Ideals of the Body: Architecture, Urbanism, and Hygiene in Post Revolutionary Paris by Sun-Young Park

Abstract

Reviewed by: Ideals of the Body: Architecture, Urbanism, and Hygiene in Post Revolutionary Paris by Sun-Young Park Sharon L. Fairchild Park, Sun-Young. Ideals of the Body: Architecture, Urbanism, and Hygiene in Post-Revolutionary Paris. UP of Pittsburgh, 2018. ISBN 978-0-8229-4528-4. Pp. 372. This is a rich and complex study of modernist developments in Paris during the first half of the nineteenth century, as represented by new urban spaces whose constructs were driven by concerns about the physical and mental health of the urban population. The work analyzes formerly under-studied initiatives such as physical education in the schools, school buildings and grounds, institutions of gymnastics, amusement parks, public gardens, swimming facilities, horseback riding, and other recreational spaces and activities. It focuses on public health projects that took place prior to the sweeping urban renewal project of Georges Eugène Haussmann during the reign of Napoleon III. According to Park, these initiatives represent emerging modernist trends that heretofore have not been recognized as such. Following the losses of the Napoleonic wars and the violence of the Revolution, the physical and moral conditions of the French soldier and the urban population were found to be in decline, making it difficult to recruit healthy men. As a result, a new movement advocating exercise and bodily fitness was taken up by early nineteenth-century [End Page 227] doctors, politicians, and philosophers, taking some ideas from the eighteenth century. Physical health was believed to strengthen the mind and improve moral well-being. These ideas were distinct from urban hygiene concerns such as sanitation and epidemic control, instead being more focused on education, child-rearing, diet, emotions, and architecture. In her study of these public health developments Park also describes the numerous conflicts and resistance such ideas encountered on the political and social levels. For example, proponents of physical reform and strength building were often liberal thinkers, while more conservative government officials feared that such training could lead to revolt of the working classes or students. The book is structured around five social characters and the activities and programs that were associated with them: the soldier, the schoolboy, the demoiselle, the Lionne, and the sportsman. In each chapter Park discusses contemporary medical theories about the physical condition of the chapter subject and then examines the innovative programs and physical spaces developed to reform their physical and moral conditions. Much of the focus of these chapters, however, is on the changes in the architecture of buildings and the introduction of outdoor spaces that reflect how new concepts and programs influenced the physical environment. The numerous illustrations and color plates that accompany these discussions, the fruit of extensive archival research, support this central focus. Many are rare documents such as hand-drawn plans for schools, architectural renderings of gymnasiums, swimming clubs and bathhouses, exercise equipment, public gymnasiums, and amusement parks, as well as period illustrations of physical exercises being performed by men, women, girls, and boys. Park contextualizes these documents and interprets them in the culture of the moment. Despite the dense scholarly style in which this book is written, Park provides an intriguing picture of changing ideals of the body and the physical, social, and cultural changes that represented the beginning of modernity in Paris. Sharon L. Fairchild Texas Christian University, emerita Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French