Biography: Jacques Joseph Tissot (a.k.a. James Tissot)
1836-1902
Jacques Joseph Tissot was born in Nantes, France into the family of a merchant. In c. 1856-57 he came to Paris with the desire to become a painter, entering the Academy of Fine Arts (Ecole des Beaux-Arts) where he studied in the studios of Ingres and Flandrin.
Despite such formal surroundings, much of his education Tissot received through friends and acquaintances among avant-garde artists and writers. Among his influential contacts were Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, and James McNeill Whistler. The latter evidently had a strong impression on the young artist - shortly after meeting Whistler, Tissot anglicized his first name to 'James'.
Tissot achieved official recognition for his work rather quickly. Having first painted mainly historical costume pieces, in around 1864 he turned his attention to scenes of contemporary life, usually with attractive stylish women. Both the subject and Tissot's manner of painting had a success with the collectors, and by 1870 the painter was earning a substantial income. In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war began, followed by the civil war, Parisian Commune, in 1871. During this period. the French government severely suppressed the uprising, killing nearly twenty thousand Commune members in the streets of Paris. Tissot, a Commune sympathizer, was forced to leave the country to escape imprisonment. Taking refuge in London, where he lived from 1871 to 1882, Tissot's house in the suburbs, 17 (44) Grove End Road, St John's Wood, was filled with his collection of antiques and oriental objects, and became the backdrop for many of his paintings.
The Convalescent (c.1875-1876)
The pond within the grounds of 44 Grove End Road
During his time in England, Tissot painted many portraits and proceeded with his favorite subject - scenes from the life of society. Adapting his work to the English tastes, he soon gained a high reputation among the social elite.
'It's ironic that the greatest painter of social life in Victorian times was not English, but French – Jacques Joseph Tissot, or James Tissot, as he liked to be known'. (Wood, 2000).
During the 11 years that he worked in England, Tissot achieved both artistic and financial success, painting what are now recognized as his best works. The first of his large-scale social scenes was 'Too Early', exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873. The painter Louise Jopling, a friend of Tissot, described the work as 'a new departure in art, this witty representation of modern life'. Tissot soon followed with 'Ball on Shipboard' (1874), and 'Hush' (1875).
Hide and Seek (c.1877)
Showing Tissot's studio at 44 Grove End Road.
Despite his success, Tissot was attacked by most serious critics, including Oscar Wilde, Henry James and particularly John Ruskin, who saw in his paintings only color photographs of the vulgar nouveaux riches. This contemptuous appraisal did not however stop his paintings selling. In around 1876, Tissot met Mrs. Kathleen Newton, a beautiful Irish divorcée, who became his model and mistress. Immortalized in his paintings 'Quiet', 'Chrysanthemums' and many others, after her death of tuberculosis in 1882, Tissot returned to France.
No longer interested in painting 'society', Tissot's emotional state caused him retreat into religion. He visited the Holy Land in 1886-87 and again in 1889, creating hundreds of watercolor paintings illustrating the Bible. His watercolors on the New Testament were described as a 'revolution in religious art' (Tissot later made a series of illustrations for the Old Testament as well, but these were not as nearly as highly appreciated). Now displayed in the Brooklyn museum of New York, Tissot's Bible watercolours remain his most significant later work.
James Tissot died at Buillon, France on August 3, 1902.
More Information
Sources
- Marshall, N.R., Warner, M. (1999). James Tissot: Victorian Life / Modern Love. Yale Center for British Art.
- Wentworth, M. (1989). James Tissot. Clarendon Press.
- Matyjaszkiewicz, K.(ed). (1985). James Tissot. Abbeville Press.
- Wood, C. (2000). Victorian Painting. Bulfinch Press.
- Prettejohn, E. (2000). The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites. Princeton University Press.
- Wood, C. (2001). The Pre-Raphaelites. Seven Dials.
- Lochnan, K.(ed). (1999). Seductive Surfaces : The Art of Tissot (Studies in British Art, 6). Yale University Press.
- Misfeldt, W.E. (1982). The Albums of James Tissot. Popular Press.