Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the

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Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Teacher 9s Manual New Orleans Museum of Art Introduction to the Teacher 9s Manual This learning resource is intended for teachers of students in Grades 1-12 and may be adapted for specific grade levels. We hope that you will use the manual and accompanying disc to help your students gain an in-depth knowledge of Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France. The once-in-a-lifetime exhibition is on view at NOMA from March 4 to June 3, 2007, however the packet can be adapted to a variety of topics and curricula.

Femme, femme, femme is on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art March 4 through June 3, 2007. The exhibition has been generously organized by the Ministère de la Culture 4Direction des musées de France and La Réunion des Musées nationaux (RMN) with support in France from Total. The exhibition is presented in New Orleans by Freeport-McMoRan Foundation.

Additional support is provided by Lakeside Shopping Center and The Feil Organization; The Helis Foundation; Blanchard and Company, Inc.; The Booth-Bricker Fund; Capital One; Chevron; Joe W. and ... more. less.

Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation; Sheraton New Orleans Hotel; WDSU News Channel 6; Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport; Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre L.L.P.; Office of the Lieutenant Governor/Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; The Champagne Veuve Clicquot Collection; and The Ruby K. Worner Charitable Trust. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, which is available in the NOMA Museum Shop. On the Cover: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919) The Excursionist, 1896, oil on canvas 24 x 19 11/16 in. (61 x 50 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts Andre Malraux, Le Havre Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Teacher 9s Manual Written by Kathy Alcaine , Curator of Education Exhibition essay written by Victoria Cooke , Curator of European Painting Edited by Wanda O 9Shello, Editor Brandi Hand, Public Information Officer TABLE OF CONTENTS Looking at Femme, femme, femme : How to Bring Art into Your Classroom 1 Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France by Victoria Cooke, Curator of European Painting, NOMA 3 List of Images 6 The Ages of Life 7 Women at Work 11 Women in Action 17 Women in Leisure 23 Women in Modern Life 29 Map of France 33 Comparative Timeline 34 Curriculum Objectives 37 Vocabulary 40 Image List from the CD-Rom 44 Selected Bibliography and Suggested Reading 46 1 Looking at Femme, femme, femme How to Bring Art into Your Classroom The Education Division at NOMA has organized this packet for the exhibition Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France , so that you, the educator, will use the included works of art as part of your pre-visit or post-visit activities. In addition, we hope that this packet can be used as an extension of your classroom activities to expand on certain ideas, concepts or time periods. This packet also will be useful to your classroom after all of the works of art have left NOMA to return to their museums in France. Included in this workshop packet is a CD-ROM loaded with all of the images presented, so that your class can have a virtual tour of NOMA 9s exhibition. With this packet you will be able to interpret the work and in turn encourage your students to do the same. By using the descriptions in the Image List, you will understand more about the works of art and from where they came. Within the text of the packet, you will find highlighted words that are defined in the vocabulary list. This list consists of art and historical words to expand your classroom experience. You then will be able to utilize the comparative timeline and map to apply the information to the work of art. This will help you put the works of art into a historical and cultural context. We have provided suggestions for lesson plans correlating with the Louisiana Benchmarks and Standards to aid in your preparations. The packet will assist and enhance your experiences of looking at art. Looking at Paintings: The paintings in this exhibition can be enjoyed in many different ways. Most of the paintings in the exhibition, Femme, femme, femme, are genre scenes depicting women in a variety of scenes whether it is during pastimes, work, or in new roles or situations that speak of the time in which they lived. Other paintings are portraits depicting a particular woman or group of people. In looking at the paintings, the viewer can see the work in a purely visual sense. When looking at a genre scene, the viewer may be inspired to imagine him/herself in the scene. The viewer may remember a certain time in their lives when they visited a similar place or imagine what it would be like to be in an unfamiliar place. With portraits, the viewer imagines what the person was like, whether they were agreeable and pleasant or stern and unfriendly. However, you as the educator and your class can understand the paintings on a much deeper level. First, you can ask the group a series of questions and then apply the information found in the packet. This packet will provide you with several universal questions to ask when examining an artwork. When you first approach a painting, look at it in its entirety by having your group describe it. Notice the way the people are placed, and notice the landscape or setting if it is Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917), Dancers on Stage , 1889, 29 15/16 x 32 5/16 in (76 x 82 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon 2 visible. Describe all of the figures and each aspect of the setting. What do the people look like? What color is their hair? How old do they appear? What is their occupation or pastime? Where are the women located? How does the landscape or setting set the tone? After discussing the painting as a whole, look at the details of the painting. How does the artist bring your eye into the painting? Many artists use trees or pathways to lead your eye into certain areas of the painting. Is there an overriding sense of color? Many artists use a palette of certain colors to convey the overall feeling. What is the color and how does the color make you feel? You may have an association with particular shades of color such as warm colors and cool colors. Look at the colors to see if they are setting a tone for the overall scene. Other techniques may be a bright color that is centralized in a painting where your eye is attracted to that area or bright colors are placed in key areas to bring your eye around the painting. The artist 9s technique and application of paint is also an important element. What materials did the artist use? Is it oil or pastel? Did he use thick or thin paint? How does the paint application affect the mood of the painting? Perhaps the artist has painted with thin or crisp brushstrokes to create a realistic scene. The artist may have painted with bright or brash colors to give a sense of agitation or action. When your class has contemplated the paintings, read the image description of the work in the packet. How does this information add to what you have discovered in the paintings? Does it answer some of your questions? Are there things that you know about this time period that you can add to the understanding of the artwork? Use the comparative timeline to put the