Like a French Impressionist version of the LA Riots
April 7, 2009 6:37 PM   Subscribe

ArtFilter: Please help me identify this French impressionist painting, perhaps the most violent I've seen.

I took this photo at the Musee D'Orsay in 1997, and all I got was the English title, "The Police Charge". Google hasn't helped. It's such a striking image, and so uncharacteristic for impressionism, that I feel like it should be more famous. But I guess it isn't.

In case the image isn't clear, a line of gendarmes are storming a group of Parisians on what may or may not be the Champs Elysee.

I guess I'm only assuming it's French because of the Parisian setting and the fact that it was in the Orsay.

And if you could link to a high-quality image of it, then you'll really go to heaven.
posted by Bobby Bittman to Media & Arts (4 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: From the museum's website::

La Charge [The Charge]

The Charge by André Devambez shows a confrontation between the forces of power and demonstrators. The political leanings of the latter is not easily identifiable : they may be anarchists or trade unionists, but they may as well be nationalists or opponents of Dreyfus, as the street represented (Boulevard Montmartre) and the date of the artwork would support.
More likely, Devambez aimed at showing the archetype of the demonstration and its confrontation with the forces of order. The nocturnal atmosphere, corresponding to an historical fact (people demonstrated in the evening, after the day's work), highlights the concern caused by "the age of crowds" studied by the sociologist Gustave Lebon. The police agents charge methodically, revealing a redoubtable efficiency. The painting was hung for a long time in the office of the prefect Chiappe (1927-1934), a promoter of order and a specialist of repression of street demonstrations. The high angle viewpoint may be compared with that of Monet in the Rue Montorgueil. It is organised around a dynamic diagonal, the crowd dispersing around an empty centre represented by the street lamp and the dramatic atmosphere of the grey and black street contrasts with the carefree, coloured and brightly lit ambience of the pavements.
posted by zadcat at 6:49 PM on April 7, 2009


If you go to the museum site you can search for this, and the resulting page will allow you to click and see a bigger (but not massive) version of the image.
posted by zadcat at 6:51 PM on April 7, 2009


Response by poster: Oh, it's so embarrassing when someone gets it in less than fifteen minutes. Thanks zadcat. Didn't even occur to me to search the Orsay's site.
posted by Bobby Bittman at 7:56 PM on April 7, 2009


IANAAH, but I wouldn't call that an impressionist painting.
posted by bricoleur at 6:10 AM on April 8, 2009


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