Pierrot and His World: Art, Theatricality, and the Marketplace in France, 1697-1945 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781526194718)

Pierrot, a theatrical stock character known by his distinctive costume of loose white tunic and trousers, is a ubiquitous figure in French art and culture. This richly illustrated book offers an account of Pierrot's recurrence in painting, printmaking, photography and film, tracing this distinctive type from the art of Antoine Watteau to the cinema of Occupied France. As a visual type, Pierrot thrives at the intersection of theatrical and marketplace practices. From Watteau's Pierrot (c. 1720) and Édouard Manet's The Old Musician (1862) to Nadar and Adrien Tournachon's Pierrot the Photographer (1855) and the landmark film Children of Paradise (1945), Pierrot has given artists a medium through which to explore the marketplace as a form for both social life and creative practice. Simultaneously a human figure and a theatrical mask, Pierrot elicits artistic reflection on the representation of personality in the marketplace.

Author: Marika Takanishi Knowles
ISBN-10: 1526194716
ISBN-13: 9781526194718
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/20/2026
Pages: 264
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.75d