AFA Winter 2019

HAPPENINGS Winter 38 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com By Day & by Night: Paris in the Belle Époque Through March 2, 2020 Norton Simon Museum 411 Wet Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, Calif For more information, visit www.nortonsimon.org or call 626.844.6900 The French expression belle époque , meaning “beautiful era,” refers to the interwar years between 1871 and 1914, when Paris was at the forefront of urban development and cultural innovation. During this period, Parisians witnessed the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the ascendancy of the Montmartre district as an epicenter for art and entertainment, and the brightening of their metropolis under the glow of electric light. For artists living through the epoch, however, the less triumphant details of daily life were often the ones that inspired creative expression: a puff of factory smoke mingling with the clouds; the saucy sneer of a cabaret performer; the densely patterned décor of a domestic interior. To convey the immediacy of what they observed, artists like Pierre Bonnard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec rejected the formalities of oil painting, preferring loose, sketch-like handling, abrupt compositional cropping and oblique points of view that situate the spectator within the scene. The belle époque is often imagined as a golden age of spectacle and joie de vivre. Yet as the works of art in this exhibition demonstrate, the experience of daily life was as often the impetus for bold artistic expression, as evident in the spellbinding array of scenes and personalities. McClard Segotta Antiques formerly Peggy McClard Antiques Folk Art & Americana Shows, Appointments & on the Internet Weare, New Hampshire (713) 880-2572 Peggy@PeggyMcClard.com New Name But Same Great Service and Always Great Folk Art & Americana at PeggyMcClard.com Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852–1931), At the Evening Party: Woman inWhite with a Fan, 1883–1884. Pastel on paper, 21¾ x 18 inches. Norton Simon Art Foundation, from the Estate of Jennifer Jones Simon.