CLASS NOTES: Rococo Eroticism in 18th Century Popular Culture (Sexing the Canvas: Art and Gender)

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Notes on video lecture:

Rococo Eroticism in 18th Century Popular Culture

Sexing the Canvas: Art and Gender

Jeanette Hoorn, The University of Melbourne

Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on May 2, 2017 (go to class or lectures)

Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:

unmade, integrity, consummated, middle, vaguely, rush, head, Revolution, caught, academy, encoded, Rococo, learning, coded, print, Fragonard, armoire, career, reprimanded, motifs

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Jean-Honore (1732-1806)

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a student of Boucher

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successful on his own

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had an unofficial career

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had joined the as a student

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was never officially in the academy since he didn't submit the final work

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was able to have a successful career outside of court circles

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producing a number of prints for the market

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different market

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accessible to a more class

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Enlightenment writers and critics

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concerned with moral of society

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sexualized paintings without any sort of ethical conclusion

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prints were supposed to have narratives that could be understood by middle class audiences which may not understand the references in higher art

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1778 The Armoire

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can be by various audiences

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a bedroom scene

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the is the cupboard

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lover on left-hand side

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her angry parents on right

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the bed is , they have been in the bed

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onlookers at the door to enjoy the action and drama and the scene

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a little boy and little girl on the right who are from this scene

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may not understand the full sexuality of the narrative

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but understand that these two people have been doing something that the parents think they shouldn't have been doing

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code: his hat

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one hand holding onto the armoire

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the other hand you can't see

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hat is being held up not by a hand

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yet the hat is on his , so to say

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remorse at being caught

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you read from right to left to understand the scene

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the of the parents

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sexuality that has been

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then from left to right to interpret the scene

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sexuality that has been

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the end of

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French artists responding to more middle class values

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but there are still references back to the coded, sexual or erotic that also entertai elite viewers

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and see a continuity from the early Rococo stages into its later stages about 10 years prior to the

People:

######################### (1732-1806)

French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism

one of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the Ancien Régime, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings (not counting drawings and etchings)
among his most popular works are genre paintings conveying an atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism
while working at the French Academy in Rome, he toured Italy, executing numerous sketches of local scenery and it was in these romantic gardens, with their fountains, grottos, temples and terraces, that Fragonard conceived the dreams which he was subsequently to render in his art
before a portrait of his was bought by the king, Fragonard had hesitated between religious, classic and other subjects, but the subsequent demand of the wealthy art patrons of Louis XV's pleasure-loving and licentious court turned him definitely towards those scenes of love and voluptuousness with which his name will ever be associated, and which are only made acceptable by the tender beauty of his color and the virtuosity of his facile brushwork, such works including the Le collin maillard (Blind Man's Bluff), Serment d'amour (Love Vow), Le Verrou (The Bolt), and L'Escarpolette (The Swing)
for half a century or more he was so completely ignored that Wilhelm Lübke's 1873 art history volume omits the very mention of his name
subsequent reevaluation has confirmed his position among the all-time masters of French painting
the influence of Fragonard's handling of local color and expressive, confident brushstroke on the Impressionists cannot be overestimated

Spelling Corrections:

accessable ⇒ accessible

consumated ⇒ consummated

Ideas and Concepts:

Decoding 18th century French ink prints via this morning's Sexing the Canvas course:

"While François Boucher was a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, Jean-Honore Fragonard was not, since he never delivered his final painting in order to become a member. One reason he might not have felt it necessary to be a member was he had found a successful market outside of court circles, mostly creating prints instead of paintings for the middle class who were able to afford prints.

At the time, Enlightenment writers and critics were concerned with moral integrity of society, and so it was important when producing art work for the middle class to avoid vaguely sexualized paintings which had no ethical conclusion. Works produced for the print market were expected to have easy-to-understand narratives which contained a clear moral lesson.

Yet Fragonard was sophisticated enough to slip into his prints vague and coded signs and symbols which could be understood and enjoyed by the more educated classes of society. His 1778 print L'Armoire is an example of this.

We see a bedroom scene, the armoire opened with a man a man caught in the act of improper societal behavior stepping out, his remorseful lover to the left, presumably her angry parents to the right having just rushed in on the scene and leaning toward him with the intent of retribution, and on the far right, younger children peeking in the door learning the lessons of society as they watch this exciting scene.

At first glance this is a quite humorous scene with a simple and serious narrative which teaches the moral that one should not engage in improper sexual behavior and if one does, one will suffer the consequences.

However, if we direct our attention to the large hat in the center of the left side of the print, we see that the man's right hand is exposed and touching the door frame as he steps out of the armoir. And while the location of his other hand remains vague, Fragonard has included enough shadow under the man's coat to indicate that the man's left hand is not in front of him but most probably holding onto something behind him to maintain his balance as he steps out of the armoir which has quite a high step.

So the question becomes:What is holding up the hat?

The answer, of course, is the man's erect penis, which elevates this quite serious and moral scene into one of light ribaldry, sending the viewer's mind down a trail of wit as the viewer perhaps reconsiders the appropriateness of this young man's behavior, e.g. that he is indeed wearing his hat on his head and had merely removed it to please the woman."