An Entertainment (Comédie de société) 1903

Curator: So, here we have Jacques Villon's "An Entertainment (Comédie de société)" from 1903, a colored etching and aquatint print. What’s your immediate reaction? Editor: I see polite boredom, bottled-up energy. The palette, muted and faded, lends this gathering a melancholic feel. Makes me wonder, what were they REALLY thinking? Curator: Right. It's interesting to consider the labor and social dynamics inherent in creating a colored etching like this back then. Each layer of color required a separate plate meticulously etched by hand. The materials involved were costly, reflecting a certain level of social standing for both the artist and his subjects. Editor: It does bring to mind a hushed stage production, like watching figures on pause from a play. But for me it evokes an odd intimacy as though i've stumbled into a world of half formed connections. It's got a delicious tension in the tableau between the women. Curator: These "comedies of society," as Villon termed them, offer commentary on bourgeois life, its superficiality, and the performance of social rituals. This particular example, being a print, would have been circulated widely, reaching a broader audience and perhaps sparking conversation, maybe even challenging some viewers’ notions of propriety and class. Editor: I love how the sketchy lines both capture and hint at detail, like lost conversations just beyond earshot, creating an elusive, dream-like atmosphere. Makes one consider the performativity of simply *being* in these kinds of societal environments. Is that not itself a process, too, a work of emotional labor and costuming of the soul, to fit into these gilded cage moments? Curator: Absolutely! And to add to that thought, consider the material consumption at play. The clothing, the hats, the furniture--all of which represent a complex web of production, trade, and social display. Editor: Exactly. It makes you ponder what this 'entertainment' actually IS? Is it a show *for* these women? A show *put on by* these women for an audience of the elite class and others outside that purview? Curator: These works provide us not just with the end product of an artistic vision, but insights into the economics and production of visual culture in early 20th century France. Editor: So it appears even after all these years later, they continue to ask more questions about that world, about OUR world today as well.