Women In French Art, 1875-1915

Paper Summary:

Representations of women in painting of the period 1875-1915 feature women revealed in one of three ways; they are either nudes or semi-nudes, working women (urban and rural) in relaxed or revealing clothing, or fashionable women (respectable or otherwise) whose adherence to the strange costume of the bourgeoisie contorts and reveals their bodies in bizarre ways.

From the Paper:

"Representations of women in painting of the period 1875-1915 feature women revealed in one of three ways; they are either nudes or semi-nudes, working women (urban and rural) in relaxed or revealing clothing, or fashionable women (respectable or otherwise) whose adherence to the strange costume of the bourgeoisie contorts and reveals their bodies in bizarre ways. The implications of bourgeois dress for women in this period are manifold and painters' various approaches to costumed women bring out the range of meanings in this form of attire. The varieties of objectification of women, anxiety over the status of their virtue, and attempts at control are manifested in hundreds of paintings that present vivid contrasts between elegance and discomfort, sexual availability and utter respectability. The figure of the Parisienne (respectable or not) dominated European..."

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