#francois boucher
chinoiserie
Chinoiserie originated in France during the 18th century and shares many stylistic similarities wth the undulatingly fluid and organic rococo movement. One of the most obvious and practical parallels is that it encompassed many mediums, from interior design, furniture, garden follies to painting textiles and ceramics. Indeed chinoiserie was everywhere in Europe and was of course drenched with colonial symbolism.
As a concept this style is completely entwined with orientalist principles. It is inspired by ‘the orient’ yet makes no geographic or artistic distinctions between influences and countries. What emerges is a strange idea of China which draws upon imagery from Turkey, India, Egypt and Japan, creating an elaborate exotic fantasy, more a depiction of the designers own imagination than anything resembling reality.
The truth was outside academia in the superficial world of fashion, there was little interest in really exploring and understanding a different culture, what really mattered was following the latest trend. With the influx of Asian products like silk, porcelain and tea, via the East India Company, goods from the 'orient’ were the new symbol of power and wealth. With this mania Europe’s own cultural landscape changed and with it its visual identity.
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Two studies of girl’s heads, seen from behind, by François Boucher (French, 1703-1770). Black chalk on paper.
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Jupiter: Come a little closer Callisto
Jupiter and Callisto (1714), Francois Boucher / Stay, Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko
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Death of a Bird-Catcher
Anthologia Palatina 7.171 = Mnasalces of Sicyon (3rd cent. BCE)
Here, too, the sacred bird will rest his swift wing,
Perched atop this sweet plane-tree:
For Poemandrus the Melian has died – he comes no longer
After smearing his fowling-twigs with bird-lime.
Ἀμπαύσει καὶ τῇδε θοὸν πτερὸν ἱερὸς ὄρνις,
τᾶσδ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἁδείας ἑζόμενος πλατάνου:
ὤλετο γὰρ Ποίμανδρος ὁ Μάλιος, οὐδ᾽ ἔτι νεῖται
ἰξὸν ἐπ᾽ ἀγρευταῖς χευάμενος καλάμοις.
The Bird-Catchers, François Boucher, 1748
