Pierrot and His World - Art, Theatricality, and the Marketplace in France, 16971945

Pierrot, a theatrical stock character known by his distinctive costume of loose white tunic and trousers, is a ubiquitous figure in French art and culture. This richly illustrated book offers an account of Pierrot's recurrence in painting, printmaking, photography and film, tracing this distinctive type from the art of Antoine Watteau to the cinema of Occupied France. As a visual type, Pierrot thrives at the intersection of theatrical and marketplace practices. From Watteau's Pierrot (c. 1720) and Édouard Manet's The Old Musician (1862) to Nadar and Adrien Tournachon's Pierrot the Photographer (1855) and the landmark film Children of Paradise (1945), Pierrot has given artists a medium through which to explore the marketplace as a form for both social life and creative practice. Simultaneously a human figure and a theatrical mask, Pierrot elicits artistic reflection on the representation of personality in the marketplace.

About the author

Marika Takanishi Knowles is a Senior Lecturer in Art History at the University of St Andrews

Product details

• Authors: Marika Takanishi Knowles
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 20.01.2026
• EAN: 9781526194718
• ISBN: 978-1-5261-9471-8
• No. of pages: 264
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Photography & photographs, HISTORY / Europe / France, PHOTOGRAPHY / History, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / History & Criticism, History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900, Theatre Studies, History of Art, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / History & Criticism, Art & design styles: Baroque, History of art & design styles: c 1600 to c 1800, Film Theory & Criticism, Photography: portraits and self-portraiture, Film history, theory or criticism, Street theatre, ART / Movements / Baroque & Rococo