The article discusses David Pullins's analysis of 18th-century French artists, including Watteau, Oudry, and Boucher, focusing on materials and craft in their work. Pullins critiques the traditional view shaped by the Académie Royale, which emphasizes theory over practice. He highlights a prevalent 'cut-and-paste modality' in artistic training, where artists learned by copying body parts to create composite figures. This approach, deeply entwined with artistic education, fostered a culture of reusing and adapting motifs, illustrating how practical craftsmanship influenced the creation of these renowned artworks.
Much of this book is devoted to paintings by three celebrated French artists: Antoine Watteau, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, and François Boucher. However, it brings to them a concern with materials, making, and craft.
David Pullins argues that 18th-century French art has too often been viewed through the lens of the Académie Royale, prioritizing text over image, which has distorted our understanding.
Pullins illustrates a 'cut-and-paste modality' where figural motifs were conceived as discrete units. This methodology allowed for their mobility across various contexts and media.
Training in drawing—which involved copying drawings or prints of body parts—encouraged artists to integrate and assemble compositions, promoting a practice of recycling two-dimensional models.
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