Ah, using art to express where you are socially. What an ever present reality for us today. In the 21st century it’s at our fingertips to show people the most curated versions of ourselves, because let’s face it social media drives our understanding of art and can act as an art form of expression for some. During times of no internet, a fast global post system, or even telegrams, royalty had to capture their image in a superior way and show it off to their masses. Western culture only recently coined the term “Influencers’’ describing famous people who often live well-off lives with perks because of their physical appearance. These people have strong internet presences on social media. We see their lives and fuel our minds’ understanding on where we stand on the totem pole of class. It’s similar for people of power today. You can pick up your phone and tell the world anything about the things you have and the person you’d like people to think you are. But in the 17th century artists were commissioned to tell the story of others and capture their essence of who they wish to be seen as forever. If you could afford it, that is. It was a luxury of the wealthy to have a painter come into their quarters and depict them in their riches, adorned in beautiful garb. This finished painting, to be held in the home of the subject and to live on with their family forever.
Famous Royal from the french revolution, Marie Antoinette would frequently have her portraits done to show the public her power and presence over them. It was important to the french monarchy that people understood that they were infact lower than the royals. Antoinette had designated a few painters to capture her essence during her reign but she worked exclusively with female artist Elisabeth Vigee-lebrun. Vigee-lebrun was a young up and coming artist fresh out of the academy. After political changes there was a detachment from the rococos light beauty. Thats when academys became a focus, around 1790 In each european nation there would now be high quality artist training acacdemys to produce higher art, it would be tought by some of the greats in the industry. The two would go on to work together repairing Her Image when need be. when French lost hope and Maria Antoinette LeBron helped her regain morality depicting her with her children to respark the idea of people believing in her as the mother of France. As an artist who worked closely with her subject she had the unique ability of being able to re maternalize her in attempts to elicit The public’s sympathy on her behalf, Stamping that she had power and was Elite While refining her beauty in the process. a phenomenon we see commonly with young women on social media today.
Yes, art was used to reinforce the power of the elite physically by depicting them literally, but the elite also used art and developments in Art technology to further their leadership of their people. This brings us to the Edo Period. Around 1615 to 1868 printmaking grew more and more popular as it was able to reach the masses much faster and more efficiently. There was a shift from the military elite to start using artisans and merchants together as a creative Force for their government and society. These advancements in printmaking were able to distribute new cultural ideas to people through readings and the selling of individual art prints. It was popular for the distribution of things like genre scene, reinforcing the beauty of the world around us doing everyday things, or even prints of the erotic variety (shunga) like those of Katusushika Hokusai. No matter what use wanted to consume printmaking make it easier for the Elite.