Portrait of Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot|Marcellin Desboutin

ca. 1876 · Drypoint; second state of two · Drawings and Prints

Desboutin and Berthe Morisot both participated in the second Impressionist exhibition in the spring of 1876, though they almost certainly met earlier through their mutual friends Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. In this print, Desboutin demonstrates the range of tones achievable in his preferred medium of drypoint—a technique in which the artist scratches the copperplate directly with a sharp needle. He juxtaposed the highly worked, rich blacks of Morisot’s dress, hair, and eyes with the faint outline of her armchair and the fashionable Japanese fan in her hands.

Artist

Berthe Morisot|Marcellin Desboutin

Date

ca. 1876

Medium

Drypoint; second state of two

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922