At the Bobino 1929

Lucile Blanch made this lithograph, At the Bobino, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. It depicts a performer center stage in front of a packed audience. This is an image of entertainment, and it is a historical document of its time. Blanch was part of a generation of artists whose work responded to the changing social landscape of the early 20th century. The Bobino was a famous music hall in Paris, and venues like it were important sites of cultural exchange and innovation. If we look closely, we can see a mixture of social classes among the spectators; such venues provided opportunities for people from different walks of life to come together. The image creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations. The vantage point is taken from the side of the stage and the curtain. This perspective allows the viewer to see both the performer and the audience simultaneously. The historian’s role is to reconstruct the social and institutional context in which art is made. Researching sources like newspapers and other period documents can reveal much about the social significance of places like the Bobino in interwar Paris.