sits languorously under an archway while gods and mortals work andbattle and play below her. Rococo was accused of being “all boudoir prettiness, rouge and fans” while ignoring the artist’s skill. But Eloise CorrDanch’s paper-dress installations—Madame Pompadour and Lady Dulcinea, Paper Doll—show the artistry and fancifulness of rococo fashion.Bows, fans, ruffles, and flowers are elements of the dresses’ constructionsand patterns of the fabric, highlighting rococo’s recurring motifs.
For a little more than thirty years, rococo represented the dreamof happiness in its preference for intimacy over grandeur and wit andpleasure over pomp and ceremony. While at the end of its popularityit was condemned as the art of a corrupt, immoral French aristocraticsociety, art critics are giving rococo another look and finding it to be amovement offering playful liberation. Rococo is now recognized for itsexpression of ease and delight and a simple determination never to bedull. These nine artists’ work extend the mission to bring freedom, colorfulness, and charm to art.
Kris Kuksi, The Visitation (left top), 2011, mixed media; Hercules vs. Diana (leftbottom), 2011, mixed media; Victory of Perseus (above), 2017, mixed media
