Welcome back to my passion post thread, through which I analyze timeless modern artworks. I began the thread with Little Girl In a Blue Armchair by Impressionist Mary Cassatt, noting that I particularly love the painting because of the triumph of a female artist during a time when gender discrimination dominated society. I incorrectly associated the work shown below with Cassatt because of the coherent theme of womanhood during the late 19th century, but I learned that the painting was created by another prominent female Impressionist, Berthe Morisot.
Being a descendent of Rococo painter Jean Fragonard, who created the last painting analyzed on my passion post thread, Morisot’s wealthy upbringing enabled her to study at the famed Barbizon school. Her paintings were of the Barbizon style until she met Edouard Manet, with who she worked closely to develop and refine her Impressionist style apparent throughout Reading with a Green Umbrella shown below. Morisot also worked closely with other leading Impressionists and showcased her paintings in Salons, but she unfortunately never received nearly as much praise as her colleagues during her lifetime because she was a woman. Although Morisot’s paintings were subject to the predominant gender bias of the late 19th century, her paintings are more frequently examined now to appreciate and analyze what people during her time neglected.
Compared to Cassatt’s paintings, Morisot’s painting seems to follow the coherent theme of women’s typical routines, but subtle stylistic differences are apparent. Given that she was from the upper Parisian class compared to the American Cassatt, many of Morisot’s works would show the glamours of Parisian womanhood, portraying fashionably dressed subjects from perspectives that make viewers feel almost part of the same scene. Reading with Green Umbrella portrays Morisot’s sister Edma seated and reading a book surrounded by the natural environment, combining her theme of depicting womanhood with elements of the Impressionist movement. Edma wears a dress decorated with blue and lavender hues, and sits on a blanket with an umbrella and fan tossed effortlessly aside. The surrounding landscape was painted with the characteristic fast and loose Impressionistic brushwork, and contrasting to Cassatt’s paintings, the background has a bit more intricacy with the varying plants and carriage moving away.
I particularly love Reading with Green Umbrella because Morisot’s use of loose brushwork and color palette creates a sense of perspective, almost making her audience seem to be within the scene sitting across from Edma. It creates a near parallel to some of Cassatt’s paintings, but the differences between each of the artists’ upbringings are apparent. The scene’s light source and brushwork create the spontaneity of Edma’s life as a wealthy Parisian during the late 19th century, a characteristic of many Impressionist paintings. Most importantly, that the greater study and appreciation of Reading with Green Umbrella nowadays demonstrate the triumph over gender bias in fine art.
