text:
A Collection of Ten Schubert Songs Transcribed for the Piano
dc.contributor.advisor Abramovic, Charles
dc.creator Levyatov, Yoni
dc.identifier.other 870266676
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/1728
dc.description.abstract A Collection of Ten Schubert Songs Transcribed for the Piano Yoni Levyatov Doctor of Musical Arts Temple University, 2012 Doctoral Advisor Committee Chair: Dr. Charles Abramovic The objective of this project is the creation of a collection of ten songs by Franz Schubert, freely transcribed for solo piano: 1) "Gute Nacht" D.911 2) "An die Laute" D.905 3) "Memnon" D.541 4) "Wilkommen und Abschied" D.767 5) "Greisengesang" D.778 6) "Todesmusik" D.758 7) "Der Goldschmiedsgesell" D.560 8) "Das Fischermädchen" D.957 9) "Das Lied im Grünen" D.917 10) "Der Strom" D.565 These are written bearing in mind the general history of piano transcriptions as originated (in the modern sense) by Franz Liszt, the greatest of all transcribers for the piano, as well as other figures, such as Feruccio Busoni and Leopold Godowsky. The primary reason behind Liszt's idea of transcribing several Schubert song cycles, as well as singular lieder, was to popularize those works, and thus make them available to the common 19th century amateur, who was quite at home at the piano and usually wished to be able to reproduce favorite pieces with his own two hands. or in a four-hand collaboration. Liszt was also interested in raising awareness of these works, which were less popular and treated less seriously than they are today. At present such transcriptions may be done not only for the reasons described above, but also as a modern stylization, utilizing the many pianistic and compositional devices that have emerged since the 19th century. Some of the songs transcribed in my collection deviate considerably from the original accompaniment textures. Schubert, particularly in the strophic songs, tends to use consistent figures that hardly change with each repetition. The transcription medium allows an expansion of that, as well as use of many colorful and expressive pianistic idioms to reflect the text and the different stages of plot development. A rather extreme example of transcription taken to the point of re-composition that I discuss and use as a reference is the Schubert's Winterreise-Eine komponierte Interpretation (1993) by Hans Zender - a piece in which the composer explores the textual and musical possibilities in orchestrating his interpretation of the score for a tenor and a small orchestra. A similar treatment of Schubert, but for solo piano, as opposed to an orchestra, is one of the novelties in this project. The song that has been transcribed with a particular reference to Zender's work is Gute Nacht, which opens both Zender's and Liszt's transcriptions, following Schubert's original. Another significant point of reference in this project is taken from Liszt's transcription of "Das Fischermädchen" " from the "Schwanengesang" D.957. It is one of only two lieder in my collection also existing in another transcription which has been a part of the common piano repertoire. Liszt's treatment stands somewhat in between what would be a more common and literal transcription of the day in the 1840s and Zender's psychological re-composition and my transcription pays an homage to that. The implications of this project may bring a wider recognition to the validity of the transcription genre, and an expansion of the modern piano transcriptions repertoire, which is somewhat limited due to its unpopularity among current composers.
dc.subject Music
dc.title A Collection of Ten Schubert Songs Transcribed for the Piano
dc.contributor.committeemember Anderson, Christine L.
dc.contributor.committeemember Wedeen, Harvey D.
dc.contributor.committeemember Brodhead, Richard
dc.description.department Music Performance
dc.relation.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/1710
dc.description.degree D.M.A.
Levyatov_temple_0225E_11350.pdf


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Shan Moon Chinese Takeaway specialises in Chinese fast food, serving a range of dishes.
So, welcome to Shan Moon Chinese Takeaway now serving Chinese and other takeaway meal combinations. At Shan Moon Chinese Takeaway you are certain to find the perfect dish for not only yourself but for your family and friends.
Mix Pepper specialises in Chinese and Indian takeaway food, serving a selection of dishes including Beverages, Special offers, Soups, Chinese starters, Braised dishes, Satay dishes, Cantonese dishes, Sweet sour hot, Special dishes, Chilli dishes, Curry dishes, Fried rice dishes, Sweet sour dishes, Oyster sauce dishes, Duck dishes, Foo yung dishes, Chow mein dishes, Kung po dishes, Omelettes, European dishes, Chop suey dishes, Extras, Desserts, Chicken dishes, Beef dishes, King prawn dishes, Chinese set meals, Starters, Tandoori dishes, Main dishes, Biryani dishes, Vegetable dishes, Bread, Accompaniments, Pizzas, Garlic bread, House specials, and Meal deals.
So, welcome to Mix Pepper now serving Chinese and other takeaway meal combinations. At Mix Pepper you are certain to find the perfect dish for not only yourself but for your family and friends.
China Unicorn specialises in Chinese fast food, serving a wide range of dishes.
So, welcome to China Unicorn now serving Chinese and other takeaway meal combinations. At China Unicorn you are certain to find the perfect dish for not only yourself but for your family and friends.
"Chinese Takeaways in Saltcoats Takeaway The Easy Way"


Selecting a solid subwoofer for your reference monitor speakers is very important.
I then purchased a subwoofer, and it was an absolute game changer to my mixes because I was now actually able to hear the low-end frequencies of my music while mixing and mastering!
It is extremely important that you hear your music with a flat response. This means a true representation of what your music sounds like. (Some speakers enhance certain frequencies so it sounds better, but we can't mix accurately.) In addition, the room you create and mix your music in has a huge impact on the overall result of your song. Using acoustic treatment helps to reduce reflections and make more accurate mixing adjustments.
I personally recommend an 8″ speaker + a subwoofer for best results.
Depending on your living situation, not everyone can listen to their music loud, or even with a subwoofer. So you may want awesome headphones instead.
It allows me to hear the low-end frequencies of my mix to adjust the right levels.
In addition, it even comes with a foot pedal so you can reference your mix with and without the subwoofer.
Note: When adjusting your subwoofer volume, you want to just be able to hear it. If you turn your sub off/on, the difference should just be a fuller sound to your mix. Having a subwoofer too loud will again skew your mixing judgement.
Sadly, it doesn't have a foot pedal.
I don't see this as a deal breaker, but over my years of having a foot pedal on my M-Audio SBX10, it's a nice luxury feature to have.
Regardless, I'm sure the audio quality you get out of the Yamaha HS8s sub woofer will surpass this foot pedal feature.
One thing you have to think about with a sub woofer is your audio cables.
I'm not talking about quality audio cables, because I truly don't believe in spending $100 for an audio cable.
I'm talking about the length and how many audio cables you'll need if you add a sub woofer into your studio with your reference monitor speakers.
For just studio speakers, you'll only need two cables (either TRS or XLR).
You can check out the audio cables I recommend here.
Hope this article on sub woofers gets you going, and allows you to mix your music more accurately by hearing the low-end frequencies with your sub woofer!


On Wednesday, April 09, 2019 the Santa Maria Police Department conducted an ABC "Shoulder Tap" and a "Minor Decoy" operation throughout the City of Santa Maria. These programs are designed to reduce youth access to alcoholic beverages. These type of operations are conducted by local law enforcement throughout the state.
During the "Minor Decoy" operation a minor decoy, under the age of 21, attempted to purchase an alcoholic beverages, under the direct supervision of SMPD undercover officers. The decoy entered six off-sale establishments. An off-sale alcoholic beverage establishment is an establishment that conducts retail sales of alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises where it was sold. One of the establishments, La Favorita Market at 1635 N. Broadway, sold an alcoholic beverage to the minor decoy. The clerk was contacted and cited at the scene for selling an alcoholic beverage to a minor. The clerk will face criminal c harges and the business will be evaluated by our local ABC office for possible administrative actions.
During the "Shoulder Tap" operation, a minor decoy under the direct supervision of officers, attempts to get persons from the community to purchase alcoholic beverages from an ABC licensed establishments within our city. This operation was attempted at two different locations of "off-sale establishments" in the City of Santa Maria. A total of three individuals were contacted and two of them purchased alcohol for the minor. The two subjects were contacted and cited at the scene for furnishing alcohol to a minor.
These type of programs are intended to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to minors; statistics show that teens have a greater rate of drunken driving crashes than adults.
Funding for these programs are provided by the California ABC Alcohol Policing Partnership grant which was awarded to the Santa Maria Police Department and the City of Guadalupe for these types of operations.
Entrapment? Good grief, kids drinking is no joke and needs to be stopped any way available.
I was also curious and looked it up. It's apparently in part because the decoy doesn't put pressure on or try to convince the person to do it, they simply ask and if the answer is no, they (are supposed to) walk away. The idea is that the person is buying for a minor of their own volition.
Does anybody remember waaaaay back to the 60's when standing outside the then Speedy Mart now 7-11 was the thing to do on a Saturday night to see how fast somebody would "buy?" It was the Bacardi & Coke days at the beach and the funny thing is that nobody ever didn't make it home, got stopped by the police & were right back in class on Monday morning. It's waaaaay different nowadays.
Nobody ever didn't make it home? Uh, say what?


The United Arab Emirates Air Force has announced a $1.27-billion deal with Swedish defence giant Saab to purchase two surveillance planes and upgrade two others.
The two new aircraft are Global 6000 surveillance planes, while the old planes to be upgraded are part of the UAE's fleet of Saab 340s, said Major General Abdullah al-Hashimi at a joint press conference at the Dubai Airshow.
The date of delivery has not been finalized, but could be within two years, he said, adding that the purchase "supports surveillance capabilities" of the Gulf nation's Air Force.
The UAE has been part of the US-led coalition bombing militants of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
It has also played a key role in the Saudi-led coalition that launched a military campaign in March against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.
Saab is one of the world's leading defence and security companies and has around 14,700 staff around the world.
The firm reported soaring annual profits in 2014 and forecast stronger arms sales this year in response to conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
The UAE's purchase comes hot on the heels of a high profile deal between the Swedish company and Brazil, which is set to buy 39 Jas Gripen aircraft.
The Brazilian federal government and Saab officially signed the contracts a year ago, after 12 months of negotiations. Brazilian prosecutors then looked into the deal after the price tag rose due to fluctuating exchange rates and shifting requirements. However the South American country's President confirmed last month that it would still go ahead at a cost of 39 billion kronor ($4.7 billion).


