Rococo meets contemporary

Rachel Feinstein
Eva (parasol), 2005
pastel on paper
39 x 27-1/2 inches
Courtesy Marianne Boesky
*image from http://artcritical.com

A chat with a new colleague at the museum got me thinking about the artists I wrote about in my thesis oh so many 7 years ago. The artist who prompted my interest of Rococo and Baroque art in contemporary art was Rachel Feinstein. I saw a show of hers in a gallery when I was thinking about topics and I was hooked. This pastel has always been one of my favorites. Feinstein works in a variety of media including sculpture. It's quite hard to a do a quick search of her on the web because her and her husband, the artist John Currin, are quite the socialites and most of what one immediately finds are glamour shots and lot of articles sans images.

The Reader

A Young Girl Reading, 1770-1772
Jean-Honore Fragonard
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Image: wikimedia commons

I apologize for such a weak week in art of the day blurbing, I have been preparing for the conference I am headed to this afternoon. I set out looking for a Fragonard painting and via wikipedia discovered something I am surprised I hadn't yet. I've had a small print of this painting that I love for a number of years. I never took the time to figure out who the painting was by and am very happy it is Fragonard. Fragonard was part of my study into Rococo painting for my thesis. Oh how I love domesticity, frivolity and playfulness!

So, since it is art, a painting I love and of a lady reading it seems pretty fitting to sign off with it on my way to the ARLIS (Art Libraries Society) conference, to hang with art librarians. woo! Indianapolis here I come!

Enjoy the sweetness, the curved ring finger, the golden dress. I'll try to post while I am away but if I don't get the chance I'll be back on Tuesday!