The Painter of Modern Life
Penguin : Great Ideas
Paperback
: 26 Aug 2010
£4.99
Synopsis
Poet, aesthete and hedonist, Baudelaire was also one of the most groundbreaking art critics of his time. Here he explores beauty, fashion, dandyism, the purpose of art and the role of the artist, and describes the painter who, for him, expresses most fully the drama of modern life.
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Madeleine Stottor, Nonsuch High School for Girls
Though perhaps best known for writing 'Les fleurs du mal', a collection of poetry which scandalised contemporary audiences, Charles Baudelaire was also one of the most fascinating and most uncompromising art critics of the nineteenth century. This volume brings together three of Baudelaire's non-fiction expositions: the titular 'The Painter of Modern Life'; 'The Life and Work of Eugene Delacroix'; and two extracts from his critique of 'The Salon of 1859'.
The first of these is organised into eighteen seemingly disparate sections, ranging from 'The Annals of War' to 'In Praise of Make-Up'. However, the appearance of confusion given by these chapter titles is deceptive, as the parts are woven masterfully into one with Baudelaire's "own characteristic grace". In his exploration of beauty, fashion and art, Baudelaire dwells on the enigmatic artist M.G (now known to be Monsieur Constantin Guys), who for Baudelaire epitomises the skill, speed and imagination necessary for 'The Painter of Modern Life'.
For Baudelaire, art should work towards "distilling the bitter, heady flavour of the wine of life" and 'The Life and Work of Eugene Delacroix' is in part praise for Delacroix's achievement of this but Baudelaire is also lamenting the failure of other artists and the dreadful decline in artistic intellectual standards. In the extracts from 'The Salon of 1859', Baudelaire is more trenchantly critical, sparing no feelings as he announces that "the reign of mediocrity is stronger than ever".
Of particular interest to modern readers is the second extract, in which Baudelaire delivers an almost prophetic warnings against the evils of photography and its potential to supplant art. In our increasingly digital age, photography has assumed an artistic role beyond the " true duty" of record keeping here assigned to it. One wonders how scathing a condemnation today's photographic exhibitions and galleries might have received from Baudelaire.
This volume's three pieces are each highly developed and perfectly self-contained, each fascinating to read alone. But, as with the figures of M.G's paintings, it is the synthesis of all which reveals to the reader Baudelaire's real character, bound as the extracts are by one common thread: art, both Baudelaire's love for it and violent urge to protect it.
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Product details
Format :
Paperback
ISBN: 9780141192765
Size : 111 x 181mm
Pages : 128
Published : 26 Aug 2010
Publisher : Penguin
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The Painter of Modern Life
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