The 19th century heralded unprecedented changes to daily life for the people of France. Emerging technologies and industrialisation created new economic opportunities that were coupled with a dramatic rise in population in the capital Paris (Le Roux 2015). However, the city was struggling to accommodate this rapid growth, and consequently the renovation of Paris by Georges Haussmann in the latter part of the century sought to alleviate the problems associated with this. Not only did these renovations herald a dramatic change to the visual aesthetics of the city, but also significantly changed the Parisian way of life (Jordan 1995; Lenger 2012). An examination of Édouard Manet’s Music in the Tuileries Gardens and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, …show more content…
A comparison his 1862 painting Music in the Tuileries and his 1881 work A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, however, depicts two very different urban scenes. Music in the Tuileries Gardens was Manet’s first work to use urban life as the subject and one of the first of its kind to depict contemporary life (Brodskaya 2011). The scene shows a fashionably modern crowd enjoying a concert in the Tuileries gardens, and small glimpses of modernity can be seen in the mass produced iron furniture and modern toys in the foreground (Langford 2009). The most important revelation of modernity in this image however, is the idea of the crowd. The poet and friend of Manet, Charles Baudelaire was prolific in his writing about the crowd being a symbol of modernity (Baudelaire 1964), something that only the wide boulevards and open public spaces in the era of Hussmannisation could have allowed (Harvey, 2004). Clark (1994; 64) argues that the crowd depicted in Music in the Tuileries shows modernity in its infancy, where leisure time is not yet available to the masses, and the crowd is clumsily seeking to understand the true social meaning of modern …show more content…
Paris Street, Rainy Day can be seen as quintessential representation of the loneliness of modern life in Haussmann’s new boulevards (Brooks 2005). Fried (1999) argues against the idea that the picture is a depiction of social isolation in modern Paris, and that the subjects are merely absorbed in modern life. However, it is hard to ignore the isolating elements in the image, such as the uniformity of Hussmann’s boulevards, the conformity of the open umbrellas, and the disconnected gaze of the passers-by (Facos 2011). Caillebotte appears to direct the viewer to the idea that it is the sterile nature of Hussmann’s Paris that has caused this sense of social isolation amongst Parisians (Distel
Carol Armstrong begins her essay by pointing out the two main points that come about when discussing A Bar at the Folies-Bergere. These two points are the social context of the painting and its representation of 19th century Paris, and the internal structure of the painting itself with the use of space. She then goes on and addresses what she will be analyzing throughout her essay. She focuses on three main points, the still life of the counter and its commodities, the mirror and its “paintedness”, and the barmaid and her “infra-thin hinge” between the countertop and the mirror.
The painting “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère” is detail oriented and depicts unpopular topics. Examples of the details are green shoes dangling, a lady using binoculars in the reflection of the mirror, and the colors on the lady’s cheeks. Manet’s uses oranges to represent prostitution, and to others this is an unpleasant topic. The painting is relevant today in that people want details on where all of their hard earn money has gone. Why are people losing their homes, and if the market is lousy, why is it only lousy for the lower and middle class?
Octavio Paz’s “Identical Time” and Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” have, in common, a theme of aliveness. They each feature certain individuals as particularly alive in their cities: the old man is alive in the busy dawn of Paz’s Mexico City, and Mr. Mead is alive in the silent night of a future Los Angeles envisioned by Bradbury. The individuals’ aliveness manifests as stillness in “Identical Time” and motion in “The Pedestrian” against the urban backgrounds - signifying, in both, living a human life freely, in the present and nature. Furthermore, in portraying the urban backgrounds as, in contrast to the individuals, dull and lifeless, the two pieces speak together to how cities may diminish and hinder our aliveness and humanity.
Paris is the home of Western World cultures and many famous designers and artist even after the end of world war II United States of America even tried to take over the control and leadership of vital art areas France was still determined to keep the records of the past arts as well as the leadership. ...
