This, again, is another one of those bridges between Baroque and Rococo that doesn’t quite fit either genre but shares elements of both movements.
Tag: rococo
Thursday
Again with the Rococo and its erotic imagery.
Wednesday
This is kind of your typical bridge point painting for what happened between the Baroque and Rococo – it was landscapes and a sense of uneasy peasant whimsy with just a hint of aristocratic finery that’s out of place.
Monday
Oh, man, this is so naughty in so many ways. It’s so Rococo it hurts. It’s indulgent and frivolous and all the things that the aristocracy was supposed to be.
Thursday
Back in the day, portrait painting was one of a handful of legitimate jobs that women could do that brought prestige. However, they very often were attributed to their male counterparts for obvious reasons (aka, a woman couldn’t paint that well, no formal training, etc.), which makes this portrait special in the SLAM collection. It is correctly attributed, it is well-painted, the brush strokes are minimal and the subject appears almost airbrushed. Welcome to the 18th century equivalent of Photoshop!
Saturday
I know I talked about Rococo yesterday about being the naughty little sister of Baroque, and, really, it was. But it’s easy to dismiss it as frivolous and pink and ruffles and giggles and all poufs and fluff and shit. It was anything but. It was the forerunner to our modern views on sexuality and how it is portrayed in the media and film. Take, for instance, this series of paintings/etchings/prints about the woman on a swing: it is an erotically charged story about a woman and her lover(s), and matters of the heart, told through the allegorical reference of, well, knowing that she’s got no underwear on under her frilly underskirts. So, there’s that. I guess I’ll leave you with that image burning into the back of your brain.
Friday
Textile art is a special kind of art: it’s rare that it survives intact for very long because fiber pigments degrade much more quickly than, say, paint pigments or fritware glazes do. For textiles to survive in this condition and age is nothing short of a miracle. Not to mention, holy shit. It’s Rococo on goddamn steroids. It took the elegance of the Baroque, turned it upside down, molested it, put a pink bow and a petticoat on it, gave it a flirtatious spank and a naughty wink, and then turned it loose on an unsuspecting public. It looks like it’s supposed to be prim and proper, but it’s not really. Look closer: there are allegorical allusions to sex and naughtiness throughout the symbols. *fans self* Okay, enough about the naughty. It really is a gorgeous piece of cloth.