Everyday Life in Motion: The Art of Walking in Late-Nineteenth-Century Paris

AbstractIn mid- to late-nineteenth-century Paris, walking emerged as a significant pictorial theme, especially among Impressionist painters, who depicted not just the flâneur but also everyday pedestrian practices in the remodeled city. The history of writing about walking insists on its coherent intertwining of body, mind, and vision. That context reveals how the paintings exploit that integrated triad of faculties, complicating our sense of Impressionist practice as primarily optical. Cast as flâneurs, those painters evoke the walking experience with a phenomenological acuity that belies the prevailing notion of the flâneur as noteworthy chiefly for his gaze. Additional informationNotes on contributorsNancy ForgioneNancy Forgione is currently visiting assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on French art and culture of the nineteenth century [Department of the History of Art, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 21218, nforgione@jhu.edu].