On March 18th of 1871, a horn was blown marking the start of battle in Paris. The Paris
Commune forces, primarily consisting of working class people, had occupied the city hall.
Although this occupation only lasted for about two months, it was considered as a milestone for
left wing movements in contemporary politics. It had a significant influence on history; Marx even
considered it as a strong evidence for his Ccommunist theory. For anarchists, Paris Commune also
represented an experiment for anarchy. Because the Paris Commune did not serve as a
government, rather it leaned towards building a highly democratic and autonomous government
basing in Paris. Even though it ended shortly, it left a lasting impact on the some anarchists as they
find their own ways to commemorate the glorious movement in their own ways. Among them,
Neo-Impressionist Maximilien Luce painted A Paris Street in 1871 as his commemoration.
Furthermore, author Alastair Wright an author, discusses Maximilien Luce and his pieces,
particularly A Paris Street in 1871. In his article, he admits that even after more than one hundred
years, A Paris Street in 1871 still strikes him strange in two aspects: history per se and art history.
In retrospect of the history, the failure of Paris Commune still remains as one of the
awkward topics in the history. Quotes from Wikipedia: “Although many leftist leaders such as
Marx embraced it, other assessments were highly critical”. Thus, due to this huge contrast of
attitudes towards Paris Commune, Luce’s portrait of Paris Commune did not receive as much
praise as portraits about July Revolution. In art history, Luce and his close friend, Signac, were two
of the most famous Neo-Impressionists. As Signac focused more on how to innovate the use of
Pointillism in Impressionism in his mid-career, Luce used A Paris Street in 1871 as a rejoinder to
him, in order to criticize the lack of attention in the brutal realities in Neo-Impressionism.
In the composition of the painting, Luce portrays five corpses lying on a street in Paris. The
warm lighting and choice of color indicate that the scene is taking place in the early morning.
Wright believes that the time setting reflects the morning is very close to the occurrence of the Paris
Commune, and the dead bodies are the results of small combats across the capital. Wright also
discourses that choosing Paris Commune as the subject of the painting was unique considering
most of the other combats, such as July Revolution, depicted victory instead of defeats. Unlike
Paris Commune, some other successful combats or revolutions such as July Revolution offer a lot
of victorious themes or subjects to the painters. He then compares A Paris Street in 1871 to a painting called Liberty Leading People, claiming that they are similar in composition but contrast in the meaning. In the comparison,
he states that the former portrays a union of citizens, bourgeois, workers, etc. during July
Revolution, and it was supported by people from all classes in the country; while the Paris
Commune is only consisted of working-class people and it failed. Therefore, portraits about
victories of July Revolution contains larger significance for historical events painters since the
viewers are always more excited to see victories than defeats. Wright indicates that, Luce, as an
anarchist, deliberately painted A Paris Street in 1871 to reflect back on history and to raise
awareness on the former glory of Paris Commune; Luce wanted to commemorate the historical
event by bringing politics into the world of art. The painting is also intended to pick up the
connection between neo-impressionism and politics. Before 19th century, there were paintings
regarding contemporary politics. However, these themes somehow disappeared simultaneously.
Thus, Luce wanted to commemorate the historical event by bringing themes of politics into the
world of art.
In order to highlight Luce’s usage of Pointillism and themes in his pieces, Wright aligns
Luce’s paintings with those of Signac. He suggests that the difference in political views would
partly differ in the painter’s choice of themes. Signac, as a representative of bourgeois
impressionists, often depicts bourgeois life in his paintings, such as the interior decorations or
characters. For example, in Sunday, he depicts a bourgeois couple standing in the distance in a
well-decorated room in which lies a huge carpet and a bookshelf that reaches the ceiling. Wright
also writes that Luce “generates clear social reality…as the sign of liberation” and he, “without
concern for profit”, would try his best to contrast bourgeois and official convention by portraying
social reality in his art pieces.
However, as A Paris Street in 1971 is thought of as a response from Luce to the
Commune, it was more related to the tradition of political engagement. Luce knew he was taking a
risk, because many other works failed at attempts to do the same job. As the return of Commune
almost seems impossible nowadays. The painting A Paris Street in 1871 seems more like an
acknowledgement than a sign of return to the tradition. Moreover, the issue about Paris Commune
is whether it is a revolutionary movement, signifying the ideal state of human society, or it simply
was an amorphous movement led by impulsive working class.
