Immanent authority and the performance of community in late nineteenth century Montmartre

This article develops an account of the aesthetic structure of 'immanent', non-foundational forms of authority. It argues for the need to develop a positive account of decentralized authority as an important constitutive form of social bond. Through a genealogical reading of the cultural experiments of the artistic community of late nineteenth century Montmartre, it builds an analysis of the affective and perceptual structures of immanent authority. Authority, it argues, operates across three axes of experience: amplitude, gravity and distance. Although the artistic experiments and cultural politics of fin-de-siecle Montmartre were politically naive, they offer an illuminating lens through which to view the emerging experiential structures of authority in the twentieth century.