Nice. The Musée des beaux-arts Jules-Chéret, named after the famous poster artist of the Belle Époque, is located a little outside the heart of the city of Nice. While awaiting the upcoming restoration work, the place, although slightly dilapidated, is not lacking in charm. Under the direction of Johanne Lindskog, heritage curator, the team has developed a dynamic research program aimed at bringing out of the shadows the women artists that art history has forgotten.
This is not the case, however, for Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), who was honored with a retrospective at the Musée d’Orsay in 2019. Yet, despite her participation in most of the historical Impressionist exhibitions, she never achieved the notoriety of her male counterparts. This is hardly surprising when one reads the letter sent by Édouard Manet to Henri Fantin-Latour about the Morisot sisters – before marrying, Edma had also practiced painting. For Manet, the Morisot sisters are charming, but he regrets that they are not men.
Scattered works
Fortunately, mentalities have evolved; now, faced with the portraits made by Berthe Morisot of her daughter Julie, who was practically her only model, critics are interested in the artist and no longer just in the mother.
The exhibition focuses on works produced during Morisot’s two stays in Nice, in 1881-1882 and 1888-1889. It is a fine effort, especially when one knows that these, mostly held in private collections, are dispersed throughout the world. According to art historian and curator Marianne Mathieu, assisted by Jeanne Pilon, these semi-urban landscapes, unlike other impressionists, do not ignore certain details characteristic of the resort town (The Port of Nice, 1882; Nice Beach1882, [voir ill.]). More importantly, these works of extreme delicacy and great chromatic richness have little to envy certain small canvases by Renoir, a close friend of Morisot, which are also presented here.
