A Bas Le Progrès! 1894

Curator: Let’s explore Henri-Gabriel Ibels's lithograph from 1894, "A Bas Le Progrès!", a fascinating print reflecting anxieties of the time. Editor: It hits you right away, doesn't it? This deflated energy; a brute man, deliberately breaking what looks like an antique firearm. It has an air of futility. Curator: Exactly! The title translates to "Down with Progress!" Ibels presents a counter-narrative to the pervasive optimism about industrial and societal advancement prevalent during the Belle Époque. Editor: Progress meant something quite specific back then. We’re talking urbanization, industrial labor, changing social structures… So this figure, breaking what looks like his own rifle, that carries so much weight. What would a gun represent to him? Is it resistance? The old way of life? The tools that are being superseded by technology and machines? Curator: Absolutely. Consider the symbolism of destroying a firearm. Guns represent power, protection, and a particular kind of autonomy linked to rural life. To break it is to reject those associations, or perhaps to acknowledge their obsolescence in this new industrialized era. Editor: It is quite charged as well to portray him almost destroying himself in this endeavour, there is so much anger in the bent stance and tension of his gesture, it isn't portrayed as something triumphant at all, more like tragic resistance. There is such tension here. It resonates deeply with anxieties about shifting class dynamics, traditional skills becoming obsolete, and the dehumanizing effects of modern industry. Curator: And his posture reflects exhaustion, resignation even. There's also an anti-establishment sentiment running through Art Nouveau. Ibels here seems to critique blind faith in societal change. "Progress," if we don't reflect critically on its impact, could very well come at a tremendous human cost. Editor: Thinking about it further now, the overall design almost functions as an emblem of resistance. Thank you for untangling a little more of the symbols here; seeing the gun now I realize it is more about destroying oneself as part of that rejection, it definitely hits harder. Curator: Likewise. Putting "A Bas Le Progrès!" in its historical context brings into sharp relief its still relevant challenge to question the costs and assumptions that undergird ideas about historical inevitability.