Brown, A Space for the Imagination Depicting Women Readers

8/11/2019 Brown, A Space for the Imagination Depicting Women Readers

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Title:

A

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2/8

Chapter

3

A

Space for

the

lmagination

Depicting

Women Readers in

the

Nineteenth-Century

City

Kathryn Brown

This chapter

examines

the idea that the depiction of

solitary,

silent

reading

may

be

interpreted

as

a

representation

of individuals

exercising

a

right

to

privacy

in

public.

I

argue

that

the intellectual

and

imaginative isolation characteristic of

the act

of

reading constitutes

a key element

of our conception

of

modern, liberal

individuals

undertaking

activities

for their own

pleasure

outside

the

domestic

sphere.

Focusing on

works

by Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas

from the

1870s

and 1880s,

I

consider

how

depictions

of the

act

of

reading

disturb

notions of

'public'and

'private'

based on

concepts of

separate

physical

spaces. I suggest

that the

image

of

reading

is emblematic

of

a

portable privacy

the

exercise of

which

changes our

perceptions

of how

individuals

negotiated

public

and social

spaces in the nineteenth

century.

During

this

period,

being

in

public,

observing

the

lives

of strangers

and reserving to oneself

a

separate,

intimate

sphere

were

important

elements

of life in

the

metropolis, and also

informed

ideas of

what

constituted

both

social

and

aesthetic

'modernity'.1

I focus

on

depictions

of

female

rather

than

male

readers.

Given

that

nineteenth-century

social conventions

did not

readily

allow

single

women

to

negotiate

public

spaces

on

their

own, depictions

of

female

readers

outside the

domestic

realm

raised

pointed questions

concerning the relationship between

58

A Space

for the

lmagination

women

and the city,

the

spaces that

women

should

or

should

not inhabit

ano

the

different

relationships

women

had

to

the

changing

shape

of

the

metropolis.

During

the act

of

solitary

silent

reading, the

individual

places

herself

temporarily

beyond

the boundaries

of

ordinary

communication

and

sociability

in

general.

In

other

words,

the reader engages

in an

act for

her

own

benefit

and,

perhaps

more

dangerously,

for

her

own

pleasure.2

Thus

reading

is

shown

as

an activity

that

can

take

women

away

from

their

allotted

role

in

the

domestic and

socral

order.

The silent

reading

of

a text

by an individuar

is

a

process

that

begins

with

the

public

industry

of

book

manufacturing

and

dissemination

and

culminates

in the

production

of

private

meaning.

The novel,

or

the

book

in

general,

is

'the

quintessentially "private"

work

of

art,

to

be

experienced

alone

by

the

silent reader'.3

External

observers

have

no

access

to

the

imaginative

constructs,

interpretations

and associations

to which

the

text

gives

rise

in tne

reader's

mind,

even

if

they

perceive

her

activity

and

are

familiar

with

the

iexr

being

read.

In

this

respect,

the

private

intellectual

act

involved

in

solitarv

reading

may

be

associated

with

an increasing

liberty

of individuals

silently

to

engage

in activities

for their

own benefit

or

pleasure

while

in

the

presence

of

others.

Following

Richard Sennett,

my concept

of

,public.

for

the

purposes

of this discussion

is

defined

as

'a

life

passed

outside

the

life

of

family

and

close

friends',

a

place

where

'diverse,

complex

social

groups

were

to

be

brought

into

ineluctable

contact'.4

The

act of reading

outside the

domestic

environmenr

aligns

itself with

broader

cultural

shifts

in nineteenth-century

France

and

the

emergence

of

public

spaces

such

as the

caf6.

considering

the

rise of

caf6

culture

during

the nineteenth

century

and

the

increasing presence

of

solitary

individuals

in

public

spaces observing

the

llves

of those

around

them, Sennett

identifies

a

right to

escape to

'public

privacy'.b

There were,

of course.

numerous

barriers

relatrng

to

gender

and

class

circumscribing

the exercise

of

this rignt.

However, in general

terms, the point

is relevant

to

depictions

of the

woman

reader

in

public

settings

for,

as I

shall argue,

Manet

and

Degas

experimented

in different

ways

with

women exercising

just

such

a

right

to

privacy

in

public.

lmagining

and

the city

The

self-imposed

isolation

of individuals

in

public

as described

by

Sennett

is

central

to a

work by Manet

of

the late

1870s

that depicts

a

woman reader

rn

the

famiilar

urban

context

of

tne caf6, Woman

Reading

(gjglg)

(Figure

3.1).

