Art Institute Chicago Extends IMPRESSIONISM, FASHION, AND MODERNITY Exhibit Thru 9/29

The groundbreaking and critically acclaimed exhibition Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity, which opened in Paris in October 2012, lands at the Art Institute this summer as the final stop on its world tour. Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, the exhibition broke attendance records in Paris and has been lauded by international and national critics alike. Roberta Smith of the New York Times called the New York presentation a "thrilling, erudite show" with "visual fireworks, historical clarity, and pitch-perfect contextualizing." Vogue proclaimed the show "breathtaking" for its portrayal of "art's passionate love affair with fashion in the boulevards and salons of late 19th-century France." And now audiences in Chicago will be able to spend the summer with the first exhibition to explore the role of fashion in the revolutionary Impressionist movement.

Featuring over 75 major figure paintings by the Impressionists and their contemporaries in tandem with the couture that inspired them, Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity stunningly demonstrates how, in the hands of the Impressionist painters, the movement of a perfectly executed dress, the seasonal change in styles, and the increasing availability of fashionable clothing all became instruments in defining modernity. The works in the exhibition, many of them rarely or never before seen in Chicago, tell the story of late 19th-century Paris-then the world's undisputed style capital-and how its new departmentstores, ready-made clothing, fashion magazines, and burgeoning middle class all inspired artists seeking a new visual language to accompany their times. The exhibition includes large-scale works by luminaries such as Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, Alfred Stevens, and James Tissot. For the presentation of the exhibition in Chicago, the Art Institute collaborated with international opera director Robert Carsen to conceive an immersive installation unlike any other presented at the museum.

"Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity is precisely the type of exhibition that the Art Institute does best," said Douglas Druick, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the museum. "With pioneering scholarship, the exhibition brings fresh perspectives to landmark works of art of the period and infuses them, and their historical era, with a new vibrancy and immediacy. Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity is also a testament to our close relationship with our colleagues in Paris and New York. It would not have been possible without their generosity and collegiality, particularly Guy Cogeval, the president and director of the Musée d'Orsay."

"Working with paintings of this caliber is, of course, thrilling for a curator," said Gloria Groom, David and Mary Winton Green Curator of at the Art Institute of Chicago. "But equally exciting is to be able to add dimensions to the works of art by the presentation of period dresses and accessories, many of which, thanks to exhibition curator Susan Stein, were lent by multiple departments at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Establishing the conversation between the paintings and actual artifacts-dresses, gloves, corsets, parasols-and working with Robert Carsen on their presentation have both made this exhibition a singular experience for the Art Institute."

Major funding for Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity at the Art Institute has been generously provided by Alexandra and John Nichols. "When Gloria Groom approached us four years ago about her idea for this exhibition, we were impressed by her exceptional vision and creativity to present the connection between Impressionism and fashion from the 1860s to the 1880s. We are even more excited now that Gloria's important and beautiful exhibition has come to fruition and has been seen and enjoyed by people in Paris and New York and will, very soon, be welcomed in Chicago."

Chase and J.P. Morgan are the Corporate Sponsors of the exhibition at the Art Institute.

The exhibition takes visitors deep into Paris in the second half of the 19th century. The city was then the bustling center of a rapidly changing Europe and home to scores of artists seeking to capture the pulse

Nineteenth-Century European Painting and Sculpture

and nuances of modern life. The Impressionist artists found fashion to be the perfect vehicle for defining and expressing modernity. The daring shapes and cuts of dresses and suits, rapidly changing styles, and the birth of department stores and fashion magazines all embodied a modern spirit that was lived and captured by artists drawn to the dynamic city. The first exhibition to draw this connection between fashion and painting during this period, Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity charts the economic, commercial, social, and artistic changes that upended the existing order and replaced it with something more closely resembling life today.

The paintings are brought to life with a judicious selection of period dresses, shoes, hats, fans, parasols, corsets, photographs, and fashion plates that vividly illustrate the booming consumer culture of the time. Dialogues between paintings and the garments depicted in them-such as Albert Bartholomé's In the Conservatory (c. 1881) and the purple and white summer dress worn by Madame Bartholomé or Claude Monet's Camille (1866) and an English promenade dress (1865/68)-not only underscore the intimate relationship between fashion and painting but also indicate how artists used, manipulated, and transformed fashion as a platform for their groundbreaking explorations.

Visitors to the exhibition will experience galleries that examine burgeoning middle-class consumerism in the late 19th century, domestic portraits, fashion en plein air, under-fashion, photographs and fashion plates, men's fashion, spaces of modern life, and evolving silhouettes as seen, for example, in the shift from the crinoline to the bustle.

Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity features iconic paintings by Impressionist artists as well as work by notable contemporaries James Tissot, Alfred Stevens, Carolus-Duran, and Jean Béraud. Many of the paintings, on loan from museums around the world, are rarely seen outside of Europe. Conversely, beloved works in the Art Institute's of Chicago's permanent collection, most notably Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day (1877), will return home to Chicago, joining Georges Seurat's monumental A Sunday on La Grande Jatte-1884 (1884-86), which was not displayed as part of the exhibition in Paris or New York.

Related Presentations

A host of additional installations around the museum complement Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity, including the following. Please see www.artic.edu for a complete listing.

