Blind-Man’s Buff

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Blind-Man’s Buff

Artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard French, 1732-1806

Dateabout 1750-1752

DimensionsPainting: 46 × 36 in. (116.8 × 91.4 cm)
Frame: 57 1/2 × 47 1/4 × 4 in. (146.1 × 120 × 10.2 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1954.43

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 26, Rotunda

Collections

Paintings

Published Referencesde Goncourt, E. and J., L'art du dix-huitième siècle, 3rd ed., Paris, 1882, II, pp. 325, 374.

Portalis, R., Honoré Fragonard, Paris, 1889, I, pp. 15, 62; II, p. 273, repr. p. 20 (Beauvarlet engraving).

Fourcaud, L. de, "Honoré Fragonard," Revue de L'Art, XXI, 1907, pp. 16, 288.

Réau, L., "Les colin-maillard de Fragonard," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, XV, Mar. 1927, pp. 148-149.

de Nolhac, P., Fragonard 1732-1806, 3rd ed., Paris, 1931, I, p. 150.

"The Age of Versailles for Ohio," Art News, vol. 54, November, 1955, repr. p. 31.

Comstock, H., "The Connoisseur in America, The French Collection, Toledo," Connoisseur, May 1956, p. 294, p. 293, repr.

Grigaut, Paul L., "Baroque and Rococo France in Toledo," Art Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 1, Spring 1956, p. 54, repr. p. 51, fig. 1.

Réau, L., Fragonard, Paris, 1956, pp. 39, 158.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum News, New Series, vol. 3, no. 4, Autumn 1960, (also published as French Art 1600-1800), p. 91, repr.

Wildenstein, G., The Paintings of Fragonard, New York, 1960, no. 47, fig. 31.

Watson, Francis, Fragonard, Milan, 1966, repr. (col.) pl. XIII.

The Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Watson, F. J. B., "Eighteenth-Century Painting and Decorative Arts," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 464, repr. (col.) pl. XII, p. 461.

Sutton, Denys, France in the Eighteenth Century, London, Royal Academy, 1968, no. 229, pl. VI.

Apollo, vol. 87, no. 71, Jan. 1968, repr. p. xx (advertisement).

Sitwell, Sacheverell, "The Pleasures of the Sense," Apollo, vol. 87, no. 72, Feb. 1968, pp. 134, 137.

Sterling, C., in The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, (ed., R. Heinemann), Castagnola (Switzerland), 1969, no. 98, p. 113 (entry for Fragonard, The See-Saw).

"About the Cover," Toledo Club News, July 1969, repr. (col.) on cover.

Wildenstein, D., and G. Mandel, L'opera completa di Fragonard, Milan, 1972, no. 53, p. 88, repr.

Rosenberg, Pierre, The Age of Louis XV: French Painting 1710-1774, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 1975, no. 36, pl. 82.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 59-60, pl. 203, color pl. IX.

Wakefield, David, Fragonard, London, 1976, p. 5, repr. pl. 3.

Posner, Donald. Review of Francois Boucher by Alexander Alanoff, Art Bulletin, vol. 60, no. 3. Sept. 1978, p. 561.

Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, New York, 1979, p. 130.

Posner, Donald, "The Swinging Women of Watteau and Fragonard," Art Bulletin, vol. 64, no. 1, March 1982, pp. 81-82, repr. p. 81.

Horowitz, Frederick A., More Than You See: a Guide to Art, New York, 1985, repr. p. 122.

Cabanne, Pierre, Fragonard, Paris, 1987, p. 22, repr. p. 23.

Cuzin, Jean-Pierre, Jean-Honore Fragonard: Vie et oeuvre, Fribourg, 1987, pp. 34-36, fig. 34 (col.), cat. no. 44, p. 268.

Munière, Leon, "La Bascule par Jean-Honore Fragonard," L'Estampille, no. 209, Dec. 1987, p. 60.

Rosenberg, Pierre, Fragonard, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art,1988, no. 5, pp. 46, 48, repr. (col.).

Rosenberg, Pierre, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Fragonard, Paris, 1989, p. 75, repr. and pl. IV (col.).

Massengale, Jean Mantague, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, New York, 1993, p. 48, repr. (col.).

Han, Beth, "Highlights from the Collection: Fragonard: Erotic Artist of the 18th Century," Montage, vol. 2, no. 2, March 1994, back cover, repr. (col.).

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 105, repr. (col.).

"Calendar," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 76, no. 6, Nov./Dec. 1997, repr. (col.) p. 17.

Southgate, M. Therese, "The Cover," JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 277, no. 6, Feb. 12, 1997, p. 442, repr. (col.) on cover.

Rand, Richard, Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-Century France, Hanover, Hood Museum of Art, 1997, cat. no. 21, pp. x, 135-136, 139, 144, repr. p. 137 (col.) and cover.

Milam, Jennifer, "Fragonard and the Blindman's Gamer: Interpreting Representations of Blindman's Buff," Art History, vol. 21, no. 1, March 1998, pp. 1-25, pl. 1.

