Jules Dalou, the Inconstant Worker, and Paris's
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ABSTRACT Title of Document: LABOR IN THE CAULDRON OF PROGRESS: JULES DALOU, THE INCONSTANT WORKER, AND PARIS’S MEMORIAL LANDSCAPE Andrew Eschelbacher, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Directed By: Professor June Hargrove, Department of Art History and Archaeology French populist identity and changing notions of masculinity converge in the monument projects of Jules Dalou, revealing the fissures in the Third Republic’s attempts to unify the nation. Treating the worker as France’s representative man, Dalou intervened in a memorial sphere where the male laborer’s ambiguous position manifested the effects of profound cultural traumas stemming from the année terrible and the development of new social and economic structures. This dissertation investigates how Dalou, the leading public sculptor of the early Third Republic, consistently altered his depictions of the worker as he pursued a monumental idiom and representation of the masculine icon appropriate for Modernity. The formal and thematic inconsistencies that resulted reveal the sculptor’s efforts to navigate the ruptures between social traditions and emergent political, scientific, and industrial values that rendered the fin-de-siècle memorial environment a cauldron in which the era’s conflicting social dogmas and cultural doctrines forged new amalgams. Manifesting the complicated relationships between public art, modern aesthetics, and the formation of new national mores, these projects illustrate the social angst of the last decades of the nineteenth century and anticipate the visual language of divisive twentieth-century ideologies. LABOR IN THE CAULDRON OF PROGRESS: JULES DALOU, THE INCONSTANT WORKER, AND PARIS’S MEMORIAL LANDSCAPE By Andrew Eschelbacher Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Advisory Committee: Professor June Hargrove, Chair Professor Renée Ater Professor Steven Mansbach Professor William Pressly Professor Donald Sutherland ©Copyright by Andrew Eschelbacher 2013 The dissertation document that follows has had referenced material removed in respect for the owner's copyright. A complete version of this document, which includes said referenced material, resides in the University of Maryland, College Park's library collection. Dedication To my family, with love and thanks. ii Acknowledgements In a dissertation process that has truly been a labor of love, writing the following acknowledgements has proved to be one of the most rewarding tasks. It has allowed me to think back to the countless individuals and institutions that have supported me in this process, to understand the depth of my debt to this community of scholars, mentors, and friends, and to acknowledge their vast contributions to this project and my development as a scholar and a person. My work on this dissertation has been funded by the generosity of a number of organizations. Most recently an American Council of Learned Societies/Paul Mellon Foundation Dissertation Competition Fellowship has allowed me to finish the writing and editing of the document during the 2012-2013 academic year. The University of Maryland, College Park, and specifically the Department of Art History and Archaeology, has provided considerable support. I feel truly honored to have benefited from the George Levitine Fellowship, the Jenny Rhee Fellowship, a Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Grant, a Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship, a Maryland Museum Fellowship, and a Dr. Erik B. Young International Travel Award. Prior to coming to Maryland, the early stages of this project were made possible by a departmental travel award during my time as an MA student at Tulane University. June Hargrove has served as a caring and dynamic mentor throughout this project. I cannot thank her enough for her guidance, incisive critiques, and good humor. Additionally, I owe debts of gratitude to the entire faculty of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Maryland, and most specifically to the members of my dissertation committee, Professors Renée Ater, Bill Pressly, and Steven Mansbach. I iii would also like to recognize Professor Anthony Colantuono who offered insightful comments about my dissertation proposal. Amélie Simier welcomed me as a stagiaire at the Petit Palais and has supported my research in innumerable ways. This project would not have been possible but for Amélie’s help. I must also thank Antoinette Le Normand-Romain for her scholarly generosity, and her willingness to allow me to attend monthly seminars at the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art. John Hunisak, whose dissertation on Jules Dalou sparked my interest in the sculptor, showed me great kindness and support in our conversations. I thank him sincerely for sharing with me his unpublished manuscript. I greatly appreciate the interest that Pierre Georgel took in my research. His willingness to share his deep knowledge of Victor Hugo thoroughly informs a section of my first chapter – and my understanding of nineteenth-century France more broadly. The teams in the documentation centers, libraries, and archives of the Petit