The Cercle Des Hydropathes
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The Cercle des Hydropathes: A Critical Re-evaluation of a Liberal Culture in the Early Third Republic Alexandra Marie Trott Royal Holloway, University of London Department of Media Arts Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2014 Declaration of Authorship I, Alexandra Marie Trott, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: Date: 18th September, 2014 Abstract This thesis proposes an original interpretation of the Cercle des Hydropathes (1878-1880), a poetic, musical society active in Paris during the early Third Republic. It provides a focused critical study of the Hydropathe club, examining it in relation to its wider social, political, and cultural contexts, and is the first critical monograph of the collective. Although largely neglected in art historical studies, there remains a firm, albeit fragmented basis of Hydropathe scholarship. In Chapter one I collate and compare the critical material in order to create dialogue that is currently lacking, and to help make the Hydropathe club a field of study in its own right. I also argue the case for distancing the Hydropathe club from Fumisme, offering a new perspective that serves as the basis for the rest of the thesis. Chapter two takes a largely historicist perspective, and demonstrates the club’s affiliation with liberal Republicanism. It thus examines the club as a cultural institution that functions in accordance with the Republican state, active in reimagining Parisian society according to liberal values. The final two chapters look in greater detail at the two forms of the club’s cultural discourse: its twice-weekly séances, and its journal, l’Hydropathe. In Chapter three my aim is not to perform a close literary analysis of the club’s texts, but rather to address how these texts, and the club’s ritualistic practice helped construct a united collective. I address the notion of agency at the club, arguing that it encouraged a passive form of consumption. The final chapter examines l’Hydropathe, focusing closely on the use of caricature, while also considering the publication alongside contemporaneous innovations with the written word, and subsequent experiments with the journal as an autonomous cultural outlet. 1 Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor, Christopher Townsend, for having faith in my abilities, and for encouraging me to start, and finish, this project. I would like to acknowledge the Department of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London for the financial support they provided, as well as its administrative team for its efficiency, and for always offering an office when it was needed. I also owe my thanks to Professor Laura Marcus, whose thoughtful feedback at the ‘Modernist Communities’ conference at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, provoked further research into the historic and symbolic value of beer in French society (Chapter three). I wish to thank all of my friends who have supported me over the past four years. In particular I would like to thank Emma Duley and Will Elliott for their unwavering support when it was most needed. I am indebted to Naomi Sakamoto for her friendship, support, and many jokes during my time in Paris. I would like to thank Essi Viitanen for always helping to put things into perspective; and without spontaneous, post-library discussions at the pub with Daniel O’Gorman I surely would have lost my sanity. To Pablo Schollaert I owe my thanks for many welcome distractions, and almost as many cooked lunches. Finally, I thank my parents and sisters for supporting me in every way possible, for their love and understanding, and only rarely asking me to explain what it is I do. 2 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... 2 List of Images .................................................................................................... 5 Introduction Part One: An Introduction to the Cercle des Hydropathes Introduction ......................................................................................... 8 Émile Goudeau and the Latin Quarter ........................................... 10 Hydropathe Art and Artists ............................................................. 17 Part Two: Breakdown of Chapters Chapter One ....................................................................................... 21 Chapter Two....................................................................................... 22 Chapter Three .................................................................................... 23 Chapter Four ...................................................................................... 25 Part Three: Methods and Aims Methodology ...................................................................................... 27 Aims and Arguments ........................................................................ 29 Chapter One: Literature Review Hydropathe Scholarship: An Introduction .................................... 31 L’Hydropathe, and Goudeau’s Dix ans de bohème ............................. 35 Goudeau & the Chat Noir ............................................................... 40 Fumisme and the Avant-Garde ....................................................... 43 Autonomy or Subversion? ................................................................ 53 Chapter Two: The Hydropathe Club as a Cultural Institution Introduction What’s in a Name?: The Etymological Roots of ‘Hydropathe’ .. 59 Part One: The Socio-Political Climate of the Early Third Republic Censorship and Curfews ................................................................... 65 Anticlericalism .................................................................................... 73 Hegemonic Cultural Institutions ..................................................... 83 Part Two: A Liberal Republican Community Restricting Influence ......................................................................... 89 Community and War ......................................................................... 98 3 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 101 Chapter Three: The Hydropathe & Collective Identity Introduction Francisque Sarcey and ‘the Crowd’ ............................................... 105 Part One: Collective Identity and Youth Subculture Collective Identity in the 1870s ..................................................... 110 Intellectual Community: Subcultures and Brotherhood ............ 116 Part Two: Collective Persona and the Crowd Environment & Collective Persona .............................................. 125 The Hydropathes and ‘the Crowd’ ................................................ 135 French Beer: Senses & Symbolism ............................................... 144 La Salpêtrière: Modern Culture and Mass Manipulation ............. 153 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 168 Chapter Four: L’Hydropathe: The Cercle des Hydropathes in Text & Image l’Hydropathe: An Introduction The Rise and Fall of l’Hydropathe ................................................... 171 L’Hydropathe’s Roles and Functions .............................................. 176 Part One: Text & Performance l’Hydropathe and the Avant-Garde Journal .................................... 179 Translating the Hydropathe: From Performance to Print ......... 189 Backgrounds and Networks ........................................................... 195 A (Collective) Self-Portrait: Identity and Authorship ................ 198 Part Two: Caricature Cabriol’s Portraiture ........................................................................ 204 Daumier & Gill: Style and Censorship ......................................... 206 Esoteric Imagery & Interpretation ................................................ 214 Caricature and the Disposable Object .......................................... 219 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 223 Conclusion................................................................................................. 224 Images ............................................................................................................. 230 Appendix ........................................................................................................ 252 Bibliography ................................................................................................... 257 4 List of Images Figure.0.1. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Au Moulin Rouge, 1890, oil on canvas, 115.5 x 150 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. Figure.1.1. Eugène Bataille (‘Arthur Sappeckikus’), La Joconde fumant la pipe, 1883. Reproduced in Coquelin Cadet, Le Rire (Paris: Ollendorff, 1887), p.5. Figure.1.2. Marcel Duchamp, L.H.O.O.Q, 1919, postcard reproduction with added moustache, goatee and title in pencil, 19.7 x 12.4cm. Figure.1.3. Paul Bilhaud, Combat de nègres dans une cave, pendant la nuit, 1882. In the catalogue of the first Exposition des Arts Incohérents (Paris, 1882). Figure.1.4. Alphonse Allais, Première communion de jeunes filles chlorotiques par un temps de neige 1883. In the catalogue