The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of February 14, 2025

Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait)
1878
(French, 1836–1902)
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.)
Bequest of Noah L. Butkin 1980.288
Location: 220 19th Century European
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 weremore 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.
- 1879(Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, May 31,1879, acquired form the artist).1879Arrived in New York via Jos. Bulla, Paris, July 14, 1879, Femme au sofa (stock number 1645).1879(Knoedler, New York, NY, October 4, 1879, sold to Henry Hilton, as Summer-days)1900(American Art Galleries, New York, NY, Hilton Collection sale, February 13-16 February 1900 (lot 74), sold to Edward Brandus)1971-1972(W. Postar, Boston, MA, sold to Herbert Schwarz)1972Herbert Schwarz, Montreal1972(Sotheby's, Los Angeles, CA, Parke-Bernet, May 22-23, 1972, lot 260, Jeune femme assise with unsustainable provenance)1972(Williams & Son, London, United Kingdom, May 1972)1972Clarence Frisbee, London, October 1972.1975(Christie's, London, United Kingdom, July 25, 1975, lot 115)1975-1980Mr. Noah L. Butkin [1918-1980] Shaker Heights, OH, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art1980-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- "Grosvenor Gallery. Second Notice." The Magazine of Art 1 (1878): 81-82. Mentioned: P. 82Laver, James. "Vulgar Society"; The Romantic Career of James Tissot, 1836-1902. London, United Kingdom: Constable & co., ltd, 1936. Reproduced: p. 69"Salerooms." The Connoisseur 190 (September 1975): 68-69. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 68Tissot, James Jacques Joseph. “Seaside.” Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors 102 (November 1975): 392 Reproduced: P. 392Wentworth, Michael. James Tissot: Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints. Minneapolis, Minn. : Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1978. Reproduced: P. 160Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1980." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art LXVIII no. 6 (June, 1981): 163-219. Reproduced: p. 183; Mentioned: p. 182, p. 214, no. 117Wentworth, Michael. James Tissot. Oxford, [Oxfordshire]: Clarendon Press, 1984. Mentioned: p. 131, 142-145, 156, 202; reproduced: pl. 132Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz,ed. James Tissot. Oxford: Phaidon Press and Barbican Art Gallery, 1984. Mentioned: P. 60-61, 119Wood, Christopher. Tissot: The Life and Work of Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1836-1902. London, United Kingdom : Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986. Mentioned: p. 101; Reproduced: p. 105, fig. 103Ash, Russell.James Tissot. New York, NY: H.N. Abrams, 1992. Mentioned: p. 30Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: P. 238D'Argencourt, Louise and Roger Diederen. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue of Paintings, Part Four; European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Reproduced: p. 211Marshall, Nancy Rose, and Malcolm Warner. James Tissot: Victorian Life, Modern Love. New Haven, CT: American Federation of Arts, Yale University Press, 1999. Reproduced: no. 52; Mentioned: p. 124-125Jiminez, Jill Berk, and Joanna Banham. Dictionary of Artists' Models. London, United Kingdom: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001. Reproduced: p. 399Groom, Gloria Lynn. Impressionism, Fashion, & Modernity. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2012. Reproduced: p. 157, no. 39Bougault, Valerie. "L'Impressionisme en Habits." Connaissance des Arts (October 2012): 48-57. Reproduced: P. 51
- Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France (September 25, 2012-January 12, 2013); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (February 19-May 27, 2013); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (June 29-September 29, 2013).Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum, China (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).James Tissot. Victorian Life/Modern Love. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT (September 22-November 28, 1999); Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec City, Canada (December 15, 1999-March 12, 2000); Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY (March 24-July 2, 2000).Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).Summer Exhibition. Grosvenor Gallery, London, United Kingdom (1878).Possibly Victoria & Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom (according to Noah L. Butkin, in letter to The Cleveland Museum of Art; could not be verified).
- {{cite web|title=Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait)|url=false|author=James Tissot|year=1878|access-date=14 February 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.288