Within this piece, Baudelaire claims that the artist is a man restricted by his inability to understand society. He claims the artist does not entirely exist within the world of politics and morality, but rather is confined to a shallow existence. Though I understand the distinction made between the artistic world and the socio-political world, in many cases, works of art reflect opinions on the social and political issues of the time. I would not say that artists exist apart from these aspects of society, nor that they must be distinguished from those Baudelaire considers "men of the world". Baudelaire's portrayal of "the Artist" is highly over-generalized, and his distinction between theses two types of men creates a polarized view of the artist.
Baudelaire goes on to compare the mentality of the artist to that of a child. I found this point somewhat confusing, as he seemed to have been critical of the primitive work and limited perspective of the artist within his previous arguments. At this point in the piece, he seems to have altered his perspective from one which critiques primitivity to one which favors the artists ability to recover a child-like mentality through expression.
I also sensed some contradiction within his reference to Monsieur G as a "dandy". From my understanding of it, Dandyism a is mentality characterized by egotism and a lack of regard for society. Where this brought about some confusion for me was in his discussion of G.'s sensitivity and his insatiable passion for the material world. These characteristics seem to contradict the quintessential characteristics of the dandy who aspires to complete insensitivity.
Within his section titled Modernity, I found his perspective on the stylistic differences between ancient and modern styles particularly interesting. He mentions the significance of learning the artistic methods of the ancient masters, but goes on to explain that the understanding of the past will not help you in depicting the aesthetics of modern society. I found this perspective reminiscent of the themes of the Renaissance. As Chantal had discussed within her lecture last week, the Renaissance had been a cultural rebirth which had pushed artistic focus onto the representation of man himself. Similarly, Baudelaire is concerned with the artists expression of themes and aesthetic styles which reflect those of modern society.
I definitely agree with your point in the first paragraph - much of what art is comes from the artist's opinion or critique of the society to which they ascribe (or attack). I was also a little bit confused in his comparison between an artist and a child. Personally, I have always believed artists to be able to tap into their childhood roots in order to access a creativity that others long go repressed. Strangely, though, it seemed as the Baudelaire was envious or was even celebrating this trait within the artist, despite having criticized their mindset earlier in his piece. It is interesting also that he brings up learning artistic methods of the ancient masters so that one may incorporate these ideas/methods/values into their depiction of the aesthetics of modern society. I thought it was a bit strange considering his earlier critique and seemingly miscomprehension of the fact that artists are commentators on society - this idea of his seems much more understanding towards the artist and his or her work.
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