I love everything about fall fashion. The cozy sweaters, ankle boots, chunky scarfs, and layered James Avery jewelry. Layering for fall is so simple, so comfortable, and so beautiful! These early fall days, where the mornings are cold, the days are warm, and the nights are crisp, I love wearing a thin long sleeve sweater with a scarf and layering my favorite James Avery rings. Soon we'll be covering ourselves in our winter coats, so for now I'm loving these cozy outfits and layered looks!


Most of you know that the Missoula Shoko will be closing its doors in a couple of months. And most of us wonder about what might become of such a large facility. Two things about this rumor that I found intriguing. One, a good friend of mine used to own a local grocery store and he still kind of keeps his ear to the ground about what's happening in the Missoula market. Second, it seems odd that a store that is not in the Missoula market would be doing a lot of direct mail of their weekly fliers to the area.
WinCo Foods is a supermarket chain based in Boise, Idaho. Years ago they did business under the names Waremart and Cub Foods. They have stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Montana (fairly recent openings in Helena and Billings).
I have never been in a WinCo and can't really see why there would be any advantage to putting another supermarket in such close proximity to a couple others, but there is my "a little birdy told me" share for the day.


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Thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..
Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
Tee up for fun with the Four Winds Invitational
John G. Brokopp
World class golf tournaments are a rarity in the Midwest, something which makes the upcoming Four Winds Invitational in South Bend a special event.
Factor in a spectacular casino, the Chicago Cubs Class-A minor league affiliate, the University of Notre Dame, and the charms of a college town, and you have the makings of a memorable late-spring family outing.
Whether you decide to take a scenic ride aboard the historic South Shore Line to South Bend, or pack up the car for the hour and a half drive, the Friday, June 7, through Sunday, June 9, tournament at the Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend holds attractions for everyone.
There are special events being held the week leading up to the golf tournament itself, some of which benefit Beacon Children's Hospital in South Bend.
The Four Winds Invitational was established in 2012 as part of the Symetra Tour – Road to the LPGA. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and Four Winds Casinos are the title sponsors.
The Symetra Tour is the official qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour. The mission is to prepare the world's finest young women professional golfers for a career on the LPGA Tour.
Since 2012, the tour has grown from 16 tournaments and $1.7-million in prize money to 24 tournaments and $4-million in prize money.
The tour attracts female golfers from over 30 countries to compete throughout the year. At the tour's conclusion, the top 10 money winners are invited to become members of the national LPGA Tour. Former Symetra Tour players have captured 437 LPGA championships.
Tournament week festivities begin on Monday, June 3, with the fifth annual nine-hole Daddy-Daughter Pro-Am Tournament starting at 5 p.m. (EDT).
Each dad and daughter twosome will be joined by a future star of the LPGA. Hot dogs and ice cream will be served. Registration is $50 per player and $100 for a father-daughter team with all proceeds benefiting Beacon Children's Hospital in South Bend.
On Wednesday, June 5, the Ladies Golf 101 Clinic will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. It will feature instruction from LPGA Symetra professionals, practice, a champagne bar, appetizers, and a Q&A with Symetra players.
Sponsored by The Inn at Saint Mary's, Hampton Inn & Suites, Hilton Garden, and the Gillespie Conference Center, the cost is $40 per person.
On Thursday, June 6, there will be a Grapes on the Green Wine/Food Tasting starting at 5 p.m. Guests drive golf carts along the course and stop for special wine or food tastings at each hole. It ends with a party on the green with live music provided by Shake N' Chill.
Sponsored by Panzica Building Corporation, the cost is $100 per pair, two people per cart, with all proceeds benefiting Beacon Children's Hospital.
The tournament itself begins with Round 1 on Friday, June 7, and Round 2 on Saturday, June 8. The final round is set for Sunday, June 9. The main tournament admission is free courtesy of Martin's Super Markets.
A special part of the final round of competition on Sunday is the "KidZone" family day from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Highlights include Wings, Etc., KidZone at the Pavilion with crafts, activities, hot dogs and ice cream, golf games, and other free activities. It is open to the public.
For more information about the Four Winds Invitational and registration for the special events, please contact Ben Mesaros of Blackthorn Golf Club at 574-232-4653, email ben@blackthornoperatinggroup.com, or visit fourwindsinvitational.com.
BONUS ROUND-UP
BLUE CHIP: Fans of the late country-western music legend Johnny Cash won't want to miss the "Man in Black Tribute" show on June 1 at 8 p.m. in the Stardust Event Center. Internationally renowned Johnny Cash impersonator, Shawn Barker, has perfected his role with over 15 years of performances around the world. Tickets are $15, $25, and $35 and available through ticketmaster.com or at the Blue Chip Gift Box in the casino pavilion. Fans can win a prize package with the "Man in Black" that includes a pair of front row tickets, an overnight hotel stay June 1, and a $100 voucher for dinner for two at any Blue Chip dining venue by entering at BlueChipCasino.com/MIB19 through Saturday (May 18). The winner will be notified via email on May 20.
HARRAH'S JOLIET: Play your way to the "#MyCaesarsRewards Giveaway" this month for your chance to drive home in a brand new 2019 Ford Mustang. Fifteen winners will be drawn at the finale at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 26, one of whom will win the car. You will receive one additional entry for every 25 Tier Credits earned through the day of the promotion. On Tuesday (May 21) Caesar's Rewards player's club members can earn five-times entries for their slot and table game play.
MAJESTIC STAR: The "Pitching Promo Cash" promotion is being held at the Gary property every Saturday this month from 6 to 9 p.m. Four winners every hour will receive up to three chances to pitch a ball to the catcher. The first successful throw wins a prize on the big Prize Wheel for a chance to win $250 to $1,000 in Promo Cash. The grand prize drawing at 10 p.m. includes a $5,000 Promo Cash bonus prize.
HOLLYWOOD JOLIET: The $100,000 "Spring into Luxury" headlines the May promotional line-up with the next drawings scheduled for May 18, May 25, and June 1. Marquee Rewards members have a chance to win a share of $100,000 cash or free slot play. Swipe your card at the promotional kiosk to receive one complimentary entry every day. Earn additional tier-based entries for your play. Earn two-times entries every Tuesday. Five winners will be selected every hour from 4 to 9 p.m. on promotional days to select an envelope from the game board. At the grand final drawing on June 1, a drawing will be held at 9 p.m. to select the winner of $15,000 cash and $10,150 in free slot play.
Opinions are solely those of the writer. Reach him at jgbrokopp1@gmail.com.
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Have you ever thought how you're going to be selling a policy, 5, 10, 15 or even 20 years in the future?
In this special edition episode we brought together three of the best insurance podcast hosts to talk about where everything is going and what it all means.
Jason is joined today by Agency Nation Radio host Ryan Hanley and Insurance in Your Words host Joey Giangola to mix things up and see where their collective heads are at surrounding all things insurance.
They breakdown the different companies who are innovating and/or disrupting the industry. They also discuss if people enjoy how they buy insurance now or if they're settling for a process we've learned to make tolerable.
Take a listen to this first ever triple threat podcast full of insurance goodness.


text:
To cite this article: Paquette, Lucy. "James Tissot, the painter art critics still love to hate: a retrospective review round-up." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2020/01/15/james-tissot-the-painter-art-critics-still-love-to-hate-a-retrospective-review-round-up/. <Date viewed.>
The current James Tissot retrospective, at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco until it travels to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris in March, attempts to reassess the artist's work in the nineteenth-century canon. As of its opening in November, 2019, a number of reviews have been published, collectively providing some idea of the prevailing view of Tissot and his oeuvre and the critical response to the exhibition's stated objective.
Self-Portrait (c. 1865), by James Tissot, with "all its mysterious emo glamour."
Of the dozen reviews I've read, some are more announcements of the exhibition, or merely reiterate information from the Legion of Honor's press kit. In the latter case, it often was clear that some reviewers did not know what to make of Tissot or his work and were playing it safe.
An early reviewer, for Boomers Daily, noted, "Tissot consistently defied convention in both his professional and personal life," and that certainly is true.
Art and Antiques Magazine's review began with the critic referring to Tissot's c. 1865 Self-Portrait, with "all its mysterious emo glamour," and commenting, "Tissot made a name for himself as a painter of glossy society pictures. But he ended up – as if he got in the wrong cab after a party one night – as a reclusive painter of Spiritualist and Biblical subjects." She summarized his oeuvre as " 'attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places'…Men are smug and women are bored."
The reviewer for France-Amerique, the only bilingual French-English publication in the U.S., vacillated: "With a foot in two cultures, a style that refuses categorization, and a dramatic late-career shift in subject matter, he is hard to pin down…Tissot's meticulous renderings of shipboard balls and elegant picnics have a superficial air of frivolity yet convey enduring human truths to the astute viewer. One reviewer observed that he was 'looked upon over here as a kind of artistic Zola.' "
Holyday (c. 1876), by James Tissot. Tate Britain. (Photo: Wikimedia.org)
Apollo Magazine's critic damned Tissot with faint praise: "the artist comes across as focused, organised, ambitious and immensely hard-working."
The Wall Street Journal's critic was muted, leaving the impression she was not a fan but did not wish to be a spoilsport: "But was Tissot more than a fussy society painter? Many critics, then and now, think not." Comparing him to his peers in England and France, she comments, "Tissot's art stayed within the lines…[his] subjects seem slight." She concludes that his paintings "were not necessarily vacuous, as critics have claimed," adding, " 'Faith & Fashion' surely deepens our understanding of Tissot, and it may convince some visitors that he is underestimated. Still I suspect that for many he may remain just a virtuoso with the brush. And what's wrong with that?"
Some critics, still, just outright loathe Tissot's work – and also, strangely, Tissot himself.
The San Francisco Chronicle's distinguished art critic, while allowing that the show is "impeccably displayed" and "the historical analysis is first-rate," reports that "the art itself is often an intellectual letdown."
He wrote, "One leaves the Legion show with a deep sense of disappointment in an artist who had every advantage – innate skill, early success, inherited wealth and social contacts, a friendship with the Impressionists that saw Edgar Degas inviting him to join one of the most important exhibitions in all art history – but who failed to take the chances and set himself the challenges that might have made him great…With some stunning exceptions, Tissot mostly put that technical skill to producing illustrational bromides."
