Everything’s for Sale: The Barmaid as a Figure of Commodity in A Bar at the Folies Bergère

Authors

Erin Quirk, Lindenwood UniversityFollow

Student Type

Graduate

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This paper explores the role of the barmaid in relation to commodity in Édouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folies Bergère during the explosion of mass consumption that helped define nineteenth century Paris modernity. Building upon existing scholarship, I explore the figure’s role as a member of the emerging working class female, a possible prostitute and an advertising device, promoting the bar’s goods, along with the experience of the Folies-Bergère to the city’s inhabitants. This paper includes formal and iconographical analysis of the figure in relation to commodity as well as a cultural analysis of how these representations reflect attitudes surrounding the commodification of female roles in newly modernized Paris.

Recommended Citation

Quirk, Erin (2023) "Everything’s for Sale: The Barmaid as a Figure of Commodity in A Bar at the Folies Bergère," The Confluence: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62608/2150-2633.1045
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/theconfluence/vol3/iss1/5

Date

10/19/23