De Cloporte en Janus : sur quelques représentations du portier dans la caricature française du XIXe siècle
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Date
2020
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Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II; Werset
Abstract
Les caricatures de concierges, portiers et domestiques auxiliaires des portes et du passage dans les lieux publics de l ’immeuble, ou privés de l'appartement, sont nombreuses au XIXe siècle, en dessin et en littérature. En effet le concierge ou portier est alors un phénomène moderne, et sa situation sociale, de même que celle de son local, est située dans l'entre-deux. Sa fonction de contrôle se heurte dès lors à la fois aux pressions du propriétaire de l'immeuble et à la résistance de ses locataires. Le portier ou concierge occupe donc une place spéciale dans la représentation caricaturale du XIXe siècle. Entre servilité et volonté de surpuissance, il fait l ’objet de nombreux tiraillements. Alors qu'il est écartelé socialement entre locataire et propriétaire, ses représentations caricaturales s'étirent entre animal et dieu.
There are numerous caricatures of male concierges or doormen in the nineteenth-century texts and drawings. They constitute a very modern phenomenon, as new building layouts of the time, or new buildings in general, almost always included a lodge. Their role of controlling the whereabouts of people getting in and out of the building was subject to the contradictory pressures from landlords and tenants alike. We will try to demonstrate how the doormen and concierges belonged to the in-between places in the nineteenth-century French caricature, with their social position stretched between their landlords and tenants, a function that allowed them to combine servility and an excessive show of strength, and resulted in their depictions ranging from animals to gods.
There are numerous caricatures of male concierges or doormen in the nineteenth-century texts and drawings. They constitute a very modern phenomenon, as new building layouts of the time, or new buildings in general, almost always included a lodge. Their role of controlling the whereabouts of people getting in and out of the building was subject to the contradictory pressures from landlords and tenants alike. We will try to demonstrate how the doormen and concierges belonged to the in-between places in the nineteenth-century French caricature, with their social position stretched between their landlords and tenants, a function that allowed them to combine servility and an excessive show of strength, and resulted in their depictions ranging from animals to gods.
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Keywords
caricature; doorman; Sue; Daumier; Le Charivari, caricature; portier; Sue; Daumier; Le Charivari
Citation
"Quêtes littéraires" 2020, nº 10, s. 54-65