Riverside bamboo market kyobashi

ART HISTORY 132

Impressionism

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Napoléon III
(1808-1873)

nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte

tried 2x to overthrow Louis Philippe

exiled to NYC for four years; sentenced to life-sentence; escaped in 1846 to England

returns to FR w/ onset of Revolution of 1848

elected President of Second Republic (1848)

1851: coup d’etat  December

two days of violent fighting in Paris

opposition in rural provinces

several hundred killed
26K arrested; 10K transported
leading legislators arrested
drastic revision of 1848 constitution
extends presidential term to 10 yrs
sharply reduces legislature’s powers
1852: declares Second Empire
. 1850s: authoritarian phase
press censorship
restrictive right to assemble
deprived Parliament right to debate
1860s: liberalization
political exiles amnestied and allowed to return
Parliament given right to present formal resolutions to emperor and engage in free debates
relaxed controls on press and public assembly
broadened public education
“Haussmannization”

date: c. 1852-1870

location: downtown Paris renovated

effect: working class neighborhoods moved to outskirts of Paris

statistics:
cost of 2.5B francs

doubled acreage of city through annexation

at height of reconstruction, 1 in 5 Parisian workers employed in building trade

achievements:
clearing of dense, irregular medieval slums
regulations imposed on bldg facades
widened streets into boulevards
outer circle of railways round Paris
sewers/water works (80M francs)
construction of expansive parks
by end of 1860s, Paris had 2x as many trees as in 1850
most transplanted full grown
Franco-Prussian War
& Siege of Paris
(July 1870 – May 1871)

Franco-Prussian War
pretext: vacancy of Spanish throne
1868 revolt deposed Bourbons
offered to Hohenzollern Prince Leopold
nephew of Prussian king Wilhelm I
causes provocation by Bismarck
outcome: German victory
after 44 days, Napoleon III surrenders at Battle of Sedan
effect:
unification of German Empire
end of Second [French] Empire
formation of [French] Third Republic
Siege of Paris
German army continues towards Paris after Napoleon III’s surrender at Sedan
Pairs bombarded w/ heavy caliber Krupp guns
several months of famine
[Paris] Commune
(March – May 1871)

significance: “most tremendous event in history of European civil wars” (Marx)
Communards
aim to “break up bureaucratic and military machine” of bourgeoisie
recruit from petty artisans
influenced by Socialist revolutionaries
called for separation of church and state
“Central Committee"
alternative to political and military power of National Assembly (Thiers)
increasingly radical stance
separation of church and state
right to vote for women
grants pensions to unmarried companions/children of NG killed
remission of rents (during Siege)
pawnshops return workmen's tools/household items
postpones commercial debt
first seizure of power by working class
Nat’l Guard  Parisian citizens’ militia
Nat’l Assembly (Thiers)  orders army to seize cannons
La Semaine Sanglante (“Bloody Week")
trials  40K march to Versailles
executions  10K
epilogue: Paris remains under martial law for five years
Impressionism

Charles Baudelaire
(1821-1867)

significance: “father of modern criticism”
B prophesized after Salon of 1845
"He shall be the true painter who can pull out of everyday life its epic side….”
biography:
father  60 year-old, ex-priest and widower; married 26 year-old orphan
1841: B voyage to India to cure syphillis
1842: on return to Paris, meets Jeanne Duval
woman of mixed race
became his mistress
1848: fought at barricades during Revolution
associated w/ [Socialist] Proudhon
1851: opposed coup d'état of Louis-Napoleon
aesthetic: “Decadents”
formed w/ Mallarmé and Verlaine
The Flowers of Evil (1857)
sympathy for prostitute, who revolts against bourgeois family
found guilty of obscenity
The Painter of Modern Life (1863)
dandy  hero
purposeless existence
snobbish aesthete
“Japonisme”

context: ethnographic
exhibitions in Holland during 1830s of Japanese print collections and books (e.g., Hokusai’s Manga)
appreciation of all things Japanese stimulated by Paris Exposition Universelle (1867)
part of 19C’s continuing “romantic” dialogue w/ exotic culture
aim: to “designate a new field of study — artistic, historic, and ethnographic” (Burty)
history  Kanagawa Treaty (US Navy opens Japanese ports, after two centuries of isolation_
economics/trade
prints & decorative arts (e.g., porcelains, furniture) flood into Europe, creating a craze in 1860s
avidly collected by artists, critics, and connoisseurs
Japanese goods obtainable in Parisian department stores (grand magasins) by 1880
critics (“avant garde”): continually supported value of Japanese art
Ernest Chesneau’s “Beaux-Arts, L’Art Japonais” (1868)
“… the authority of the principle of observation in Japanese art is that it renders w/ a remarkable aesthetic power and an inimitable perfection of design (re: asymmetry)”
Zacharie Astruc
defender and friend of Manet
articles for L’Etendard (1867-68) spoke out on Japanese art at Exposition Universelle
Philippe Burty  coins the term in 1872
Édouard Manet
(1832-83)

biography: born into ranks of Parisian bourgeoisie
mother  daughter of diplomat and goddaughter of the Swedish crown prince
father  high-ranking Minister of Justice
uncle (maternal)  encouraged him to pursue painting; often took M to Louvre
training:
1845: M enrolls in drawing course; meets Proust (future Minister of Fine Arts and subsequent life-long friend)
1850: studio of Thomas Couture
credo: “Painter of modern life” (Baudelaire)
exhibition history: believed success only obtained by recognition @ Salon
often rejected; exhibited @ Salon des Refusés (1863)
never exhibited w/ Impressionists
fully supported their aims
worked closely w/ Monet
artistic sources: “universalist”
Renaissance (Florentine & Venetian)