Terra Incognita: Prints by Tissot

THE UNCHARTED TERRITORY OF MODERN WOMANHOOD WAS RICHLY

EXPLORED BY JAMES JACQUES JOSEPH TISSOT (FRANCE, 1836-1902) ,

PARTICULARLY IN HIS WORKS ON PAPER. FROM ILLUSTRATIONS

TO PRINTS AND PREPARATORY DRAWINGS, THESE WORKS DEPICT

FASHIONABLE WOMEN, THEIR BEHAVIORS, AND THE SPACES THEY INHABITED.

Nineteenth-century audiences could not easily decipher and categorize these subjects according to the available roles reserved for women in this period, either as wives, respectable single women, or sex workers. Their ambiguity reflects the blurring

in this era of previously clear-cut distinctions and hierarchies between men and women’s

positions, the aristocratic and the nontitled, the common and the fashionable, and was more broadly indicative of women’s evolving status in European society.

The works on view, selected from Telfair Museums’ permanent collection, were

created while Tissot resided in the newly developed suburbs of London with

Kathleen Newton, a single mother and divorcée who also modeled for the artist. To

many, the city’s rapidly developing outskirts were mysterious, potentially hazardous

sites; one critic described them as a “terra incognita” and likened the inhabitants

to pioneers in America, trapsing through “perfect wilderness.” This was also a time

when Tissot’s life dramatically intersected with his art, and he would experience

firsthand the very gender and class conflicts explored in his works.

This exhibition was organized by Telfair Museums and curated by

Anne-Solène Bayan, assistant curator.