Enfilade

From Hôtels Paris Rive Gauche:

Marguerite Gérard: Artiste en 1789 dans l’atelier de Fragonard

Cognacq-Jay Museum, Paris, 10 September – 6 December 2009

This exhibition concentrates on the astonishing, little-known work of Marguerite Gérard (1761-1837), who was the sister-in-law of the great painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806). Having moved to Paris in the mid-1770s — living in Fragonard’s apartment in the Louvre — she became the painter’s student and subsequent collaborator.

Becoming a recognised female painter in the society of the era was not simple at all. Knowing this, Marguerite made some clever marketing moves, taking advantage of the wobbling Old Regime to carve a niche for herself in this newly-formed society. Soon, her portraits, often donated to her models, carried her name far and wide, helping to make her well known and sought after.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Marguerite Gérard, "The Stolen Kiss," (St. Petersburg, Hermitage)

The exhibition has sixty portraits and drawings borrowed from all over Europe and the United States. As well as the work of Marguerite Gerard and Fragonard, including one seminal collaborative effort, the exhibition will also show contemporary portraits which explain the artist’s sources and the success of the fashion of intimist portraits that took hold at the beginning of the nineteenth century, ending with the arrival of photography. A catalogue will also be published to accompany the exhibition.

The exhibiton Marguerite Gérard: artiste en 1789 dans l’atelier de Fragonard runs from 10th September to 6th December 2009 at the Musée Cognacq-Jay.