THE TM 911 Franklin Street Weekly Newspaper Michigan City, IN 46360 Volume 29, Number 30 Thursday, August 1, 2013 Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity by Barbara Stodola Who would have thought ishly dressed young wom- there was yet another way en perusing fashion mag- to look at Impressionist azines, and proceeding to paintings? Thanks to the displays of well-preserved Art Institute of Chicago, gloves, parasols, nipped- we now have the opportu- in-the-waist corsets and nity to view this favored best of all, mannequins style through the eyes of garbed in period costumes a fashionista. The cur- that seem to have stepped rent exhibit brings trea- right out of the paintings. sures from the Metropoli- An entire case is devoted tan Museum of Art, NY, to satin slippers and an- and the Musée d’Orsay, other to fl owered hats. Paris, to Chicago’s already The Impressionist splendid collection – pro- painters were charmed, viding rare treats for your not only by the highly- summer viewing pleasure. accessorized fashions, but The show runs thru Sep- by the picturesque occa- tember 22, and has spe- In “Mme. Charpentier And Her Children” (1878), Pierre-Auguste Renoir sions and outdoor settings depicted the publisher’s wife in an elegant Worth gown with her two cial perks for Art Institute children Georgette (left) and Paul, the three-year-old son who, according of mid-19th-century “mod- members. Curator Gloria to the fashion of the time, was dressed like a girl. This painting ern life” – public parks, Groom calls it “the most was shown at the Salon and assured the artist’s successful debut. boulevards and railway (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY) rewarding exhibition” she stations of Paris, Sunday has organized. afternoons in The central the country, theme of fash- picnics and ion is main- boating trips tained from – plus the one gallery to theatres, cir- another – be- cus and cafes ginning with frequented Manet’s and by up-and- Renoir’s styl- Claude Monet used his mistress, Camille, Edouard Manet’s as the model for “Woman Reading” each of these fi gures (1879) shows a in “Women in the fashionably dressed Garden” (1866). young woman reading Scholars are still one of the magazines puzzled over how which provided the struggling artist information about the managed to purchase, newest Parisian styles. or borrow, all these (Art Institute of expensive gowns. Chicago) (Musée d’Orsay, Paris) Continued on Page 2 THE Page 2 August 1, 2013 THE 911 Franklin Street • Michigan City, IN 46360 219/879-0088 • FAX 219/879-8070 In Case Of Emergency, Dial e-mail: News/Articles - [email protected] email: Classifieds - [email protected] http://www.thebeacher.com/ PRINTED WITH Published and Printed by TM Trademark of American Soybean Association THE BEACHER BUSINESS PRINTERS Delivered weekly, free of charge to Birch Tree Farms, Duneland Beach, Grand Beach, Hidden 911 Shores, Long Beach, Michiana Shores, Michiana MI and Shoreland Hills. The Beacher is also delivered to public places in Michigan City, New Buffalo, LaPorte and Sheridan Beach. Impressionism Continued from Page 1 coming middle class and haute-bourgeoisie. How this milieu provided a foil for fashion is amply dem- onstrated. Seventy-fi ve major fi gure paintings have been as- sembled from museums world-wide. Among them: Monet’s “Camille,” his 19-year-old mistress, in green dress and fur-trimmed jacket (Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany); Renoir’s “Madame Georges Charpentier And Her Children,” casually posed with their big, patient dog (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY); Manet’s “Re- pose,” a portrait of artist Berthe Mor- Gustave Courbet shocked the art-going public with “Young Ladies on Banks of the Seine” (1856), because his subject evidently removed her isot (Rhode Island dress before falling asleep, outdoors – not proper behavior for a decent School of Design); woman, and not an acceptable painting for the French Salon. Morisot’s “Two Sis- (Musée du Petit-Palais, France) ters” (National Gal- implying that she undressed outdoors, and there- lery of Art, Wash- fore must be a prostitute. ington, D.C.); Alfred Even more scandalous was Henri Gervex’s “Rol- Stevens’ “Eva Gon- la,” in which the courtesan is sprawled naked on the zalez at the Piano” bed. Valerie Steele, director of the Museum of the (Ringling Museum Fashion Institute of Technology, explains, “You can of Art, Sarasota, see her red and pink corset, her petticoat and some FL). of her lover’s clothes. She’d stripped off all of her The many pieces clothes and jumped into bed practically before loaned by the Musée “In the Conservatory” (1881), a portrait of d’Orsay culminate Mme. Bartholomé by