While people have their own preferences and affinities, this argument is unsound. In hindsight, the first exhibition of the artists who became known as Impressionists certainly was one of the most important in all art history, but who could have known that at the time, when they were just a loose association of young, frustrated rebels bickering among themselves? Manet thought Renoir, who with Degas was organizing their first independent show, took up painting by mistake and said he would never commit himself with Cezanne, and Degas was not a fan of Monet's pictures. Tissot did not paint like they did, nor did he have the same perspective or goals; this argument is that he should have known better than to follow his own path. Tissot was proud of his work, and he was true to himself in the way he painted and in the subject matter he chose. Had he merely jumped on the bandwagon and started painting like Renoir and Monet to share in the limelight, he'd have been dismissed by later art historians as derivative. Manet also declined to exhibit with the Impressionists and told Degas, "the Salon is the real field of battle."
This critic additionally condemns Tissot for the clichéd reason many modern critics have: that Tissot pursued a "lucrative career." Degas and Manet were on the parental dole into their thirties; Tissot earned his living from the time he moved to Paris at nineteen, drawing portraits of maids and hotel housekeepers for thirty or forty francs a head. All three of them were from wealthy families and received inheritances. Who decreed that an artist is only a genius, or authentic, if they're above pecuniary considerations? No one wants to be a starving artist. Tissot and Manet both tried to help Degas become more successful before his career began to take off in 1869. In 1868, Manet traveled to London to explore the art market there as "an outlet for our products." In the early 1870s, Degas repeatedly wrote to Tissot about how to turn a profit from his work; from New Orleans, he wrote, "Here I have acquired the taste for money, and once back I shall know how to earn some I promise you."
The Ball on Shipboard (c. 1874), by James Tissot. Tate, London. (Photo: the-athenaeum.org)
Then there's the charge of classism, that in " 'The Ball on Shipboard' (circa 1874) and other works of about the same time…Tissot's high-fashion figures are of a social class far removed from, for example, the T-shirted revelers in Renoir's famous 'Luncheon of the Boating Party' (1881)." This is comical, because critics at the time derided Tissot for portraying, not Society figures, but social climbers in The Ball on Shipboard, one writing, "The girls who are spread about in every attitude are evidently the 'high life below stairs' of the port, who have borrowed their mistresses' dresses for the nonce," and another declaring that it featured "no pretty women, but a set of showy rather than elegant costumes, some few graceful, but more ungraceful attitudes, and not a lady in a score of female figures."
Jesus Ministered to by Angels (Jésus assisté par les anges, 1886-1894), by James Tissot.
The highly credentialed critic for Visual Art Source also detests Tissot, comparing the artist's "spooky illustrations" of the Bible unfavorably to Michelangelo and Piero della Francesca. Ouch. Who compares favorably to Michelangelo? He observes that the Legion of Honor exhibition is well organized and beautifully presented, but "curiously lacking in [Tissot's] voice," and that, "[w]hile a visual delight, it's not an emotional one." He adds:
"Tissot's drawing is sometimes off the mark, with disconnected body parts emerging from the extravagant costumery without evoking the body underneath. The effects sometimes verge on caricature, as in 'Painters and Their Wives.' His restrained but knowing satires of the lower orders now look dated and elitist, as in 'Provincial Woman,' 'Too Early,' and 'London Visitors.' The scenarios that he depicts are sometimes lacking in realistic space or lighting, looking as though they were assembled from various parts, without the rhythmic unity and grouping of the Renaissance painters like Carpaccio, an early influence. Check out 'Departure of the Prodigal Son,' 'Return of the Prodigal Son' and 'Rue Royale.' " This fault with the composition of Tissot's 1868 portrait of twelve members of the elite private club, the Circle of the rue Royale, has been pointed out many times; the painting is one of the most widely reproduced of Tissot's images.
Dated and elitist? Too Early (1873), by James Tissot. Guildhall Art Gallery, London. (Photo: Wiki)
While comparing the oranges of James Tissot's Second Empire and Victorian works to the apples of Renaissance masters, this reviewer does offer some praise for Tissot's paintings: "Several, such as 'Safe to Win,' 'The Fan,' 'Young Women Looking at the Chinese Temple' and 'Portrait of the Marquise de Miramon,' are stunning works of indisputable, irresistible charm and verve," but he also notes, "Tissot's more stagy, spiritualized and gauzy images tend toward kitsch." In the end, he dismisses Tissot's entire oeuvre as "sensationalist drama, and low-rent entertainment."
There's one last sticking point with this critic, however: "The problem for a contemporary #MeToo audience, naturally, lies not in the aesthetic realm but the sociopolitical one. Tissot's women are delicate, decorative creatures, however gloriously painted…the nineteenth-century status of women has to be considered in the case of Tissot. He was merely one of many artists engaged in the Male Gaze market." Space does not permit me to address the entire section of this review on this point, but it involves an academic discussion [by Bram Dijkstra in "Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-de-Siècle Culture"] of "bourgeois women of that time, uneducated, confined and cosseted, [who] were projected by their men as the repositories of Christian virtue and innocence…[w]hen they fell short of that…they were misogynistically transformed into the harpies, vampires and succubi of Symbolist art." Let's just let Tissot weigh in:
Portrait of Mlle. L.L. (Young Lady in a Red Jacket) (February 1864), by James Tissot. Museé d'Orsay, Paris. (Photo: Wikipaintings)
Safe to Win (also known as At the Rifle Range and The Crack Shot, 1869), by James Tissot. Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, U.K. (Photo: Wikipaintings.org)
The Letter (c. 1878), by James Tissot. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. (Photo: Wikimedia.org)
Deep breath.
It may be that you either love Tissot, or you hate him, or he's just not on your map.
The reviewer from the San Francisco Examiner is a fan (or maybe just a hometown booster?), calling James Tissot: Fashion & Faith "a gift to the Bay Area and not to be missed."
The Apparition (1885)(mezzotint), by James Tissot
But the brave soul reviewing the retrospective for Hyperallergic put her reputation on the line, openly declaring her feelings: "James Tissot: Fashion & Faith…is a crowd pleaser with…something for everyone…it is wildly likable…What's more…this is a rare chance to experience the work of an important, but under-known painter." She wrote, "Tissot was an oddball masquerading as a successful society painter, an artist who's been shunted aside for not participating in the forward march of capital 'M' Modernism."
While she felt the rediscovered oil painting, The Apparition, is "anemic as a work of art. Too soft and a little vapid," she termed London Visitors (c. 1874) "weirdly, wonderfully sexy."
London Visitors (1874), by James Tissot. Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, U.S. (Photo: the-athenaeum.org). "Weirdly, wonderfully sexy."
So, is the ambitious goal of the current retrospective being realized – is James Tissot's reputation being reassessed? Despite now being considered "emo" and "weirdly sexy," a critical reappraisal of Tissot from the art world at large may be too much to hope for. Recently, I saw a Tweet rejecting Tissot's work as "middlebrow." Face it, he's no taped banana.
Perhaps the important outcome of the current retrospective is that James Tissot's work is being exhibited before a wider public that enjoys his iconic images of nineteenth century life. When I attended the show, I had to navigate crowded galleries, and someone even pushed the curator aside to get closer to that emo portrait. Vive la bourgeoisie.
James Tissot, the painter art critics love to hate
This entry was posted in Art blog, Art History, Impressionists and tagged James Tissot, Legion of Honor, San Francisco on January 15, 2020 by Lucy Paquette, author of The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot.
To cite this article: Paquette, Lucy. "James Tissot: Fashion & Faith, a retrospective at the Legion of Honor." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2019/12/16/james-tissot-fashion-faith-a-retrospective-at-the-legion-of-honor/. <Date viewed.>
James Tissot hasn't always been in fashion, but he always had faith in his vision and in his legacy.
Opening this major retrospective exhibition of his work with a showstopper – October (1877), a monumental oil painting of the love of his life, the vibrant young Kathleen Newton teasingly skipping ahead of us, looking over her shoulder at us as if to invite us in – was an inspired decision by curator Melissa E. Buron, director of the art division at San Francisco's Legion of Honor art museum, where James Tissot: Fashion and Faith is on view through February 9, 2020.
Installation view of James Tissot: Fashion & Faith at the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, October 2019 Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
James Tissot, "Self Portrait," ca. 1865. Oil on panel, 19 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. (49.8 x 30.2 cm). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection, 1961.16 Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
By 1870, at age 34, James Tissot (1836–1902) was a financially successful painter with an opulent new Parisian villa and studio near the Arc de Triomphe. Handsome and charming, his friends included the painters James McNeill Whistler, Edgar Degas, and Édouard Manet. When the Prussians attacked Paris that year, Tissot became a sharpshooter defending the besieged capital. After the Commune, a bloody civil uprising in the spring of 1871, he moved to London for a decade and rebuilt his career, found and lost love, and returned to Paris in 1882 to find himself out of step with his peers who had founded and fostered the movement that became known as Impressionism. He began again, this time achieving international fame.
In the same way that the Vanderbilts' Gilded Age Biltmore estate in Asheville, North Carolina is the perfect setting for the current Downton Abbey exhibition, San Francisco's elegant Legion of Honor Museum is the perfect setting for this James Tissot retrospective, the first major international exhibition on Tissot in twenty years, and the first ever on the West Coast of the United States. A smaller replica of the imposing neoclassical Palais de la Légion d'Honneur in Paris, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, with its colonnaded courtyard, was completed in 1924, built on a bluff overlooking the Golden Gate. While Downton-esque escapism may not be everyone's cup of tea, an open mind may discover a cerebral, enigmatic artist with a heart-rending personal story.
Co-organized by the Musées d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie, Paris, the exhibition includes approximately 70 paintings from public and private collections in addition to drawings, prints, photographs, and cloisonné enamels, in an effort to provide a new perspective on James Tissot for visitors who are familiar with him – and, certainly, to provide an introduction for those who are not. Arranged "chrono-thematically," the show's galleries move us back and forth in time a bit to organize the work of a career that began in Paris in the 1850s, relocated to London from 1871 to 1882, and moved back to Paris, each era featuring its own subjects and styles.
