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Article

French

ID: <

10670/1.cui8i9

>

Where these data come from
From La Raie de Chardin to the Écorchés de Houdon: the portrayal of the body and its challenges in the 18th century aesthetics

Abstract

The disfigured representation of the body, which is to be seen in La Rai by Chardin along with the Écorchés by Houdon reflects aesthetical conside rations which were addressed in France during the 18th century : the figura tive codes attached to thebodyareseriously called indoubt then. While Char din draws thelimitsofan imitation of the « belle nature»,Houdon triestoreac the anatomic groundings of beauty as it was perceived by contemporary supporters of the « beau idéal». At the same time, an imaginary of mutilation emerges in 18th century literature : Madame d’Aulnoy, l’abbé Prévost and, later on, Rousseau discuss the difficulty to represent the self through the new motif of the disfigured face. Hence literature asserts the legitimate expression of interiority beyond the search for the beautiful. The intention of Chardin and Houdon is quite similar. Deciphering their works through the prism of psychoanalysis seems to impose itself naturally when it comes to give an interpretation of La Raie. As to skinned figures of Houdon, they can be considered in many ways as an expression of an autobiographical process. On the one hand, these works express the mere plastic valueof the body, detached from all references to the Ideal. On the otherhand, they reflect the paradox of figuring the disfigured.

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