The Birth of Modern Europe
This web page examines the progression of urban
bohemia in London from the 17th century to the end of the
19th century (for now). Surfing these pages you will stroll down
Grub Street, perhaps stop in at Will’s Coffee House, and certainly find your
way to such hip locales as Chelsea,
Fleet Street and Soho.
But what fun would that be without meeting any of the intriguing figures who
bring these settings to life? Just think, in one day you might bump into
George Etherege, the Restoration-comedy dramatist, Joseph
Addison, the subtlety subversive journalist, William
Hogarth, the unruly engraver, and perhaps, if you’re lucky, even Oscar
Wilde, who, of course, needs no introduction.
[1]
In the artist’s world, definitions are plentiful and
rarely explicit. Thus, in this attempt to trace the development of a certain
brand of artistic growth in London, it is imperative that we make an effort to
distinguish our brand from its closest brethren. Perhaps the most dangerous
overlap might arise in juxtaposing bohemia with the avante garde. While
it is true that the two artistic notions share “radical” or “revolutionary”
roots (however initially meek they might appear in either school), the
avante-garde distinguishes itself most profoundly by its concept (or lack
thereof) of an artistic, social community: “For implicit and perhaps even
central to our understanding of avant-gardism is the concept of alienation
psychic, social, ontological…”[2]
To some extent the separation between bohemia and the avante-garde has been yet
another product of European class distinctions: as for the French avante garde
painters (Flaubert, Baudelaire, Manet) “…their very existence as members of the
bourgeoisie was problematic, isolating them not merely from existing social and
artistic institutions but creating deeply felt internal dichotomies as well.”[3]
As to this social notion, in the ever-widening stride of modernity,
British bohemianism has carved out a somewhat polar opposite nook from the
avante garde: bohemia in London repeatedly defines itself based on the
existence of an intimate, highly connected community in which bohemian artists
are allowed to work, fraternize and struggle together as a cohesive unit.
However, in the larger context of modernism, perhaps the avante garde and
bohemianism have more in common than it appears. Both cultural trends, if
nothing more, have encouraged societal progress, discouraged stagnation, and
produced the most daring art of their time. (I challenge any of you virtual
flaneurs to find a post-modern who can successfully achieve something greater
than a cheap imitation of bohemia.) Take Courbet and Goldsmith though
comparing their techniques or motivations would prove futile, both artists
questioned their society and helped move art forward. [Modernity and
bohemianism continue to dance in the liminal fashion until the post-modern
steps of the Aesthetic movement throw off their rhythm.]*
Finally,
before traveling down these exciting streets it is important for the virtual
flaneur to recognize the somewhat parasitic relationship between urban,
artistic bohemianism in France and London. The word “bohemia” itself calls to
mind a distinctly Parisian cultural idea. This is, in fact, because the
bohemian ideal took origin in France. Though it is far from the focus of this
website, it is important to recognize that, along the course of bohemia in
London, some of the largest leaps in political philosophy and motivation
(towards radical ideals), are direct French derivatives.
Thus, from
the 17th to 20th centuries, literary and pictographic
bohemianism in London flourished as an increasingly culturally rich and
economically diversified, consistently unified, and intermittently radicalizing
phenomenon: During the 17th
century we witness the establishment of cafés specifically for
the bohemian artist community as well as the origins of the cohesive
bohemian literary community. The 18th century demonstrates
continued community ties, the advent of pictographic bohemianism, and nearly
obliterated economic barriers for bohemia. 19th
century bohemian culture, while undoubtedly harder to pin-down
considering the explosion of artistic expression during the era, sees the
patterns of the previous centuries to their logical expansion, including: *the
the definite divergence of bohemianism (as it slowly blends with Aestheticism)
and modernism and the final
paradoxical union of bohemian ideals between the upper and lower tier of
society.
Bibliography
-Bohemia Books. 1997 2004. Australia
<http://www.bohemiabooks.com.au/eblinks/spirboho/london1890/>
-Brainy Quotes: John Dryden Quotes, <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_dryden.html>
-Courtney Hopf,
Leslie Kogan, and Rachel Brown for Mount Holyoke College's
History 255: 'Les Miz and Les Media.' Created February 2001 - May 2001.
<http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/boheme/london.html
-“William
Wycherly”<http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc95.html>
-Korg, Jacob. London
in Dicken’s Day. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1960.
-Waller, Maureen.
1700: Scenes from London Life. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2000
-Adams, Robert M.
The Land and Literature of England. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,
1983
-Lambourne,
Lionel. The Aesthetic Movement. London: Phaidon Press Lt., 1996
-Hibbert,
Christopher. The English: A Social History. London: W.W. Norton &
Co., 1987
Possible books:
not looked into (amazon)
Bohemia in
London, Arthur Ransome
Bohemia in
London: The Social Scene of Early Modernism, Peter Brooker
The Fitzrovians : a portrait of Bohemian Society, 1900-55,
Hugh David
Young
Outsiders, Richard Mills
Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections. For love which hath ends, will have an end; whereas that which is founded on true virtue, will always continue.
John Dryden