BD 244
BERTHE MORISOT
Bourges 1841 - 1895 Paris
Jeune fille à l'éventail
Canvas: 25½ x 21 3/8 in / 65 x 54.3 cm
Frame size: 37 x 32 ½ in /94 x 82.6 cm
Painted in 1893
Provenance:
The artist's estate; M and Mme Ernest Rouart, Paris, the artist’s son-in-law and daughter,Julie;
M and Mme Denis Rouart, Paris, and thence by descent to the artist’s heirs
Exhibited:
Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Madame Manet, Exposition de son oeuvre, March 1896, no. 31
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Cent Oeuvres de Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), November 1919, no. 49
Paris, Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Réunion d'oeuvres par Berthe Morisot, June - July 1922, no. 8
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Expositions d'Oeuvres des XIXe et XXe siècles, June-July 1925, no 95
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Exposition d'Oeuvres de Berthe Morisot, May 1929, no. 79
London, Leicester Gallery, Berthe Morisot, March - April 1930, no. 52, illustrated
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Berthe Morisot, summer 1941, no. 105
Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, Berthe Morisot, Malerier, Akvareller og Tegningen, August - September 1949, no. 46
London, The Arts Council of Great Britain, Berthe Morisot, An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, 1950, no. 50
Geneva, Galerie Motte, Exposition Berthe Morisot, June 1951, no. 6, illustrated
Limoges, Musée Municipal, Hommage à Berthe Morisot et à Pierre-Auguste Renoir, July - October 1952, no. 23, illustrated
Dieppe, Musée de Dieppe, Exposition Berthe Morisot, July - September 1957, no. 54
Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Exposition Berthe Morisot, Peintures Aquarelles, Dessins, July - September 1958, no. 56
New York, Galerie Wildenstein, Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Berthe Morisot, November - December 1960, no. 64 illustrated; this exhibition later travelled to London, Wildenstein & Co. Ltd., January - February 1961, no. 44, illustrated p. 50
Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Berthe Morisot, 1961, no. 90
Vevey, Musée Jenisch, Berthe Morisot, June - September 1961, no. 75
Lodève, Musée de Lodève, Berthe Morisot, Regards pluriels, June - October 2006, no. 46
Literature:
M. Angoulvent, Berthe Morisot, Paris, 1933, p. 146, no. 555
M.-L. Bataille & G. Wildenstein, Berthe Morisot, Catalogue des peintures, pastels et acquarelles, Paris, 1961, p. 46, no. 343, illustrated pl. 74
H. Granville Fell, 'Berthe Morisot', in Apollo, April 1930, illustrated p. 294
T. Duret, Histoire des Peintres Impressionnistes, Paris, 1939, illustrated p. 129
Anonymous, 'A Gifted Woman Impressionist: Aspects of Berthe Morisot', in The Illustrated London News, 3 June 1950, illustrated p. 875
D. Rouart, Berthe Morisot, Paris, 1954, illustrated pl. 58
P. Huisman, Berthe Morisot, Lausanne, 1962, pp. 56-57
D. Rouart (ed.), The Correspondence of Berthe Morisot with her family and friends, Manet, Puvis de Chavannes, Degas, Monet, Renoir and Mallarmé, London, 1987, p. 195
A. Clairet, D. Montalant & Y. Rouart, Berthe Morisot, 1841-1895, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Montolivet, 1997, no. 347, illustrated p. 284
In a period, carved and gilded Louis XIV frame
Frame size: 37 x 32 ½ in / 94 x 82.5 cm
An artist of great sensitivity and charm Berthe Morisot was one of the most dedicated of the Impressionists remaining faithful to their principles throughout her distinguished career. In 1881 the critic Gustave Geffroy declared ‘No one represents Impressionism with more refined talent or with more certainty that Berthe Morisot’.
Following the death of her husband in 1892 Berthe Morisot left the family home on the rue de Villejust and moved with her daughter, Julie, to an apartment at 10 rue Weber. Painted the following year Jeune fille à l'éventail is a portrait of Jeanne Fourmanoir. Whereas previously Morisot had been able to draw upon her family, friends and domestic staff to sit for her she now frequently selected professional models as her subjects and Jeanne, who had been recommended by Federico Zandomeneghi and had posed for Renoir, became one of her favourite models.
This period saw a notable change in Morisot’s mood and choice of subject matter. Her work developed a new sensuality and the present painting reveals a languid sexuality that had not previously been seen in her work. In Jeune fille à l'éventail, Jeanne appears as an object of desire, concealing her body behind a fan, the sleeve of her bodice has slipped down her bare arm to expose the creamy white flesh of her shoulder as she gazes into the distance, deep in thought. Berthe Morisot’s brother-in-law, Edouard Manet, had painted her on a number of occasions holding a fan and she herself had often depicted friends and family members holding fans that were the gifts of other artists, decorated and donated by the likes of Edgar Degas. Here, however, this fashionable accessory, that was often used to denote modesty, appears to be used more to tease and tantalize.
The move to rue Weber also saw a change in the way Morisot worked and the setting of her paintings. She now rarely made any preparatory sketches but painted directly onto the canvas with confident, spirited brushstrokes. Her previous home had offered a variety of backgrounds for her work and she particularly enjoyed painting in her beloved garden. The new apartment did not allow for such freedom and therefore her figures are often placed in interiors or, as in the present painting, against an indistinct and colourful background of fluid, descriptive brushstrokes. As the critic Gustave Geffroy once commented: ‘the forms are always vague in Berthe Morisot’s paintings, but an extraordinary life animates them. The artist has managed to fix the shimmers and glints
generated by colour, the quivers running though things and the air that envelops them.’ (Exhibition catalogue, Berthe Morisot, regards pluriels, p 62)
Jeune fille à l'éventail has, until recently remained, in the possession of the Berthe Morisot’s family. It was included in the posthumous retrospective of Morisot's works that took place at Galerie Durand-Ruel's in 1896, shortly after the artist’s death. The exhibition was a great event on the Parisian art scene, with many of Morisot's former Impressionist colleagues visiting and paying homage to one of the most talented of their number. It is a tribute in itself that the exhibition, which marked the anniversary of her death, was organised by the artists Degas, Monet and Renoir, as well as the writer Mallarmé, who had been a close friend and had also acted as tutor and guardian to her daughter Julie.
The Hortensia 1894 Musée d’Orsay, Paris
BERTHE MORISOT
Bourges 1841 - 1895 Paris
Berthe Morisot was the first woman to join the Impressionists, sharing their aims and contributing to their principal exhibitions.
The early interest she and her sister Edma took in drawing, was encouraged by their parents, who sent them to study with Joseph Alexandre Guichard, a pupil of Ingres. Under his tutelage, they copied many works in the Louvre.
By 1860, Morisot already expressed a great inclination to paint plein air, and in 1861, she was introduced to Corot, from whom she took lessons and by whom she was considerably influenced. She worked with him in Ville d'Avray and later, with his pupil, Oudinot, at Auvers, where she met Daubigny and Daumier.
In 1868, she met Edouard Manet, who was to become a close friend, and colour her entire life. she married his younger brother Eugene in 1874, and that same year, sent nine pictures to the first Impressionist exhibition.
the artistic ambience in which Morisot lived was of great importance to the development of her work, and her friends included Degas, Monet and Renoir, musicians such as Rossini and Chabrier, and the greatest writers of the day, Zola, Baudelaire and Mallarmé.
During the latter part of her career, Morisot showed a renewed interest in drawing, as a fundamental process of modelling and emphasizing the plasticity of her subjects. She now adopted a style composed of long sinuous stroked as a means of giving linear definition to form.