Flâneur is a type of urban male "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", or "loafer". This French term was popularized in the 19th century and has some nuanced additional meanings. Traditionally depicted a
Paul Gavarni, Le Flâneur, 1842
Gustave Caillebotte. Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877. Art Institute of Chicago.
Gustave Caillebotte, Le Pont de l'Europe, oil on canvas, 1876. Musée du Petit Palais, Geneva.
The badaud is an important urban type from 18th and 19th-century French literature, one that has been adapted to explain aspects of mass culture and modern experience.
Flâneur
…flâneur met his demise with the triumph of consumer capitalism. In these texts, the flâneur was often juxtaposed and contrasted with the figure of the badaud, the gawker or gaper. Fournel wrote: "The flâneur must not be confused with the badaud; a nuance should be observed there .... The simple flâneur is…
Honoré Daumier, Les Badauds, 1839