La Mode, ca. 1835 c. 1835

Curator: Welcome. We are looking at Paul Gavarni’s, “La Mode”, created around 1835. This drawing, enhanced with etching, pen, and watercolor, captures a moment of bourgeois life during the Romantic era. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Immediately I get this sense of theatre – the heightened drama of an intimate scene almost overflowing. It feels very alive. Like you've stumbled into someone's private joke or romantic pursuit. Curator: The print was produced and proliferated during an important period of consumer culture, and visual culture of course, as the technology grew more commonplace. Its subject reveals the interest in capturing contemporary life. Gavarni made a career of these slices of Parisian existence. Editor: There's definitely a story unfolding. The woman in pink, she’s almost ridiculously beautiful in that puffy dress. And look at the artist's arched eyebrow! What’s he thinking? He's probably embellishing his painting of her, isn't he? Curator: Well, that’s partly the joke embedded here. Gavarni is commenting on the fashion-obsessed culture but perhaps too, alluding to portraiture's frequent distortions. He captures that dance between reality and representation. Note how other examples of artwork also linger in the background! Editor: Those art objects become almost like props. Even a bit like ghosts. I can almost smell the perfumed air of a Parisian salon... but the satire is biting! He is mocking and celebrating beauty standards. You can feel the tension. Curator: The work appeared in *Le Charivari* in its time, connecting it explicitly with the periodical press. Prints like this had their lives inside a very active cultural network. Think about this when you come to a consensus on his point-of-view. Editor: Gavarni's pen is so loose, lively; you feel the rush of inspiration but in terms of audience, he's letting us peek behind the curtain, too. Even 200 years later, there is plenty to enjoy! Curator: Indeed, "La Mode" opens a window into a vibrant moment of social history, reflecting evolving aesthetic values of its day. We can only wonder, now, if he would accept the "photographic" standards and airbrushing dominating representation. Editor: It is refreshing to find his commitment to what truly captures attention and spirit. Bravo.