her artist-husband, Albert Bartholomé, is one of the highlights in “Madame Bar- of the current exhibit, and is shown tholomé In The Con- alongside the gown she originally wore for servatory,” painted the portrait. (Musée d’Orsay, Paris) Impressionist artists by her husband, Al- often modeled bert Bartholomé, and accompanied by the actual for one another, gown she wore for this life-sized portrait. This and and this portrait of Pierre-Auguste other beautifully detailed gowns pay tribute to the Renoir (1867), dressmaker’s art. painted by Frederic Gustave Courbet, not usually grouped with Im- Bazille, shows the casual attitude the pressionist painters, is brought into this fashion younger generation chronicle by way of “Young Ladies On Banks of the was adopting, Seine” (1856-7), which tells a fascinating modern- toward portraiture and life in general. morality story. The painting was evidently a shock- (Art Institute of er, not because one young woman is lying on the Chicago) grass in her chemise (French audiences, after all, were accustomed to paintings of reclining nudes), but because her outer garments are scattered about, THE August 1, 2013 Page 3 Captain Frederick Gustavus Barnaby (1885) cut a dashing fi gure in his military uniform, as portrayed by James Tissot. (National Portrait Gallery, London) he’d taken his hat off.” Based on a poem by Alfred de Musset, this morning-after scene depicts our hero as remorseful, standing beside the open win- dow and contemplating suicide. Such anecdotes add plenty of spice to otherwise buttoned-up apparel. Though women’s fashions constitute the major motif of the show, one entire gallery is devoted to the upper-class and bourgeois male – with his top hat, walking stick, pocket watch and plenty of at- titude. Bazille’s portrait of Renoir, seated on a chair with his knees up, is in this gallery. So is James Tis- sot’s painting of Captain Frederick Gustavus Barn- aby, resplendent in his military uniform – and a huge group portrait, also by Tissot, of fash- ionable males self-consciously posed on an im- pressive terrace. James Tissot is, for me, the biggest discov- ery of this exhi- bition. A French painter, though not strictly speaking an Im- pressionist, he achieved great success through Lovely gowns with ruffl es, ribons and fl ounces his fl attering were worn by James Tissot’s models in paint- ings such as “July: Specimen of a Portrait” portraits of so- (1878). (Cleveland Museum of Art) ciety women, beautifully gowned. His father was a drapery mer- chant and his mother a milliner, a heritage which Continued on Page 4 THE Page 4 August 1, 2013 Continued from Page 3 A grand view into Fall with a hint of Summer too! Great fabrics, timeless designs with a kick and oh so comfy! fabrics, too! Great with a hint of Summer view into Fall A grand Impressionism evidently af- fected his at- tention to de- tail. Tissot’s portrayal of fashion, and 3 DAYS ONLY! the fashionable this friday, saturday & sunday person’s contri- bution to soci- August 2, 3 and 4 ety, is essential to this show from 10-4 – and the or- ganizers seem to have combed two continents, bringing new- to-Chicago works from the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toron- By 1885, unescorted ladies were allowed to to, the Cleve- while away the afternoon at the circus, gazing land Museum at scantily clothed male trapeze artists. James of Art, the Mu- Tissot’s “The Circus Lover” is on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. seum of Fine Arts, Boston, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, the Tate Museum and National Portrait Gallery, London, as well as the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Expecting this show to be a great crowd-pleaser, the Art Institute is opening its doors early ev- ery Saturday and Sunday morning, so that members- only can beat the crowds, between 10 and 10:30 a.m. On Saturday evenings, you can “Dress to the Nines” for spe- cially-themed oc- casions: “Bows” August 3; “Sheer and Summery” August 24; “Flow- The current exhibition introduces Manet’s ers in Your Hair” “La Parisienne” (1875) with this motto: “La August 31; and as Parisienne is not in fashion, she is fashion” summer passes – clearly establishing Paris as the fashion center of the world. DETAILS: www.gladrags.info into fall, get dar- (Musée d’Orsay) ing with “Decol- 870 e sidewalk rd, chesterton letage” on September 14. These events take place 219-926-5557 from 6 to 9 p.m. THE August 1, 2013 Page 5 1026 N. Karwick Rd. Michigan City, IN 46360 219-871-0001 Bonnie “B” Meyer 219.874.2000 WELCOME TO THE LAKE! $719,000 205 Adahi Trail Grand Beach Woodlands Country home for city people! 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