Women Impressionists and the Land (Relié)

This beautiful catalogue offers the first serious investigation of the landscape production of the women Impressionists. Presenting fresh, contemporary perspectives, it features both famous and little-known artists, such as Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Marie Bracquemond and Blanche Hoschedé-Monet. This is the first book to focus on landscape and nature imagery in the work of the women Impressionists. Rather than concentrating on the domestic subject matter of these artists, which has been widely discussed, this book, which accompanies a Saint Louis Art Museum exhibition, explores the less documented outdoor spaces that were painted by the key women in the group, particularly Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Marie Bracquemond and Blanche Hoschedé-Monet. The book explores the way in which landscape imagery contributed to the rise in status of women artists in France during the years 1860–1910. It examines a range of works, focusing especially on the work of Morisot, who trained as a landscape painter and saw landscape imagery as a central part of her practice. The book examines favoured iconographical themes, such as the painting of marine and agricultural scenes, and parks and gardens. Central is imagery of a domesticated nature, such as Morisot’s paintings of the Bois de Boulogne, Bracquemond’s pictures at Sèvres and Cassatt’s views at the Château de Beaufresne after 1894.