Mallarmé and the decor of modern life

Forum for Modern Language Studies

Volumn 42, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 268-285

  Reynolds, Dee ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33748288402     PISSN: 00158518     EISSN: 14716860     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/fmls/cql014     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. S. Mallarmé, Œuvres complètes, ed. B. Marchal, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 2 vols (Paris, 1998 and 2003), Vol. II, p. 491. Henceforth MOC I and II.
2. Letter to Cazalis July 1886, Correspondence, II vols, ed. H. Mondor & L.J. Austin (Paris, 1959-85), Vol. I (1959), letter cx, p. 220.
3. See my Symbolist Aesthetics and Early Abstract Art: Sites of Imaginag Space (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 207-8.
4. See, for instance, H. Stafford, Mallarmé and the Poetics of Everyday Life: A Study of the Concept of the Ordinary in his Verse and Prose (Amsterdam, 2000).
5. In "Mallarmé's Interior Designs", Romance Studies 22:I (2004), 3-15, Roger Pearson takes issue with Yves Bonnefoy's denigration of Mallarmé's "Vers de circonstance" and Daniel Oster's characterisation of Mallarmé as a postmodern ironist.
6. J.-P. Richard, L'Univers imaginaire de Mallarmé (Paris, 1961), p. 302.
7. In 1986, Lucienne Frappier-Mazur, in "Narcisse travesti: Poétique et idéologie dans La Dernière Mode de Mallarmé", explored the ideological effects of a "double fétishisation - les détails de la toilette à la place de la femme, l'entassement verbal à la place de la signification"
8. see French Forum 11:1 January 1986), pp. 41-57 (p. 48).
9. The following year saw the publication of Rachel Bowlby's essay, "Modes of Modern Shopping: Mallarmé at the Bon Marché", in: The Ideology of Conduct, ed. N. Armstrong & L. Tennenhouse (New York, 1987), pp. 186-204.
10. Note also the full-length studies by J.-P. Lecercle, Mallarmé et la mode (Paris, 1989)
11. and R. Dragonetti, Un Fantôme dans le kiosque: Mallarmé et l'esthétique du quotidien (Paris, 1992).
12. For more details, see Catani, The Poet in Society, pp. 49-53.
13. See, for instance, the discussion of ceiling decoration in La Dernière mode (MOC II, pp. 568-9),
14. and the description of jewellery in the second letter on the 1871 Exhibition (MOC II, pp. 371-2).
15. For background to the International Exhibitions, see P. Greenhalgh, "The Art and Industry of Mammon: International Exhibitions, 1851-1901", in: The Victorian Vision: Inventing New Britain, ed. J. McKenzie (London, 2001), pp. 265-80.
16. S. Mallarmé, Œuvres complètes Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, ed. H. Mender & G. Jean-Aubry (Paris, 1945), p. 624
17. S. Mallarmé, Œuvres complètes, ed. Mondor & Jean-Aubry, pp. 666-86.
18. See also Notes, p. 1689.
19. p. 187.
20. (New York, 2003), p. 34.
21. Romance Studies 22:1 (2004), pp. 3-15.
22. "Mallarmé's Interior Designs", pp. 3 and 7.
23. "Mallarmé's Interior Designs", p. 3.
24. Catani, The Poet in Society, p. 31.
25. "Grandville or the World Exhibitions", in: W. Benjamin, Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism (London, 1983), pp. 164-6 (p. 165).
26. See R. Bowlby, Just Looking: Consumer Culture in Dreiser, Gissing and Zola (New York, 1985)
27. and R. Williams, Dream Worlds: Mass Consumption in Late Nineteenth-Century France (Berkeley CA, 1982).
28. It is possible that Mallarmé wrote these articles in order to finance his visits to London.
29. See S. Mallarmé, Œuvres complètes, ed. Mondor & Jean-Aubry, pp. 1612-13.
30. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", in: W. Benjamin, Illuminations (London, 1992), pp. 211-244 (p. 237).
31. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", in: W. Benjamin, Illuminations (London, 1992), p. 218.
