Bonjour Bendigo Part 1: Visiting the Art Gallery

I went to Bendigo Art Gallery to check out their exhibition Paris: Impressions of Life 1880–1925 which comes with a program of events across the city called Bonjour Bendigo.

The exhibition boasts having “more than 170 works of art and artisan objects”. There are art posters, signs, original footage of Paris at the time, historic clothes, fans and more. They have pieces from Musée Carnavalet – History of Paris collection, as well as items from private and Australian collections. It’s not just about art, it’s about history, which included the context of colonisation and the theft of artifacts from Australian Indigenous peoples by French collectors, and what has happened to those items since.

But before I talk about the exhibition, some unashamed fun pics out the front of the gallery. Just like a recipe blog with a write-up before you can get to the recipe you want to use to cook…

Here’s an expert about the exhibition

“Tour seven themed pathways and discover artisan street signs, historic couture, decorative arts, and everyday ephemera alongside paintings by artists including Jean Béraud, the pre-eminent painter of Parisian life in the Belle Époque, Maurice Utrillo and Paul Signac, pioneer of the artistic technique of pointillism, as well as vibrant graphic prints by Toulouse-Lautrec and his contemporaries.”

You don’t have to know what any of that means to be excited to see it. Let me explain it like you don’t know anything about it. If you know anything about it, please don’t come for me and my Spark Notes explanation below.

In 1875 life, culture and art in Paris burst into a revolutionary artistic movement called Impressionism, thus the name of this exhibition being called Impressions of Life and the window of works displayed beginning in 1880. Impressionism and the other movements of the time didn’t just happen; they was preceded by both the Franco-German War of 1870, and then a violent civil war. It was a time when French society wanted both to enjoy newfound peace, and to think of things in ways that were different to thinking of their life when it was in a state of conflict.

The art movements preceding the window of time in the exhibition in Bendigo were Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realisim (don’t think of these as one at time, think of them as living alongside one another). Neoclassicism could be seen as propaganda and glorious PR and spin, as seen in paintings like Napoleon in all his grandeur on a rearing horse riding throught the Swiss Alps. This movement captured glory, myth and grandeur. Think of the artists as fanning over Greek and Roman art, sculpture, architecture and reputation. For Romanticism, the artists approached it like ‘stuff things making sense, I want this painting to capture my emotion as well as my rose coloured glasses’. Think imagery of an individual standing looking out a moody scene that could have inspired 10,000 words from a Bronte sister and plenty of symbolism. It was anti the stiff and serious nature of Neoclassicism . Then there was Realism, which gave the finger to these very staged styles and aimed to capture things ‘as is’. Realism was the first explicitly anti-institutional, nonconformist art movement and thought about the life of the people who weren’t riding through the alps with an army, but were breaking their backs bringing in the harvest in practical clothes.

So that’s where the French were at. Then a whole heap of new stuff happened. It’s the happening of the new stuff that’s in the exhibition.

During the 45 years covered in the exhibition in Bendigo, there was obviously the tail end of the Impressionist movement, but there was also Art Nouveau, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism and a few others. It’s where are whole heap of our traditional visions and perspectives of Paris come from. The movie Moulin Rouge? Set in 1890. Right in the middle of the time period of this exhibition. It’s when we started getting those iconic graphic art prints, like the one of the black cat on a roof with Le Chat Noir written next to it. That famed print poster is advertising a cabaret during the era of shadow theatre, and there is a deep dive at the exhibition showing paintings and prints to take you right into the time. There are enough paintings of cabarets and shows for you to almost be able to hear the sound of rooms depicted.

Young me was a budding Francophile, and I also love graphic design. Now when I say I love graphic design, please know I have never studied it, I just love learning about it and looking at it and this particular era sparks joy for me. This is no surprise really because it also feeds into things I love around Tweed Rides. Looking at all the posters and having them curated with all their social and historical context was wicked fun. It was the peak of delight. I adored seeing how fonts and paints and framing all burst into new forms. And there were fashion items of the eras too. What more could I possibly want?

A croissant. Which I had a lot of fun repeatedly pronouncing as cwa-soh as obnoxiously as I could.

The Paris: Impressions of Life 1880 – 1925 is on from 16 MAR 24 – 14 JUL 24.

Oh, I guess I should say about the outfit.

Hat: vintage Laura Ashley via Etsy
Dress: Nishe
Pics by Evelyn Zeven