Jacques Joseph Tissot (; 15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902),

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

as James Tissot (), was a French painter and illustrator. He was a successful painter of fashionable, modern scenes and society life in Paris before moving to London in 1871. A friend and mentor of the Impressionist painter

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Printmaking, prints ...

, Tissot also painted scenes and figures from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

Early life

Jacques Tissot was born in the city of

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and spent his early childhood there. His father, Marcel Théodore Tissot, was a successful drapery merchant. His mother, Marie Durand, assisted her husband in the family business and designed hats. A devout Catholic, Tissot's mother instilled pious devotion in the future artist from a very young age. Tissot's youth spent in Nantes likely contributed to his frequent depiction of shipping vessels and boats in his later works. The involvement of his parents in the fashion industry is believed to have been an influence on his painting style, as he depicted women's clothing in fine detail. By the time Tissot was 17, he knew he wanted to pursue painting as a career. His father opposed this, preferring his son to follow a business profession, but the young Tissot gained his mother's support for his chosen vocation. Around this time, he began using the given name of James. By 1854 he was commonly known as James Tissot; he may have adopted it because of his increasing interest in everything English.

Early career

James Tissot - The Circle of the Rue Royale - Google Art Project

In 1856 or 1857, Tissot travelled to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

to pursue an education in art. While staying with a friend of his mother, painter

Jules-Élie Delaunay Jules-Élie Delaunay (; June 13, 1828 – September 5, 1891) was a French academic painter. Biography He was born at Nantes in the Loire-Atlantique ''département'' of France. Delaunay studied under Flandrin, and at the École des Beaux Art ...

, Tissot enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts to study in the studios of

Hippolyte Flandrin Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (23 March 1809 – 21 March 1864) was a French Neoclassical painter. His most celebrated work, '' Jeune Homme Nu Assis au Bord de la Mer'' ("Young Male Nude Seated beside the Sea"), from 1836, is held in the Louvre. Bio ...

and Louis Lamothe. Both were successful Lyonnaise painters who moved to Paris to study under Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Lamothe provided the majority of Tissot's studio education, and the young artist studied on his own by copying works at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

, as did most other artists of the time in their early years. Around this time, Tissot also made the acquaintance of the American

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

, and French painters

(who had also been a student of Lamothe and a friend of Delaunay), and

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bor ...

. In 1859, Tissot exhibited in the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial ar ...

for the first time. He showed five paintings of scenes from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, many depicting scenes from Goethe's ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

''. These works show the influence in his work of the Belgian painter Henri Leys ( Jan August Hendrik Leys), whom Tissot had met in Antwerp earlier that same year. Other influences include the works of the German painters Peter von Cornelius and Moritz Retzsch. After Tissot had first exhibited at the Salon and before he had been awarded a medal, the French government paid 5,000 francs for his depiction of ''The Meeting of Faust and Marguerite'' in 1860, with the painting being exhibited at the Salon the following year, together with a portrait and other paintings.

Mature career

Émile Péreire supplied Tissot's painting ''Walk in the Snow'' for the 1862 international exhibition in London; the next year three paintings by Tissot were displayed at the London gallery of Ernest Gambart. James_Tissot_-_Un_Dejeuner

In about 1863, Tissot suddenly shifted his focus from the medieval style to the depiction of modern life through portraits. During this period, Tissot gained high critical acclaim, and quickly became a success as an artist. Like contemporaries such as Alfred Stevens and

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

, Tissot also explored

Japonisme ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...

, including Japanese objects and costumes in his pictures and expressing style influence. Degas painted a portrait of Tissot from these years (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), in which he is sitting below a Japanese screen hanging on the wall. Tissot fought in the Franco-Prussian War as part of the improvised defence of Paris, joining two companies of the Garde Nationale and later as part of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...

