The View from Notre-Dame

Having never taken an art history class, I found myself confused and struggling to understand Clark’s arguments in “The View from Notre-Dame.” One of the things I think he’s trying to explain is the connection between the change from conventional art styles to what is considered “modern” and the renovation of Paris by Haussmann. Clark mentions the concept of social classes a lot, especially in the context of Haussmannization. As the Paris was transformed into a city with “intellectual form,” controlled by capitalism, the lines between different social classes began to blur. As I understand it, the lower classes were pushed out, leaving those who could afford to live in the city. The nature of commerce changed, with impersonal grands magasins des nouveautes (department stores) replacing hordes of street vendors, who could destroy the reputation of bargaining lowerclassmen. With this new way of purchasing things in the city, anyone with the right clothes could fit right in with the bourgeoisie. This ambiguity is what led artists to portray crowds of Parisians with indistinguishable features; almost no one sticks out. This is exemplified by Nittis’ sketch of the Place des Pyramides (p66), in which a lady streetsweeper is hardly noticeable, blending in with the higher-class people around her.

The response to the transformation orchestrated by Haussmann seemed to be positive for those who benefitted from the increase in capitalism, but negative for those who were not fond of the idea of such drastic changes to their home. A good part of the negative response was surely due to the industrialization and “imitated nature” (from Victor Fournel, p59) of the new plans, but perhaps this relates deeper to the discussion we had on Tuesday about the Situationists and their view of space. Perhaps these Parisians who opposed Haussmannization thought their freedoms were being restricted or their quality of life being lowered by the implementation of these plans, and were actually portraying early Situationist thought.

Lastly, there was one quote that came up a couple times and confused me. I could not figure out the significance of “Life turns back to become public” (p 26). If anyone can answer this, please do! If not, I’ll probably ask in class.