Paris: Biography of a City

Film Footage from Paris, 1900

Included in this post are several short film clips of Paris from around 1900. Several of these highlight certain marvels, sites and inventions of the Exposition of 1900. Most of this footage was taken by Thomas Edison who had become famous on both sides of the Atlantic for his many modern inventions.

Seeing History and the World at the Paris Expositions

As was discussed in class, Paris was the site of five World's Fairs or Expositions:

Each of these events lasted for many months and were visited by hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world. Below are several 3-D computer generated recreations of some of the spectacular pavilions, parks, buildings and environments created for various Paris expositions. Using photographs, drawings and architectural plans these long vanished spaces which were the equivalent of early theme-parks are brought back to life to be explored. Included here are the 1900 recreation of Medieval Paris as well as several Chinese Parks. In this way visitors were able to feel they had stepped across time (by visiting the "romantic" Middle Ages) and across space (by visiting the "exotic" lands of Asia).

Lecture on Paris in the Belle Époque

If you are interested in learning more about the culture and society of Paris in "La Belle Epoque" (or the beautiful age- a term used to describe late nineteenth century France), this is a very good lecture by Prof. John Merriman of Yale.

The Passion of Emile Zola

J'ACCUSE...!

Lear more about Emile Zola and the Alfred Dreyfus Affair

Following text by Donald E. Wilkes, Jr., Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law.

The article, by Emile Zola, the great French novelist, appeared in a Paris literary newspaper, L'Aurore (The Dawn) on Thursday, Jan. 13, 1898, "an essential date in the history of journalism," according to historian Jean-Denis Bredin. Written in the form of an open letter to the President of France, the 4,000 word article, entitled J'Accuse! (I Accuse!), rightly has been judged a "masterpiece" of polemics and a literary achievement "of imperishable beauty." No other newspaper article has ever provoked such public debate and controversy or had such an impact on law, justice, and society.
The appearance of Zola's article was the greatest day of the Dreyfus Affair, which tormented France for twelve years. The Affair, "one of the great commotions of history," in the words of historian Barbara W. Tuchman, arose out of the 1894 arrest and conviction for treason of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French army. Dreyfus, who was completely innocent, received an unfair trial at his court martial; the prosecution's case had no substance, and the conviction was based on false, supposedly incriminating documents, not introduced into evidence or disclosed to Dreyfus, which were secretly delivered to the trial judges after they had retired to consider their verdict. Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment and expelled from the army. He was incarcerated off the coast of South America on Devil's Island from 1895 until 1899.

Read the rest of this excellent article

Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) in military uniform

Emile Zola, photograph by Nadar, 1910

French newspaper cartoon of Zola

Illustration of Dreyfus being publicly humiliated by the military.
His sword was broken and his military regalia torn from his uniform.

Anti-semitic cartoon of Dreyfus as a hydra-like creature, labeling him both a horror and a traitor

The ruins of the prison complex on Devil's Island in French Guiana

Although the film "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937) is highly romanticized, it is never-the-less an excellent introduction to the Dreyfus Affair and to the life and work of Emile Zola. The movie won best picture at the 1938 academy awards and Joseph Schildkraut won a best-supporting actor Oscar for his heart-rending performance as the maligned and long-suffering Alfred Dreyfus.

Siege and Commune of Paris

The library at Northwestern University has digitized 1,200 images of the Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune, which is only a fraction of their entire collection. It can be found at:
http://digital.library.northwestern.edu/siege/

Check out the political caricatures!

Google Art Project

I've recently learned about Google Art Project (http://www.googleartproject.com/), which is an initiative to digitize the contents of the world's great art museums. It allows you to take virtual tours through the galleries (or some of the galleries) and then zoom in on the paintings, providing a real close-up view -- you can see the cracks in the paint and everything. There are also viewing notes with background on the paintings.

Unfortunately, most of the paintings on view so far are not from the nineteenth-century and the museums do not include the Musée d'Orsay, or the Chicago Art Institute, which have notable collections of Impressionist art. I was unable to find any of the paintings that I showed in class today, but here is a different painting by Manet:

Edouard Manet, In the Conservatory

Nonetheless, it's a great resource for those of you interested in looking at paintings up close and lacking the means -- for the moment -- to travel. And presumably they will add more artwork in the future (when Google takes over the world ...).

Heinrich Heine on cholera in Paris

German poet Heinrich Heine was in Paris when cholera broke out in 1832 and wrote an evocative description of its impact on the city. See:
http://www.lindahines.net/blog/?p=281

Photos of the old and new Paris

Two websites offer some wonderful comparisons of 19th-century photographs of Paris with contemporary views.

http://parismarville.blogspot.com/p/map.html
This site at USC has rephotographed locations originally shot by legendary Paris photographer Charles Marville between 1859 and 1877. Some of Marville's photos are before Haussmann's reconstruction of Paris; others are after.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/photos/2009/03/27/01013-20090327DIMWWW00367-paris-avant-et-apres-haussmann.php
This site was compiled by the French newspaper Le Figaro, so the captions are in French, but they are not too complicated to figure out if you look for the place names. They give you a good feeling for the way the city changed during the Second Empire.

Discussion questions for Zola, The Ladies' Paradise

We will be discussing Zola's novel, The Ladies' Paradise on Thursday, March 10. Here are the questions you should be ready to discuss:

1) What is the underlying economic and commercial climate of the novel? How is Paris changing?

2) What innovations does Mouret introduce in his department store in order to get customers to buy? How are they similar to retailing practices today?

3) What are the working and living conditions of the department store employees?

4) What impact does the store have on the neighborhood, especially small shopkeepers?

5) What role do bourgeois (middle- and upper-middle class) women play in the new consumer culture?

6) What is the overall impact of the department store on the city of Paris?

Reading for "Rebuilding Paris"

This week, I'd like you to read the two-page "prose poem" by Charles Baudelaire called "The Eyes of the Poor" as well as a composed compilation of English-language guidebooks to Second Empire Paris by historian Rupert Christiansen called "Paris Partout!" in Paris Babylon. (Both readings are on electronic reserve.)

When you read them, think about how these two sources present the new Paris. What is the new city like? Who has benefited from the rebuilding of Paris? Who has not?