In the last third of the nineteenth century, the badaud occupied an important place in the mass press in France.117 The subject of the badaud—that embodies the phenomenon in which people come together on the street for a variety of spectacles happening in the urban scene—was progressively covering the columns of the Parisian press.118 This sort of depiction of ordinary people developed especially in the rubric of faits divers which was filled with short, pithy accounts of exceptional events.119
The term fait divers first appeared in Le grand dictionnaire universel in 1872 with a comically broad definition: “stories of all kinds that circulate around the world:
small scandals, carriage accidents, lovers’ suicides, roofers falling from the fifth floor, armed robbery, showers of locusts or toads, storms, fires, floods, comical tales, mysterious kidnappings, executions, cases of hydrophobia, cannibalism.”120 In fait divers, the press involves almost everything satisfying the curiosity of the readers, the
116 Shaya, (as note 89), p. 51.
117 Shaya, (as note 89), p. 42.
118 Shaya, (as note 89), p. 51.
119 Alsdorf, (as note 17), p. 222.
120 Alsdorf, (as note 17), p. 222 quoted from Le Grand dictionnaire universel, 1872 and translated by Vanessa Schwartz, Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Paris, Berkeley 1999, p.
36.
badauds, by presenting what they wished to watch and by taking them to where they longed to go but but were normally forbidden to approach.121
For instance, when the victims of French serial killer Troppmann were discovered in 1869 at Pantin, the suburb of Paris, the journalist for Le Petit Journal reported the massive gatherings taking place around the Morgue.122 He notes that “[t]his morning, the crowd still waited outside the Morgue. I have already said it and I will say it again, the cadavers will not be on view;” adding that, “emotion, still overexcited to the highest degree, pushes the curiosity seekers to the site where the crime was committed, and to the place where the bodies were taken. The field in Pantin and the Morgue are the two endpoints of this sinister and gloomy affair.”123 The badaud, the gawker, gathering at the sensational event was a central figure of press reporting and at the same time the crowd became a metaphor for the press and its audience.124 The badaud became the main protagonist as is evidenced for example in Badauderies Parisiennes.
Since Vallotton was as much a practicing critic (most active from 1890 to 1895) as an artist, he was very familiar with this rubric of fait divers in which journalistic articles oftentimes take advantage of artistic effort for a visual representation of the reported events. Such a rubric thereby becomes a site of intersection between journalism and art.125 The reporting of the discovery of the victims of Troppmann showed that the bystanders were so desired to satisfy their curiosity that they gathered around the forbidden area. This reportage corresponds exactly to the chapter “Waiting”
(“L’Attente”) in Badauderies Parisiennes (Fig. 90). The image is structured into two different parts. One part corresponds to the square where the gawkers are gathering in diverse groups, discussing and waiting outside from the wall. The other part is the
125 Alsdorf, (as note 17), p. 222 quoted from Rudolf Koella, “Félix Vallotton, un ‘artiste-critique’ au tournant du siècle,” in Koella and Poletti, Félix Vallotton, 1865-1925, pp. 3-9.
invisible place where a mysterious event might have probably happened provoking the curiosity and the gathering of gawkers, which itself attracted even bigger crowds. The composition of the two parts is divided by the wall’s black door on which it is written:
“NO ENTRY” (DÉFENSE D’ENTRER). This forbidden place is emphasized by the curious attitude of one child who is bending and peeping through the door in an attempt at gathering some information from inside (Fig. 91). The progressive formation of the crowd is the main focus of the representation, unlike the event that may have caused it, which is actually invisible to both the crowd and the spectator of the print.
The creation of the image of the badaud found an ally not only in the writings of the journalists but developed also throughout the nineteenth century thanks to the visual illustrations printed in the press. Before the faits divers rubric became the site of intersection between journalistic writing and artistic representation, the illustrations—
used to accompany the report of scenes of horror and political or military events in the columns of the faits divers—were not entirely new to the reader at that time.126 The presence of this kind of illustrations could be spotted in the illustrated press at the end of the 18th century. Since these illustrations were sold at a cheap price (each issue costs around 5 to 10 centimes), they were extremely popular on the market.127 One among the most popular representatives of the illustrated press was Le Petit Journal whose circulation was beyond a million of copies in 1905.128
On the cover illustration of the issue of August 30, 1896 of the Supplément illustré du petit journal entitled “An Arrest By Bicycle” (“Une arrestation à bicyclette”) (Fig.
