James Tissot: Victorian Life/Modern Love
March 25 - July 2, 2000

James Tissot, 1836-1902, is renowned as the preeminent chronicler of the Victorian era. His work was enormously popular during his own lifetime, focusing on the brightly colored, highly detailed portrayals of society figures. This exhibition, featured approximately eighty-five of Tissot's finest paintings, prints, and watercolors, was the first North-American retrospective of this important artist since 1968. The exhibition represented the whole of Tissot's career, with particular emphasis on the paintings done in London, which reflect his penetrating insight into Victorian life.

Guest curator Malcolm Warner, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, Yale Center for British Art, arranged the exhibition into six thematic sections: Historical Subjects, Modern Life in France, Modern Life in Britain, Prints, La Femme a Paris, and Biblical Illustrations.

A fully illustrated catalogue, written by Warner and Tissot scholar Nancy Rose Marshall accompanied the exhibition.

This exhibition was organized by The American Federation of the Arts (AFA) and the Yale Center for British Art. The exhibition was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Support has been provided by the Benefactors Circle of the AFA.