Musée Cognacq-Jay: hanging of pastels and recent acquisition

24/1/24 - Exposition et acquisition - Paris, Musée Cognacq-Jay - 23/1/24 - Exhibition and acquisition - Paris, Musée Cognacq-Jay - The Musée Cognacq-Jay is currently presenting its collection of pastels, some fifteen in all. While there is no special reason for this display, it does allow us to see works that are too fragile to be on permanent display, including major creations by Maurice Quentin de La Tour. For the uninitiated, this collection reminds us that pastels enjoyed a golden age in the 18th century, and were particularly used in the portrait genre, enabling us to capture facial features and expressions on the spot without requiring the sitter to pose for an excessive amount of time. The technique is clearly explained in the first room: not only does this medium provide a wide variety of colors, but it can also be used to achieve multiple effects, from fading to hatching; the difficulty was to fix the material on the support.

1. Accrochage de pastels au Musée Cognacq-Jay
Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704-1788)
Portrait du Maréchal de Saxe, vers 1748
Autoportrait, vers 1750
Portrait présumé du marquis de Sassenage, vers 1750-1755
Photo : bbsg

See the image in its page

The works exhibited on this occasion are few in number, which is understandable, since most of them come from the permanent collections. Nevertheless, their jigsaw-like dispersal throughout the permanent exhibition dilutes the message and misleads the visitor. Here are fifteen pastels hung in two rooms, one on the second floor and the other on the third... You need a certain visual memory to perceive the coherence of the whole.
Two French artists are highlighted in the first room: Maurice Quentin de La Tour and Jean-Baptiste Perronneau. They are presented as rivals, but the portraits on display somewhat contradict the texts in this section: firstly, because the works by La Tour, "prince of pastelists", are more numerous, and secondly, because they are more striking…