92), a group of witnesses stands behind a railing at the right corner of the image, waiting the passing of a train (Fig. 93). These witnesses are badauds whose attention had just
126 Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin ed., (as note 22), p. 368.
127 The first French illustrated journal is Cabinet des modes, published on 15 November 1785. Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin ed., (as note 22), p. 377.
128 The titles of the popular illustrated press were at the time the Journal illustré, Presse illustrée, Événement, République illustrée and Petit Parisien. Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin ed., (as note 22), p. 377.
been caught by an unexpected event and want to satisfy their curiosity. They are standing at the scene looking at a policeman arresting a suspect on his bike at the moment when the gates impeaching anybody to cross the tracks have just closed to let pass a train. Five witnesses are depicted with diverse attitudes and gestures corresponding to their personal interest and reaction towards the event. From the left to the right, the gatekeeper who was facing the crowd to keep it from crossing the tracks has turned his head to the incident and seems too shocked to hold up the railing. A man next to him seems to loose gradually his interest and is about to leave, while two other men and one fashion lady are still looking attentively at the event. These witnesses’
respective reactions complete the action of gathering and correspond to one of Vallotton’s similar interest in representing transience.
The theme of the arrest is also treated by Vallotton in the chapter “Insulting the Police Forces” (“Outrage aux Agents”) of Badauderies Parisiennes (Fig. 71). However, this event is not anymore dramatically set with all the components such as the closing of the railway gates, but in a busy street. In his print, Vallotton shows in the middle ground three policemen arresting a suspect while bystanders are gathering around the incident. From right to left, we can see among these idlers one wearing a white overcoat, an old man with black gloves in the foreground, two other men with black coats, a bakery boy and a little boy as well as one well-dressed lady in the middle ground, even one man and one little boy in the background are running across the busy street to watch what is happening from a closer range (Fig. 94). If we compare the illustrations of Le Petit Journal and Vallotton, three aspects could be pointed out. Firstly, we can see that Vallotton gives the badauds a prominent role. Their importance is equal to the event of the arrest itself, since the place given to the idlers occupies almost the same size as the one given in Valloton’s composition to the suspect arrested by the policemen. However, in the illustration of Le Petit Journal the gawkers are relegated to the background and to a small proportion of the whole composition. It is probably because the aim of Le
Petit Journal is to deliver the news, whereas in Vallotton’s case, the presence and movement of the badaud constitutes the main plot.
Secondly, the badaud in “An Arrest by Bicycle” and “Insulting the Police Forces”
have in common the existence of bystanders who do not only play the role of witnesses to the event but also mirror the audience of the representation. In the illustration of Le Petit Journal, the witnesses behind the fence are in some way the double or the surrogates of the spectators-readers who, from the point of view given by the illustrators can be imagined as standing and watching on the opposite side of the railing.129 The readers of the press satisfy their curiosity, while taking safe distance from the incident when reading and watching the illustration on the newspaper. In Badauderies Parisiennes, Vallotton entangles the reader in the narrative circuit of cause and effect of the events, however, he simultaneously separates the reader from an elevated or distant perspective as if the reader is out of the event.130
Thirdly, when we compare the images of Le Petit Journal and Vallotton’ print, we can measure to which extent the image of Le Petit Journal is more dramatic than Vallotton’s. In Le Petit Journal the composition of the arrest scene is designed by a linear perspective formulated by two fences which aim to isolate the crowd from the coming train. This linear perspective parallels the three elements of the story, as follows:
a crowd of witnesses looking at the event, a coming train and the arrest by bicycle. The convergence of these three events with the sense of speed dramatically emphasized by the mobile arrest and the sudden arrival of the train is highly thrilling. However, in Vallotton’s print “Insulting the Police Forces,” there is almost no dramatic emotion.
Two features of Vallotton’s print could explain this effect. Firstly, Vallotton with his flat style barely uses the linear perspective in order to separate the crowd from the event taking place. He prefers to merge in the foreground of the image the arrest scene with
129 Alsdorf, (as note 17), p. 222.
130 Alsdorf, (as note 17), p. 222.
the gathering crowd in a daily busy street. This can be identified for instance with the way the flat tint of black garment of one gentleman belonging to the community of badauds merges with that of one of the policemen. This flat style blurs the boundary between the event and the onlookers, reducing consequently the tension intrinsic to the arrest. Secondly, the placing of the event and the gawkers on the same ground gives an ironic effect. This is highlighted for instance by the presence of a little boy behind one of the policemen who is smiling at the event that is taking place, one among many other humorous wink Vallotton integrates in his compositions in order to forestall their potential violence.
