Fumism

Fumism or fumisme (French: fumisme from the French: fumée, smoke) is a conditionally decadent movement in Parisian art that existed from the late 1870s to the first quarter of the 20th century. Fumism can be characterized as ″the art of blowing smoke in your eyes″ — practically, it is the same as Dadaism, but only forty years earlier. This generalized aesthetic-philosophical term became widespread in French culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries thanks to Émile Goudeau, a poet, writer, finance ministry official, and founder of the so-called ″Hydropath Society″. The founders and ideological inspirers of the movement were the same Émile Goudeau, as well as two permanent troublemakers: Arthur Sapeck (real name — Eugène Bataille) and Alphonse Allais.

On the other hand, “fumists” (fumists or supporters of “fumism”) were not only artists and actors who were part of a specific aesthetic movement, but also a much broader group: in general, people who were frivolous, pretentious, throwing dust in the eyes and creating works in avant-garde styles (including the Fauvists, by consonance).