note impressionism vcr

Upload: nazwill66

Post on 30-May-2018

231 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    1/12

    1

    8

    7

    4

    Impression

    , sunriseC.

    MONET

    Bazill

    eCaillebot

    te

    Czanne

    Degas

    Gauguin

    Guillaumin

    Manet

    Monet

    Pissarro

    Renoir

    Sisley

    VanGog

    h

    Biographies(click name of painter )French version Museums Exhibitions

    IMPRESSIONISM, MODERNITY and TRADITION Neo- Impressionism

    Impressionist painting remains the most attractive period in the history of modern art and themost appreciated by the public . Series of exhibitions, an abundant literature and recordsales give evidence of today's extraordinary resonance of works of the Impressionist painters,of which a number are engraved on our artistic conscience .

    At their time, Impressionist works appeared to be so outrageously modern, that it took theircontemporaries more than thirty years to finally admit them - if not to like them -.

    By the sea

    Auguste RENOIR, 1883

    MetropolitanMuseum of Art, NY

    However, as the years go by, Impressionism,seems to us nowadays, much more to maintainclose links with tradition, and to constitute theesthetic achievement of an artistic creation

    related to realistic representation.

    This link, a long time considered as the mostnormal thing in the world, to whichimpressionism had given a new definition basedon "impression", will thereafter lose itscompulsory character with the evolution of finearts in XXth century.

    Isn't the durable success of Impressionism due tothe fact that we are sensitive to its modernityand to its traditionalism?

    Of course, Impressionism cannot be reduced tothis unique aspect, it is also a bias to paintcheerful reality, that of leisures and beauty ofnature, an endless search for natural light... in aword, a certain art of living which fits in withmany aspirations of our society.

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    2/12

    Thi it i homage to the Impressionist painters attempts to presentthe history oftheImpressionistMovement as well as the routes of each great painter whose name isindissociable of Impressionism.

    Musics : DEBUSSY - Reverie (1890)

    ImpressionistMap

    HISTORY OF THE IM RESSIONIST MOVEMENT

    PREDECESSORS

    Between 1820 and 1850, prestigious artistic movements would come up in French Painting.Firstthe romanti revolution ( Gricault , Delacroi ), then the reali ti movement ( Courbet, Millet ) where naturali t painters of"The Barbi on School" ( Daubigny , Rousseau ,Troyon , Corot ) played a great role.

    Underthe influence of british landscape painters such as Bonington, Constable, Turner,landscape painting would become a fully recogni ed genre in French Painting, of whichCorot will be the most famous representative.

    Courbet , Corot and Delacroix, then representthe avant-garde of French Painting, and willconstitute the models which allthe Impressionists willtake as a starting point attheir

    beginnings.

    Bi r p y

    f J p M ll

    rd Willi TUR

    ER

    The ER : SECOND EMPIRE and ACADEMIC ART

    The future Impressionists will grow in a country governed by authoritarian Napoleon III,

    whose cultural policy entirely centered on the greatness ofthe Empire was hostile to them.

    The advent ofthe Second Empire (1852-70) was to mark a rupture in the artistic historyofthe XIXth century in France, between official art on one side, and independent art onthe other side.

    The cultural policy of Napoleon encenses an insipid academic art (the so called"pompier" style) best represented by Meissonnier, Cabanel and Bouguereau, covered withhonors by the political power and ruling overthe Academy of Fine Arts, and disparages arealistic art, often very pauper, illustrated by Courbet, Millet, Daubigny, Rousseau...

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    3/12

    levels:

    - political : most realistic or naturalistpainters are republican and disagreewith the Coup d'etat of Napoleon III.

    - esthetic : they hate the great historicalor mythological"machines" oftheacademic painters, and wish to expressthe simple beauties of nature, the life oftheir humblest contemporaries.

