by James Tissot (1836 - 1902)
By kind permission of the Museum of Art, Montreal, Canada.
This painting, which was completed in 1877, corresponds to the most important event of Tissot's personal life; his meeting and falling in love with the beautiful divorcee, Kathleen Newton, eighteen years his junior. She and her two daughters came to live with him in St. John's Wood, London, in about 1876, a year before this painting; a move which was scandalous by Victorian standards. Before then he divided his time between Paris and London. Now he travelled less and his subject matter scenes of high society and glittering balls to domestic scenes and more intimate groups. Kathleen and her children posed for many of his paintings, some of which can be interpreted as records of this relationship."Octobre" at first just appears to be a talented portrait, show this handsome woman, dressed in rich, elaborate and very feminine clothes, walking with a lilt.
Ambiguous appearances are part of Tissot's deception in this very provoking painting. Although this composition has only one subject, Malcolm Warner (Medici Society 1982) illustrates the significance of this point in referring generally to include his group subjects; that "Tissot's main concern is not narrative but psychological. The past and the future lives of his characters interest him less than their feelings and the relationships between them at the moment we see them. To 'read' his (group) pictures, we must be alert to who is looking or not at whom; how the position, pose or gesture of a character might reveal what he or she is thinking.... The ambiguity is deliberate and perfectly judged, so that we cannot resist speculating, yet never reach a neat solution."
Here, her well-proportioned figure forms a beautiful curve, giving us the sense of purposeful movement. Kathleen is walking away throwing an enigmatic backward glance. Clearly she knows the artists desire to deceive the viewer of the painting. Does she beckon? or does she want her own space? The observation is as important to Tissot as the artistic skills he shows in this painting itself; see how portrays her hitching up her voluminous skirts for instance. We can all appreciate the movement, but are even more motivated by what we expect to happen next!
Born in Nantes, James Tissot's remarkable career can be split into three phases. In his 20's he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and came to the public attention when his "Faust and Marguerite" was purchased by the French Government. Having painted a series of portraits beautiful French women, which he exhibited in Paris under the Title of "La Femme de Paris", he became a popular figure in boulevard and cafe life. This life was dramatically interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War in which he is reputed to have fought bravely.
After the war he moved to London, was commissioned by Vanity Fair to produce caricatures, and recorded the social life of the English middle classes. In 1876 he met Kathleen Newton who became his mistress and model, appearing in many of his paintings. Her premature death from consumption at the age of only 28 was a terrible blow. He moved back to Paris in 1882, turned to religion and solace and went to Palestine. In 1895 he returned to Paris with 350 drawings and painted a series of scenes from the Old Testament. He became a recluse and died at the Chateau de Buillon in 1902. In 1984-85 there were major exhibitions of his work in both London and Paris. Wealthy collectors have often shunned Tissot's work preferring the potential investment value of the impressionists. The lower comparative values of Tissot's original works, alongside many of his contemporaries, have been the result of years of unjustified art snobbery by the Avante-Garde. It appears they never questioned his subtlety. One day the just resting place of Tissot will be found alongside the greatest.