painting into historical and cultural context. What happened during the artist 9s (or sitter 9s) lifetime and the decade in which the painting was completed? Is there anything historically significant that may have influenced the artist 9s painting style? The paintings in this exhibition were created during the 19 th century and at the turn of the 20 th century. At this time France and the world went through many changes because of technological advances, societal changes, political movements and wars. How do these cultural and historical aspects appear or affect the painting? When the group discusses all of the possibilities, the educator is encouraged to utilize the curriculum suggestions and activities to apply the concepts of the exhibition to the curricula. By choosing a particular work of art or group of works, the theme can come alive and inspire creative thought. Henri Gervex, Dressing of the Wounded , oil on canvas, 20 7/8 x 11 in. (53 x 28 cm.), Musée de l 9Armée, Paris Julius Stewart (French, 1855-1919), The Ladies Goldsmith in the Bois de Boulongne in a Peugeot in 1897 , 1901, oil on canvas, 59 1/16 x 68 7/8 in. (150 x 175 cm.), Musée National du Château, Compiègne 3 Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France by Victoria Cooke Curator of European Painting, NOMA Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France presents the evolution of women 9s roles in French society through paintings by a wide range of artists, including the avant-garde 4Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso 4and the Academic 4Bouguereau, Béraud and Geoffroy. According to catalogue author, Ségolène Le Man, call of them share the same quest for the representation of the living woman. d The nearly eighty-five paintings that make up Femme, femme, femme are divided into five thematic sections. The first section, cThe Ages of Life, d includes twenty-two works that trace the path of a woman 9s life from the cradle to the grave as she matures in this modern world of new opportunities. Here, visitors also will see the domestic roles of women, some being performed lovingly by mothers tending to their children and others by professional childcare providers. These paintings concentrate on the interaction between adult women and the children under their care. In Jean-Françoise Millet 9s realist painting Woman Feeding her Child (Gruel) (1861) a young mother gently blows on a spoon of pap to cool it for her child while in Edouard Vuillard 9s colorful, Nabis painting Annette 9s Soup (1901) a child is fed by a professional nurse. Jean Geoffroy, a Salon painter who chronicled society 9s new emphasis on childhood education, gives viewers a glimpse into the bedtime routine of a Parisian crèche. These forerunners to modern day-care centers allowed women to work outside the home confident that their children would receive proper, professional care. A sub-section of the first section of the exhibition focuses on the hardships of life and the perseverance of women through misery, injustice and social denunciation, a popular subject for the influential writers of the day. Included in this section is the important study by Alfred Roll, The Striking Worker 9s Wife , a maternal figure who confronts the viewer with her determination to survive. The final composition, which was exhibited at the Salon of 1884, influenced Zola 9s novel Germinal. The second section of Femme, femme, femme 4 cWomen at Work, d which includes twenty-four works 4explores the great variety of jobs held by women outside the home during the last half of the nineteenth century. While historically artists had idealized images of female labor, the laundresses of Honoré Daumier and Eugène Boudin testify to the difficulty of their work. The popular Salon artist Jean Béraud depicted the exit of seamstresses at day 9s end from the celebrated fashion house Maison Paquin. The highlight of this section of the exhibition will be Edouard Manet 9s The Beer Waitress of 1878. Through his rapid brushstrokes and vivid color, Manet captures the lively atmosphere of a Parisian café at night where workers drank beside bourgeois businessmen in their top hats. The artist was so impressed with the ability of a local Jean-François Millet (French, 1814-1875), Woman Feeding her Child (Gruel) , oil on canvas, 1861, 44 7/8 x 39 in. (114 x 99 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, Marseille 4 beer waitress to balance multiple glasses at once that he asked her to pose for him to ensure greater authenticity. In scenes of labor in the French countryside where wives and daughters were needed to harvest crops and tend to cattle, the subject was often tinged with nostalgia. Visitors to Femme, femme, femme will see how different artists in the nineteenth century approached the topic. In Bretons at the Fountain , Jean-Baptiste Corot shows a woman in regional dress balancing a water pot on her head. The muted tones of his picture evoke a timelessness associated with rural life. Other pictures explore the various ways that women contributed to the productivity of the French agricultural economy, including the Barbizon painter Karl Daubigny and the academic Edouard Debat-Ponsan. Emile Bernard used the cloisonnism techniques of Post-Impressionists to show both the women who toiled as apple harvesters and those who strolled by the groves to observe the activity. The evolving position of women in the public arena, whether as courtesans, socialites, or businesswomen, forms the focus of the third section of the exhibition 4 cWomen in Action. d The twelve works in this section include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 9s portrait of the prostitute Rolande and Henri Gerveux 9s image of the popular courtesan Lucie Delabigne, called Madame Valtesse de la Bigne, the inspiration for Zola 9s Nana . Portraits of the original Veuve Clicquot of the celebrated champagne dynasty, illustrate the increasing presence of women in business. Other paintings show leaders in the fields of art and culture including the actress Sarah Bernhardt, the painter Rosa Bonheur and writer George Sand, as well as a self-portrait by the influential female Impressionist, Berthe Morisot. Collectively, these women represent the great strides made by professional women at the end of the nineteenth century. The fourth section of the exhibition 4 cWomen and Leisure d 4features sixteen images of leisure activities. Taking advantage of increased social freedom in Paris, glamorous women met at street fairs or in the fashionable shops as depicted in Jean Béraud 9s Gloppe Pastry Shop (1889). A group of paintings in this section reveals a woman 9s experience of the elegant balls popular at the time. In one, a mother breast feeds her child before going out for the evening. In another, Alfred Roll shows a tired woman struggling to remove a beautiful but cumbersome dress upon returning home from a ball. These are depictions of moments that offer glimpses into the private lives of society women, but women of all classes enjoyed dancing. The exuberance of Kees Van Dongen 9s Moulin de la Galette (1904) is a testament to the joyful gatherings of the working class in the popular dance halls of Montmartre. Country idylls also were popular diversions of the day. James Tissot 9s refined picnic and the quiet domestic routines of Caillebotte 9s female relatives at their country retreat represent excursions from the city by proper, bourgeois women. In a less restrained composition, Pablo Picasso captures the spirited freedom of the seaside with women dancing on the beach