The heroism of modern life

An exhibit at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum in New Brunswick consists of some 150 works depicting women in French art during the second half of the 19th century.

By: Susan Van Dongen

"Loie Fuller" by Francois-Rupert Carabin, circa 1897-1898, is part of exhibit at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum.

   NEW BRUNSWICK — Like the models in the glossy pages of contemporary magazines, the lovely women in late-19th century French art may not be as perfect as they seem.
   Take, for example, the sloe-eyed, auburn-haired woman in Éduoard Manet’s painting, "A Bar at the Folies-Bergèrse." She stands behind a bar in a low-cut navy chemise with a black velvet choker around her neck, proffering bottles of ale and champagne — and something else, perhaps?
   "Is this woman just a bartender or is she selling more than drinks?" asks Dennis Cate, director of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum in New Brunswick, with more than a hint of rhetoric to his tone.
   "When you start doing some research, you understand that there’s no question at all," he says. "You realize she has a double role. This person was there to attract clients to buy drinks, but to sell something else as well.
   "There was no way she could make a living as a bartender at that time in Paris. Women bartenders were brought in as clandestine prostitution became more prevalent. It was especially a great concern with artists and writers because many of them died of syphilis."
   This is not just a "wink-wink" sidebar to history. Women’s poverty, and hence, the need for a "second income," was a serious social issue, closely connected to the lack of education and employment opportunities in Paris and other urban centers in the 1800s.
   This is only one of the themes to The Exotic Flower: Constructions of Femininity in Late-19th Century French Art, on view at the Zimmerli Museum in New Brunswick through May 20. Mr. Cate worked with scholar Lucy Oakley to curate the exhibit, which consists of some 150 works depicting women in French art during the second half of the 19th century.
   The show, which was drawn primarily from the Zimmerli’s own collections, features lithographs, etchings, pastels, posters and watercolors by such well-known artists as Manet, Auguste Rodin, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. "The Exotic Flower" also includes a group of 18 sculptures and drawings by Francois-Rupert Carabin, a recent gift to the museum.
   "We’re getting into what the images tell us about society, particularly Paris at that time," Mr. Cate says. "We use Paris as a model of the changes occurring during the industrial revolution and the urban explosion. In the 19th century, Paris was leading the way financially, technologically and in society, in the roles men and women were playing. With this exhibit we wanted to show exactly how those roles were changing."
   The title "The Exotic Flower" takes its name from an 1869 illustration Manet did for a poetry book. It evokes a kind of unattainable perfection, mystery and serenity projected by artists onto women — characteristics that were very different from the hard-scrabble life most working women endured.
   "As Paris became more urbanized, you needed people to run the shops and such," Mr. Cate says. "A variety of jobs developed for women but all were very menial. Even teaching was just a step above being a laundress."

"Salome" by Gustave Moreau, circa 1873-1875, is in the exhibit at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum.

   Because of the increase in leisure time for the middle and upper classes, there was a proliferation of printed materials such as books, periodicals, posters, menus and sheet music, much of which were adorned with dreamy representations of femininity.
   "The images make women look very tranquil and idealized," Mr. Cate says. "But they were almost always done by men, so you’re seeing the man’s point of view. On the other hand, we also have pieces that depict a woman as a skeleton, equating her with death. In art, woman was either the ‘femme fatale’ or the loving mother, caring for her home and family. But even that was make-believe. Many of these middle class families would be what we call ‘dysfunctional.’"
   Mr. Cate, who has been doing research in French graphic arts and French society for 25 years, notes that the only women who didn’t ever have to worry about supporting themselves with prostitution came from good families or married well. However, even these "honest" women might fall between society’s cracks if they underwent a divorce.
   "A divorced woman would be in a very awkward position because the laws did not give her financial support," he says. "Women didn’t have proper divorce laws, voting rights or education rights. None of these were in place at the time. It was a very chauvinistic, male-run society."
   Ironically, it was one of the century’s greatest tragedies that finally helped create better employment opportunities for women. When men went off to fight in World War I, women took the jobs they vacated, which in turn opened up a new level of freedom.
   After the Zimmerli’s lengthy renovations were completed last fall, the museum had more space to dedicate to specially themed shows such as "The Exotic Flower," which toured Japan and Mexico before returning to New Brunswick.
   "We have an in-depth collection of French turn-of-the-century works on paper," Mr. Cate says. "We can pull out any kind of thematic show we want. It was interesting to research this one, and also deal with the ‘pretty image’ you think of when you think of this period. But I wanted to give some in-depth background.
   "It’s a frank evaluation of society," he says. "I think it’s an interesting way to use art as a means to study women’s roles, how they’ve evolved over time."
The Exotic Flower: Constructions of Femininity in Late-19th Century French Art is on view at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, 71 Hamilton St., New Brunswick, through May 20. Gallery hours: Tue.-Fri. 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 12-5 p.m. Admission costs $3. For information, call (732) 932-7237. On the Web: www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu.
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