ANN: “Goncourt Brothers and the Taste for the Eighteenth Century,” The Frick Collection, Tuesday, January 28, 2020, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Presented by the Center for the History of Collecting, Frick Art Reference Library, this two-part lecture examines the life and enduring influence of brothers Jules and Edmond de Goncourt, nineteenth-century connoisseurs and collectors who revived the taste for eighteenth-century French art.

Art Collecting as Refuge from Modern Life
Olivier Berggruen, independent curator and art historian
Writing about the eighteenth century and collecting precious objects became an intoxicating pursuit for the Goncourt brothers, offering them a refuge from modern society. Their achievements culminated in the extraordinary collection assembled by Edmond in his house on the outskirts of Paris, the focus of the first half of this lecture.

Art Collecting as Inspiration for Modern Life
Yuriko Jackall, Curator of French Paintings, Wallace Collection
Focusing on collectors as diverse as the Empress Eugénie, Richard Wallace, and Henry Clay Frick, the second part of this lecture looks at the ways several generations of collectors have responded to the Goncourts’ inimitable vision of collecting, living, and eighteenth-century France.

Join us for free, but online registration is required. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.