[ Dowdeswell Art Gallery; Impressionists, 1883 ] Printed Invitation to Messrs Dowdeswell's pioneering Impressionist Exhibition

Printed item, c.35 x 10cm, fold mark, some faint marking, mainly good condition. It commences, "Messrs Dowdeswell request the honour of your company at a PRIVATE VIEW. [...] of the Works by Members of 'La Societe des Impressionistes' (Examples by Degas, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissaro [sic] Boudin; Mesdames Morizot, Cassatt, &c) [...]". Also on display, they announce, is a picture (of Henry Irving anothers) by Johnston Forbes-Robertson, better known as a Shakespearian actor. Concludes "ADMIT TWO". This invitation derives from the archive of Eric Forbes-Robertson, artist/actor brother of Johnston. Notes: A. "The [Dowdeswell] gallery exhibited the work of the Societe des Impressionistes in 1883 which was the first major display of French Impressionism to be held in London."; B. "For many decades, the four artists celebrated in Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, [...] were treated with critical ambivalence and lacked major public exhibitions.