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Parisian
Salons
~Background
~Salons of
Enlightenment
~Madame de Stäel
~Salons
of the Restoration
~The Salons
of Victor Hugo
Influence
of Printed Materials
~Pre-Revolutionary
Timeline
~Post-Revolutionary Timeline
~Memoires
Defining
the Parisians
~Parisians
Viewed by Foreigners
~Parisians Viewed by
Themselves
~Paris Fashion
Bibliography
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Image 2.11 Est-Elle
Bien Morte? [Is She Truly Dead?],
anonymous, April 18, 1852, Royal Library of Blegium (de
la Motte, 67).
After Louis-Napoleon's coup d'etat in
1851, caricature art could no longer be openly offensive of
the French government. The ruler (self-declared, in this case)
was completely off-limits, and Louis-Napoleon eventually ordered
the suspension of all forms of political critique. There was
strict enfocement of censorship laws, but resisting artists
soon found loopholes to create images like the one above.
Many continued their work outside of Paris anonymously. This
example shows Louis-Napoleon standing victoriously over the
dead body of Liberty. Her coffin reads "Born 1848, died
1851" to indicate that the emperor's seizure of power
murdered the freedom of France. In the background hangs a
picture of Daumier's symbolizing repression. Despite the devastation
throughout the image, a questioning title suggests that perhaps
the liberty of the people is not gone forever...and the very
existence of this image is further proof that individual creativity
cannot be destroyed by laws.
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