Art Institute Chicago Female Artist Womans Fashion

Impressionism, Style, and Modernity
Fine art Plant of Chicago
June 26–September 29, 2013

Previously at:
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
September 25, 2012–January 20, 2013

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Feb 26–May 27, 2013

Catalogue:
Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity.
Edited past Gloria Groom with contributions by Heidi Brevik-Zender, Helen Burnham, Guy Gogeval and Stéphane Guégan, Birgit Haase, Justine De Young, Elizabeth Anne McCauley, Silvie Patry, Aileen Ribiero, Valerie Steele, Françoise Tétart-Vittu, Philippe Thiébaut, Gary Tinterow, and David Van Zanten.
New Haven, CT and London: Chicago Art Institute in association with Yale University Press, 2012.
336 pp.; 478 color illus; fundamental dates in way and commerce, 1851–89; checklist of the exhibition; appendices on fashion plates and cartes de visite; bibliography; index.
$65.
ISBN-xiii 978-0300184518

To say that Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity was a popular success would be a misleading understatement—and perhaps non a very surprising one. Impressionism has long had the power to draw the public into museums in tape numbers, and keep them returning again and over again regardless of the quality of the content being offered. What distinguished this exhibition was that the subject area of Impressionism was presented in a fresh context that offered the visitor new insight into the relationship of fashion to modernity and its influence on the painters working in the avant-garde vocabularies of the 1860s through the mid-1880s. Charles Baudelaire's exhortation to paint 'modern life' runs through both the exhibition and the catalogue as a recurring motif, underpinning the conceptual framework not only of nineteenth century Paris, but too of subsequent generations of artists whose work responded—in myriad means—to the foundation established during those critical decades. Focusing on the human relationship between fashion and painting allows a broad scope of investigation that is directly relevant to being the 'painter of modernistic life'. In fact, one could argue that although fine art historians have ofttimes noted the importance of gimmicky vesture in the controversies created by Gustave Courbet's A Burial at Ornans (1849–50, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) or Edouard Manet's Luncheon on the Grass (1863, Musée d'Orsay, Paris), few have paid attention to the fashion in its own right. This exhibition consciously shifts the focus to style as an integral—and even central—chemical element in the development of la nouvelle peinture, the new painting that emerged with Realism in the middle of the century.

All photographs courtesy of the Art Found of Chicago unless otherwise noted.

The concept for the exhibition was first proposed by Gloria Groom, the David and Mary Winton Green Curator at the Art Establish of Chicago in 2008; information technology was enthusiastically supported by Gary Tinterow, who was then the Engelhard Chairman of Nineteenth-Century, Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine art, New York, and by Guy Cogeval, president of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de 50'Orangerie in Paris. Because of the multi-media nature of the material proposed for the exhibition, the projection team too included the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum and the Palais Galliera (Musée de la way de Ville de Paris) and the Musée des art décoratifs in Paris, whose specialized expertise provided a welcome cross-disciplinary perspective for both the exhibition and the catalogue. Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity opened in the fall of 2012 in Paris, traveling in early 2013 to New York and finally, home to Chicago where the bear witness opened on June 26, 2013. With few exceptions, each of the venues offered the same art objects, but the installations naturally were unique to their respective spaces; this review is based on the presentation at the Fine art Found of Chicago in the summer and fall of 2013 (fig. 1).

The gathering hall at the entrance to the temporary exhibition space at the Art Found of Chicago serves several functions, one of which is providing a place for visitors to acclimate themselves to the depression lighting levels of the subsequent galleries. In this case, the walls were lined with photographic murals detailing the exquisite fabrics and laces that would be on view in the forthcoming art works; information technology was an peculiarly appropriate strategy for this show, enticing visitors with the allure of style just every bit the printed way plates did in the nineteenth century. On entering the first gallery, a quotation from Edouard Manet (1832–1883) sets the tone unequivocally: "The latest fashion is absolutely necessary for a painting. It's what matters about." Nearby are two pocket-size paintings showing women reading way journals: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) created Young Woman Reading an Illustrated Journal in 1880 (Museum of Art, Rhode Isle School of Design) only shortly after Manet painted Woman Reading (1879–80, Art Institute of Chicago) (fig. two). Painted at approximately the same fourth dimension, these two images illustrated not only the importance of the fashion press, but besides the articulate significance of article of clothing in establishing a woman's social position and awareness. Equally Justine De Immature notes in her essay on "Mode and the Press", "Manet was praised by critics for his skill in conjuring authentic and realistic portrayals of modern people wearing the correct dress, displaying the proper attitude, and occupying the appropriate milieu for their socioeconomic status. Here he depicts a woman wearing a street dress, matching felt lid, and kid gloves, an ensemble suitable for a public outing and befitting the discipline's historic period and social status" (241). In dissimilarity, Renoir's woman is shown from behind with her hair somewhat tousled every bit she leans back in an upholstered chair perusing a double-spread analogy in a fashion journal; this is an intimate domestic scene rather than a public setting and the fashion cues are entirely dissimilar from Manet'south model reading at the brasserie.

