“Redemption”
Today, we have something grand.
“Redemption” is an oil on canvas painting by the American artist, Julius LeBlanc Stewart, from 1905. Stewart is most known for his artwork depicting the Belle Époque period in Paris, France, when prosperity and wealth allowed the arts to flourish. Like his contemporary, John Singer Sargent, Stewart was an American expatriate who spent his adult life overseas in Paris.
Though he mostly painted scenes of his friends in the high society of Paris, this piece reflects Stewart’s artistic aspirations beyond portraits. Inspired by the symbolists, Gustave Moreau and Odilon Redon, Stewart paints a symbolic canvas of his own.
Julius LeBlanc Stewart compares the now virtuous woman in white, who is just repentant of her sins as a prostitute with the rest of the crowd, with Mary Magdalene. The painting of Jesus on the cross in the background and the title of this piece alludes to her soul being saved. Her left hand, almost claw-like, grips the table covered with the remnants of her old way of life. The man seated on the right is flirting with the woman dressed in black, with the color of her dress suggesting the nature of her soul. A woman smokes openly in mixed company in the background.
There was a growing movement with the disapproval of the debauchery of the Belle Époque. The growing prosperity resulted in less strict moralities. Even though Stewart was firmly within the group he was criticizing, later in his life he used his art, such as this painting, to comment on that theme.
“Redemption” is currently on display at La Piscine, formerly the Musée d’Art et d’Industrie, in Roubaix, France.
For more on Julius LeBlanc Stewart, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
