Portfolio Task 4

Haussmann's changes to Paris (Extra Portfolio Task)

The late nineteenth century brought a new way to how people could spend their days with the onset of urbanisation and also with world time being standardised in 1912. Due to the industrial revolution, rural workers from the countryside and abroad, poured into the major cities of the world searching for employment.

'A policy of discouraging building outside the city limits had resulted in a population of well over one million being crammed into a realtivly small area' (Tinniswood, 1998, p144). In the outer edges of paris the slums grew as the population doubled and tripled, bringing with it poor health and disease from the closeness in which the working class were forced to live. The fear of illness spreading from the slums to the richer city center, meant change was needed. Baron Haussmann was brought in by Napoleon III to remodel the city and in doing so, modernize Paris. '..According to the duc de Persigny, the Minister of the Interior, Haussmann was just the man to push through radical change' (Tinniswood, 1998, p144). Haussmannisation was the term given to this major change and it began in 1852 carrying on till after 1870. The slums were destroyed and in their place boulevards and streets were built. (PJ- Director History Department, 2002-2004)

Bibliography

• Tinniswood, A. (1998) 'Visions of Power: Ambition and Architecture from Ancient Rome to Modern Paris', London, Reed Consumer Books Ltd
• PJ- Director History Department (2002-2004) 'Paris in the 19th century: from walled city to agglomeration' [Internet], Available from: <http://www.parisrama.com/english%20version/pages_history/haussmann.htm > [Accessed 24 March 2010]
  
  

Analysis of Caillebotte's painting "Paris Street; Rainy Day" (Extra Portfolio Task)

Gustav Caillebotte’s painting “Paris Street; Rainy Day” (1877) depicts people strolling down Haussman’s boulevards in the rain. Fashion had become a status symbol which now divided the classes.'One of the first industries to flourish was luxury fabrics..' (Johnston, 2007). In this image you can tell that these people are upper class from their clothes, the males shiny top hats and tailored suits. The couple in the foreground are referred to as ‘Flaneur’s’ which was the term used for rich people that walked around the city in order to experience modernity. The overall painting resembles a photograph as the image is cropped, cutting out half the man on the right side of the image. It doesn’t look staged or set up using models, it looks like a photo that captured a moment in time. Paintings began to use the cropping technique a lot as cameras became popular.

Bibliography

• Johnston, R. (2007) 'Parisian Architecture of the Belle Epoque', West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Preliminary Bibliography (Portfolio task 3)

Bibliography

• Meecham, P.& Sheldon, J. (2000) ‘Modern Art: A Critical Introduction’, London, Open University Press, 709.06 (This book would be useful for my essay as its an overview of the modernism period. It critically introduces the art of the modern world and gives reason to how the modern world influenced modern art)
• Frascina, F. & Harris, J. (1992) ‘Art in Modern Culture: An Anthology of Critical Texts’, London, Open University, Phaidon, 701.1 (This book would help me as it includes a collection of key texts about modern art and its role in modern culture. The text in the book by Timothy J. Clark - "Preliminaries to a Possible Treatment of 'Olympia'" would be especially helpful as I would like to look at the comparrison between Manet's 'Olympia' and Titan's 'Venus of Urbino')
• Ward, Glenn (1997) 'Postmodernism', Teach Yourself, London, Hodder Headline Ltd, 306.1 (Even though this book is about the period after modernism, it still includes a section on modernity and enlightenment, and its association with its faith in progress and optimism)
• Varnedoe, Kirk (2000) 'Gustave Caillebotte', New Haven and London, Yale University Press, World Print Ltd, CAI 759.92 (This will be useful for my essay as Caillebotte was an Impressionist painter. His paintings were modern and I intend to look at them in my essay)
• Tinniswood, A. (1998) 'Visions of Power: Ambition and Architecture from Ancient Rome to Modern Paris', London, Reed Consumer Books Ltd, 725.1 (This book focuses on architecture and has a few pages on Hausmanns renovations which I plan on writing about)
• Johnston, R. (2007) 'Parisian Architecture of of the Belle Epoque', West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 720.944 (This book goes into great detail, telling you everything about the Haussmannisation of Paris)