Tissot, a name I hadn’t heard much. Then the AGO announced an exhibit featuring their collection of 2 oil paintings, 1 watercolour and 30 etchings on paper.
A Most Enchanting Day at the AGO
In the last decades of the nineteenth century, James Tissot portrayed women within the contradictions of the period.
Modernity via the speed of travel, fashion and commodity culture is juxtaposed with the constraint of women’s every day lives.
Flaunting the “Masculine” Realm
A well dressed woman reads a newspaper. The fashionable Japanese-influenced wallpaper lining the wall informs of her engagement with the outside world & knowledge of trends.
Fashion magazines and novels were appropriate for Victorian women.
Newspapers were linked to men, as they symbolized factual knowledge and interest in global politics. Although, the image below depicts another reason a woman would read a newspaper.
The above image portrays a young woman and her mother in a Parisian park. The black clothing suggests they are mourning a male relative, and are without a dowry. The daughter sits in an available position, while the mother searches the newspapers for marriage offers.
More About the Artist
“Best known for his paintings of fashionable figures, Tissot began his career in Paris. While he turned down Edgar Degas’s invitation to exhibit with the impressionists, he shared the groups desire to portray scenes of modern life in an innovative style. He moved to London in 1871 after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, and became a popular painter of Victorian scenes, particularly those showing young women in typically modern moments, before returning to France in 1882.” – Art Gallery of Ontario
Moral Ambiguity, a Central Theme
A well dressed young woman walks to church holding a bible. Her raised eyebrows and tentative gaze pose the question, does she need to atone for her sins, or is she nervous about being late for service?
Horizontal women’s bodies were lubricous from a voyeuristic perspective.
Slumbering female figures had erotic connotations in the Victorian Era, especially in semi-conscious states like dreaming or sleeping.
Now discredited – The below woman’s twisted hand was indicative of the pathological disorder – hysteria. This “chic” female disease was considered fashionably feminine and modern.
The moral ambiguity of Tissot’s images was integral to their popular appeal.
British critics claimed they were too, risqué, too French.
A Personal Fascination
Other than the title, I know only that the etching below is in the Hippodrome (ℹ︎ Met Museum site). I was mesmerized by it. All that skin makes the costumes seem so modern and the Statue of Liberty crowns were piquing.
I can’t get everything into 1 post, so there will be a Tissot – II. In the meantime, I leave you with a shot of the 1 watercolour with gouache on paper.
The young girl’s bored stare, pale skin, under eye circles with oversized bonnet and gloves (highlighting weight loss) suggest tuberculosis.
“Consumption” was coined a term, as it consumed patients, and ate away bodies.
Is she waiting for someone or something?
Is she waiting to heal or die?
Photos © Resa McConaghy – Taken January 7, 2025
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
Information Source: The Art gallery of Ontario
Art Gowns 
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