Gustave Caillebotte's Floorscrapers

I will be discussing the concept of modernity in Gustave Caillebotte’s work, specifically analyzing his piece, Floorscrapers (1875). This is a great piece that highlights the Impressionist style of Caillebotte, which at first seemed unconventional within the Impressionism style. However, his use of light, loose brush strokes, and values is highly typical of an Impressionist artist. Floorscrapers was seen as a representation of gender roles within different workspaces, although this piece expresses a lot more. Caillebotte’s study and application of light across the floor and bodies of the workers is magnificent, and obviously the focus aspect of this piece. The light which comes through the upper left region of the painting where the window is located, floods across the room initially and falls across the three workers. It highlight’s their own bodies, with Caillebotte putting influence on the bone structure and slight muscle of the working men. The floor space seems to follow back into the rear in the piece, abruptly stopping at the wall line, which borders the background of the piece, except for the open window. Although Caillebotte was never considered an Impressionist artists and rather one border the lines of Impressionism and academism, the Impressionist style is completely apparent in his works. This piece reminds me of the differences between Claude Monet’s and Edouard Manet’s separate renderings of the Festival of 30 June 1878. I would rather compare Caillebotte’s piece to Manet’s rendering, The Rue Mosnier, rather then Monet’s because of the image of a working man. Caillebotte has illustrated an Impressionist scene, with great lighting and detail, but the scene is that of a hard working, lower class job. This is also where I can see the implications of gender roles within this piece, however it wouldn’t be one of the main aspects I would think of when first viewing this piece. However, the space in which these three men are working does seem like it could be a female dominated place, perhaps a dance floor or gallery of sorts. We also see to the direct right of the third figure, a distinct bottle of wine and full glass, which could also be a device to represent the idea of female and male gender roles in a space. Caillebotte often chose to depict men over women though, which we can also see in his pieces, Man at His Bath (1884) and Floorscrapers (‘side-on’ version) (1876). As previously stated, I don’t necessarily think this idea of gender roles is an important aspect. Although I can see how at the time, it was an noticeable aspect in this piece. Caillebotte’s usage of light and subject, is typical of an Impressionist artist, even though he himself was never considered as one. Although we do see modernity within most of his works, the most successful were those that depicted bourgeois scenes. Even though these scenes challenged traditional gender roles within the spaces they were depicted, Caillebotte did this on purpose. Personally, I enjoy Caillebotte’s Impressionist style, especially in this pieces that depict gender roles.