    - sociological : the new painters comefrom the working classes and are notrelated any more to aristocracy

    - geographical : they are in search ofsites protected from industriali ation(Barbi on, Normandy)

    Calvary T Ct d Grc

    H fl r

    Camill COROT 29 0

    Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

    This policy will not preventthe belated fame ofCorot (1796-1875) from growing up. Corot,whose work comes to an end when Impressionist painters appear on the scene, is already amodern painter and can be seen as a precursor of Impressionists .

    He excels in "plein-air"(outdoor) landscape painting, and his portraits are every bit as goodas his landscapes forthey release so much expressiveness. The Impressionists and many great

    painters afterthem will make ofCorot a source ofinspiration, and will dedicate him an

    immense admiration. Moreoverthey willtry without success to obtain his participation intheir 1st group exhibition in 1874.

    see Jean-Baptiste Camille COROT

    A NEW CONTEMPORARY REALISTIC PAINTING

    A new style of painting, that willtake the name of Impressionism in the year 1874, will

    develop in France between 1860 and 1890. This evolution in painting history is not anisolated movement, forindependent pictorial art will evolve everywhere in Europein thesecond half ofthe XIXth century towards a much more modern painting that bettercorrespond to industrialprogress acceleration , and changes in the way oflife .

    Painters which will be named, depending on time and context, "Independents","Intransigents" or"Batignolles Group ", atlast"Impressionnists", will be engaged in astruggle, begun with Manetin 1860, against an old and dusty workshop painting art with

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    4/12

    established conventions that had become too restrictive for modern time, in orderto havetheir new realistic way of painting recogni ed.

    This new painting will be the result of a series of reflexions and intentions which preceded it,that of Barbi on School's painters, and that of neo-impressionist painters ofthe Meetings ofSaint-Simon in Honfleur (Boudin, Jongkind, Dubourg... ) thatMonet attended as a young

    painter.

    The new realism ofthe Impressionists definitively rejects the classical research of an idealof beauty and an eternal essence ofthings, and postulates instead as preponderanttherealvision compared to any learned conventionaltheory. The workthat results from this visionis claimed to be relative : relative to the conditions under which the same scene can beobserved (lights, skies, colors...), and relative to the painter himself.

    Beac atSainte-Adresse

    ClaudeMONET 1867

    Art Institute of Chicago

    Manet's formula : "I paint what I see, andnot what others like to see", summari esthis claim ofthe artistto give his personalvision , that of his own subjectivity.

    Their great concern about givingrepresentations translating the artist's realvision with its immediate nuances, willlead them to undertake multiple pictorialresearches and to forsake a number ofrules which then passed forimmutablein painting : precise drawing andcontours, use of flat colors with

    attenuated variations, light and shadeconvention...

    By doing so, the future Impressionists willintroduce a number ofnew pictorial processes :use oflighttones, division oftones (an orange is represented by juxtaposition oftwo purecolors, red and yellow), form and volume resulting from colored brushworks instead ofdrawing-contour, thickness of paint ...

    The Impressionist movement is thus well atthe origin of a great artistic revolution , todaystillthe object of studies and analysis, which will be put atthe service of a new conceptionaboutthe role and place of painting in society.

    Forsaking historical or mythological subjects,

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    5/12

    Impressionist painters will deeply renewpainting themesto better picture theircontemporary world .

    They seektheir subjects in the eternal world ofnature as well as in theirdaily world , each

    painter developing his own set ofthemes. Forthem, a subjectis worth another , which counts

    being more their vision and their pictorialsearch to paintit.

    The Impressionist step aiming at representing asurrounding reality which is relevant only atone moment and under given conditions , theexecution of a painting is fast , close to thedraft. It acts of a one moment painting, of afugitive impression.

    Last point, the actto paintis asserted as apersonal pleasure , as well as an autonomousspiritual value . In this conception ofart forart , the artistis free of his personal creation.