This offset gallery was designed rather sparely with grey walls, hard forest flooring and the 2, modestly sized paintings to set the phase. Moving into the second gallery, the viewer was introduced immediately to what might be considered a distinctly art historical topic on the evolution of the total-length portrait. Entitled "Monet's Camille: Reimagining the Total-Length Portrait", the flooring was now carpeted and the wall color shifted to a deep red. Arsène Houssaye'southward statement in an 1869 edition of Fifty'Artiste was stenciled on the introductory partition wall: "La Parisienne is non in fashion, she is manner." This sentiment sums upward the perspective that was explored throughout the exhibition. Why was Paris fashion such a key element in defining 'modern life', and how did this phenomena influence the art, the artists and the women who modeled the fashions for them at the fourth dimension? It should be noted at the showtime that although the exhibition focused on Impressionist painting, there were also a number of Salon paintings that served as stylistic counterpoints while simultaneously demonstrating the influence of mode in their compositions.

No i was a more than consistent model for the Impressionists than Camille Doncieux, Claude Monet'due south mistress and wife, who is shown not only in her married man's paintings, just in numerous works past Renoir and Manet. Certainly, her role as the model for The Woman in a Green Dress (1866, Kunsthalle, Bremen) shown at the Salon of 1866 brought her unwelcome detect as critics parsed the possible meanings of the greenish dress, including the presumed social status of the and then obscure model (fig. three). Hither in the gallery, the viewer could see non only the painting, merely also an 1865–68 English promenade clothes that may accept been the twin of the original garment. Past positioning the gown in a glass case with a mirror at the rear, viewers could see both the front and back of the wearing apparel, and could compare the real object to the painted rendition of it nearby. This strategy was used throughout the exhibition, enabling the public to carefully scrutinize the details of the wearable and understand the composure of structure that was typical of nineteenth century fashion. It was impossible not to notice the beautiful handwork on the pleats and tucks and ruffles that are different anything seen in later centuries.

Similarly, the exhibition catalogue, also titled Impressionism, Way and Modernity, contains nine special sections that highlight specific paintings. The beginning of these is Gloria Groom's multi-faceted discussion of The Adult female in a Green Dress, encompassing everything from the possible source of the original dress to the reasons why Monet (1840–1926) chose to pigment a full-length portrait, just then failed to provide a proper name for the model until the concluding minute (44–51). Groom's give-and-take of the fashion context of this wearing apparel is used to explain why critics considered this painting to be so unusual when it was shown at the Salon. The gown failed to provide sufficient visual cues about either the model or her position in society, thus creating an unresolvable ambiguity well-nigh Camille'southward social condition. As Groom points out in her analysis of Joris-Karl Huysmans commentary on Impressionist painting, "One wonder how Huysmans would accept judged Monet'southward Camille, neither trollop nor grande dame, whose truthful modernity resides in her dress—the fashion and the fit—and the multiple readings of the model it provided" (51). In contrast, on the opposite side of the partition wall from The Woman in a Greenish Dress was Monet's portrait, Madame Louis Joachim Gaudibert (1868, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) (fig. four). This was strictly a private commission, which the artist painted in a more conventional style, following the tradition of detailing the luxurious materials used in the gown and the domestic setting. In this case, there could be no doubt most Mme. Gaudibert's social position or her fashionable elegance.

The tertiary gallery, "Cult of Appearances" contained an impressive array of impress materials related to fashion: newspaper manufactures, fashion plates, cartes de visite, and journals. These ephemeral publications frequently provided artists with inspiration for the styles that they hoped to paint; and they served equally style guides for both men and women who were interested in following the latest trends in clothing and accessories. 2 unexpected images were The Promenade (1871, private drove) and The Conversation (1870–71, private collection) both small oil paintings that Paul Cézanne copied from the hand-colored steel engravings in La Mode Illustrée from May 7, 1871 and July 31, 1870 respectively. Although Cézanne is not known for his depictions of fashionable subjects, he likewise was influenced by contemporary fashion plates in his exploration of how to capture modern life on canvas (70–71).

Fig. 8, Installation in Gallery four: Left to right: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Woman at the Piano, 1875–76. Oil on sheet. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Edouard Manet, Repose, ca. 1871, Oil on canvas. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; Edouard Manet, Lady with Fan (La Maîtresse de Baudelaire), 1862. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest; Berthe Morisot, Woman with a Fan, Portrait of Madame Marie Hubbard, 1874, Oil on canvas, Ordrupgaard, Cophenhagen; Edouard Manet, Lady with Fans, 1873. Oil on canvass. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Fig. 10, Installation in Gallery 4: Left to correct: James Tissot, Portrait, 1876. Oil on canvas, Tate, London; James Tissot, July: Specimen of a Portrait, ca. 1878. Oil on canvas. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; Display case: Twenty-four hours dress, 1878–80. Cotton fiber batiste. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Gallery four marks the showtime of another theme, "Intimate Portraits". Having established the framework for the exhibition with advisedly selected examples in the first three galleries, the curators side by side initiated an in-depth investigation of portraiture with an abundance of paintings. The shift was underscored with a dramatic change to clear light blue walls that beckoned to the visitor surrounded by the more somber deep red walls of the previous gallery (fig. 5). The use of carpeting here is unusual for the Art Establish of Chicago, simply it served to create an environs suggestive of the luxurious fashionability of boutiques and the 1000 magasins (section stores) of 1860s Paris. Likewise, gallery four introduced curved drinking glass display cases into each corner as a ways of showcasing a option of black and white gowns, each i shown confronting a wallpapered backdrop (fig. six). These historic costumes were always similar to the gowns shown in the paintings, and they were occasionally identical. Impressionist images of women in this gallery were joined past canvases from Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, whose work was closely allied with the younger painters, and from Alfred Stevens and James Tissot (1836–1902), whose paintings offered a traditional stylistic counterpoint throughout the exhibition.

