Rue Transnonain - the Peoples Terrorist free essay sample

The French took to the streets with a series of riots, culminating in the event that Daumier turned into a lithograph that moved beyond caricature and turned public’s eyes on the horrors that the oppressed, and repressed silk workers of St. Martin experienced ? rst hand. The attack took place on April 14, 1834 when the French National Guard, under the command of King Louis Philippe (October 6, 1773 August 26, 1850), retaliated on civilian silk workers. Rue Transnonain, created in the same year of the attacks, added fuel to an already growing tension between France and the French working force. The violent acts of the French National Guard, while not highly supported or lauded by the public, still would be deemed as acceptable under today’s rules of engagement. The artist’s political agenda, and anti-government opinions, breached upon propaganda and highly in? uenced the print’s style in its attempt to escalate the protests themselves. Rue Transnonain, viewed 2 by many as a reaction to the patriotic sentiments of a Frenchman to his countrymen, may, assuming the French National Guard were well within their right to react, be equivalent to domestic terrorism. ! The Rue Transnonain lithograph is housed in a 33. 9cm x 46. 5cm frame and portrays a dramatic interpretation of the carnage left in the wake of the French National Guard when they dispatched twelve citizens1 occupying a living quarters built for the silk weaver workers. The lithographs shows the deceased silk weavers laid about the ? oor of their home. The foreground features empty space, as if the viewer is standing in the doorway seeing the work of the French National Guard for the ? rst time. The most prominent ? gure is that of a male adult worker, lying dead on the ? or next to his bed, surrounded by two other adult bodies assumed to be his family members. The adult male is seen with his head loosely tilted to the right, with his limbs draped lifelessly around him. Pain and defeat emanates from the silk worker, as he lays, legs naked, with his bedclothes thrown up onto his torso. The body seems simply cast aside, a rumpled sheet and bag of skin sullying Simon Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, ( N e w Yo r k : V i n t a g e B o o k s , 1 9 9 0 ) . 1 3 the room and its ? oors. The French Guard did not even give this man the dignity to die gracefully or humanely. While the silk worker’s body is the most immediate focal point, the most powerful aspect of Rue Transnonain lies below him. The bloody dead body of the man’s infant child, resting beneath him within the pool of blood created from both man and child, is seen as sheltered by his body. Further, on the far left of Rue Transnonain is what appears to be a slain woman, somewhat shrouded in darkness, outside of the light projected into the room by an open doorway. The far right features yet another slain elderly man, possibly the man’s father, lying on his back, mouth partially open. The woman is shoeless. The child has on his night cap. On the right side an overturned chair is visible, suggesting not a struggle, but an effort to either create a defensive position, or a frantic escape from incoming bullets. Regardless of the events that actually transpired in the silk worker’s house, Daumier portrayed it as an unjusti? ed massacre. The evils of the French government coming down on the innocent working poor. A government that will not only take one’s life but treat the human body as a piece of clutter. A government whose lust for the blood of its own people outweighs its desire to keep the peace. 4 ! In 1830, King Louis Philippe took over the French throne through an agreement between the liberal bourgeoisie, the people of Paris, and the republicans. He was known as the ‘Citizen King,’ and was believed to be making changes to France that would bene? t all classes, including the poor. He succinctly summarized his public policy when stating, â€Å"We will attempt to remain in the just middle, in an equal distance from the excesses of popular power and the abuses of royal power. 2 The people of France initially enjoyed the purported new republic, but they soon discovered that the monarch’s words were just that. Philippe’s actions quickly moved beyond diplomacy and turned to favors. His friends and followers were empowered—and made very wealthy. Philippe and his advisors were intelligent enough to enact new laws that, on the surface, appeared to help all of the French citizens, but his and his followers political longevity was the driving force. One example that shows a blatant act of selfpreservation was the laws Philippe enacted that doubled the amount of citizens that were allowed to vote. The creation of these new laws, while appeasing the general public and their want to be heard, actually only extended voting rights from the very wealthy upper class to the slightly less wealthy upper class. 3 Though only a small element to the inevitable revolution that would take back France, Philippe had drawn the line between who was important, and who was expendable. During Philippe’s reign, a member of his cabinet, Casimir Perier (1777-1832), shut down a number of the already R M J o h n s t o n , T h e F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n A S h o r t S t o y , ( N e w Yo r k : H e n r y H o l t a n d C o m p a n y, 2 0 1 2 ) . 2 Christopher Hibbert, The Days of the French Revolution, (New Yo r k : W i l l i a m M o r r o w , 1 9 9 9 ) . 3 5 established labor unions that had formed during the start of the regime. It was Perier who facilitated the work contracts (railway, mining, etc. ), and began issuing them to friends and supporters. These contracts led to the workers losin g their right to petition for increased pay, decreased work hours, and a lack of other humane bene? ts. These laws and contracts favored the wealthy, and did little to nothing to assist the poor working force. The neglect of the work force inevitably created protests, and in April of 1834 these protests turned into the aforementioned riots. On April 14th, 1834 during the chaos of an ever-growing riot, a French police of? cer was killed by sniper ? re originating from a silk weaver’s home. The silk weaver’s home was raided by the French National Guard, killing all twelve inhabitants, and inspiring Daumier to create his Rue Transnonain as a way of communicating and chronicling his interpretation of the event. In Rue Transnonain, Daumier chose to conveniently omit the dead police of? cer from his lithograph. He turned a satirical cartoon into a piece of ? ne art, obfuscating the government intrusion and instead focusing on the horri? c and identi? able aftermath. Daumier’s contribution to the revolution is so highly in? uenced by his hate for the government he possessed even before Philippe/Perier began making changes to the existing labor laws, that his true intentions are clouded. Daumier’s ideals were not the same as the patriots who laid down their lives for a better France. Daumier was not a patriot. Daumier spread propaganda with highly stylized scenes of terror without illuminating the viewer to any preceding event. The government immediately identi? ed Daumier and his piece’s impact as detrimental to the political regime, but their attempts to censor it only made it more poignant to the public when they observed it. ! Honore Daumier is known today as a revolutionary artist. His lithograph Rue Transnonain helped spark the French Revolution—ripping the power of the people out of the tyrannical hands of the throne, and placing it into the cradle of a democracy. Rue Transnonain keenly delivers the emotions of the aftermath of the supposed massacre, but does not deliver the entire story of the events that happened in and around the silk 8 Honore Daumier RUE TRANSNONAIN LE 15 AVRIL 1834 Lithograph, 28 X 44 cm(, Biblioteque Nationale, Paris. worker’s house, nor the legislation that led up to it. The moment the police of? cer was killed, that area turned into a combat zone. The French National Guard was not on the offensive, attempting to kill civilians at will – they entered into a 12 person dwelling, and killed the apparent enemy combatants on sight. They did this to protect their country’s law and their country’s leadership. Daumier saw a massacre. Daumier saw an opportunity to turn his country’s angst into revolution. He took it. 9 Works cited Laughton, Bruce. Honore Daumier. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996 Schama, Simon. Citizens : a chronicle of the French Revolution. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. Hibbert, Christopher. The days of the French Revolution. New York: William Morrow, 1999. Cary, Elisabeth Luther. Honore Daumier. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library, 1907. Johnston, RM. The French Revolution A Short Story. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2012. 10