[In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, hats were a social obsession, subjects of acclaim and critique. The Paris millinery industry was at its financial and creative peak between the mid-1870s and 1914, the period between the Franco-Prussian War and the outbreak of the World War I, decades that coincided with the ear of French Impressionism. The women who made and sold hats – milliners, or modistes in French – as well as those who purchased them, fascinated Edgar Degas and other artists in his circle.]
Bonnets of the 1880s by Mangin Maurice (left) & Cordeau et Laugaudin (right)
Bonnet, ca. 1894 by an unknown designer, France
Jean Béraud, 1849-1935
Fashionable Woman on the Champs-Élysées, n.d.
Oil on canvas
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
Woman Adjusting Her Hair, ca. 1884
Oil on canvas
Hat by Maison Virot, ca. 1900 (with alterations)
Hat by Camille Marchais, ca. 1895
Bonnet by Mesdemoiselles Cotel, ca. 1885 (left) & Capote by E. Gauthier, ca. 1890
Hat by Caroline Reboux, ca. 1904-1905 (left) & by Au Bon Marché, retailer, ca. 1884
Capote by Auguste Poussineau, known as A. Félix, ca. 1880-1885 (front) & Hat by Monsieur Heitz-Boyer, 1898 (back)
Hat by an unknown designer, ca. 1890
Édouard Manet (1832-1883)
Berthe Morisot, ca. 1869-1873
Oil on canvas
Louise Catherine Breslau (1856-1927)
The Milliners, 1899
Pastel on paper mounted on board
Paul-César Helleu (1859-1927)
The Final Touch, ca 1885
Pastel on paper
Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade exhibition ran until September 2017 @ the Legion of Honor*
July 07th, 2017
*If, by any chance, September 2018 finds you in San Francisco, please do make me jealous and go see the current exhibition, Truth and Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters!
