Initial Comments

I feel a particular affection for Tissot, and his work, because from a casual lunchtime visit to an exhibition of his paintings in the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester in 1985, developed my enthusiasm for 19th century art. Rather like the Exhibition of Alma Tadema paintings at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool in 1997, the overall impression of many of the painter's works together extremely striking. I also started to think then, that beautiful, skilfully painted, decorative pictures were a valid end in themselves, and that a deeper or hidden meaning was not always a necessity. It should also be recognised that Tissot's London paintings are a valuable record of the lives of the newly prosperous upper-middle classes in the 1870s. It seems to me that inferior, badly-painted pictures are often justified by rather spurious claims to deep hidden significance. These claims are used by various groups to justify the colossal fraud that is much of modern art

Biography

Jacques-Joseph Tissot was born in 1836, in Nantes in a seaport on the French coast. Throughout his life he retained an affinity and fascination with all things nautical, and his marked ability to accurately paint rigging and shipboard scenes must have come from his boyhood. Tissot was the son of a very prosperous, successful shopkeeper, who was a devout Roman Catholic. Unsurprisingly the young Tissot was sent away to a boarding school run by Jesuits. Tissot senior seems to have been unenthusiastic about the prospect of his son becoming an artist, but eventually accepted the inevitability of his son's artistic pretensions forming the basis of his career.

In 1856 Tissot went to Paris to train as a painter. Here, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts the young Tissot met the young James McNiell Whistler (1834-1903), one of the most celebrated and unusual figures in 19th century art. At about this time he also met, and became a friend of Degas (1834-1917) the Impressionist painter. Like Alma-Tadema, and Edward Burne-Jones, Tissot changed his name at this time to draw attention to himself. In his case he anglicised his Christian name to James. Tissot had fully inherited the shrewd commercial instincts of his father, and again like Alma-Tadema and Millais was a painter-entrepreneur. In the 1860s the painter became something of a traveller, visiting Italy, and in 1862 London. In 1864 He exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time, suggesting that he realised the potential of London as a source of wealthy patrons. Tissot began to concentrate on contemporary scenes at this time. In 1869 he produced caricatures for Vanity Fair magazine, where 'Spy' had been the celebrated producer of this type of work for many years. Tissot produced a brilliant caricature of the elegant, sophisticated Frederic Leighton at an evening reception.

In 1870 the Franco-Prussian war broke out. Following the defeat of France, and the occupation of Paris, Tissot originally lingered in the capital. In 1871, however, he fled to England where he had a considerable number of contacts. He was initially the guest of the Editor of Vanity Fair, with whom he had become friendly, and who seems to have opened doors for him both socially and professionally. Tissot, hard working and shrewd, quickly became successful in London, where his paintings of social events and his conversation pieces rapidly became popular. These pictures look beautifully painted, and an interesting record of social life at the time, but were controversial. This was the time when commercially successful people were overtaking the landed aristocracy in wealth, and, as patrons of the arts. This situation was not to the liking of everybody, and in some quarters Tissot's paintings were regarded as depictions of the nouveau-riche. Ruskin was a particularly severe critic, describing the pictures as "mere painted photographs of vulgar society." In 1873, the painter bought the house in St John's Wood where he was to live for the rest of his time in London, and he himself started to become a significant figure socially. Tissot's success in London was regarded with envy by Degas and other painters of his circle in Paris. I

n the mid 1870s Tissot met Kathleen Newton (1854-1882), an Irish divorcee with a distinctly colourful past. She had formed a sexual relationship with a man on a voyage to India to be married, and borne his child. Kathleen became his model, muse, mistress, and the great love of his life. Tissot's paintings of his lady tell any observer of sensitivity of his love for her. Many other successful men kept mistresses in St John's Wood, but they did not, like Tissot, live openly with them in adulterous relationships. This situation forced the painter to chose between his social life and Kathleen. To his credit he chose his lady. It would be wrong to think that Tissot became something of a hermit, as he and Kathleen Newton entertained their more bohemian artistic friends at home. But Tissot's days as a man-about-town were over, and he and Kathleen seem to have settled into a quiet life of domesticity. Kathleen's two children lived close by with her sister. Kathleen Newton was an extremely attractive young woman, and appeared in many of his paintings at this time. In the late 1870s her health started to decline, with the onset of that great 19th century killer Tuberculosis. Tissot remained devoted to her. It is likely that the Roman Catholicism of both parties would not allow them to contemplate marriage. In 1882, the desperately ill Kathleen cheated consumption by committing suicide, and, as a result was not able to be buried in consecrated ground. With one week Tissot left his home at St Johns Wood, and never returned to it. The house was later bought by Alma-Tadema.

