Sunday, November 10, 2024

Les Figures du Fou at the Louvre in Paris this winter

The fine art scene in Paris is on my mind. Specifically,  the Louvre's temporary exhibit this winter about court jesters which has some marketing that relates these historical court jesters to the joker in modern playing cards and The Joker in the Batman Marvel Universe.

Background: Some friends of mine visiting Paris last month sent me this picture, which is announcing an exhibit at the Louvre art museum in Paris about art portraying  court jesters from the Middle Ages and Renaissance period.  

The Louvre Promoting the Jester Exhibition

As a joker collector, I would like to see it but alas, the exhibit is only up until February and my France trip this was to go to Paris April and May 2025.  I thought making an additional trip over to see it but of course, I did not.

First step in the research, I went online and bought this little book about the exhibit from Amazon. I learned that the exhibit was co-curated by Elisabeth Antoine-König and Pierre-Yves Le Pogam.
Figures du Fou Catalog of Exhibition

I also ordered this 456 page catalog, also from Amazon.

And I added the book to one of my bookshelves that deals with jokers and card collecting.

I've tried to decipher what the exhibit it about both from online materials and the catalog. 

Online, I found a video of Elisabeth Antoine-König, a curator of the collection who discusses how the modern day superhero Joker is a relatively faithful representation of the court jesters and fools of the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. .
 
I was hoping that the exhibit would document how the court jester became the primary character on the joker card and how that was transmitted into contemporary media as the Joker character who appears in the modern superhero world.  The history of the joker  on playing cards is a particular interest area of mine. I also hoped they might be able to shed some light on how the Fool entered the tarot deck.

An Early Court Jester Themed Joker

The Figures du Fou catalog focuses entirely on historical presentations of the Fool through  the great art of the bygone era. It's beautiful and comprehensive but it does not seem to actually track the linkage from these old paintings into the modern joker world.  Here's some pages:

This first image above of course has been reprised and put on a lot of jokers. I have documented this relationship between some jokers and the painting by Jan Matejko of Stańczyk, the prescient sad court Polish jester.

A Modern Joker Based on Jan Matejko's Painting





A few insights from the articles and videos
The fool's wand is a mockery of the king's scepter.
To see through one's fingers is a French expression which equates to the English metaphor of looking away or refusing to see something. 


Information on the Exhibit
Louvre Article on the Exhibit
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Thanks for your input and for reading and thinking about jokers.