in the latest, fashionable 4and revealing 4bathing attire. Emile Bernard (French, 1868-1941), Harvesting Apples , 1890, oil on canvas, 41 5/16 x 17 in. (105 x 45 cm.), Musée des Beaux- Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973), The Bathers, 1918, oil on canvas, 10 5/8 x 8 11/16 in. (27 x 22 cm.), Musée Picasso, Paris 5 In the final section of the exhibition, cWomen in Modern Life, d nine works illustrate the emerging independence of modern women and reminds viewers that as the twentieth century dawned ordinary activities could be symbolically revolutionary acts. The highlight of this section is Pierre-Auguste Renoir 9s lovely painting, The Excursionist (1896), which shows a modern French woman hiking in the mountains, an activity from which women were traditionally prohibited. Her face is flushed with a healthy, rosy glow as the ribbons on her hat flutter in the mountain air. Le Man finds this picture to be a fitting conclusion to the exhibition and ca symbol for women 9s quest for new positions as they went out in the open air, and walked decisively towards a new destiny. d This extraordinary exhibition is a great gift from France to Louisiana and is the fulfillment of a promise made to New Orleans just two months after Hurricane Katrina. The French Minster of Culture and Communication, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, and President of the Louvre, Henri Loyrette, led a delegation of French diplomats and art curators on a tour of the city, which included a visit to the New Orleans Museum of Art. They renewed longstanding French ties to our beleaguered city and offered to assist the Museum during this unprecedented time with this exhibition of works from the Louvre, Musée d 9Orsay, and museums throughout France. The French commissioners of this exhibition are Francis Ribemont, director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, and Madame Danièle Giraudy, honorary director of the Musées de Marseilles. We are grateful to all those who have worked hard to bring this exhibition to life and are certain that Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France will delight visitors of all ages. Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919), The Excursionist, 1896, oil on canvas, 24 x 19 11/16 in. (61 x 50 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts Andre Malraux, Le Havre 6 List of Images Following the model of the exhibition, the Image List is separated into sections depicting the variety of stages or roles of women in French society. The sections include cThe Ages of Life d (Images 1 3 2), cWomen at Work d (Images 3 3 7) cWomen in Action d (Images 8-10), cWomen and Leisure d (Images 11 3 14), and cWomen in Modern Life d (Images 15-17). Section Page The Ages of Life 7 Women at Work 11 Women in Action 17 Women in Leisure 23 Women in Modern Life 29 7 Section I: The Ages of Life 1 . Jean-François Millet (French, 1814-1875), Woman Feeding her Child (Gruel) , oil on canvas, 1861, 44 7/8 x 39 in. (114 x 99 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, Marseille Jean-François Millet was born to a peasant farmer in Normandy, France. As a child, Millet showed a talent for art, and at the age of 24 he was sent to Paris to study. At the Ecole des Beaux-Arts , the preeminent art school, Millet studied under the romantic artist Paul Delaroche. Owing to his rural upbringings, Millet would turn away from Delaroche 9s romantic ideals of painting an idealized nature and painting scenes that evoked strong emotions. Millet chose instead to create works that were inspired by those who toiled in the fields and the working class. To him it was a more realistic view of the world. In 1848 Millet first painted one of his typical subjects, that of the peasant farmer. This subject matter would dominate his paintings for the rest of his career. In 1849 because of a cholera epidemic in Paris, Millet fled to the village of Barbizon near the Fontainebleau forest. In the village he joined with other artists to start the Barbizon School . Not a formal school, it was 8 Marseille is the second largest city in France and its largest commercial port. It is the capital of the Provence region on the Mediterranean Sea. where artists gathered and painted scenes of the countryside. The artists painted in a realistic style as a reaction to the more formal style of romanticism . Unlike the Barbizon artists like Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Théodore Rousseau, who focused on the landscape of the Barbizon countryside, Millet focused on the human figure in a landscape (rather than on the landscape that included figures). Woman Feeding her Child (Gruel) deals with a mundane task; a mother blowing on the food that she is about to feed her child. Millet depicts a private moment as the mother stops her work to tend to her child. When shown in the 1861 Salon, the public did not appreciate Millet 9s stark and simplistic realism . In 1869 the Musée des Beaux-Arts in the port town of Marseille purchased Woman Feeding her Child (Gruel) . Always a town that seemed to rebel against the French norm, Marseille 9s purchase put the city ahead of the trend in acquiring Millet 9s work. Millet would remain virtually unknown as an artist until after his death in 1875. 9 2. William Adolph Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905), The Day of the Dead , 1859, oil on canvas, 57 7/8 x 47 in. (147 x 120 cm.) Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux William Adolph Bouguereau fully represented the French academic style during the second half of the 18 th century. Although his Impressionist contemporaries are better known today, Bouguereau was one of the most celebrated artists of his time. Bouguereau was born in 1825 in La Rochelle, France, a port city on the Atlantic Coast. At the age of 17 he studied art in Bordeaux (where this painting is today). Four years later he went on to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris to continue his art study. Bouguereau excelled in the Academic school and in 1850 he was awarded the Prix de Rome , a scholarship for promising artists. The Prix de Rome was a 10 Bordeaux is the capital of the Aquitane region. Residents of Bordeaux are called Bordelais. Bordeaux was first settled by Neanderthals 30,000 to 90,000 years ago, and numerous caves are filled with prehistoric paintings nearby. vigorous competition and the winners were sent to Rome to study classical art. Bouguereau studied in Rome for four years. Once back in Paris, Bouguereau flourished and he exhibited his art at the Salon , the official art exhibition that was held annually. Bouguereau was appointed professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and was elected a member of the Institute of France and awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1876. Bouguereau taught and painted the conservative values of the French Academic art with a strict adherence to modeling of the figure, perspective , drawing and contour . He painted mythological, allegorical and genre paintings with an intense realism, while still being well-grounded in the French Academic style. Bouguereau painted The Day of the Dead in 1859 only a few years after he returned from Rome. It is an early painting in his career, but he has captured the academic traditions while creating a realistic genre scene of two women grieving. Created shortly after the death of his younger sister, Bouguereau depicts two women as they place wreaths over the grave site of a loved one. The somber scene is accentuated with the black clothed women, the autumn sky and the bare trees. The women are arranged in a triangular shape to give the painting a solid and stoic appearance. The painting was purchased two years after it was shown in the Salon by the city of Bordeaux, a port city in the southwest of France. 