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Entre Les Deux Mon Coeur Balance (How Happy I Could Be With Either) by James Jacques Joseph Tis…
Entre les Deux mon Coeur Balance
Entre Les Deux Mon Coeur Balance (How Happy I Could Be With Either) by James Jacques Joseph Tis…
Entre Les Deux Mon Coeur Balance (How Happy I Could Be With Either) by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

Entre les Deux mon Coeur Balance

Artist (Nantes, France, 1836 - 1902)
Date1877
Mediumetching and drypoint on paper
ClassificationsPrints
DimensionsPlate Size: Height: 25.1 cm, Width: 35.4 cm
Frame: Height: 50.9 cm, Width: 68.6 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1982 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG000621
Other Titles
  • How Happy I Could Be With Either
About MeThis print relates to Tissot's painting of the same subject in the Tate Gallery.
Tissot, a Frenchman, fled to England after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. He returned to Paris in 1882. While in England he became one of the most sophisticated painters of scenes from contemporary life, especially fashionable women, showing the influence of Manet and Alfred Stevens. His works are often interesting social documents - capturing details of objects, appearances, manners and fashionable costumes.

Whilst in England Tissot was encouraged by Whistler's example to resume experiments in printing and his 1876 exhibition of prints proved so successful that he decided to produce prints on a commercial scale. He signed those he considered the most successful; this print is signed in pencil (lower left) and dated 1877.

'Entre les deux mon coeur balance' depicts a Scottish soldier with two girls seated in a boat. One girl seems to be lost in her own dreams while the man and the other girl are engrossed with each other - he leans towards her, gazing into her face, while she returns the look with just as much interest. The model for one of the girls may have been Tissot's close companion in London- Mrs. Newton, with whom he enjoyed a romantic liason.


More About Me
The Frenchman Tissot fled to England after the 1870 Franco-Prussian and became a sophisticated painter of contemporary scenes, often featuring fashionable women.