The spotlight vicious first on Renoir'south 1878 family portrait of Madame Georges Charpentier and her Children (Metropolitan Museum of Fine art, New York), described by Sylvie Patry, chief curator at the Musée d'Orsay, as "a portrait of taste and way" (248) (fig. 7). In some other of the extended essays on a single work of art in the catalogue, Patry notes that the painting "is likewise a manifesto of modern portraiture, in which the model, in keeping with Duranty's admonishment in La nouvelle peinture (The New Painting; 1876) is represented non just by her wearing apparel, but by her environs, also" (248). Indeed, the drawing room in which Mme. Charpentier posed with her two children is a bout-de-strength of Japonisme with its hanging whorl, bamboo furniture and painted screens; a reflection of the widespread fascination for all things Japanese during this period. Like the couture gown, nigh likely designed past Charles Frederick Worth, the interior design identifies the Charpentiers as sophisticated, fashionable members of society.

On the other side of the partition displaying Madame Charpentier was another instance of portraiture combined with Japonisme, this one Manet's Lady with Fans (1873, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) (fig. 8). The sitter was NIna de Callias, a author and salon hostess, who favored exotic interior blueprint in her own home, simply is here shown in front end of a screen painted with Japanese fans from Manet'southward studio (fig. ix). Her blackness, sequined harem pants and embroidered bolero speak of an unconventional sense of mode, but one that was translated into more than 'respectable' forms in other contexts; James Tissot's Portrait of Mademoiselle L. Fifty. (1864, Musée d'Orsay, Paris), shown elsewhere in this gallery, as well incorporates a bolero equally a expression of the sitter'due south lively personality, but in a less overtly enticing limerick (234).

Portraits of women clad in white gowns, which were typical for day dresses, were also featured prominently in this gallery. Manet's portraits, Lady with a Fan (La Maîtresse de Baudelaire) (1862, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest) and Repose (ca. 1871, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence), offer a glimpse of the changes in fashion over the grade of a decade (see fig. 8). The portrait of Jeanne Duval, Baudelaire's mistress, shows a adult female almost drowning in the exaggerated volume of her crinolined gown, while a decade later, Berthe Morisot's twenty-four hour period apparel projects a more comfy image of a woman relaxing. Manet's nifty awareness of style trends was very evident in this gallery, as was his ability to translate fashion into a statement about modern life; the paintings of both Jeanne Duval and Berthe Morisot share the ambivalence that was so noticeable in Monet'due south The Woman in a Green Wearing apparel in the sense that the clothing and the models reveal considerably less virtually the women'south status in society than a traditional portrait would. Duval, a Creole woman from Republic of haiti whose life was far from easy, and the comfortably upper heart class Morisot are both shown in the fashion of the time and in the context of rather casual settings that give niggling indication of their social or economical positions.

In another corner of the gallery, the viewer could discover the counterpoint to Manet's deliberate abstruseness. James Tissot instead offers ii portraits of women in the same white apparel, with a similar gown featured in the display example side by side to the paintings (fig. 10). July: Specimen of a Portrait (ca. 1878, The Cleveland Museum of Art), the more than coincidental of the two images, shows Tissot'due south mistress Katherine Newton relaxing on a sofa in forepart of a window. She wears no petticoats below the flounced skirt and the distinctive yellow bows are left to menses onto the empty space of the sofa. The earlier painting, titled simply Portrait (1876, Tate, London), depicts a more formal pose and setting designed to show off the gown (with yellow bows crisply tied this time) every bit a stylish statement of expert gustation. Despite the differences betwixt Tissot's canvases, it is the dress that takes center stage in both, as the artist delineated the impeccable tiers of flounces and tucks in what was undoubtedly the summit of style.

A comparing of Manet'south and Tissot's paintings in this gallery revealed the changing human relationship between portraiture and style in the nineteenth century. Gary Tinterow addressed this effect in his catalogue essay on "The Rise and Role of Way in French Nineteenth-Century Painting", noting that art critics from as diverse perspectives as Emile Zola and the Goncourt brothers "all ascertain[d] the goal of modern art as a spirited but authentic rendering of the appearance of life in and effectually Paris, the capital of modernity" (17). Likewise, painters from across the spectrum of aesthetic philosophy all "faced the claiming of expressing contemporary man and woman through a heightened emphasis on costume and mode" (xviii). In the 1830s and 1840s J.A.D. Ingres (1780–1867) set up the standard for portraits that incorporated contemporary way with meticulous attention to the precise details of couture, millinery and accessories; and well into the 1850s, he remained the "standard against whom all were measured" (19). He would continue to be respected past both Salon painters and the Realists/Impressionists even afterward he stopped painting portraits around 1860. Past that time, still, the economical and social consequences of industrialization had led to the development of a "consumer culture" that was more focused on the fashion than on individual portraits. Tinterow put information technology succinctly, maxim "the apparel, not the face, was the focus" (21). This irresolute attitude was the source of frequent tension amongst painters themselves, between painters and art critics, and with the general public. Every bit the case of Monet's painting The Woman in a Green Dress so clearly demonstrated, both the public and the critics were perplexed by a large scale sail depicting not a specific adult female's portrait, but a 'portrait' of a beautiful wearing apparel that expressed modern life in Paris. Fashion was gradually evolving into an cryptic symbol of modernity equally the growing availability of consumer goods made it hard to pinpoint specific markers of economic and social grade as revealed through dress.

