• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

“[These portraits] are perfectly harmonious works because the dress, the hairstyle, and even the gesture, the expression and the smile form a whole, full of vitality.” Charles Baudelaire, The painter of modern life, 1863 “The painter of the modern woman” and of the most exuberant Parisian elegance. Thus, in 1909, the fashion magazine Fémina described Boldini. The title echoed the virtues of the Baudelairian artist of modern life, one who knew how to capture the fleeting nature of charm, which was also due to fashion and its incessant change, and was thus able to capture the spirit of the time on canvas. Boldini represented that era of voluptuous elegance, of strong, persistent perfumes, lavish jewellery and affected poses better than anyone else, so much so as to make a lasting impression on generations of photographers and fashion and costume designers over the 20th century, from Christian Dior to Cécil Beaton, from Richard Avedon to Piero Tosi, from John Galliano to Alexander McQueen. The charm of Boldini’s portraits, in which his models appear worldly, sure of themselves and their power of seduction, owes much to the relationship the artist had with the emerging industry of high fashion and celebrity in Paris and to which he made a notable contribution in turn. Representing the epitome of modern life, fashion was initially used to anchor his work in the present but soon became an essential and distinctive attribute of his portraiture. Boldini created a unique personal interpretation of the society portrait by dressing his models in the creations of great couturiers like Worth, Doucet, Paquin and the Callot Soeurs and painting their portraits with edgy dynamic brushstrokes that emphasized their deliberate and sensual postures. The look he created became the ideal standard at the turn of the century, anticipating the formulaic styles and trends of 20th century cinema and glamour photography. Organized by the Fondazione Ferrara Arte and the Museo Giovanni Boldini of Ferrara, the exhibition tells the story of this fascinating connection for the first time, thanks to a lengthy study of documents which has allowed the reconstruction of Boldini’s dense network of social and professional connections. Over 120 items, including paintings, drawings and engravings by Boldini and his colleagues Degas, Manet, Sargent, Whistler, Seurat, Blanche and Helleu and wonderful vintage dresses, books and accessories, retrace Boldini’s brilliant Parisian career and illustrate changes in fashion over four decades. Arranged thematically, each section is linked to an author such as Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust and Henry James who made fashion a key component of the poetics of modernity. The exhibition also focuses on the intertwining between art, fashion and literature that marked the fin de siècle, and evokes the setting of worldliness, charm and sophistication that was behind Boldini’s long career, immersing the visitor in the refined and shimmering atmosphere of Paris and all its elegant hedonism. 1. Elegance, mystery, modernity (Charles Baudelaire) “Where is the man who, on the street, at the theatre, at the Bois de Boulogne, hasn’t casually appreciated an expertly coordinated outfit that fixes an image that does not separate the beauty of the clothing from the one wearing it, making the woman and the outfit one?” A forerunner of the poetics of modernity, Baudelaire was the first to establish the cult of the ephemeral and of fashion and their fleeting beauty. As a sublime expression of the taste and ideals of every era, fashion became the element that made it possible to set a work of art in the present, allowing the artist to be very contemporary and modern. The direct and immediate representation of the present as invoked by Baudelaire finds its apotheosis in the works of a group of artists including Boldini who, between the 1870s and 1880s, celebrated sophistication, the mystique and modernity of contemporary dress: be it the elegant Parisian woman walking down the street or attending the races (G. De Nittis, Return from the races, 1878, Trieste, Museo Civico Revoltella), or the magnificent and gallant attire for men crowned with the bowler or top hat which in its poetic monotony becomes the poignant symbol of “perpetual mourning” of the modern man (E. Manet, Théodore Duret, 1868, Paris, Petit Palais; E. Degas, Jeanteaud, Linet and Lainé, 1871, Paris, Musée d’Orsay). Black was popular in these years, that colour that isn’t really a colour. Baudelaire took this mark of mourning and, for the true lady, turned it into a symbol of elegance and distinction that could be shown off in any situation. Camille Mauclair later described Boldini as an extraordinary “painter of black” when comparing him with Manet and Whistler. In these years, Boldini created some of the most seductive female portraits of that period featuring ladies of the international bourgeoisie, like the Chilean Emiliana Concha de Ossa (Woman in black looking at the “White pastel”, c. 1888, Ferrara, Museo Giovanni Boldini), the mother of the famous artist-designer Fortuny, Cecilia de Madrazo (1882, Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts), and public figures and celebrities like the actress Alice Régnault. The latter is depicted outdoors wearing a severe yet rakish riding habit (c. 1879, Milan, GAM) which was the only dress for women made by tailors at the time, and again next to a splendid early 20th century saddle by Hermès. She’s also portrayed in deshabillé (c. 1880-84, private collection), revealing the secret to the perfect silhouette: the corset. 