The first gallery introduces us to Tissot's work with his remarkably modern Self-Portrait (c. 1865), from the Legion of Honor's collection. From there, it's a visual feast of some of Tissot's most gorgeous images, painted when he was at the height of his success in Paris prior to 1870 and then in London during the 1870s. These are smallish oil paintings, suited for collectors' walls, some of which reflect the contemporary craze for Asian art: Young Women Looking at the Chinese Temple (1869), The Japanese Scroll (1872-1873), and The Fan (1875). The Partie Carrée (1870), painted in Paris before Tissot emigrated to England, shows his sexy side, while in a later gallery, Too Early (1873), exhibited at the Royal Academy, indicates his subsequent need to conform to the more prim tastes of the London market while also showcasing his flair for modern subjects and his unique wit. Surprises abound in this exhibition, and one in this gallery is Two Figures at the Door (The Proposal), (1872), previously unknown to contemporary scholars and displayed in public for the first time.
James Tissot (1836-1902). "le départ de l'enfant prodigue". Huile sur toile. 1863. Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Petit Palais. Image provided courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The next gallery features canvases from Tissot's early years, when he painted "medieval" subject matter. These often were scenes from Goethe's 1808 version of the legend of Faust, who sells his soul to Mephistopheles, the devil, in return for youth, knowledge and magical powers; Faust meets and seduces the beautiful and innocent Marguerite, who comes to an unhappy end. On another wall are images Tissot created during the Franco-Prussian War, when he defended Paris as a sharpshooter. The Wounded Soldier (c. 1870), a watercolor purchased by the Tate in 2016, is a singularly beautiful image of a restless young man in uniform perched on the arm of a sofa and quite possibly Tissot's most sensitive, profound, and arresting work. He kept it in his studio all his life, never exhibiting it.
A capacious semi-circular gallery provides a dramatic display area for some of the fifteen large-scale oil paintings comprising Tissot's La Femme à Paris series (Women of Paris, c. 1883-1885): The Shop Girl, Provincial Woman, The Bridesmaid, The Artists' Wives, and The Ladies of the Chariots, an extravaganza of glittering circus performers on horseback under the electric lights of the Hippodrome de l'Alma, built in 1877 to accommodate up to eight thousand spectators. To the side is a smaller canvas, a study for a painting in the series called "The Sphinx" (Woman in an Interior), depicting the well-connected and artistic Louise Riesener, to whom Tissot was briefly engaged before she decided that he was too old for her.
A gallery devoted to Tissot's portraits overwhelms with stunning images of individuals who leap off the canvas like characters from a budget-busting Masterpiece Theatre drama chronicling the Second Empire and Victorian high life – the very modern and direct Mlle L.L. (1864), the cozy group of the Marquis and Marquise de Miramon and their children (1865), the Marquise de Miramon (1866) in her boudoir, wearing a luscious pink velvet peignoir, the pensive man of business Aimé Seillière (1866) with his coat over his arm as he heads out the door, and a highlight, Miramon lounging with eleven impeccably-tailored members of the exclusive Circle of the rue Royale (1868). There are outsized personalities, including the debonair and long-legged Captain Frederick Burnaby, the debt-ridden cad who was briefly Tissot's art dealer, Algernon Moses Marsden, and, of course, the glowing, beloved and doomed Kathleen Newton.
In another gallery, some of Tissot's most iconic London pictures are displayed: The Captain's Daughter (1873), The Ball on Shipboard (c. 1874), London Visitors (1873-1874), The Letter (1874), The Thames (1875), Holyday (1876), Chrysanthemums (c. 1876), The Gallery of HMS "Calcutta" (Portsmouth) (c. 1876), Croquet (1877-1878), and Evening (also known as The Ball, 1878). Afternoon Tea (also known as In the Conservatory, 1874), is on display for the first time since 1955.
James Tissot, "Hide and Seek," ca. 1877. Oil on panel, 30 x 23.75 in. (73.4 x 53.9 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Chester Dale Fund 1978.47.1 Image provided courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The exhibition segues into joyful images of the domestic idyll at Tissot's villa in St. John's Wood, London, where the divorced Mrs. Newton's children and nieces are shown scampering inside and out in paintings such as Hide and Seek (c. 1877), Kathleen Newton at the Piano (c. 1880-1881), and The Little Nimrod, c. 1882-1883. These merry, well-dressed children at play, with a loving mother, present a vision of a harmonious family life as appealing to us as it was to the Victorians. These scenes are followed on a more subdued note by sad images of Kathleen Newton in declining health.
James Tissot (French, 1836-1902). What Our Lord Saw from the Cross, 1886-1894. Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray-green wove paper, 9 3/4 x 9 1/16 in. (24.8 x 23 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by public subscription, Image provided courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
James Tissot, who moved from coastal Nantes to the capital city of Paris to study art and soon became immensely affluent and prominent, strove, failed, succeeded, fought, and suffered – along the way provoking envy and spite – and then repeated the cycle in London. He made friends easily but lost some, notably Degas, as well. Tissot was not venerated, even though he, at the end, aimed to be, because he expected to be remembered as the visionary illustrator of the Bible, which brought him unprecedented wealth and acclaim in the decades before his death. Never-before-published photographs of Tissot provide us a glimpse of his private life, in his later years, at his secluded château in eastern France with family and friends.
James Tissot, French, 1836–1902 "Holyday" (The Picnic) , ca. 1876. Oil on canvas Image: 30 x 39 in. (76.2 x 99.4 cm) Frame: x in. (92.5 x 118.5 cm) Tate Image provided courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
In spite of the paintings of Mrs. Newton's drawn-out death from tuberculosis, a scourge of the time that even Tissot could not disregard, and even including his praiseworthy images of soldiers during Franco-Prussian War, there is something optimistic about his oeuvre, with none of Degas' misogyny or Manet's demoralized barmaids or drunks. Tissot proved he could skewer those in power, as in his caricature of Napoléon III for Vanity Fair in 1869 – a year before the emperor sent France into an unwinnable war with Prussia. In Tissot's portraits and his paintings of domestic bliss with Kathleen Newton, he portrayed people in their best light, while many of his pictures are notable for their psychological ambiguity or tension – moodiness, quarrels, shady situations, vulgarity, frustration, even anger – with a soupçon of urbane naughtiness and wit all his own. Ms. Buron observes that Tissot was generous to viewers of his oil paintings, providing exquisite details for them to enjoy.
James Tissot's particular brand of truth, beauty, and humor was recognized by Vincent van Gogh, in an 1880 letter to his brother, Theo: "There is something of the human soul in his work and that is why he is great, immense, infinite…"
James Tissot, French, 1836–1902 "L'Apparition Médiunimique" (The Apparition), 1885 Mezzotint 25.375 x 19.375 in. (64.45 x 49.21 cm) Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 2001.26 Image provided courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The exhibition reaches its denouement in a small, final gallery highlighting the recently rediscovered oil painting, The Apparition (1885), showing the spirit of Kathleen Newton as Tissot experienced it during a séance. A wall of the gallery is lined with a selection of Tissot's watercolor illustrations for The Life of Christ, their blend of mysticism and spiritualism the subject Ms. Buron has chosen for her Ph.D. thesis. In a corner vitrine is a more material contribution she has made to this retrospective: her own copy of the illustrated "Tissot Bible," a gift from her husband.
The show is, beyond an important retrospective of a lesser-known artist's work, a gift to us from a curator captivated and challenged by an intriguing individual so confident in his own talent that he declined Degas' exhortation to exhibit with the Impressionists. This decision, along with his move to London, put James Tissot in the position of being neither fully a French painter nor a British one, and his reputation has suffered.
Yet as this exhibition so sumptuously demonstrates, Tissot's legacy in our age is that faith and beauty will always be in fashion.
James Tissot: Fashion and Faith is co-organized by Paul Perrin and Marine Kisiel, Curators of Paintings at the Musées d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie, Paris, where the exhibition will be on view from March 23 through July 19, 2020, and Cyrille Sciama, Director of Musée des impressionnismes Giverny.
This entry was posted in Art blog, Art History, Impressionists and tagged art, James Tissot, Legion of Honor, San Francisco on December 16, 2019 by Lucy Paquette, author of The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot.
To cite this article: Paquette, Lucy. "James Tissot's Prints at the Zimmerli Art Museum." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2019/11/14/james-tissots-prints-at-the-zimmerli-art-museum/. <Date viewed.>
Although they are seldom on display, James Tissot's prints are included in numerous public and university art collections worldwide.
Through March 29, 2020, and concurrent with the Tissot retrospective on the West Coast of the U.S., admirers of the artist's work on the East Coast have the perfect opportunity to appreciate a group of Tissot's etchings, drypoints and mezzotints at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
The collection of Tissot's prints at the Zimmerli, a teaching museum founded in 1966, was established with five works in 1972 and has doubled with the recent acquisition of the Prodigal Son series and Ces dames des chars, from the series La Femme à Paris (The Parisian Woman), all on view for the first time.
Intimate Details: Prints by James Tissot, organized by Dr. Christine Giviskos, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and European Art, showcases Tissot's mastery of the medium in a focused and admirably straightforward display that informs, then lets his work speak for itself.
The exhibition brochure, a substantial resource document for visitors available in the gallery, provides the history of Tissot's etchings and explains the techniques he used for his prints, almost all of which reproduced his painted compositions. Concise wall labels offer just enough specific context to each print; the real experience for visitors is the visual feast of the Zimmerli's holdings of prints by this extraordinarily talented, versatile and productive artist, and the secluded, brightly-lit Volpe Gallery is ideal for close study and contemplation.
Matinée de printemps (Spring Morning), 1875, by James Tissot. Drypoint. Zimmerli Art Museum.
The oldest print in the collection, and one of the first to be acquired is Matinée de printemps (Spring Morning), 1875, after the oil painting of the same name now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Though the print is a less detailed version of the painting (and in reverse), Tissot's artistry with the drypoint needle is evident in his rendering of the pattern of stripes undulating throughout the folds of the woman's gown, and the highlights and shadows with its drapery. The wall label notes that when this print was exhibited in Paris in 1876, a colleague of Tissot's assured him of its "great success" there.