11 Dijon is in eastern France and is the historical capital of Burgundy. From the 11 th century to the 15 th century it was a place of tremendous wealth and power, and it was well known as a center for learning. Dijon is best known for Dijon mustard, named after the method of mustard-making that originated in Dijon. Section II: Women at Work 3. Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879), The Heavy Burden , oil on paper on canvas, 18 x 10 5/8 in. (47 x 27 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon Showing an interest in art at a young age, Honoré Daumier is known as a caricaturist as well as a painter and sculptor. Daumier was born in Marseilles in a lower middle- class household. His parents were both artists and placed their son under the tutelage of Alexandre Lenoir, a contemporary and friend of the great neo- classical artist Jacques-Louis David. However, when Daumier was 13 his father became ill and the teenager went to work to support the family. In his early working life, Daumier became an observer of the human condition and of people from all walks of life. Daumier took up printmaking and created cartoons and lithographs and by 1830 he began to contribute political cartoons to La Caricature , an anti- government weekly publication. Two years later he was imprisoned for six months for satirizing Louis Phillip, King of the French. After his release, Daumier continued to create political cartoons attacking the monarchy, businessmen, lawyers, doctors and the elite. Daumier was a prolific lithographer and created nearly 4,000 prints in his lifetime. Although he continued to create lithographs throughout his life, Daumier began painting in 1848 and would later paint alongside the Impressionists. As seen in The Burden from the museum in Dijon , Daumier focused on the human condition during the mid-19 th century. He painted the working class, paying particular attention to the figures with little attention to the surrounding details. In The Burden a laundress and her child rush to shelter, probably to escape the wind. Daumier creates a dynamic image as the two figures are hunched over, charging through the scene. Although it can be seen that the mother and child live a meager life and are rushing from one place to the next, Daumier does not give any details to the background to give anecdotal information. The Dijon work is probably the original work as gridlines can be seen. He would create at least seven versions of The Burden. Daumier was unknown for his paintings until the last year of his life when his work was exhibited at Durand-Ruel 9s gallery. 12 4. Henri Jules Jean Geoffroy (French 1853-1924), At the Day-Care Center , oil on canvas, 64 15/16 x 35 7/16 in (165 x 90 cm), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rochefort (seen below) 5. Henri Jules Jean Geoffroy (French 1853-1924), The Junior Class , 1889, oil on canvas, 57 1/8 x 86 7/8 in. (145 x 220 cm.), Ministère de l 9Education Nationale, Paris (on next page) [This image does not appear in the exhibition] Henri Jules Jean Geoffroy, sometimes known as Géo, was a well-known artist in his time, painting in the academic style. Similar to Bouguereau, however, his reputation as an artist declined after the popularity of the Salon fell out of favor at the turn of the 20 th century. Geoffroy made his first appearance as an artist in the 1874 Salon. In his lifetime he was awarded honors including the French Legion of Honor and a gold medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle , the 1900 World 9s Fair dedicated to the triumphs of the previous century and the new directions in technology and advancements of the next. These two paintings are typical of his style in that he preferred to paint children with a naturalistic tone. During the late 19 th century, many artists were turning away from romanticism, choosing to paint realistic scenes. In the style of naturalism , artists chose not to paint idealistic or stylized scenes. Instead, they painted with true-to-nature paint tones of genre or everyday scenes. In some cases, the artists tended to glorify the everyday person, such as a child or peasant, to a status almost religious in nature. 13 Rochefort is a seaport town on the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded in 1666 by Louis XIV as a place to house and build ships for the French Navy. Geoffroy was born in Marennes, France, about 13 miles south of Rochefort. In the two paintings, At the Day-Care Center and The Junior Class , Geoffroy has painted the caretaking of children first in infancy and second in school. Geoffroy paints both scenes realistically with a light palette. He is showing an interest not only in genre scenes, but also in the naivety and developing mind of children. The painting At the Day-Care Center depicts a woman who is taking care of two infants, while the child 9s mother is working. She is placing a sleeping child in a cradle, next to an already sleeping child. Day care centers first appeared in France around 1840, and was then regulated by the French government by 1869. It allowed for mothers to go to work and have their children watched. In The Junior Class , the students are seen working diligently on their studies. In the late 1800s France had radical educational changes. The most prominent change was the Jules Ferry Laws of the early 1880 9s requiring that all French children under the age of 16 receive a free education. At the end of the 19 th century, more women became teachers as depicted in the painting The Junior Class. [ The Junior Class does not appear in the exhibition] 14 6. Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917), Dancers on Stage , 1889, (29 15/16 x 32 5/16 in (76 x 82 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon Edgar Degas, known as one of the leading French Impressionist of the late 19 th century, created works in paint, charcoal, pastel and sculpture. Degas was born in Paris to a wealthy banking family. His mother, Celestine Musson De Gas (Edgar Degas changed the spelling of his family 9s name) was originally from New Orleans; Edgar traveled to see his mother 9s New Orleans family in a well-documented trip in 1872. Degas 9s father pressured Edgar to go to law school, but he relented and Edgar enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris at the age of 21. He studied in the classical tradition with a solid base in drawing and copying from master works from the Louvre. He traveled to Italy to study the great Italian masters such as Michelangelo and Raphael. After returning to Paris, Degas exhibited in the annual Paris Salon from 1865 to 1870. In 1870, Degas joined the National Guard to defend Paris when the Franco-Prussian War began. However, because of the harsh conditions during the winter of 1870 and his worsening eye sight, he was unable to serve in the infantry. Degas 9s eyesight would be a constant problem throughout his life. 15 Although many of the Impressionists were interested in the effects of light, Degas concerned himself with the modern world, choosing to depict Parisian life at the racecourse, women in domestic situations or at work and most notably, the ballet. Degas 9s paintings exhibited the influence of Japanese paintings and of photography with altered perspectives and horizon