The "Femininity" Viewpoint of Berthe Morisot''s Paintings

• Main Authors: Yang Yin-Hsuian, 楊尹瑄
• Other Authors: 李明明
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1999
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/40362853272129256898

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 藝術學研究所 === 87 === The works of a woman Impressionist Berthe Morisot（1841-1895）were considered feminine by many critics in Nineteenth-Century, more than this, it was thought that her artistic values consist fully in the revelation of her femininity intuitively. My thesis mainly concern about those critical opinions which focus on the ''femininity''in Morisot''s paintings. In the first chapter, I describe Morisot''s life as a painter as the basis of our following discussion, pointing out her profession and her relationship to the Impressionism movement. The second chapter is the presentation of the content of ''femininity''discourse on Morisot from late 1860s to 1890s: some elements of her paintings such as subjects, unfinished style, superficial touch, transitory instant and light color were viewed as evidence of her womanhood; included is the opinion that Impressionism is a "feminine style" in the criticism of 1890s. In the third chapter, I intend to observe how the formation of these criticism is possible through the scientific and social definition of the feminine. Influenced by the definition of gender, those critics held that woman art was valuable just because it expressed femininity. This kind of criterion was applied not only to Morisot but also to other contemporary women artists. In the last chapter, through the analysis of Morisot''s style and the comparison with other Impressionists, I will examine the propriety of "femininity discourse". In the end, we will come to the conclusion that the so-called "femininity" can only be applied to some stages of her development, but can''t explain and assess her whole works comprehensively and objectively. Moreover, it would be dangerous to use gender as the criterion of the analysis of style.