thecyberflaneur:

Paris, 1935: Selling goat cheese, accompanied by the representative goats. By the famous Willy Ronis.

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Les raboteurs de parquet, Gustave Caillebotte - 1875

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Les raboteurs de parquet (English title: The Floor Scrapers) is an oil painting by French impressionist Gustave Caillebotte. The canvas measures 102 by 146.5 centimetres (40 in × 57.7 in). It was originally gifted by Caillebotte’s family in 1894 to the Musée du Luxembourg, then transferred to the Musée du Louvre in 1929. In 1947, it was moved to the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, and in 1986, it was transferred again to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, where it is currently displayed.

Painted in 1875, this work illustrates Caillebotte’s continued interest in perspective and everyday life. In the scene, the observer stands above three workers on hands and knees, scraping a wooden floor in a bourgeois apartment—now believed to be Caillebotte’s own studio at 77, rue de Miromesnil in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. A window on the back wall admits natural light. The workers are all shown with nude torsos and tilted heads, suggesting a conversation. This is one of the first paintings to feature the urban working class. There is a motif of curls in the image, from the wood shavings on the floor, to the pattern of ironwork in the window grill to the arched backs and arms of the workers. The repetition in the image, with the three workers engaged in different aspects of the same activity but having similar poses, is similar to works by Caillebotte’s contemporary, Edgar Degas.

Despite the effort Caillebotte put into the painting, it was rejected by France’s most prestigious art exhibition, the Salon, in 1875. The depiction of working-class people in their trade, not fully clothed, shocked the jurors and was deemed a “vulgar subject matter”. He was hurt by this rejection, and instead showed it at the second exhibition of the Impressionists, with whom he had already associated himself, in 1876. He presented it alongside some of his other works, including a second, different version of Raboteurs from 1876, and his earlier work Jeune homme à la fenêtre (Young Man at the Window) The images of the floor scrapers came to be associated with Degas’s paintings of washerwomen, also presented at the same exhibition and similarly scorned as “vulgar.”

The painting divided opinion in Parisian art circles. Among the detractors, Emile Porchoron, a critic of Impressionism, damned Caillebotte with faint praise: “the least bad of the exhibition. One of the missions Impressionism seems to have set for itself is to torture perspective: you see here what results can be obtained.” Émile Zola praised the technical execution, but then called it “an anti-artistic painting, painting as neat as glass, bourgeois painting, because of the exactitude of the copying.” Louis Énault was not troubled by the depiction (“The subject matter is certainly vulgar, but we can understand how it might tempt a painter”) but did find fault with the image’s fidelity to the scene: “I only regret that the artist did not choose his types better… The arms of the planers are too thin, and their chests too narrow… may your nude be handsome or don’t get involved with it!”

The painting received praise from many critics, though. Regarding the Salon rejection, poet and critic Émile Blémont called the decision “[a] very bad mark for the official jurors”. Maurice Chaumelin compared Caillebotte favorably to his contemporaries, writing that the work showed that he was “a realist just as raw, but much more witty, than Courbet, just as violent, but altogether more precise, than Manet.” Philippe Burty made comparisons to an even earlier generation of artists: “His pictures are original in their composition, but, more than that, so energetic as to drawing that they resemble the early Florentines.”

Fragment de tenture éxécutée pour la chambre de Louis XVIII aux Tuileries, 1818

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Lecture de la tragédie de l’orphelin de la Chine de Voltaire dans le salon de madame Geoffrin

1812, Anicet-Charles-Gabriel Lemonnier

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Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin (June 26, 1699 - October 6, 1777) has been referred to as one of the leading female figures in the French Enlightenment. From 1750-1777, Madame Geoffrin played host to many of the most influential Philosophes and Encyclopédistes of her time. Her association with several prominent dignitaries and public figures from across Europe has earned Madame Geoffrin an international spot of recognition. Her patronage and dedication to both the philosophical Men of Letters and talented artists that frequented her house is emblematic of her role as guide and protector. In her salon on the rue Saint-Honoré, Madame Geoffrin demonstrated qualities of politeness and civility that helped stimulate and regulate intellectual discussion. Her actions as a Parisian salonnière exemplify many of the most important characteristics of Enlightenment sociability.

