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Bohemians: The Glamorous Outcasts
Since the early nineteenth century, the bohemian has been the protagonist of the story the West has wanted to hear about its artists-a story of genius, glamour, and doom. The bohemian takes on many the artist dying in poverty like Modigliani or an outrageous entertainer like Josephine Baker. Elizabeth Wilson's enjoyable book is a quest for the many shifting meanings that constitute the bohemian and bohemia. She tells unforgettable stories of the artists, intellectuals, radicals, and hangers-on who populated the salons, bars, and cafs of Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, including Djuna Barnes, Juliette Greco, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Amiri Baraka, Andy Warhol, and Jackson Pollock. Bohemians also follows the women who contributed to the myth, including the wives and mistresses, the muses, lesbians, and independent artists. Wilson explores the bohemians' eccentric use of dress, the role of sex and erotic love, the bohemian search for excess, and the intransigent politics of many. As a new millennium begins, Wilson shows how notions of bohemianism remain at the core of heated cultural debates about the role of art and artists in an increasingly commodified and technological world.
275 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
8 people are currently reading
249 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Wilson
191 books12 followersElizabeth Wilson is a pioneer in the development of fashion studies, and has been a university professor, feminist campaigner and activist. Her writing career began in the ‘underground’ magazines of the early 1970s, (Frendz, Red Rag, Spare Rib, Come Together) before she became an academic. She's written for the Guardian and her non-fiction books include Adorned in Dreams (1985, 2003), The Sphinx in the City (1992) (shortlisted for the Manchester Odd Fellows Prize), Bohemians (2000) and Love Game (2014) (long listed for the William Hill sportswriting prize), as well as six crime novels, including War Damage (2009) and The Girl in Berlin (2012) (long listed for the Golden Dagger Award).
There is more than one author with this name in the database. This is the disambiguation profile for authors named Elizabeth Wilson.
There is more than one author with this name in the database. This is the disambiguation profile for authors named Elizabeth Wilson.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 21, 2014
Very wide ranging and full of fresh ideas about what bohemianism signified at different historical periods. The final chapter provokes questions on how we would define it in our own times, or indeed whether the shock tactics of previous bohemians could possibly be effective today. The book is very effective in demonstrating how fashionable society is always able to neutralise those who try to affront cultural notions of normality. Starts from the mid-19th century with Henry Murger's destitute artists and takes in the 1960s, probably the last truly bohemian era. Well, I suppose there was punk too. Good for dipping in to, and a marvellous bibliography.
June 11, 2020
Quotes:
Max Nordau: Degenerates are not always criminals, anarchists, and pronounced lunatics; they are often authors and artists.
The bohemian is both a genius and a phoney, a debauchee and a puritan, a workaholic and a wastrel, his identity always dependent on its opposite.
In medieval and renaissance europe, the artist was the servant of society rather than its critic.
The myth of the bohemian represents an imaginary solution to the 'problem' of art in industrial Western societies. It seeks to resolve the role of art as both inside and outside commerce and consumption, and to reconcile the economic uncertainty of the artistic calling with ideas of the artist's genius and superiority.
The bohemian myth--the idea of the artist as a different sort of person from his fellow human beings--is founded on the idea of the Artist as Genius developed by the Romantic movement in the wake of the industrial and French revolutions. The romantic genius is the artist against society. He or she embodies dissidence, opposition, criticism of the status quo; these may be expressed politically, aesthetically, or in the artist's behavior and lifestyle. Components of the myth are transgression, excess, sexual outrage, eccentric behavior, outrageous appearance, nostalgia and poverty--although wealth could contribute to the legend provided the bohemian treated it with contempt, flinging money around instead of investing it with bourgeois caution.