An

elegantly

dressed

young

woman

reads

a newspaper

while seated

in a

caf6

with

a beer

on

the table

by her side. The

focus of the

painting

is kept

close

upon

reader and

newspaper

with

the

result

that

the wider scene

of the

caf6


3/8

Kathryn Brown

3.1

Edouard Manet,

Woman

Reading

(1878/79),

oil

on

canvas,

61.2

x

50.7 cm.

Mr and

Mrs

Lewis

Larned Coburn

Memorial

Collection, The

Art

lnstitute of Chicago.

and

the street are obscured.

The

background is

built

up from short,

vibrant

brushstrokes

and

this, together

with

the

barely

sketched-in

pages

of

the

paper

and broad,

dry brushstrokes

of

the

woman's

white

collar, contributes to

a feeling

of

urgency

and activity around

the woman,

yet

without

clearly

distinguishing

any

other

person

or object

than

the

beer on the

table beside her.

As

has been

well documented, during the

nineteenth century

the

presence

of

single

women

in

caf6s evoked

notions

of

sexual impropriety,

and

the

motivation attributed

to

these

women for

visiting

the

public arena

of

the

caf6

was invariablv

identified as

a

desire to attract

men.6

This has led

to

suggestions that

the woman

in

Manet's

work

is of

dubious

virtue.T

While

such

ideas

cannot

be discounted, the

structure

oI Woman Reading

makes its

subject

difficult to

classify.

The

focus

of

the

painting

is

kept

so

close to the

woman

that we

cannot

even

be

certain

that she

is alone. In contrast to the

women

depicted

in

caf6 settings in Degas'

The

Absinthe Drinkeror Manet's

Plum

Brandy,

the

woman

in Woman Readingiswell

dressed,

rendering her

class

ambiguous.s

Added to

this are

questions

concerning her

location

(indoors

or

outdoors),

whether

or not

she

sits

in front

of

a mirror

and

whether what we

can

gather

of

the

scene

behind her

is

actuality or

reflection. In

other

words, while

engaging

with

familiar implications of single

women

in

public settings, the work's

visual

structure

resists

the

imposition

of

straightforward social

codes.

60

A Space

for the

lmagination

The

uncertaintv

created

by

the

work

both as

to

the

woman's moral

standing

and

her location

brings

to

the

fore

a

cultural

concern

relevant

to

individuals'experiences

of the

city

generally during

the l870s,

namely,

how

to

make sense

of

the city as a

site of

constantly

changing

images

and

objects

epitomized

by

a

culture

of

display.e

Manet's

woman

reader

is

placed

at the

core

of

this

conf usion of

spectacle.

However,

in the

midst

of a

kaleidoscope

of visual

signs

and

effects,

the

woman reader

is

depicted

as

confidently

consuming

the

text and

images

in the

illustrated

journal

she

holds. The

link between

the

woman

and

her

reading

matter,

like the

imaginative

product

it

creates in

her

mind,

remains

indecipherable

to

the

viewer

as we

are

denied

access to

the

open

pages.

Two

visual

perspectives

are,

therefore,

implied

by

and

contrasted

in the

work: faced

with

the

relaxed

ease

of

the reader

comfortably

deciphering

the

text

and

images of her

journal,

it

is

the

viewer

who

is

made

to

question

the

codes

comprlsing

the

painting

itself

and,

hence, those

which

constitute

this

particular

vision

of

city

life.

'Culture

is

. .

.

a

powerful

means

of controlling

cities',

suggests

Sharon

Zukin.

'As

a

source

of

images

and

memories,

it symbolizes

"who

belongs"

in specific

places'.10

The

family,

and the

idea

that

the home

constituted

an

essentially

private

space,

formed part

of

a

powerful

nineteenth-century

discourse

that

structured

concepts

of

where

people

properly belonged.

