The Utopian Mayeux: Henri de Saint-Simon meets the bossu à la mode

Abstract

Monsieur Mayeux was a fictional hunchback dwarf found in visual and literary media during and after the period of the July Monarchy (1830-1848) in France. Many artists, among them Honoré Daumier, and writers, including Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset, popularized the hunchback. Mayeux was a unique "type" capable of addressing a diverse public on several simultaneous levels. The ambiguities inherent in his physical and psychological characteristics aided individuals who "used" him to sell a product or advocate a political position. With Saint-Simonism we can witness Mayeux being used to address both sides of the same argument. Although he was an unlikely "hero," the hunchback dwarf was uniquely qualified to address topical issues of the period, including the increasing popularity of the social system of Henri de Saint- Simon. Mayeux appeared as a primary character in a series of texts and lithographic prints that commented directly or indirectly on Enfantin’s effective marketing of a reconfigured Saint-Simonist doctrine in the opening years of the July Monarchy. As an ironic choice — partly because of Enfantin’s connection of physical beauty to moral uprightness — Mayeux evoked discussion. In addition, part of Saint- Simon’s conception of God was as a harmoniser of all antitheses and the "sciences" of physiognomy and phrenology had informed the religious philosopher’s ideas as much as it had helped shape Mayeux’s physical form. Since he had a reputation in prints as being a womanize. Mayeux helped criticize the concept of love promoted by Saint-Simonists. As "everyman" representing the lower and middle classes, Mayeux would necessarily be concerned with utopian theories proposing societal changes to benefit the disenfranchised. Those critical of Enfantin took advantage of Mayeux’s personal ambiguities to expose the inconsistencies within the Saint- Simonists doctrine.