Les Confetti 1894

Curator: Here we have Georges Meunier’s “Les Confetti”, a lithograph from 1894. It's an advertisement, designed to entice passersby in the city. Editor: My immediate reaction is joy. It's all so buoyant, from the dancer's pose to the riot of colour. I can almost hear the music and feel the giddy energy of the carnival. Does that make sense? Curator: Absolutely. The piece uses Art Nouveau conventions to market these paper products, merging street advertising with entertainment in Belle Époque Paris. These types of lithographs democratized art; it wasn’t just confined to gallery walls but was part of daily life. Editor: You know, it’s funny; these things were meant to be ephemeral. I imagine this plastered all over a building—to be replaced, or just crumble. Looking at the lithograph now it's strange to consider its former context as something temporary—almost a whisper of art for a short, giddy time. Curator: That temporality is interesting given how print culture affected the period. Consider the politics of visual representation. Affordable posters made imagery, and the ideas they conveyed, far more accessible. It shifted how people engaged with art and commerce. Editor: I'm really drawn to the figure in the center. She has such confidence, even daring—a playful kind of rebelliousness. It is so charming. It's almost as though Meunier understood the subversive potential of confetti itself—transforming the city into a momentary playground, however fleeting. Curator: I agree. These advertisements captured—and helped to create—the changing spirit of the age. The dance halls, boulevards, and café life fostered new modes of consumer culture and expanded social and economic opportunity. The role of art was integral to those societal shifts. Editor: This image, though, still feels very contemporary. Seeing it today it still sings of celebration and a carefree abandon. How interesting it is to discover this advertisement still feels relevant now. Curator: And how these popular images can take on different meanings depending on the context and viewer. Thank you for those interesting reflections. Editor: My pleasure. It's been such fun to toss around these ideas!