Rural Postman
Aero-cab Station
By Davide Mana - Author of The GreyWorld Blog @ greyworld.co
In the year 1899, French artist Jean-Marc Côté created a series of images representing France "In the year 2000". First given away as trading cards in cigar boxes, the images were supposed to become a series of postcards, to be circulated as part of the celebrations for the birth of the 20th century. Apparently nothing came out of it, and much later Isaac Asimov acquired the only surviving set of postcards.
And yet, the series was so popular it was continued in 1900, 1901 and in 1910 - testifying the cultural impact and the deep social penetration of the concepts Côté represented.
Côté's designs provide glimpses of the technological marvels of the future - and in this lies the power of this collection. The future is represented as a bizarre landscape in which the commonplace co-exists with the wondrous, in a very positive, optimistic way. The future, Côté is telling us, will be a good place to live in.
Technology will be "normal".
In the year 1899, French artist Jean-Marc Côté created a series of images representing France "In the year 2000". First given away as trading cards in cigar boxes, the images were supposed to become a series of postcards, to be circulated as part of the celebrations for the birth of the 20th century. Apparently nothing came out of it, and much later Isaac Asimov acquired the only surviving set of postcards.
And yet, the series was so popular it was continued in 1900, 1901 and in 1910 - testifying the cultural impact and the deep social penetration of the concepts Côté represented.
Côté's designs provide glimpses of the technological marvels of the future - and in this lies the power of this collection. The future is represented as a bizarre landscape in which the commonplace co-exists with the wondrous, in a very positive, optimistic way. The future, Côté is telling us, will be a good place to live in.
Technology will be "normal".
Aerial Firefighters There's no monsters, no menace, in these paintings, there's little war, and seen from afar.
Even catastrophes - such as a fire threatening a Parisian family - are met with the help of a benevolent technology that seems to penetrate all aspects of daily living: school, leisure, travel, even chicken feeding.
Even catastrophes - such as a fire threatening a Parisian family - are met with the help of a benevolent technology that seems to penetrate all aspects of daily living: school, leisure, travel, even chicken feeding.
Automated Floor Scrubber Automata scrub floors and serve as barbers.
Radium is used to heat upper class parlors were elegant ladies entertain dashing gentlemen.
Crank-operated machines feed knowledge directly into the ears of the students.
Policemen wearing bat-winged backpacks pursue small aircraft in the skies of the cities.
Radium is used to heat upper class parlors were elegant ladies entertain dashing gentlemen.
Crank-operated machines feed knowledge directly into the ears of the students.
Policemen wearing bat-winged backpacks pursue small aircraft in the skies of the cities.
School Similar collections of trading cards - either designed by Côté or similar in conception - were used at the turn of the century as a publicity gadget by companies as diverse as Suchard (chocolates) and
Bee's Polish (shoe polish), and we can truly say that in those years, the future was in everybody's mind.
The general public was developing a true passion for a strange, different, exciting future.
Bee's Polish (shoe polish), and we can truly say that in those years, the future was in everybody's mind.
The general public was developing a true passion for a strange, different, exciting future.
Aviation Pollice If there is an inspiration for Côté's work, this has to be Albert Robida's envisioning of the future in his "The Twentieth century".
And yet, there is a fundamental difference - Robida, who is often considered Verne's main competitor, was not an adventure writer like Verne, but rather a satirist.
The year 1952 narrated and sketched by Robida is not a venue for scientific adventure (as in Verne) or for cautionary tales and political speculation (as in Wells), but rather a deforming mirror, handing us a comical rendition of the late 19th century society and its ills.
Robida's attitude seems to anticipate the bitter irony of the phrase "the future is so bright I have to wear shades"...
And yet, there is a fundamental difference - Robida, who is often considered Verne's main competitor, was not an adventure writer like Verne, but rather a satirist.
The year 1952 narrated and sketched by Robida is not a venue for scientific adventure (as in Verne) or for cautionary tales and political speculation (as in Wells), but rather a deforming mirror, handing us a comical rendition of the late 19th century society and its ills.
Robida's attitude seems to anticipate the bitter irony of the phrase "the future is so bright I have to wear shades"...