. His 1870 painting ''La Partie Carrée'' (''The Foursome'') evoked the period of the French revolution. Either because of the radical political associations related to the Paris Commune (which he was believed to have joined mostly to protect his own belongings rather than for shared ideology), or because of better opportunities, he left Paris for London in 1871. During this period,

Seymour Haden Sir Francis Seymour Haden PPRE (16 September 1818 – 1 June 1910), was an English surgeon, better known as an etcher, original etcher who championed original printmaking. He was at the heart of the Etching Revival in Britain, and one of the f ...

helped him to learn etching techniques. Having already worked as a caricaturist for

Thomas Gibson Bowles Thomas Gibson Bowles (15 January 1842 – 12 January 1922), known generally as Tommy Bowles, was an English publisher and parliamentarian. He founded the magazines '' The Lady'' and the English '' Vanity Fair'', and became a Member of Parliam ...

, the owner of the magazine ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'', as well as exhibited at the Royal Academy, Tissot arrived with established social and artistic connections in London. Tissot used the name Coïdé in Vanity Fair from 1869 to 1873. Tissot quickly developed his reputation as a painter of elegantly dressed women shown in scenes of fashionable life. By 1872 Tissot had bought a house in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

, an area of London very popular with artists at the time. According to ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists'', "in 1874 Edmond de Goncourt wrote sarcastically that he had 'a studio with a waiting room where, at all times, there is iced champagne at the disposal of visitors'". He gained membership of The Arts Club in 1873. Paintings by Tissot appealed greatly to wealthy British industrialists during the second half of the 19th century. During 1872 he earned 94,515 francs, an income normally only enjoyed by those in the echelons of the upper classes. In 1874, Degas asked him to join them in the first exhibition organized by the artists who became known as the Impressionists, but Tissot refused. He continued to be close to these artists, however.

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly e ...

visited him in London in 1874, and he travelled to Venice with

at about the same time. He regularly saw Whistler, who influenced Tissot's Thames river scenes. In 1875 or 1876, Tissot met Kathleen Newton, a divorcee who became the painter's companion and frequent model. He composed an etching of her in 1876 entitled ''Portrait of Mrs N.'', more commonly titled '. She gave birth to a son, Cecil George Newton in 1876, who is believed to be Tissot's son. She moved into Tissot's household in St. John's Wood in 1876 and lived with him until her death in the late stages of consumption in 1882. Tissot frequently referred to these years with Newton as the happiest of his life, a time when he was able to live out his dream of a family life. After Kathleen Newton's death, Tissot returned to Paris. A major exhibition of his work took place in 1885 at the Galerie Sedelmeyer, where he showed 15 large paintings in a series called '. Unlike the genre scenes of fashionable women he painted in London, these paintings represent different types and classes of women, shown in professional and social scenes. The works also show the widespread influence of Japanese prints, as he used unexpected angles and framing from that tradition. He created a monumental context in the size of the canvases. Tissot was among many Western artists and designers influenced at the time by

Japanese art Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including Jōmon pottery, ancient pottery, Japanese sculpture, sculpture, Ink wash painting, ink painting and Japanese calligraphy, calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and ...

, fashion and aesthetics.

Late career

In 1885, Tissot had a revival of his Catholic faith, which led him to spend the rest of his life making paintings about biblical events. Many of his artist friends were skeptical about his conversion, which coincided with the French Catholic revival, a reaction against the secular attitude of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

. Moving away from the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, who aimed to create art that reflected a changing, modern world, Tissot returned to traditional, representational styles and narratives in his watercolors. To assist in his completion of biblical illustrations, Tissot traveled to the Middle East in 1886, 1889, and 1896 to make studies of the landscape and people. His series of 365

