Woman in a Tub (Degas)

Last updated
Woman in a Tub
Edgar-degas-the-tub-1886.jpg
Artist Edgar Degas
Year1886
Type pastel on blue-grey paper
Dimensions69.9 cm× 69.9 cm(27.5 in× 27.5 in)
Location Hill–Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut

Woman in a Tub (or The Tub) is one of a suite of pastels on paper created by the French painter Edgar Degas in the 1880s and is in the collection of the Hill-Stead Museum in Connecticut. The suite of pastels all featured nude women "bathing, washing, drying, wiping themselves, combing their hair or having it combed" and were created in readiness for the sixth and final Impressionist Exhibition of 1886. [1]

Contents

The work demonstrates Degas' mastery of pastel drawing and, like the other works in the suite, portrays a woman engaged in a mundane private activity, in this case spongeing down her bathtub. The same bathtub featured in several of the works in the series and, together with the model's red hair, suggested the women were of the working class, possibly even prostitutes, In their defence Degas retorted "my women are simple, honest creatures who are concerned with nothing beyond their physical occupations... it is as if you were looking through a keyhole" emphasising the innocence of the models and the voyeurism of the predominantly male viewing public. [2]

Associated works

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berthe Morisot</span> 19th-century French artist

Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Édouard Manet</span> French painter (1832–1883)

Édouard Manet was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impressionism</span> 19th-century art movement

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities, ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience. Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Cassatt</span> American painter and printmaker (1844–1926)

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar Degas and exhibited with the Impressionists. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musée d'Orsay</span> Art museum in Paris, France

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and van Gogh. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum's opening in 1986. It is one of the largest art museums in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar Degas</span> French Impressionist artist (1834–1917)

Edgar Degas was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustave Caillebotte</span> French painter (1848–1894)

Gustave Caillebotte was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early interest in photography as an art form.

<i>Portraits at the Stock Exchange</i> Painting by Edgar Degas

Portraits at the Stock Exchange is a painting by the French artist Edgar Degas. Completed in about 1879, the painting was already in the collection of the French banker Ernest May when it was listed in the catalogue of the fourth Impressionist exhibition that year. It may also have been shown in the next Impressionist exhibit in 1880, but it was not well known until it entered the collections of the Louvre in 1923. The canvas shows an interior corner of the open trading floor of the Paris Stock Exchange. May stands in the center of the picture wearing a top hat and pince-nez, listening to his colleague, a certain M. Bolâtre, leaning over his shoulder. They are likely discussing a document, possibly a bordereau, held aloft by a partially obscured third party.

Events from the year 1886 in art.

<i>LAbsinthe</i> Painting by Edgar Degas

L'Absinthe is a painting by Edgar Degas, painted between 1875 and 1876. Its original title was Dans un Café, a name often used today.

<i>Les Choristes</i> 1877 pastel by Edgar Degas

Les Choristes is an 1877 pastel on monotype by French artist Edgar Degas. Part of a series of similar works depicting daily public entertainment at the time, it shows a group of singers performing a scene from the opera Don Giovanni, the only work by Degas depicting an operatic performance without dancers.

<i>The Childs Bath</i> Painting by Mary Cassatt

The Child's Bath is an 1893 oil painting by American artist Mary Cassatt. The painting continues her interest in depicting bathing and motherhood, but it is distinct in its angle of vision. Both the subject matter and the overhead perspective were inspired by Japanese Woodcut prints and Edgar Degas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre-Georges Jeanniot</span> French painter (1848–1934)

Pierre-Georges Jeanniot (1848–1934) was a Swiss-French Impressionist painter, designer, watercolorist, and engraver who was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and died in France. His work often depicts the modern life in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Modern Art André Malraux - MuMa</span> Museum in Le Havre, France

The Museum of Modern Art André Malraux - MuMa is a museum in Le Havre, France containing one of the nation's most extensive collections of impressionist paintings. It was designed by Atelier LWD, an architecture studio led by Guy Lagneau, Michel Weill and Jean Dimitrijevic. It is named after André Malraux, Minister of Culture when the museum was opened in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic</span> French painter

Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic was a French artist, archaeologist and patron of the arts. He was styled as Vicomte Lepic until his father's death in 1875, when he succeeded to the title of Comte Lepic. He is best remembered today as a friend of Edgar Degas, who included him in some eleven paintings and pastels. He was among the original Impressionist group and later became a recognised marine painter.

<i>After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself</i> Pastel by Edgar Degas

After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself is a pastel drawing by Edgar Degas, made between 1890 and 1895. Since 1959, it has been in the collection of the National Gallery, London. This work is one in a series of pastels and oils that Degas created depicting female nudes. Originally, Degas exhibited his works at Impressionist exhibitions in Paris, where he gained a loyal following.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henri Michel-Lévy</span> French painter

Henri Michel-Lévy, was a French impressionist painter.

<i>La Toilette</i> (Toulouse-Lautrec) Painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

La Toilette, also known as Rousse, is an painting by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, from 1889. The painting depicts a red-headed woman, stripped to the waist, seated on the floor, facing away from the viewer, just before or just after bathing. Held by public collections in France since 1914, it has been at the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris, since 1983.

<i>The Tub</i> Pastel by Edgar Degas

The Tub (1886) is a pastel artwork by Impressionist artist, Edgar Degas (1834–1917). It is currently housed in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Girl Arranging Her Hair is an 1886 painting by American artist Mary Cassatt. The painting currently is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. It was originally exhibited at the Eighth and last Impressionist exhibition, which opened on May 15, 1886.

References

  1. "Impressionists". Hill-Stead Museum. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  2. "Edgar Degas – The Tub". Sedefs Corner. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  3. "Woman in a Tub". Glasgow Museums. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  4. "Woman Drying Herself after the Bath". Norton Simon Museum. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  5. "Woman Bathing in a Shallow Tub". The Met. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  6. "The Tub". Musee d'Orsay. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  7. "Edgar Degas". Hiroshima Museum of Art. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  8. "Woman in a Tub". Glasgow Museums. Retrieved 4 July 2020.