While the transformation of Paris ultimately fostered what would later be referred to as the second industrial revolution, the city’s transformation also influenced those living within. Impressionism found its roots in the transient and momentary life within Paris, the impermanence of the city, became part of a growing trend to capture the essence of a moment in time.
McGee, Timothy J. Medieval and Renaissance Music: A Performer’s Guide. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
In contrast, the architecture at the time represented wealth and stability, traditional enduring values. During this time, there was a lot of social change that came from science and philosophy. The kick from the Industrial Revolution accelerated the trend, even though ideas from the Gothic Style started it. Steam-powered sawmills could now create elaborate materials, cheaper and faster. As a result, houses became increasingly ornate. Lower income families could finally afford tr...
In many respects, and with hindsight, it seems natural that the Romantic composers and writers would take a new direction in their approach to expression, reacting against the classical and neo-classical ideas of reason and order from the previous age. It was a revolt against classicism, and against the pre-prescribed rules that defined it. The main catalyst for this change was the French Revolution in 1789, where the French monarchy and aristocracy was overthrown by a rebellion of the people and France became a republic. This, in a musical sense, had an immediate impact on French opera, with the emphasis of the stories now beginning to be drawn into the present as opposed to the ancient world, and the old hierarchy of the Gods and feudal systems. T...
Wolf, Peter M. Eugene Hénard and the beginning of urbanism in Paris 1900-1914. New York: P.M.W., 1968. 29-33.
Finocchio, Ross. "Nineteenth–Century French Realism" In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. 2000. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 12 Mar., 2014.
O’Donnell, Sr., Joseph J.. “Art and the French Revolution”. The Eerie Digest, May 2013. Web. 5th May 2013.
At the height of the Second Empire, Paris was one of the leading centres of capitalist culture in Europe during the mid-nineteenth century, made possible by the city’s reconstruction. The modernisation of Paris initiated an unprecedented method of urban planning under Baron Haussmann. It is this concept of modernisation that people immediately think of in terms of Paris and modernity. This focus on Haussmannisation, however, obscures the fact that Paris was already changing before Haussmann, as was evident in the arcades that sprung up during the 1820s and 30s. Plans of renovating the city were already being thought of in order to manage problems of overcrowding, diseases, social upheavals and infrastructure collapse. However, these plans were never realised; it was the small business owners—or the petit bourgeoisie—who saw to the creation of the arcades that drove the changes made within the urban landscape of pre-Haussmann Paris.
Near the close of the nineteenth century, a new movement had emerged in European classical music. Rooted most heavily in France and lasting till the mid twentieth century, Europe witnessed what we call 'Impressionism', an idea of music described wonderfully by Oscar Thompson in 1937 as he states that the aim of such art was to "suggest rather than to depict; to mirror not the object, but the emotional response to the object; to interpret a fugitive impression rather than to seize upon and fix the permanent reality." Impressionism thus, in its most basic definition, is the converse of realism.A rather prominent characteristic of Impressionist music was the striking predominance of modal and exotic scales, free rhythm, unresolved dissonances and the evidently smaller programmatic form. Apart from this, Impressionist music is more broadly characterized by a dramatic use of both the minor and major scale systems. Claude Debussy is known as one of the greatest Impressionist composers till date. Many musical critics believe that the Impressionist movement was a liberating intrusion in the otherwise fixated notions of Western classical music. However, Impressionism too came with a set of restrictions, incapacities and difficulties, those of which will be discussed further in the essay in relation to their influence on Debussy's composition.
Holt, Elizabeth G. From the Classicist to the Impressionists: Art and Architecture in the 19th Century. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966.
The years between the middle of the 1700’s to the early 1800’s was a time of immense value according to many music enthusiasts today. In this era the music was considered controlled and reserved. Many Sonatas, Symphonies, and Quartets could be heard in the homes of Vienna during the Classical Era. This era, like every other, had a unique style that has fascinated throngs of people through the ages. John Cage once said, “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” The Classical Period at its beginnings was looked upon as unique from the Baroque Period.