Tissot
was the quintessential celebrity of the era. Jacques-Joseph Tissot was born in
1836 in Nantes. In 1856 he moved to Paris and it was here that he established
close ties with both Whistler and Degas. While visiting Antwerp, Tissot fell
under the influence of the Belgian academic painter Baron Hendryk Leys, whose
style of highly detailed and polished works he mirrored till his death. Tissot
refused to classify himself as an Impressionist and declined to exhibit with
them, although he was a close friend with both Morisot and Manet. From 1870-1
France waged a bloody war with Prussia. During which Tissot enlisted in the
National Guard as a sharpshooter. Afterwards, a civil war broke out pitting the
revolutionary Paris Commune that Tissot supported against the right-wing
government, which inevitably took power. Tissot thus sought exile in London. He
settled in a bohemian suburb of St. John's Wood. His compositions shift to
settings of the Thames, the streets and parks, and scenes from in and around his
homes and gardens. It was through Tissot's portraits, and a desire to relate
them to society, that he came to concentrate on themes of 'modern life.' It is
not until he met and fell in love with, a divorced Irishwoman, Kathleen Newton
in 1876 that his art took a abrupt turn which coincided with his return to
etching. Conscious of the stigma attached to a divorced woman, Tissot ceased to
frequent the society he had courted previously. During this time of isolation
his works center on domestic scenes that idealize Kathleen and her two children.
Kathleen became his model and muse. After Newton's death from consumption in
1882, Tissot returned to Paris. He attempted to recapture the success that he
had achieved in London in depicting stylish studies of fashionable society
ladies. And in 1883 he began work of the series titled La Femme a Paris. They
were intended to be visual equivalents of short stories using psychological
drama. But the public preferred the simplicity of his pure Belle Époque studies.
From 1886 onwards, Tissot concentrated on religious themes creating a series of
illustrations for the Bible. These projects were cut short with his death in
Buillon in 1902. Etching was an integral part of Tissot's work. After 1875, he
pursued the medium with vigor. This was most likely due to the influence of
Whistler's etchings and the encouragement of Seymour Haden, who with Delatre,
the printer had a profound influence on Tissot's etching style. Many of Tissot's
etchings are derived from his paintings. However he saw etching as a total art
form in and of itself. His eye for pose, gesture, rich materials and emotional
drama are brought together in a combination of line and ink which makes them
amongst striking and absorbing prints of their genre. Tissot was heavily
influenced by the opening up of Japan to the West bringing with it Eastern
objects of exoticism. Oriental fascination reached a grand scale at the 1862
International Exhibition in London. Tissot was a connoisseur collecting Japanese
woodblock prints as well as objects d'art that adorned his home. Tissot's appeal
to the Society of the day was the combination of traditional style with utterly
modern subject and that remains his appeal. It is his emotionalism beneath the
elegant surface that lifts his work into the world of great art.
Tissot
was the quintessential celebrity of the era. Jacques-Joseph Tissot was born in
1836 in Nantes. In 1856 he moved to Paris and it was here that he established
close ties with both Whistler and Degas. While visiting Antwerp, Tissot fell
under the influence of the Belgian academic painter Baron Hendryk Leys, whose
style of highly detailed and polished works he mirrored till his death. Tissot
refused to classify himself as an Impressionist and declined to exhibit with
them, although he was a close friend with both Morisot and Manet. From 1870-1
France waged a bloody war with Prussia. During which Tissot enlisted in the
National Guard as a sharpshooter. Afterwards, a civil war broke out pitting the
revolutionary Paris Commune that Tissot supported against the right-wing
government, which inevitably took power. Tissot thus sought exile in London. He
settled in a bohemian suburb of St. John's Wood. His compositions shift to
settings of the Thames, the streets and parks, and scenes from in and around his
homes and gardens. It was through Tissot's portraits, and a desire to relate
them to society, that he came to concentrate on themes of 'modern life.' It is
not until he met and fell in love with, a divorced Irishwoman, Kathleen Newton
in 1876 that his art took a abrupt turn which coincided with his return to
etching. Conscious of the stigma attached to a divorced woman, Tissot ceased to
frequent the society he had courted previously. During this time of isolation
his works center on domestic scenes that idealize Kathleen and her two children.
Kathleen became his model and muse. After Newton's death from consumption in
1882, Tissot returned to Paris. He attempted to recapture the success that he
had achieved in London in depicting stylish studies of fashionable society
ladies. And in 1883 he began work of the series titled La Femme a Paris. They
were intended to be visual equivalents of short stories using psychological
drama. But the public preferred the simplicity of his pure Belle Époque studies.
From 1886 onwards, Tissot concentrated on religious themes creating a series of
illustrations for the Bible. These projects were cut short with his death in
Buillon in 1902. Etching was an integral part of Tissot's work. After 1875, he
pursued the medium with vigor. This was most likely due to the influence of
Whistler's etchings and the encouragement of Seymour Haden, who with Delatre,
the printer had a profound influence on Tissot's etching style. Many of Tissot's
etchings are derived from his paintings. However he saw etching as a total art
form in and of itself. His eye for pose, gesture, rich materials and emotional
drama are brought together in a combination of line and ink which makes them
amongst striking and absorbing prints of their genre. Tissot was heavily
influenced by the opening up of Japan to the West bringing with it Eastern
objects of exoticism. Oriental fascination reached a grand scale at the 1862
International Exhibition in London. Tissot was a connoisseur collecting Japanese
woodblock prints as well as objects d'art that adorned his home. Tissot's appeal
to the Society of the day was the combination of traditional style with utterly
modern subject and that remains his appeal. It is his emotionalism beneath the
elegant surface that lifts his work into the world of great art.