Fig. 17, Installation view of Gallery vii, "En Plein Air": Left to correct: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Swing, 1876. Oil on sheet. Musée d'Orsay, Paris; Claude Monet, Dejeuner on the Grass, 1865, Oil on sail. Musée d'Orsay, Paris; Frédéric Bazille, Family Reunion, 1867. Oil on sheet. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Leaving the "Intimate Portraits" gallery, the visitor moved into "At the Milliners", one of the most charming installation designs in this exhibition (fig. 11). The plush carpet continues into this space, merely the curving glass cases used to showcase historic gowns in the previous gallery were here transformed into total-blown nineteenth-century retail display cases; and the walls were painted in a pinkish-mauve shade suitable for flattering women's complexions. Greeting visitors at the entrance to this infinite was Tissot'due south 1883–85 painting, The Shop Girl (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto); considering of its imposing size (57.five x 40 in.), it felt similar this attractive immature woman was welcoming visitors into her magasin de nouveauté, a bazaar where accessories and trimmings would exist for auction. The modest size of the gallery further reinforced the sense of having entered a small, chic shop with exquisitely designed fashion accessories. One display case featured women's shoes, fans, opera glasses and decorative boxes; above the case were two small oil paintings of shoes by Eva Gonzalès from 1879–eighty (fig. 12).[one] It should be noted that the grace of these beautifully crafted accessories attracted considerable attention from the museum visitors, undoubtedly replaying a scene that occurred many times in late nineteenth century Paris.

On the other side of the partition with The Shop Daughter painting, the viewer came face to face with a large display of custom-designed hats (fig. 13). Silk ribbons, dyed ostrich plumes and sumptuous velvets and furs lured viewers into speculations nearly what it might exist like to ain such luxurious headwear, with some women openly mourning the loss of such fashionable accessories. Opposite the display instance was Edgar Degas'south painting, The Millinery Shop (1879, Art Found of Chicago) offer insight into the life of a milliner as she designs a new hat (fig. 14). Gloria Groom's thoughtful essay on this painting—and the associated accessories in this gallery—raises the question of the relationship between artists and artisans, and in detail, how Degas (1834–1917) may have understood this parallel. "The admiration Degas expressed for the hand-wrought, his identification with the artisan, and his recognition of fine art equally a article are about greatly expressed in his millinery store paintings, which are complex, and evolved in meaning and style over time. Expressive of his appreciation of both women who create (milliners) and women who make artful choices (clients), they also bear witness the artist'due south equation of carefully arranged handmade objects with artists who arrange compositions and colors" (231). Groom's analysis points the way for further investigation into the evolving perceptions of the role of 'fine art' and 'commercial art' and when the blurring of those distinctions began.

Gallery half-dozen, next to "At the Milliners", was a small transitional space with a single painting, Lise—The Woman with the Umbrella (1867, Museum Folkwang, Essen), and some other curved drinking glass display case showcasing an exquisite white muslin gown and a blackness lace parasol similar to the one in Renoir's canvas (figs. 15 and 16.) Equally with The Shop Daughter, the size of this half dozen foot high canvas created a sense of immediacy and reality, every bit if the viewer had just stepped outdoors for a stroll with a woman from 1860s Paris. Renoir exhibited Lise at the Paris Salon in 1868 in the hopes of establishing a mainstream career path in the years before the immature Realists began exhibiting independently as the Impressionists. However, the disquisitional reaction was mixed, with some commentators describing the sail as the "sister" to Monet'due south The Woman in a Dark-green Dress from 1866. As and then, the identity of the model was obscured by the creative person's emphasis on the fashionable day apparel and the extraordinary silk lace parasol; the quality and elegance of this ensemble was impossible for Salon visitors to overlook. In her catalogue chapter on "Fashion en Plein Air", Birgit Haase explained the Salon context clearly: ". . . this full-length portrait exemplified a type of modern woman, not the woman herself" (94). Outside of the Salon, nevertheless, Lise Tréhot, may well have been an agile participant in establishing the mise-en-scene for Renoir's composition; a recognized dressmaker in her ain right, it seems probable that she designed this gown for herself, peradventure even in collaboration with Renoir'south plans for future paintings. Variations on this aforementioned dress appear in several of the creative person'southward works with minor changes to the colour of the sash or the accessories.[2]

Stepping out of the intimacy of this small gallery into the next infinite, the viewer was met with a completely unexpected scene: an indoor park setting complete with (artificial) grass, Parisian park benches and the audio of birds chirping (fig. 17). Like "At the Milliners", the theme of this gallery, "En Plein Air", was expressed equally a translation of the actual feel depicted in the paintings—within the confines of a museum of course. With curving platforms to keep the crowds at arm's length from the artworks, and light blue walls adding to the open air experience, the exhibition design was clearly intended to maximize the impact of the iconic images on display. The first surprise was Gustave Courbet's depiction of Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine (1856, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris), a painting that might non typically be included in an Impressionist show, just which was entirely appropriate in the context of both plein air painting and the importance of fashion equally a key element of modernity (fig. eighteen). In a sense, Courbet began a conversation near fashion and morality in this image, painting the stylish dresses and accessories with attentive detail, but also making it clear that the woman in the foreground had removed her gown in public before settling down to remainder on the river bank. As Haase explains in the catalogue, "It was higher up all this violation of socially determined clothes codes that made the scene offensive to gimmicky viewers" (86–87). Manet would face a similar predicament in 1863 with Luncheon on the Grass (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) when he paired nude and semi-nude women with fully dressed contemporary men in a wood setting, thus transgressing acceptable norms for the use of the nude in fine art, and instead, presenting unapologetic public nudity in Parisian society.

