1880
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Self-Portrait in a Spanish Costume is a 1880 by Marie Bracquemond, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman in a black dress with red trim looks straight at you, holding a fan. The background is plain, so your eyes stay on her face and the details of her clothes. Marie Bracquemond painted this self-portrait in 1880. She was one of the few women in the Impressionist circle, but she didn’t get much attention at the time. This painting shows her in a Spanish-style outfit, which was trendy in France then. It’s a quiet way of saying, “I’m here, and I’m part of this world too.” If you like this, look up the technique impasto—thick paint that makes brushstrokes stand out.
Marie Bracquemond was among a few women artists within the Impressionist circle. After exhibiting at the Salon from a relatively young age, she married the printmaker Félix Bracquemond and met artists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas through his friendship with them. This print is one of about ten etchings created by Bracquemond, who presumably learned the medium from her husband and went on to master it. Here, she presents herself posed in fashionable attire, holding a distinctive fan.
Although Marie Bracquemond was supported and widely respected by her colleagues in her own time, her husband’s reticence to her pursuing a career ultimately led her to limit her artistic production.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Marie Anne Caroline Bracquemond (French pronunciation: ; née Quivoron; 1 December 1840 – 17 January 1916) was a French Impressionist artist.
See the richer artist page