The impossibility of the bohemian
The bohemian search was indeed a secular Grail myth of escape and redemption, in which the modern industrial city took the place of Camelot
Bohemia is less an identity than a search for identity
Few bohemians came from working-class or proletarian backgrounds. Bohemia was essentially an oppositional fraction of the bourgeois class. (in 1830)
In the first two-thirds of the nineteenth century Paris was the only metropolis capable of providing the preconditions for the development of an artistic counterculture. French political, intellectual, and cultural life were far more concentrated in their capital city than London.
When the post was slow and there was no telephone, fax or email, the cafe performed an essential function in bringing together journalists and editors, painters and models, actors and directors.
Protest would have to take a different form in a cultural landscape that has certainly shifted, so there is no longer either a single continuum, or two hostile camps of high and low, but rather a 'multidimensional' social and cultural space.(in regards to postmodernism) [in a sense was there multidimensionality from the start, we just hadnt asserted and agreed on such till we'd laid claim to each our own cultural superiority]
Some postmodern theorists have argued that social cohesion has fragmented, and that individuals now adhere to fluctuating social 'tribes' in which a search for identity (dissident or otherwise) is a search for belonging, a question less of 'resistance through rituals' than of 'conformity through rituals.'
The way in which bohemians tried to hold incompatibilities together, tried to avoid choosing between the life of politics and the life of art, tried always to have both.
Art makes life possible and worth living
The 'existential' view could lead to the elevation of art into a religion (art for art's sake). A utopian politics, on the other hand, tended to belittle art and taste (reducing it to the search for 'distinction').
The bohemian impulse (in theory if not always in practice) transcended both the vulgarity of cultural populism and the elitism of [high] art.
Max Nordau: Degenerates are not always criminals, anarchists, and pronounced lunatics; they are often authors and artists.
The bohemian is both a genius and a phoney, a debauchee and a puritan, a workaholic and a wastrel, his identity always dependent on its opposite.
In medieval and renaissance europe, the artist was the servant of society rather than its critic.
The myth of the bohemian represents an imaginary solution to the 'problem' of art in industrial Western societies. It seeks to resolve the role of art as both inside and outside commerce and consumption, and to reconcile the economic uncertainty of the artistic calling with ideas of the artist's genius and superiority.
The bohemian myth--the idea of the artist as a different sort of person from his fellow human beings--is founded on the idea of the Artist as Genius developed by the Romantic movement in the wake of the industrial and French revolutions. The romantic genius is the artist against society. He or she embodies dissidence, opposition, criticism of the status quo; these may be expressed politically, aesthetically, or in the artist's behavior and lifestyle. Components of the myth are transgression, excess, sexual outrage, eccentric behavior, outrageous appearance, nostalgia and poverty--although wealth could contribute to the legend provided the bohemian treated it with contempt, flinging money around instead of investing it with bourgeois caution.
The impossibility of the bohemian
The bohemian search was indeed a secular Grail myth of escape and redemption, in which the modern industrial city took the place of Camelot
Bohemia is less an identity than a search for identity
Few bohemians came from working-class or proletarian backgrounds. Bohemia was essentially an oppositional fraction of the bourgeois class. (in 1830)
In the first two-thirds of the nineteenth century Paris was the only metropolis capable of providing the preconditions for the development of an artistic counterculture. French political, intellectual, and cultural life were far more concentrated in their capital city than London.
When the post was slow and there was no telephone, fax or email, the cafe performed an essential function in bringing together journalists and editors, painters and models, actors and directors.
Protest would have to take a different form in a cultural landscape that has certainly shifted, so there is no longer either a single continuum, or two hostile camps of high and low, but rather a 'multidimensional' social and cultural space.(in regards to postmodernism) [in a sense was there multidimensionality from the start, we just hadnt asserted and agreed on such till we'd laid claim to each our own cultural superiority]
Some postmodern theorists have argued that social cohesion has fragmented, and that individuals now adhere to fluctuating social 'tribes' in which a search for identity (dissident or otherwise) is a search for belonging, a question less of 'resistance through rituals' than of 'conformity through rituals.'