Directly in the line of vision, to both left and right, from Courbet's painting were ii canvases by Tissot, The Two Sisters (1863, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) and The Marquis and Marquise de Miramon and Their Children (1865, Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Equally in earlier galleries, Tissot's work served as a visual contrast to the emerging Realist/Impressionist aesthetic. Although both of these paintings show beautifully clad figures posed in an outdoor environs, they maintain clear identities as specific individuals; in other words, these are portraits. In comparison, Monet's ii-part canvas Tiffin on the Grass (1865, Musée d'Orsay) offered a more casually staged country picnic among friends; even though the identities of the models are known today, the intent of the painting was to create a glimpse of modernistic life in 1860s Paris (see fig. 17). Elsewhere in the gallery, one of Monet's studies, Bazille and Camille (1865, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC), demonstrated the influence of mode illustrations, which typically positioned models so that the clothing became the primary center of attention, as information technology was in this canvass (fig. 19). A soutache-trimmed white walking dress similar to the one Camille wore in this painting was shown in the freestanding display case immediately reverse the painting (fig. 20).

The "En Plein Air" gallery also featured Monet's Women in a Garden (1866, Musée d'Orsay, Paris), Renoir's The Swing (1876, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) and The Couple (1868, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne) likewise as Frédéric Bazille's Family Reunion (1867, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) (figs. 17, 21, 22). Each of these paintings stand for key phases of Impressionism and as a whole, they reveal the consistency of the group'south fascination with fashion as an emblem of modern life. It must be noted too that seeing all of these works side by side was a rare souvenir to the public, and most especially, to fine art historians.

The tone shifted as the viewer moved into a pocket-size, red-walled gallery featuring Manet's quintessential image of a fashionable woman, La Parisienne (ca. 1875, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) (fig. 23). The actress Ellen Andrée posed for this painting, but the real subject here is the "new woman"—a woman whose sense of style effaces her social status and defines the essence of elegant sophistication. In her catalogue essay, "Edouard Manet, The Parisienne", Françoise Tétart-Vittu explores the genesis of the Parisienne in the years immediately following the end of the Franco-Prussian War, noting that 1874 was a seminal year for fashion. That year, Stéphane Mallarmé was in the process of publishing his short-lived fashion journal, La Dernière Mode, and there was also a major exhibition on costume adult by the Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts Appliqués à l'Industrie that featured 6,000 works from 250 lenders (78). The interest in manner, and specifically France'southward merits to leadership in that field, was a significant element in rebuilding national pride later the disastrous losses resulting from the war. A shut wait at the Formal Dress (ca. 1877, Maison Roger, individual collection) shown contrary La Parisienne demonstrated why way might well be a source of civic pride (fig. 24). The artistry in the design and structure of this garment drew expressions of amazement from the reverential groups of viewers peering intently at the pleated flounces and draped silk organza, non to mention several different types of hand-fabricated lace; anyone with even a minimal knowledge of dressmaking was awestruck by this extraordinary gown.

Paris offered many venues for displaying such gowns and in gallery nine, the thematic focus explored some of those locales with "Seeing and Being Seen". Jean Béraud delineated the society brawl in his encyclopedic sail titled just A Ball (1878, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) (fig. 25). Exhibited at the Salon of 1878, this limerick provides a glittering perspective of women in frothy sleeveless ball gowns interspersed with their black-clad escorts. The richness of the interior décor matches the opulence of the participants' attire, admitting in a somewhat lethargic rendition of a party. In contrast, this gallery included several works past Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) and Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), both of them women who were personally familiar with Parisian society events at formal balls and the opera. In Immature Woman in a Brawl Gown (1879, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) Morisot captured an elegantly gowned woman who seems to be waiting anxiously for her theatre-going companion; in spite of her designer dress and personal dazzler, the viewer is drawn into the image by her slightly humble expression. Mary Cassatt's sis Lydia seems to have had no such qualms in Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge (1879, Philadelphia Museum of Art) where she is shown thoroughly enjoying an evening at the Opéra (fig. 26). Both of these canvases revealed the of import influence of couturier Charles Frederick Worth (1825–95), whose gowns these young women were wearing. The sleeveless, off-the-shoulder style popularized past Worth was the latest way in the late 1870s, and like the Maison Roger formal dress, it was always exquisitely designed and crafted. Worth's ice blueish satin gown on brandish in this gallery exemplified this attention to quality. As Groom notes, "Hither, ice blue ribbed velvet is combined with luminous satin to create a gown of subtle and ethereal contrasts. Lace and flowers frame the shoulders and beaded fringe trims the edge of the overskirt; it would have trembled with every subtle movement of the wearer" (181).

Evening dresses for older women, or those who did not wish to bare their shoulders, proved equally fascinating to the Impressionist painters. Renoir'due south painting of Nini Lopez in The Loge (1874, Courtauld Gallery, London), for case, makes a strong statement well-nigh the power of manner, this time with a strikingly assuming black and white striped gown accessorized with pearls and flowers (fig. 27). Unlike the upper form women painted by Cassatt and Morisot, notwithstanding, Nini Lopez was simply an artist'south model from Montmartre, the same neighborhood where Renoir lived in the 1870s. The artist proposed the idea of setting the painting in an opera loge then proceeded to "transform Nini from model to upper-course patron of the Opéra giving her a palatial outfit and adding the dress-coat-or tailcoat-clad male figure behind her. . . . Her ensemble was absolutely upwards-to-appointment. Information technology was also clearly out of reach for both artist and model" (39).

