
Compromise and Challenge: Morisot’s Mother-Child Paintings in 19th-Century Paris
- 1 Reed College
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
For Paris, the 19th century is unique and precious. The changing regimes, the establishment of capitalism, and the progression of industrialization reshaped the city's landscape and society. As these changes led people into modern society, new challenges appeared accordingly, and the most significant one was the decline in birth rates. New lifestyles and issues altered people's thinking and focal points. Consequently, transformations in artistic expression emerged. In the vibrant tapestry of 19th-century French art, the new mother-child paintings, born to solve population problems of the industrialization process, witnessed the career paths of female artists and their feminine movements. Female artists like Berthe Morisot used this theme to gain professional recognition in the patriarchal society and to reflect and redefine their complex social roles as women in the transforming society, subtly challenging the conventional gender norms. This paper delves into how societal transformations influenced Berthe Morisot and the theme of her paintings, examining her works as a lens to explore her accomplishments.
Keywords
19th Century, Paris, Art History, Impressionist, Female
[1]. Forgione, N. (2005). Everyday Life in Motion: The Art of Walking in Late-Nineteenth-Century Paris. The Art Bulletin, 87(4), 664–87.
[2]. Broude, N. (2000). Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman or the Cult of True Womanhood? Woman’s Art Journal, 21(2), 36–43.
[3]. Spies-Gans, P. (2022). Why Do We Think There Have Been No Great Women Artists? Revisiting Linda Nochlin and the Archive. The Art Bulletin, 104, 70-94.
[4]. Silcock, J. (2018). Genius and Gender: Women Artists and the Female Nude 1870–1920. The British Art Journal, 19(3), 20–30.
[5]. Havice, C. (1981). In a Class by Herself: 19th Century Images of the Woman Artist as Student. Woman’s Art Journal, 2(1), 35–40.
[6]. Hyslop, F. E. (1954). Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt. College Art Journal, 13(3), 179–84.
[7]. Buettner, S. (1986). Images of Modern Motherhood in the Art of Morisot, Cassatt, Modersohn-Becker, Kollwitz. Woman’s Art Journal, 7(2), 14–21.
[8]. Higonnet, A. (2009). Making Babies, Painting Bodies: Women, Art, and Paula Modersohn-Becker’s Productivity. Woman’s Art Journal, 30(2), 15–21.
[9]. Berthe, M. (1869). The Mother and Sister of the Artist. Oil on canvas, overall: 101x81.8cm(39 3/4 x 32 3/16 in.); framed: 128.3 x 108.6 cm (50 1/2 x 42 3/4 in.). The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.); Chester Dale Collection. https://jstor.org/stable/community.14802839.
[10]. Berthe, M. (1872). Artist’s Sister Edma with Her Daughter Jeanne. Watercolor, 8 5/8x8 1/4. National Gallery of Art (U.S.). https://jstor.org/stable/community.13607619.
[11]. Berthe, M. (1871). Portrait of Edma Pontillon. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.wikiart.org/en/berthe-morisot/portrait-of-edma-pontillon.
[12]. Kessler, M. R. (1999). Unmasking Manet’s Morisot. The Art Bulletin, 81(3), 473–89.
[13]. Berthe, M. (1885). Self-portait with Julie by Morisot. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15530/self-portait-with-julie-by-morisot/.
[14]. Berthe, M. (1881). Eugene Manet and His Daughter at Bougival. Oil on canvas, 28 3/4x36 1/4. https://jstor.org/stable/community.13879499.
Cite this article
Wu,Y. (2024). Compromise and Challenge: Morisot’s Mother-Child Paintings in 19th-Century Paris. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,47,14-19.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Social Psychology and Humanity Studies
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).