Another print acquired by the Zimmerli in 1972, Entre les deux mon coeur balance (How Happy I Could be with Either), 1877, is lushly detailed, almost photographic in its complexity. The exquisitely living, breathing figures in the foreground are juxtaposed against the dark drama of the hulking ship in the background. Tissot had so mastered the medium by this time that not only pattern, but surface textures are visible. To this, Tissot brought sensory experience such as the feeling of the warmth of the women's lap blankets and the movement of the water. This is no mere reproduction of Portsmouth Dockyard (c. 1877, Tate) the oil painting exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, but a mesmerizing image that demonstrates how Tissot's etchings were each works of art in themselves.
L'enfant prodigue: frontispice (Frontispiece for The Prodigal Son), 1881, by James Tissot. Etching. Zimmerli Art Museum.
The Frontispiece, a deft trompe l'oeil book whose open pages display the Scripture verses of the Parable of the Prodigal Son that Tissot illustrates in four scenes, reads, "Invented, Painted & Etched by J.J. Tissot, 1881. 17, Grove End Rd. St. John's Wood, LONDON," in the lower right corner. These etchings are based on The Prodigal Son series of four oil paintings (Museé d'Arts de Nantes, France).
L'enfant prodigue: Le départ (The Prodigal Son: The Departure), 1881, by James Tissot. Etching. Zimmerli Art Museum.
In L'enfant prodigue: Le départ (The Departure), Tissot skillfully conveys the effect of lighting diffused through the fabric window shades to set the mood and enliven the room's architectural details and furnishings.
In the next etching in the series, L'enfant prodigue: en pays étranger (In Foreign Climes), Tissot demonstrates a virtuoso's understanding of light, shade, pattern and perspective in the fastidious definition of the straw floor mat and the up-lighting on the faces and below the lanterns.
The series is completed with Le retour (The Return) and Le veau gras (The Fatted Calf).
Ces dames des chars (The Chariot Women), 1885, by James Tissot. Etching and drypoint. Zimmerli Art Museum.
The Ladies of the Chariots (c. 1883-85), by James Tissot. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. (Photo: Lucy Paquette, 2013).
In the Zimmerli's most recently-acquired etching, a proof or trial impression of Ces dames des chars (The Chariot Women, a subject from his fifteen-painting series, La Femme à Paris, or Women of Paris), Tissot also uses drypoint to produced sharply focused elements including the sense of strong illumination from the electric sconces at the Paris Hippodrome, the play of light over the glittering armor of the women's costumes, and even the architecture and the audience members. In the area below the print plate, his experimentation with the spacing and density of etched lines show his meticulous attention to the effects of light and color gradation he could create as he translated a colorful painted composition into a monochromatic image. Tissot's precision is so delightful that a magnifying glass like the one mounted on a wall in the nearby photography gallery would be a welcome addition to the display.
Le banc de jardin (The Garden Bench), 1883, by James Tissot. Mezzotint. Zimmerli Art Museum.
The year after the death of his young mistress and muse, Tissot reproduced his oil painting, Le banc de jardin (The Garden Bench, 1883, private collection), as a mezzotint – created with a velvety texture suiting the nostalgic scene of Kathleen Newton, her two children from previous relationships, and a niece. This creates an image in which details throughout are not as sharp, but the fur, hair, faces, costumes, and even the bow atop Mrs. Newton's bonnet are soft and warm against a generalized background of the garden at his home in St. John's Wood, London.
It is so rare that James Tissot's prints are the sole basis of an exhibition that, other than the 2017 exhibition, Tissot Prints, at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, the last was possibly held in 1978 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, when its publication of Michael Wentworth's James Tissot: Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints was accompanied by an exhibition of the same name.
In his lifetime, Tissot's prints were extremely popular in London and Paris, and they remain desirable to today's collectors. Amid what Dr. Giviskos terms "the vagaries of Tissot's reputation," the technical brilliance of his etchings has been overlooked – and she suggests it may not be long before James Tissot is recognized as one of the master print makers of the nineteenth century.
The Zimmerli has particularly strong print holdings in nineteenth-century French art and American art.
For those who miss this exhibition, the Study Room is open by appointment, offering the opportunity to examine prints as well as drawings, photographs, rare books and archives.
Theresa C. Watson, Communications Coordinator
Christine Giviskos, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and European Art
Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University
This entry was posted in Art History on November 14, 2019 by Lucy Paquette, author of The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot.
To cite this article: Paquette, Lucy. "James Tissot's Prints." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/james-tissots-prints/. <Date viewed.>
In 1860 and 1861, James Tissot experimented with etching, making a half-dozen plates as he participated in the etching revival in France, which began in the mid-nineteenth century with artists of the Barbizon School. Tissot's early prints were based on subjects unrelated to his oil paintings, such as Portrait of a Woman (1860).
Portrait of a Woman (1860), by James Tissot. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Etching was declared "all the fashion" by Baudelaire in 1862, the year that Alphonse Legros, Félix Braquemond and the publisher Alfred Cadart formed the Société des Aquafortistes, which soon included James McNeill Whistler and his brother-in-law, Seymour Haden.
In 1865, two steel engravings after Tissot's illustrations were included on the frontispiece and title page of Tom Taylor's English translation of La Villemarque's Barzaz-Breiz, Chants populaires de la Bretagne, which also featured several wood engravings in the text after J.E. Millais and others. Dante Gabriel Rossetti was so impressed by Tissot's contributions that he requested a proof of each from the publisher.
Six years later, in 1871, Tissot's drawings of figures from the Franco-Prussian War provided the basis for several wood engravings to illustrate his friend Thomas Gibson Bowles' book, The Defence of Paris, Narrated As It Was Seen. Tissot emigrated to London after the Paris Commune that spring, and the following year, one of the paintings he exhibited at the Royal Academy, Les Adieux, was such a success that a steel engraving after the picture was subsequently published in London. In 1874, Tissot's (How We Read the) News of our Marriage also was reproduced commercially as a steel engraving. Both of these engravings were displayed at the International Exhibition in London in 1874. The popularity of these prints and the lucrative market for reproductions of popular Academy pictures led Tissot to realize the financial potential in producing his own reproductive engravings.
Second Frontispiece (Sitting on the Globe)/Deuxième frontispice (Assise sur le globe), 1875, by James Tissot. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Tissot's great friend, Whistler, produced A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects (The Thames Set), published in London by Ellis and Green in 1871 to high praise. Tissot resumed etching, developing his technique under the tutelage of Seymour Haden, in 1875, and that year created three Frontispieces, featuring symbolic female nudes, to publish in a portfolio of his drypoint prints, but he decided not to use them. When he issued Ten Etchings the following year, they included some based on his illustrations for Bowles' book, The Defence of Paris.
Tissot published Ten Etchings himself from his home studio in Grove End Road – without a dealer, an uncommon practice for artists at the time. He rapidly perfected his technique. Quarrelling is the first of Tissot's paintings known to be reproduced by him; Lovers' Quarrel, the etching after the painting, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1876, along with an etching of The Thames.
The Gallery of HMS Calcutta (1876), by James Tissot. Drypoint on off-white wove paper. Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York.
In 1876 and 1877, Tissot exhibited his prints in "L'exposition des ouvrages exécuté en noir et blanc," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris and "Exhibition of Works in Black and White," Dudley Gallery, London. In 1878 and 1879, he exhibited his etchings alongside his oil paintings at the Grosvenor Gallery in London, among other venues.
Although Tissot kept a printing press in his studio, where he supervised the making of his prints (and retained the reproduction rights), he used a professional printer for larger editions.
At the Seashore (1880), by James Tissot. Etching and drypoint. Cleveland Museum of Art.
In 1880, Tissot became a charter member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, founded by Seymour Haden for artists who produced their own prints of their paintings, and he began exhibiting his prints regularly in England and Scotland through the end of the decade, contributing works to shows including "Manchester Exhibition of Works in Black and White," "Exhibition of Works in Black and White, Glasgow," and an exhibition with the Society of Painter-Etchers in London in 1881.
A Children's Garden Party (1880), by James Tissot. Drypoint on paper. The Clark, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Tissot's etchings account for a significant and increasing proportion of his earnings between 1876 and 1881. His subjects were often based on his domestic arrangement with his young mistress, Kathleen Newton, who moved into his house in St. John's Wood around 1876 and appeared in about two dozen of his prints, and her two children.
In May, 1882, he held a one-man exhibition at the Dudley Gallery, London, "J.J. Tissot" An Exhibition of Modern Art," which included twelve oil paintings and twenty-one cloisonné enamels as well as fifty-eight etchings.
Summer Evening (Soirée d'été, 1882), by James Tissot. Etching and drypoint. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
After Kathleen Newton died in November 1882 and Tissot moved to Paris, he took a number of the plates he had made in London and used them to make a substantial number of copies throughout that decade, offering them for sale during his exhibition of prints in Paris in 1886. The Paris editions were printed on heavier paper (often cream-colored) in brown-black ink, and though often stamped, they are rarely signed in pencil. Tissot carefully numbered these prints and the editions were smaller.
He also produced new plates in Paris, including five etchings made after oil paintings in his series La Femme à Paris.
La Femme à Paris: L'Ambitieuse (1883-85), by James Tissot. Etching and drypoint. Yale University Art Gallery.
Occasionally, particularly when living in London, Tissot experimented with antique, Japanese, and colored papers, as well as vellum, and he sometimes used colored inks.
Emigrants (1880), by James Tissot. Drypoint on laid paper. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
When Tissot signed a print in pencil (never in ink), it indicated he considered it outstanding; pencil-signed copies of most of his prints are rare. Almost all copies of four of Tissot's prints are signed and seem to have been issued in relatively small editions: Mavourneen (1877), October (1878), Emigrants (1880), and In the Sunlight (1881). He had begun using the red monogram stamp on his first prints in 1860 and continued to use it on those he considered superior – though not consistently.
