Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780)
A Special Exhibition Review by Beth S. Gersh-Nesic
Described as "the fruit of many years' research by curators on both sides of the Atlantic," the exhibition of paintings, drawings and etchings by the irreverent French artist Gabriel de Saint-Aubin is a peach of a show for the Frick Collection's holiday season. Here you can linger over the amorous antics of eighteenth-century flirtatious dames and swains, decked out in white powdered wigs and extravagant clothes, as they frolic through eclectic surroundings. The works have been brought together by Peter Jay Sharp Curator Colin B. Bailey and guest curator Kim de Beaumont of the Frick, in union with President-Director Emeritus Pierre Rosenberg and Chief Curator in the Department of Drawings, Christophe Leribault of the Louvre. All have generously interpreted a great deal of Saint-Aubin's body of work in both a hefty catalogue and concise text panels placed next to Saint-Aubin's deliciously detailed depictions of mores and peccadilloes carried on at cafés, in the street, at the theatre and among art itself in the annual State exhibitions, called the "Salon."
As the curators pointed out, it was a blessing in disguise that Gabriel de Saint-Aubin failed three times to capture the coveted Grand Prix which would have paved the way to study in the august French Academy in Rome. Accepting his fate, Saint-Aubin ably carved out a more original path with his paintings and sketches of antiquity and contemporary Paris, bequeathing to posterity evidence of spontaneous moments—or at least the semblance of such—much before the camera took over the task of documentation. According to his older brother, artist Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin (1721-1786), the younger Gabriel executed "one-hundred thousand images." In the Frick Collection, fifty of these thousands are on view through January 27, 2008.
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (French, 1724-1780)
The Flirtatious Conversation, 1760
Watercolor and gouache
7 7/8 x 5 3/16 in. (20 x 13 cm)
Forsyth Wickes Collection
© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Born in Paris in 1724, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin seems to have been a bit of an eccentric. A confirmed bachelor, he immersed himself in the study of architecture, the sciences and the art of observing human behavior which he then transferred into his amusing drawings of everyday life played out in various environments all over his native city: Society Promenade (1760), a juxtaposition of high and low classes; Café Scene (La Grand Café d'Alexandre) (1759), an opportunity to witness public socializing before the Impressionist revolution; and Spinning Factory (1776-77), an ordered composition to celebrate the promise of modern technology.
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (French, 1724-1780)
Society Promenade, 1760
Pen and brown and black ink, brush and
gray wash, watercolor, and gouche
12 3/8 x 10 5/32 in. (31.4 x 25.8 cm)
© The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Popular entertainment is represented in several theater and opera pieces: The Dream of Voltaire Composing the "Pucelle d'Orléans" (1779); Voltaire "Coronation" at the Théâtre Française on March 30, 1778 (1778); Allegory in Honor of the Death of Voltaire (ca. 1779); "Ernelinde, Princess of Norway," Opera by Poinsinet and Philidor (1767); Parisian Fête (ca. 1760); and Quinault and Lully's Opera "Armide," Performed at the Palais Royal Opera House (1761). These images of work and play together testify to the "commingling of theater and everyday life ... in Saint-Aubin's artistic evolution."
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (French, 1724-1780)
Allegory in Honor of the Death of Voltaire, ca. 1779
Black chalk, brown ink, gray wash and watercolor
7 7/8 x 5 5/32 in. (20 x 13.1 cm)
© Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
This "commingling" presents a significant reason to appreciate the artist's contribution to art history: he understood the intersection of artifice and reality before Jean Baudrillard and the rest of the Post-Modernism crew put their mitts on it. Story and self, appearance and authenticity have always dueled for our sense of truth and integrity. In Saint-Aubin's work we find a clear-eyed, earthy response to the ostentatious Rococo trappings offered by his renowned colleagues, rendered in a sprightly hand that seems as fresh as this morning's crisply baked baguette.
This is not to say that Gabriel de Saint-Aubin's work are merely frothy, slice-of-life amuses-bouche, easily zipped through with a passing glance. To the contrary, these astute orchestrations of human behavior--whether of those who lived with him or those who lived before him (imagined in historical extravaganzas such as The Triumph of Pompey 61 B.C., 1763)--require slow study and, if possible, companionable conversation to verify what is seen (preferably with a magnifying glass provided by the museum). Unfortunately, Saint-Aubin's clever insights will not stay in New York. Next stop: The Musée du Louvre, February 21 through May 26, 2008.
Special thanks to Frick Collection guest curator Kim de Beaumont, Ph.D., for her entertaining and highly informative personal tour of the Gabriel de Saint-Aubin exhibition.
Click here for a gallery of additional works of art in the special exhibition.
"Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780)" is on view from October 30, 2007 through January 27, 2008 at The Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street near Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10021 (Telephone: 212-288-0700; Website). The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $15.00 for adults, $10.00 for senior citizens, $5.00 for students and "pay as you wish" on Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Please note: Children under ten are not admitted to the Collection, and those under sixteen must be accompanied by an adult.
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From your Guide: Beth Gersh-Nesic, is an art history professor, author, art critic and the director of the New York Arts Exchange, an arts education service which offers tours, lectures and workshops in various venues, including museums, galleries, artists' studios and arts organizations.
