Derek Defoe

The Banquet Years: The Arts in France 1885-1918 is an article by Roger Shattuck, and it is written with such a nostalgic fondness and in such intricate detail that you may even start to believe that he was present during those days. During those few decades, Shattuck writes, all of Paris was a stage. It was a time of artistic revolution and lavish living- for some, at least. The beginning of the banquet years is traced back to 1885 when Victor Hugo died. He left 50, 000 francs to the poor. Théâtre français and opera were flourishing soon after. Drama evolved, as actors would perform for the audience instead of to them. Comedy evolved, with the debut of the stooge act. Painting became more impressionistic, literature more symbolic. Fashion constantly changed. Cafés rose in popularity, as did the bicycle. The Eiffel Tower rose. The Lumiere brothers showed off their cinematograph, which is widely considered to have filmed the first movies. Feminism was growing strongly; men grew beards (you were certainly not considered a real man without one). The rich went untaxed. It was a time when people kept their vices close to their virtues- the only unforgivable vice was lack of feeling. It was a grand time, fresh with the avant-garde and new ideas. Many refer to it as La Belle Époque: the good old days. They, of course, could not last. Obviously, not everyone was rich and prosperous, so anarchy rose, resulting in bombings and senseless deaths. Also, the avant-garde ceases to be the avant-garde once it is commonly accepted, which is exactly what happened. So, was it really the good old days, or maybe just a turbulent period that brought in importance of art for today? Like freedom, or free speech, was it something that was fought for just to be taken for granted?

Laura Kucharchuk

In this chapter taken from Roger Shattuck’s book The Banquet Years: The Arts in France 1885-1918, Shattuck discusses the idea that the good old days (as the French call it) took place in a time span of thirty years in which there was peace and prosperity in France. Shattuck argues that this time period, known as the Banquet Years, was what kick started the twentieth century in terms of innovation in the arts – banquets being the staple of upper-class leisure when people would gather to talk and enjoy themselves.

1885 was not only the year that marked the beginning of modern times in France, but the death of Victor Hugo. It was his funeral – a procession that was immensely long and full of brass bands and artists – that started the twentieth century in France.

During this time, the arts began to change and suit the colourful mood of the city. In theatre, it was about the “show within the show” (p.8) since during the action onstage, there was always something going in the boxes with regards to fashion and social activities. The actors themselves started using a more restrained naturalism and learned to speak to the audience instead of delivering their lines at them.

The Banquet Years also marked the emergence of the café, after the death of the salon. The café was a place where anyone was free to enter and thus was free to express their ideas and helped produce many different artistic schools.

It was also during this time that a symbol that is recognized internationally today was erected in the city of Paris – the Eiffel Tower. Some people were against its construction because they thought it would deface the city, but once it was built, it inspired many artists and people and thus became the first monument to modernism in France.

During this time, impressionism fell into the public eye in the painting world and music was finally liberated from Wager’s German domination and Debussy and Ravel made their first appearances in popular French music.

A sense of anarchism was deeply rooted into society during the Banquet Years as there were several bombings and violent outcries that served to unsettle the rigid and smug politicians as well as challenge the norm of a given aesthetic. These acts of anarchy inspired artists to demonstrate their views just as boldly as these “martyrs” did.

Through all this, Shattuck is trying to say that the banquet was a “setting for a great rejuvenation of the arts” (p.21) but to also say that the role of the artist during this time was to reflect society, but at the same time outrage it by making innovations in life and art. It was a banquet — a feast, really — of the arts.

A question to ask oneself at the end of this reading in order to link the ideas of this reading together is how exactly the arts effected society and how society effected the arts during this time period. How does each of the arts interrelate to become interdisciplinary? As an example of an answer, one could say that the arts become interdisciplinary since art had an influence on the society and thus other arts – the architecture of the Eiffel tower inspired painters which in turn could have inspired musicians and so on.

Jessica Leong

Roger Shattuck discusses in The Good Old Days the period between 1885 and 1918 in Paris, also known as the Banquet Years. History credits the prosperity of economic recovery, renewed political stability and ignorance to world conflict, for the life of shameless luxury and leisure characterized with the upper class of this era.

There was a significant amount of change, pertaining to Parisian life and to the arts. In terms of architecture, Baron Haussman, a city planner of Paris in the 1880s, redesigned the city to reflect its prospering commerce and exchange. The Eiffel Tower was accepted as a symbol of modernity. Music saw the popularity of music halls and café chantant. Visual arts gave way to neo-impressionism with the Societe des Artistes Independants. Film was also developing and audiences were fascinated by the moving picture. Of all the art forms, Shattuck emphasizes the change in theatre. The industry and popularity of theatre during the Banquet Years was thriving. After the era of literary-political heroes, many actors received positions as public figures. The author uses the analogy of Paris as a stage, to correctly illustrate the flamboyant and blissful performance of everyday life. Paris was projected to as jovial, frivolous, pompous and at ease with the world.