Le Matin (Morning, 1886), by James Tissot. Mezzotint on wove paper. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
According to Tissot scholar Dr. Willard E. Misfeldt, there is no reliable guide to the number of Tissot's prints that were made. However, William Weston, when exhibiting Tissot prints at his London gallery in 1984, observed in the accompanying catalogue that there were two editions of some of Tissot's prints – a London printing and a Paris printing. Prints made in London, generally by Frederick Goulding (1842–1909, described by Haden in 1879 as "the best printer of etchings in England just now"), were done in small editions, usually on white, thin laid papers in black or brown-black ink, and often were stamped and signed in pencil by Tissot. These high-quality impressions of Tissot's finest and most popular prints are scarce today.
Another professional printer whom Tissot entrusted with his work was Auguste Delâtre (1822-1907), of whom Haden said, "if Rembrandt lived now, he would send his plates to Delâtre."
A Winter's Walk (1880), by James Tissot. Etching and drypoint printed in black and red. Minneapolis Institute of Art.
In all, Tissot made about ninety plates between 1860 and 1885. His major prints from the end of this period are the five etchings made after paintings from his series La Femme à Paris. He ceased making prints after 1885, and the following year issued a small promotional catalogue of his prints in Paris. Yet sales of Tissot's prints declined steeply after this date, and while he seems to have stopped advertising them, he contributed to exhibitions including "Exposition de gravures du siècle," Galerie Georges Petit (1887), and "Exposition de Peintres-Graveurs at Galerie Durand-Ruel (1889), both in Paris.
According to research by Dr. Misfeldt, Tissot's carnet, or account book, shows that he earned an increasing amount of his annual income through sales of his prints. In 1876, 2.56% of his income was from prints, a figure that peaked at 74% in 1884, (then dropped sharply until it reached 71% in 1889 and suddenly became negligible).
Mavourneen, featuring Kathleen Newton, was the most popular of his prints.
Over 5,000 unsold impressions of his prints were found in James Tissot's studio after his death in 1902. Sold at his estate auction in 1903, many of these prints were available at a Paris gallery for years afterward.
Tissot's prints now sell in the general range of $1,000-10,000 USD, depending on quality, subject matter, and scarcity. In 2013, a particularly fine etching and drypoint print of Tissot's Octobre (1878), from the edition of approximately one hundred and signed and stamped by the artist, was sold for $ 28,000 USD (Hammer) at auction in New York.
Note: I am neither an art dealer nor an appraiser, and can offer no valuation of fine art prints.
"Fourteen Etchings by J.J. Tissot," by Michael Wentworth, The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Summer, 1968).
James Tissot: Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints, by Michael J. Wentworth. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1978.
J.J. Tissot: Prints from the Gotlieb Collection, by Willard E. Misfeldt. Alexandria, Virginia: Art Services International, 1991.
"The Revival of the Artist-Etcher in the Victorian Era," by Michael Blaker R.E., Senior Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. Victorian Web. http://www.victorianweb.org/graphics/blaker.html. <Accessed 16 October 2019.>
See http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009P5RYV.
This entry was posted in Art History on October 15, 2019 by Lucy Paquette, author of The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot.
To cite this article: Paquette, Lucy. "Tissot's Textures." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2019/09/12/tissots-textures/. <Date viewed.>
James Tissot's oil paintings emanate the luxury of Second Empire France and Victorian life, in part by his subject matter and perhaps even more by his skill in realistically depicting texture. Considered superficial by some for his ability to render fabrics in great detail, Tissot was masterful in his ability to recreate on canvas the tactile experience of materials ranging from silk to stone. Often, it's Tissot's characteristic juxtaposition of a variety of contrasting textures that produces the sense of opulence in his pictures.
Here are several paintings in which Tissot brilliantly brought surfaces to sumptuous life.
Le goûter (The Snack, 1869), by James Tissot. Oil on canvas, 21.5 by 14.25 in.
(54 by 36 cm). Private collection. (Courtesy of the-atheneaum.org)
In The Snack, Tissot created multiple layers of textures. The subject, a woman richly dressed in a layered ensemble featuring a crisp, knife-pleated underskirt and edging of soft fur, stands in the middle ground of the picture space. The background comprises tapestries and velvety draperies and, even farther back in the space, the airy, lush greenery in the conservatory. On the satiny wood floor stands a hefty carved wooden table whose polished top holds a crystal wine decanter topped by a shimmering silver repoussé lid, and a Chinese porcelain vase carried upward by a feathery dried floral arrangement. A heavy cloth napkin, cleverly seeming within our grasp, accents the hard surfaces.
The Convalescent (c. 1876), by James Tissot. Oil on canvas; 30.2 by 39.06 in. (76.7 by 99.2 cm.). Museums Sheffield. Courtesy of The Bridgeman Art Library for use in "The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot" by Lucy Paquette © 2012.
The Convalescent is a riot of contrasting textures: in the background there are the fluted cast-iron columns of Tissot's garden colonnade, the weathered stone tree pots and pond rim, and the gnarled, weighty tree trunk, interspersed with the lacy branches of the willows and hickory trees which flutter over the glassy water. In the foreground, softly draped gowns, warm shawls, and yielding cushions play over the intricate wicker chairs and the undulating carpet. The tea-table provides a vignette of contrasting textures of porcelain, silver, and cake; in fact, each section of the painting is a celebration of varied materials we long to touch.
Waiting for the Train (Willesden Junction), c. 1871-1873, by James Tissot. Oil on panel. Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand (Image: the-athenaeum.org).
In Waiting for the Train (Willesden Junction), the worn leather baggage greets us; we can almost run our fingers over its comfortable smoothness. Behind it stands the painting's subject, a woman sporting an array of textures, from her heavy gown to her wool traveling blanket, leather bag, profuse bouquet of flowers, well-thumbed book, metal-tipped umbrella, and straw boater. The softer textures are juxtaposed against the hard tiled platform with its jagged-edged roof line, the metal of the rubbish bin, and the glass lantern, all against the background of the iron train tracks, the iron, glass and steel of the station, and in the distance, two train engines. These solid surfaces are softened by the forms of the passengers to the right and left of the central figure as well as, in the far background, the billowing forms of the trees and the great puffs of steam from the engines.
A Widow (Une veuve, 1868), by James Tissot. Oil on canvas, 27 by 19.5 in. (68.5 by 49.5 cm). (Photo: Wikimedia.org)
In A Widow, Tissot presents a seemingly decorous subject amid a jumble of textures that beckon us to step onto the sandy ground of the scene. The black shape of the central figure's full-skirted gown is mitigated by its sheer, silk chiffon outer layer. While the tea-table would be more predictably placed at the woman's left, the soft and rounded mass of flowers on the open-shelved table at her side further lightens the black gown. Since the narrative component of the picture takes place in the foreground, and the hazy background comprises a great deal of the image, Tissot has defined and enlivened the middle ground with a detailed still-life on the tea-table. Crystal wine decanters and glasses, a glossy Chinese porcelain biscuit jar, and a plate of tempting pastries contrast with the soft forms throughout the painting.
At the Rifle Range (1869), by James Tissot. 26 ½ by 18 ¾ in. (67.3 by 47.6). Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, U.K. (Photo: Wikipaintings.org)
At the Rifle Range shows Tissot at his finest: the woman, sporting a fur-trimmed, patterned jacket and overskirt, is juxtaposed against luxuriant, rippling shrubbery and an imposing brick garden wall with its wide pillars. The grass below is fine and soft, the metal gun barrels substantial. The wooden table, posts and trellis provide a transition between the hard and soft surfaces. The palpable sense of luxury and privilege in this image is largely due to the woman's lavish costume, and Tissot makes her a gem by placing her in this richly textured setting.
Les Adieux (The Farewells) 1871, by James Tissot, oil on canvas, 39 1/2 by 24 5/8 in. (100.3 by 62.6 cm), Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, U.K. Photo courtesy of The Bridgeman Art Library for use in The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot, by Lucy Paquette © 2012
In Les Adieux, Tissot showcases his expertise painting stone, brick, vegetation, fabric, metal and even the delicate lace mitts of the woman and supple leather gloves of the man. The iron fence, the ivy climbing up the brick wall, the rough, stained stone, and the dead, dry leaves at the woman's feet are exceptionally convincing in their tangible three-dimensionality.
Still Life with Shells (1866), by James Tissot. Private collection.
As we head into autumn and gather the favorite materials, books, and mementos we take comfort in, we can feel Tissot's evident delight in rendering tactile forms and textures on a two-dimensional canvas, as captured in his Still Life with Shells. It is not superficial, but deeply human to be alive to the beauty of the world around us and the luxury inherent in our sensory experience.
James Tissot's Brushwork
Tissot's Tiger Skin: A Prominent Prop
Wicker: James Tissot's Modern Prop Furniture
A Proper British Prop: Tissot's Tartan Blanket
(295 pages; ISBN (ePub): 978-0-615-68267-9). See http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009P5RYV
This entry was posted in Art History on September 12, 2019 by Lucy Paquette, author of The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot.
Tissot's Study for "Young Lady in a Boat"
To cite this article: Paquette, Lucy. "Tissot's Study for 'Young Lady in a Boat.'" The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2019/08/15/tissots-study-for-young-lady-in-a-boat/. <Date viewed.>
James Tissot's Study for Young Lady in a Boat (Jeune femme en bateau, 1870), called Pensive Girl Adrift in a Boat, illustrates how quickly and confidently he prepared for his oil paintings. By this time a successful painter with a villa and studio in the avenue de l'Impératrice (now avenue Foch) in Paris, this study appears dashed off in minutes by a professional assured of wealthy and aristocratic patrons. Young Lady in a Boat, now in a private collection, was displayed at the Salon in 1870, one of Tissot's final two oils exhibited in Paris prior to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War later that year.
In the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. but not on view, this study is half the size of the final oil painting. Tissot used red chalk to loosely sketch the contour of the low boat. The central figure is delineated in such precise strokes that it is clear he knew exactly how he wanted to portray the young and beautiful woman: seated, wearing a long-sleeved white muslin prop gown with distinctive cuffs, which he had featured in Unaccepted (1869, private collection) as well as other versions of Young Lady in a Boat, including some entitled On the River. The black straw hat, with its profusion of black and white striped ribbon bows, also is repeated in this composition.