    A womanironing

    EdgarDEGAS, 1869

    Neue Pinakothek

    Munich, Germany

    If Impressionist masters are now atthe firmament of painting, itis importantto recalltowhich extenttheir painting was misunderstood and rejected attheirtime . Let us quote theircontemporary Theodore Duret (Art critic 1838-1927) in his "History oft e Impressionist

    painters" : "It should be said, in homage to these men, that contempt, opprobrium, poverty,neverled them to deviate at any time oftheir way. They held on with their so detested way of

    painting, without considering, even for one moment, to modify itin any way in orderto be

    accepted ofthe public. They waited, during many years, allthe time necessary forthe publicto come to them and that a change of opinion occurred, supported by their confidence in theprinciples and the value oftheir art . "

    Overtwenty-five years, from 1860 to 1886, in the century where photography was invented,Impressionist painting was going to leave strictly figurative representation, to invent a newstyle of artistic representation which was going to markthe beginning ofnonfigurativemodern painting . One knows today how farthat was going to lead.

    One can considerthatin 1886 , year oftheirlast group show in Paris and ofthe firstexhibition oftheir works in the United States , successfully organi ed by art dealer Durand-Ruel , the Impressionists had achieved their goal and were at last recogni ed. Impressionism

    willthen quickly find a broad echo in Europe and North America.

    MANET REREADS CLASSICS

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    6/12

    Manet opened the way to Impressionism while rebelling, using the exact means oftraditional pictorial representation that he had so thoroughly learned , against academicconventionsthat had become so rigid thatthey prohibited painting contemporary subjects.Thus, after other works like "T! eabsint! e drinker" - 1858, his "Lunc" eon ont" egrass"(1863) or his "Olympia"(1863) are classically writtensubjects reactuali ed with genius incontemporary world, with so realistictranspositions - in particularthe nudes -thatthey would cause scandal and beviolently attacked by critics ofthattime.

    But, even if with "T# e musicatt# eTuileries " - 1862 , Manet already

    prefigures Impressionist painting - ofwhich he will be subjectto influence inreturn -, he nevertruly belonged to theImpressionist movement, and appears onthe other hand as the one who did allowits birth.

    Luncheon on the grass

    Edouard MANET, 1863Muse d'Orsay, Paris

    Indeed, because ofthe scandals he caused, and due to his immense talent as a painter, Manetquickly gained notoriety , and from 1864 will become the leader of a quarrel opposing theold ones and the modern ones. Forthe future Impressionists, he will become, afterCorot andCourbet, an example of a new manner of painting, and a new guide, around whom they willnaturally gather and, through whom, for some ofthem, they will meet.

    From 1865, famous writer Emile Zola, a school fellow ofCzanne in Aix, will defendManet's cause and his new painting in "The Event", and become the supporter and historianofthe arising movement . Painting started an all-out revolution concerning not only paintingthemes, but also soon its pictorial means .

    ART MARKET BEGINNINGS

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    7/12

    While economic development changes society,painting is subjectto a greatliberal evolution,in the sense thatit will no longer be, as in the

    past, the fact of"court painters " working atthe service of some princes ortemporal

    powers which order works to them, but more

    and more the fact ofindependent artistsselling their paintings to buyers .

    Art will go from now on, as well as any otherproduct, into a marketlogic. In orderto find apublic and purchasers, it was a necessity forthe artistto be able to exhibit his works, which

    became the first and existential concern forthis new generation of artists.

    LaGrenouillre

    AugusteRENOIR, 1869

    Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

    THE STATE-RUN "PARIS SALON" ART SHOW

    If some art dealers, such as "Le Pre Martin" , Durand-Ruel and laterPetit start playing anactive role in art market, their shops orthe exhibitions which they organize give quite modest

    possibilities forthe artists to get known compared to the large national window whichconstitutes the "Official Salon" of Paris. Itis there that successes and prices of art works aredecided.

    In 1863 , the Salon becomes annual and a jury made up of members ofthe Academy of FineArts and preceeding medal-holders ofthe Salon selects works to be exhibited. Forthe onlyyear 1863, 4000 works were refused out of 5000 paintings presented by some 3000 artists,

    which led to the creation ofthe " Salon des Refuss", inaugurated by Napoleon III in 1863.

