Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot

Michael Fried's Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot examines the shift in 18th-century art criticism. Fried argues against "theatricality" in art, which he defines as an overemphasis on the situation or event of an exhibition rather than the artwork itself. He contrasts this with "absorption," which focuses on the artwork's intrinsic qualities and the viewer's contemplative engagement.1

Fried traces the origins of this shift to a reaction against the theatrical elements of Rococo painting, favoring artists like Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Jean-Baptiste Greuze, known for their intimate still lifes and genre scenes. This theoretical framework, developed during the Enlightenment, engaged with ideas of aesthetics and disinterested judgment, influencing formalist criticism. The concept of theatricality, as opposed to genuine artistic engagement, also appears in 20th-century theatre movements that rejected naturalism.123