The way in which bohemians tried to hold incompatibilities together, tried to avoid choosing between the life of politics and the life of art, tried always to have both.
Art makes life possible and worth living
The 'existential' view could lead to the elevation of art into a religion (art for art's sake). A utopian politics, on the other hand, tended to belittle art and taste (reducing it to the search for 'distinction').
The bohemian impulse (in theory if not always in practice) transcended both the vulgarity of cultural populism and the elitism of [high] art.
January 2, 2008
A fascinating look at the wild and sometimes tragic lives of those that created alternative artistic cultures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Read
February 25, 2025Somewhere in a metropolis, buried in one of the poorer neighborhoods, there is someone at work in an attic window, dreaming of worlds far better than the one around them. In this dingy room, between the crumbling walls, they strive to live fully and make art. This is work to them; this is meaning.
They are bohemian.
Bohemia, despite its being the name of a region in what is now the Czech Republic, has also become a term used to describe a part of the population that lived unconventional lives in pursuit of art and freedom.
Such characters are the focus of Elizabeth Wilson's incredible study of one of history's most beloved archetypes in society. They are not the same as the poor masses or the well-off middle classes, though they may come from them; and, as Wilson shows us time and again, they stand in complete opposition to the bourgeoisie.
They are the "Others," a segment of the people that pursued rebellious kinds of lives, attempting to find a meaning much deeper than the one that society manufactured for them. They moved seamlessly through salons, cafes, and bars in the most revered cities of the world.
From utter hovels in London to artistic holy ground in Paris, Wilson takes the reader on a journey through the developing idea of the "bohemian" throughout history. She explores the greatest personages of its different eras, and through them and their work helps us to construct a definition of what a "bohemian" truly is.
Unsurprisingly, the answer is quite complicated, but Wilson's writing style is not. With skill and a strong voice, she takes us through mountains of thorough research to the heart of the ideas and the legends that grip us. An honest eye gives Wilson a mastery of understanding over the shifting concept and the many contradictions that arise within the identity of the "bohemian."
The book features a magnificent cast of characters, from Henri Murger (French novelist and poet who helped to create the aura of the bohemian image) to Nancy Cunard (whose true art was the way she lived her life; a bohemian, despite her enormous wealth).
Each person that steps through the doors has, in some way, affected some change on the definition of what it means to be a bohemian, with some fashioning new ideals while others embodied everything already-defined.
The focuses are many, as are the aspects of the bohemian, and Wilson handles each with ease. The greatest exploration in the book, however, is quite clearly the three chapters dedicated to women of Bohemia, a marginalized group within those already living on the margins.
In the end, despite bohemian ideals of freedom and expression, it was no less touched by the misogyny of history than any other. Rather, misogyny simply took different forms: women couldn't be serious artists like men could; bohemianism offered them freedom, but marriage was still the same; and women became supporting characters to their artist husbands. While bohemianism may have offered a different kind of life than traditional society, some things simply weren't different.
By the end of the book, what's clear is that bohemianism (as we once understood it) no longer exists today. In this world of mass culture and the market, bohemianism was turned fashionable, which made it widespread, and it seemed to dissipate, leaving behind only remnants.
Yet, I think the greater aspect of Wilson's book is the question of bohemianism for the future. While our older ideas of the concept may have already been transmitted en masse, the governing principle of bohemianism has not disappeared. Across the world, there are still many writers and artists who have recused themselves from traditional life to follow a path much more unconventional––one of art, creation, and freedom.
As to what the future of Bohemia (if it is to have a future at all) has in store, Wilson is unsure, but she retains a certainty that it is still very present.
One of the features of the modern world that Bohemia has had to contend with is the dissolution of the concept of "high art" (which was based upon the ideas of academies and being a studied artist) and its replacement with the larger umbrella of "entertainment." Today, as Wilson tells us, the lines between art and entertainment are increasingly blurred.
What this means is still unknown, but I'm convinced that it's merely a transition period. Today, we're wielding a media reach that is unprecedented, and as we still learn to navigate our way through the wilderness of this digital world, we have to redefine things for ourselves.