Deschamps, Madeleine, "Book Review: Intimate Encounters...," Newsletter of the Decorative Arts Society, Inc., vol. 6, no. 2, Summer 1998, repr. p. 7.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Annual Report for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1998, to June 30, 1999, Houston, 1999, repr. p. 46.

Bailey, Colin B., Jean-Baptiste Greuze: The Laundress, Los Angeles, 2000, pp. 59-60, fig. 56 (col.).

Duncan, Sally Anne, Otto Wittmann: Museum Man for All Seasons, Toledo, 2001, p. 23.

"The Age of Watteau, Chardin and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Paintings," The Art Newspaper, vol. 13, no. 137, June 2003, (What's On), p. 31.

Bailey, Colin B., Philip Conisbee, and Thomas W. Gaehtgens, The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting, New Haven, Yale University, 2003, no. 75, pp. 6, 274, 280, 370, repr. (col.). p. 275.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 27, repr. (col.).

Danko-McGhee, Katherina, "Nurturing Aesthetic Awareness in Young Children: Developmental Appropriate Art Viewing Experiences," Art Education, vol. 59, no. 3, May 2006, pp. 24, 33, fig. 3.

Dupuy-Vachey, Marie-Anne, Fragonard, Paris, Terrail, 2006, p. 16, repr. p. 13 (col.) and p. 14-15 (det., col.).

Milam, Jennifer D., Fragonard's Playful Paintings: Visual Games in Rococo Art, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2006, pp. 23, 26-7, 32-3,104-5, 130-1, 139, 141, 146, 159-60, 163, 165, no. 9, pl. I (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 205 and cover, repr. (col.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 27, repr. (col.)

Grant, Sarah, Toiles de Jouy: French Printed Cottons, London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 2010, repr. p. 42, fig. 25.

Thomas, Ann, American Photographs 1900-1950: from the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 2011, fig. 74.1, p. 176, repr. (col.).

Helmhold, Heidi, Affektpolitik Und Raum: Zu Einer Architektur Des Textilen, Cologne, Konig, 2012, p. 87-88, fig. 36, p. 86.

Wilkin, Karen, "At the Galleries," Hudson Review, Summer 2014, repr. (col).

Buckling, Maraike, Gefährliche Liebschaften. Die Kunst des französischen Rokoko , Munich, Hirmer Verlag, 2015, p. 162, repr. (col.) abb. 86, p. 164.

Pullins, David, "Fragonard," exhibition review, Burlington Magazine, vol. 157, no. 1353, December 2015, p.873-875, no. 65, repr. (col.) p. 874.

Faroult, Guillaume, Fragonard Amoureux: Galant et libertin, Paris, Reunion des musees nationaux, 2015, p. 68, repr. cat. 2.

Jackall, Yuriko, et al., America Collects Eighteenth-Century French Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2017. repr. (col.) pl. 11.

Jackall, Yuriko, "'The swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard: new hypotheses," Burlington Magazine, vol. 166, no. 1454. May 2024, p. 464.

Exhibition HistoryNorthampton, Smith College Museum of Art, Exhibition and Course Study, 1963.

San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco Museum of Art, November 10, 1964-January 3, 1965, no. 180.

London, Royal Academy, France in the Eighteenth Century, Jan. 6-Mar. 3, 1968, no. 229.

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Age of Louis XV: French Painting 1710-1774, 1975, no. 36.

Paris, Grand Palais; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fragonard, 1987-1988, no. 5.

Hanover, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College; Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-Century France, 1997-1998, cat. no. 21.

Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Gemaldegalerie, The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting, 2003-2004, no. 75.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Love and Play: A Pair of Paintings by Fragonard, January 24 - May 4, 2014.

Paris, Musée du Luxembourg, "Fragonard amoureux (Fragonard in Love)," September 16, 2015 - January 24, 2016.

Washington D.C., The National Gallery of Art, ,Hidden in Plain Sight: American Visions of Eighteenth-Century France, May 21, 2017- August 20, 2017.

Label TextIn the 18th century the game of blind man’s buff (or bluff) became the symbolic arena for courtship, chance, and the amorous amusements of lovers (directly relating to the concept “love is blind”). Playfully erotic and sensuously painted, Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s scene appropriately takes place within a garden; he develops the theme of the fleeting nature of youthful love by decorating his composition with spring flowers. In a nod to 18th-century French aristocratic taste for romantic pastoral themes, the figures are beautifully dressed in rustic by improbably clean and fashionable clothes; the woman’s shoes even have elegant bows on them. As the lover tickles his beloved on the cheek with a piece of straw, a Cupid-like infant brushes her hand with the end of a stick. These teasing gestures are meant to lead or distract the woman to or from the object of her desire. Reaching out to locate her lover, the woman steals a glance from underneath her blindfold and catches our gaze, letting us in on the joke: that she is not as blind or as helpless in this game as her lover suspects.