{"id":276354,"date":"2025-05-03T19:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T10:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/?p=276354"},"modified":"2025-05-03T19:16:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T10:16:00","slug":"belle-epoque-street-art-comes-to-life-at-the-musee-dorsay-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/art\/belle-epoque-street-art-comes-to-life-at-the-musee-dorsay-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"The golden era of Belle \u00c9poque street art comes to life at the Mus\u00e9e d’Orsay in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long before the advent of Instagram, how was advertising in 19th-century Paris? A new exhibition at Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay reveals it<\/h3>\r\n

I<\/span>n our contemporaneity, advertising holds a dominant role, shaping our desires and behaviours through a relentless stream of images that saturate our visual landscape\u2014from Instagram and TikTok feeds to the walls of metro corridors. But what happens when these images, in their banality and mediocrity, contribute to a more superficial, even vulgar society, creating a form of \"visual pollution\" that permeates both our cities and our screens? This concern reveals the fragility of a world overwhelmed by the proliferation of images \u2014a danger highlighted by numerous intellectuals, from Andy Warhol to Jean Baudrillard, who questioned the impact of mass media and consumer culture. Even today, the question they posed remains unanswered.<\/p>\r\n

However, there is a dimension of advertising that, when elevated to the status of art, becomes a powerful mirror of both the society and the aesthetics of its time\u2014transforming the urban tissue of our cities into a veritable figurative laboratory and a space for cultural reflection. This was particularly true during the Belle \u00c9poque<\/em>, an era marked by a rapid industrialization, the emergence of a wealthy new social class, and the rise of a dynamic visual culture fuelled by the blaze of avant-garde movements. In this context, posters (affiches<\/em>) became not only an artistic and technical phenomenon, but also an urban, social, and political one\u2014capturing, in all its brilliance and contradictions, the essence of \"modern life\" and of a society in full transformation. A deep dive into the advertising and visual culture of Second Empire France is the focus of L'art est dans la rue<\/em>, a new exhibition at the Mus\u00e9e d'Orsay in Paris, open from March 18 to July 6, 2025 in which more than 230 works by masters such as Bonnard, Ch\u00e9ret, Grasset, Mucha, Steinlen, and Toulouse-Lautrec are brought together to evoke the effervescence of the street universe at the dawn of the 20th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\r\n

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The engraving of images onto blocks for serial reproduction is an artistic technique with deep roots in many visual cultures. Japan, for instance, has cultivated woodblock printing since the Heian period, later reaching the magnificent heights of ukiyo-e<\/em> during the Edo era. However, in Europe, due to historical and cultural factors, this art form struggled to gain widespread traction. It was only with Japan\u2019s opening to international trade and the industrialization of printing processes in the Nineteenth-century that woodcuts\u2014and, even more significantly, lithographs, which use stone rather than wood as a matrix\u2014began to grow in popularity in the West.<\/p>\r\n

Lithography operates on the principle of repelling grease and water, where a drawing or text is transferred onto a stone plate treated with nitric acid, allowing only the image or text to retain ink while the rest repels it and remains water-absorbent. This technique forms the foundation of all the works displayed at the beginning of the exhibition, including Imprimeries Charles Verneau<\/em> by Th\u00e9ophile Alexandre Steinlen\u2014a monumental mirror of Parisian street life, where bourgeois citizens, workers, laundresses, and children move among and engage, coming together in what was hailed as \u201cthe most extraordinary mural print of our time.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Figura 1 Th\u00e9ophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), Imprimerie Charles Verneau (Paris), Affiches Charles Verneau. \"La Rue\", 1896, Color lithograph, 240 \u00d7 300 cm, \u00a9 Photo BnF, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, department of Prints and Photographs, Paris<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

The spread of illustrated colour posters paralleled the profound transformation of both society and the urban landscape of the Paris of the Belle \u00c9poque. Charles Garnier, the renowned architect behind the iconic Op\u00e9ra, harshly criticized \u201cthese giant industrial billboards that sprawl across our streets, ruining so many of our cities\u2019 beautiful views\u201d. His words were undoubtedly aimed at the \u201cscreaming tones\u201d and \u201cpoor taste\u201d of certain posters, such as those produced by the Imprimerie Rouchon \u00e0 l\u2019\u0153il...<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n