32. Mallarmé and the Poetics of Everyday Life, p. 193.
33. Catani, The Poet in Society, p. 33.
34. Catani, The Poet in Society, p. 37.
35. The term "aesthetic" is derived from the Greek aisthanesthai, "to perceive".
36. Benjamin, "The Work of Art", pp. 236-7.
37. See Sotheby's Service de presse at: , accessed 31 October 2005.
38. Greenhalgh, "The Art and Industry of Mammon", p. 273.
39. G. Wallace, The Art Journal International Catalogue of the International Exhibition (London, 1871), p. 19.
40. G. Wallace, The Art Journal International Catalogue of the International Exhibition (London, 1872), p. 4.
41. On this topic, see Y. Vadé, "Le Paysan de Londres", Revue d'Histoire Littéraive de la France 6 (1992), 951-66
42. and Williams, Dream Worlds.
43. Wallace, The Art Journal International Catalogue (1872), p. 6.
44. Charles Christolle (1805-63) was the founder of the largest firm of silver and electroplate manufacturers in France. He started off as a jeweller but by the 1830s had turned to the manufacture of silver and household plate. The firm also produced tablewares and other goods in a variety of historical styles. It produced some furniture such as bronze tables and mounts. According to the 1871 Exhibition catalogue, "Christofle and Co of Paris are of the highest excellence, whether in the precious metals, or as 'electros', which derive their value solely from Art. That Art is invariably of the first order, admirable in design and perfect in execution; the best artists of France, and the most finished of its artisans, being engaged in their production. The name is, therefore, known throughout the world" (p. 67).
45. See Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts, compiled by J. Fleming & H. Honour (Harmondsworth, 1989), p. 194. Electroplates are made of metal, usually nickel, and coated with silver by electrolysis: "This process meant that virtually any shape or design could be made cheaply. Solid silver items could be accurately reproduced and mass produced, but the electroplated version cost about a quarter of the price."
46. See A Collector's Guide to Antiques (London, 1997), p. 180. The technique was pioneered in Britain by G. R. Elkington and licensed to Christofle in France.
47. Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-92) was a furniture maker and bronze-founder working for various leading sculptors in nineteenth-century Paris. By 1847 he had established a factory for the production of bronzes in Paris. The Catalogue for the 1871 Exhibition described his work in the following terms: "M. Barbedienne is, perhaps, the most extensive, and certainly ranks among the foremost, of the bronze manufacturers of Paris: His productions are always excellent, generally original, but occasionally based on the most approved of ancient models and the classic periods of France. They comprise every variety of the art, clocks, candlesticks, candelabra, lamp-stands, mirrors; in short, there is no object suited for production in bronze, from the largest to the smallest, that does not issue from this establishment. They are the suggestions of a presiding mind of high order; but the best artists of France produce the designs and models, which are executed by the most accomplished of its artisans. [...] [T]here is no article of the stall of this eminent manufacturer that might not be copied into our Catalogue as an example of pure and good taste" (p. 65).
48. "Niello is a method of decorating metal objects using engraving techniques. An alloy of silver, copper, lead and sulphur is rubbed into an engraved pattern on silver or gold and then fired. Darkened areas remain in the crevices after the object is polished", , accessed 15 December 2005.
49. See Penguin Dictionary of the Decorative Arts, 1989, p. 129.
50. Wikipedia, , accessed 15 December 2005.
51. S. Jervis, Art & Design in Europe and America 1800-1900 (London, 1987), p. 124.
52. Marble spotted with red and brown.
53. The Denière firm of bronzers was operative in Paris between 1812 and 1903.
54. , accessed 20 December 2005. Excellent pictures can be seen on the website.
