Enfilade

Jean Honoré Fragonard, Sketches of Portraits, ca. 1769, drawing, 23 × 35 cm
(Private Collection, Paris)

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From the press release (11 July 2017) for the exhibition:

Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 8 October — 3 December 2017

Curated by Yuriko Jackall

Combining art, fashion, science, and conservation, the revelatory exhibition Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures brings together—for the first time—a newly discovered drawing by Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) and some 14 of his paintings that have been identified with it including the Gallery’s own Young Girl Reading (c. 1769). Fragonard is considered among the most characteristic and important French painters of his era, and this series casts light on the development of his career, the identity of his sitters and patrons, and the significance of his innovative imagery. Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures and the fully illustrated catalog that accompanies it not only present new art-historical and scientific research into this series but also examine the 18th-century Parisian world in which these paintings were created. The exhibition may be seen only at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in the West Building, from October 8 through December 3, 2017.

Jean Honoré Fragonard, Young Girl Reading, ca. 1769, oil on canvas, framed: 104.9 × 89.5 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Gift of Mrs. Mellon Bruce in memory of her father, Andrew W. Mellon).

Covered with 18 thumbnail-sized sketches and apparently annotated in the rococo artist’s own hand, the drawing now known as Sketches of Portraits emerged at a Paris auction in 2012 and upended several long-held assumptions about the fantasy figures—a series of rapidly executed, brightly colored paintings of lavishly costumed individuals.

“The first exhibition to unite the fantasy figures with the recently discovered drawing focuses on this aspect of Fragonard’s production in a powerful and intimate way,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington. “We are grateful to the public and private collections, both here and abroad, that have generously lent to this exhibition, as well as to Lionel and Ariane Sauvage whose gift supported the catalog’s publication.”

Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures explores the many interpretations of this series in the context of the artist’s career. Fragonard strove to create a specific portrait type that showcased the painterly skill for which he was renowned. The fantasy figures also enabled him to experiment and to refine his ideas of artistic reference and emulation. Created within the competitive atmosphere of the Parisian art world, these works were influenced by a range of events, artworks, and visitors to his studio.

The fantasy figures depict men and women posed at leisure or employed in various pursuits, such as acting, reading, writing, playing instruments, or singing. Wearing extravagant attire, these figures are dressed in what was known in 18th-century France as à l’espagnole (Spanish style)—plumed hats, slashed sleeves, ribbons, rosettes, ruffs, capes, and accents of red and black. Shaped by artistic imagination, these paintings pushed the boundaries of accepted figure painting at the time.

Jean Honoré Fragonard, The Writer, ca. 1769, oil on canvas, framed: 115 x 91 cm (Paris: Musée du Louvre, Département des Peintures).

Exhibited for the first time is the newly discovered Sketches of Portraits (c. 1769), a thin sheet of paper with three rows of 18 small sketches—all but one are annotated with a name, 14 have been identified with one of Fragonard’s painted fantasy figures, and four remain unknown. The emergence of Sketches of Portraits prompted a two-year investigation of Young Girl Reading, conducted as a collaborative effort by the Gallery’s Yuriko Jackall, assistant curator of French paintings, John K. Delaney, senior imaging scientist, and Michael Swicklik, senior conservator of paintings. Published in the April 2015 issue of The Burlington Magazine, the findings established Young Girl Reading as a part of the fantasy figure series and shed light upon Fragonard’s approach to the ensemble as a whole.

Other works in the exhibition include the rarely lent, privately held portraits of the Harcourt brothers François-Henri, duc d’Harcourt (c. 1770) and Anne-François d’Harcourt, duc de Beuvron (c. 1770)—which are on view together for the first time since the 1987 exhibition Fragonard at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée du Louvre—as well as The Vestal (c. 1769–71), The Actor (c. 1769), and The Singer (c. 1769). Also on view is the Louvre’s M. de La Bretèche (c. 1769), which depicts the wealthy brother of one of Fragonard’s most devoted patrons, Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non.