A

woman's role

in the

domestic

space

of

the home

was

viewed not

just

as

part

of

the

proper

sexual

and

social

order,

but

also

as

being

key

to

shoring

up a

concept

of

family,

the

erosion

of

which

was

feared

to be

part

of a broader

moral decline

of

French

society.

consistent

with

this

rhetoric,

in

1859

Jules

Michelet

advised

men

to

protect

the moral

purity

of

their

wives by

removing

them

from

the

city:

What

a

tragedy

it would

be,

what

a

sad

contradiction,

to

place

your

pure,

chaste

and

charming

wife in a

dangerous

atmosphere

that

would wither

her bodv,

her

soul

-

No,

such

a

delicate,

impression-

able and

gullible

person

will

not suffer

with

impunity the

deplorable

mixture

of

polluted

and

vicious

things

that

rise

up

from the

street,

the

breath of

squalid

spirits,

the

mixture

of smoke,

of foul emana-

tions

and

bad

dreams

that

float

above

our

gloomy

cities.11

The

assertion

of

privacy

during

the act

of

reading

does

not

sit

easily with

this

idea of

woman's

physical

seclusion

and

devotion

to

the needs

of her

family

precisely

because

it constitutes

an assertion

of

her

individuality.

lime

taken to read

is time

away

from

family

duties and

from

social

interaction

with

other

individuals.

Furthermore,

as

illustrated

by

Manet's

Woman Reading,Ihe

exercise of

privacy

through

the act

of solitary,

silent reading

can

render

women

ambiguous and

difficult

to

place

in

familiar

domestic,

social

and

familial

caregofles.


4/8

Kathryn

Brown

Another

work bV

Manet,

The

Railway

of

1873,

is

in stark contrast

to Michelet's

view

that

woman's

role lies

within

a

domestic

space

that

is

separate

from

the

city

(Figure

3.2).

Nevertheless,

the

painting

does

evoke

woman's

role in

the

context

of the family.

Both spatially

and

temporally,

the

scene represented takes

place

on a

margin. The view

behind

the

woman

and

small

girl

is obscured

by

the

steam

of a

passing

train,

and the foreground

is

omitted. As

a

result, the two

figures occupy

a

space

between

the viewer and

the

iron bars

of

a

railing behind them that

is

difficult

to

identify.

We

assume

that the

two

figures

are

sitting

and

standing

just

back

from the edge

of a street

near a

station, but

we

cannot be

certain of

their

exact

location.12

In

addition

to

these

spatial ambiguities,

the

work

establishes

a

temporal tension between stasis

and transience.

On the

one

hand,

we are

given

the

impression

that

the

woman

and

child

have been at the

scene

for some

time. The woman

has

been

reading her book

long enough

to

mark

several

pages

with

her

f ingers;

the

puppy

has

had sufficient

time to

fall asleep

in her lap;

a

bunch

of

grapes

has

been brought along

and

placed

on

the

ledge indicating

that

in

the

time to be spent

there

the

woman or

the

child

might

become

hungry.

On

the other

hand,

the

steam

behind

the bars suggests

a brief

and

passing

moment.

Furthermore, the

work

depicts

a moment

when

something

inaccessible

to the

viewer has

just

caught the

attention

of

each

subject:

the

woman

is

interrupted

and

looks up from

her book;

the

girl

clutches

the

railings

as

she faces

the

scene

in

the

background.

But

the

objects that

have caught

62

3.2

Edouard

Manet,

The Railway

(18731.

oil

on

canvas,93.3

x

111.5 cm.

Gift of

Horace

Havemeyer

in

memory of

his

mother, Louisine

W.

Havemeyer,

image

@

Board

o{

Trustees,

National

Gallery

of Art,

Washington.

A Space

for

the

lmagination

the

attention

of

the

two

subjects

are

as

inaccessible

to

the

viewer

as the

narrative

of

the

painting

itself

.13

Further

visual

contrasts

are

included:

while

the

girl

is

luminous

in

her white

sreeveress

dress,

her

companion

is

dressed

warmly

in dark

colours;

objects

familiar

from

still

life

(e.g.

the bunch

of

grapes

and

the flowers

in

the woman,s

hat)

are

introduced

into

an

urban

setting;

finally,

the two

central

figures

are

presented

in

contrasting

ways

(the

woman

faces

us

while

the

child has her back turned). The

scene

is

made

up

of

a

juxtaposrtron

of

different

elements

familiar

from

both

the

viewer,s

experience

of

the

city

and

from

iconographic

traditions

of

western

art,

but

their

depiction

on

this

margrn

denies

a

straightforward

interpretation.