This dichotomy between Renoir's economic status and that which he painted underscores the fluid nature of society during the early years of the Third Republic. Although not discussed in depth in the exhibition, the political implications of style's influence on modernistic life prevarication but beneath the surface of these images. The ambiguity virtually social status that is present in many Impressionist paintings suggests at least the hypothesis that external factors practice not decide individual worth. When understood in conjunction with the industrialization of the textile industry and the growth of gear up-to-clothing (or 'ready to exist finished') clothing, the determination that fashion was determined by personal aptitude becomes inevitable; and it sets the phase for connected democratization of French culture as the century progresses.

Gallery ten changed the subject entirely with "In the Boudoir" equally its theme. With dusty rose walls, this modestly sized gallery is dominated by two large paintings: Henri Gervex's Rolla (1878, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) and Manet's Young Lady in 1866 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). The dissimilarity could not have been more stark. Gervex'due south melodramatic scene illustrates the moment before the debauched Rolla poisons himself; although not before casting a astern glance at Marie, his teenage companion, lying naked amid the sumptuous bed linens (fig. 28).[3] Valerie Steele described the controversy near this image that arose later it was removed from the Salon of 1878 considering of impropriety: "Henri Gervex's painting Rolla acquired a scandal not because of its classically beautiful nude, merely considering of the pile of clothing next to the bed . . . This little still life enacts a striptease, which shocked the public" (133). The 20-offset century museum-going public, however, could not fail to notice such a splashy theatrical epitome in an otherwise elegant space and perhaps to wonder how well it fit in with the the exhibition's exploration of fashion as an expression of modernity. More than interesting was a brandish example below Rolla filled with an array of undergarments. Here, viewers could written report the intricate tucks, pleats and ribbons of corsets, corset covers, drawers, and petticoats as well as fans and shoes; and over again admire the sophisticated artistry that went into the creation of these apprehensive everyday items.

Prominently positioned on the shorter wall of the gallery was Manet's Young Lady in 1866, demonstrating the seductive allure of habiliment (fig. 29). In his essay on this painting, Gary Tinterow explains that this composition is "an elaborate allegory of the five senses" with the peeled orangish (taste), bouquet of violets (smell), parrot (sound) and monocle (sight) as symbolic references. Naturally, touch was signified by the sensual entreatment of the satin peignoir (26). And it was the dressing gown itself that captured disquisitional attention in the 1860s, with complaints that the peignoir did not reveal the torso below—an irony that cannot have been lost on Manet, whose Olympia (1863, Musée d'Orsay) of three years earlier was criticized for her embarrassing lack of clothing (29). Much of the attraction of the peignoir, nevertheless, is the purely visual fascination with the paint itself. Manet has translated the tactile qualities of the satin fabric into a voluptuous exploration of color that beguiles the viewer into exploring the gradation from pinkish to cream to mauve to rose to lavender as the peignoir seems to shimmer in the artist's characteristically undefined space. The Young Lady offers an erotic alternative to the flamboyant image of Rolla, and more than chiefly, an expression of modernity in its acceptance of sensuality equally an ordinary aspect of life rather than as a stage piece.

This small gallery also contained Manet's Nana (1877, Hamburger Kunsthalle), Morisot's Woman at her Toilette (1875–lxxx, Fine art Institute of Chicago) and Tissot's Portrait of the Marquise de Miramon, née Thérèse Feuillant (1866, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles) in improver to several prints and drawings. What is nigh remarkable about these images in general is how different the subject matter is from earlier art historical periods. These art works are not updates of Venus at her toilette or Susannah at the bathroom, simply images of women—including 'proper ladies'—engaged in personal grooming activities in the intimacy of their boudoirs.

Fig. 32, Installation view of Gallery 11, "Masculine Elegance": Left to right: Frédéric Bazille, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1867. Oil on canvas. Musée Fabre, Montpelier; Gustave Caillebotte, At the Cafe, 1880. Oil on canvass, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen; Gustave Caillebotte, Portrait of a Man, 1880. Oil on canvas. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.

The adjacent gallery, "Masculine Elegance", introduced a male perspective on fashion and signaled a change from the intimacy of earlier themes. The exhibition space was once more grounded by difficult wood floor, and the walls were painted a discrete warm greyness. Large glass brandish cases with examples of men'southward suits were placed in the corners adjacent to the entrance, with Henri Fantin-Latour's portrait of Edouard Manet (1867, Fine art Institute of Chicago) claiming pride of identify in the center of the wall (fig. 30). Manet's reputation equally an urbane, stylish Parisian was widely recognized and always admired. Philippe Thiébaut'due south comments on Fantin-Latour'southward portrait highlight the artist's obsession with tailoring: "Ane is struck by the impeccable cutting of his apron coat, which shows the natural curve of his shoulder, revealing the cuffs of his shirtsleeves and the front pockets of his waistcoat, where a watch and its concatenation are tucked" (139). The elegant kid gloves, silk top hat and blue cravat add the essential elegant accessories as well. On an adjacent wall was Bazille's pocket-size portrait of his friend, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1867, Musée Fabre, Montpelier) seated casually on a chair in formal daytime attire (fig. 31). In contrast to Manet's traditional 3-quarter length pose, Renoir has conspicuously fabricated himself at home, putting his feet up on the chair and assuming a jaunty position while Bazille paints. As the son of a tailor, Renoir knew the value of fine design, and he too followed the standards of mode for men in the 1860s, but his coincidental pose in this portrait suggests that stylish tailoring does not necessarily imply that a man can't exist comfy.