Tissot was devastated by his loss, and never really recovered from it. He seemed unable to accept the enormity and permanence of it. It is rumoured that he considered marriage to other women later in life, but these affairs came to nothing. Like many English people at this time the artist became interested in Spiritualism, and on a number of occasions tried to contact the dead Kathleen. The exotic French artist and his fallen women-one of the great 19th century English love stories. Initially Tissot carried on working back in Paris, in much the same manner as in London. He produced a series of paintings of attractive, beautifully dressed women in sumptuous surroundings. These paintings were, for a time, extremely fashionable. Following this Tissot experienced a profound religious experience, and became increasingly devout. He embarked on a series of religious paintings, visiting the Middle East on a number of occasions, to observe and paint backgrounds for his pictures. These paintings were well-received at the time, but in our more secular age have little appeal. James Tissot at Buillon died on Friday 8th August 1902.

Tissot The Man

James Tissot was the amongst the most enigmatic of men. He had a considerable number of detractors, who disliked both his success and the man himself. Louise Jopling, however, remembered the handsome, elegantly-dressed painter with affection, as a charming man and an excellent host. Being handsome, elegantly dressed, and successful is not always the most effective way of attracting friends, admirers, and positive comment. Tissot was a highly intelligent rather sophisticated individual, who had inherited in large measure the shrewd commercial instincts that made his father so materially successful. With the exception of his relationship with Kathleen Newton he seems to have led a curiously detached existence, and I have found it difficult to find evidence of other close relationships. He combined this shrewdness with deeply held, and perhaps rather morbid religious feelings. I feel that Tissot, rather like J W Waterhouse was an intensely private man who quite deliberately left little record of his life. One of Kathleen's children, a son, may have been Tissot's.

His London Friends

In the excellent exhibition catalogue from the mid 1980s is an article by Jane Abdy, a leading authority on Tissot. It tells us that the following people were friends, and dined at his house : Alma Tadema. C Napier Hemy. George du Maurier. Millais. M Montalba. Phil Morris. Whistler.

Some of Tissot's Work In London.

This has always seemed to me to be the most interesting part of Tissot's career, and the most successful in terms of his output. Like Monet after him the London of the 19th century seemed to hold a strong attraction for the artist. The pictures painted here of social gatherings were technically superior to anything that the leading English artists of the time could produce. They were also painted by an outsider, with an outsider's objective and perceptive view of social behaviour and mores. The great majority of Tissot's pictures involved attractive, fashionably dressed women, to whom he was obviously attracted. London had another strong attraction for Tissot.

I have already mentioned that he was strongly attracted to nautical subjects, a legacy, perhaps of his boyhood in Nantes. London at that time was a vast seaport, and this allowed the painter to combine his two interests, which he did in a number of well-known pictures for instance "The Ball on Shipboard" of 1874.

In 1876 Tissot produced "The Thames," one of his greatest paintings. This famous picture was widely held to be immoral at the time, and was strongly attacked by critics in all the leading newspapers. This is barely comprehensible today. The presence of two women, with one man, and a rather sumptuous picnic was regarded as scandalous. The women were referred to as "ugly, low bred," and worst of all as "Parisian," suggesting that they were women of easy virtue. What we see now is one of the painter's best pictures, showing his wonderful skill as a painter of fashionable women, their clothes, and the ability to draw detail of a great draughtsman. In addition there is the background of the river, sailing ships, and busy steam-tugs, all of which lend a powerfully atmospheric flavour to this great painting. The observer can almost smell the smoke of the tugs, and hear the shouts of the dockers and watermen. The shrewd Tissot would have been well-aware of the virtues of his picture, and there is little wonder that he did not exhibit at the Royal Academy again.

"The Ball on Shipboard" is another famous picture painted in 1874, of the type at which Tissot so much excelled home grown English artists. It is another conversation piece, yet again combining the painter's talent for the illustration of social gatherings with a nautical background. It is, whatever criticism may be made of it, a brilliant piece of painting. The variety of expressions of the people shown in the picture being nearly as notable as the dresses, flags, and the dancers in the background.

Another famous picture is "Hush" showing a recital in a luxurious private home given by Madame Neruda, wife of Sir Charles Halle, founder of the Halle, the first full time professional orchestra in Britain. Madame Neruda (1839-1911), was a leading virtuoso violinist of the day. The conductor Sir Henry Wood said that she was the best female violinist he had ever heard, and that her tone was superior to that of Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), who was widely regarded, in the second half of the nineteenth century, as the greatest violinist in the world. The painting captures the moment when Madame Neruda and her accompanist are about to start to play, and the guests are in a variety of attitudes, some anticipating the recital, others still preoccupied with socialising.