Contrary to its appearance, the artistic and social bliss of the Banquet Years were lined with deeper turmoil. Anarchy broke out in Paris with several bombings and controversial trials. Anarchists not only challenged the new French government but also questioned the accepted aesthetics. It criticized the luxurious lifestyle of the upper class and artistic aesthetics, paving the path for the future postwar artistic movements, such as Dadaism and surrealism. There was acknowledgement of popular art forms as art and criticism for the conventional, giving way to experimentation. Many juxtaposed primitivism with modernist values. Anarchy, debatably, was a form of political primitivism.

1885 called for a new outlet of expression. The Salon was no longer the ‘stage’ for everyday performance. Instead, the café allowed for the free exchange of ideas and aided the creation of artistic schools. Cafes and cabarets encouraged experimentation, nurturing the existence of the avant-garde.

At its explosive rate of artistic advancement, reaching its climax in 1913, the coming of war almost seemed necessary to halt the artistic expression to a level of sustainability.

The author emphasizes the lives of the upper class and celebrated figures in the Banquet Years. Would this imply the assumption that the enjoyment of arts solely belonging to the upper class Parisians at the time? Or did the arts play an active role in everyday life for le peuple?

Jessica Manherz

During the late 1800s in Paris, actors, such as Sarah Bernhardt, finally became public figures. Café chantants (chantants means songs or voices) and music halls began to emerge as well, allowing singers and musicians to become well known also. Salons (lounges or sitting rooms) became the place to go for an entertaining dinner, where women would often be the hosts. Once the salons began to decline, the performers began to move to cafés, where anyone could enter. The first artistic movement organized in cafés was impressionism.

Everything during this time was new. Cocottes emerged, which were women with high fashion sense and power over men. The fashion eventually changed once the bicycle was invented to allow women to ride on them. The invention of the bicycle led to an increased popularity in sports, as well as the revival of the Olympics in 1894. In 1909, Blériot flew across the English Channel in an airplane. Film was delayed from being very popular in France due to a projector starting a fire in 1897, which killed many people. Duels were often being used to solve disagreements. The incandescent bulb was invented by Thomas Edison, and in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was built. The Eiffel Tower became a symbol of Paris and the first monument of modernism.

After the death of Victor Hugo, art changed direction. Impressionist painting became popular and, because of the death of Wagner, French music was free of German domination. Arts became “modernized”.

From 1892 to 1894, the Libertarian movement caused Paris to have “a series of bomb explosions and controversial trials.” Many of these anarchists gained support, but by 1894, most people realized that their acts had crossed boundaries. The anarchists did, however, inspire artists to bring boldness into their artwork.

Literary Cabarets began to emerge, where artists would come together to recite, sing, and issue a magazine. Eventually these festivities spread out onto the streets. Modernism and primitivism overlapped, trying to change both life and art. A group of artists banded together to start experimenting with art to defy the values of the city. This became avant-garde art. All artists worked together and tried each other’s arts. Many artists lived in poverty and hardship, and their art matched their lives. In 1913, the war put an end to Paris’ great show.

Question:

How have these arts that occurred in France during The Banquet Years changed or continued in modern day throughout France and in other countries?

Courtney Ovens

The author was trying to relate the time of artistic and political changes in French history between the years of 1871-1900, also known as the “Banquet Years”, (pg 3.) He went on to describe the many activities that took place. For example the city itself turned into a stage with performances held at all times, one of the most “formalized and demanding was the salon”, (pg 8.) This goes to demonstrate the theatrics the city used to proclaim its changing ideals on how the French society was beginning to be structured, the new ideas coming into play included indulgence of the senses including infidelity and extravagant romantic views, “For the Banquet Years, all Paris was a stage.”, (pg 15.)

Although theatrics were used to display new ideas of social life, political views were also becoming more evident. One of the strongest ideas came from anarchy who was trying to fight the extravagance of the ‘Banquet Years, “Anarchists came from varied backgrounds. But specific mentality links them-the spirit of revolt and its derivatives…opposition….leads to scorn and hate of …hierarchy in society…”, (pg 16) this goes to prove that in a time of peace people still require a change in order to keep the peace and not allow the indulgence and masks of play to allow an unforeseen war to enter their time of peace.

