1954.4 Jacques Villon, Comédie de Société (Society Theater)



GENERAL DESCRIPTION  
Seated in a well-appointed interior, three well-dressed bourgeois women gaze intently at an activity unfolding outside of the composition. As the title suggests, they are the exclusive audience of an amateur play presented in the home of a socially elevated acquaintance, a phenomenon coined a Comédie de Société in Parisian journals of the time. Although we cannot see the performance, the inclusion of a Rococo-inspired scene of naked nymphs frolicking in a landscape suggests the play is a light-hearted comedy. The brother of the modern artist Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon had early success as a printmaker before going on to make a name for himself as a Cubist painter and proponent of abstraction in the opening decades of the 20th century.   

Excerpt from
Nicole Myers, DMA label copy, 2017.

NOTES
Created 1903

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers
Villon, Jacques (French, 1875-1963)

Cultures

Geography 
Depicted location and place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

Process/materials
Etching and color aquatint on paper

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

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PROVENANCE 

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WEB RESOURCES 

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

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Apply to objects where number equals 1954.4

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General Description
 
Seated in a well-appointed interior, three well-dressed bourgeois women gaze intently at an activity unfolding outside of the composition. As the title suggests, they are the exclusive audience of an amateur play presented in the home of a socially elevated acquaintance, a phenomenon coined a Comédie de Société in Parisian journals of the time. Although we cannot see the performance, the inclusion of a Rococo-inspired scene of naked nymphs frolicking in a landscape suggests the play is a light-hearted comedy. The brother of the modern artist Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon had early success as a printmaker before going on to make a name for himself as a Cubist painter and proponent of abstraction in the opening decades of the 20th century.   

Excerpt from
Nicole Myers, DMA label copy, 2017.

Fun Facts

Archival Resources

Web Resources
 
Notes
Created 1903

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers
Villon, Jacques (French, 1875-1963)

Cultures

Geography 
Depicted location and place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

Process/materials
Etching and color aquatint on paper

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS 

PROVENANCE 

AUDIO ASSETS 

VIDEO ASSETS

rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1954.4
tags
#draft
#completed
%copyedited_Gail
women: AAT: 300025943
%Archived
sitting (seated): AAT: 300263970
@Russell
#routed
*European Art
hats (headgear): AAT: 300046106
social classes: AAT: 300138992
Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
dresses (garments): AAT: 300046159
works on paper: AAT: 300189621
etching (printing process): AAT: 300053241
interior spaces: AAT: 300078790
chairs (furniture): AAT: 300037772
rugs (textiles): AAT: 300185749
paper (fiber product): AAT: 300014109
aquatint (prints): AAT: 300041366
theater (discipline): AAT: 300054148
Villon_Jacques: ULAN: 500003616
source file
object_notes_2_d-0192.xml.nores