Nigel Ip

Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism at Dulwich Picture Gallery is a wonderful exercise in how to give a female artist their due in the male-dominated canon of art history.

A wide selection of Morisot’s paintings have been placed in dialogue with renowned 18th-century French and British artists, rather than her immediate contemporaries in Impressionism, to which she was a founding member. This contextual shift enables her art to be more objectively re-examined in the same critical light as male artists of her generation: comparison with the established greats of art history. As the quotes on the walls reveal, there was no shortage of positive attributes and analogies attested to her.

Although Morisot frequently made domestic scenes and portraits of her family and friends, her inspirations were broad and effective, embracing the visual tropes of high society portraiture expounded by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Joshua Reynolds, and George Romney. A particularly strong comparison pertains to an Antoine Watteau fête galantes juxtaposed with a rear view of Morisot’s sister Edma (an example of her own painting is also exceptionally included in the show).

The fusion of these influences creates in Morisot’s paintings an incredible sense of directness from the sitter, splendid attire that is lavish and tactile, and delightful interactivity between multiple sitters, especially children like her daughter Julie. Seeing the decorated fan Morisot owned in front of an eloquent portrait featuring said fan was extremely satisfying. Furthermore, her partial copies of François Boucher’s ceiling works retain a delightful sweetness that animates her figures in ways the originals do not.

Morisot’s pastel and chalk drawings play a small but significant part in the exhibition – no prints, sadly – offering valuable insight into her colour blending techniques and drawing style, contrasted with a powerful Jean-Baptiste Perronneau pastel drawing. Crucially, the presence of a squared-for-transfer drawing shows Morisot adopting a centuries-old, labour-intensive process used for scaling up preparatory drawings to their final destinations. Remnants of this meticulous process can be seen in the background of Paule Gobbilard in a Ballgown in the final room.

This exhibition is a carefully thought-out overview that highlights Morisot’s links to Britain, particularly the Isle of Wight, while offering a varied selection of works that frequently surprises us with their close dialogues with the art of the past.

Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism runs until 10 September 2023 at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/