Figures de modes c. 1710

Curator: Let's turn our attention to "Figures de modes," an etching and print made circa 1710, held here at the Art Institute of Chicago and created by Jean-Antoine Watteau. Editor: My immediate impression is one of elegant melancholy. She’s dressed exquisitely, but her gaze seems distant, almost world-weary. There is a feeling that this captures a certain wistful detachment from society. Curator: The figure's dress is indeed the core. Watteau meticulously rendered it to emphasize the production and presentation of the clothing as commodity. The attention given to the folds, the way the fabric drapes—it suggests the work of ateliers, of labor painstakingly crafting these high-fashion items and marketing their worth to aspiring upper class clients. The print format implies broad consumption; multiples made the image accessible. Editor: Absolutely, but even the composition evokes an older set of symbolic meanings: Watteau presents us with a fashionable figure against the backdrop of fading buildings and sky – this is, as a theme, linked to "vanitas," in a certain cultural reading! We have splendor but ephemeral glory, don't we? Her sidelong look feels self-aware, maybe reflecting the hollowness of a life overly concerned with appearance. Curator: That might read into the social environment too, reflecting how, through such printed media, consumption itself came to reflect cultural trends; the material culture depicted literally etched onto a printed object available for increasingly diverse audiences across Europe. Editor: Note that Watteau sets her amongst dying plants at the end of the composition! This makes this more poignant, in my reading. Watteau, by setting the subject in such a visual and thematic arena creates something very meaningful that reaches beyond fashion. I see this is an interesting visual interpretation that presents an image and meaning intertwined! Curator: And the etching technique itself–consider how its line-based, reproductive qualities shaped perceptions and disseminations. In some ways, one could almost imagine an analogy where the ink mirrors something of laboring sweat of the workforce that produces clothing that are its ostensible subject. It highlights the tension between craft and fine art that's really interesting to tease apart. Editor: Well, I am grateful we got a chance to delve deeper into the artistic and symbolic significance Watteau captures here, rather beautifully. Curator: Indeed. This certainly highlighted that tensions exist for all fashion consumption - both between its place in material culture, as a product of labor for mass visual reproduction; and within artistic merit!