http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/morisot/
Shows a list of artworks that I have created over my time as an artist.
credits to Webmuseum, Paris
Friday, March 11, 2011
Young Girl by the Window
This is one of my works that show my gentle colors and strong use of pastels
As a Woman.
As a girl being born into a middle class family, one would have thought that her parents would discourage her from pursuing art, in a time where women hardly went into the profession of art. However, my parents were the opposite and encouraged me to start in art and introduced me into the environment. My sister, Edma Morisot, and I did many things in our exploration of art and together we demonstrated the possibilities for women artists in avant-garde art movements at the end of the 19th century. We were one of the few women who engaged in this profession, and we demonstrated the potential of women in the arts in the late nineteenth century.
My dedication to the new style of painting known as Impressionism won me the disfavor of the traditional French academic artists. I believed that women had a special vision, "more delicate than that of men." My special touch is evident in the lighter colors and flowing brush strokes of Young Girl by the Window. Near the end of my life, I lamented the refusal of men to take my work seriously: "I don't think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal, and that's all I would have asked, for I know I'm worth as much as they.
Although I was not taken very seriously as a woman, much more as an artist, I have accomplished many artistic feats. I was the first woman to be included in the circle of Impressionists and developed my own unique Impressionist style. My work was shown in many of the Impressionist's exhibitions and I also was included in the Salon de Paris's exhibition. I also outsold several of my fellow Impressionists, including Monet, Renoir, and Sisley. I had her first solo exhibition in 1892 and two years later the French government purchased my oil painting Young Woman in a Ball Gown. Today my paintings can sell for more than $4 million.
Influence of Manet.
In 1868, I was introduced to artist Edouard Manet and soon became his pupil. Under his teachings I moved away from traditional art to an art form that would later be known as Impressionism. Manet and I complemented one another, expressing mutual admiration as well as influencing each other's style. I frequently appeared in Manet's work. His most famous portrait of me is Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets. Among others are The Balcony and Repose.
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| The Balcony |
I was influential in arousing Monet's interest in outdoor painting. I encouraged him to abandon the use of black and experiment with the Impressionist "rainbow" palette instead, even though Morisot did not emphasize color as much as most of her Impressionist colleagues. Her paintings continued to show the influence of Manet even after they stopped working closely together.
From the moment she met and began studying with Manet, she followed the Impressionistic style. Her subjects, however, differed from those of her colleagues. She shunned the brothel scenes that were popular with Degas and avoided locations where respectable women would not be found alone, such as train stations. Renowned artists such as Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir accepted her as an equal. Manet's influence upon me showed as a considerable clarification of my palette, in my use of surface perspective, and in my choice of subjects. I, in turn stimulated his interest in painting in the open air. By 1877 I had developed a distinctively personal manner with a large free brushstroke applied upon silvery-toned canvases lit with a filmy glow and harmonious in color.
Impressionism.
For the most part, the Impressionists recorded garden and landscape scenes. While the classical artists such as Jean-Honore Fragonard, also my grandfather, had been drawn to the elegance and grand scope of aristocratic gardens, the Impressionists took to public parks, common gardens and everyday locations.
Initially, the public and the press rejected the Impressionists as a band of renegades and revolutionaries. Among the Impressionists, only Degas and Morisot were accepted each time they submitted works to the prestigious Salon exhibition, while others, such as Frederic Bazille, Camille Pissarro, Renoir, Monet and Paul Cezanne were often rejected.
The Salon exhibit of 1868 resulted in many favorable reviews for the Impressionist artists despite the decision of the hanging committee to place many of their pictures in unflattering locations. There were still detractors, however. By 1870 there were still mixed reviews for the Impressionist artists.
After the Franco-Prussian war, funding for artists evaporated. This, coupled with disenchantment for the Salon system, encouraged the Impressionists to formulate plans for an independent show. On April 15, 1874, the "Premiere Exposition" of 165 works of art opened to the public. This was a corporation composed of artists funded the exhibition. I was one of the charter members of the group. Although the group included artists of the Academic style, the Impressionists were the driving force. My paintings were featured in the show. Except for 1879, I continued showing her works annually until the last group exhibition in 1886.