On the same wall with Bazille's portrait of Renoir were two distinctive images of lonely men past Gustave Caillebotte (1848–94) (fig. 32). These paintings provided yet another view of male fashion besides as a glimpse of the signs of economic condition in masculine clothing. At the Cafe (1880, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen) portrays a less-than-stylish man standing lone in a cafe, wrapped in his thoughts and seemingly unaware of his rumpled jacket and his out-of-engagement derby chapeau. A closer inspection might reveal that the derby hat was once fashionable, and that perhaps this presumed 'barfly' had simply fallen on hard times. He is, after all, patronizing a rather upscale cafe where other men wear silk top hats and beautifully tailored suits. Hanging next to At the Buffet was Portrait of a Human being (1880, Cleveland Museum of Fine art), a similarly enigmatic and solitary effigy, albeit a more prosperous one. Seated in a plush upholstered chair in front of a window, he too strikes an introspective pose, seemingly unaware of his surround. In both of these paintings, style defines the sitter by economic power, but Caillebotte as well draws the viewer's attention to the very private and isolated quality of these men lost in contemplation. As with the many of the images of women, these are non portraits of individuals, but explorations of mod life seen through the filter of masculine way.

Ii paintings by Tissot offer a more public view of male person fashion. The Circle of the Rue Royale (1868, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) is a large sheet that, in an earlier time, might take been chosen a grande machine; in other words, a display piece that was designed to concenter attention and show off the artist'south technical skills (fig. 33). Indeed, this group portrait of the members of a very exclusive and bourgeois private club reflects the social values of an aristocratic past, fifty-fifty though some of the men represented here are industrial and military machine leaders rather than members of the defunct nobility. Their impeccable gustation in fashion defines each one of them as they assemble on an eighteenth-century neoclassical portico where Tissot has spotlighted the intricate details of gleaming shoe buttons, well-baked white collars and casually tossed top hats and gloves. Information technology is a fascinating catalogue of men's fashion, even if a somewhat tedious painting of men looking bored and decorative. A more lively prototype is Tissot'south Frederick Gustavus Burnaby (1870, National Portrait Gallery, London), a portrait that reveals not only the sitter's personality but creates a graphically sophisticated composition using a British soldier'south uniform. The bold red stripe on the trousers and the white leather pouch belt proclaim Burnaby to be a captain in the Royal Equus caballus Guards, while simultaneously exaggerating the length of his already long leg. And while his pose with cigarette in hand may appear afflicted to twenty-first century eyes, there is still a sure energy and sense of real personality in this portrait.

The next gallery focuses on the consumer's role in creating the fashion industry. Because this is a complex, historical topic, the curators and designers chose to set the scene with a wall-sized photo-reproduction of an engraving showing the interior of Le Printemps, one of the almost popular section stores in Paris. Against this backdrop were quotations about the ascent of the department shop and its influence on French consumer civilization in the nineteenth century. Emile Zola'due south 1883 novel, Au Bonheur des Dames (Ladies Paradise) served every bit a prime example of what was and so a new edifice type, and one that was surprisingly controversial at the time. This gallery invited close scrutiny of the many fashion plates and journals on display in the cases lining the walls, encouraging viewers to look closely at the seemingly endless variations in the ways that new trends in fashion were presented to the public. In addition, a digital station allowed visitors to 'folio through' Henry Somm'southward sketchbook of fashionable Parisians ca. 1885.

Fig. 34, Installation view of Gallery 13, "Spaces of Mod Life": Left to right: Gustave Caillebotte, The Pont de fifty'Europe, 1876. Oil on canvas. Association des Amis du Petit Palais, Geneva; Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street; Rainy Mean solar day, 1877. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Edouard Manet, The Railway, 1873. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Gallery 13 moved the thematic thread from inside the department store out to the "Spaces of Modern Life" (fig. 34). The charcoal walls and nighttime carpet seemed a curious selection to stand for the cityscape of Paris, although it did create a calming surroundings for viewers who may have been feeling overwhelmed by this indicate in the exhibition. Equally with the rest of the galleries, the art on brandish offered several iconic images associated with the 1860s-1880s. Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Twenty-four hour period (1877), one of the Art Institute of Chicago'southward most widely recognized masterpieces, set the stage for an exploration of urban renewal in Second Empire Paris. In Paris Street; Rainy Day, as well as Caillebotte'due south painting of The Pont de fifty'Europe (1876, Association des Amis du Petit Palais, Geneva) and Manet's close-up paradigm of The Railway (1873, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC), the visitor was invited to imagine the real life of people every bit they strolled through the city in their fashionable clothing. Notably, the artists often chose to describe mod Paris, the city of newly designed grand boulevards and glass and bandage iron railway stations. Likewise, the new Pont de 50'Europe was a cast iron truss span exemplifying the design skills of French engineers. Together, these three paintings reverberate the profound changes in the lives of Parisians as they watched their urban center emerge from a largely medieval urban form into an industrial metropolis. One might even say that the city itself was being "re-fashioned" for modern life.