Pensive Girl Adrift in a Boat, by James Tissot. Red chalk on buff wove paper, 25.3 by 34.3 cm (9 15/16 by 13 1/2 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
And there is a pug dog – not nestled on the woman's lap or at her feet, but oddly positioned behind her, on guard at the boat's stern. As Tissot deftly sketched out options for the shape of the boat and the silhouette of the woman, the study indicates he was certain where he wanted the pug.
Queen Victoria began breeding pugs in the 1860s, and Tissot, well aware of trends in England, included pugs in a number of paintings at this time: La Cheminée (By the Fireside, c. 1869), Unaccepted (1869), Jeune femme en bateau (Young Woman in a Boat, 1870), La partie carrée (The Foursome, 1870), and Vive la République! (Un souper sous le Directoire, c. 1870).
Tissot's study also indicates his certainty about the background for a picture clearly painted in his studio rather than en plein air: to the woman's right, the long vertical strokes were realized in the resulting oil as reeds, while the faint horizontal lines behind her indicated the shoreline that echoes the horizontal line of the port side of the boat.
He also knew he wanted the viewer's eye to travel from the bouquet of flowers in front of the woman diagonally back into the picture space, to her face and on to the pug, and each iteration of his study indicates this composition. In the finished work, the woman, with her skirts and draped shawl, sits higher on the boat than in the studies, and her bouquet is smaller.
With few adjustments, and no apparent redrawn elements or erasures, Tissot rapidly laid out the scene.
Even the woman's pose was worked out in his mind prior to this study. Her right arm is bent on her lap, with her hand on her chin; her left arm is folded beneath, dangling a fan over her right thigh. But while the inset at the lower right of the study indicates only the placement of the fan, the larger central study indicates the hand would lay over the handle of the fan. In the final composition, Tissot shows the woman, rather coquettishly, barely supporting the fan between her upturned palm; she might be swinging or tapping it. The effect suggests both languor and movement.
Another decision the study helped Tissot make was the shape of the boat. In the large central portion of the study, and in the inset at the lower right, he initially envisioned a skiff with relatively straight sides and a wide, square stern. But in the inset at the lower left, he experimented with curved sides and a narrow stern that draws the viewer's eye to the pug dog, and this is the shape he used in the oil painting.
Perhaps the most fascinating decision James Tissot made with this study, and the choice that is so characteristic of the enduring charm of his work, is to pivot the woman's gaze from the right to a frank contemplation of the viewer. She is, in fact, studying us.
As for her guardian pug, a critic at the time remarked that it was "a dog with the head of a monkey…who appears without doubt to be a very rare species."
Young Lady in a Boat (Jeune femme en bateau), by James Tissot. Oil on canvas, 50.2 by 64.8 cm. Private collection. (Wikimedia)
Tissot's Study for the family of the Marquis de Miramon (1865)
Tissot's Study for "Young Women looking at Japanese Objects" (1869)
Girls to Float Your Boat, by James Tissot
James Tissot's Animals
This entry was posted in Art History on August 15, 2019 by Lucy Paquette, author of The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot.
On Holiday with James Tissot and Kathleen Newton in 1878, by Lucy Paquette for The Victorian Web
To cite this article: Paquette, Lucy. "On Holiday with James Tissot and Kathleen Newton, by Lucy Paquette for The Victorian Web." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2019/07/15/on-holiday-with-james-tissot-and-kathleen-newton-in-1878-by-lucy-paquette-for-the-victorian-web/. <Date viewed.>
James Tissot and Kathleen Newton lived in relative seclusion during their years together in London, from about 1876 until her death from tuberculosis in late 1882, but they enjoyed numerous trips outside the city in 1878.
Partly, as an unmarried couple living together, they were not welcome in respectable company. Kathleen's two children lived nearby with her sister, Polly, who brought them to visit at tea time. But Tissot spent a great deal of time painting at his home, and Kathleen was his primary model during these years. Still, they managed what essentially were working holidays, when he painted her while they enjoyed excursions to resort towns easily accessible from his villa in suburban St. John's Wood, London.
Each of their destinations had its own attractions, described in contemporary travel guides.
In Greenwich, Tissot painted The Terrace of the Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich, London.
The Terrace of the Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich, London (c. 1878), by James Tissot. Oil on panel, 11 by 14 in. (27.94 by 35.56 cm). New Orleans Museum of Art. (Photo: Wikiart.org)
On the south bank of the Thames, Greenwich was four miles from London by road and railway, and five or six miles by river from London Bridge; steamers ran every half hour. The parish of Greenwich had a population of 40,412 in 1871, and the town was an important manufacturing center, with engineering establishments, steel and iron works, iron steamboat yards, artificial stone and cement works, rope yards, a flax mill, and a brewery. The meandering streets, less than picturesque at that time, held a market, a theatre, a literary institute, a lecture hall, public baths, banks, and twenty almshouses.
The glory of the town was Greenwich Hospital, a home for retired Royal Navy sailors until 1869, which commanded the view from the Thames. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren, its Painted Hall contained a picture gallery that was free to the public on Monday and Friday, and four pence on other days.
London from Greenwich Park, by J.M.W. Turner (1809), Tate. (Wikipedia)
Trafalgar Tavern (1878), by James Tissot. Etching & drypoint. Metropolitan Museum of Art; public domain.
Behind the Hospital, visitors could enjoy the beautiful 190 acres of Greenwich Park, and the view of the Royal Observatory above it. The park, designed on plans by King Louis XIV's landscape architect, André Le Nôtre by commission of Charles II, had been magnificently terraced and planted with avenues of elms in 1664. It was now in a state of neglect but still had charming, distant views of London and the Thames for the crowds who came to enjoy the open air and the deer fearless enough to feed from visitors' hands. On its summit was the Royal Observatory, founded by George III, and while this was not open to the public, there was an electric time-ball that fell every day at precisely 1 p.m., an electric clock, a standard barometer, and highly accurate standard measures of length for public use by the entrance gates.
The Trafalgar Tavern was one of four riverside inns operating at that time; all were known for their whitebait dinners – for diners with the means to enjoy the delicacy, seasoned with cayenne pepper and lemon juice. The Terrace of Trafalgar Tavern is inscribed "No. 1 Trafalgar Tavern/(Greenwich)/oil painting/James Tissot/17 Grove End Road/St John's Wood/London/N.W." on an old label on the reverse. The terrace provided extensive views of the ships on the Thames, all the way to London.
In 1878, the couple traveled a bit farther, to Gravesend, the setting for two versions of Waiting for the Ferry (1878).
Gravesend was accessible by numerous river steamers which conveyed crowds of passengers during the day, as well as by trains on the Tilbury Railway and the North Kent Railway; a steam-ferry transported visitors from Tilbury over to Gravesend. The trip was about 27 miles by river, or 24 miles by rail. By 1878, Gravesend had a population of 22,000, and the influx of summer visitors brought unexpected prosperity.
At that time, Gravesend fishermen hauled in shrimp in prodigious quantities, mainly for the London market, but the streets of Gravesend teemed with "tea and shrimp houses." The formerly crowded, labyrinthine medieval old town boasted new and wider streets, and a new town with broad streets was lined with shops, homes, and lodging-houses.
While the churches and public buildings of Gravesend were of little interest to tourists, with the exception of the impressive Town Hall and the massive, "Collegiate Gothic" College for Daughters of Congregational Ministers, Milton Mount (built in 1872-73), there was a theatre, and the Assembly Rooms in Harmer Street, built in 1842 as a Literary Institute, featured a concert-room for one thousand persons, as well as billiard-rooms.
Gravesend Town Hall (Wikimedia)
The Town Hall, near the center of High Street, was built in 1836 on the site of previous town halls, and was fronted by colossal Doric columns over which a pediment featured the town arms and statues of Minerva, Justice, and Truth. Beneath the Great Hall on the main floor was the market: A corn market was held in the town on Wednesdays, a general market on Saturdays, and a cattle market monthly.
Along the river, there were barge and boat building yards, iron foundries, rope walks, breweries, steam flour mills, soap and other factories. Beyond those were market gardens, renowned for asparagus and rhubarb, and cherry and apple orchards.
Gravesend Town Pier (Wikipedia)
For visitors, the place to be was the Town Pier, with its 40-foot cast-iron arches extending 127 feet into the river. It was the landing for the London steamers and the location of the railway ticket office. Built in 1832, the Pier was covered in 1854 and featured sliding shutters on the sides, making it possible in any weather to stroll along the river. On summer days, a band played, and there were occasional balls. The favorite hotels, such as the Clarendon and the Roebuck, were located near the Pier. Bathing machines were within walking distance, and since Gravesend was the headquarters of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, watermen kept busy conveying passengers to and from the vessels anchored off the Club House on the Main Parade.
All in all, Gravesend offered plenty of entertainment to fill James Tissot's and Kathleen Newton's leisure hours.
Tissot painted three versions of Waiting for the Ferry, one in 1874 (Speed Museum, Kentucky), and two around 1878, at the dock beside the Old Falcon Tavern, Gravesend; Kathleen Newton modeled for the figures in only the latter two versions. She wears the same triple-caped greatcoat that Tissot portrayed her wearing in numerous other paintings, including The Terrace of the Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich, London.
Waiting for the Ferry (c. 1878), by James Tissot. Oil on panel, 10 by 14 in. (26.7 by 35.6 cm). Private Collection. (Photo: Wikiart.org)
Waiting for the Ferry (c. 1878), by James Tissot. Oil on panel, 9 by 13¾ in. (22.5 by 32.5 cm). Private Collection. (Photo: Wikimedia.org)
Photograph of James Tissot and Kathleen Newton (Wiki)
While this third version of Waiting for the Ferry [above] is said to have been painted around 1878, Kathleen Newton's son, Cecil, was born in March, 1876, and he clearly is older than two or two and a half here. In fact, it must have been painted in 1882, when Tissot painted Cecil at about six in The Garden Bench, wearing the same knit cap and brown suit. That would make the young girl in this Waiting for the Ferry Lilian Hervey, Kathleen Newton's niece, who was seven in 1882 [Kathleen's daughter, Muriel Violet Newton, was born in December, 1871 and would have been about ten at this time, too old to be the girl shown in this version].
Tissot, Kathleen Newton, Cecil Newton, and Lilian Hervey posed for a photograph that gives some insight into how the artist composed this later version of Waiting for the Ferry, simply painting in the background from the previous version.
