'Forgotten' women Impressionists rediscovered at Irish exhibition

Women Impressionists were often ignored by critics unable to see past their "feminine" subject matter or dismissed as "secondary" figures.

The exhibition showcases the work of four of these 19th century artists -- Berthe Morisot, Eva Gonzales, Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.

"It is one of the first exhibitions anywhere to focus on the four women who are key to the Impressionist movement," the director of Dublin's National Gallery of Ireland, Caroline Campbell, told AFP ahead of the show's opening on Thursday.

"We wanted to look at four great painters who got much less attention... because they were women," she said.

The first Impressionist exhibition took place in Paris in 1874 after painters including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Paul Cezanne grew tired of being rejected by the conservative gatekeepers of the art establishment's official exhibition and decided to mount their own show.

Although it took several more exhibitions for Impressionism with its trademark rapid, spontaneous brushstrokes, to take off, that first show is now considered the birth of the movement.

Some 60 works by the four women artists are on display.

"They take us into what Impressionism means. It's about light. It's about colour, but it's also about family, and close relationships. And for these women, it's about sisterhood, as well," Campbell said.
Timely celebration
Women artists did not have access to public spaces in the way that their male counterparts did, added exhibition curator Janet McLean.

"They couldn't go to bars or cafes and paint people in those environments. So a lot of their work is painted in the intimacy of homes and gardens, using family members as models," she said.

Highlights of the "Women Impressionists" exhibition include an 1884 portrayal of an intimate domestic scene: "The Artist's Daughter, Julie, with her Nanny" by Morisot.

The painting, loaned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, shows the girl watching her nanny sewing.

Morisot positions the figures by a window to create Impressionist-style light and a glimpse of the outside.

Bracquemond's 1880 painting "Le Gouter" ("The Tea"), is set in the artist's home in France.

The work reveals her admiration of Impressionist pioneer Monet's painting techniques and her reinvention of them.

The show, which runs until October 6, was devised by the Ordrupgaard art museum in Denmark where it was on display earlier this year.

Campbell said the 150th anniversary felt like a "really timely moment" to celebrate these women Impressionists.

"This is an important exhibition to do at this moment, to think... (of) the role that women play in society today, and how different that is to 150 years ago," she said.

"How extraordinary these people were... and that we can now celebrate them here in Dublin," she added.