La Belle Epoque Also Known

La Belle Epoque also known as the Beautiful Era is an expression that was born after the First World War. It shaped the period that stretched after the Napoleonic campaigns until the watershed in Europe of the Great War: the years from 1890 to 1914. The name Belle Epoque encompasses the Paris realities of expansion, carefree attitudes, a faith in progress, and an affluence spreading down through society, together with certain nostalgia. This nostalgia was a decorated memory of realism coming out of the trauma of the First World War. The term Belle Epoque was not an idea that was widely embraced by the French people. The social trouble, chaos and loss of the Great War, caused by the millions of young men sent away from their families and work, never to return, marked Western Europe and its societies. Women had to manage without men and replace them at work which resulted in female liberation and independence, while returning military often turned against the feudal environment of civilian culture (The Belle Epoque, 2010).

The Belle Epoque has come to portray the years of peace and prosperity that marked middle-class life in France, before the Great War altered so many things. The name soon widened to include many other countries in the West. The Bell Epoque had distinguished characteristics, such as dress, art and, with the confidence generated by a new century, engineering feats and technological progress. Art included painting such as the Impressionists, furniture and architecture, much styled by Art Nouveau and the English Arts and Crafts faction (The Belle Epoque, 2010).

The arts went through a radical transformation during the decades before World War I, and new artistic forms connected with cultural modernity appeared. Impressionism, which had been considered the artistic avant-garde in the 1860s, did not gain widespread acceptance until after World War I: the academic painting style that appealed to the Belle Epoque is exemplified in the art of William-Adolphe Bouguereau or John William Waterhouse, or the idyllic Roman scenes of Lord Leighton. More progressive tastes patronized the Barbizon school plein-air painters, and in Britain, the Pre-Raphaelites, who inspired a generation of esthetic-minded Souls. The largely attractive style known as Art Nouveau or Jugendstil in central Europe, characterized by its curved forms, became famous from the mid-90s and dominated progressive design throughout much of Europe. Many triumphant examples of this style, with distinguished regional variations, were built in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Latvia. It soon spread worldwide to include Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and the United States (Belle Epoque, 2010).

Theatre took on new modern ways, including Expressionism, and many playwrights wrote plays that stunned contemporary audiences either with their frank depictions of everyday life and sexuality or with unusual artistic aspects. Cabaret Theater also became very fashionable. In the realm of music, the Belle Epoque was well-known for salon music. This was not thought to be serious music but, rather, short pieces deemed accessible to a general audience. In addition to pieces for piano solo or violin and piano, the Belle Epoque was famed for its large inventory of songs. The Italians were the greatest advocates of this type of song, its greatest supporter being Francesco Paolo Tosti. Though Tosti's songs were never completely off the list, salon music in general fell into a period of darkness. During this period singers were afraid to sing them at serious performances. During this period, waltzes also prospered. Operettas were also at the peak of their fame, with composers such as Johann Strauss III, Emmerich Kalman, and Franz Lehar. It was during this period that motion pictures were developed, although they did not become widespread until after World War I (Belle Epoque, 2010).

When looking at the Belle Epoque there is no doubt that it concerns a period somewhere between 1871 and 1914 (Introduction to the Belle Epoque, n.d.). After French-Prussian, war was over Europe entered a new era known as the Beautiful Era or the Belle Epoque. This timeframe is known for many series inventions like the automobile, phonograph, telephone, and cinematograph. World Fair in Paris demonstrated impressing inventions of the technique and technology achievements. Such misfortunes as Dreyfus Affair could scarcely overshadow such a miracle like Eiffel Tower. Many authors who have ever written about the Epoque used the word satiety. Since Italian Risorgimento succeeded and independent Italian kingdom was proclaimed the Church has considerably lost, its influence in temporal affairs Europeans sought not only for the new forms of making their daily bread but also for the new forms of spending their spare time (Introduction to the Belle Epoque, n.d.).