Bouguereau & America

Comprising around 40 works by the French academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), this exhibition explores the artist’s remarkable popularity in the United States. Bouguereau’s modern and highly-polished interpretations of classical subjects - including heroic men, sensuous goddesses, and playful cupids — as well as his intimate and idealized portrayal of peasant life were avidly sought after by American collectors. This exhibition focuses on Bouguereau’s paintings in US collections and how they reflect the tastes, beliefs and ambitions of America’s elite.

‘…an important and ambitious exhibition, fruit of the kind of fresh, original idea more institutions should aspire to… a fascinating exploration of a bygone moment in the history of American taste’ – Eric Gibson, Wall Street Journal

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Pictured below:

Virgin of the Angels, 1881: Courtesy of Forest Lawn Memorial-Park Association

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William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825 - 1905)
‍A Young Girl Defending Herself against Love, about 1880, Oil on canvas
81.6 × 57.8 cm (32 1/8 × 22 3/4 in.), 70.PA.3
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Bouguereau & America is co-organized by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.