Like

Woman

Reading,

The

Railway

depicts

a

dispersal

and

transr_

ence

that is characteristic

of

nineteenth-century

conceptions

and

representa_

tions

of life

in

the

city.

whereas

in

woman

Reading

this

is

produced

bv

means

of

a

confusion

of

visual

signs

and

a

fleetingness

of

painterly

touch,

in

The

Railwayir

is created

by

a

coincidence

of incongruous

spatial

and temporal

elements.

This

ambiguity

is

further

augmented

by

the undefined

rerationshrp

between

the woman

and

chird.

whire

some

historians

have suggested

that

the

scene

depicts

a mother

and daughter

or

a governess

and

her charge, carol

Armstrong

argues

that

it is impossible

even

to

make

such

conjectures

as

.trle

two

figures

are so

divided

from

one

another,

their

rerationship

so

unexpraineq

.

. .

that

their

patently

borrowed

domesticity

is

compromised,.la

The

reaorng

woman

is

at the

core of

an essentially

illegible

city

scene

in

which

spatrar,

temporal

and

personal

relations

are

unclear,

and

'domesticity,

itself

is

reduced

to

unresolved

conjectures

about

the

relationship

between

individuals

observeo

in

a

public

setting.

This

notion

of domesticity

emptied

from

the sphere

of the

horne

onto

the

city

street is

part

of a

social

development

identified

in

the

1g60s

in

the

journal

of the

Goncourt

brothers:

'sociar

Iife

is

at

the beginning

of

a

great

development.

I

see

women, children, households,

and

families

in

the

caf6. The

interior

is disappearing.

Life

is

once

again

becoming

public'.rs

By

1gg2,

in

The

woman

of

the Twentieth

century,

Jules

Simon

announces

tfre

erosion

of

the

domestic

interior

and

calls

upon

women

to re-establish

the importance

of

the

familv

home:

My

goal

is

to

go

backwards

and

to

create

the

woman

of

the

twen_

tieth

century

along

the

lines

of

the

woman

of

the

seventeenth

century.

The

latter

was,

above

all, a woman

of

the interior.

She has

ventured

forth

from

her

home

during

the

two subsequent

centuries;

and

with

what

result?

The

domestic

home,

deprived

of

its

good

spirit,

has gone

into

decline.

We

have started

to

live

solelv

in

gublic'.to

;

il

ilt

tl

#


5/8

Kathryn

Brown

whire

simon

raments

the

erosion

of

the

private

space

of

the

home

and

the

rerocation

of

intimacy

to

the

public

spaces

of

the

caf6

and

the

city

street,

Manet's

works

show

that

this

process

does

not

necessariry

read

to

a

decrine

of

individuar

privacy,

but

rather

to

its

assertion

in

a

different

form.

In

woman

Reading,

a

woman

is

depicted

as

en,oying

her

own

private

and

unshared

response

to a

journar

in

a

pubric

prace.

In

The

Bairway,the

woman

may

furfir

a rore

that

is

rerevant

to

the

concept

of

famiry,

but she does so not

in

the

space

of

the

home,

but

in

a

strange,

marginal

space

open

to

the

gaze

of

strangers

Furthermore,

whire

each

character

in

The

Rairwans

engaged

with

an

ongoing

narrative,

whether

in

the

form

of

a

book

or

the

observation

of

something

in

the

surroundings,

the

'privacy'associated

with

that

narratrve

is

unshared

(both

between

the

two

characters

and

between

each

character

ano

the

viewer)'

The power

of

the

work

is

derived

from

the

depiction

of

the

intellectuar

and

imaginative

privacy

of two

individuars

and

the

impenetrabirity

of

their

relationship.

The

image

of

the

woman

reader

offers

a

contrast

to a

key

figure

of

nrneteenth-century

conceptions

of

modernity,

namely,

rhe

fl6neur.For

Charles

Baudelaire

it

is

the

privirege

of

rhe

fr,neurto

see

the

worrd

whire

remaining

unnotrced: 'The observer

is

a

prince

who

rejoices

everywhere

in

his

incognito,.'

By

contrast,

the

woman

reader

experiences

an

imaginary

worrd

whire

remarning

visibie

to

others'

This

has

significant

implications

for

the

debate

concernrng

women

and

looking

in

the

art

of

the

period.

