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Lot Essay
Jeune fille à l'éventail was painted in 1893, after Morisot's move to rue Weber. The picture shows a young woman languidly holding a fan while gazing wistfully into the distance. Her shoulder is exposed, her clothing hanging off in a manner that fills the painting with narrative implications. While the fan had featured in many of Morisot's earlier works, here it takes on a new purpose, appearing to shield the girl's modesty where earlier it had been more of an accessory. Morisot herself had featured in paintings by her friend and brother-in-law Edouard Manet holding, or even shielding her face with, a fan, and her own works had depicted friends and family members holding fans that themselves were the gifts of other artists, decorated and donated by the likes of Degas. Morisot herself had decorated several fans. But here, that sense of decoration and accessory, of the world of fashion, has been replaced with an atmosphere that distinctly introduces a sense of the erotic.
It was apparently Morisot's fellow artist Federico Zandomeneghi who introduced her to the professional model Jeanne Fourmanoir. Perhaps it was a reflection of Morisot's own sadly diminishing circle-- her husband and her sister had both recently died-- that she turned now to a professional model, where previously she had largely focussed on her friends and family members. Perhaps, though, it was the increasingly sexual quality of her paintings that discouraged her from using people of her immediate acquaintance as subjects. In Jeune fille à l'éventail, Jeanne appears as an object of desire, her bare shoulder exposed, the fan hinting at the concept that she is concealing herself, perhaps teasingly-- certainly she does not appear unduly concerned. Morisot appears to be exploring a similar territory to that of her fellow painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in Jeune fille à l'éventail, a notion made all the more intriguing by the fact that Jeanne was known to have modelled for him as well.
Like La jeune fille au chat, which also features in this sale, Jeune fille à l'éventail was shown in the posthumous retrospective of Morisot's works that took place at Durand-Ruel's in 1896, shortly after the artist's death. The exhibition was a great event on the Parisian art scene, with many of Morisot's former Impressionist colleagues visiting and paying homage to one of the most talented of their number. It is a tribute in itself that the exhibition, which marked the anniversary of her death, was organised by the artists Degas, Monet and Renoir, as well as the writer Mallarmé, who had been a close friend and had also acted as tutor and guardian to her daughter Julie.
It was apparently Morisot's fellow artist Federico Zandomeneghi who introduced her to the professional model Jeanne Fourmanoir. Perhaps it was a reflection of Morisot's own sadly diminishing circle-- her husband and her sister had both recently died-- that she turned now to a professional model, where previously she had largely focussed on her friends and family members. Perhaps, though, it was the increasingly sexual quality of her paintings that discouraged her from using people of her immediate acquaintance as subjects. In Jeune fille à l'éventail, Jeanne appears as an object of desire, her bare shoulder exposed, the fan hinting at the concept that she is concealing herself, perhaps teasingly-- certainly she does not appear unduly concerned. Morisot appears to be exploring a similar territory to that of her fellow painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in Jeune fille à l'éventail, a notion made all the more intriguing by the fact that Jeanne was known to have modelled for him as well.
Like La jeune fille au chat, which also features in this sale, Jeune fille à l'éventail was shown in the posthumous retrospective of Morisot's works that took place at Durand-Ruel's in 1896, shortly after the artist's death. The exhibition was a great event on the Parisian art scene, with many of Morisot's former Impressionist colleagues visiting and paying homage to one of the most talented of their number. It is a tribute in itself that the exhibition, which marked the anniversary of her death, was organised by the artists Degas, Monet and Renoir, as well as the writer Mallarmé, who had been a close friend and had also acted as tutor and guardian to her daughter Julie.