sovay | Nothing is simple for this fellow!

I wish I had some idea how I came to be looking up Charles Baudelaire on Wikipedia, but I consider it a lucky strike of free association: I had never seen a photograph of him before. This one got my attention.

It's credited to Étienne Carjat, c. 1863. I had some idea of what he looked like from paintings, but none of them have that mimetic jolt: you stare in at the subject, he stares out at you. It's weirdly modern, immediate. How often do you see photographs from the 1860's where the subjects have bruises under their eyes? He looks like an accountant who hasn't slept for a month. He's a Decadent poet's hangover. And somehow he looks respectable. Run-down, but not in the aesthetically dissipated way. (

fleurdelis28 commented, "I'm not sure I'd ever expected to see a photograph of a person who looked like a cross between Remus Lupin and Calvin Coolidge, but if I had I would not have expected that person to be Baudelaire.") Given, of course, that he was Baudelaire, I bet it annoyed the fuck out of him.

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He's quite striking! "Run-down, but not in the aesthetically dissipated way" I love it--the shades of down-at-the-heed-ed-ness, the taxonomy of dissipation.

When I hear the name Baudelaire, I think of this song by Jane Birkin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTRoiFLb82A

Amour pervers
Me susurre Henry Miller
Dans son Tropique du Cancer
Du Cancer
Baudelaire
Me donne ce soir la chair
De poulette littéraire
Dans mon rocking-chair...

He's quite striking!

Feel free to write him poems! It's my guess he'd appreciate it.

Dans mon rocking-chair...

That's wonderful. (Also, catchy.) Is it Serge Gainsbourg's?

Not sure; it was on a cassette tape a friend of mine gave me in the 1980s, which I can't lay my hands on right now. It's just her doing the singing, but possibly he was in on the composition (it was from the time when they were doing lots of stuff together).

Not sure; it was on a cassette tape a friend of mine gave me in the 1980s, which I can't lay my hands on right now.

Fortunately, there's the internet. "Rocking Chair" is from Jane Birkin's Ex-fan des sixties (1978), all songs by Serge Gainsbourg. Excuse me while I put it on repeat.

**kisses**

How did you find this?! I didn't find it on Amazon, but maybe I have very pathetic search powers?

Oh, this is so nostalgic! I remember sitting with my friend S; we met in Japan--she was ethnically Chinese, born on Tahiti, grew up in New Caledonia, educated in Paris. My goodness, memories...

How did you find this?! I didn't find it on Amazon, but maybe I have very pathetic search powers?

I look for a lot of music online.

I remember sitting with my friend S; we met in Japan--she was ethnically Chinese, born on Tahiti, grew up in New Caledonia, educated in Paris.

I hope she wouldn't be offended by my asking how many languages she knows . . .

Welcome!

I wonder--well, at least four (Japanese, whatever dialect of Chinese she spoke, French, and English)

Oh, wow! Thanks for the awesome song.

What's really weirding me out about this picture is how much he looks like DI Sam Tyler (http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifeonmars/characters/sam.shtml). I'd never seen a picture of Baudelaire before, and I don't know what I would have expected, but not that.

Oh, wow! Thanks for the awesome song.

Welcome!

asakiyume introduced me to it.

What's really weirding me out about this picture is how much he looks like DI Sam Tyler. I'd never seen a picture of Baudelaire before, and I don't know what I would have expected, but not that.

Yeah. But John Simm totally needs to play him sometime.

You're right, it is a very arresting photograph. The intensity is startling--I suppose that what I want to say is that I'm amazed that he was able to project like that, over the space of time needed to take a photograph in 1863.

I now have a strange desire to look through photographic portraits from the era, in a concentrated, searching fashion, in order to see if I can find any others with a similar quality to them. I wonder if we might find... not the same intensity and immediacy, but something along the same lines, in an American Civil War photograph, but I find myself thinking that I've seen a fair number of them and don't really recall it.

And I love

fleurdelis28's comment; it's absolutely spot on, in all respects.

I wonder if we might find... not the same intensity and immediacy, but something along the same lines, in an American Civil War photograph, but I find myself thinking that I've seen a fair number of them and don't really recall it.

If you run across any, let me know. I am fascinated by the way worlds vanish and seem accessible only in fragments; and then you find something which burns right through to now. Or you don't, and you're left hoping it exists.

And I love fleurdelis28's comment; it's absolutely spot on, in all respects.

She's good like that.

If you run across any, let me know.

I will.

I am fascinated by the way worlds vanish and seem accessible only in fragments; and then you find something which burns right through to now. Or you don't, and you're left hoping it exists.

Yes.

I... zut, I want to say something that might be profound or might be daft about that, but I can't grasp hold of it, and it's not long before class and I ought to be athinking on other things. Ah, well.

A great photograph- and an extraordinary face.

Mid-19th century photographs have such intensity. I think it's got a lot to do with exposure times.

A great photograph- and an extraordinary face.

Yes. I wasn't disappointed.

I think it's got a lot to do with exposure times.

Do you know about how long a photograph like this would have taken?

shewhomust asked and I was completely useless.

That's the best known photograph of Baudelaire, I think - and that stare makes me wonder how long he's had to hold the pose. How long an exposure would it have been?

I also realise now that I've been confusing Carjat with Nadar, who was a friend of Baudelaire and took this rather more relaxed photo of him. Also this one.

On the other hand, Carjat took the photo of Rimbaud.

That's the best known photograph of Baudelaire, I think

Somehow I'd missed all of them. All hail Wikipedia, which at least joins text to image in recognition-useful ways. (I'm now thinking of it as a field guide to dead artists. There must be something to do with that concept.)

How long an exposure would it have been?

I have no idea—ask

poliphilo? I'd assumed a matter of minutes?

this rather more relaxed photo of him. Also this one.

I saw those. Oddly, they look more rather than less posed to me: portrait of the artist as a relatively young whatever. There's no particular stance in the first one, just Baudelaire. I'm sure it's as much of an illusion as any other portrait, but . . .

the photo of Rimbaud.

Yeah. That I've seen.

A great photo. Being more familiar with his verse than portraits of the man, I find it an appropriately intense representation.

Quirky factoid: Jodie Foster lists "Flowers of Evil" as her favorite book.

Quirky factoid: Jodie Foster lists "Flowers of Evil" as her favorite book.

Jodie Foster is awesome.

Man. I know I've felt like this, but I can only hope I didn't actually look it.

I know I've felt like this, but I can only hope I didn't actually look it.

Yeah. And at least you don't have a dandy's reputation to uphold . . .

If I had my youth to do over again, I think I'd try to have a dandy's reputation to uphold :D

(Actually, given my personality, I could never in a million years carry that off--but it's fun to imagine!)

Nothing is simple for this fellow!

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