Artwork Page for Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait)

Details / Information for Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait)

Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait)

1878

James Tissot

(French, 1836–1902)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
oil on fabric
Measurements
Framed: 112.1 x 85.4 x 6.4 cm (44 1/8 x 33 5/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 87.5 x 61 cm (34 7/16 x 24 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Noah L. Butkin 1980.288
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
220 19th Century European
Print
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Did You Know?

From 1869 to 1876, under the pseudonym Coïdé, James Tissot published political cartoons in the British weekly magazine Vanity Fair, causing circulation to skyrocket.

Description

This painting depicts a woman reclining upon an upholstered couch on a summer day while light filters through a partially closed awning that provides a glimpse of a beach in the background. James Tissot’s mature works from this time were
more likely to convey a mood—here of a languid summer afternoon—than a specific narrative. The model for this painting was Kathleen Newton, born Kathleen Ashburnham Kelly (1854–1882), the artist’s lover from 1876 until her untimely death from tuberculosis at the age of 28.
A vertically oriented oil painting depicts a woman with light skin tone reclining on a couch in front of a window. Her red-brown hair is in a bun and she wears a frilly, white dress with layers and adorned with yellow bows. She leans her right elbow on the floral-patterned couch, leaning her head against her hand, while her left arm flops over a mustard-yellow pillow at her side. A red-striped awning extends from the window, beyond which runs a sandy beach with thin strip of blue water and two figures carrying umbrellas at the left.

Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait)

1878

James Tissot

(French, 1836–1902)
France, 19th century

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