Day 3 -- What You Need to Do For Today's Presentation

Thoughts on Today's Work

As we have seen the forces of political and the cultural conservatism were quite strong in Paris in the mid-19th century. And yet the society was on the verge of major changes. Yesterday we saw how conscious decisions from the top of the power structure created a new physical environment in the city. Today we are looking at change that emerged from below in one area of culture -- specifically the weakening of the hold of the Academy of Arts on the painting being produced by Parisian artists.

In popular culture changes are generally attributed to the extraordinary creativity of one or a few individual geniuses. In this case it would be argued that the work of Impressionists such as Manet, Monet, Degas, and Cezanne was so brilliant that they carried the art world into a new era. But, while there is no doubt that the skill of these artists was very important, historians are generally reluctant to see major changes sole in terms of individuals. There are too many examples of figures with great talent, who failed to carry the world with them, when conditions were not right for a major change.

Thus, to explain a major cultural shift, like the development of Impressionism, historians look for other factors that may have supported change. In this case historians would pose a series of questions about what else was going on in France in this period that may have contributed to the success of this art movement. Specifically, they might ask:

1. What new ideas about culture had appeared in France that might have undercut the near monopoly that the Academy had previously had on French culture.
2. What changes in the way that paintings were exhibited, publicized, and bought might have weakened the ability of the Academy to control artist styles and to determine who was successful in the art world.
3. What new social groups emerged outside the official hierarchy supported innovation and developed new attitudes to the role of the artists
4. What about Impressionism itself allowed it to become a serious alternative to the official art of the Academy.

Each team will prepare a presentation on one of the questions below. Whichever topic you work on, be sure to stay focused on how the material you are reading could contribute to our understanding of the lessening of the power of the French Academy over Parisian culture. To do this, you will probably need to refer back to some of the material on the Academy and some the examples of academic art from Day 1.

In your presentation be sure to include:

1) The question that you are answering

2) Several questions that you posed to yourselves to help develop an interpretation

3) The interpretation that your are going to defend in your Prezi