DIDIER AARON × Drawings × Sculpture

JACQUES-JOSEPH TISSOT, called JAMES TISSOT ( 1836 –1902 Chenecey-Bullion)

Study for ‘Waiting at the Station, Willesden Junction’

Watercolour over graphite 290 x 138 mm Framed: 55.5 x 38.5 cm Signed lower right: J. Tissot c.1871

PROVENANCE: Hugh Walpole (1884-1941); The Leicester Galleries, London, The collection of the Late Sir Hugh Walpole, 1945, n°21; acquired by Alan Bott (1893-1952). Fig. 1 When he arrived in England in 1871, soon after the Commune, Jacques-Joseph Tissot had already anglicised his first name to James and soon became the most celebrated Anglo- French artist (fig. 2: , Portrait de James Tissot, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). At the time of his arrival, the artistic scene in London was dynamic and centred around the Royal Academy. Tissot, who had already discovered the Pre-Raphaelites while in , focused on narrative paintings with elegant subjects and became very successful in Victorian England.

Fig. 2 His observation of London life, his technical dexterity and taste for realism right into the smallest detail, were inspired by Baudelaire’s writings in Le Peintre de la vie moderne, a series of essays published in the Figaro. Similar to Degas and Manet, Tissot took on its precepts.

After focusing on medieval and Japanese subjects, such as the magnificent Young women looking at Japanese objects, now at the Cincinnati Art Museum (fig. 3: oil on canvas, 1869, inv. 1984.217), Tissot, a dandy whose parents were drapers and milliners, became passionate about female fashion, making it an intrinsic element of his work. Fig. 3 Thanks to his register of domestic accounting, we know that his most prolific period, generating the biggest income, was between 1872 and 1874, when he was under contract with Agnew’s and Pilgeram & Lefèvre galleries, showing his work at many important exhibitions; he frequently met with Whistler, Millais and Alma-Tadema.

It is during this period that he painted emblematic works such as The Ball on Shipboard, now at the Tate (fig. 4; inv. N04892), London Visitors, now at the (inv. 1951.409) and The Thames, now at The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire (fig. 5).

Fig. 4 Fig. 5

This watercolour is a study for Waiting at the Station, Willesden Junction, now at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand (fig. 1; inv. 1-1921). Painted on panel, it is of a relatively small format for the artist (60 x 34.5 cm) and, according to the sale details entered in the register of accounting, dates from between 1871 and 1873. Although rarely lent to any major exhibition on the artist, partly due to its location and the fragility of the panel support, Waiting at the Station is an important by Tissot, its subject symbolizing modern progress in London.

The technique of this drawing, graphite and watercolour on blue paper, is characteristic of the artist, illustrating Tissot’s interest in the feminine world, realistically describing details of the ribbons, lace and the tartan shawl, which the woman uses as a muff. The limited chromatic range on this sheet of mainly black, greys and white is contrasted by the vibrant red of the young woman’s shawl. In the final painting Tissot further explored the idea of contrasting colours with his vibrant palette. The elegant hat of the model was changed to a boater, and the dress with a tournure or bustle was further enriched with drapery.

The labels on the backboard of this sheet indicate that it was in the collection of Sir Hugh Walpole (1884-1941), a celebrated patron, collector, novelist and philanthropist. Following the dispersal of his collection through the Leicester Galleries in 1945, this drawing was purchased by his friend Alan Bott (1893- 1952), a World War I flying ace, journalist, editor and publisher who founded Pan Books.

Backboard

Detail

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