Jean-Antoine Watteau

Past Exhibition: Watteau and His World

cover of the catalogue for the exhibition Watteau and His World: French Drawing from 1700-1750 with sketch of seated young woman
Watteau and His World: French Drawing from 1700 to 1750
October 20, 1999 to January 9, 2000

This comprehensive survey of drawings by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) and some of his leading contemporaries included more than sixty-five drawings lent from public and private collections in North America. A core of some thirty-five drawings by Watteau himself demonstated the evolution and range of his graphic art, with examples of all the signficant subjects that he drew and all the genres and graphic media in which he worked.

Past Exhibition: Watteau to Degas

chalk drawing of woman in long robe reclining in chair with footrest, palm against the cheek

Watteau to Degas: French Drawings from the Frits Lugt Collection

October 6, 2009 to January 10, 2010

Frederik Johannes Lugt (1884–1970) was a Dutch art historian, connoisseur, and collector.

Travels with a Curator: Valenciennes

video still of Xavier Salomon and oil painting of soldiers

In this week’s episode of “Travels with a Curator,” travel with Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, to Valenciennes, the birthplace of the Rococo painter Jean-Antoine Watteau. Delve into the historical events surrounding Watteau’s "Portal at Valenciennes" (ca. 1710–11), a scene of soldiers at rest near the ramparts of the town. Known for his depictions of garden frolics, Watteau seldom portrayed military life—“The Portal” is one of only three such paintings that survive today.

Christy Pichichero: "Watteau's Soldiers: Bodies, War, and Enlightenment"

Link to video of Christy Pichichero video

As demonstrated by the special exhibition Watteau's Soldiers: Scenes of Military Life in Eighteenth-Century France, Watteau’s soldiers reveal a paradox: their bodies and minds seem docile, subjugated to military discipline, yet they also relay a vibrant participation in and processing of the experience of war. Discover how this paradox revolutionized military thought during the French Enlightenment and ushered in a new understanding of the costs of war on the human body, mind, and heart.

Aaron Wile: "Watteau: Making as Meaning"

Link to video of Aaron Wile lecture

Jean-Antoine Watteau's military works proffer a modern vision of war in which the soldier's inner life is brought to the fore. This talk, presented by the curator of the special exhibition Watteau's Soldiers: Scenes of Military Life in Eighteenth-Century France, examines how the problem of representing interiority informed the artist's working methods. 

Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery

Link to introductory video for the exhibition 'Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery'

Susan Grace Galassi, Senior Curator at The Frick Collection, introduces the exhibition Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery, on view in the East Gallery through February 1, 2015.

'Masterpieces of European Painting from Dulwich Picture Gallery'

Link to introductory video for the exhibition 'Masterpieces of European Painting from Dulwich Picture Gallery'

Dulwich Picture Gallery holds one of the world's major collections of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century paintings. The exhibition, which heralds the Gallery’s bicentenary in 2011, reintroduced American audiences to this institution’s collection through an exceptional group of works, shown exclusively at the Frick through May 30, 2010.

 

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