Is Paris Still the Capital of the Nineteenth Century? Essays on Art and Modernity, 1850-1900

Hollis Clayson and André Dombrowski, eds. Is Paris Still the Capital of the Nineteenth Century? Essays on Art and Modernity, 1850-1900 London: Routledge, 2016. 306 pp. Cloth $160.00 (9781472460141). There are times when divergent academic and ideological interests come together unexpectedly; these events can yield new scholarly insights even as they lay bare disciplinary antagonisms. A 2009 symposium at the Clark Art Institute was just such an occasion. Its interrogatory title Is Paris Still the Capital of the 19th Century? signaled the conveners’ interest in the legacies of Charles Baudelaire, Walter Benjamin, and T. J. Clark for the writing of nineteenth-century art history. Less clear was whether the title was meant ironically or in earnest. Were the conveners purposely begging the question? The publication of a related collection of essays now provides some answers. Edited by Hollis Clayson and André Dombrowski, who jointly organized the symposium, the volume includes essays by eight of the original speakers, augmented by contributions by five additional scholars.