Hand-coloured etching by T McLean 1830
 Aerial House, Robida 1883 (Wikipedia) |  Jules Verne (Wickpedia) |
Illustration by Grandville from Un Autre Monde (Paris: H. Fournier, 1844). (Wikipedia) In Robida's novels we also find a war of the future that is chillingly close to the nightmare of the Great War.
And yet nothing escapes Robida's wit and sting (let's not call it snark) - yes, he seems to say, the future will be full of marvels, but the end result will be ridiculous. Just like today.
And yet nothing escapes Robida's wit and sting (let's not call it snark) - yes, he seems to say, the future will be full of marvels, but the end result will be ridiculous. Just like today.
" Europe was dreaming Côté dreams, and we inherited some of them. "
Fully functional Steampunk Computer- By Alex @ http://steampunker.de In turn, Albert Robida is probably influenced by J.J. Grandville, that produced a quantity of book illustrations in the mid 19th century, and that in 1844 published a work called "An autre monde", filled with grotesque, vaguely disquieting "science-fictional" illustrations.
But Grandville is not interested in technology or the future - and his "other world" could be an alien planet, or really the Other World, the land of the dead.
Grandville casts a long shadow on the fantastic imagination of the late 19th and early 20th century, but his influence is felt mostly on the form, not the contents, of Robida and later of Côté. And as he sets to work on his "year 2000" trading cards, Jean-Marc Côté is not interested in Robida's unrelenting lampooning of his contemporary society - just as he is not interested in Grandville's grotesqueries .
Visit Alex @ Alex @ http://steampunker.de
But Grandville is not interested in technology or the future - and his "other world" could be an alien planet, or really the Other World, the land of the dead.
Grandville casts a long shadow on the fantastic imagination of the late 19th and early 20th century, but his influence is felt mostly on the form, not the contents, of Robida and later of Côté. And as he sets to work on his "year 2000" trading cards, Jean-Marc Côté is not interested in Robida's unrelenting lampooning of his contemporary society - just as he is not interested in Grandville's grotesqueries .
Visit Alex @ Alex @ http://steampunker.de
Steampunk Power Pack by Lord & Lady Towers (Will Brown) Flying machines in the sky of Paris?
Sure, and the skies will be clogged with traffic jams at the exit from the Opera.
Personal flying backpacks?
Why not - flying out of our lover's bedroom will make evading her enraged husband easier.
Powerful new tools for learning?
Visit Lord & Lady Towers : https://www.facebook.com/steamtowers
Sure, and the skies will be clogged with traffic jams at the exit from the Opera.
Personal flying backpacks?
Why not - flying out of our lover's bedroom will make evading her enraged husband easier.
Powerful new tools for learning?
Visit Lord & Lady Towers : https://www.facebook.com/steamtowers
CosPlay Steampunk Jet pack with wings by Chris Ahrendt of Celtic Heart Steamworks
Lady Heidi Icenogle in the The Airship Diamler - A Steampunk Vehicle photo- Michael Kelly.
Visit Airship Diamler : https://www.facebook.com/theairshipdiamler
Visit Celtic Heart Steamworks : https://www.etsy.com/shop/CHSW
Visit Celtic Heart Steamworks : https://www.etsy.com/shop/CHSW
Steampunk Chariot - Travis Wilson Photo- Destoni Wilson Enterprises- Airship Diamler Yes - and a plague of bluestockings will be upon us, women becoming engineers, or judges, or politicians!
A visual telegraph allowing us to speak and see each other at a distance?
It will mean the end of privacy, and everybody will probably call while we are taking a bubble bath, or are entertaining a lady.
It has been pointed out that Robida's anticipation is often spot on. From the emancipation of women to pollution and the impact of technology on the waging of war, even the coming of the world wide web, the French author's imagination of the future is extremely accurate.
A visual telegraph allowing us to speak and see each other at a distance?
It will mean the end of privacy, and everybody will probably call while we are taking a bubble bath, or are entertaining a lady.
It has been pointed out that Robida's anticipation is often spot on. From the emancipation of women to pollution and the impact of technology on the waging of war, even the coming of the world wide web, the French author's imagination of the future is extremely accurate.
