Yesterday, Mr. B and I drove into the City to see the James Tissot exhibit "Fashion & Faith" at the Legion of Honor. It was a beautiful clear day and we could see the ocean, the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown from the knoll in front of the museum.
Above is an early self portrait of the artist and is painted rather loosely and impressionistic. Tissot was a French painter and lived in France and London from 1836 - 1902.
This is a painting of his muse - Kathleen Newton who lived with him from 1875 until her untimely death from TB in 1892. And while his "style" is not to my taste, I found the show delightful. It was interesting to see how he rendered people in work and play.
The young girl playing croquet was one of my favorites but unfortunately I had left my "real" camera at home so all of these shots were from my cell phone so they are not very good quality.
Tissot rendered fabric with great care as he was well acquainted with drapes and folds coming from a father who was a successful drapery merchant and a mother who designed hats.
As a painter, I would go crazy rendering all of the pinstripes on this woman's gown!!! But it was beautiful to look at.
Afterwards we headed upstairs to the Legion's regular exhibit and I found some of my old favorites like "The Bath" above by Jean-Leon Gerome
And "The Absinthe Drinkers" by Jean-Francois Raffaelli
"Shelter on Montmartre" by Vincent van Gogh
"Sewing Party at Loctudy" by Edouard Vuillard
After the busyness of the holidays, it was nice to spend some quiet time together on a beautiful day!
"Part of the secret of a success in life is eating what you like
and let the food fight it out inside."
--Mark Twain
