Golden Age: The Art Scene

Golden Age: The Art Scene in Paris, 1800-1920

The 'Golden Age' of Paris was a time in which all manners and forms of artistic expression and this includes architectural, theatrical and in the form of paintings and sketch. One most interesting sketch is reported in the work of Alan Riding (1995) entitled: "Paris Tablecloth Sketches From a Gold Age of Art" and will be reviewed in this work.

Artists in Paris during the Golden Age of Art were self-driven and never idle painting when and wherever they could and passionately pursuing the calling of art.

THE ARTISTS of PARIS

The work of Vaananen (2002) relates that during the 1880's that Paris "was the undisputed center for art..." And it was during this time that Henri Rousseau painted in Paris. The work of Linda Lappin (2008) entitled: "Expat Salons in Paris: The Tradition Persists" states that during the golden age of Paris "cultural life revolved around cafes and salons. Of the latter, Gertrude Stein's afternoons were probably among the most famous. The company and conversation to be found at Stein's flat at Rue de Fleurus nurtured some of the world's greatest geniuses of the time: Picasso, Matisse, and Hemingway to name three." (Lappin, 2008) the artists would spend their time sitting around a cafe generally beginning their evening with a glass of wine and then some dinner followed by warm drinks containing liqueur.

During this period of art in Paris the general haunts of artists in Paris is affirmed in the work of Riding (1995) who states: "The sight of earnest young artists sketching away at sidewalk cafes may seem familiar enough, but even in Paris not many restaurants can claim to have inspired the likes of Picasso, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Jean Cocteau, Paul Valery, Paul Eluard and Balthus." (Riding, 1995)

However the drawings that were set to display at the Pavillon des Arts in the Paris district of Les Halles in "...an unusual exhibition called 'Jeux de Nappes', or literally 'Tablecloth Games'" are stated by Riding to be of the nature which "certainly confirms that imagination takes no meal breaks." (1995) This literal table cloth contains "entertaining sketches that are those that translated the stains of spilled win or coffee into instant images, often of exotic-looking animals, with color and contrast added by anything within reach - dampened cigarette ash and coffee beans, dabs of mustard, sauce lipstick, ink and even tomato ketchup." (Riding, 1995)

II. ROUSSEAU

The work of King (2006) relates in the work entitled: "Self-Taught in Paris" that Rousseau was a "self-taught painter" and that this artist "did not sojourn beyond the Parisian zoos and gardens to concoct his unique fauna and flora..." (King, 2006) King states that the "single-most striking aspect of Henri Rousseau's sometimes strange and even implausible oeuvre is that this life-long pauper who had to wait forty years to begin painting and endured wide ridicule...remained unswervingly self-confident, never doubting he'd land a canvas in the Louvre." (2006)