Boucher: Just pornography for toffs?

Boucher: Just pornography for toffs?

13 Oct 2004

Does Boucher show too much flesh? Is his work just soft porn for the well-do-do? Or are his female nudes a virtuoso example of the genre which deserve their rightful place in the art-historical canon? Decide for yourself in the gorgeous surroundings of the Wallace Collection and join in the debate that all the art press will be having!

In his heyday Francois Boucher (1703-1770) was the consummate embodiment of Rococo luxury and refinement. His extraordinary career saw him scale the heights of the Academic hierarchy and work for a string of prestigious clients. His most famous patron was Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV, for whom he created a series of endlessly seductive visions. His female nudes and poetically imaginative pastorals led to him being acclaimed "the Painter of the Graces", yet only a few years after his death his enchanted vision of gods and goddesses, nymphs and lovelorn shepherds had been swept away by the austere Neoclassicism of David, the Revolution and the Guillotine.

The debate took place at: Royal Geographical Society, Ondaatje Theatre.

Information is correct as of the date of the event.

Speakers for the motion:

Alexander Sturgis: Exhibitions and Programmes Curator at the National Gallery in London, where he has curated numerous exhibitions on subjects and artists as diverse as Rembrandt and Bill Viola and Representing Time and The Image of Christ. He has lectured and written on many aspects of western painting and his books as author and editor include Faces (National Gallery, 1999) Understanding Paintings (Mitchell Beazley, 2000), Telling Time (National Gallery, 2000), and Britain's Paintings (2002). He is currently working on a major exhibition on The Myth of the Artist for 2006.

Gaia Servadio: Writer and broadcaster, Gaia Servadio is author of Rossini, A Life (2003) and of the forthcoming Renaissance Woman. She has given talks and lectures at major universities (Oxford, Cambridge, Bologna, New Delhi, Sydney etc) writes for the press in the UK and Italy and is the author of TV documentaries.

Speakers against the motion:

Richard Cork: Art critic, historian, broadcaster and exhibition organiser. He has been Art Critic of The Evening Standard, The Listener and The Times and now writes for The Times and The New Statesman. Among his books are a prize-winning study of Vorticism (1976), Art Beyond the Gallery, winner of the Banister Fletcher Award (1985), and four paperbacks of his critical writings on modern art (2003).

Rosie Millard: Writer and broadcaster and Arts Correspondent for the BBC News for eight years and was previously reporter for Meridian TV, and researcher for This Morning (Granada TV) and On The Edge (Tyne Tees TV). Author of The Tastemakers: UK Art Now (2003), she is now Arts Editor for the New Statesman.

Chair: Carole Stone: Broadcaster and writer and former producer of BBC Radio 4's Any Questions? programme. Carole is also a trustee of the Wallace Collection.