Transcript Rococo Art - Savvi notes

ROCOCO ART
ORIGINS
• Was born in Paris where it coincided with the
reign of Louis 15th
• It was out-dated by the 1760s in France, but it
continued to impact other parts of Europe
• The name derives from rocaille motif of shell work
and pebbles ornamenting grottoes and fountains
It was playful, superficial and alive with energy
ARISTOCRACY
• Rococo art was as decorative and non-functional as
the effete aristocracy that embraced it.
• After the death of Louis 14th (1715), the aristocracy
abandoned Versailles for Paris where the salons of
their ornate townhouses epitomized the new Rococo
style
• The nobility lived a frivolous existence devoted to
pleasure, reflected in a characteristic painting, ‘fete
galante’
Pilgrimage to Cythera , Antoine Watteau
Romantic couples frolic on an enchanted isle of eternal youth and love.
BAROQUE ART
• Rococo is seen both as the climax and fall of Baroque
art.
• After the heavy works created in the Baroque style
artists were ready for a change.
• The Rococo manner was a reaction against the"grand
manner" of art identified with the baroque formality
and rigidity of court life.
A CHANGE IN ART
• The paintings of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and
Francois Boucher (1703-70), Jean Honore Fragonard
(1732-1806) signalled a change in art from the serious
and grandiose to the superficial and frothy
• Rococo art was light, airy, decorative and mostly used
pastels
• A difference from the past, the art depicted flirtatious
and frivolous subjects-it was carefree and very
different from what had come before
• Rococo art portrayed a world of artificiality, makebelieve, and game-playing.
• Although less formal, it was essentially an art of the
aristocracy and emphasized what seem now to have
been the unreflective and indulgent lifestyles of the
aristocracy rather than piety, morality, self-discipline,
reason, and heroism (all of which can be found in the
baroque).
erotic
fantasy
Escape
enchanting
Source: Fragonard’s
‘The Swing’
Here you see pretty pink
nudes in seductive poses
earning Fragonard great
success because he did
not want to pain from life,
saying that it was too
green and badly lit.
This is his best known
work where a girl on a
swing flirtatiously kicks
off a satin slipper while
an admirer below peeks
up her lacy petticoats.
Pleasure
Flirtatious
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Vigée LeBrun, Marie Antoinette, 1788
INTERIOR DESIGN
 Rococo art was mostly used within the home and acted as interior
design:
 Gilded woodwork
 Painted panels
 Enormous wall mirrors
 Richly carved furniture
 Gobelin (woven) upholstery
 Clothing, silverwork and china was overwrought with curlicues as well as flowers,
shells and leaves
INTERIOR DESIGN