lines, cropped images and scenes of everyday life. Dancers on Stage is an excellent example from Degas 9s series that focused on the ballet. The subject became a major interest of the artist from 1875 to 1890 at the same time that he began experimenting with pastels. Degas spent many hours attending ballet classes and performances to observe the dancers in varied situations. The artist portrayed the women as they prepared for ballet practice or waiting in the wings for a performance. Dancers on Stage depicts five ballerinas waiting for their cue to appear on stage in what seems like a practice session. The girls are stretching and preparing and in the upper left corner the dance instructor assists more ballerinas. In the painting Degas utilizes his favorite techniques of a high vantage point (rather than seen straight on), a vast empty space on one side of the painting and seeing the figures in half-profile or completely from behind. Lyon is the third largest city in France and lies in the Rhone- Alps region. It is known for its food and culture as well as the invention of cinema by the Lumière brothers in 1895. The city was founded by the Romans in 43 BCE and became the capital of Gaul. 16 Nantes was first settled by the Celts around 70 BCE and was conquered by Julius Ceasar in 56 BCE. It is the former capital of Brittany, an area which Bernard frequently painted. The omnibus originated in Nantes in 1826; it was the first public transportation system within a major city. 7. Emile Bernard (French, 1868-1941), Beating the Apple Trees , 1890, oil on canvas, 41 5/16 x 17 in. (105 x 45 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes Emile Bernard, a post-Impressionist , is known for his innovative painting styles from the late 19 th century. He was born in Lille, France, a town near the Belgian border. Against his father 9s wishes, Bernard enrolled in art school in Paris at the Atelier Cormon at the age of 16. In Paris he befriended Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent Van Gogh. The atelier expelled Bernard a year after he enrolled for insubordination and lack of discipline, when he was experimenting with new techniques such as pointillism . He then traveled to Normandy and Brittany where he encountered Paul Gauguin. With Gauguin, Bernard looked at the people of Brittany, the Bretons, in a search for an idealized society that was uncorrupted by modern life. The Bretons practiced a more rustic or traditional form of Catholicism and lived a more back-to-basics lifestyle. Bernard sought a simpler form of painting as well, and with Gauguin, they developed cloisonnism . Cloisonnism is a painting technique with flattened forms and colors, where a band of dark lines or contours separate the colors; the technique appears like cloisonné . Bernard painted with Gauguin until 1891, when they had a disagreement on who invented cloisonnism. In the same year, he joined the group of Symbolist painters including Odilon Redon. Bernard traveled to southern Europe and North Africa for 10 years. Upon returning to France, his art style became more classical in nature. Bernard painted Beating the Apples while in Brittany. The routine task of fruit picking takes on a different tone in Bernard 9s vertically formatted painting. In the foreground a mother and child protect themselves from the sun with an umbrella. In the background two figures pick and gather the apples from the tree. Bernard, as were many late 19 th -century artists, was influenced by Japanese prints with the vertical format and lack of perspective. Bernard treats the entire scene with his cloissonism style by flattening the scene into broad areas of colors, and all figures and objects are lightly outlined with dark lines. 17 Section III: Women in Action 8. Léon Cogniet (French 1794-1880), Portrait de Madame Berbe-Nicole Clicquot , circa 1851- 61, oil on canvas, 51 x 39 1/16 in. (129 x 99.3 cm.), Champagne Veuve Clicquot, Reims Léon Cogniet painted in the traditional academic style during the early half of the 18 th century as the romantic painters such as Théodore Géricault and Eugene Delacroix were challenging the accepted style of the day. Cogniet studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and won the Prix de Rome in 1817. Throughout the 1820s to the 1840s, Cogniet won wide acclaim and received large commissions including the opportunity to paint the ceiling of the Louvre for the newly 18 Reims is the largest city in the Champagne region in northern France. Notably, most French Kings beginning with Clovis I in 486 were crowned at the Reims Cathedral. On May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower accepted German defeat in Reims. Only sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France can be labeled cchampagne. d Other regions that make sparkling wine cannot use the term cchampagne. d created Egyptian Museum. His style fluctuated between the neo-classical style and romanticism but remained grounded within the academic standards. In this portrait, Cogniet has painted Madame Clicquot, who is positioned as an unwavering matriarch and a successful business woman. It is a befitting portrait of a woman who ran a profitable champagne company in Reims, France during the first half of the 18 th century. She acquired the business at the age of 27, upon the death of her husband. Madame Clicquot named the champagne company Veuve Clicquot ( veuve is French for cwidow d) and created a business that changed the status of champagne as a symbol of France. Madame created a large market for her champagne and under her leadership, she supplied champagne to the royal courts as far away as Russia. Also, Madame changed the making of champagne by inventing a process that left the product crystal clear; a process that is still used today. Veuve Clicquot is one of the most well-known champagnes today with its distinctive yellow label. 19 9. Georges Achille Fould (French, 1865-1951), Rosa Bonheur in her Studio , 1895, oil on canvas, 35 13/16 x 48 13/16 in. (91 x 124 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux Mademoiselle Georges Achille Fould was a minor painter who worked in the studio of Rosa Bonheur, one of the best-known female artists of her day. Rosa Bonheur was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1822. Her father, Raymond Bonheur, was a landscape artist. Rosa was encouraged to study art by both of her parents and she showed an early interest in depicting animals. She had two brothers and a sister; all were encouraged to study art. Her brother Isidore was a well-known artist of his time. Rosa Bonheur had a difficult childhood and at the age of 11, her mother died. Raymond Bonheur enrolled his daughter in art classes at the Louvre when Rosa was 14, making her not only the single female student in her class but also the youngest. When she was expelled from her classes for acting too much of a ctom boy, d Raymond Bonheur trained his daughter at home. Raymond taught his daughter as well as his other children in an eclectic manner, but encouraged Rosa to study art from direct observation. Rosa studied live animals in their natural settings, traveling to the countryside to study first-hand. She also had a collection of animals at her home studio to study them at all times. Bonheur went out of her way to study animals, even going to slaughter houses to study the muscles of the animals. Bonheur 9s naturalism became highly regarded, and in 1841 at the age of 19 she exhibited at the Salon where she would exhibit every year until 1855. Many times her father and brothers