The exhibition is curated by Yuriko Jackall, assistant curator, department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art.

Yuriko Jackall ed., with essays by Carole Blumenfeld, Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, Jean-Pierre Cuzin, John Delaney, Elodie Kong, Satish Padiyar, and Michael Swicklik, Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures (London: Lund Humphries, 2017), 160 pages, ISBN: 978 184822 2489, £40 / $50.

The fully illustrated catalog includes an overview and technical examination by Yuriko Jackall with John K. Delaney and Michael Swicklik, all at the National Gallery of Art, and essays by Carole Blumenfeld, research associate at the Palais Fesch-Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Ajaccio; Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, fashion historian; Jean-Pierre Cuzin, former director of the department of paintings at the Musée du Louvre, Paris; Elodie Kong, an art historian specializing in the collecting habits of financiers in 18th-century Paris; and Satish Padiyar, senior lecturer in 19th-century European art at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

P R O G R A M M I N G

Lecture and Book Signing
An Introduction to the Exhibition—Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures
October 8, 2:00pm
East Building Auditorium
Yuriko Jackall, assistant curator, department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art

Lecture
Fashion à la Figaro: Spanish Style on the French Stage
November 26, 2:00pm
Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, fashion historian

Concert
New York Opera Society
November 26, 3:30pm
West Building, East Garden Court
New York Opera Society performs The Three Lives of Rosina Almaviva

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Now on view in Grasse:

Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard: Une Collection Grassoise
Villa-Musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Grasse, 1 July — 1 October 2017

Curated by Rébecca Duffeix with Côme Fabre

Né à Grasse le 26 octobre 1780 et mort le 11 novembre 1850 à Paris, Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard est le fils de Jean-Honoré. Considéré comme un enfant prodige, il expose au Salon à Paris dès 13 ans et est placé par son père dans l’atelier de David. Ses deux influences, néoclassique avec David et celle de la peinture amande et hollandaise qui lui vient de son père, vont être présentes dans ses œuvres tout au long de sa longue et proli que carrière de peintre, de sculpteur et de décorateur. Artiste of ciel très actif, il accepte de nombreuses commandes pour la manufacture de Sèvres et participe à plusieurs réalisations pour l’État sous l’Empire et la Restauration. Rattaché au courant Troubadour, son style demeure tout de même très enlevé et tumultueux. Il va également travailler dans le domaine de la gravure et participer notamment à l’édition des Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l’ancienne France du baron Taylor.

Injustement oublié aujourd’hui, Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard et son œuvre méritent largement d’être remis en lumière. Cette exposition estivale, du 1er juillet au 1er octobre 2017, a l’ambition de faire découvrir plus largement sa carrière à travers ses dessins et ses tableaux conservés dans notre collection grassoise.

Depuis la création des musées de Grasse dans les années 20 et l’ouverture de la Villa-musée Jean- Honoré Fragonard en 1977, les collections n’ont cessé de s’enrichir de dessins et de peintures de cet artiste pour constituer aujourd’hui une des collections publiques les plus importantes en France qui lui soit consacrée. Nous aurons ainsi le plaisir de présenter plusieurs dessins inédits, notamment des feuilles préparatoires à ses plafonds peints du Louvre, toujours en place, commande prestigieuse sous la Restauration pour le musée Charles X.

Le commissariat de l’exposition est assuré par Rebecca Duffeix, Docteur en Histoire de l’art et spécialiste de l’artiste, et nous avons eu l’honneur de béné cier également de la contribution de Côme Fabre, conservateur des peintures au Musée du Louvre.

The press release is available here»

The catalogue is available from ArtBooks.com:

Rebecca Duffeix and Olivier Quiquempois, Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard: Une Collection Grassoise (Milan: Silvana, 2017) 48 pages, ISBN: 978-8836636303, $23.

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