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

illustrations showing the life of Christ were shown to critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences in Paris (1894–1895), London (1896) and New York (1898–1899), before being bought by the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

in 1900. They were published in a French edition in 1896–1897 and in an English one in 1897–1898, bringing Tissot vast wealth and fame. During July 1894, Tissot was awarded the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, France's most prestigious medal. Tissot spent the last years of his life working on paintings of subjects from the Old Testament. Although he never completed the series, he exhibited 80 of these paintings in Paris in 1901 and engravings after them were published in 1904. File:Brooklyn Museum - Saint Joseph Seeks a Lodging in Bethlehem (Saint Joseph cherche un gîte à Bethléem) - James Tissot - overall.jpg, '' Saint Joseph Seeks a Lodging in Bethlehem'' File:Brooklyn Museum - Jesus Found in the Temple (Jesus retrouvé dans le temple) - James Tissot - overall.jpg, ''Jesus Found in the Temple'' File:Brooklyn Museum - The Baptism of Jesus (Baptême de Jésus) - James Tissot - overall.jpg, ''The Baptism of Jesus'' File:Brooklyn Museum - Jesus Wept (Jésus pleura) - James Tissot.jpg, ''Jesus Wept'' File:Brooklyn Museum - Our Lord Jesus Christ (Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ) - James Tissot.jpg, ''Our Lord Jesus Christ'' File:Brooklyn Museum - What Our Lord Saw from the Cross (Ce que voyait Notre-Seigneur sur la Croix) - James Tissot.jpg, ''

Crucifixion, seen from the Cross ''What Our Lord Saw from the Cross'' () is a c. 1890 watercolor painting by the French painter James Tissot. The work is unusual for its portrayal of the Crucifixion of Jesus from the perspective of Jesus on the cross, rather than featuring him a ...

'' File:Brooklyn Museum - The Resurrection (La Résurrection) - James Tissot.jpg, ''The Resurrection'' File:Tissot The Creation.jpg, ''The Creation'',

Jewish Museum (New York) The Jewish Museum is an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the former Felix M. Warburg House, along Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The first Jewish museum in the Unit ...

, 1896 and 1902 File:James Jacques Joseph Tissot - Adam and Eve Driven From Paradise - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

Driven From Paradise'', between 1896 and 1902 File:James Jacques Joseph Tissot - The Ark Passes Over the Jordan - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Ark Passes Over the Jordan'', between 1896 and 1902 File:Tissot Moses.jpg, ''Moses'', watercolor circa 1896–1902 File:Tissot The Seven Trumpets of Jericho.jpg, ''The Seven Trumpets of Jericho,'' 1896 and 1902

Death and legacy

Tissot died suddenly in

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The c ...

which he had inherited from his father in 1888. His grave is in the chapel sited within the grounds of the chateau. Widespread use of his illustrations in literature and slides continued after his death with ''The Life of Christ'' and ''The Old Testament'' becoming the "definitive Bible images". In 1906, filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché used the Tissot Bible as reference material for her largest production at Gaumont to date, The Passion, creating twenty-five episodes, with approximately three hundred extras. His images provided a foundation for contemporary films such as the design for the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an ...

in ''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ro ...

'' (1981) and lifestyle themes in ''

The Age of Innocence ''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine '' Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. App ...

'' (1993). In the first half of the 20th century, there was a re-kindling of interest in his portraits of fashionable ladies and some fifty years later, these were achieving record prices.