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igura 2 Anonymous author, Imprimerie Rouchon (Paris), \u00c0 l\u2019\u0152il. On donne \u00e0 l\u2019\u0152il, 1864, Wood engraving in colors, 125 \u00d7 98 cm, \u00a9 Photo BnF, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, department of Prints and Photographs, Paris<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

A different spirit, however, animated Joris-Karl Huysmans, who saw these affiches<\/em> as striking visual interruptions that \u201cunbalance, with the sudden intrusion of their joy, the motionless monotony of a penitentiary decorum\u201d. Similarly, Maurice Talmeyr declared how \u201ctrue architecture today, the one that emerges from the surrounding and pulsating life, is the poster\u2014the profusion of colours under which the stone monument disappears\u201d. This proliferation of affiches<\/em> is vividly captured in Eug\u00e8ne Atget's photograph Rue<\/em> Piatget<\/em> exhibited in the room, where a modest urban corner \u2014far removed from the grandeur of Haussmannian Paris\u2014bears silent witness to a world in rapid transformation...<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Figura 3 Eug\u00e8ne Atget (1857-1927), Rue du Pr\u00e9v\u00f4t, 1900 or 1901, Albumen print, 21.5 \u00d7 17 cm, \u00a9 Photo BnF, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, department of Prints and Photographs, Paris<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Place Denfert-Rochereau<\/em>, always by Atget, captures instead a colonne Morris<\/em>, a tall and elegant dark green advertising column that has been an iconic element of Parisian street furniture for generations...<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Figura 4 Eug\u00e8ne Atget, Place Denfert-Rochereau, 1898, albumen print on paper, 20.5 \u00d7 17.3 cm, Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France \u00a9 Photo BnF<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

The spread of affiches<\/em> in cities, though ephemeral, was finally recognized as a significant social phenomenon\u2014so much so that the art critic Roger Marx proclaimed, \u201cTout comme la soci\u00e9t\u00e9, la rue s'est transform\u00e9e<\/em>\u201d (\u201cJust like society, the street has transformed\u201d). Through their bold imagery and strategic placement, affiches<\/em> became more than mere advertisements: they became an integral part of the visual culture of Paris, altering the way people interacted with their environment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Figura 5 Georges Chevalier (1882-1967), Paris, Place de la Bourse, June 5, 1914, Autochrome, 9 x 12 cm, \u00a9 Photo Archives de la Plan\u00e8te, mus\u00e9e d\u00e9partemental Albert-Kahn, department of Hauts-de-Seine<\/p><\/div>

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Figura 6 Union photographique fran\u00e7aise, Rue S[ain]t-Jacques, Immeubles 8 et 10, between 1893 and 1898, Aristotype, 29.3 \u00d7 23 cm, Paris, Mus\u00e9e Carnavalet \u2013 Histoire de Paris \u00a9<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

This phenomenon emerged alongside the surge in consumption fuelled by the Industrial Revolution. Advertising became in fact an indispensable tool for generating demand and influencing consumer choices, promoting a wide range of goods\u2014from automobiles to chocolate, spirits, and gas burners for lighting\u2014ultimately transforming the urban landscape into a dazzling, polychromatic phantasmagory of commerce, and captivating the attention of all who passed through.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Figura 7 Leonetto Cappiello (1875-1942), Imprimerie P. Vercasson & Cie (Paris), Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Le Tr\u00e8fle \u00e0 quatre feuilles. Automobiles Brasier, 1907, Color lithograph, 162 \u00d7 122 cm, Paris, National Library of France, Department of Prints and Photography, \u00a9 Photo Leone<\/p><\/div>

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Figura 8 Leonetto Cappiello (1875-1942), Imprimerie P. Vercasson & Cie (Paris), Chocolat Klaus, 1903, Color lithograph, 161 \u00d7 119 cm, Paris, National Library of France, Department of Prints and Photography, \u00a9 Photo BnF<\/p><\/div>

