Théophile Gautier

Gautier, who started off as a painter, contributed much to the world of art criticism. Instead of taking on the classical criticism of art that involved knowledge of color, composition and line, Gautier was strongly committed to Denis Diderot's idea that the critic should have the ability to describe the art such that the reader might "see" the art through his description. Many other critics of the generation of 1830 took on this theory of the transposition of art – the belief that one can express one art medium in terms of another. Although today Gautier is less well known as an art critic than his great contemporary, Baudelaire, he was more highly regarded by the painters of his time. In 1862 he was elected chairman of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (National Society of Fine Arts) with a board which included Eugène Delacroix, Édouard Manet, Gustave Doré and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

Gautier's literary criticism was more reflective in nature; his literary analysis was free from the pressure of his art and theatre columns and therefore, he was able to express his ideas without restriction. He made a clear distinction between prose and poetry, stating that prose should never be considered the equal of poetry. The bulk of Gautier's criticism, however, was journalistic. He raised the level of journalistic criticism of his day.

The majority of Gautier's career was spent writing a weekly column of theatrical criticism. Because Gautier wrote so frequently on plays, he began to consider the nature of the plays and developed the criteria by which they should be judged. He suggested that the normal five acts of a play could be reduced to three: an exposition, a complication, and a dénouement. Having abandoned the idea that tragedy is the superior genre, Gautier was willing to accept comedy as the equal of tragedy. Taking it a step further, he suggested that the nature of the theatrical effect should be in favour of creating fantasy rather than portraying reality because realistic theatre was undesirable.

Carlotta Grisi, his great love, as Giselle, 1842

From a 21st-century standpoint Gautier's writings about dance are the most significant of his writings. The American writer Edwin Denby, widely considered the most significant writer about dance in the 20th century, called him "by common consent the greatest of ballet critics". Gautier, Denby says, "seems to report wholly from the point of view of a civilized entertainment seeker". He founds his judgments not on theoretical principles but in sensuous perception, starting from the physical form and vital energy of the individual dancer. This emphasis has remained a tacit touchstone of dance writing ever since.

Through his authorship of the scenario of the ballet Giselle, one of the foundation works of the dance repertoire, his influence remains as great among choreographers and dancers as among critics and balletomanes [devotees of ballet].

In 2011, Pacific Northwest Ballet presented a reconstruction of the work as close to its narrative and choreographic sources as possible, based on archival materials dating back to 1842, the year after its premiere.

• Poésies, published in 1830, is a collection of 42 poems that Gautier composed at the age of 18. However, as the publication took place during the July Revolution, no copies were sold and it was eventually withdrawn. In 1832, the collection was reissued with 20 additional poems under the name Albertus. Another edition in 1845 included revisions of some of the poems. The poems are written in a wide variety of verse forms and show that Gautier attempts to imitate other, more established Romantic poets such as Sainte-Beuve, Alphonse de Lamartine, and Hugo, before Gautier eventually found his own way by becoming a critic of Romantic excesses.
• Albertus, written in 1831 and published in 1832, is a long narrative poem of 122 stanzas, each consisting of 12 lines of alexandrine (12-syllable) verse, except for the last line of each stanza, which is octosyllabic. Albertus is a parody of Romantic literature, especially of tales of the macabre and the supernatural. The poem tells a story of an ugly witch who magically transforms at midnight into an alluring young woman. Albertus, the hero, falls deeply in love and agrees to sell his soul.
• Les Jeunes-France ("The Jeunes-France: Tales Told with Tongue in Cheek"), published in 1833, was a satire of Romanticism. In 1831, the newspaper Le Figaro featured a number of works by the young generation of Romantic artists and published them in the Jeunes-France.
• La Comédie de la Mort (Fr), published in 1838, is a period piece much like Albertus. In this work, Gautier focuses on the theme of death, which for Gautier is a terrifying, stifling and irreversible finality. Unlike many Romantics before him, Gautier's vision of death is solemn and portentous, proclaiming death as the definitive escape from life's torture. During the time he wrote the work, Gautier was frequenting many cemeteries, which were then expanding rapidly to accommodate the many deaths from epidemics that swept the country. Gautier translates death into a curiously heady, voluptuous, almost exhilarating experience which diverts him momentarily from the gruesome reality and conveys his urgent plea for light over darkness, life over death. Several of these poems have been set as melodies by composers such as Berlioz, Bizet, Fauré, and Duparc.
• España (1845) is usually considered the transitional volume between the two phases of Gautier's poetic career. Inspired by the author's summer 1840 visit to Spain, the 43 miscellaneous poems in the collection cover topics including the Spanish language and aspects of Spanish culture and traditions such as music and dance.
• Émaux et Camées ("Enamels and Cameos", 1852), published when Gautier was touring the Middle East, is considered his supreme poetic achievement. The title reflects Gautier's abandonment of the romantic ambition to create a kind of "total" art involving the emotional participation of the reader, in favour of a more modern approach focusing more on the poetic composition's form instead of its content. Originally a collection of 18 poems in 1852, its later editions contained up to 37 poems. (The 2nd "augmented" edition of "Enamels and Cameos", translated into English by Sunny Lou Publishing, ISBN 978-1-95539-232-7, 2022.)
• Dernières Poésies (1872) is a collection of poems that range from earlier pieces to unfinished fragments composed shortly before Gautier's death. This collection is dominated by numerous sonnets dedicated to many of his friends.