55. Joseph-Théodore Deck (1823-91). Deck's first major display was at the 1862 London International Exhibition, where he received a medal for his pots based on oriental and Arabic designs. He is said to have been introduced to Islamic style by the traveller Adalbert de Beaumont. (With thanks to Judith Crouch, Ceramics and Glass Collection, Department of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass, Victoria and Albert Museum.) "One of the best French ceramic artists of his day and a founder of the artist-potter tradition [...]. He experimented with glazes and in 1861 produced his celebrated turquoise blue, later called after him 'bleu de Deck'. Some of his early earthenware plates were decorated by painter friends, notably Haripignies, Félix Braquemond and Eléanore Escallier. He also produced imitations of Saint-Porchaire wares, Persian and Iznik pottery and Italian maiolica. This changed in the 1870s when he became one of the pioneers of the Japonaiserie cult. He favoured wares painted with naturalistic decorations in bright colours" (Penguin Dictionary of the Decorative Arts, 1989, p. 239).
56. François-Eugène Rousseau (1827-91). "Notable French designer and decorator of glass and ceramics, and an influential entrepreneur. In the 1860s he commissioned Solon to produce Pâtesur-Pâte decorated porcelain and he was one of the first to welcome Japanese influence, commissioning Braquemond's celebrated 'Japanese' service in 1866. Some of Rousseau's own works are straightforward essays in 'japonaiserie'. He also made imitations of jade in glass. But his most interesting works are large and rather heavy glass vases ornamented with crackling and splashes of colour - early instances of the application to glass of decorative effects derived from Japanese pottery" (Penguin Dictionary of the Decorative Arts, 1989, p. 707).
57. Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts, compiled by J. Fleming & H. Honour (London, 1977), p. 213.
58. "Designs are painted on vessels or plaques of unfired clay in successive coats of slip (each of which is allowed to dry before the next coat is applied), they are modelled with clay instruments, then glazed and fired" (The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts, 1977, p. 592).
59. Joseph-Auguste Braquemond, called Félix, 1833-1914. "French painter and print-maker who had made a considerable reputation in the artistic world of Paris before the 186os, when he turned his attention to the decoration of ceramics partly under the influence of the new vogue for Japanese art. He learned the technique of enamel painting from T. Deck, in whose studio he worked until 1866: Thereafter he worked independently for Eugène Rousseau. A table service of Creil faience, which he painted in the Japanese style with asymmetrically disposed birds, insects, beasts and foliage, was shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 and at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. He was employed by the Sèvres factory in 1870 and from 1872 he worked for 10 years as director of the Paris design studio for the Haviland factory. His designs have a clean neatness and spare elegance which distinguish them from most contemporary essays in 'japonaiserie'. He also designed textiles, bookbindings, jewellery and table silver" (Penguin Dictionary of the Decorative Arts, 1989, p. 119).
60. Mallarmé himself owned some pieces of this set by Bracquemond, known as "Le service Rousseau".
61. It appears that Mallarmé had intended the article to be accompanied by an illustration, since he referred to "la gravure que L'Illustration donne avec l'étude présente", and described the colours of the Albert Hall in terms of a "chromolithographie rouge et jaune" (MOC II, p. 383). However, no illustration was included. It is interesting to note that there are parallels between the discourse of the superlative, the complex/fragmentary and the eclectic/exotic in these texts of Mallarmé and certain texts of Rimbaud's Illuminations, notably "Villes II". Yves Vadé writes of "la parenté entre ces immenses rassemblements cosmopolites que furent les Expositions internationales et le patchwork d'images qui constitue certaines illuminations (je pense naturellement aux deux Villes, à Fête d'Hiver, à Promontoire, à Scènes) [...].
62. In the Kantian sublime, the imagination experiences its own powerlessness to represent. Jean-François Lyotard has argued that "modern" aesthetics is an aesthetic of the sublime which is inhabited by "the nostalgia for presence", where "the unpresentable is put forward only as the missing contents", whereas the "postmodern" imparts a sense of the unpresentable through the disruption of form itself. See J.-F. Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Manchester, 1984), pp. 79 and 81.
63. It is impossible not to be struck here by the similarities with Mallarmé's own poetic principles, concerning the mutual relationship of words, which "s'allument de reflets réciproques comme une virtuelle traînée de feux sur des pierreries" (MOC II, p. 211).
64. See MOC II, Notes, pp. 1689-90.
65. p. 61.
66. Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts, 1977, p. 592.