Tag: Charles Baudelaire

By Invading the Territories of Art, Photography Has Become Art’s Most Mortal Enemy

Charles Baudelaire? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Technophiles have welcomed recent advances in artificial intelligence in the domain of art. Yet, many artists and connoisseurs have been unsettled or openly hostile.

One commentator attempted to provide historical perspective by claiming that the famous French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire denounced the emerging technology of photography. Baudelaire said that photography had become “art’s most mortal enemy”.

Is this quotation genuine? Would you please help me to find a citation for the original statement in French?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1859 “Revue Française” of Paris published a letter from Charles Baudelaire under the title “Le Public Moderne et la Photographie” (“The Modern Public and Photography”). Below is an English translation of the pertinent passage followed by the original French. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:[1]1859, Revue Française, Cinquième Année (Fifth Year), Tome XVII (Volume 17), Lettre a M. Le Directeur De La Revue Francaise Sur Le Salon De 1859 (Letter to The Editor of the French Review on the … Continue reading

As the photographic industry was the refuge of all failed painters, too ill-equipped or too lazy to complete their studies, this universal infatuation bore not only the character of blindness and imbecility, but also the color of vengeance. That such a brainless conspiracy, in which one finds, as in all the others, the wicked and the dupes, can achieve absolute success, I do not believe it, or at least I do not want to believe it; but I am convinced that the ill-applied advancements of photography have greatly contributed, like all purely material progress, to the impoverishment of French artistic genius, which is already so rare.

Modern Fatuity may well roar, belch out all the rumblings of its rotund stomach, spew out all the indigestible sophisms with which a recent philosophy has stuffed it. Nevertheless, it is obvious that this industry, by invading the territories of art, has become art’s most mortal enemy, and that the confusion of functions prevents any from being well fulfilled. Poetry and progress are two ambitious people who hate each other instinctively, and when they meet on the same path, one of them must serve the other. If photography is allowed to supplement art in some of its functions, it will soon have supplanted or corrupted it altogether, thanks to the natural alliance it will find in the stupidity of the multitude.

Below is the original French followed by additional citations.

Continue reading By Invading the Territories of Art, Photography Has Become Art’s Most Mortal Enemy

References

References
↑1 1859, Revue Française, Cinquième Année (Fifth Year), Tome XVII (Volume 17), Lettre a M. Le Directeur De La Revue Francaise Sur Le Salon De 1859 (Letter to The Editor of the French Review on the Salon of 1859), (by Charles Baudelaire), Section 2: Le Public Moderne Et La Photographie (The Modern Public and Photography), Start Page 257, Quote Page 265, Aux Bureaux de La Revue Française, Paris, France. (Google Books Full View) link

The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled Was Convincing the World He Didn’t Exist

Christopher McQuarrie? Charles Baudelaire? Kevin Spacey? Verbal Kint? Keyser Söze? John Wilkinson? William Ramsey? John Fletcher Hurst? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: The 1995 movie “The Usual Suspects” contains a memorable line spoken by a guileful character about the existence or non-existence of the Devil.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.

Apparently, the prominent French literary figure Charles Baudelaire said something similar. Would you please explore this saying?

Quote Investigator: Charles Baudelaire did write a story that appeared in the Paris newspaper “Le Figaro” in 1864 that included a comparable statement. The precise citation is given further below.

Interesting precursors occurred even earlier; for example, the 1836 book “Quakerism Examined” by John Wilkinson contained the following. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:[1]1836, Quakerism Examined: In a Reply to the Letter of Samuel Tuke by John Wilkinson, Chapter 4: Is the Sacrifice of Christ Held in Proper Estimation by the Society of Friends?, Quote Page 239 and … Continue reading

One of the artifices of Satan is, to induce men to believe that he does not exist: another, perhaps equally fatal, is to make them fancy that he is obliged to stand quietly by, and not to meddle with them, if they get into true silence.

In 1856 “Spiritualism, a Satanic Delusion, and a Sign of the Times” by Pastor William Ramsey included this passage:[2]1856, Spiritualism, a Satanic Delusion, and a Sign of the Times by William Ramsey (Pastor of the Cedar Street Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia), Chapter 2: The Case Stated, Quote Page 33, Edited by … Continue reading

One of the most striking proofs of the personal existence of Satan, which our times afford us, is found in the fact, that he has so influenced the minds of multitudes in reference to his existence and doings, as to make them believe that he does not exist; and that the hosts of Demons or Evil Spirits, over whom Satan presides as Prince, are only the phantacies of the brain, some halucination of mind. Could we have a stronger proof of the existence of a mind so mighty as to produce such results?

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled Was Convincing the World He Didn’t Exist

References

References
↑1 1836, Quakerism Examined: In a Reply to the Letter of Samuel Tuke by John Wilkinson, Chapter 4: Is the Sacrifice of Christ Held in Proper Estimation by the Society of Friends?, Quote Page 239 and 240, Thomas Ward and Company, London. (Google Books Full View) link
↑2 1856, Spiritualism, a Satanic Delusion, and a Sign of the Times by William Ramsey (Pastor of the Cedar Street Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia), Chapter 2: The Case Stated, Quote Page 33, Edited by H. L. Hastings, Published by H. L. Hastings, Peace Dale, Rhode Island. (HathiTrust Full View) link
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