would exhibit at the Salon with her. In 1853 Bonheur exhibited her most famous and largest work, The Horse Fair , an image of the horse market in Paris. The dynamic movement of the horses and large scale of the painting were influenced by the Romantic artist Théodore Géricault, but her attention to naturalism and realism gave her achievement and praise. Bonheur gained popularity 20 This painting is housed at the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, Rosa Bonheur 9s birthplace. Bordeaux is on the Atlantic coast in southwest France. The region is best known as the wine capital of the world and produces over 700 million bottles of wine annually. and success as an artist and bought a home in By in the Fountainbleu forest near Barbizon, south of Paris. Bonheur received the award of Officer of the Legion of Honor, the first woman to receive this award. In this painting by Fould, Rosa Bonheur is seen sitting in front of a work in progress in her studio in By. Bonheur is working on a painting of lions on a bluff. Surrounding her is a painting of horses that she is working on as well as smaller paintings and animal parts and sculptures that she would use as models. Bonheur is seen in her typical outfit of pants and an artist 9s smock that caused some scandal in her day. As she said, she needed to dress in men 9s clothes when she worked (pants rather than the women 9s attire of dresses), because of the places she needed to go to study the animals. She felt that pants were more practical. Bonheur even received special permission from the Prefect of Police to wear men 9s pants. Bonheur was 73 when this portrait was completed in 1895. She died four years later in 1899 at the age of 77. 21 10. Berthe Morisot (French 1841-1895), Self-portrait , 1885, oil on canvas, 24 x 19 11/16 in. (61 x 50 cm.) Musée Marmottan-Monet, Paris Berthe Morisot is known as one of the most important French women artists of the late 19 th century. She was born to a wealthy family in 1841 and art was around her at all times. Her great uncle was Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) a champion of the Rococo style during Louis XV 9s reign. Morisot 9s father painted as a pastime and encouraged his daughter to study art. For a daughter from a wealthy family, it was customary for the daughter to study the arts such as 22 The Marmottan Monet Museum in Paris houses some of the greatest works by the Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. painting, drawing and needlework; Berthe Morisot and her sister followed suit. Many women studied art until marriage, when they were expected to give up all interests in art to pursue their life with a husband and children. However, Berthe Morisot broke from this tradition by continuing her studies in art by becoming a student under Camille Corot, the Barbizon artist who would later influence the Impressionists. In 1864 Berthe Morisot exhibited at the prestigious Salon when she was twenty-three and she would exhibit at the Salon annually until 1873. In 1868 she befriended Edouard Manet, one of the leading avant-garde artists and advocate for the Impressionist of the mid-18 th century. Morisot and Manet were lifelong friends and influenced each other 9s painting styles. In 1874 Morisot married Manet 9s brother Eugene, an amateur artist. That same year for the first time, the Impressionists exhibited their works together in response to being rejected from the Salon. Morisot joined the Impressionists and exhibited in all of the eight Impressionist exhibitions except one in 1879, the year her daughter Julie was born. Morisot experienced an unconventional carreer, because she was supported and encouraged to create art even after being married and having a child. Her house became a social circle and regular meeting place for artists. Morisot died in 1895 at the age of 54, only three years after her husband, Eugene, died. Morisot painted portraits and a variety of scenes of everyday life usually of women, similar to her counterpart and friend Mary Cassatt. Morisot 9s genre scenes show an influence from Japanese prints with the high horizon lines and multiple perspectives. She painted with a free and loose brushstroke and was fully accepted into the Impressionist 9s circle. In the work Self- Portrait , the artist 9s image is sketchy although delicately rendered. This was only one of three self-portraits that she would create in her career, and it is in a rare instance that she portrays herself as an artist, with paintbrushes in hand. Morisot is 44 in this portrait and she paints herself with a glowing head of grey hair dressed in a gold coat decorated in flowers. As with most of her works, Self-Portrait shows her vibrant and colorful palette. 23 The painting belongs to the Carnavalet Museum in Paris, a museum dedicated to the history of Paris. The Eiffel Tower was built in Paris in 1889 for the Exposition Universelle. The line of the Métro, Paris 9s subway system, opened in 1900. Section IV: Women and Leisure 11. Jean Béraud (French, 1849-1936), Gloppe Pastry Shop , oil on wood, 14 15/16 x 20 7/8 in. (38 x 53 cm.), Musée Carnavalet, Paris A regular participant at the Paris Salon, Jean Béraud painted depictions of daily life of Parisian society during the second half of the 19 th century. Béraud was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and became interested in art because of his father, a sculptor. After his father 9s early death, Béraud and his family returned to Paris where he studied law. Béraud practiced law in Paris until the Franco-Prussian War where he served in the Parisian army. After the War he turned to study art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the tutelage of Léon Bonnat, one of the leading artists at the time. Béraud began his career as a portrait painter and later painted genre scenes, or scenes of everyday life with exacting detail. Béraud is considered a realist or naturalist because of his acute attention to detail. He painted people in everyday situations, usually social settings with a tight brush, unlike the Impressionists at the time who tended to paint with loose brushstrokes. Béraud painted the fashionable Parisian society during the Belle Epoque , a time during the late 19 th century when innovation, the arts and peace between its neighbors flourished in France. He painted street and café scenes with minute detail and often with an underlining mockery or humor. In Gloppe Pastry Shop a group of customers indulge in pastries and other desserts in the shop. It is an everyday scene of people at leisure in Paris. 24 Troyes (pronounced like ctrios, d three in French) is in the Champagne region southeast of Paris on the Seine River. The center of town is in the shape of a champagne cork. The Lacoste Company is located in Troyes. 