The reason why the crowd is depicted differently in Le Petit Journal and in Vallotton’s prints resides in the different function given to the illustrations. Le Petit Journal for instance intends to create deliberately a dramatic effect to stir the reader’s curiosity and buy the newspaper; while, Vallotton’s flat and humorous style which Uzanne coined as “amusing and light,” is to feature the gawkers and focus on the spectacle they are creating.
The illustrated press and Badauderies Parisiennes not only have a similar relationship towards the subject of the badaud in terms of the dynamics between the image and the reader, but also share some important motif of the badaud with the fait divers column. For instance, in Vallotton’s “The Angry Horse” (“Le Cheval emporté”) (Fig. 65), a lady who is covering her face with her hands is afraid to look at the accident (Fig. 96). The representation of a scared spectator is an important motif of the fait divers.
This gesture appears later in 1909 on the cover illustration of the February 14 1909 issue from the Supplément illustré du petit journal, “A Gate Keeper Victim of Her Duty”
(“Une garde-barrière victime de son dévouement”) (Fig. 95). In this illustration among the four witnesses standing behind the railing on the left side of the image, one person is turning his or her back from the accident covering his or her face with the hands in order not to look at the accident (Fig. 96).
After examining Vallotton’s depiction of the badaud, it is not hard to see that there are two specificities inherent in his work: multiplicity and transience. Each of them epitomizes a striking feature of Vallotton’s time: the notion of multiplicity refers to the increasing growth of population in France while the idea of transience resonates with the unstable urbanization in the French society. In addition, the theme of badaud in Vallotton’s images of Badauderies Parisiennes plays a transitional role in the era.
This transitional role is clearly visible not only because it is a visual representation of the growing interest on the crowd in the fields of sociology and psychology, but also because such a transitional role is supported by a comparative study of how the figure of the badaud was shaped in the column of Fait divers. As illustrated above, the process of shaping the image of the badaud was influenced by the journal industry and epitomizes the emerging culture of mass production.
Chapter Three
The Relationships Between Image and Text: Coherences and Incoherencies
Before the nineteenth century, the image played a secondary role in its relationship with the text and above all had to serve the latter by offering it a visual illustration. Whenever it appeared in books, manuals, guides, or periodicals, the illustration had functioned since the end of the Middle Ages in a logo-centric context—
in which a preeminent authority had been granted to the text rather than the image.131
Nevertheless, the role of the illustration progressed since the middle of the seventeenth century with the publication of the first pictorial encyclopedia for children.132 Indeed, John Amos Comenius’s Orbis sensualium pictus (The Visible World in Pictures) (Fig. 97) exploited the pedagogical role of the image over 100 woodcuts.133 Such a pedagogical role would be emphasized from the seventeenth century to the eighteenth century thanks to the development and the growth of pictorial encyclopedia for children which received the treatment of eminent illustrators such as Bernard Picart and Grasset de Saint-Sauveur.134 In the nineteenth century, the role of the illustration became more important than before; the image, whose purpose was to clarify the meaning of the text, no longer confined itself to a merely instrumental role.
Such a change was initiated by two factors at that time. First, the image began to be considered as a universal language that was intelligible to everyone and therefore could bring even the poorly lettered readers into the world of the book.135 Second, the industrialization taking place at the same period of time promoted a mode of empiricism that emphasized the visual representation of reality as an important point of reference for understanding the world. Such an empiricist belief requested the presence of images
131 Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin ed., (as note 22), p. 328.
132 Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin ed., (as note 22), p. 328.
133 Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin ed., (as note 22), p. 328.
134 Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin ed., (as note 22), p. 328.
135 Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin ed., (as note 22), p. 328.
of all sorts, such as photographs, diagrams, etc.136 These two factors contributed to the elevation of the role of the illustration towards the text.
Since the role of the illustration had been elevated over the centuries, especially in the nineteenth century, this chapter aims to analyze how the illustrations in the Badauderies Parisiennes play a transitional role if we take into account the larger context of illustrated publications published at the end of the nineteenth century.