Art is one of those things. Where it stands apart from entertainment is anyone's guess, but the two concepts aren't the same, whatever overlap they may have. As definitions become hazy, the differences between them follow suit, until we redefine them and pull them back into clarity. What art is in this modern world (as opposed to the "high art" of the past) still isn't clear to us, but what is unclear is not gone.
The same, I believe, can be said of bohemianism, and it seems that perhaps Wilson would agree to. As society has shifted, so has our definition and understanding of bohemianism. What is the distinguishing line between the bohemian way of life and the modern way of life? We once conceived of its difference in pre-modern life, but it had to be constructed.
Why would it not be the same?
You can find Elizabeth Wilson's book at any of the major book outlets, and I really recommend that you do.
If you're interested in art and the world it once inhabited, Wilson's book offers a glittering glimpse into its romance as well as its ugliness. Being an artist is a very personal, very individual pursuit; but it is not random. Rather, it's a part of a much longer and larger tradition, taking a path laid down by the many who had come before as part of the same story.
Wilson tells us that story, and alongside her we stare out at the future and wonder what the next chapter will be.
Maybe you can have a hand in writing it.
They are bohemian.
Bohemia, despite its being the name of a region in what is now the Czech Republic, has also become a term used to describe a part of the population that lived unconventional lives in pursuit of art and freedom.
Such characters are the focus of Elizabeth Wilson's incredible study of one of history's most beloved archetypes in society. They are not the same as the poor masses or the well-off middle classes, though they may come from them; and, as Wilson shows us time and again, they stand in complete opposition to the bourgeoisie.
They are the "Others," a segment of the people that pursued rebellious kinds of lives, attempting to find a meaning much deeper than the one that society manufactured for them. They moved seamlessly through salons, cafes, and bars in the most revered cities of the world.
From utter hovels in London to artistic holy ground in Paris, Wilson takes the reader on a journey through the developing idea of the "bohemian" throughout history. She explores the greatest personages of its different eras, and through them and their work helps us to construct a definition of what a "bohemian" truly is.
Unsurprisingly, the answer is quite complicated, but Wilson's writing style is not. With skill and a strong voice, she takes us through mountains of thorough research to the heart of the ideas and the legends that grip us. An honest eye gives Wilson a mastery of understanding over the shifting concept and the many contradictions that arise within the identity of the "bohemian."
The book features a magnificent cast of characters, from Henri Murger (French novelist and poet who helped to create the aura of the bohemian image) to Nancy Cunard (whose true art was the way she lived her life; a bohemian, despite her enormous wealth).
Each person that steps through the doors has, in some way, affected some change on the definition of what it means to be a bohemian, with some fashioning new ideals while others embodied everything already-defined.
The focuses are many, as are the aspects of the bohemian, and Wilson handles each with ease. The greatest exploration in the book, however, is quite clearly the three chapters dedicated to women of Bohemia, a marginalized group within those already living on the margins.
In the end, despite bohemian ideals of freedom and expression, it was no less touched by the misogyny of history than any other. Rather, misogyny simply took different forms: women couldn't be serious artists like men could; bohemianism offered them freedom, but marriage was still the same; and women became supporting characters to their artist husbands. While bohemianism may have offered a different kind of life than traditional society, some things simply weren't different.
By the end of the book, what's clear is that bohemianism (as we once understood it) no longer exists today. In this world of mass culture and the market, bohemianism was turned fashionable, which made it widespread, and it seemed to dissipate, leaving behind only remnants.
Yet, I think the greater aspect of Wilson's book is the question of bohemianism for the future. While our older ideas of the concept may have already been transmitted en masse, the governing principle of bohemianism has not disappeared. Across the world, there are still many writers and artists who have recused themselves from traditional life to follow a path much more unconventional––one of art, creation, and freedom.
