The Impressionist movement can be tenuously said to span from the late 1860s to the early 1880s. Emerging from the previous climate of Realism, the group’s roots lay with Courbet who pioneered the objective recording of the surrounding world. Although classified as a distinct –ism, its defying characteristics are slightly murky. At the most basic of levels Impressionism is concerned with depicting modernity, representing bourgeois leisure, sociability and recreation (Nochlin, 1989). However, although Monet, Renoir and Degas’ works often comply with this there was scope for the portrayal of work in the urban and rural realms. For example, Pisarro reflects the peasant plight in Factory near Pontoise 1873 (Thomson, 2000). However, it is generally accepted that the movement was primarily focused on the illustration of leisure. Although, somewhat interestingly do not the great paintings of the era, Manet’s Bar at the Folies-Bergere, 1882 and Degas’ The Dance Class 1873-75, represent the lower class female at work (Nochlin, 1989). The classifying of this as leisure is purely from the male perspective; this is somewhat integral to the argument that will follow in regards to gender inequality which permeates this period. This essay will explain the differences between the works of male and female Impressionists through the analysis of France’s sociocultural climate and how it resonated throughout the art world.

1. To what extent might the gender of Impressionist painters have affected the form
and content of their work?
The Impressionist movement can be tenuously said to span from the late 1860s to the early 1880s.
Emerging from the previous climate of Realism, the group’s roots lay with Courbet who pioneered
the objective recording of the surrounding world. Although classified as a distinct –ism, its defying
characteristics are slightly murky. At the most basic of levels Impressionism is concerned with
depicting modernity, representing bourgeois leisure, sociability and recreation (Nochlin, 1989).
However, although Monet, Renoir and Degas’ works often comply with this there was scope for the
portrayal of work in the urban and rural realms. For example, Pisarro reflects the peasant plight in
Factory near Pontoise 1873 (Thomson, 2000). However, it is generally accepted that the movement
was primarily focused on the illustration of leisure. Although, somewhat interestingly do not the great
paintings of the era, Manet’s Bar at the Folies-Bergere, 1882 and Degas’ The Dance Class 1873-75,
represent the lower class female at work (Nochlin, 1989). The classifying of this as leisure is purely
from the male perspective; this is somewhat integral to the argument that will follow in regards to
gender inequality which permeates this period. This essay will explain the differences between the
works of male and female Impressionists through the analysis of France’s sociocultural climate and
how it resonated throughout the art world.
Primarily, French society and its cultural values and norms during the Impressionist period were
formulated and dominated by males. Accordingly, the political doctrines of the time restricted and
regulated the female experience of the world. Their reality was conditioned by the exertion of male
power which confined women to the domestic realm where she could fulfil her duties to the family.
As Leader Scott (1884) remarked, ‘what is […] woman’s true mission – that of presiding genius of the
home’. As a manifestation of such a moral fabric, education for women during the period was
seemingly poor. In 1863, a resolution was passed to deny women access to the Academies of the
time (Harrison et al 1998). This hampered any aspiring female artists since there was no scope for
the study of nudes, a practice considered conducive to great artistry (Hess and Baker, 1973). The
lack of education inhibited women’s progression of technique and cut them off from the influences of
modern day theory so intrinsic to many male artists. For example, women were not exposed to
Chevreul’s revolutionary ‘Theory of Colour’.
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