Fragonard: Painting out of Time

Fragonard: Painting out of Time -

"Exhibitions such as Fragonard amoureux at the Musée du Luxembourg in 2015 have drawn helpful links with different aspects of eighteenth-century erotic culture, including the codes of galanterie and libertinage. All this has enriched the discourse, but it hasn't changed the critical framework. Padiyar's book strikes a different note. Although he doesn't ignore erotic iconography, he considers Fragonard above all as a painter of time. The temporality that interests him resides not in a work's relation to the past, or in its materials, but in its subject and visual structure. . . . Padiyar is convincing when he argues that in rejecting certain artistic norms Fragonard was adopting a politics--one that pursued not only sexual but also religious and political freedoms. It restores seriousness to a body of work often characterized by a certain légèreté, and to an artist who can seem light-hearted even in the manner of his death."-- "London Review of Books"