The century or so after the French Revolution was marked by industrialisation and constant political instability. As France lurched from republic to empire to monarchy and back again, and industrial innovations and consumer comforts began to transform daily life, a number of artists – particularly those outside the world of painting – sought refuge from the relentless pace of modernity by retreating into the fantastical and the irrational. This exhibition at the Clark Art Institute includes drawings by Victor Hugo, prints by Delacroix and work by several early photographers to provide an alternative account of the middle of the ‘long 19th century’, one not sanctioned by Salons and world’s fairs (20 December–8 March 2026). Though some of the art displays nostalgia (for the Middle Ages in particular) there is also plenty of work that reflected the world as it was, including allegorical drawings that provided trenchant social critique, and Symbolist drawings and prints by the likes of Odilon Redon.
Find out more from the Clark Art Institute’s website.
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