''L'art pompier'' (literally 'fireman art') or ''style pompier'' is a derisive late-19th century French term for large 'official'

academic art Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie d ...

paintings of the time, especially historical or allegorical ones. The term derives from the helmets with horse-hair tails, worn at the time by French firemen, which are similar to the

Attic helmet The Attic helmet was a type of helmet that originated in Classical Greece and was widely used in Italy and the Hellenistic world until well into the Roman Empire. Its name is a modern historiographic convention: "Terms such as Illyrian and Attic ar ...

s often worn in such works by allegorical personifications, classical warriors, or Napoleonic cavalry. It also suggests half-puns in French with ''pompéien'' ('from

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

') and ''pompeux'' ('pompous'). This type of art was seen by those who used the term as the epitome of the values of the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

, and as insincere and overblown. ''L'art pompier'' (a term supporters mostly avoid) has enjoyed something of a critical revival in the last twenty years, partly caused by the new

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

in Paris, where it is displayed on more equal terms with the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and

Realist painter Realism in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding speculative and supernatural elements. The term is often used interchangeably with naturalism, although these terms are not ...

s of the period.Harding, 14–22 The ''Manifeste Pompier'' ('Fireman Manifesto') by Louis-Marie Lecharny was published in Paris in 1990. He also wrote ''L'art Pompier'' (1998).

William-Adolphe Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry (7 November 1828 17 January 1886) was a French painter. Life Baudry was born in 1828 in La Roche-sur-Yon in the Vendée. He studied art under Michel Martin Drolling and enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts in 1845. ...

, Alfred Agache,

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. According to ''Diccionario Enciclopedi ...

Joseph-Noël Sylvestre Joseph-Noël Sylvestre (1847–1926) was a French artist, notable for his studies of classic scenes from antiquity.Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge,Wilkinson, Burke. ''The Life and Works of A ...

are among the classic artists of this genre.

Notes

References

*Harding, James. ''Artistes pompiers: French academic art in the 19th century'', New York: Rizzoli, 1979.

External links

*Article on ''Peut-on parler d’une peinture pompier?'', by Jacques Thuillier
www.dezenovevinte.net (in French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Art pompier French art French art movements fr:Art pompier