Prostitution in Impressionist painting
Prostitution was a very widespread phenomenon in nineteenth-century Paris and although an accepted practice among the nineteenth century bourgeoisie, it was nevertheless a topic that remained largely taboo in polite society.
"Prostitution, now hidden in the shadows, was for these painters a fact of modernity, and while they drew inspiration from women of the night, they also at times imagined the distance between the studio and the brothel was not so great.
According to scholar Alain Corbin, arresting a prostitute for having a venereal disease served as a way of keeping Paris "clean", both morally and physically.
Street walkers (for example those depicted in the film Les Miserables, (Directed by Tom Hopper in 2012), worked impoverished areas to support their family or themselves.
According to Robert Schwartz and his students at Mount Holyoke College, these women lead miserable lives and might service hundreds of men for sexual pleasure.
[4] The interest in prostitution became prevalent in French art and culture during this time, with paintings such as Édouard Manet's Olympia (1863) and novels such as Émile Zola's Nana,( 1880) or Alfred de Musset, Rolla (1833).
He was in love with a courtesan, a woman named Marie Duplessis, about whom he would go to write a very popular novel, and then a play based on his experience with her called La Dame aux Camélias, (1848).
Jean Ravenel's described the work as a Painting of the school of Baudelaire, freely executed by a pupil of Goya; the vicious strangeness of the little faubouricienne, woman of the night from Paul Niquer's, from the mysteries of Paris and the nightmares of Edgar Poe.
Her look has the sourness of someone prematurely aged, her face the disturbing perfume of a fleur du mal; her body fatigued, corrupted, but painted under a single trans- parent light...[9]The journalist Bonnin wrote the following in La France :"We prefer to think he [Manet] has made a mistake.
[9] Most art historians agree that Manet was challenging the romantic ideals of female nudity and prostitution that were previously held in society.
By giving Olympia a completely disinterested expression on her face, the fact that prostitution is a job, unromantic and unenjoyable, for her, is emphasized.
She is not completely dressed: She is wearing only a short, sleeveless bodice, a slip, silk stockings, and high – heeled shoes.
The fact that the prostitute has more power is made evident in the way the male figure is turned sideways, with only half of his body visible, giving him less significance in the piece.
In 1876–77, Degas filled a sketchbook with illustrations from de Goncourt's novel depicting scenes of a girl who becomes a prostitute with her soldier lover.
"The exhibition includes approximately 120 rarely seen monotypes—along with some 60 related paintings, drawings, pastels, sketchbooks, and prints—that show Degas at his most modern, capturing the spirit of urban life; depicting the body in new and daring ways; liberating mark-making from tradition; and boldly engaging the possibilities of abstraction.
On one hand, many argue that, "rather than being victims of an intrusive gaze or performers in a sexual economy, the women depicted in Degas' [bathing] works are simply alone and unobserved.
[16] Female art critics that wrote about this and argued for this include Carol Armstrong, Norma Broude, Wendy Lesser and Eunice Lipton.
On the contrary, authors such as Anthea Callen, Hollis Clayson and Heather Dawkins argue that Degas "embodied the dominant masculinity of his era".
[16] Specifically, Anthea Callen has argued that "all of Degas' Bathers imply a notional "keyhole" viewpoint such that the works become inscribed with the gaze of a male voyeur.
Even in works that are structured so as to provide multiple perspectives or unusual angles on the principal subject in a way that calls into question the embodied viewpoint of a fictional observer, Callen suggests that the 'discursive significance' of such a point of view remains pivotal in understanding the works' sexual and social implications.
La Toilette (1889) depicts a woman, probably a prostitute, sitting on the floor, surrounded by sheets who has either just finished bathing or is about to start.
