by Jon Lackman | 15 February 2007 | Conferences, Modern, News
In an over-stuffed Madison Suite (eighty people in about as many square feet), five papers are to be shoehorned into ninety minutes. According to Temma Balducci, Paris street life was dominated not by flaneurs, but by beggars, who were frequently lamented in the popular press and often depicted in paintings seen at the Salon. Beggars were perhaps the city’s best students. As Walter Benjamin eloquently noted, what do we know of architecture, of city planning, we who never have to scrutinize uneven street stones with an eye toward bedding our bodies down on them? Why haven’t art historians paid more attention to them? Perhaps we’ve simply followed the lead of the artists we like. Scholars such as Robert Herbert have noted the tendency of Impressionists to airbrush unpleasant aspects of city life out of their paintings. But the beggar was a ubiquitous presence, one that challenges our notions of late-nineteenth-century Parisian life and especially our concept of masculinity at this time.
Natasha Ruiz Gomez coolly examines “hysteria” – another popular topic of conversation in nineteenth-century Paris. The famous scientist Charcot created a photographic record of hysterics experiencing attacks. He wrote books and articles on the relations of art and medicine. His books were intended for educated Parisian bourgeoisie generally. He appeared often in newspapers, as did his image and those of his patients. The “hysterical aesthetic” spread to novels, cabaret and art. Rodin may well have met him socially. The archives of the Musée Rodin indicate a hitherto unremarked-upon intimacy between their families, including numerous invitations to dinner, etc. Many Rodin works use poses seen also in Charcot hysteria photographs, subtly modified. Did Rodin identify in the bodies of Charcot’s patients a metaphor for universal human suffering?
