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Jules Janin and the Ballet

Jules Janin and the Ballet John V. Chapman By the early 1830s ballet was being radically altered by the new approaches adopted by ballet masters and by dancers' increasing mastery of a more athletic technique. The resultant shift in the nature of ballet posed a serious challenge to critics. Among the first to respond with a new critical approach was Jules-Gabriel Janin (1804-1874), who adopted a philosophy of art which was completely opposed to the traditional aesthetic which had been appropriate to the analysis of the ballets in the early part of the century. In 1832 he began to focus on the poetic illusion created by ballets rather than on dramatic action which had been central to traditional criticism. He was, in fact, viewing ballet from l'art pour l'art perspectives, and doing so three years before his colleague, the romantic poet, novelist and critic, Theophile Gautier (1811-72), first articulated the 'art for art's sake' aesthetic. In the preface to Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) Gautier rejected the basic tenet of traditional artistic belief, that art had to be utilitarian, that it had to possess virtues beyond intrinsic aesthetic qualities. To be useful was to be disagreeable, Gautier asserted, and since the sole aim of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Dance Research Edinburgh University Press

Jules Janin and the Ballet

Chapman, John V.
Dance Research , Volume 7 (1): 65 – Apr 1, 1989
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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
©© 1989 Society for Dance Research
ISSN
0264-2875
eISSN
1750-0095
DOI
10.2307/1290579
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

John V. Chapman By the early 1830s ballet was being radically altered by the new approaches adopted by ballet masters and by dancers' increasing mastery of a more athletic technique. The resultant shift in the nature of ballet posed a serious challenge to critics. Among the first to respond with a new critical approach was Jules-Gabriel Janin (1804-1874), who adopted a philosophy of art which was completely opposed to the traditional aesthetic which had been appropriate to the analysis of the ballets in the early part of the century. In 1832 he began to focus on the poetic illusion created by ballets rather than on dramatic action which had been central to traditional criticism. He was, in fact, viewing ballet from l'art pour l'art perspectives, and doing so three years before his colleague, the romantic poet, novelist and critic, Theophile Gautier (1811-72), first articulated the 'art for art's sake' aesthetic. In the preface to Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) Gautier rejected the basic tenet of traditional artistic belief, that art had to be utilitarian, that it had to possess virtues beyond intrinsic aesthetic qualities. To be useful was to be disagreeable, Gautier asserted, and since the sole aim of

Journal

Dance Research – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Apr 1, 1989

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