What did people watch before films and digital media? This twelve-and-a-half-foot transparent drawing engages viewers in an immersive experience using optical devices. The artist designed Figures Walking in a Parkland to be enjoyed scene by scene, cranked through a device that illuminated the imagery from behind. Carmontelle incorporated light, narration, animation, and movement resulting in a magical visual experience of 18th-century leisure.
Getty has joined forces with Smarthistory to bring you an in-depth look at select works within our collection, whether you want to learn more at home or make art more accessible in your classroom. This video series illuminates art history concepts through fun, unscripted conversations between art historians, curators, archaeologists, scientists, and artists, committed to a fresh take on the history of visual arts.
Figures Walking in a Parkland, France, c. 1783–1800, Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle. Watercolor and gouache with traces of black chalk underdrawing, on translucent Whatman paper, 47.3 x 377 cm. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
speakers: Danielle Canter, Assistant Curator, Department of Drawings, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and Beth Harris, Executive Director, Smarthistory
View the Getty Conversations series:
“Figures Walking in a Parkland” is featured in the exhibition “Paper and Light,” part of the larger initiative “PST ART: Art & Science Collide.”
Learn more about “Paper and Light” at:
https://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/ev_4086.html
Learn more about “PST ART: Art & Science Collide” at:
https://pst.art/
Learn more about “Figures Walking in a Parkland” at:
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107RTH
Subscribe to the Getty Museum YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/gettymuseum
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