The farthest the couple ventured on these excursions was Ramsgate, a seaside resort on the Kent coast, seventy-eight miles southeast of central London. There, Tissot painted Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait, 1878) and Room Overlooking the Harbour (c. 1878-79).
Ramsgate (1876), by James Tissot. Drypoint. Metropolitan Museum of Art; public domain.
Londoners could take the train from Victoria Station to Ramsgate on the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway. A travel guide of the time highly recommended this resort, population 12,000: "It is impossible to speak too favourably of this first-rate town, its glorious sands, its bathing, its hotels, libraries, churches, etc. etc. not forgetting its bracing climate."
"The streets of Ramsgate are well paved or macadamized, and brilliantly lighted with gas. There are banking establishments and a savings bank, with a literary institute, assembly-rooms, a small theatre, several good libraries, dispensary, town-hall, custom-house, music-hall, gas-works, water-works &c. An excellent promenade on the West Cliff has been laid out in an ornamental manner, and forms a delightful source of healthy recreation. The bathing-machines are under the East Cliff, where also, as well as in front of the harbor, there are well-appointed warm baths, &c. The markets are extremely well supplied with meat, excellent fish, &c.; and few places on the coast are so cheap, as well as healthy and agreeable for a summer's residence."
Vincent Van Gogh moved to Ramsgate in April, 1876, at age 23, to work as an assistant teacher in a boys' school for a brief time. He wrote to his brother Theo, "There's a harbour full of all kinds of ships, closed in by stone jetties running into the sea on which one can walk. And further out one sees the sea in its natural state, and that's beautiful."
Ramsgate Sands in 1854, by William Powell Frith. (Wikipedia)
Ramsgate Beach, Kent, England, c. 1890/1900 (Wikipedia)
The setting for Seaside was the Royal Albion Hotel near the shore of Viking Bay in Ramsgate, Built in 1791, Albion House sits atop the East cliff, with a sweeping view of the beach and the Royal Harbour. Princess Victoria stayed in one of its elegant rooms, ornamented with Georgian and Regency cornices, iron balconies, and shutter-panelled windows, before she was crowned Queen
Kathleen wears one of the prop gowns Tissot often used, a summery white gown trimmed with lemon-yellow satin ribbons that featured in a half-dozen of his oils in the mid-1870s, including A Portrait (1876, Tate Britain), A Convalescent (c. 1876, Museums Sheffield), A Passing Storm (c. 1876, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, New Brunswick), and Spring (c. 1878, private collection).
Seaside (July: Speciman of a Portrait, 1878), by James Tissot. Oil on fabric, 87.5 x 61 cm. Cleveland Museum of Art. Open Access.
Tissot exhibited Seaside, along with nine other paintings, at London's Grosvenor Gallery – a sumptuous, invitation-only showcase for contemporary art in New Bond Street – in 1878, the year it was painted.
He made a copy (now in a private collection), showing Kathleen Newton wearing a tight blonde bun. He gave this version to Emile Simon, administrator of the Théâtre l'Ambigu-Comique at 2, Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris from 1882 to 1884. Simon sold it as La Réverie in 1905; this version of Seaside (also known as July, La Réverie, and Ramsgate Harbour) is signed and inscribed: "J.J. Tissot a l'am(i) E. Simon en bon Souvenir" (on the horizontal bar of the window frame). At some point, another artist painted a frizzy red hairstyle (probably considered more up-to-date) on Kathleen Newton.
Room Overlooking the Harbour (c. 1878-79), by James Tissot. Oil on panel 25 by 33 cm, 10 by 13 in. Private collection. (Wikiart.org)
In Room Overlooking the Harbour (c. 1878-79), Tissot depicts Kathleen Newton going about her business while an older man (who could be a servant accompanying the couple) gamely models as well.
The picture has been held by the same family since 1933. In excellent condition, though needing to be cleaned and revarnished, it was sold at Sotheby's, London on July 11 2019, for £ 400,000 (Hammer price).
By the Thames at Richmond (1878-79), by James Tissot. Oil on panel, 29.2 x 19.7 cm. Private collection. (Wikimedia)
In 1878-79, the couple traveled west to Richmond, a village on the south bank of the Thames, where Tissot painted By the Thames at Richmond (oil on canvas) and Richmond Bridge (oil on panel, 35.6 x 22.9 cm).
Exterior view of Baker Street Metropolitan Railway station, 27 December, 1862, The Illustrated London News. [Wikipedia; this work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1924.]
Richmond, about nine miles by land from central London, was easily accessible by omnibuses running frequently from the City and West End. The trip was 16 miles by river, but because the Thames was too shallow there for steamers, the trip was usually made by railway – from the Waterloo, Vauxhall, and other stations. The District Railway connected Richmond to the London Underground in 1877, making the trip from Tissot's villa near the Swiss Cottage Underground station (opened in 1868) possible.
Richmond Bridge from the west (Wikipedia)
Richmond Bridge, built of Portland stone between 1774 and 1777, began as a toll bridge, but tolls ended in 1859. Its five segmental arches, rise gradually to the tall, 60-foot wide central span which allowed vessels to pass through the tallest arch.
In Richmond Bridge, Kathleen Newton wears the green tartan gown from Room Overlooking the Harbour and The Warrior's Daughter (The Convalescent, c. 1878, Manchester Art Gallery, U.K.).
In By the Thames at Richmond, she wears the striking, simple brown floral dress also worn in three oil versions (and one watercolor version) of La sœur aînée (The Elder Sister, c. 1881) and in The Garden Bench (c. 1882, private collection). The little girl is in the exact same pose and outfit as in the photograph above, painted in the third version of Waiting for the Ferry. The man uses his cane to trace "I love you" in the ground beneath the woman's gaze.
Kathleen Newton, who died of tuberculosis in 1882, was depicted in a chaise-longue looking ill by Tissot in The Dreamer (Summer Evening, Musée d'Orsay ), c. 1876. While the secluded couple's trips outside the city in 1878-79 must have been liberating escapes made possible by new forms of transportation, they also may have been just what the doctor ordered.
The Victorian Web is a vast resource on literature, history and culture in the age of Victoria.
My thanks to The Victorian Web's Editor-in-Chief and Webmaster, George Landow, and to Associate Editor Jackie Banerjee.
Baedeker, Karl. London and its environs, including excursions to Brighton, the Isle of Wight, etc.: handbook for travelers. Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1878.
Collins' Illustrated Guide to London and Neighbourhood. London: William Collins, Sons, and Company, 1875.
Matyjaszkiewicz, Krystyna, ed. James Tissot. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985; Barbican Art Gallery, c. 1984.
Measom, George S. Official illustrated guide to the South-Eastern railway, and its branches. London: Reed and Pardon, c. 1860.
Misfeldt, Willard. "James Jacques Joseph Tissot: A Bio-Critical Study." Ph.D. diss., Washington University. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1971.
Misfeldt, Willard E. J.J. Tissot: Prints from the Gotlieb Collection. Alexandria, Virginia: Art Services International, 1991.
Paquette, Lucy. "Artistic intimates: Tissot's patrons among his friends & colleagues." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2014/03/23/artistic-intimates-tissots-patrons-among-his-friends-colleagues/. Web. 8 July 2019.
Paquette, Lucy. "The Artist's Closet: James Tissot's Prop Costumes." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2017/03/16/the-artists-closet-james-tissots-prop-costumes/. Web. 8 July 2019.
Paquette, Lucy. "The Art of Waiting, by James Tissot." The Hammock. https://thehammocknovel.wordpress.com/2015/06/16/the-art-of-waiting-by-james-tissot/. Web. 8 July 2019.
Sotheby's. "Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist Art, 11 July 2019." Lot 36, Condition Report. https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/victorian-pre-raphaelite-and-british-impressionist-art/james-jacques-joseph-tissot-room-overlooking-the. 11 July 2019.
Thorne James. Handbook to the Environs of London, Part I. London: John Murray, 1876.
Wentworth, Michael. James Tissot. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984.
Wood, Christopher. Tissot: The Life and Work of Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1836-1902. London:Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd., 1986.
The Art of Waiting, by James Tissot
Victorians on the Move, by James Tissot
Tissot and Degas visit the Louvre, 1879
James Tissot Domesticated
This entry was posted in Art blog, Art History, Impressionists and tagged James Tissot, Kathleen Newton on July 15, 2019 by Lucy Paquette, author of The Hammock: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot.


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Sébastien Lifshitz
Documentary2020
Selected and/or screened at Berlin International Film Festival
Sasha is an 8 year old girl just like any other: she loves to dance, play and imagine worlds. The only difference is that she was born a boy. In this touching documentary, we follow the journey of a transgender girl and her family through acceptance.
Unavailable in theaters
Soon at your home
Muriel Meynard
The movie is
SofisticatedStrongVisionary
FestivalsLGBT
BehaviorChildhoodSexualitySociety
Ross Kauffman2021
What Would Sophia Loren Do? follows Nancy "Vincenza" Kulik, an Italian-American grandmother living in New Jersey. Nancy has seen her share of life's challenges, but has always been able to stay joyful and resilient, inspired in part by another Italian mother, Sophia Loren.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Justin Pemberton2020
Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on Time's list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today's growing inequalities. Traveling through time, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world's most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future.
Yasmin GarcezSandro Arieta2021
'Delicadeza é Azul' sensitizes the public to a new look at Autism Spectrum Disorder. Through interviews with children from different levels of the spectrum, their families, therapists, teachers and artists, the film ludictically questions, what it means in today's world, a relevant communication through the five human senses.
House of Cardin
P. David Ebersole & Todd Hughes2020
A rare peek into the mind of a genius, chronicling the life and design of Cardin. Exclusive access to his archives and his empire, and unprecedented interviews at the sunset of a glorious career.
Lucy WalkerJoão Jardim2010
On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro is Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill, where men and women sift through garbage for a living. Artist Vik Muniz produces portraits of the workers and learns about their lives.
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Chinese Catholics and religious from different cities gather together in NACCCRL to share about different ways of serving God and evangelizing. NACCCRL 2010 took place in the four Chinese parishes in Greater Toronto. Many participants felt a strong urge to share their inspirations with their own communities.