    Surprisingly, most future Impressionists quickly obtained their first admission to the Salon,but willthereafter frequently be refused . If Pissarro, Bazille and Degas (continuously from1865 to 1870), were best accepted atthe Salon, Czanne, will obtain , in spite of his protests,only one and single participation atthe Salon in 1882!

    Ifthe Impressionist movement certainly is a group of painters having in common artisticideas and researches, it also is on a more basic level a movement of painters refused attheSalon and trying to exhibittheir works.

    A NEW GENERATION OF PAINTERS

    Pissarrois the senior ofthe Impressionists. Atthe Academy Suisse (a workshop whichprovided models to young painters), he meets Monetin 1859, then Guillaumin and Czannein 1861.

    In 1862, Monet enrolled atthe famous "cole des Beaux-Arts" (School ofFine Arts) wherehe will meetRenoir, Bazille and Sisley .

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    8/12

    Through Manet , with whom he get acquainted as early as 1862, Degas willlater meetMonetand Renoirin 1866 atthe famous Caf Guerboislocated in the Batignolles Street, where the

    painters ofthe "Group of Batignolles" (as one designated the future Impressionists atthattime) used to meet.

    These artists are all aged between 20 and 30 , and will weave between them multiple links.The strongest relationships will be those ofMonet with his friends, Renoir, Bazille, Sisley,quartet which appears to be the founding members of the Impressionist group.

    Afterthey leftthe Fine Arts School, during theyears between the Salon des Refuss (1863) andthe Franco-Prussian War of 1870, they willexperience alternately successes and failuresat the Salon , while atthe same time anxiouslysearching their artistic personality. In the heartoftheir concerns:

    y to take on and develop theRealism of Courbet and the

    painters of Barbizon practicing

    outdoor painting, with a specific

    research about light and coloreffects

    y to paint and develop newthemes in art that relate to

    new aspects of modern lifey to work out a new style of

    vision and a pictorial

    representation allowing to

    better account for movement

    and permanent change of their

    time.

    La grenouillreClaude MONET, 1869

    Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York

    By 1869 , Monet and Renoir as they were executing side by side a series of paintings in aleisure place on the Seine River called "La Grenouillre" frequented by Parisian middle-class people, would depictthe agitation ofthis place with small fast brushworks, characters atthe state of draft, mobile reflections on water... thus rendering the "impression" whichemerges from this place rather than details. This word will give its name to the newmovement only five years later.

    1874 - THE FIRST IMPRESSIONIST GROUP SHOW

    Afterthe war of 1870, and the civil war"The Commune" which followed in 1871, theImpressionists were going to continue to work with a great enthusiasmin the directionwhich they had taken. From now on, they were certain oftheir way of seeing , and, relievedfrom the yoke ofthe cultural policy ofthe Second Empire, they expected an increased

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    9/12

    recognition and an increase in their sales.

    They were going to be terribly disappointed, and knew still more failures at the Salonthanbefore war.

    The young IIIth Republicis then unstable,and the deep shock undergone by frenchsociety with the Commune in 1871 willgenerate an intellectual climate of distrusttowards any innovation or artistic revolution.

    Little by little the idea thatthey could just aswell do withoutthe Salon getinstalled intheir mind, strengthened by art dealerDurand-Ruel . December 27, 1873, theydeposited the statutes of a "Limited companyofthe artist-painters, sculptors".

    The first show of the Impressioniststookplace in April 1874, Boulevard desCapucines, in an apartmentlent by

    photographer Flix Nadar , with 31participants , the painting by Monet entitled "Impression, sunrise" (1872-73) giving itsname to the Movement.

    Impression, sunriseClaude MONET, 1873

    Muse Marmottan, Paris

    It counted 3500 visitors , against 400 000 forthe Official Salon, and was held without Manetfor whom the Salon was to remain predominant.

