James Tissot

By Melissa E. Buron

This book explores James Tissot's multifaceted career and provides a fresh perspective on the 19th-century French painter.

James Tissot is best known for his paintings of women and society life in the late 19th century. Born in Nantes, France, he trained in Paris at the cole des Beaux-Arts where he befriended James McNeill Whistler and Edgar Degas. While invited into the Impressionist circle by Degas, Tissot never formally belonged to the group, but Degas acted as a frequent mentor to Tissot and they shared an extended series of correspondence. A shrewd businessman, Tissot garnered commercial and critical success on both sides of the English Channel while defying traditional conventions. Despite recognition at the time from patrons and peers, Tissot's reputation suffered after his death due to the perception that his paintings were just of high society and pretty women. However, even his society portraits reveal rich and complex commentary on Victorian culture. This richly illustrated book featuring paintings, etchings, and drawings, explores Tissot's life and career from his early years in Nantes to the end of his career when he painted spiritual and religious scenes. The book also includes essays which introduce new scholarship to question how Tissot should be classified within the narratives of the 19th-century canon.

Published with Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3791359193
• ISBN13: 9783791359199
• Release Date: October 2019
• Publisher: Prestel Publishing
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 5.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 9.8" x 12.2"