The Eiffel Tower was designed and built for the 1889 International Exhibit of Paris. Gustave Eiffel, was confident that his design would prove the French were serious engineers, not simply the “cultured” people. The tower was originally meant to stand for 20 years and then be disassembled and removed, which is why the pieces were bolted together upon assembly. The primary reason the Tower withstood the public cry to be removed is that it served as a radio tower and its height, 984 feet, makes radio transmission very effective.
Quite a stir was caused by the design of the tower, in fact, 47 artists of all mediums joined together to petition the building of the Eiffel Tower. In the age of industrial revolution, the tower was indeed a feat of engineering that had never been seen before. The Eiffel Tower has become one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world, and is visited by thousands of visitor daily. The tower is not beautiful to the eye, but it is undeniably remarkable in scale and design. Pigeons roost in the semiornamental iron-work and walking beneath can be messy.
The Tower overpowers its surroundings rather than complimenting them, which unfortunate. Night is the most popular and impressive time of day to ascend the Tower for a spectacular view of Paris. The pros of the Eiffel Tower outweigh the cons, in reasons to allow the tower to remain in the hearts of people all over the world as a symbol of Paris, and the unique experiences that Paris has to offer. 2. In the mid- to late nineteen century in France, visual art was governed primarily by taste and sensibility of the Academia des Beaux-Arts, an art school.
The style was often based on mythological themes, and had a passive eroticism. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, the son of working class parents, had vision and talent which propelled him to be regarded as one of the best artists of the period with his mix of traditional academic style and the avant-garde. Avant-garde, “the advanced guard,” was more humanistic, showing high gestures and detailed facial expressions. In the “Dance”, Carpeaux blended his training in the classical with the avantgarde.
The work was chosen to be one of four sculptures to decorate the facade of Charles Garnier’s new Paris Opera House. “Dance”, is a wealth of movement, with the winged nude male bounding up, as nude females dance around him. Carpeaux, could have sculpted the females from memory of little girls from his childhood playing “Ring around the Rosy” in the streets. Their faces are full of fun and joy as they hold hand and spin around Dance, each girl’s expression is unique and detailed. The nude figures are anatomically correct and life-like, unlike the more romantic nudes of the academic style.
Neoclassical figures were not intended to invoke the feeling of reality, but to be focused on ideal sensuality and softness of flesh. Many critics of the “Dance” felt that Carpeaux had abandoned his training and loyalty to the Academia, and joined the rival Avant-garde artists. Artist vied for commissions and the rivalry was fierce among the two very different styles. The industrial age was in full swing and that brought new patrons to the art market. Newly rich industrialist had a desire for the realistic flavor of the avant-garde, while the old moneyed patrons and royalty held fast to the Neoclassic.
With the uprising of the working class and the newly rich industrialist, the long standing aristocracy was no longer the only audience for expensive commissions. A changing world brought about changes in the presentation of artistic works, Carpeaux was a leader in the experimentation of blending the two styles and truly one of the Avant-garde of his time. 3. The concept of Orientalism varied greatly in depiction of the people and their culture in Europe in the nineteenth century.
English artists and he English people saw the heathens of the East as needed conversion to Christ, while the French depicted the luxurious, luscious attitudes toward the Eastern cultures. Both however, were steeped in stereotypes and racial prejudices. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 made colonization of the East and Africa much more attractive to the powerhouses’ in Europe. Napoleon’s defeat in Egypt did bring success in the form of archeologic studies and maps of ancient waterways that connected the European continent with Africa and South Asia without the need to travel around the entire African continent.
The French, under much protest from the British, in conjunction with Egypt undertook the ten year project of digging the Suez Canal. Artworks served as an unintended propaganda machine for the governments of Europe. Jean-Leon Gerome, a French academic artist, traveled many times to Constantinople and Egypt. Gerome’s paintings, combine into any single given work a mish-mash of the various cultures. Gerome painted many scenes of nude women, being sold at slave markets, bathing in luxurious baths, and as members of a harem; all have in common the sensual, lusty depiction of the passive female.
Gerome’s portrayal of the Muslim men was quite different than his female depictions. The men are menacing, and are often armed, giving the impression of barbarism and roughness. To the cultural, dandies in France, these images invoked disdain yet a certain fascination. These stereotypes helped justify the colonization of Algiers in the early nineteenth century, and remained influential in further colonization of both Africa and South Asia. In large part these stereotypes remain intact in our current political climate.