2. Portrait of a Lady (Henry James) As a result of the social changes that marked the second half of the 19th century, taste and elegance were no longer the exclusive preserve of the aristocracy and became the distinctive hallmark of affluence for the new rising classes who were seeking social acceptance. Fashion becomes a means of expressing personality, an extension of oneself. When the English tailor, Charles Frederick Worth, proclaimed himself “an artist” of women’s fashion and style, he gave rise to the modern concept of the designer as a creative genius. Artist and couturier become accomplices in the celebration of that most divine of all creatures: woman. In those years, society portraits, especially of women, turned more and more towards emphasizing external characteristics than representing emotions and feelings. Woman is perceived, first of all by herself, as a living work of art that finds expression through pampering the body and choosing clothing to adorn it. “I know a large part of myself is in the clothes I choose to wear. I've a great respect for things! One's self-- for other people--is one's expression of one's self,” wrote Henry James in Portrait of a Lady (1881.) Along with Whistler and Sargent, from whom he inherited the atelier and some of his wealthy clients in 1886 following the scandal aroused by the submission to the Salon of the bold portrait of Madame Gautreau (1884, London, Tate), Boldini is distinguished by his innovative and confident “supreme representation of femininity, irresistible, impetuous, and yet naively demure, the true lady.” (Countess de Leusse, 1889, private collection; Firework, 1890-95, Ferrara, Museo Giovanni Boldini; Lady in white, 1902, Florence, Palazzo Pitti). 3. Reflections (Oscar Wilde) According to late 19th century theories of aesthetics, a portrait must be more than a simple act of recording. Like the couturier, the artist takes on the role of social mediator, playing a strategic part in determining the image and reputation of his model. If a client selected a painter in vogue in order to achieve a particular stylistic result, artists in turn also selected their clients based on their reputation in order to enhance their own. Artist and model therefore reflect one another in a game of mirrors, accomplices in the process of self- promoting their public image. The construction of these portraits intended for distribution passes through carefully chosen and shared clothing, poses and demeanours with the awareness that, as Oscar Wilde puts it, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” (J. S. Sargent, Graham Robertson, 1894, London, Tate; J-E. Blanche, Aubrey Beardsley, 1895, London, National Portrait Gallery). In the last decade of the century, Boldini improved his reputation with the strategic choice of portraying celebrities from the artistic, cultural and social scene of the time and showing these portraits at some of the most important international exhibitions in both Europe and the Americas. These portraits quickly became genuine icons destined to remain in the public imagination: the femme fatale, emancipated and dangerously seductive (Lady Colin Campbell, 1894, London, National Portrait Gallery); the Dandy (Count Robert de Montesquiou, 1897, Paris, Musée d’Orsay), and the great artist (James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 1897, New York, Brooklyn Museum). Portraits such as these show how the painter of society ladies also excelled in representing manliness. One example is the vivid portrait of the writer Henri Gauthier-Villars (1905, private collection), husband of Colette, which is considered by many to be one of the “most successful and typical of the period.” 4. The Painter of Women (Robert de Montesquiou) January 1901 saw the publication of a new magazine devoted to fashion, luxury and the high- life, Les Modes. This new sophisticated cosmopolitan publication created by Michele Manzi foresaw an unprecedented collaboration between art and fashion with the aim of celebrating “the most fashionable French and foreign beauties in Paris.” The first issue featured a series dedicated to “painters of women,” in which Boldini is acclaimed by Robert de Montesquiou as incomparable in capturing “the complex scent and multiple seduction” of the eternal feminine. An adept self-promoter, Boldini begins to release his most fascinating portraits which fill the covers of Les Modes or are reproduced in luxurious limited edition colour engravings.

Load more

  5

Copy Link