Young Woman Knitting
With refreshing disregard for prior stylistic conventions, Morisot glosses over facial features and dispenses with other descriptive details to present a snapshot glimpse of a modern-day subject. Her paring down to the essentials may be seen as a bold fashion statement of sorts: her sitter sports the latest style of dress and is shown knitting in a garden typical of the period, with a gravel path and flowering roses. The elegant chairs suffice to define the setting as a backyard, which had become a popular fixture of the middle-class household. Morisot probably painted the work in Bougival, where she spent the summers of 1881 to 1884, perhaps enlisting her daughter’s nanny as a model.
Artwork Details
- Title: Young Woman Knitting
- Artist: Berthe Morisot (French, Bourges 1841–1895 Paris)
- Date: ca. 1883
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 19 3/4 x 23 5/8 in. (50.2 x 60 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967
- Object Number: 67.187.89
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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