Enseigne : “A la perruque à manteaux”

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This shield belonged to a Parisian hairdresser. It’s said “à marteaux” because it refers to the curls of the wig. The corporation of the wigmakers appeared under Louis XIV’s reign. 

Porte Saint Denis - Paris

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The Porte Saint-Denis is a Parisian monument located in the 10th arrondissement, at the site of one of the gates of the Wall of Charles V, one of the now-destroyed fortifications of Paris. It is located at the crossing of the Rue Saint-Denis continued by the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, with the Boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle and the Boulevard Saint-Denis.

The Porte Saint-Denis was designed by architect François Blondel and the sculptor Michel Anguier at the order of Louis XIV in honor of his victories on the Rhine and in Franche-Comté. Built in 1672 and paid for by the city of Paris, it replaced a medieval gate in the city walls built by Charles V in the 14th century.

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The Salpêtrière was originally a gunpowder factory (“salpêtre” being a constituent of gunpowder), but was converted to a dumping ground for the poor of Paris. It served as a prison for prostitutes, and a holding place for the mentally disabled, criminally insane, epileptics, and the poor; it was also notable for its population of rats.

In 1656, Louis XIV charged the architect Libéral Bruant to build a hospital on the location of the factory, founding the Hospice de la Salpêtrière. The building was expanded in 1684.

By the eve of the Revolution, it had become the world’s largest hospital, with a capacity of 10,000 patients plus 300 prisoners, largely prostitutes swept from the streets of Paris. From La Salpêtrière they were paired with convicts and forcibly expatriated to New France.

In the first half of the 19th century, the first humanitarian reforms in the treatment of the violently insane were initiated here by Philippe Pinel, friend of the Encyclopédistes; his sculptural monument stands before the main entrance in Place Marie-Curie, Boulevard de L’Hôpital. Later, when Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot took over the department, the Salpêtrière became known as a psychiatriccentre. Charcot is often credited as the founder of modern neurology. His teaching activities on the Salpêtrière’s wards helped to elucidate the natural history and pathophysiology of many human illnesses including neurosyphilis, epilepsy, and stroke. Students came from all over Europe to listen to Charcot’s lectures. Among them was a young Sigmund Freud.

The Hôpital de la Pitié, founded about 1612, was moved next to the Salpêtrière in 1911 and fused with it in 1964 to form the Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière. The Pitié-Salpêtrière is now a general teaching hospital with departments focusing on most major medical specialities.

17th of October 1961

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The Paris massacre of 1961 was a massacre in Paris on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War (1954–62). Under orders from the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon, the French police attacked a demonstration of some 30,000 pro-FLN Algerians. Two months before, FLN had decided to increase the bombing in France and to resume the campaign against the pro-France Algerians and against the rival Algerian nationalist organization called MNA in France. After 37 years of denial, the French government acknowledged 40 deaths in 1998, although there are estimates of around 200.

The 17 October 1961 massacre appears to have been intentional, as has been demonstrated by historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, who won a trial against Maurice Papon in 1999 — the latter was convicted in 1998 on charges of crimes against humanity for his role under the Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II. Official documentation and eyewitnesses within the Paris police department indeed suggest that the massacre was directed by Maurice Papon. Police records show that Papon called for officers in one station to be ‘subversive’ in quelling the demonstrations, and assured them protection from prosecution if they participated. Many demonstrators died when they were violently herded by police into the River Seine, with some thrown from bridges after being beaten unconscious. Other demonstrators were killed within the courtyard of the Paris police headquarters after being arrested and delivered there in police buses. Officers who participated in the courtyard killings took the precaution of removing identification numbers from their uniforms, while senior officers ignored pleas by other policemen who were shocked when witnessing the brutality. Silence about the events within the police headquarters was further enforced by threats of reprisals from participating officers.

COLOMBE Michel, Saint Georges combattant le dragon, vers 1509, Paris, musée du Louvre, © RMN Thierry Ollivier - utilisation soumise à autorisation

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