Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College

The Human Comedy: Chronicles of 19th-Century France

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Bluestockings and Advocates of Divorce

LES BAS-BLEUS (BLUESTOCKINGS) The term bas-bleu comes from the English term “bluestocking,” first used in the mid-18th century to describe the informal dress attendees wore to London’s literary salons. The term later became pejorative when used to describe women who engaged in literary or intellectual activities. Women breaking into the public sphere of politics and literature were punished by journalists and caricaturists intent on pushing them back into the domestic sphere of homemaking and child-rearing. In these prints, we see women writers and their hen-pecked husbands ridiculed. According to conventional stereoptyes, women were overly emotive and incapable of abstract thinking or analytical reasoning. The women in these prints are not just self-absorbed mothers; they are bad writers. In Sentimental Education, Gustave Flaubert’s character Miss Vatnaz, a writer and political activist, receives similar treatment to that of Daumier’s bas-bleus. The feminist writer Amélie Bosquet condemned Flaubert’s negative portrayal of Miss Vatnaz, writing: “You gave a rather humiliating role to the woman who stands up for her rights.”


  1. Mme La Duchesse d'Abrantès

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Mme La Duchesse d'Abrantès, mid–19th century Lithograph Gift of Eugene L. Garbaty, 1951.79.1…

  2. George Sand

    Alcide Joseph Lorentz (French, 1813–1891) George Sand, 1842 Lithograph Gift of Eugene L. Garbaty, 1951.87.4 This caricature, or…

  3. Art-Students and Copyists in the Louvre Gallery

    Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910) Art-Students and Copyists in the Louvre Gallery, Paris, 1868 Wood engraving Mrs. F.F. Prenti…

  4. Enfer et damnation!

    Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879) Enfer et damnation! .... sifflée ! ... siflée !... Siiiiflée ! [Hell and damnation!... hi…

  5. Voilà une femme qui ...s'occupe bêtement de ses enfans...

    Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879) Voilà une femme qui…s'occupe bêtement de ses enfans... (There’s a woman who…stupidly…

  6. L'Artiste m'a représentée

    Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879) L'Artiste m'a représentée... (The artist captured me...), 1844 Lithograph General Acquisit…

  7. Satané paillard d'enfant va!

    Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879) Satané piallard d'enfant va!... (Confounded squalling brat!...), 1844 Lithograph General Ac…

  8. Citoyennes...

    Honoré Daumier (French, 1808–1879) Citoyennes... on fait courir le bruit ... (Women Citizens... there is a rumor spreading...),…