    The IMPRESSIONIST MOVEMENT and ITS PAINTERS

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    10/12

    Pissarro meets Monet atthe AcademySuisse in 1859, then, in 1861, Guillauminand Czanne with whom he was to worklater at Pontoise

    Monet , Renoir , Sisley , Bazille met at

    the Fine Arts Schoolin 1862, whilestudying in Charles Gleyre' workshop, andconstituted the core ofthe movement.Bazille will be killed at Franco-Prussianwar of 1870

    Degas meets Manetin 1862 (" Portrait ofManet" - 1864 ), before meeting Monetand Renoirin 1866 atthe caf Guerbois.He will have as a follower, since 1877,Mary Cassatt (1845-1926)

    From 1868, Manet will have as pupilsBerthe Morisot (1841-1895), who will

    become his sister-in-law by marrying hisbrother Eugen, and Eva Gonzales (1849-1883)

    Caillebotte meets Degas, Monet andRenoirin 1873, and helps them toorganize the 1st exhibition oftheImpressionist group in 1874, before

    becoming co-organizer and co-financial ofmost ofthe following ones. Manet andCorot decline the invitation to take partinthis exhibition

    Gauguin, at his beginnings as a painter,meets Pissarro in 1875 and becomes his

    pupil, then takes part from 1879 on in theImpressionist shows

    Van Gogh will arrive in Paris in March1886, where he will discover and integrateImpressionism.

    Catalog ofthe 4th Impressionist Show1879

    The Impressionists do not have truly represented a school, such as, forinstance, the School ofBarbizon, installed in the forest of Fontainebleau between 1830 and 1860.

    Works of great painters known as Impressionists are actually diverse and quite differentbetween them. Ifthere is indeed an " Impressionist" style - of which Pissarro, Monet and

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    11/12

    Sisley are the mosttypical representatives -, each painter follows his own research, his ownindividual advance.

    No schoolthus which would have codified a single style of painting, but as many singularworks which will be worked out, for a time atleast, within the "ImpressionistMovement" .This Movement can be seen more like that of a "group of painters", with distinct artistic

    personalities, having in common their refusal of official painting and sharing their researchesabout a new manner of representing the real world. They will sticktogetherin their fightagainst exclusion of which they will be the victims, on behalf ofthe institutions - Academy ofFine Arts and Jury ofthe Salon -, and ofthe majority of art critics.

    This lack of recognition willlead them to organize, over a period of 12 years, from 1874 to1886 , their own exhibitions (8 on the whole), fact which constitutes the first and outstandingoriginality ofthe movement.

    One still discusses today to know whetherDegas, orCzanne who appears much moreas a precursor of XXth century painting, aretrue Impressionist painters... This question isnot new since Monet will write little time

    before his death : "... I remain sorry to havebeen the cause ofthe name given to a groupthe majority of which did not have

    anything Impressionist".

    The routes ofthe painters ofthe Impressionistgroup mustthus well be considered

    individually and remain dominating.

    Moreover, the history ofthe Impressionistmovement was relatively short, and some ofthe painters who accompanied this movementas ofits beginning, such as Renoir, Czanne,Degas, Guillaumin , will evolve later on in adefinitely distinct way. This is even truer forGauguin and Van Gogh, two great meteorswhose road crossed for a short momenttheImpressionist movement, .

    The Sainte-Victoire Mountain,

    seen from Bellevue

    Paul CEZANNE, vers 1882-85

    Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York

    Jean-Baptiste Camille COROT(1796-1875)

    Museums Exhibitions

    Josep$ MallordWilliamTURNER

    (1775-1851)

    Johan-BartholdJONGKIND (1819-

    1891)

  • 8/9/2019 Note Impressionism Vcr

    12/12

    Bazille

    Caillebotte

    Czanne

    Degas

    Gauguin

    Guillaumin

    Manet

    Monet

    Pissarro

    Renoir

    Sisley

    VanGog

    h

    This website is sponsored by :

    and Guestbook

    Directory of paintings :10000 Paintings on the

    Web

    Copyright WEB-SY -2004

    Comments welcome :Marc GE ONDEAU:[email protected]

    Legal

    notice