Griselda Pollock discusses the typical understanding of 19th century modernity as defined by leisure, consumption, the spectacle, and a newfound class identity. Celebrated male Impressionists captured this modern world in settings like newly expanded boulevards or suburban trains, that reflected a world constantly changed by growing technology, commerce, and socio-political paradigm shifts. This is the perspective of modernity thought of most often when Impressionism is discussed; but it is a singularly masculine worldview. Pollock establishes the simple impossibility that a woman could have experienced modernity as it was defined by these masculine settings; and yet, Pollock suggests that the work of female Impressionists is no less authentic a portrait of the modern world.