As to what the future of Bohemia (if it is to have a future at all) has in store, Wilson is unsure, but she retains a certainty that it is still very present.
One of the features of the modern world that Bohemia has had to contend with is the dissolution of the concept of "high art" (which was based upon the ideas of academies and being a studied artist) and its replacement with the larger umbrella of "entertainment." Today, as Wilson tells us, the lines between art and entertainment are increasingly blurred.
What this means is still unknown, but I'm convinced that it's merely a transition period. Today, we're wielding a media reach that is unprecedented, and as we still learn to navigate our way through the wilderness of this digital world, we have to redefine things for ourselves.
Art is one of those things. Where it stands apart from entertainment is anyone's guess, but the two concepts aren't the same, whatever overlap they may have. As definitions become hazy, the differences between them follow suit, until we redefine them and pull them back into clarity. What art is in this modern world (as opposed to the "high art" of the past) still isn't clear to us, but what is unclear is not gone.
The same, I believe, can be said of bohemianism, and it seems that perhaps Wilson would agree to. As society has shifted, so has our definition and understanding of bohemianism. What is the distinguishing line between the bohemian way of life and the modern way of life? We once conceived of its difference in pre-modern life, but it had to be constructed.
Why would it not be the same?
You can find Elizabeth Wilson's book at any of the major book outlets, and I really recommend that you do.
If you're interested in art and the world it once inhabited, Wilson's book offers a glittering glimpse into its romance as well as its ugliness. Being an artist is a very personal, very individual pursuit; but it is not random. Rather, it's a part of a much longer and larger tradition, taking a path laid down by the many who had come before as part of the same story.
Wilson tells us that story, and alongside her we stare out at the future and wonder what the next chapter will be.
Maybe you can have a hand in writing it.
July 3, 2014
Reading this book I was transported back to those day, I could feel and see every detail and description written by Elizabeth Wilson, as an artist myself, I thought, I would've liked to be part of that era, a wonderful era.
March 16, 2024
This book is most definitely NOT a light beach read. The author is a Professor of Cultural Studies and this is indeed a "cultural study"; a study of "outsider" artists (and poets, playwrights and poseurs) from the early 19th Century until the 1990s; everyone from Byron & Baudelaire to Marianne Faithful to Malcolm MacClaren, and their milieu.
Because of its scope, it can't go into much detail about any individual, but it is instead a series of fascinaring vignettes, from the cafe culture of fin de siècle Paris to the cabaret culture of the Weimar Republic right up to The Beats and Hippies.
A must-read for people who fancy themselves as Bohemians or Outsider Artists.
Because of its scope, it can't go into much detail about any individual, but it is instead a series of fascinaring vignettes, from the cafe culture of fin de siècle Paris to the cabaret culture of the Weimar Republic right up to The Beats and Hippies.
A must-read for people who fancy themselves as Bohemians or Outsider Artists.
July 8, 2021
A very thorough exploration of the Bohemian’s allure and origins, predominantly in the 1800s and the contradictory traits associated with them that contribute to the mystique. I did read this book for leisure due to my fascination with alternative lifestyles of the creatives throughout history, so therefore I did skip some pages/chapters that didn’t capture my attention, as I definitely wouldn’t describe this as a light read! It is likely to be very useful as a reference book for an assignment though and still provided some interesting analysis work on Bohemianism in various time periods.
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January 2, 2026bratz-yasmin
November 15, 2008
im using this book for a paper, and i appreciate it's fresh, unbiased take on bohemian culture. it exposes some of the hypocracies within various communities and offers revealing comparisons between european and american bohemia.
not dull, and a valuable asset for my cause. glad i found it!
not dull, and a valuable asset for my cause. glad i found it!
January 15, 2009
It really bothers me that all bohemians rebel in the same way. Also, it's hard to be seen reading this book without provoking smirks. Neither of these things are really Wilson's fault, and she strikes a nice balance between academic and popular writing, so perhaps I will try another book by her.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews