The Dance 1720

Editor: Here we have "The Dance" by Jean-Antoine Watteau, created around 1720, using oil paints. There’s a definite feeling of… theatricality here, almost a stage setting. What are your thoughts on how this work operates? Curator: Thinking materially, this work highlights the relationship between art, labour, and the structures of its time. Look closely at the rendering of the fabric; the shimmering quality certainly speaks to a very specific context. These are clearly the garments of the elite. What can we deduce from the depiction of labor required to produce not just the garments depicted but the materials? Editor: You're right, the luxurious fabric really stands out, and there are implications for labor at every stage – production and consumption. Do you think Watteau is commenting on that inequality? Curator: It’s possible, but also worthwhile to ask how Watteau benefitted directly from the elite by accepting commissions to make paintings such as this. By paying close attention to detail and flattering his clientele, his art essentially validated the systems that afforded that privilege. Consider the materials, oil paint made with pigments likely derived from costly minerals traded across the globe. What about the canvas itself? All are elements deeply enmeshed in the economics of his time. Editor: So, examining the materials tells us as much about the painting's subject as the figures represented within it? Curator: Precisely! This helps us unravel the threads of production, consumption, and social power that are intrinsic to artmaking and its function within a society. Editor: That’s given me a whole new way of looking at it! I now see it as more of a document reflecting the means of the time. Curator: Indeed. Material analysis connects art to a complex network of systems, labor, and value creation beyond what appears in the frame.