Impressions of French Modernity: Art and Literature in France 1850-1900

International specialists in French art and literature come together in this volume to investigate modernité through painting, sculpture, the novel, diaries, dance, poetry, criticism and theory. Modernité had no simple definition. It grew out of a rapidly changing world: one of dramatic urban transformation. The experiences and impressions of individuals faced with this modern world engendered a new artistic genre. Beginning with Delacroix, Baudelaire and Gautier, Impressions of French Modernity moves on to Manet, Degas and Mallarmé through a broad sweep of familiar and unfamiliar works of art and literature. Its three main sections identify particular features of modernity: impressions of the Second Empire; innovations in form found in verbal and visual works or art throughout the period 1850-1900; and problems of identity surrounding the figure of the artist.