Undressed: The Fashion of Privacy

June 22-September 29, 2013

Galleries 124-127

Through more than 120 drawings and prints, as well as select drawings, photographs, and materials from the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, this exhibition explores the connotations of informal dress and undress in intimate, private circumstances, offering a behind-the-scenes alternative to the very public face of high fashion.

Fashion Plates: 19th-Century Fashion Illustrations

July 2-September 9, 2013

Ryerson and Burnham Libraries (Closed on Saturdays and Sundays)

Before the advent of modern photography, the pages of fashion magazines were filled with woodcuts, engravings, and other mechanically reproduced illustrations known as fashion plates. These illustrations provided readers images of the latest trends in clothing, accessories, and even hairstyles, as well as information about designers and boutiques where these styles could be acquired. This exhibition highlights a variety of publications filled with idyllic vignettes showcasing fashionable garments for the aspirational 19th-century reader and sheds light on the history of women's dress.

Special Information The Art Institute of Chicago will be offering extended and special hours throughout the summer.

Friday Evening Viewings: The exhibition will be open until 8:00 p.m. on Friday, June 28, and Friday, July 5. Only the exhibition (not the museum) will be open for those hours. Additional Friday evening viewings may be added throughout the exhibition, so please check the website for information on extended hours. General admission charges apply. Visitors should use the Michigan Avenue entrance.

Saturday Evening Viewings: The exhibition only (not the museum) will be open late for special viewings on select Saturday nights throughout the summer: July 13, August 3, August 24, August 31, and September 14. These evenings will be special occasions in which visitors are encouraged to dress up according to a specific theme. Check www.artic.edu for details as the special Saturday evenings draw near! General admission charges apply. Visitors should use the Michigan Avenue entrance.

Exhibition Surcharge: There will be a $15 surcharge ($12 for students and seniors) for Illinois residents visiting the exhibition during the museum's Free Thursday Evenings.

Catalogue

A major catalogue published by the Art Institute of Chicago and distributed by Yale University Press

accompanies the exhibition. Edited by Gloria Groom, the David and Mary Winton Green Curator of

Nineteenth-Century European Painting and Sculpture at the Art Institute, Impressionism, Fashion, and

Modernity features over 400 full-color illustrations and contains essays by 15 scholars in the fields of

fashion, photography, literature, art, and architectural history. Contributors include Heidi Brevik-Zender,

Helen Burnham, Guy Cogeval, Justine De Young, Gloria Groom, Stéphane Guégan, Birgit Haase,

Elizabeth Anne McCauley, Sylvie Patry, Aileen Ribeiro, Valerie Steele, Françoise Tétart-Vittu, Philippe

Thiébaut, Gary Tinterow, and David Van Zanten. The catalogue is available in the Museum Shop in

hardcover for $65 or in softcover for $40.

Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Major funding for Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity at the Art Institute of Chicago has been generously provided by Alexandra and John Nichols. JPMorgan Chase is the Corporate Sponsor of Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity at the Art Institute of Chicago

The exhibition catalogue has been underwritten by Laurie and James Bay and the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.

Annual support for Art Institute exhibitions is provided by the Exhibitions Trust: Goldman Sachs, Kenneth and Anne Griffin, Thomas and Margot Pritzker, the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation, the Trott Family Foundation, and the Woman's Board of the Art Institute of Chicago.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

JPMorgan Chase, Corporate Sponsor of Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity

JPMorgan Chase believes that arts and culture are the lifeblood of vibrant communities. We support a range of programs and events that foster creativity, provide access to the arts to underserved audiences, promote self expression, and celebrate diversity.

Celebrating more than a half century of collecting and philanthropic support for arts and culture, our commitment to excellence, diversity, and originality remains steadfastly at the heart of our approach. The focus has remained the same: provide visual and intellectual interest to nourish the imagination.

Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity is the first exhibition to exclusively examine the ways in which the Impressionists used fashion to communicate the idea of the "modern." It gives visual light to the time in which the modern fashion industry began. By capturing the everyday, these celebrated artists give us a view of a world where the department store was born and fashion magazines came into being. Examining Impressionist masters like Caillebotte, Degas, Manet, Monet, Renoir, and Seurat alongside fashion portraitists like Stevens and Tissot brings new thinking to the way these great artists worked.

JPMorgan Chase is proud to be a decades long partner of the Art Institute of Chicago, serving as the Founding Civic Sponsor of the Modern Wing and the lead corporate sponsor of this exhibition in Chicago. We share in the museum's mission to bring the very best art objects from around the world in service to the community and scholarship and welcome you to enjoy Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity.

Images:

Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The Loge, 1874. The Courtauld Gallery, London, The Samuel Courtauld Trust, P.1948.SC.338. Édouard Manet. Woman Reading (La Lecture de l'illustré), 1879/80. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial

Collection. Albert Bartholomé. In the Conservatory, c. 1881. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, gift of the Société des Amis du Musée d'Orsay, 1990, RF 1990 26.

Summer dress worn by Madame Bartholomé in the painting In the Conservatory, French, 1880. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, gift of the gallery Charles and André Bailly, 1991, ODO 1991 1.