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Renoir, A Box at the Theater, 1880. Clark Art Institute.

Clark Art Institute, part 6

On the Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, MA, see theĀ first post in this series. This week we’re up to paintings of the 1860s-1890s. This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/nSHDNS9cWCI

To keep this post a manageable length, I’ll show just one subject: women. You can find more information on all these paintings via the Collections page on the Clark’s website.

Here’s what particularly interested me: in this period, styles in painting are changing rapidly and dramatically. I like seeing the details of works, so I’ve included a close-up of each artist’s brushwork. The websites of most museums don’t show this level of detail, and Wikipedia photos are often scanned illustrations from books, which means they have printing artifacts.

I’ll leave you to ponder which of these paintings you like, and why. Is it because of or in spite of the subject or the style? There are no right or wrong answers: just some enlightenment about what you enjoy looking at, so that you can find more of it.

James Tissot, Chrysanthemums, ca. 1874-1876. Clark Art Institute.
Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, Woman in White, ca. 1880. Clark Art Institute.
Renoir, A Box at the Theater, 1880. Clark Art Institute.
Berthe Morisot, The Bath, 1885. Clark Art Institute.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Waiting, ca. 1887. Clark Art Institute.
Pierre Bonnard, Women with a Dog, 1891. Clark Art Institute.
Paul Gauguin, Young Christian Girl, 1894. Clark Art Institute.

Next week: Favorite photos from 2023.

More

  • I’ve written about the 19th century in French art in Seismic Shifts in Subject and Style: 19th-Century French Painting and Philosophy. It’s a good place to start it if you’re interested in the changes in art during that period, and especially if you’re interested in what major artists think about the role of training in art, the role of reason vs. emotion in creating art, the importance of style vs. subject, and who’s qualified to judge art.
  • For more posts on museums, click this tag.
  • Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here. For examples of favorite recommendations from past years, click here.