More Info
Berthe Morisot was one of “les grandes dames” of Impressionism. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly esteemed Salon de Paris. Her work was selected for exhibition in six subsequent Salons—until, in 1874, she joined the “rejected” Impressionists in the first of their own exhibitions. Morisot went on to participate in all but one of the following eight Impressionist exhibitions. Because she was a female artist, Morisot’s paintings were often labeled by male critics as being full of “feminine charm” for their elegance and lightness. In 1890, Morisot wrote in a notebook about her struggles to be taken seriously as an artist: “I don’t think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal and that’s all I would have asked for, for I know I’m worth as much as they.”
William H. Fredlund, the Director of the Institute, obtained his B.A. and M.A. from UCLA, where he specialized in European history and art history. He studied in Italy on a Fulbright Fellowship and completed a double Ph.D. in history and humanities at Stanford, specializing in Renaissance Italy. Dr. Fredlund has taught for UCLA, the University of Florence, Stanford, and UCSC Extension.