First,

while

the

woman

reader

rs

depicted

as

being

visible

to

others,

the

subject

of

her

look

(i.e.

her

own

interpretation

of,

and

imaginary

response

to,

a

text)

remains

private.

Secono,

insofar

as

the

engagement

with

a

text

is

the

cataryst

for

private

thoughts

and

assertrons,

reading

constitutes

an

active

type

of

rooking.

Arthough

many

nrneteenth-century

paintings

depict

women

with

their

eyes

cast

down

towards

a

book

in

a

manner

that

might

suggest

submissiveness,

I

contend

that

rne

reader's

act

of

textual

interpretation

constitutes

her

look

as

active,

thus

countering

traditionar

views

that

women

were

consistentry represented

as

merely

the

passive

objects

of a

male gaze.

As

has

been

well

documented,

the

abitlty

of

the

f

l6neurtonegotiate

urban

spaces

is

based

on

sociar

conventions

and poriticar

freedoms

that

were

afforded

to

men

rather

rem

a I

e

a rti

st

co

u

I d

"r#:'

J"J#

"',"":f

:

Ji

-,::r

ffi

ff

';j

::lil

j

examrnes

various

forms

of

excrusion

experienced

and

depicted

by

nineteenrn-

century

women

artists

in

terms

of

how

their

art

might

be

viewed

as

a response

to

their

exclusion

from

a

gendered

concept

of

modernity.

In

pollock,s

view,

the

rmposition

of limitations

on

a

woman,s

freedom

to

negotlate

urban

spaces

on

ner

own

is

manifest

in

the

works

of artists

such

as

Berthe

Morisot

and

Mary

cassatt

in

the

form

of

visuar

metaphors

of

containment

such as barriers

andbalustrades.

le

64

A Space

for

the

lmagination

Kathreen

Adrer

takes

a

different

approach

to the issue

of

women.s

response

to

a

predominantly

male

characterization

of

,modernity,based

on

the

figure

of

the

fl6neur.

Adler

argues

that

some

nineteentn-century

women

aftrsrs

experienced

and

represented

a separate

notion

of

modern

life

which,

in

effect,

took

advantage

of

sociar

and

poriticar

rimitations

on

their

abirity

to

negotiate

cenarn

urban

spaces

on their

own.

Focusing,

rike

poilock,

on

Morisot

ano

cassatt,

Adler

describes

how

the suburb

of

passy

became

a favoured

setting

for

depictions

of femare

rife,

a space

that

was

rerated

to,

yet

geographicaily

separate

from,

the city.2.

For

Adrer,

femare

rife

in

suburban

passy

serves

as

a

foil

to

the

fl1neuls

navigation

of

the

city,

and

becomes

the

basis

of

an

alternative

concept

of modernity.

While

trying

to show

how

women

depicted,

and

were

depicted

in,

the city

during

the nineteenth

century

in

ways

that

countered

the

experience

of

the f

Eneur,

Adler

and

pollock

nevertheless

reinforce

the assumption

that

urban

life

was

perceived

and

shaped

by

the

fr1neuls

mare

gaze.

However,

the

image

of

the

woman

reader

impries

a reration

between

women

and

rife

passed

in

public

spaces

that is

not

predominantry

configured

in

spatiar

terms.

Instead,

my

suggestion

is

that the

paintings under discussion

offer a

view

of women

negotiating

modern

rife

and

urban

spaces

through

the

exercise

of

the

imagination

prompted

by

the act

of

unsupervised,

silent reading.

Not

only

do

these

depictions

of

women

readers

show

a

quintessentiaily

modern

way of

being

in

public

(i.e.

the

private

exercise

of

intellectual

and imaginative

freedom

in

spaces

where

the

reader

is

subject

to

the

gaze

of

strangers),

but,

more

rmportantry,

they

arso

resist

the

imposition

of

the

determinate

gaze

of

the

fl1neur.21

As

I have

argued

above,

the

conf

usion

of

visuar

signs

and

comperrng

narratives

in

Manet's

two paintings

does

not rend

itself

to

a straightforward

interpretation.

Rather,

in

their

implicit

questioning

of the

interpretative

gaze,

the

depictions

of the

woman

reader

form

the

basis

of

a different

sense

in

whrcn

women were shown

to

inhabit

the

city, one

that

specificalty undermines the

power

of the

fl1neur

as

the

privileged

interpreter

of

the

citv.