12. Kees Van Dongen, Moulin de la Galette or The Matchiche , 1904, oil on canvas 25 13/16 x 21 in. (65.5 x 54.5 cm.) Musée d 9Art Moderne de Troyes, Troyes Cornelis Theodorus Maria van Dongen, a Dutch artist known as Kees van Dongen was one of the leading avant-garde painters of the early twentieth century in Paris. Van Dongen was born outside of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He studied art at a young age in Rotterdam where he became a great admirer of 17 th -century Masters Franz Hals and Rembrandt van Rijn. Van Dongen moved permanently to Paris in 1900 where he lived and painted in the noted red- light districts. In 1904 van Dongen made his Parisian art debut by exhibiting in the Salon des Independents and befriending other avant- garde artists such as Maurice de Vlamink and André Derain. In 1905 he exhibited in the Salon de Automne with his friends as well as Henri Matisse. It was in this exhibition where the term Fauve was coined to denote the work of the artists as cwild beasts d (in French fauve means cwild beast d). Collectively the artists used brash, bold colors on their canvases. The mood of the color had more meaning to the artists than the realistic depictions. Van Dongen became an established artist in Paris, known for his portraits, and he became a naturalized citizen of France in 1926. During his early career in Paris at the turn of the century, van Dongen frequented the Montmartre region, which was known for its active nightlife for working girls and artists. It was at this time in the early 1900s that van Dongen and his wife became very good friends with Pablo Picasso and his girlfriend, Fernande Olivier. The painting Moulin de la Galette depicts the dance hall scene in the Montmartre area. It was a common scene for artists to paint including Pierre-Auguste Renoir 9s rendition in 1876. In Van Dongen 9s version, he paints the couples dancing with an active brushstroke, which gives the feeling of movement and a joyous occasion. Known for his deep interest in color, van Dongen 9s canvas is bright and vibrant as he recreates the social scene. 25 13. Gustave Caillebotte (French 1848-1894), Portraits in the Country , 1876, oil on canvas, 38 x 43 5/16 in. (98.5 x 110 cm.), Musée Baron Gérard, Bayeux Historically, Gustave Caillebotte was known mostly for his patronage and support of the French Impressionists, and it has only been in the last 35 years that he has been appreciated as a noted painter. Caillebotte was born in Paris to an upper-class Parisian family. He earned a law degree; however, a month after he received his license to practice law, he was drafted into the National Guard to fight in the Franco-Prussian War. After the war, Caillebotte changed career paths and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Léon Bonnat (very similar to the career choice of Jean Béraud). Caillebotte became friends with a few Impressionists, and in 1874 he helped organize the first Impressionist exhibition. After Caillebotte was rejected from the French Salon in 1875, Renoir invited him to participate in the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876. Caillebotte participated in six of the eight Impressionists exhibitions and even helped finance and organize a few of them. In addition to painting and collecting art, Caillebotte was an avid sailor, stamp collector and gardener. Many of his paintings included hints or aspects of his interests. Upon his untimely death in 1894 at the age of 45, Caillebotte left his exceptional art collection to the French government. Most of the works originally owned by Caillebotte, including works by Degas, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Manet, Pissaro and Sisley, are now in the Musée d 9Orsay in Paris. 26 Bayeux is a small town in Normandy, located near the English Channel. During World War II, Bayeux was the first town liberated by the allies after D-Day. Housed in Bayeux, the Bayeux Tapestry depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded England. Caillebotte painted in a highly realistic style. He is considered by many to be an Impressionist in name only in that although he exhibited and was friends with his fellow Impressionists, his style of painting did not fit into the Impressionist mold. Caillebotte prepared his work in the academic tradition of drawing and applying paint as opposed to the quick and loose brushstrokes of artists like Degas and Monet. His subject matter, though, placed him with the Impressionists with the scenes of everyday life and depictions of modern day Paris. Portraits in the Country follows in Caillebotte 9s style of painting a scene of life in the modern world. The painting depicts his family members at the family country house outside of Paris. The woman in the front is the artist 9s cousin, the woman sewing in the middle ground is the artist 9s aunt, the woman on the green bench is a family friend, and the woman in black who is reading in the background is the artist 9s mother. The two women in black, Caillebotte 9s mother and his aunt, are dressed in mourning clothes. His mother is in mourning because Caillebotte 9s father had died two years earlier. In the painting the women are sitting together on the grounds of the country house located outside of Paris, but they are not engaging with each other. As with many of Caillebotte 9s paintings of this time, including Paris Street; Rainy Day (Art Institute of Chicago) exhibited in the same Impressionist exhibition of 1877, the figures show the isolation of the individual in the new industrial and economic age. 27 14. Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973), The Bathers, 1918, oil on canvas, 10 5/8 x 8 11/16 in. (27 x 22 cm.), Musée Picasso, Paris Pablo Picasso is probably the most well-known artist of the 20 th century. He was a painter and sculptor born in Spain but lived in France for most of his adult life. Considered a child prodigy, Picasso began his studies in art school in Barcelona and Madrid. In 1904 Picasso moved to Paris and became friends with the avant-garde circle of artists and writers. He joined with artist Georges Braque in 1907 to form the art movement cubism . Cubism began as a style that depicted objects by flattening, disassembling and painting in monochromatic colors. All objects were formed into their most basic shapes and the objects were seen from all sides and angles at the same time. Picasso said cI am always a Cubist d and although he moved into different styles and media throughout his long life, his works always had a semblance of cubism. 28 This painting is part of the collection at the Musée Picasso, a museum in Paris dedicated to Picasso 9s work. The majority of the art comes from Picasso 9s collection of his own work as well as his personal art collection of works by artists such as Cezanne, Degas and Matisse. The Bathers, was painted during his honeymoon with his first wife, Olga, in 1918. The newlyweds vacationed in Biarritz, France, a fashionable vacation site on the Atlantic coast of France near Spain 9s border. The small painting shows three women in bathing clothes on the seaside beach. The Bathers, was inspired in part by nudes and odalisques of the neo-classical French painter, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. It is an homage to the classical model of women in painting but it is updated into a modern setting with women in a recreational setting. The three women are elongated and twisted, and the standing woman in blue and white is posing with front, back and sides seen at the same time. This painting was the first of Picasso 9s seaside bather 9s paintings, a theme that would recur in his works until late in life. In 1918 towards the end of World War I, Picasso 9s art was turning away from abstract cubism to a more naturalistic approach. However, as he said, he still remained a cubist at heart. 