Post #5 Modernity and Masculinity in 19th Century France

Gustave Caillebott was a 19th century French painter of the post impressionist movement. Caillebott was very interested in the renovation and modernization of France, especially in the changes Haussmann was making, and the city is often the subject of his paintings. Scenes of city streets, modern bridges and updated buildings, populated by people of the modern time are seen all throughout Caillebott's work. He uses a looser and more painterly brush stroke than seen in academic painting but does not adapt the extreme of the impressionists. His plays with perspective, something he was criticized for, give his paintings a unique appearance stylistically, but also emit various emotions and feelings, often melancholy. His use of illusionism and creating depth in his paintings also separates him from what was popular with the impressionists. Caillebott will often have a strong man made receding element, such as a street, bridge or bannister that gives his work a realistic space.

When looking at a collection of paintings by Gustave Caillebott, there is a delicate balance maintained between celebration and criticism of the France that he depicts. It seems he favors the celebration slightly because he consistently returns to it as the subjects of his paintings and in those paintings it is the buildings and city structure that create the beauty and compositional interest. Even in Paris Street in Rainy Weather, the weather is bad, but it does not read as a critique. Instead as an emotion given to the city, with its still beautiful shiny stone street. It is with the modern society, the changes in people's behavior, that the side of criticism begins to come through. There is a talked about sub-theme to Caillebott's paintings, feelings and depictions of isolation. Looking through his work, you notice that when he depicts figures, rarely, if ever are they interacting with one another. Often he will have a central figure with his back to either the viewer or the other figures in the piece. Like in PontdeL'Europe-Geneva, the man is gazing off in the distance or the far right edge of the piece, back turned. In other pieces like Portraits à la campagne or the floor scrapers(side version), he puts groups of people in social situations, at close proximity, but clearly shows no eye contact or interaction. Just isolation and introversion. This could be a result of modern life distancing people from one another due to occupations, daily schedule or mass production and machinery. But could also be a reflection of Caillebott's own feelings of isolation and sadness.

 It is the mixture of all of these feelings and emotions that give Caillebott's paintings their melancholy flavor, because the majority of his work is neither outright sad, nor overjoyed. I feel like he saw genuine beauty and inspiration in France but was also a very sad individual and saw changes in the modern life that he did not approve of. It makes his paintings very real in the sense that life is a mix of celebration and critique, beauty and sadness and credit to him as an artist that he can make all of those show through in some way.