Retro Futuristic Steampunk Coffee Makers made to order by Dmitriy Tihonenko Côté wants to give us the everyday wonder of the future.
Maybe for the simple reason that a bright future is good for business - one does not sell cigars (or chocolates) using fearful, tragic or menacing imagery.
Whatever his deep reasons, with his bright future filled with strange machines Côté is probably the true forefather of what we call steampunk esthetics - the imagination of the future through the lens of the past, with a playful but positive attitude.
On the other hand, Robida might be the originator of the more "-punk" branch of the culture - the one that criticizes and mocks conventions.
Visit Custom Coffee Makers by Dmitriy Tihonenko : http://bit-art.ru/
Maybe for the simple reason that a bright future is good for business - one does not sell cigars (or chocolates) using fearful, tragic or menacing imagery.
Whatever his deep reasons, with his bright future filled with strange machines Côté is probably the true forefather of what we call steampunk esthetics - the imagination of the future through the lens of the past, with a playful but positive attitude.
On the other hand, Robida might be the originator of the more "-punk" branch of the culture - the one that criticizes and mocks conventions.
Visit Custom Coffee Makers by Dmitriy Tihonenko : http://bit-art.ru/
 Candle Powered Radio - Artist Dan Aetherman - www.thechocolatist.com |  Expeditions Audiophon - Artist Dan Aetherman - www.thechocolatist.com |
 Found Item Steampunk Airship Lamp by James Osteen - China Creek Arts |  Aetheric Detector - Phil Bolton, commissions available pandaphil@gmail.com |
Visit China Creek Arts : www.etsy.com/shop/chinacreek
Visit Phil Bolton : https://www.facebook.com/phil.bolton.79
Visit Dan Aetherman : www.thechocolatist.com
Visit Phil Bolton : https://www.facebook.com/phil.bolton.79
Visit Dan Aetherman : www.thechocolatist.com
Lightning Jar Accelerator - Samantha Bergren - www.etsy.com/shop/ReviveGifts Certainly, steampunk has a complex set of values and deep-rooted conventions, mainly colored by its literary origins - in the works of the earlier scientific romance authors, in Verne and Wells, in the works of proto-steampunk authors like Michael Moorcock and Brian Stableford, and finally in the works of the original steampunk authors
(Jeter, Powers, Blaylock, Gibson & Sterling, Di Filippo ect.)
And there is also an undeniable influence, in terms of "look and feel", from such seminal films as Disney's "20.000 Leagues under the Sea", or in Karel Zeman's wondrous adaptations of Verne.
Visit Samantha Bergren : www.etsy.com/shop/ReviveGifts
(Jeter, Powers, Blaylock, Gibson & Sterling, Di Filippo ect.)
And there is also an undeniable influence, in terms of "look and feel", from such seminal films as Disney's "20.000 Leagues under the Sea", or in Karel Zeman's wondrous adaptations of Verne.
Visit Samantha Bergren : www.etsy.com/shop/ReviveGifts
Rocky Sawyer - Groomsmen - Airship Diamler Photo - Heidi Icenogle
But if we are looking for the first true depiction of a "steampunk" society - a world in which 19th century values and style are coupled with the wonders of future technology in a positive way, then it is probably at Jean-Marc's Côté cigarbox vignettes we must look.
Wendi Mitilinakis, Arthur Millican Jr. - Sleepy Hollow Enterprises
Visit Sleepy Hollow Enterprises : https://www.facebook.com/sleepyhollowent
This was, back then, the future: a mix of extraordinary and commonplace, offered with an underlying certainty that all was going to be for the best.
History would show that Robida's cynicism was - once again - spot on and chillingly exact in its envisioning of the future. But in the last days of the century, Europe was dreaming Côté dreams, and we inherited some of them.
By Davide Mana - See more by David @ The GreyWorld Blog - greyworld.co
http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910/
Note: Many thanks to Davide Mana for contributing this article And to all the Steampunks who graciously gave us permission to use photos of their work. (Dianne Keast- Photo Editor)
RSS Feed