29 The Musée de l 9Armée in Paris is housed in the Invalides, a home for ailing or elderly war veterans. The Invalides was first constructed by Louis XIV in 1671 for disabled soldiers. Napoleon Bonaparte is buried at the Invalides. Section V: Women in Modern Life 15. Henri Gervex, Dressing of the Wounded , oil on canvas, 20 7/8 x 11 in. (53 x 28 cm.), Musée de l 9Armée, Paris Henri Gervex painted in Paris during the end of the 19 th century and the first quarter of the 20 th century. He was classically trained as an artist at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and associated himself with both academic style artists as well as the avant-garde artists such as Renoir and Degas. Gervex painted both portraits for the elite as well as representations of modern life in a photographically realistic style. He was a popular artist in his day. He created a scandal in 1878 when he painted Rolla a scene from a poem about a man who takes his own life after spending an evening with an expensive courtesan. The painting was denied admission to the Salon because it was labeled indecent. However, Gervex placed it in the window in a commercial gallery with great success. Late in his life, he painted a series of works concerning World War I, as can be seen in Dressing the Wounded. Dressing the Wounded depicts nurses tending to soldiers who were wounded on the battlefront of World War I. During the years of 1914 and 1918 more than 9 million soldiers died; many of the deadliest battles in modern history occurred during World War I. New technologies in warfare were used and created during this war including airplanes, submarines, and tanks, and deadly means of war were used including poisonous gas and trench warfare. The Western Front, the front line of the battlefield from Belgium to Switzerland running mostly through France, was lined with trenches to hold the soldiers trying to gain control of land on either side. Many soldiers were lost or wounded in the trenches even though land control was usually never gained. Soldiers who survived the war suffered from what they called cshell shock d but is now called cPost Traumatic Stress Disorder. d 30 Compiègne is about 75 kilometers (almost 47 miles) north of Paris. The Armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918, was signed in the Compiègne forest. 16. Julius Stewart (French, 1855-1919), The Ladies Goldsmith in the Bois de Boulogne in a Peugeot in 1897 , 1901, oil on canvas, 59 1/16 x 68 7/8 in. (150 x 175 cm.), Musée National du Château, Compiègne Like his contemporary John Singer Sargent, Julius Stewart was an American expatriate who spent very little time in America. Stewart was born in Philadelphia, but with his family he traveled in Europe spending most of his life in Paris. Stewart 9s father was a noted art collector and the young Stewart studied art under one of his father 9s artist friends, the well-known Jean- Léon Gérôme. Stewart became a fashionable portraitist, similar to Sargent, as well as a noted genre painter. He enjoyed Parisian high society and even won the French Legion of Honor. The painting The Ladies Goldsmith in the Bois de Boulogne in a Peugeot in 1897, depicts two society ladies driving a gas powered car, new to the Parisian street scene. The ladies, who like Stewart, are expatriates. They are driving in Bois de Boulogne, the fashionable park that was at this time located on the outskirts of the Parisian city limits. The ladies are sitting in a gas- powered Peugeot car. Peugeot, still a major French car company, introduced a steam powered car in 1889 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Because of the bulk and warm-up time for a steam engine, the company created a gas-powered engine that soon gained popularity. In this painting the newly designed gas-powered engine car can be seen. Automobiles became popular for the wealthy Parisians, and by 1899, Peugeot created a record 300 automobiles. Peugeot has remained one of the leading car manufacturers in France. It was unusual to see anyone, much less women, conducting an automobile at the turn of the century. The painting depicts these two wealthy ladies as they are taking control of the automobile, showing their independence in an age of new inventions and social ideals. 31 17. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919), The Excursionist, 1896, oil on canvas, 24 x 19 11/16 in. (61 x 50 cm.), Musée des Beaux-Arts Andre Malraux, Le Havre Pierre-Auguste Renoir was one of the innovators and leaders of the Impressionist movement in Paris. Renoir was born in a working-class family in Limoges, a city in central France. His family moved to Paris when he was very young and at the age of 13, Renoir went to work in a porcelain factory. The work in the factory would affect his art training later in life. On porcelain he painted small scenes and paid great attention to minute detail. The experience also refined his drawing abilities, a skill that he used throughout his career. In 1862 Renoir met fellow future Impressionists Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley, as well as other young artists who were on the verge of formulating new art ideas. The friendship with Monet proved to be a fortunate one. The two young artists discussed the effects of light and nature, painting en plein air and life in the modern world, all aspects that would later develop the Impressionist style. Renoir and Monet worked closely together and would even paint side-by-side, depicting scenes of Parisian social life and popular resort locales. Renoir 9s style developed differently from Monet in that aside from an interest in light and nature, Renoir 9s interests favored the glimpse of life and the pleasures that modern life can bring. Renoir exhibited his art in the Paris Salon for several years 32 Le Havre means cthe harbor d in French. It is located in Normandy in northern France on the English Channel. Le Havre was heavily damaged after D-Day during World War II. The Excursionist is housed at the Musee des Beaux-Arts Andre Malraux. The museum is named after Andre Malraux (1901-1976), a French author, historian and statesmen. He led a colorful life of action and adventure, and late in his life he created a movement to preserve the historic monuments of France. beginning in 1864 with moderate success, but the developments of the Impressionist style moved Renoir and his contemporaries out of favor with the strict academic style. In 1874 Renoir joined with fellow artists such as Monet, Degas, and Sisley to show their works outside of the Salon. Later coined the Impressionist Exhibition, there would be eight exhibitions displaying the Impressionists 9 works. In the 1870s Renoir received some success as a portraitist, which in turn gave him some freedom as an artist. In 1881 Renoir traveled to Italy and Spain to study the Old Masters. After his extended trip, Renoir turned away from his Impressionist roots and his art went through several transformations. By the 1890s Renoir found his new style, which he focused on for the rest of his life. He focused on the human figure, mainly the female figure. Renoir looked to the Old Masters for inspiration by creating works with mythological themes or classic poses for nudes. He moved away from the dappled, loose brushstroke of his Impressionist style to soft contours, light colors and thinly applied paint. The Excursionist painted in 1897 exhibits this style where the woman 9s figure blends with her surroundings. The painting depicts a woman who is on a hike. Her face is flushed from her outing and a determination can be seen in her expression. 33 Map of France (Listed cities have lent their works to the exhibition) 34 Timeline 1820-1920 Date American History The World 1800- 1809 1803 France sells the French territory of Louisiana to the U.S. creating the Louisiana Purchase 1805 Louis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean after setting off on their journey from Missouri in 1804 1804 Napoleon Bonapart

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