Dimensions: support: 600 x 733 mm frame: 750 x 610 x 100 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: So, here we have Norbert Goeneutte’s "The Boulevard de Clichy under Snow." It's a bleak but beautiful city scene. What do you make of the figures populating this snowy landscape? Curator: The figures, rendered in varying degrees of detail, tell a story of class and gender in 19th-century Paris. Note the stark contrast between the fashionable women in their dark, elaborate dresses and the more ambiguously situated men. Editor: Ambiguously? How so? Curator: Their attire suggests a different relationship to the city's social fabric. Are they flâneurs, or something else? This representation underscores the complex power dynamics inherent in urban spaces. What do you make of the snow itself? Editor: It creates a sense of isolation, almost like a stage. I hadn't considered the social dynamics so explicitly. Curator: Exactly. Art invites us to consider not just what is seen, but who is seen, and under what conditions.
Comments
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/goeneutte-the-boulevard-de-clichy-under-snow-n04538
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
Goeneutte painted this snowy scene at the age of only twenty-two. At the time he lived very close to the boulevard de Clichy in Paris, and he was to make a number of paintings and etchings of the buildings and people on this busy thoroughfare. The painting can be seen as a quiet celebration of the metropolitan elegance of Paris, but its title shows that Goeneutte saw the wintry weather as important element in the composition. The artist admired Manet and was a friend of Renoir in this period. In later years, however, his choice of subjects and style were both relatively traditional. Gallery label, September 2004
CollectMore like this
