Article title: Minor Intimacies and the Art of Berthe Morisot: Impressionism, Female Friendship and Spectatorship
Author: Claire Moran
Journal: Dix-Neuf
DOI: 10.1080/14787318.2021.1926875
When the above article was first published online, some description and references were not sufficiently attributed. The corrections include the addition and update of references, rephrasing of description, and correction of names, as below:
Endnote 1 has been updated to the below:
For a discussion of the cross-over between private life, domestic space and Impressionism see Impressionist Interiors (2008), edited by Janet McLean and, in particular, the chapters by Hollis Clayson (2008) and Suzanne Singletary (2008), as well as the introduction and chapters by Sinéad Furlong-Clancy and Jill Owen, in Domestic Space in France and Belgium, edited by Moran (forthcoming 2021). Furlong-Clancy's chapter ‘Impressionist Interiors and Modern Womanhood: The representation of domestic space in the art of Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt’ (forthcoming 2021) offers a formal analysis of some of the paintings discussed here, focusing on the domestic interior. The topic of intimacy and Impressionism has attracted much attention recently in the age of social media, as is seen in the recent exhibition Seattle showed ‘glimpses into the personal lives of the artists, depicting their homes, favourite scenes, pets, gardens, pastimes, friends, and family […]. An intimate view into the lives of others is not a novel concept, but modern technology has evolved to make it easier and faster than ever. The Impressionists honed in on the same universal desire that individuals cling to in the 21st century: to share the everyday moments of our lives’. https://www.seattleartmuseum.org/impressionism (accessed 1/12/2020).
The painting of Edma, The Artist’s Sister at a Window was exhibited in the salon of 1870, where the Revue internationale de l’art et de la curiosité referred to ‘the very luminous and limpid sketch of Mlle Berthe Morisot, a Woman at her Window’.
This double portrait shows the mother figure, in black, who is reading and looks relaxed, in contrast to Edma’s figure, in white, whose uneasiness and absence contrasts with the material comfort of her surroundings.
Again, as in The Artist’s Sister at a Window, Edma appears trapped, this time blocked in by a table, a number of domestic objects and the dominating figure of her mother occupying the entire right-hand-side of the painting. Edma’s hands are crossed and she is looking pensively downwards, which visibly contrasts with Fantin-Latour’s image.
The following passage on pages 7-8, paragraph 1, has been rephrased and a footnote has been added so as to read:
Morisot asked Manet to assess the piece and Manet ‘found it very good, except for the lower part of the dress’15 prior to its Salon submission. Puvis de Chavannes was first to criticize the painting, which led to Morisot repainting the head of the mother. However, then Manet stepped in to heavily retouch the entire right-hand-side, particularly, the hands (Lucie-Smith 1997, 52).
In this pastel work, Morisot portrayed Edma during her second pregnancy, which came soon after her first, and the piece was shown at the Salon of 1872.
It is reminiscent of the earlier painting Mother and Sister of the Artist, where Edma is also pregnant, but importantly, Edma is alone here in black. There is a clear duality visible with her dark figure against the light background and the empty top-left side of the canvas contrasting with the patterned fabrics to the right.
Through an analysis of portraits of Edma, Mme Boursier and Mme Hubbard, against the social and historical backdrop of nineteenth-century France, together with a comparison with similar subjects in Impressionism, I have shown how her intimate portraits not only reveal the lived reality of bourgeois women, but also forge a radical new viewing experience, that has I believe until now been obscured in the history of modern art.
Moran, Claire. Forthcoming 2021. Domestic Space in France and Belgium. London: Bloomsbury.
Furlong-Clancy, Sinéad. Forthcoming 2021. “Impressionist Interiors and Modern Womanhood: The representation of domestic space in the art of Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt.” In Domestic Space in France and Belgium. London: Bloomsbury, edited by Claire Moran. London: Bloomsbury.
This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version.