 59 = herocism of modern life and
assertion of artists to be of their own time
- Idea of modern methods/modern ways of making art
- Idea of Paris as a modern metropolis – depictions of individuals/crowds
the city holds
HISTORY OF PARISIAN GOVERNMENT:
- Massive social and political changes that took place in France
- France had seen the downfall of the king, rise of a president, rise of an emperor
- Banking and merchant classes (upper middle classes) came to prominence
during the reign of Louis Phillippe, King of the French = rise of the bourgeoisie
- Even though he was part of the aristocrats… in demeanour, appearance and
approach he was a member of the bourgeoisie (business suits and hats)
, - Overthrown and Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected as President – became
frustrated on the limits placed upon his power and wished to stand again = with
the support of the army, he would usurp the thrown and turn the presidential
republic into a second empire = ruling as Emperor Napoleon III
4. The changing urban environment – Haussman’s ‘transformations’ of Paris
in the Second Empire, for Napoleon III. Admired or subverted by the
Impressionists?
- Emperor Napoleon III rebuilt the city of Paris and its ambience with the helps of
Hausmann who was the prefect of the Seine between 1853-1870 = renovation
of Paris it is referred to
- It was a huge programme of public works directed and overseen by Hausmann to
create a new city from the old
- Built wide avenues, laid out new parks and squares and created new civic
infrastructure such as the construction of new sewers, fountains and aqueducts
- Sense of not just creating these new wide avenues/apartment buildings for
functionality but actually creating spaces deliberately designed for leisure
NEW PARKS:
- Parc Monceau etc joined existing public gardens
- Transformation was of particular interest to Napoleon III = inspired by London
Hyde park in its layout and landscaping – work was carried out in a series of
phases = started in 1852 and culminated in 1858
,MANET, MUSIC IN THE TUILERIES:
- Tuileries is an old garden = focus of the older gardens rather than the newly
laid out parks
- Wilsdon (2003) = lot of old gardens painted could be a subtle protest for
new changes
- Spaces in which Parisians could spend some leisure time – immortalises in
Manet’s Music in the Tuileries
- Manet’s painting is carefully composed, harmonious, balance of colour, light
and dark
- Children playing in the foreground
- Menzel’s version is far more an exercise in realism = paints dogs fighting, pigeons
scattering = different to Manet’s more elegant, cohesive composition
- Menzel’s painting is a collection of individual scenes with distinct narratives – in
Manets, there is a sense more of cohesion
- Regular evening concerts that would have taken place in the spring and summer
evenings in the garden popular with all strata of Parisian society (rich and poor)
= however, in comparison, it is not a full cross section of contemporary
Parisian society (both high and low) = instead, beneath the trees, he paints
a perfectly selected assembly of Paris’ fashionably dressed, artistic, literary
circles = suggestive of a more high society reception rather than an open
event to all citizens
- Lots of Manet’s friends are within the painting – Baudelaire, Zola etc
- Zola (1879) judged the painting to be one of the most characteristic works of
Manet’s oeuvre – dictates of his eye and temperament
- Similarities of the flaneur and artist = the beauty of this as an art work lies in
the fact that it is not simply an incredibly realistic rendering of this event =
, rather it captures the impression of event such as this as seen by
Manet/understood by Manet = witnessing a scene that has been translated
through the individual experience/understanding of the artist
- Certain details are picked out far more clearly and some more sketchily
painted = as such like an observer trying to take in such a busy sequence =
cohesive whole of a singular narrative – within that, there are specific
moments/details that are understood sequentially rather than instantaneously
- Focus in on the smaller scenes/narratives/conversations that are taking
place
MENZEL, SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE TUILERIES:
- German artist Adolph Menzel
- Inspired by his earlier work to depict a similar scene in the same location
- Links to Manet’s work = gentlemen in the top hat right off centre resting
against the tree = similar compositionally to the figure in the white cream
coloured trousers
- Children playing in the foreground
- Menzel’s version is far more an exercise in realism = paints dogs fighting, pigeons
scattering
- Menzel’s painting is a collection of individual scenes with distinct narratives
PHOTOGRAPHY:
- Parks and leisure areas are the subject of photography with the likes of Charles
Marville taking it up
- Began his career as an illustrator and took up photography in the 1850s = in
1850, he received a commission from the city to document the newly
