Get A Glimpse Of Labor, Leisure And Everyday Life In Paris' Belle Époque

"Between 1871 and 1914, Paris enjoyed a long stretch without war. 'It was a special moment — a particularly joyful and exuberant moment in Parisian history,' says Emily Talbot. She's the curator of a new exhibition at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif., all about Paris' Belle Époque — or beautiful era."

"During the four decades before World War I, the Eiffel Tower was built, broad boulevards replaced shabby medieval paths, and France's largest city became the City of Light, as the streets were illuminated for the first time by electricity."

"In the "By Day & by Night" some artists report what was happening on the city's streets, and follows Parsians inside their homes, their workplaces, their cafes — and even to the circus."

"A lithograph by Pierre Bonnard shows a busy street corner in 1899. 'You have a woman holding a basket, a child and a dog, a laborer carrying a plank, another one pulling up a pushcart,' Talbot describes."

"Bonnard didn't have to leave home to make his 1899 lithograph House in the Courtyard. The view from his own window shows a woman across the courtyard, leaning out her window to shake out her laundry, or perhaps a rug."