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Figura 9 Henri Gustave Jossot (1866-1951), Imprimerie Camis (Paris), Guignolet. Cointreau, 1898, Color lithograph, 130 \u00d7 100 cm, Paris, National Library of France, Department of Prints and Photography, \u00a9 Photo BnF<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

In addition to serving as the iridescent iconographic encyclopaedia of Parisian life, affiches<\/em> became a true avant-garde artistic genre, precisely because of the need to create works of high aesthetic value to capture public attention. No longer just a mass communication tool, but a democratic \"work of art\", accessible not in the cold halls of museums but in the vibrant streets of our cities, affiches<\/em> attracted the interest of numerous avant-garde painters at the turn of the century, including Pierre Bonnard, \u00c9douard Vuillard, Maurice Denis, as well as Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Leonetto Cappiello and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. These artists gave the genre a distinctive medium of expression, defined by features such as the abandonment of traditional perspective, daring compositional cuts, and bold flat colours \u2014 a style both synthetic and audacious, capable of subtly imprinting a message into the consumer's subconscious. Grand examples of this \"open-air museum, [...] formed by chance, where the brilliant collides with the mediocre, the exquisite with the vulgar, and the spiritual with the absurd,\" can be seen in Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec\u2019s Aristide Bruant<\/em>, which captures the stage presence of the famous cabaret artist in a striking, synthesized style...<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Figura 11Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), Imprimerie Edward Ancourt, Ambassadeurs. Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret, 1892, Color lithograph, 134 \u00d7 95 cm, \u00a9 Paris, National Library of France, Department of Prints and Photography, Photo BnF<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

...in Steinlen's celebrated Chat noir<\/em>, perhaps among the most famous cats in the history of art, in which an enigmatic black cat with unruly fur promotes the local cabaret bearing his same name...<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Figura 12 Th\u00e9ophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), Imprimerie Charles Verneau (Paris), Prochainement. Tourn\u00e9e du Chat Noir de Rodolphe Salis, 1896, Color lithograph, 140 \u00d7 100 cm, \u00a9 Paris, National Library of France, Department of Prints and Photography, Photo B<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

...or, again, in the graphic work of Alfons Mucha, whose exquisitely art nouveau<\/em> linearism celebrates the glory of actress Sarah Bernhardt, the heroine of Catulle Mend\u00e8s' tragedy Med\u00e9e<\/em> \u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Figura 13 Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), Imprimerie Ferdinand Champenois (Paris), M\u00e9d\u00e9e. Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de La Renaissance. Sarah Bernhardt, 1898, Color lithograph, 210 \u00d7 78 cm, \u00a9 Paris, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, Department of Prints and Photographs, BnF<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Finally, the exhibition concludes with a reflection on the social significance of affiches<\/em>. As architect Frantz Jourdain eloquently stated in his article L'art dans la rue<\/em>, \u201cpeople educate themselves in the street as much as in school classrooms.\u201d In this sense, affiches<\/em> become not only a tool for commerce, but also a platform for political movements, trade unions, and revolutionary committees. A genuine graphic and propagandistic rhetoric emerged, with affiches featuring monumentally vertical designs that were later instrumental in mobilizing young Frenchmen at the dawn of the Great War.<\/p>\r\n

In conclusion, the exhibition offers a deep immersion into the joie de vivre<\/em> of France\u2019s \u201cnaughty nineties\u201d, highlighting a figurative form once regarded as minor but, in fact, rich in cultural significance. What can contemporary art learn from this legacy?<\/p><\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long before the advent of Instagram, how was advertising in 19th-century Paris? A new exhibition at Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":275598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\"The golden era of Belle \u00c9poque street art comes to life at the Mus\u00e9e d'Orsay in Paris\" #Paris #ADF #Webmagazine","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[54,55,115,121,177,289,325],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/adf-web-magazine-golden-era-of-belle-epoque-street-art-01.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}