Discover Manet and Eva Gonzalès

Excellent exhibition at the National Gallery putting Manet’s portrait of the artist Eva Gonzales into context.

The painting is the centre piece but the show then uses it to talk about the relationship between the artists. Eva was Manet’s only formal pupil and they had a sustained friendship and artistic dialogue. It featured work by both artists and I’d never consciously seen work by her before.

The show went on to put the picture in the context of self-portraits by female artists to point out that they often show themselves in pale, fine clothes as in this picture and put themselves in the guise of the Allegory of Painting. It was fantastic to see such an array of pictures from Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser, founder members of the Royal Academy to Laura Knight the first elected female academician in the 1930s.

Finally it looked at how opportunities for female artists were still limited in this period. The Ecole des Beaux-Art did not admit women into 1897. It featured pictures of female artists by men. It was a nice touch to include a Winslow Homer print of women working in the Louvre as there is also a show by him in the gallery at the moment.

Closes 15 January 2023


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