The smile revolution in eighteenth century Paris

Author:

Jones, Colin, 1947-

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Imprint:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2014

Subject:

Smiling - France - Paris - History - 18th century
Smiling in art
Smiling in literature
Paris (France) - Social life and customs - 18th century

ISBN:

9780198715818, 0198715811, 9780198715825, and 019871582X

Description:

xiv, 231 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm

Bibliographic Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-217) and index

Contents:

Introduction -- 1. The old regime of teeth -- Louis XIV's non-smile -- Smiles under strict control -- The power of royal example -- 2. The smile of sensibility -- Regency glimpses of the smile -- 'Smiles on the mouth and tears in the eyes' -- Visualizing the smile of sensibility -- 3. Cometh the dentist -- The Pont-Neuf tooth-pulling carnival -- A tale of two dentists -- Enlightened Parisian teeth -- 4. The making of a revolution -- Fauchard's heirs -- The entrepreneurialism of the 'dentiste sensible' -- Meanwhile, in Versailles ... -- 5. The transient smile revolution -- The lady artist and the denture-maker -- Smiles under suspicion -- Lavaterian twilight -- 6. Beyond the smile revolution -- False harbingers -- Gothic grimaces -- Disappearing dentistry ... -- ... Vanishing smiles -- Postscript: Towards the twentieth-century smile revolution

Summary:

You could be forgiven for thinking that the smile has no history; it has always been the same. However, just as different cultures in our own day have different rules about smiling, so did different societies in the past. In fact, it was only in late eighteenth century France that western civilization discovered the art of the smile as we know it today. Under the 'Old Regime of Teeth' which prevailed in western Europe until then, expressive smiling was quite literally frowned upon. Individuals were fatalistic about tooth loss, and their open mouths were often visually repulsive. Rules of conduct dating back to Antiquity disapproved of the opening of the mouth to express feelings in most social situations. Open and unrestrained smiling was associated with the impolite lower orders. In late eighteenth century Paris, however, these age-old conventions changed, reflecting broader transformations in the way people expressed their feelings. This allowed the emergence of the modern smile par excellence: the open-mouthed smile which, while high-lighting physical beauty and expressing individual identity, revealed white healthy teeth. It was a transformation linked to changing patterns of politeness, new ideals of sensibility, shifts in styles of self-presentation, and, not least, the emergence of scientific dentistry. These changes seemed to usher in a revolution - a revolution in smiling. Yet if the French revolutionaries initially went about their business with a smile on their faces, the Reign of Terror soon wiped it off. Only in the twentieth century would the white-tooth smile re-emerge as an accepted model of self-presentation. In this entertaining, absorbing, and highly original work of cultural history, Colin Jones ranges from the history of art, literature, and culture to the history of science, medicine, and dentistry, to tell a unique and untold story about a facial expression at the heart of western civilization. -- from back cover

Collection:

BGC Monograph Stacks

Call Number:

DC729 .J66 2014

Available

c.1