Café Society: Art And Sociability in Paris, 1850–1914

Scott Pavilion S1–3

Café Society examines the development of the French café and its impact on modern art in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The exhibition considers the multitude of factors that led to the rise of café culture, café typology (from bistros and brasseries to cafés-concerts, dance halls, and cabarets), and the significance of the café as a site for artistic dialogue, expression, and experimentation. Paintings, drawings, and prints by Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, James Tissot, Edgar Degas, and more, demonstrate the importance of this subject for French and expatriate artists.

Café Society: Art and Sociability in Paris, 1855–1914 is organized by Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, and Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha. It is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue.

Pictured: James Tissot (French, 1836–1902), The Artists’ Wives, 1885, oil on canvas, 57 1/2 × 40 in. (146.1 × 101.6 cm), Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., and The Grandy Fund, Landmark Communications Fund, and “An Affair to Remember” 1982, 81.153