Profile of Works
Reading Woman
- c. 1900
- Oil on canvas
- 56.0 x 46.0 cm
The images of the TFAM’s collection on our website are available for free.
High-resolution image is available from PHOTO AGENCY.
Renoir often portrayed a woman who is reading a book. Among those paintings, the most famous one is Girl Reading (1874) in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, which depicts that Margot, a young girl with chubby cheeks, is absorbed in reading a book in the reflected light. Here, the artist’s interest is the girl’s face shone in the bright sunlight, dazzlingly highlighting from the front her skin which seems to absorb the light.
On the other hand, this Reading Woman captures a woman seen at an angle from behind, with her face hidden from view. The model’s name is also unknown. The woman sits barefoot on the sofa, with her white blouse thrown open and her left shoulder bared, but she is so absorbed in reading the book that she seems not to worry about others’ eyes at all. A woman baring her white-skinned shoulders is a recurring subject matter in Renoir’s work. The wall of the room is decorated with something like a large tapestry in which the image of what seems to be a half-naked woman can be seen. Renoir employed only pure hues such as red, white, yellow, green and blue, and painted the entire picture surface using a warm color scheme. The work gives viewers such an impression that the painter were entering and peeping into the personal time and space occupied by this woman, and is filled with an intimate atmosphere.
As repeatedly painted by Manet, Morisot and other painters, the scene of a room where a figure is reading a book was a “new scene” and a “modern custom” in Paris of the time, and also one of the subject matters that the Impressionist figure painters were fond of painting.
The images of the TFAM’s collection on our website are available for free.
High-resolution image is available from PHOTO AGENCY.
ARTIST
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
(1841-1919)
Exhibit history
- Jul 28, 2023 (Fri)～Aug 27, 2023 (Sun)
Masterpieces of Modern Eastern and Western Painting Exhibition Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art (Ishikawa, Japan) - Jan 12, 2019 (Sat)～May 4, 2019 (Sat)
500 Years of Western Paintings: Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Shanghai PowerLong Museum (Shanghai, China) - Oct 23, 2018 (Tue)～Dec 23, 2018 (Sun)
500 Years of Western Paintings: Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tsinghua University Art Museum (Beijing, China) - Apr 29, 2017 (Sat)～Jun 25, 2017 (Sun)
The Collection of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum: East and West Encounters Niihama City Museum of Art (Ehime, Japan) - Jan 14, 2017 (Sat)～Apr 16, 2017 (Sun)
IMAGE OF COLOR: Pierre-Auguste Renoir The Miyagi Museum of Art (Miyagi, Japan) - Sep 17, 2016 (Sat)～Nov 6, 2016 (Sun)
Paintings GO Motion!: Kitayama Seitaro and Artists in the Taisho Era Tokyo Station Gallery (Tokyo, Japan) - Jul 9, 2016 (Sat)～Aug 28, 2016 (Sun)
300 years of Western Painting from Baroque, Rococo to École de Paris Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum (Nagano, Japan) - Jan 9, 2016 (Sat)～Feb 7, 2016 (Sun)
UKIYOE JAPONISM: The Impressionist was fascinated by UKIYOE Hishikawa Moronobu Memorial Museum (Chiba, Japan) - Jun 27, 2015 (Sat)～Aug 30, 2015 (Sun)
Feast of beauty: 300 years of Western Painting From Baroque, Rococo to Ecole de Paris Yawatahama Citizen Gallery (Ehime, Japan) - Apr 29, 2015 (Wed)～Jun 21, 2015 (Sun)
Feast of beauty: 300 years of Western Painting From Baroque, Rococo to Ecole de Paris The Tokushima Modern Art Museum (Tokushima, Japan) - Oct 2, 2014 (Thu)～Nov 9, 2014 (Sun)
Inaugural Special Exhibition “All About Kanae Yamamoto” Ueda City Museum of Art (Nagano, Japan) - May 25, 2013 (Sat)～Sep 8, 2013 (Sun)
Renoir and Painters of the Twentieth Century National Palace Museum (Taipei, Taiwan) - Apr 17, 2010 (Sat)～Jun 27, 2010 (Sun)
Renoir: Tradition and Innovation The National Museum of Art, Osaka (Osaka, Japan) - May 28, 2009 (Thu)～Sep 13, 2009 (Sun)
Renoir: Promise of Happiness Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea) - Jul 14, 2007 (Sat)～Nov 25, 2007 (Sun)
Impressionists and Its Sources: Monet, Renoir, and Barbizon Masters Musee d'art Mercian KARUIZAWA (Nagano, Japan) - Apr 18, 2003 (Fri)～May 25, 2003 (Sun)
The Great Masters of Art Fukuoka Art Museum (Fukuoka, Japan) - Jan 2, 2003 (Thu)～Jan 26, 2003 (Sun)
Great Masters of Modern Japanese Oil Paintings Saga Prefectural Art Museum (Saga, Japan) - Oct 5, 2002 (Sat)～Nov 4, 2002 (Mon)
Art of the West & Art of Japan Exhibition: Monet, Renoir, Cezanne... Ikeno Taiga, Tani Buncho, and Others Shimane Art Museum (Shimane, Japan) - Sep 7, 2002 (Sat)～Sep 29, 2002 (Sun)
Four Centuries of Occidental Paintings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection SOGO Museum of Art (Kanagawa, Japan) - Jul 20, 2002 (Sat)～Sep 1, 2002 (Sun)
The Great Masters of Art Hida Takayama Museum of Art (Gifu, Japan) - Oct 1, 2000 (Sun)～Dec 3, 2000 (Sun)
Masterpieces of Western Paintings from the Renaissance to the 20th Century National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Taipei, Taiwan) - Apr 3, 1999 (Sat)～May 16, 1999 (Sun)
Renoir: Modern Eyes Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art (Chiba, Japan) - Sep 4, 1998 (Fri)～Dec 11, 1998 (Fri)
Wege des Impressionismus: Normandie - Paris 1860-1910 Landesmuseum Joanneum (Graz, Austria)
Origin of collections
- Provenance:
Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Galerie Thannhanser, Berlin-Luzern
Reference
Ambroise Vollard ; Tableaux, Pastel & Dessin de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Tome 1
François Dalute; Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint de Renoir, Tome 2, Figures 1891-1905, [En préparation]
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