Working

women

Another

foil

to the

fr1neuls

experience

of

the

city

streets

was

the increasrng

presence,

towards

the end

of

the

nineteenth

century,

of

women

shoppers

and

workers

in

the

urban

environment.22

In

two

ballet

scenes

by

Degas

that

depict

women

reading

in

the

workplace,

women's

physical

experience

of the

city is

linked

to

the imaginary

sphere

of

the

individual

reader.

In

order

to reach

the

ballet

studio,

female

dancers

had

to

negotiate

the

streets

of

the

citv.

whrre

this

does

not imply

that

such

workers

became flilneuses

(since

they

did not

transform

that

experience

into

art), the

image

of

the

worker

nevertheress


6/8

Kathryn

Brown

lmplies

a

female

experience

of the

city

streets

and

highrights

a

way in which

women

were

visibre

in pubric

spaces. Throughout

his works

depicting

dancers,

Degas

repeatedly

shows

the

viewer

the

industriar

side

of

their

art,

whether

as

life

backstage

or in

rehearsar.

In

each

case, we

are

presented

with

the workings

of

spectacle

and

the

mechanics

that

underrie

performance.

Arthough

data

on

the

working

lives

of

dancers

in

the nineteenth

century

is

rimited,

it

has

been

suggested

that

dancers

earned

a

reasonabre

riving and

,may

have been among

the

most

independent

women

of their

times'.23

certainry

Degas,

representa-

tions

of

women

reading

in

rehearsar

rooms

bear

this

out

insofar

as

the

women

are

absorbed

in

an

activity

for

themserves,

momentariry

abstracted

from

rne

space

in

which

they

earn

their

living.

In

Degas'

pastel

of 1g7g,

Dancer

Resting,

we

are

presented

wrrn

a

woman

taking

a

break

from

work

(Figure

3.3).

She

warms

herself

in

front

of

a

stove

upon

which

a coffee

pot

heats

and

she

takes

trme

to read

the

newspaper.

This

act

of

reading

not

onry

constitutes

a

private

moment

taken

in

the

context

of

the

working

environment,

but arso

rinks

her to

the

worrd

outside

both

home

and

workplace.

That

she

stands,

rather

than

sits,

indicates

that

this scene

rs

little

more

than

a

moment

before

she

returns

to work.

Furthermore,

the

newspaper that she

reads not

only implies

a

link

ro

current

events,

but

is itserf

part

of

the

ephemera

of

modern

rife. rt

is

not

just

that the

newspaper

is intended

for

immediate

consumption

and

disposar,

but

arso

that it

speaks

of

a

moment

which,

by

the

time

of

reading,

has

arready

passed.

whereas

in

The

Rairway

Manet

experimented

with

temporarity

by

juxtaposing

different

signifying

elements,

Degas

introduces

temporarity

into

his

paster

through

the nature

of

the

reading

matter

itself.

This

insistence

on

news,

current

affairs

and

the

seriarization

of

fiction,

together

with

the

ephemerar

physicar

nature

of

the

newspaper

itserf,

lmplies

a

form

of

reading

premised

upon

portabirity,

movement

and discontin-

utty.

The

reader

is

abre

to

peruse

various

articres,

features

and advertisements

in

a

non-linear

fashion,

to

pick

and

choose. This absence

of

a

requirement

for

continued

concentration

makes

the

newspaper

particurarry

suited

to

the rife

of

the

commuter,

worker

and

traveiler.

rt

is

a form

of

reading

materiar

suiteo

ro

interstices

of

time.

For

this

reason,

nineteenth_century

amages

of

women

newspaper

readers

are particurarry

potent

since

they

show

women

immerseo

in

a

form

of

reading

that

not

only reports

on contemporary

events,

but

also

mlrrors

the

fragmentary

and

transitory

elements

of

experience

that

were

seen

as

essential

features

of modern

life.

Degas

depicts

his

reader

in

a

pose

that

is consistent

with

her form

of

employment,

most

notably

through

the

position

of

her feet.

The newspaper

ttself

becomes

contiguous

with

the

dancer's

arms

and

dress

as

it

merges

with

her

left

forearm

and

fords

into

the

shadow

of

her

tutu.