Palais, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Rodin, the Conservation des œuvres d'art religieuses et civiles, Père Lachaise Cemetery, the Bibliothèque de l’Hôtel de Ville, and the BnF have helped me track numerous sources and have thoughtfully brought my attention to hidden gems within their vast and prized collections. Dominique Lobstein has been especially generous of his time, and I appreciate his willingness to share his broad insights with me. During my two years in France, I was continuously struck by the thoughtfulness, generosity, and openness of Paris’s scholars, researchers, and teachers. I am grateful to iv the many – whose names are too numerous to list – who welcomed me into their community and encouraged my research. Throughout this process many friends have also provided necessary intellectual and emotional support. While they merit more than a simple mention in the acknowledgements, I hope they know how grateful I am. James Hargrove has been a constant source of counsel and camaraderie throughout this project. First as my advisor at Tulane and later as a friend and colleague, James has served as a vital mentor and sounding board for the last seven years. I feel very lucky to have had my family’s support throughout my graduate school career. Their constant love and encouragement – and willingness to set Skype dates that remind me of the comforts (and teasing) of family – have been a great source of joy and motivation. Suzy Hwang, who shared in each of the laughs and tears that the dissertation occasioned, has been my loudest supporter, harshest critic, and best friend for each day of this process. I’m very lucky she sat in front of me in room 2309. And of course, a great thanks is due to Dante, who listened patiently as I worked out my ideas and vented my frustrations throughout our long walks. v Table of Contents Dedication ………………………………………………………………………. ii Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………... iii Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………….. vi List of Illustrations ……………………………………………………………… vii Introduction ………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 1: Popular Romanticism, the Revolutionary Metanarrative, and an Alternative Commune Paradigm……………………………………….. 21 Chapter 2: Dalou’s Artisan Ideal and the Changing Scope of Parisian Nationalism……………………………………………………………. 72 Chapter 3: Visual Positivism and Radical Contradictions ………………………. 125 Chapter 4: Gendering Modernity/Modernizing Masculinity………………..…… 175 Epilogue: Dalou and the Question of Modernity ………………………………. 223 Illustrations ………………………………………………………………….. 228 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………… 330 vi Illustration List Figure 1.1 Aimé-Jules Dalou, Mirabeau répondant à Dreux-Brézé dans la séance du 23 juin 1789, Salon 1883. Bronze. Assemblé Nationale, Paris. Figure 1.2 Aimé-Jules Dalou, Fraternité (La Fraternité des peuples - La République), Salon 1883. Marble. 442 x 264 x 85 cm. Mairie du Xe Arrondissement, Paris. Figure 1.3 François Rude, La Marseillaise, Départ des Volontaires, 1792, 1833-1836. Stone. Arc de Triomphe d’Etoile, Paris. Figure 1.4 Alfred Roll, Le 14 Juillet 1880, 1882. Oil on Canvas. 645 x 980 cm. Musée du Petit Palais, Paris. Figure 1.5 Aimé-Jules Dalou, Fraternité model, 1878-1882 c. Terra Cotta. 51 x 34 x 10 cm. Musée du Petit Palais, Paris. Figure 1.6 Philippe-Auguste Jeanron, Les petits patriotes, 1831. Oil on Canvas. 101 x 81 cm. Musée Carnavalet, Paris. Figure 1.7 Alfred Roll, Execution of a Trumpeter during the Commune, 1871. Oil on Canvas. 55 x 45 cm. Musée Carnavalet, Paris. Figure 1.8 Aimé-Jules Dalou, Tomb of Auguste Blanqui, 1885. Bronze. L. 175 cm. Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Figure 1.9 Head Detail, Tomb of Auguste Blanqui. 1885. Bronze. Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Figure 1.10 Alphonse Dumilatre, Tomb of Joseph Eustache Crocé-Spinelli and Théodore Sivel, 1878-1882. Bronze. 190 x 135 cm. Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Figure 1.11a-b François Rude, Tomb of Godefroy Cavaignac, 1845-47. Bronze. Cemetery of Montmartre, Paris. Figure 1.12 Aimé Millet, Tomb of Alphonse Baudin, 1872. Bronze, Cemetery of Montmartre, Paris. Figure 1.13 Arm Detail, Tomb of Auguste Blanqui. 1885. Bonze. Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Figure 1.14 Auguste Bartholdi, Tomb of the Colmar National Guards killed in action in 1870, 1872. Bronze and Stone. Cemetery of Ladhof, Colmar. vii Figure 1.15 Crown Detail, Tomb of Auguste Blanqui. 1885. Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Figure 1.16 L.L. Cugnot and E.G. Coquart, Tomb of Claude Martin Lecomte and Jacques Léonard Clément-Thomas, 1872. Stone. Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Figure 1.17 Henri Gervex, Une séance du jury de peinture au Salon des Artistes français, 1885. Oil on Canvas. 299 x 419 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Figure 1.18 Aimé-Jules Dalou, Souvenir du 22 Mai 1885, 1886. Plaster. 151 x 148 x 116.5 cm. Musée du Petit Palais, Paris. Figure 1.19 Aimé-Jules Dalou, Projet de tombeau pour Victor-Hugo, à ériger au Panthéon, 1886. Plaster. 202 x 180 x 70 cm. Musée du Petit Palais, Paris. Figure 1.20 Victor Hugo’s Catafalque lying in State at Place d’Etoile, 1885.