The art of the night - cabarets and clubs in modern art | thearticle

In late-nineteenth-century Paris, the place to be seen and heard was the Chat Noir. Regarded as “the Louvre of Montmartre” due to the rich assortment of treasures it housed, this sumptuous

artistic cabaret became a cultural centre for the general public but also a creative hub for a range of young writers, artists, musicians and composers. Debussy was an early habitué. Erik

Satie was hired as a pianist. One grand room was adorned with drawings by Monet, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. The eclectic and spontaneous events programme included _goguettes_ (evening

poetry recitals), improvised monologues, sharp satirical songs and hot political debates. In 1885 a shadow theatre was installed and soon became the star attraction, its plays entertaining

and entrancing audiences. There was something at the Chat Noir for everyone – as long as everyone embraced the moment and was receptive to new ideas. The ethos was encapsulated in the edict

on the front door: all incoming guests were required to “be modern”. The artists featured in a stunning new exhibition at the Barbican might well have responded to that same stipulation.

“Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art” presents over 300 pieces of avant-garde artwork which, collectively, shine an original light on the social and artistic role of creative

spaces around the world. Stretching across the modern period, from the 1880s to the 1960s, and encompassing a number of global locations, the exhibition explores how all manner of nocturnal

haunts – cafés, cabarets, bars and clubs – provided a working environment or inspiration to develop what was often daringly new forms of artistic expression, whether in art, literature,

design, dance or music. Each section is devoted to a city and the venues, scenes or movements connected to it. The Chat Noir is the subject of the Paris section, and on display is

Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen’s iconic 1896 poster “Reopening of the Chat Noir Cabaret” depicting a particularly mangy moggy and equally striking lettering. However, this familiar piece

constitutes one of the notable exceptions, for the exhibition largely, and commendably, showcases and celebrates less well-known artists and their work. We begin in Vienna with the Cabaret

Fledermaus, which thrived between 1907 and 1913. Created by the Wiener Werkstätte and billed as a refuge from the boredom and drudgery of everyday life, this cabaret offered “ease, art and

culture” in elegant surroundings. That elegance extended to all aspects of the décor, as attested by the exhibits. We view beautifully designed posters, postcards, programmes, illustrations,

stationery, ashtrays, drinks menus and even the silver clothing clips worn by the waiters. All of them underscore the Wiener Werstätte’s conception of the place as a _Gesamtkunstwerk_

(total work of art), with every component pulling its weight and joining together as a unified artistic whole. Two posters stop us in our tracks: Bertold Löffler’s from 1907 consists of

three garish, slightly sinister masks; Fritz Lang’s more enticing effort from 1911 shows a woman resplendent in absinthe-green with the cabaret’s eponymous bat in a contrasting red perched

atop her knees. Next door in Rome we see how two clubs harnessed the energy of Futurism in the 1920s. Giacomo Balla’s arresting signs and designs for the Bal Tic Tac are a riot of dancing

letters, undulating lines and overlapping shapes. Fortunato Depero’s huge tapestry for the interior of the Cabaret del Diavolo is a hellish fever-dream made up of trident-armed demons

dueling or cavorting over an ominous dark hole, and damned souls engulfed by a whirlwind of flames. In sharp contrast, the photographs in the Paris section of the Folies Bergère dancer Loïe

Fuller reveal an almost angelic figure adopting various flamboyant poses by manipulating large poles beneath capacious lengths of virginal-white silk fabric. In post-Revolution Mexico City

we visit the Café de Nadie (Nobody’s Café), the place where writers and artists from the radical Estridentismo movement debated ideas, devised manifestos and published journals. Ramón Alva

de la Canal’s painting of the café and key members of the group acknowledges a heavy debt to Cubism. Coffee cups resembling goggling eyeballs stud the centre of the composition. Arrayed

around them, and against a backdrop of pastel-coloured shards, several disembodied heads talk, think, laugh, muse and smoke. In Strasbourg, Dutch artist Theo van Doesbourg’s 1928 unique

design for the cinema-ballroom of the restaurant-cabaret L’Aubette makes expert use of geometric shapes and employs slicing diagonal lines to great effect across walls, floors and ceiling. A

detour to Jazz-Age Harlem incorporates Edward Burra’s _Savoy Ballroom_ (1934), a seething, pulsing party-painting, along with Aaron Douglas’ prints and distinctive poetry illustrations for

the likes of James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes. London is represented by the Cave of the Golden Calf, which when opening its doors in Soho in 1912 declared itself England’s “first and

only” artistic cabaret. Here Wyndham Lewis’ incredibly stylised programmes are presented with Spencer Gore’s vivid deer-hunt murals. Two later sections take us into the 1960s and off the

beaten track into little-known worlds: there are the Mbari clubs of Nigeria, which provided a platform for everything from art workshops to Yoruba operas; and Rasht 29, a private club in

Tehran where male and female poets, artists, musicians and filmmakers could gather and discuss their practice without constraints. Only one section underwhelms. Zurich’s Cabaret Voltaire,

which opened and closed in 1916, may well have left its mark as the birthplace of Dada. Unfortunately, there are very few exhibits relating to it, and what is on view is of scant interest.

Far better – indeed, the highlight of the show – is the section on Weimar-era Berlin. The tawdry glitz and decadence of the so-called _Goldene Zwanziger_ is brilliantly conveyed in Max

Beckmann’s _Striptease_, George Grosz’s _Beauty, Thee Will I Praise_ and Karl Hofer’s _Tiller Girls_. But it is the work from a range of rediscovered female artists which truly captivates.

Many of these women were keen-eyed observers of Berlin’s nightlife and were skilled at capturing the moods and attitudes of female punters and performers. The subject of Erna

Schmidt-Caroll’s pastel piece _Chansonette _(c.1928) sings as if her life depended upon it, her crimson mouth a gaping hole. Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler’s _View of a Nightclub _(1930) looks like

a hastily coloured-in sketch, its swirling lines and frantic splashes transmitting the throbbing energy of the scene. And Jeanne Mammen’s remarkable series of watercolours have grace, verve

and bite. _Before the Performance_ (1928) is a snapshot of behind-the-curtain dancing girls. _Café Nollendorf_ (1931) invites us into an all-female domain. In _Bar_ (1930), Mammen brings us

up close to three individuals. Despite the expressive face of the bartender and the smart black suit of the cigarette-smoking man, it is the woman with the short bobbed hair on the stool we

are drawn towards – one whose closed eyes suggest she is locked away in her own zone. Downstairs the exhibition turns into an immersive experience with full-scale recreations of specific

interiors. Shorn of the bustle and chatter of night owls, culture vultures and all-round party animals, it requires a leap of faith to make these rooms work. But although they can’t be

completely brought to life, we are still able to admire, even marvel at, the effort and detail that has gone into their artistic reproduction. Standout spaces include Josef Hoffmann’s bar of

the Cabaret Fledermaus with its checkerboard floor and its ceramic wall tiles, each a bright colour or vibrant motif; and the shadow theatre of the Chat Noir, its intricate and exquisite

cut-out silhouettes ready to enchant audiences with another mystical dream or metaphorical fantasy. After leaving these rooms and coming to the end of our stimulating journey through the

night, we return, somewhat reluctantly, to the cold light of day. _Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art_ is exhibited at the Barbican, London, until 19 January 2020. Click here

for more information.