As

Roger

chartier

has

noted, a link

between

the

physicar

and inteilectuar

is

an

essentiar

erement

of

66

A

Space

for

the lmagination

3.3

Edgar

Degas,

Dancer

Resting,

pastel,

private

collection.

Photo

@ Christie

s

lmages/The

Bridgeman

Art

Library.

the reading

process:

'Reading

is

not

uniquery

an

aostract

operation

of

the

intellect:

it

brings

the

body

into

pray,

it

is

inscribed

in

a

space

and

a

rerationshrp

wrth

oneself

or with

others'.24

In

this

case, the

posture

adopted

by

the

woman

links

the

act

of

reading

to her

occupation

(i.e.

she

reads

as a

dancer

reads) ano

the

act

of

reading

becomes part

of the

physicarity

of

the

workprace.

The

intellectual

privacy

of

reading

is

counterbalanced

by

the visual

association

of

the

woman

with

her

profession

and

by

the

broader

sociar

space

of the

workrng

environment

implied

in

the work.

Degas'

Bailet

Crass

(c.1gg0)

arso

unites

the themes

of femare

rabour

and

newspaper

reading

(Figure

3.4).

The

work

is

split

between

two

groups

of

dancers;

on the

left,

a

group

observed

by the

bailet

master

presents

a

confusron

of poses

and

limbs;

on the

right,

-two

other

dancers

are

absorbed

in

their

preparations.

lt

is, however,

the

figure

in

the

foreground

that

occupies

the

centre

of

attention.

The

presence

of

this

female

newspaper

reader

emphasizes

that

the scene

is

not

so much

a space

of art

as

of work.

Her

interest

is

hero

not

by

the

dancers around her,

but

by

the front

page

of the

paper.

Her

pose

is

given

equal

physical

importance

to

those of

the

dancers:

her

slouched


7/8

Kathryn

Brown

position

and

outstretched

legs

give

her

a casual

appearance

at odds

with

the

posture

women

were

conventionally

expected

to

adopt in

the

presence

of

others.

lt

thus

makes

as much

of

a

physical

statement

as

the highly

structured

poses

of

the

ballet

dancers.

ln

rhe Ballet

c/ass,

Degas

blurs familiar

gender

roles. The traditional

femininity of

the

dancers'

costumes is

set

against the

industrial

process

of rehearsal,

just

as

the expectation

of how a woman

shouro

sit

and

behave

when

in

the

presence

of others

is challenged

by the reader's

posture.

Neither

wholly

private,

nor wholly

public,

the

ballet class

is depicted

as

a social

space in

which

gender-based

conventions

are rendered

ambiguous.

A

feature

of Degas'

ballet

scenes

is

that thev

render

public

momenTs

that

are

private

in nature.

Both in

the

activities

of

the characters

(rehearsing,

stretching,

scratching

their

backs,

slouching)

and in the

placing

of

those

activities

in

the

backstage

of

the coulisses,

Degas

made visible to

a broad

audience

a

world

to which

it

did not have

access.2s

This

is mirrored

bv the act

of

reading

depicted

in

the works.

Degas'

newspaper

readers

consume

the

private

lives

of others

that

are

made

public

through

language,

while

the

space

in

which

this act of

consumption

occurs

is

made

public

through its

visual

68

3.4

Edgar Degas,

The Ballet

Class

(c.1880),

oil

on

canvas,82.2

x

76.8

cm.

Philadelphia

Museum

of

Art,

purchased

with

the

W.

P

Wilstach

Fund.

1 937.

A

Space

for the lmagination

representation.

A

parallel

is drawn

in

Degas'work between

the

type

of

'backstage'

looking

that the

viewer

has of the

rehearsal room

and the

glimpse

that

newspaper

readers have

into lives

other than

their own.

The

gaze

of the

soectator

and that

of the reader

are not

contrasted,

but linked

insofar as

they

both

look into the

representation

(one

visual, the

other linguistic)

of an intimate

space to

which they

do not belong.

Degas' Ballet

Class makes

the newspaper

reader the

central

focus of the

work while

showing

that the engagement

with,

but distancing

from, the

events

reported

in newspapers

can take

place

equally

within

and

outside the

bounds

of the

domestic

sphere.

Degas' female

newspaper

readers accept

an

invitation to

explore the

flux of current

events

outside the

domestic

realm, not

just

in their

journeys

to and

from work but

also

through

their choice

of reading

material.

