Mary Cassatt’s Boating Party shows important changes in art and culture near the end of the 19th century. The Boating Party depicts evolving cultural norms around women and sport, and the rise of womenswear separates. Through Cassatt’s strong graphic shapes, we can see how Impressionist painting evolved to become more experimental and geometric in the 1890s.
Paul Cézanne based his painting, The Conversation (1870-71), on a fashion plate from La Mode Illustrée, which confirms that his figures are presented in fashionable dress. He uses this content to comment on the greater social issues of the time period, as well as explore darker notions of the fabric of society.
Young Woman Seated on a Sofa by Berthe Morisot uses a light color palette and whimsical brushstrokes to create an elegant representation of the modern, bourgeois Parisienne. The painter brings elements of the outdoors into an airy apartment setting to emphasize the beauty of her subject. In demonstrating the upper class woman, Morisot takes care to use fashionable elements that would be admired by those in high society who engross themselves in symbols of femininity.
Emulating the work of Old Masters, William Merritt Chase paints Lydia Field Emmet wearing black as a fashionable color and immediately catches the viewer’s attention with the shocking vertical contrast of a pink ribbon.
Berthe Morisot’s portrait of teenager Marguerite Carré features a light pink ruffled day dress paired with black velvet and lace accessories, embodying the fashionable trends of 1870s Paris.
Tissot paid close attention to dress details, but his habit of adding a personal flair into the design sometimes rendered his paintings somewhat out-of-step with contemporary fashion trends.
Dance at Bougival captures a dance in progress, with a casually dressed man whirling around a woman in a simple but fashionable pink cotton ensemble.
Spring (Jeanne Demarsy) by Édouard Manet is a breathtaking, youthful portrait of French actress Jeanne Demarsy, who exemplifies the title Spring in both her soft facial features and her Parisienne-style outfit. As one of the last paintings done by Manet before his death, Spring symbolizes the merging of female beauty and the beauty of nature, coming together as one to be admired in its totality.
The Fez and the Ottoman Path to Modernity
1869 – Red Silk Dress
katazome (stencil printing)
1905 – André Derain, Lucien Gilbert
Inès Gâches-Sarraute and the Straight-Front Corset