Erika Sudirga

France experienced its vigorous moment in the late of 19th century. Fifteen years of waiting towards the 20th century seemed too long for them, and they needed a change in their daily lives and in their arts. Not to mention any specific art, this period of art revolution was popularly known as the la belle époque, or in English: the good old days. Roger Shattuck, a literary scholar who was also a professor emeritus in France and modern languages at various different prominent universities such as Yale University and Harvard University, wrote a piece of writing that successfully portrayed the life of France during this time. The writing was published in 1959, in his book that first became underlined by the public, The Banquet Years: The Arts in France 1885-1918, in its first chapter, which was entitled as The Good Old Days. After reading the article, I clearly found that it has become a useful tool in understanding a broader context of the arts in the history of France. In short, this article exploits a significant moment that happened during the France history in 1885-1918, whereas all artists in every aspect of the arts collaborated together in order to initiate a ‘renewal movement’, shifting from romanticism, an art form that was common in the 19th century, to impressionism, an art form that was beginning to be prominent in the 20th century; leaving the old, reforming the new, so to speak.

In his writing, Shattuck used comparisons and symbolisms in order to deliver his point of views. The death of Victor Hugo in 1885 was one of them. Victor Hugo was known as one of the greatest literary figures and artists whose works used the art forms, such as the romanticism and realism. Not only that, he was also a politic figure that supported Republic form of government in France. Since his life could be directly linked to the context of the olden form and identity of the 19th century, Shattuck used his death as a symbol of the end of this realism and romanticism era. This ending formed a new beginning, which was the impressionism and post-impressionism art movement. After his death, all arts from theater, opera, politics, architecture, painting, music, and literature, were starting to show its breakthrough in welcoming the new art form, thus the beginning of the avant-garde. Moreover, he also stressed out the moment where arts used to be exhibit in salon, in which the works could only be accessed by certain group of artists and people, and then suddenly, exhibitions moved to the café, in which the arts could be accessed by any one who wanted to come and drink to enjoy performances. Later on in the article, I learned that the movement was over until the end of World War I in 1918 where another art form took its popularity upon the artists from all over the world.

Moreover, Shattuck built his argument by using various examples of how all the artists in all of the art forms started to ‘rebel’ against the old art form through their works and life styles. He discussed the upper-class leisure, which showed their luxurious life styles. This life style developed throughout the time, in which the French called it the ‘era of music hall and café chantant’. The French built numerous buildings that cost great amount of money. Since these new places brought chances for the artists’ works to be delivered to the public, artists whose names were not prominent started to rise up and rule the stages. Furthermore, The Eiffel Tower that was built in 1889 also showed the accomplishment that France wanted to show to the world. They claimed that this was the summit of the ‘Banquet Years’. The building became the highest tower in the world for two years. On the other hand, throughout his writing, Shattuck also started to present his critics upon the upper class since the beginning to the end of his writing. He began to touch the other part of the lives of the unfortunate Parisians. In the high-living and indulgence life styles that the rich people embraced, he questioned their conscience for the poor. They had money for building these opera houses, but they did not take any action in donating some of their money to these people.

Nevertheless, I found that this article was not easy to read at all and it required some time and energy to fully understand the important points and aspects that the writer had been trying to indulge. This article contained some French words as well. Since I never learned any French, I had to look up to a website that could translate the words to English. Without translating these words, one could not fully perceive the point of view of the author. Further more, the limitations I encountered also included several names of the arts/literary/political French figures that Shattuck discussed as examples in his writing. These names were Victor Hugo, Mademoiselle Jane Cambrai, General Boulanger, Count Robert de Montesquiou, Ravachol, and others. Some of the names, I have never heard, and some, I was not familiar with. He often discussed the significance of these figures, and without a full knowledge of the significance of these figures, I could not fully grasp the point that he was trying to make; therefore I often tried to look up for these names on the Internet in order to have a good background as the base for a different level of understanding.

In conclusion, I have found that the first chapter of The Banquet Years: The Arts in France 1885-1918, The Good Old Days, had been successfully written by Rogers Shattuck, where it helped me to gain clearer understanding upon the history of the art in France during its turning century from the 19th to the 20th. The article illustrated the France and its glorious moment, especially when all of the artists from all aspects of the arts collaborated with each other to form a movement in reforming new styles or schools of art, which were the romanticism and the realism. Shattuck closed and ended his first chapter with this last sentence, “Their feast was not the last celebration of a dying aristocracy but a lusty banquet of the arts.” The dying aristocracy might had been used as the expression to the end of the olden days lifestyles and political situation before the movement began in 1885, but, in contrary, how could it not be regarded as a lusty banquet of the arts, because when all of these artists worked together, we had learned that the outcome was the arts that were turning ‘alive’. It did not only bring influence to the local society, but, indeed, became greatly known by the world.