Gautier did not consider himself to be a dramatist but more of a poet and storyteller. His plays were limited because of the time in which he lived; during the Revolution of 1848, many theaters were closed down and therefore plays were scarce. Most of the plays that dominated the mid-century were written by playwrights who insisted on conformity and conventional formulas and catered to cautious middle-class audiences. As a result, most of Gautier's plays were never published or reluctantly accepted.

Between the years 1839 and 1850, Gautier wrote all or part of nine different plays:

• Un Voyage en Espagne (1843)
• La Juive de Constantine (1846)
• Regardez mais ne touchez pas (1847) — written less by Gautier than his collaborators.
• Pierrot en Espagne (1847) — Gautier's authorship is uncertain.
• L’Amour souffle où il veut (1850) — not completed
• Une Larme du diable (1839) ("The Devil's Tear") was written shortly after Gautier's trip to Belgium in 1836. The work is considered an imitation of a medieval mystery play, a type of drama popular in the 14th century. These plays were usually performed in churches because they were religious in nature. In Gautier's play God cheats a bit to win a bet with Satan. The play is humorous and preaches both in favour and against human love.
• Le Tricorne enchanté (1845; "The Magic Hat") is a play set in the 17th century. The plot involves an old man named Géronte who wishes to marry a beautiful woman who is in love with another man. After much scheming, the old man is duped and the lovers are married.
• La Fausse Conversion (1846) ("The False Conversion") is a satirical play written in prose. It was published in the Revue des Deux Mondes on 1 March. As with many other Gautier plays, the drama was not performed in his lifetime. It takes place in the 18th century, before the social misery that preceded the French Revolution. La Fausse Conversion is highly antifeminist and expresses Gautier's opinion that a woman must be a source of pleasure for man or frozen into art.
• Pierrot Posthume (1847) is a brief comedic fantasy inspired by the Italian Commedia dell'arte, popular in France since the 16th century. It involved a typical triangle and ends happily ever after.

The fictional Mademoiselle de Maupin, from Six Drawings Illustrating Théophile Gautier's Romance Mademoiselle de Maupin, by Aubrey Beardsley, 1897

• Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) In September 1833, Gautier was solicited to write a historical romance based on the life of French opera star Mlle. Maupin, who was a first-rate swordswoman and often went about disguised as a man. Originally, the story was to be about the historical La Maupin, who set fire to a convent for the love of another woman, but later retired to a convent herself, shortly before dying in her thirties. Gautier instead turned the plot into a simple love triangle between a man, d'Albert, and his mistress, Rosette, who both fall in love with Madelaine de Maupin, who is disguised as a man named Théodore. The message behind Gautier's version of the infamous legend is the fundamental pessimism about the human identity, and perhaps the entire Romantic age. The novel consists of seventeen chapters, most in the form of letters written by d'Albert or Madelaine. Most critics focus on the preface of the novel, which preached about art for art's sake through its dictum that "everything useful is ugly".
• Eldorado, ou Fortunio (1837) Serialized in Le Figaro in 1837; published as a book in 1838. Translated as Fortunio by 1907. An absurdist, decadent, and Orientalist fantasy story that takes place in Paris and revolves around the mysterious man Fortunio, raised in India, and his French love Musidora.
• Le Roman de La Momie (1858) Translated as The Romance of a Mummy in 1863. A historical novel set in Ancient Egypt, which features the Biblical Exodus.[8]
• Captain Fracasse (1863) This book was promised to the public in 1836 but finally published in 1863. The novel represents a different era and is a project that Gautier had wanted to complete earlier in this youth. It is centered on a soldier named Fracasse whose adventures portray bouts of chivalry, courage and a sense of adventure. Gautier places the story in his favourite historical era, that of Louis XIII. It is best described as a typical cloak-and-dagger fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after.

• La Morte Amoureuse (1836) Classic tale of the supernatural in which a priest receives nocturnal visitations from a female vampire. Reprinted by Valde Books as Clarimonde.
• One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances (1882) Collection of six of his short stories in English translation by Lafcadio Hearn.

• The travels of Théophile Gautier – 4 Volumes.

The travels of Théophile Gautier Vol 4

Travels in Russia Vol 1[9]

• Denby, Edwin (1998). Dance Writings and Poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06985-5.
• Grant, Richard (1975). Théophile Gautier. Boston, Mass.: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-6213-2.
• Gautier, Théophile; Ivor Guest, ed. (2008). Gautier on Dance. London: Dance Books. ISBN 0-903102-94-3.
• Gautier, Théophile; F.C. de Sumichrast, trans., ed., introduction (1912), The Romances of Théophile Gautier, Volume Five, Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
• Gilman, Daniel Coit, editor (1902). Gautier, Théophile" in New International Encyclopedia, Volume VIII, New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, pp. 161–162.
• Richardson, Joanna (1958). Théophile Gautier: His Life and Times. London: Max Reinhardt.
• Saltus, Edgar Everett (1887). "Introduction" (pp. 9–30) to Tales Before Supper from Théophile Gautier and Prosper Mérimée, translated by Myndart Verelst, New York: Brentano's.
• Tennant, Phillip Ernest (1975). Théophile Gautier. London: the Athlone Press. ISBN 0-485-12204-9.