Berthe Morisot (bourges, 1841-paris, 1895) - Maiden At Rest (julie Manet) - 1889

BERTHE MORISOT (Bourges, 1841-Paris, 1895)

Young girl at rest  (Julie MANET)
1889

Dry point 

High. 8 cm , Wide. 11.5 cm.
Impressionist family life: Berthe Morisot discovers engraving with Renoir

A student of Corot, a rare female artist and member of the Impressionist group, Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) began engraving to illustrate a collection of poems, Le tiroir de laque, at the request of Stéphane Mallarmé in 1887. This project was not successful, but this series of eight dry spikes created between 1888 and 1890 is one of the few accounts of Morisot’s discovery of the engraving alongside Renoir. Less physical than the chisel, Renoir chose to introduce his friend to the technique of the dry point, which reserves a limited number of prints. Berthe Morisot, over 47 years old, explores an intimate and spontaneous world full of sensitivity, with her family scenes, landscapes and portraits of women and children. His works no longer seek innovation but affirm a certain maturity. The style of these engravings is very similar to what Renoir did at the same time, including the portrait of Julie Manet, daughter of Berthe Morisot, kept at the Marmottan Museum in Paris. We find long and vertical shapes, planes tightened on bodies or faces. For the artist, it is a matter of translating an energy, an impulse or a breath of a model captured on the spot.