Exhibition: Bendigo Art Gallery’s Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925

With Paris set to host the Olympic Games later this year all eyes are on the city renowned for its beauty, style and iconic landmarks.

The Bendigo Art Gallery’s latest exhibition, Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925, provides an insight into the gaining of this reputation.

The exhibition features 170 works of art and artisanal objects from the collection of the Musée Carnavalet – History of Paris.

The oldest municipal museum in Paris, the Musée Carnavalet was founded in 1866 to document the history, built environments and unique character of Paris during a period of rapid modernisation.  The museum is home to over 620,000 works of art and artefacts from the Mesolithic period to the present day.

The Bendigo Art Gallery’s exhibition highlights the period from 1880-1925 as it’s said to represent an influential period in Paris’ history, characterised by rapid social change, technological innovation and radical breakthroughs in art and fashion.

It was also a time when a widespread urban redevelopment project sought to address inadequate infrastructure, overcrowding and industrial pollution and the remnants of political unrest.

As the introduction to the exhibition explains: “In the process Paris was transformed from an overgrown medieval citadel to a modern metropolis, with every luxury and leisure on offer”.

The exhibition features around 90 paintings which aim to offer diverse and intimate insights into the events, locations, and everyday encounters that impacted Paris during the period highlighted.

Artists featured include Ludovic Vallée, Albert Marquet, Louis Abel-Truchet, Maurice Utrillo and Paul Signac whose paintings show how artists of the time experimented with light and colour in the wake of the Impressionist revolution.

Work from Jean Béraud, the pre-eminent painter of fashionable society in the Belle Époch, and the more overtly political Maximilien Luce, highlight the social and economic interactions during a time of dramatic gentrification and industrialisation in the city.

Complementing the paintings are the advertising posters of the period with artists such as Jules Chéret and Leonetto Capiello who pioneered bold typography, rich colouring, and dynamic illustrations which are still used today.

The exhibition also features historic moving images from the archives of Gaumont Pathé and a soundscape including street sounds and original recordings by celebrated stars of the stage Yvette Guilbert and Mistinguett.

Stunning clothes from the leading French fashion houses of the era including the famed House of Worth, Jacques Doucet, Madeleine Vionnet, and the Callot Souers are another highlight. On loan from the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia, they illuminate the rapid evolution from the strict etiquette and body-distorting corsetry of the late 19th century to the sensuous androgyny of the 1920s “la garçonne” look.

Other highlights of the exhibition include shop signs from merchants, cafes and hairdressers, including a pair of sculptural gold snails which were installed outside the snail merchant Lazare Successeurs at the corner of Rue Pierre Lescot and Rue Cossonnerie.

There’s also a selection of fine dining menus and souvenirs, including fans, a jewellery box and silk scarves, from the 1889 and 1900 Universal Exhibitions.

Items on display are imaginatively presented in seven distinct areas – Bohemia Life in Montmartre, Universal Exhibition and the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, Parisian Public Garden, Market Town Show, Musée Carnavalet and  with each featuring the matching paintings, costumes and other displays.

Informative text introducing each section together with the labelling of all the items help in providing context for the items on display.

The staging of the exhibition ensures that, like its subject, it’s stylish and looks good as well as being educational.

Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925 is showing at the Bendigo Art Gallery until July 14.  Visit the Bendigo Art Gallery website for more information and tickets.