LARTS 426 Cultural Capital: Paris, 1848 - 1919
Cultural Capital: Paris, 1848 – 1919 studies the cultural, social, and political events of modern Paris – the city Walter Benjamin once dubbed ‘the capital of the 19th century.’ Students will read, view, and listen to the revolutionary artists who defined the modern age: we will analyze such crucial achievements as the novels of Zola, the paintings of the Impressionists, the music of Satie, and the edifice of Eiffel. We will examine the society that was both exasperated and enthralled by that new generation of young artists, the society that made fashion, display, and consumption achievements in their own right. And we will look at the political upheavals that took shape around – and gave shape to – these revolutionary ideas of the modern age. Cultural Capital: Paris, 1848 – 1919 will study how a great modern city took shape, even as the men and women who lived there made it the cultural capital of the contemporary world.