Gallery

File:James Tissot - La Japonaise au bain.jpg , ''La Japonaise au bain'', 1864 File:James Tissot - The Thames.jpg , ''The Thames'', 1867 File:Tissot James Jacques The Fireplace.jpg , ''The Fireplace'', 1869 File:James Tissot - Young Ladies Looking at Japanese Objects.jpg , ''Young Ladies Looking at Japanese Objects'', 1869 File:James Tissot - At the Rifle Range.jpg , ''At the Rifle Range'', 1869 File:James Tissot - Jeune femme à l’éventail.jpg , ''Jeune femme à l’éventail'', 1870 File:James Tissot - Captain Frederick Gustavus Burnaby.jpg , ''Captain Frederick Gustavus Burnaby'', 1870 File:James Tissot - La Partie carrée.jpg , ''La partie carrée'', 1870 File:James Tissot - Young Lady in a Boat.jpg , ''Young Lady in a Boat'', 1870 Image:Tissot Railway Carriage.jpg , ''Gentleman in a Railway Carriage'', 1872 File:James Tissot - Bad News.jpg , '' Bad News'', 1872 File:James_Tissot_-_An_Interesting_Story.jpg , ''An Interesting Story'', circa 1872 File:James_Tissot_-_The_Tedious_Story.jpg , ''The Tedious Story'', circa 1872 File:James Tissot - The Captain's Daughter.jpg , ''The Captain's Daughter'', 1873 File:James Tissot - Boarding the Yacht.jpg , ''Boarding the Yacht'', 1873 File:James Tissot - Still on Top - Google Art Project.jpg , ''Still on Top,'' 1873 File:Ballonshipboard jamestissot 1874.jpg , ''Ball on Shipboard'', 1874 File:James Tissot - Chrysanthemums.jpg , ''Chrysanthemums'', 1875 Image:Tissot lilacs 1875.jpg , ''Lilacs'', 1875 File:James Tissot - A Passing Storm.jpg , ''A Passing Storm'', 1876 File:James Tissot - Holyday.jpg , ''

Holyday Holyday is often a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Barten Holyday (1593–1661), English clergyman, writer and poet *Doug Holyday (born 1942), Canadian politician *Stephen Holyday Stephen Holyday is a Canadian politician who ha ...

'', 1876 File:James_Tissot_-_The_Widower_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg , ''The Widower'', 1876 File:A_Convalescent_-_James_Tissot.jpg , ''A Convalescent'', circa 1876 File:James Tissot - The Gallery of HMS Calcutta (Portsmouth).jpg , '' The Gallery of H.M.S. 'Calcutta' (Portsmouth)'', 1877 Image:James Tissot - Hide and Seek.jpg , ''Hide and Seek'', 1877 File:James Tissot, Octobre 02.jpg , ''October'', 1877 File:James Tissot - Mavourneen.jpg , ''Mavourneen'', 1877 File:James Tissot - The Ball.jpg , ''The Ball'', 1878 Image:James Tissot - Seaside.jpg , ''Seaside'', 1878 File:James Tissot - Kathleen Newton In An Armchair.jpg , ''Kathleen Newton In An Armchair'', 1878 File:In_Full_Sunlight_(En_plein_soleil)_MET_DT2628.jpg , ''In Full Sunlight'', circa 1881 Image:James Tissot - On the Thames.jpg , ''On the Thames, 1882'' File:Tissot Garden Bench.jpg , ''The Garden Bench'', 1882 File:James_Tissot_-_La_demoiselle_de_magasin_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg , ''La demoiselle de magasin'', 1878–1885 Image:Tissot bridesmaid.jpg , ''The Bridesmaid'', 1883–1885 File:James Jacques Joseph Tissot - Women of Paris- The Circus Lover - Google Art Project.jpg , ''Women of Paris – The Circus Lover'', 1885 File:James Tissot - A Woman of Ambition.jpg , ''A Woman of Ambition'', 1885 File:In_the_conservatory,_by_James_Tissot.jpg , ''In the Conservatory''

References

Citations

General sources

Biography of Tissot with recent information on Kathleen Newton
* Misfeldt, Willard E. "Tissot, James acques-Joseph in ''Oxford Art Online''. * Wentworth, Michael. "James Tissot." Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984. Print * Wood, Christopher. "Tissot: Life and Work of Jacques Joseph Tissot 1836–1902." London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986. Print. *

External links

209 works by James Tissot at www.JamesTissot.org

James Tissot: The Life Of Christ. Exhibition at Brooklyn Museum 2009

*

''Degas: The Artist's Mind''
exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art fully available online as PDF, which contains material on James Tissot (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tissot, James 1836 births 1902 deaths 19th-century French painters French expatriates in the United Kingdom French male painters French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Orientalist painters Artists from Nantes Vanity Fair (British magazine) artists 19th-century French male artists