This evening I was intrigued by a video clip posted on facebook by a friend of mine, which consisted of an assemblage of very early film of several of the great artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I was astonished to see that we actually have movie film of Monet, Renoir, Rodin and Degas. Several things struck me as notably different from our own day and age.
The thing which, for me, really jumped out of the screen from the beginning was the formality with which they were all dressed. Admittedly, Degas was depicted walking down the street with a companion, and not working in his studio, as were the others. Even so, it was evident that they were all dressed as gentlemen. They wore suits and ties, even if Rodin did don an overall over his suit in order to protect his clothing from the stone dust and chipping falling from his work. The startling moment in these films, however, was the clip of Monet, painting in his garden at Giverny. He was actually dressed in a white suit while working with oil paint!
Admittedly, these films all depicted their subjects when they had achieved fame and were recognised as leading figures in their field. Nevertheless, as Monet enjoys his lovely and spacious garden, and Rodin descends the steps of a very stately home, there is no trace of the “artist as bohemian”. These were artists as professionals, and definitely not artisans.
I had forgotten how, even during my own childhood, smoking was pretty well ubiquitous.