ImpressionismLesson 2

Impressionists as Rebels

1. Impressionism took the rebellion initiated by the Realists further.

2. They continued to react against the academic, traditional styles of the past.

3. Their new style was considered so radical it was not considered acceptable to be exhibited at the Salon, the bastion of academic, traditional art.

What did they rebel against?

• Like the realists who wanted to paint “real life” the impressionists were not interested in:1. Religous stories or events.2. Mythological scenes.3. Heroic deeds from history, which would be bought by state museums.

What is it?

• The Impressionist style of painting stressed the effects of sunlight on subject matter.

Tried to capture a impression of what the eye sees at a given moment and the effect of sunlight on the subject

• Quick short brushstrokes• Unmixed spots or dabs of color • Blend together at a distance to

simulate actual reflected light.• Informal casual arrangements

Famous Impressionist

• Some central figures in the development of Impressionism in France, listed alphabetically, were:

• Mary Cassatt (American-born, she lived in Paris and participated in four Impressionist exhibitions), (1844-1926)

• Paul Cézanne (although he later broke away from the Impressionists), (1839-1906)

• Edgar Degas (a realist who despised the term Impressionist, but is considered one, due to his loyalty to the group), (1834-1917)

• Claude Monet (the most prolific of the Impressionists and the one who most clearly embodies their aesthetic), (1840-1926)

• Berthe Morisot, (1841-1895) • Camille Pissarro, (1830-1903) • Pierre-Auguste Renoir, (1841-1919) • Alfred Sisley, (1839-1899)

Soleil Levant

Claude Monet• Impression: The

Sunrise • 1873, 63 x 48 cm• oil on canvas• Muse Marmottan,

Paris, France

This painting was the first to be dubbed “Impressionist” (insultingly) by critics after it was exhibited in 1874. Critics used this word to refer to all paintings in this style at the exhibit.

• For months Monet worked in the field painting the same haystacks. When he realised that thee light had changed he would start the next painting that captured that effect of light.

• What time of day is captured in these two painitngs?

The Haystak, End of Summer , Giverny, 1891. Oil on canvass. Musee d’Orsay Paris, France

Rouen Cathedral Monet devoted 3 winters to painting doorways and towers of this cathedral. At the end of the second winter, he wrote. “What I have undertaken is very difficult…the more I continue, the more I fail”

In this painting he used complementary colours of blue and orange. He applied them in separate brushstrokes which look like uneven colour. Viewed from far a way they blend together. It is not a solid form, but a rich visual impression.

The critics finally appreciated this series by Monet.

Pierre Auguste ReniorLe Moulin de la Galette, 1876, oil on canvas 131x175cm, Musee d'Orsay

Renoir delighted in showing the joyful side of life. You will never find anything ugly, evil or depressing in his paintings.

He continued to paint into his old age with a paintbrush strapped to his wrist.

The subject is young people dancing at an outdoor dance hall and it looks like a scene you might just walk by on the street. Sun filters unevenly through the leafy trees overhead creating a pattern of light and shade on the scene.

Impressionist Technique

• Bright colours are applied in dabs and dashes• Blues and violets are used instead of greys, browns

or blacks to create shadow• Hard precise outlines are replaced by blurry edges• Because the forms are created by patches of colour,

solid forms loose some of their solidity• Details are missing because only what one would

see with a casual glance is included• The subject matter comes from the everyday

contemporary world

Edgar Degas, Dancers at The Bar, 1888, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

“YESTERDAY I SPENT THE WHOLE DAY IN THE STUDIO OF A STRANGE PAINTER CALLED DEGAS,” PARISIAN MAN OF LETTERS EDMOND DE GONCOURT WROTE IN HIS DIARY IN 1874. “OUT OF ALL THE SUBJECTS IN MODERN LIFE HE HAS CHOSEN WASHERWOMEN AND BALLET DANCERS . . . IT IS A WORLD OF PINK AND WHITE . . . THE MOST DELIGHTFUL OF PRETEXTS FOR USING PALE, SOFT TINTS.”

EDGAR DEGAS, 39 YEARS OLD AT THE TIME, WOULD PAINT BALLERINAS FOR THE REST OF HIS CAREER, AND DE GONCOURT WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE PRETEXT. “PEOPLE CALL ME THE PAINTER OF DANCING GIRLS,” DEGAS LATER TOLD PARIS ART DEALER AMBROISE VOLLARD. “IT HAS NEVER OCCURRED TO THEM THAT MY CHIEF INTEREST IN DANCERS LIES IN RENDERING MOVEMENT AND PAINTING PRETTY CLOTHES.”Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/degas-

dancers.html#ixzz2THkITT14

Edgar Degas-The Glass of Absinthe

What does the work communicate about the relationship between this central figure and her partner?

Women Artists

• *There were four women artists associated with the Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassat, Eva Gonzales and Marie Bracquemond.The four women are far less well known than the men because in the nineteenth century women were considered more appropriate as the subjects and inspirations of art rather than the creators.

Mary Cassatt, Lydia Leaning on Her Arms (in a theatre box), 1879

She loved the work of Degas and her work attracted his attention. The two became good friends and he invited her to exhibit with the other Impressionists who also loved her paintings.

Mary CassatMany of Cassat’s paintings are tender, peaceful scenes of mothers and their children.Painted in bright colours, they help us to see and appreciate the beauty in everyday events.

Berthe Morisot, The Cradle, 1872, Musée

d'Orsay

Berthe Morisot

• Concentrated on portraits and interior scenes

• Had her models pose for short periods of time and then painted them largely from memory.

• She avoided the stiff, artificial expressions displayed when poses were held for long periods.

RodinRodin dominated the world of sculpture at the end of the nineteenth century.

He also captured life’s fleeting moments.

Wanted to express joy and sorrow and pain as he saw them.

This is the prodigal son who at the edge of despair pleads for forgiveness.

Alfred Sisley, View of the Saint-Martin Canal, Paris, 1870, Musée d'Orsay

Armand Guillaumin, (1841-1927), Sunset at Ivry (Soleil couchant à Ivry) 1873, Musee d'Orsay

Influences

1. Japan There was a strong influence on their work from the bold designs and strong compositions which they now saw in Japanese prints. Japan had begun trading again with the West on 1860. It had been closed against the rest of the world for two centuries, except for a reduced level of trade with China. In France at this time there was a craze for anything Japanese.

More Influences

2. Scientific studies in relation to art e.g. optics and colour. It is known that Claude Monet subscribed to scientific journals with articles on colour.

More influences

3. The invention of the camera in 1839, “From today painting is dead”.

4. The invention of the lightweight easel made it easier to paint out of doors.

5. The invention of the tube of paint which was airtight, unlike the pigs bladder whichhad previously been used to carry pigment this had been messy and inconvenient!

More Influences

6. New colours were available thanks to the new machines of the IndustrialRevolution. Paint made this way had a firmer consistency and colours werebrighter e.g. chrome yellow became available in 1818. These brighter colours led to a new luminosity in painting.