SC2020 La Belle Époque in Paris: Writers and Artists (morning)
Ended 24 Mar 2021
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Full course description
La Belle Époque, or “the beautiful era”, in Paris ran from around 1870 to the outbreak of the First World War. It was a time of prosperity, a flourishing of the arts, and technical innovation. The Eiffel Tower was centrepiece to a “World’s Fair” and around it revolutionary artistic and literary movements flourished. Impressionism gave way to Post-Impressionism; Symbolism and Art Nouveau were among burgeoning movements in literary and artistic circles. Painters ranging from Van Gogh and Gaugan, through to Monet, Cézanne, Tolouse-Lautrec, Picasso and Duchamp populated the cafes and studios. Drinking absinthe, attending burlesque performance at the Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergère, they enjoyed the can-can and burlesque,which became the order of the day with celebrated performers such as Loie Fuller and Sarah Bernhardt. Paris was the city of the Lumière Brothers and French gastronomy, the maisons closes [brothels], fashion and joie de vivre. Writers such Emile Zola, Charles Baudelaire, Stephen Mallarmé, Marcel Proust, and Gertrude Stein gave rise to the famous literary left bank. Over the eight weeks of this course we will immerse ourselves in the Paris of La Belle Époque viewing paintings and posters, reviewing cafe life and art exhibitions, reading extracts and enjoying the music of composers like Debussy. We will explore the cultural features of the era and consider the lasting significance of this cultural epoch.
Through readings and images we will immerse ourselves in the paintings and posters, café life and art exhibitions, writings, music and cultural features of the era. We will see revolutionary artistic and literary movements give rise to Impressionism and then Post-Impressionism; Symbolism and Art Nouveau. We will study the works of painters ranging from Van Gogh and Gaugan, through to Monet, Cézanne, Tolouse-Lautrec, Picasso and Duchamp. Paris was the city of fashion and joie de vivre and attracted such writers as: Emile Zola, Charles Baudelaire, Stephen Mallarmé, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway. For us it will be Spring in Paris while we enjoy the pleasures of its golden age.
Through images, presentations and conversations participants will have an opportunity to taste and celebrate a great moment in European culture, and if not take greater pleasure in future visits to Paris, at the very least enjoy an interlude in a historic Paris that now has become a cultural landscape of the mind.
This course will be of particular interest to people who would enjoy information and conversation about painting, literature, music, and Paris, in the company of others with similar interests.
Course Schedule
Classes will be delivered online on Wednesdays 10.20am-12.30pm for eight weeks from 27 January to 24 March.
1. Introduction: Paris in the 1870s
2. Technology, cinematography and the World Fair
3. Revolution in the visual arts
4. Art movements and exhibitions
5. Literary experiment
6. Paris of the Left Bank
7. Music, dance and performance
8. Cultural legacy of the Belle Époque
Course Lecturers
Dr. Emma Bidwell has a Ph.D in English. She is the Director of “Screening Ireland”, a programme offered by the University of Limerick. She also lectures on a Women’s Studies MA programme. Dr. Bidwell teaches for University College Cork, the University of Limerick, and for her own West Cork College.
Dr. Bernadette McCarthy has a Ph.D in English. She specializes in late nineteenth and early twentieth century art and literature. Dr. McCarthy teaches in the University of Limerick and in her own West Cork College. She has published on W. B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, and Virginia Woolf.
Entry Requirements
Applicants must be at least 18 years old at course commencement.
Assessment
Short courses are not assessed. Students will receive a UCC Certificate of Attendance upon completion.
Closing Date for Application
Monday 18 January
Contact Details for Further Information
Regina Sexton, Phone: 021-4904700, Email: shortcourses@ucc.ie