Swing Time: Serendipitous Conversations About the Rococo

Innovative series of five online talks from the Wallace Collection responding to the recent cleaning of “The Swing” by Fragonard.

Yuriko Jackall , Curator of French Painting at the  Wallace Collection, chaired all five events which brought together artists and designers with thinkers to discuss aspects of the painting, the times it was painted in and ideas which still hold today. The title and idea had partly been suggested by the set and costume Simon Bejer is partly about thinking about who is looking at the collection. All the artists referenced going to the gallery and many had directly quoted the 18th century paintings there.

The five subjects were the colour pink, identity, fashion, play and the idea of the Libertine. At first sight these seemed an odd collection of themes but they fit really well and led to discussion on a wide range of topics. It’s not a period of history that I know well and I learned a lot about it. I will see a lot more in these pictures in the future which I had previously found vapid. It also introduced me to the work of a number of contemporary artists and designers who I will also be looking out for.

 

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