[All quotes are from Herbert's text.]
"A journalist, writer, or illustrator, he looked about with the acute eye of a detective, sizing up persons and events with a clinical detachment as though natural events could tell him their own stories, without his interferenceÉ Paris became a theater for him, and the streets were its principal stages."
In the mid-nineteenth century, scientific objectivity and precision were characteristics that were acquiring greater value. They informed the perceptions of many writers and artists of the period.
Thus, the flaneur could also be thought of as a "naturalist" who aspired to objectivity and was devoted to contemporary life.
There was also a turn away from romanticism and myth (cf. Corot, Millet) toward entertainment and the leisure life of Paris and the suburbs (Impressionism).
Illustration Corot, Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld, 1861
Illustration Corot, Morning, the Dance of the Nymphs, c. 1850
Illustration Millet, The Gleaners, 1857
Herbert argues that Manet and Degas were the quintessential artist-flaneurs.
Illustration Henri Fantin-Latour, Edouard Manet, 1867
The Artist as Flaneur (Naturalism)
"The flaneur was characterized by exquisite manners and by impeccable dress, on which he lavished a great deal of time. He was devoted to newspapers, in order to be abreast of all current events and current gossip, and since the 1830s was the very decade in which a thriving daily press first became established in Paris, flaneur and journalism were interconnected."
"By the early 1860s, the Parisian flaneur had absorbed many of the leading characteristics of the dandy. The dandy was not necessarily a flaneur, but the flaneur was almost always a dandy."
Money and wealth were not disdained by the flaneur, but such things not considered worthy of discussion.
Illustration Caillebotte, Le Pont de l'Europe, 1876
Illustration Degas, James Tissot, 1868
Tissot is depicted as a visitor to Degas' studio; he's characterized by a refined indifference (no emotion) and casualness.
Degas' own detachment is revealed in the way he represents Tissot by "sticking to externals".
Illustration Degas, Place de la Concorde, 1875
Illustration Manet, The Street Singer, 1862
The street singer is depicted with detachment and the absence of a moral statement.
Illustration Cf. LeFebvre's sentimental Autumn, 1883
Illustration Manet, Music in the Tuileries, 1862
1. Manet captures an elusive moment with "daring abbreviations".
2. Subtle drawing and half-tone shading are not used.
Illustration Bouguereau, Nymphs and Satyr, 1873 (sharp contrast in style)
3. Stage-like setting; Paris as a theater.
4. Emphasized the transitory, sensual, and artificial.
5. Draws on techniques of the caricaturist and illustrator.
Illustration Daumier, Friends, 1845
"Resorting to such graphic shorthand gave many impressionist paintings the appearance of small prints suddenly blown up to the size of oils."
Illustration Manet, Rue Mosnier Decorated with Flags, 1878
Caricature and painterly abbreviations.
Illustration Degas, Edmond Duranty, 1879
Illustration Degas, Diego Martelli, 1879
1. perspective and angle suggest itinerant nature of the journalist.
2. "unfinished" aspects of the picture suggests the transitory.
Illustration Ingres, Monsieur Bertin, 1833
3. The appearance of looseness and spontaneity in Degas' work was arrived at through many preparatory studies.
Illustration Degas, Women on a Cafe Terrace, Evening, 1877
Notice what Herbert infers from the picture based on background information.
Simmel and the Experience of Modernity
Herbert discusses the productivity of detachment ("objectivity" -- indifference and involvement) as it affects both the artist and the viewer.
Illustration Cassatt, Cup of Tea, 1880
Embodies the same complex detachment as in the other works by male artists.
Illustration Degas, Print Collector, 1866
Illustration Daumier, Print Collector, c. 1860.
Reveals a contradictory combination of indifference and involvement.
Illustration Degas, Portraits in an Office, New Orleans, 1873
The figures (Degas' relatives) are depicted with a casual "matter-of-factness".
The figures are atomized; an embodiment of the impersonality of the money economy.
Illustration Degas, Portraits, At the Stock Exchange, 1879
Illustration Degas, Sulking, 1873
Illustration Degas, Woman with Chrysanthemums, 1865
loneliness
Illustration Morisot, Interior, 1872
Illustration Degas, The Loge, 1880
loneliness
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T. R. Quigley, 2004