A small group representing the Impressionists, including myself, Renoir, and Monet, organized our own auction to sell our work. On March 24, 1875, 72 paintings went on sale. The auction was a dismal failure, as was a similar sale in May 1877. It took time and continued effort before the Impressionists gained acceptance.
My Style
I pursued a style that, while unquestioningly Impressionistic, was also uniquely my own. I applied large touches of paint to the canvas in all directions. This technique produced a transparent quality in my work. I omitted detail if it was unnecessary to the overall subject, thus producing a truly impressionistic work. I worked out an individual style which characteristics included a very light touch and great intimacy of atmosphere. My work showed a subject matter which showed the intimate world of a sensitive woman who had discovered poetry in the simplest acts and gestures, and my delicate, subtle works were constantly shown with those of the other Impressionists as well as at many official Salons.
My work portrayed scenes of everyday life, often with women and children. I painted what I saw in my immediate, everyday life as a woman. I also painted landscapes, again incorporating women and children. My mother and sister made frequent appearances in my paintings. I worked in various mediums, including oils and watercolor and I am best known as a watercolorist. I integrated figures into the design of my paintings using a pastel hue. My style and frequent use of these pastels produced an intimate atmosphere in y work. Some of my best known works include The Artist's Sister Edma and Their Mother, (1870) The Cradle (1873), Madame Pontillon Seated on the Grass (1873), In a Park, Hanging out the Laundry to Dry, Girl with a Basket, Woman at her Toilet, and La Lecture (1888).
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| Woman at her Toilette |
Me, Myself, and I
Hello, my name is Berthe Morisot. I was born in Bourges, France on January 14, 1841 to Edmé-Tiburce Morisot and Marie Corneille Thomas. My father was a high-ranking government official and my grandfather was Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. I grew up with successful bourgeois family who encouraged me and my sister, Edma Morisot, in our exploration of art. At the age of 10, our family moved to Paris and Edme and I studied art at the Louvre Museum in the late 1850s under Joseph Guichard. My skills developed greatly under him but I grew dissatisfied under the teachings of Guichard. At the age of twenty, I went under the teachings of Camille Corot, one of the most important landscape painters of the time. My sister also attended to his lessons with me. Part of his teachings included summer-long painting trips to picturesque locales. Our parents also went along with us as they obviously would not let us travel alone. I worked with Corot for several years and showcased my art for the first time in the prestigious state-run art show, the Salon, in 1864. I later became acquainted with Edouard Manet and became his pupil in 1868. His influence drew me away from classical art and into a new form of art that would come to be known as Impressionism. I soon eschewed the paintings of mu past with Corot, migrating instead toward Manet’s more unconventional and modern approach. I convinced Manet to attempt plein air painting, and drew him into the circle of acquaintance of the painters who became known as the impressionists. I was the first woman to join the circle of the French impressionist painters. Camille Pissarro and I together, were the only two painters who had pictures on all original Impressionist exhibitions. However, Manet himself never considered himself an impressionist or agreed to show with the group. In 1874 I married Eugene Manet, Edouard's younger brother. The marriage provided me with social and financial stability while I continued to pursue my painting career. Able to dedicate myself wholly to my craft, I participated in the Impressionist exhibitions every year except 1877, when I was pregnant with my daughter. My daughter, Julie, was born in 1878. I portrayed a wide range of subjects—from landscapes and still lifes to domestic scenes and portraits. I also experimented with numerous media, including oils, watercolors, pastels, and drawings. Most notable among my works during this period is Woman at Her Toilette (c. 1879). Later works were more studied and less spontaneous, such as The Cherry Tree (1891-92) and Girl with a Greyhound (1893). After my husband died in 1892, I continued to paint, although I was never commercially successful during my lifetime. I did, however, outsell several of my fellow Impressionists, including Monet, Renoir, and Sisley. I had my first solo exhibition in 1892 and two years later the French government purchased my oil painting Young Woman in a Ball Gown. I contracted pneumonia and died on March 2, 1895, at age 54.
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