James Tissot. The Convalescent, 1872. Oil on wood, Overall: 37.5 x 45.7 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of R.B.F. Barr, Esq., Q.C., 1966. Photo AGO. 65/28

TORONTO — Capturing the contradictions of the Victorian era, a moment of great social and technological change, French artist James Tissot’s (1836–1902) representations of women simultaneously depict the speed of modern life, the enduring pace of nature and the slow reality of women’s day-to-day lives. Opening at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) on December 20, 2024, Tissot, Women and Time presents a unique new perspective on the beloved works of the 19th-century artist. Featuring three paintings and 34 works on paper, the exhibition is guest-curated by Dr. Mary Hunter, Associate Professor of Art History, McGill University, in conjunction with Caroline Shields, Curator of European Art, AGO, and Alexa Greist, Curator & R. Fraser Elliot Chair, Prints & Drawings, AGO.  

As a confidant and contemporary of the Impressionists in Paris, Tissot was one of many artists who focused on the theme of the modern woman in the 1870s and 1880s. Long dismissed as mere fashion plates, his exquisitely detailed compositions are now studied for the insights they can provide on late 19th century life. The AGO is home to the largest public collection of the French artist’s prints outside the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, covering the full range of Tissot’s work.  

Dating from 1870 to 1885, the paintings and prints presented here depict women of various classes in a range of settings – symbolizing the seasons, and their lives at home, at work, and socializing in the bustling streets of London and Paris. Throughout, the exhibition describes the various implicit Victorian signifiers of social class and morality embedded in these artworks, to demonstrate that how a woman filled her time shaped her public perception.

“The contradictions present in Tissot’s art reflect the era’s own duality about women – casting them simultaneously as sexual yet innocent, sickly yet seductive, timeless yet modern,” says guest curator Dr. Mary Hunter, Associate Professor, McGill University. “These images also describe how time – as both objectively calculated and subjectively felt – took on new significance in the later nineteenth century and was intimately linked to social status and location. At the time of their creation, how these women are depicted spending their time would provide audiences with unspoken clues as to their class. Women portrayed with questionable men, for example, hint at sex work.  This exhibition is an opportunity to reveal the Victorian morals and social cues embedded in these images and to recognize the experience of time as being subject to those same ideas.”  

An artist equally adept in painting and printmaking, making its AGO debut on loan from the Collection of Allan and Sondra Gotlieb, is Waiting (late 19th century) – a watercolour painting of a young girl, hands clasped, eyes expectant. This image of a pale girl, likely suffering from tuberculosis, differs from other images on view of sick women waiting to recover, including The Convalescent (1872) and The Fan (1876). By comparison, these works depict attractive women lounging and recovering in their homes or gardens in ways that Victorian audiences at the time would have found sexually suggestive yet socially acceptable.

The quickness of modernity, exemplified by steam trains, newspapers, fashion and commerce, comes to life in Tissot’s portraits of women in action, socializing in bustling cities, or quickly tending customers.  Tissot’s Women of Paris series (1885) would signal the end of his artistic fascination with the modern woman. Badly received by the critics, despite their attention to detail, the works were derided for not being modern enough. The AGO’s beloved The Shop Girl (c. 1883-1885) and select prints from the series will be exhibited together.

The 34 works on paper presented are drawn from the generous donation of 150 Tissot etchings and mezzotints gifted by Allan and Sondra Gotlieb in 1994 and 1995. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Best known for his paintings of fashionable figures, Tissot began his career in Paris, France. While he turned down Edgar Degas’s invitation to exhibit with the Impressionists, he shared the group’s desire to portray scenes of modern life in an innovative style. He moved to London in 1871 after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, and became a popular painter of Victorian scenes, particularly those showing young women in typically modern moments, before returning to France in 1882.

James Tissot, The Thames, 1876. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photo: © Art Gallery of Ontario

James Tissot, The Newspaper, 1883. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photo: © Art Gallery of Ontario