Impressionism and Fashion

February 26 – May 27, 2013

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York

After the successful first show in Paris at Musée d’Orsay 

“Impressionism and Fashion” starts today at Met, New York

Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

presents a revealing look at the role of fashion in the works of the Impressionists

and their contemporaries.  Some 80 major figure paintings, seen in concert with

period costumes, accessories, fashion plates, photographs, and popular prints,

highlight the vital relationship between fashion and art during the pivotal years,

from the mid-1860s to the mid-1880s, when Paris emerged as the style capital of

the world. With the rise of the department store, the advent of ready-made wear,

and the proliferation of fashion magazines, those at the forefront of the avant-garde

—from Manet, Monet, and Renoir to Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and Zola—turned a fresh

eye to contemporary dress, embracing la mode as the harbinger of la modernité. The

novelty, vibrancy, and fleeting allure of the latest trends in fashion proved seductive

for a generation of artists and writers who sought to give expression to the pulse of

modern life in all its nuanced richness. Without rivaling the meticulous detail of

society portraitists such  as James Tissot or Alfred Stevens or the graphic flair of

fashion plates, the Impressionists nonetheless engaged similar strategies in the

making (and in the marketing) of their pictures of stylish men and women that

sought to  reflect the spirit of their age.  

The exhibition is made possible in part by The Philip and Janice Levin

Foundation, the Janice H. Levin Fund, and the William Randolph

Hearst Foundation. 

Source: metmuseum.org