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Artist or Maker: JEAN BÉRAUD, French, 1849-1936
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Dimensions: 14 1/2 by 17 3/4 in.
37 by 45 cm
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Provenance: PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, TENNESSEE
Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, December 26, 1908 (purchased from the artist, stock no. 17058)
Galerie Charpentier, Paris
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Literature: Patrick Offenstadt, Jean B éraud 1849-1935, Cologne: Taschen, 1999, p. 223, no. 282, illustrated
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Notes: Painted in 1908.
The 19th century French café served as the hub of political and cultural life in Paris. A hotbed for political discussions and an escape into the pleasures of libation, people of all walks of life composed its nucleus. Artists and writers congregated to socialize and observe, workers indulged in food and drink, and all partook in the art of distraction and merriment.
Among the various alcoholic beverages to choose from, the powerful allure of absinthe was mythical. The green potion mesmerized the French public, and the intoxication and ill effects were depicted by artists such as Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, and Raffaelli, among others. Au Café is one of a series of works which Béraud painted on the theme of absinthe, and the male in the composition appears in other versions (see Patrick Offenstadt, Jean Béraud, The Belle Epoque: A Dream of Times Gone By, pp. 219-224, pls. 272, 273).
These other versions serve as interesting comparisons to our work, for Béraud repeatedly depicts the physiognomy of the same gentleman, whose erratic moods appear ostensibly linked to the debilitating effects of the drink. However it is not only the danger of absinthe that links this man to dissolution, his striking features may be exaggerated to reflect the 19th century interest in human pathology and the origins of criminology. Although traditionally treated as a pseudo-science, linking certain facial features to innate criminality was actively debated in the late 19th century. Signs such as the size of one's skull, the formation of cheekbones and positioning of the jaw represented a certain moral depravity. In the brutal murders dubbed the "Abadie affair"of 1879, for example, Abadie's physiognomy was linked to his dreadful deed. In an article for the Paris Journal, Abadie was described as possessing a "low forehead, large and powerful jaw, prominent cheek bones, thick-lipped mouth, eyes by turn dull and menacing, [and] greenish complexion" (As quoted in Douglas Druick, "Framing the Little Dancer Aged Fourteen," Degas and the Little Dancer, exhibition catalogue, New Haven: Yale, 1997, p. 80). These characteristics fluidly coalesce in Béraud's protagonist, who uncannily resembles the prototype of a criminal personality.
