Rococo Rivals and Revivals

Composed of 12 objects, paintings, drawings and prints, featuring regional, national and international loans, this exhibition will be presenting a global vision on the different personalities and schools of Rococo. If this aesthetically pleasing genre has become one of the public’s favorite, it is almost impossible to reunite the main actors of this play under one roof, as if the rivalry between them had been passed throughout the centuries – not unlike the protagonists depicted in The Italian Comedians by Antoine Watteau.

Those masters will be presented and confronted to each other, where you will be able to contemplate and compare their similarities - and their differences. Watteau’s investigation of the commedia dell’arte subject matter represents a critical component to the exhibition’s overall narrative with his innovative combination of reality and artifice. The dialogue established between these masterpieces and those of Boucher and Fragonard surely will be interesting, as it is the first time this rare instance of the three most prominent Rococo painters will be exhibited together in San Diego.

Paired with contemporary representations by Yinka Shonibare, Chris Antemann and others, Rococo, Rivals and Revivals is offering an unconventional spin on the typical subject matter of flirtation and seduction, common during the Rococo period, fantasized in a world where reality and artifice meet.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.