On the opposite side of the gallery was a group of smaller paintings showing more personal levels of interaction with the changing cityscape. Morisot'southward sail On The Balustrade (1872, private collection) shows a female parent and girl on their individual balcony gazing out at the transformations of the urban center in the distance. In her commentary on this painting, Groom noted that "Caillebotte'south and Morisot's balconies are for seeing rather than beingness seen" and certainly, the prospect of watching Paris being redesigned before their eyes would have attracted considerable attention (161). Degas also addressed the issue of a woman "seeing rather than being seen" in his pocket-sized painting Woman with Binoculars (1875, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Galerie Neue Meister). This oil sketch on paper-thin shows a fashionably dressed adult female gazing through binoculars; her crossed arms and confident opinion advise that she non merely knows what she'southward looking at, only that she is familiar with this environment. Although the sketch itself does reveal the setting, nosotros do know that this effigy was originally intended to be function of i of Degas's paintings of racetracks; information technology as well testifies to the presence of evidently knowledgeable women at the races (175–76).

"Irresolute Silhouette", the theme of the concluding gallery, summed up the exhibition by pointing out that the influence of fashion on modernity would proceed into future decades, although Impressionism in its original form would not (fig. 35). This spacious gallery announced the "changing silhouette" dramatically with a large glass case full of bustled gowns positioned to friction match the poses of the female figures in Georges Seurat's imposing scene, A Dominicus on La Grande Jatte-1884 (1884, Art Institute of Chicago) (fig. 36). Across the room, Monet'southward canvass of his stepdaughter Suzanne Hoschèdé in Study of Effigy Outdoors (Facing Right) (1886, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) revealed his dwindling involvement in style as a subject of his piece of work; less concerned nearly painting modernistic life, the creative person would increasingly paint figures only as elements within a mural of shifting lite, colour and class.

Albert Bartholomé'south painting of his married woman, all the same, exemplified the continuing emphasis on fashion as a part of the aesthetic chat in late nineteenth-century France (fig. 37). In the Conservatory (ca. 1881, Museé d'Orsay, Paris) presents Prospérie de Fleury Bartholomé in her elegant new wearing apparel, the height of fashion in the summer of 1880. This day dress was a hybrid of hand-sewn and machine-made construction, probably from a mass-produced design that appeared in the fashion journals at the fourth dimension. The evolution of readily available patterns enabled a growing number of women to bask the luxury of loftier quality design and fine dressmaking, provided of course that they either had couture skills themselves or could afford to hire a talented seamstress (fig. 38). The dressmaker responsible for Madame Bartholomé's dress remains anonymous, but the quality of her work is very evident in the precision and elegance of the finished ensemble. In an unusual plow of circumstances, the dress shown in the exhibition was the aforementioned apparel shown in the painting (fig. 39). Madame Bartholomé died shortly after her married man completed the canvas, and he preserved the dress in her retentiveness. Although this unhappy groundwork information is known to contemporary viewers, the painting also retains its contained existence as an image of stylish modern life.

Before endmost, it should be acknowledged that the exhibition catalogue for Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity offers an impressive compendium of information, resources and insight. Gloria Groom's editorial management is evident throughout and her synthesis and analysis of this multi-faceted subject field is extraordinary. Considering the exhibition traveled to 3 venues, the catalogue was organized independent of the individual exhibition designs. Lengthy thematic essays are interspersed with more focused analyses of individual paintings, and the illustrated checklist of works at the end allows readers to hands find the give-and-take of any ane piece. For the full general public, it offers a range of information in both informative captions and more scholarly discussions. This is also a catalogue that art historians can use as a research tool, and with any luck at all, it volition be a catalogue that serves as a model for other museums.

Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity defied the oft-repeated perception that blockbuster shows—peculiarly Impressionism shows—rarely have scholarly content. There is no question that this was a blockbuster exhibition in the best sense of that discussion. It was enormously popular; it brought together a spectacular array of Impressionist paintings besides as comparative materials that enriched and enlivened viewers' agreement of the subject; and it contributed a fresh perspective to art historical scholarship. The design of the exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago also deserves special mention for its elegant expression of an era through careful staging of celebrated clothing and a light-hearted re-imagining of Paris shops and parks. Ultimately, the exhibition design animated and contextualized the many layers of data on display. In an era when museums likewise frequently settle for superficial exhibitions or conveniently pre-packaged shows, Impressionism, Way, and Modernity demonstrated that in that location is withal a place for insightful scholarship, innovative thinking and art historical credibility.

Janet Whitmore
Independent scholar, Chicago
jwhitmore12ncaw[at]gmail.com

---

[1] Interestingly, the painting entitled The White Slippers is today in the collection of Vera Wang. The Pink Slippers belongs to a private collector in Paris. See Gloria Groom, ed., Impressionism, Way, and Modernity (New Haven, CT and London: Chicago Art Constitute in clan with Yale University Press, 2012), 227.

[2] Other examples of Lise Tréhot in very similar gowns include Portrait of Lise (Lise tenant un bouquet de fleurs des champs) 1867 and Femme à 50'ombrelle assise dans le jardin (Lise Tréhot), 1872. Both are included in the catalogue raisonné of Renoir's work. See F. Daulte, Auguste Renoir, catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, vol. I, Les figures (1860–1890), (Lausanne, 1971), no. 32 and 80 (illustrated).

[three] The source for this story was a narrative poem past Alfred de Musset. Come across Alfred de Musset, Oeuvres complète de Alfred de Musset, (Paris: Garnier, 1975).

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