Furthermore,

the

postures

they

adopt

while reading

lend

an unguarded

intimacy

to the

workplace that

suspends

the

viewer's expectations

of

female

presentation

outside

the space

of

the

home.

While

Degas' backstage

ballet scenes

open

up the space

of female

life

in the coulisses

and the

rehearsal

room

to

the

viewing

public,

we

may

question

once

again

whether

the

works imply

the look of

a

privileged

spectator

such as

the fl6neur.

Although

Pollock

and

Adler focus

on

the

exclusion of

female

artists

from certain

spaces of

the city,

it

is

worth

noting that

a large number

of

Degas'

ballet

paintings

and

pastels

were

not the

product

of

his

actual experience

of backstage

life at the

Op6ra.

A letter

written

in the early

1880s f rom

Degas

to Albert

Hecht confirms

that

Degas tried

to arrange

a backstage

pass

to attend

a ballet examination,

and confesses

that

he felt

embarrassed

by the

fact that

although

he had

painted

so many

such

scenes

he had never

actually attended

one.26 While his works

might

invite the

viewer to

speculate

as to the

nature

of the

gaze

to which the

women

dancers

and

readers are subject,

Degas'

act

of

painterly

imagination

leaves that

question

unresolved.

His ballet scenes

depict

a

social

space in

which women

work,

read

and

re.lax.

However,

the actual

production

of

these

representations

was not

derived

from

Degas' own

experience

as

fl6neur.

The slice of

modern

life

portrayed

in the

works

reveals

women inhabiting

the city

as workers

and

readers,

earning their

living as

part

of

a broader

imaginative

life of the

stage.

In their

different

ways,

the works

discussed

experiment

with images

of

physical

and imaginative

self-sufficiency

and

autonomy

made

manifest by

the

oosture

and intellectual

withdrawal

of the

reader

from her surroundings

and

f rom those

around

her.

This

mirrors the

increasing

presence

of silent

individuals

in

public

spaces

in the

late

nineteenth

century

and

illustrates,

in the

words

of

Richard Sennett,

the

notion that

people

had a

'public

right to

an invisible shield,

a right

to

be

left

alone'.27 In

the works

discussed, traditional concepts

of

the

boundary

between

physical

spaces

commonly

conceived

of as

'public'

or


8/8

KathrYn

Brown

'private'

are

rendered

ambiguous

and'privacy'

is

represented

as

being

asserteo

by

individuals

in

u

uu''"tiof

different

settrn?:,

The

blurring

of

boundaries

between

the

space

"

tnl

*t"'tic

realm

and

that

of

the

city

is

achieved

bV

the

playing

out

of

intimate

relations

in

public

settings

and

by

the

proliferation

of

social

spaces'

sucn

as

the

workplace'

that

were

neither

wholly

private

nor

wholly

public'

lf'

as Janet

Wolff

suggests'

we

should reconceive

of

socially

identifiable

'public'

ano

'private'

spaces

as

narrative

and

discursive

concepts

in

order

to

focus

on

the

ways

in

which

women

actually

lived

in

the

modern

city,

I

contend

that

one

means

of

bringing

a

fresh

perspective

to

these

issues

as

they

developed

in

the

course

of

the

nineteenth

century

is

to

consider

the

representation

of

*onl"n

and

their

reading

practices'2s

Depictions

of

the

imaginative

autonomy

Orat'n"O

by

women

who

read

in

the

city

do

not

operate

as

a

vision

of

retreat

from

the

social

sphere

or

from

public

spaces'

lnstead'

depictions

of

the

linKed

notions

of

reading

and

imagining

may

be

considered

aswaysofconceivtngot'unOinteractingwith'changingformsofsocialrealtty

in

the

spaces

of

the

nineteenth-century

city'2e

Notgs

-r

:-ri'irrr^l interioritv

during

the

late

nineteenth

century

see

'

;"

:{;:

::

l'"ru1

;T:fJl':

#:,;l:lfi

""

i

"i'ni'i

"

n

*

*,sv

a n

d

s'lv/e

(L's

Angeles'

Cn

unO

O*to'OiU^v"*ity

"t

California

Press'

1989)'

pp

75-9'

2SeeKateffinttu'gu;ln;ton""'ningthelint

Documents

Brown, A Space for the Imagination Depicting Women Readers