ARTISTS TO BE EXPLORED:
Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cezanne, Claude Oscar Monet, Mary Stevenson Cassatt, and Berthe Morisot.
The technique that attempts to convey the transient effects of direct and reflected sunlight is known as impressionism.
The name "Impressionism" was first given as a term of abuse, an insult hurled at Monet's painting "Impression;Sunrise" by a critic, after seeing it in an exhibition of works by this new group of artists in 1874. About 165 works were shown, the public nor the critics were impressed - many in fact came there to laugh! Some called the works, wallpaper. The most famous of these were Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, and Morisot, with Manet as their mentor. Also Degas and Cassatt, and Cezanne were closely associated with them.
Several factors helped bring about this change in the way these artist's worked. Commercially manufactured paints, the invention of photography, and the Japanese print. What the Japanese artists were doing broke with a thousand year old tradition that had grown out of Chinese art. These bold prints defied all the rules of composition that was the rigid rules of European academic art. These prints were scorned in their native land and were used as wrapping or padding in trade goods, such as tea. This is how they came into the hands of European artist's and like a burst of fresh air, offered them a totally new vision of what art could be.
This drew battle lines between traditional and impressionist artists, when in 1863 a jury of the official Salon rejected three-fifths of the 5,000 paintings of this new group.
Edouard Manet, introduced a revolutionary method and became the movement's leader. Not only did they portray their art differently, but it also meant that any subject no matter how ordinary, was a candidate for the painters brush. No longer just the "dignified" subject matter previously deemed suitable. We have inherited a style of painting that captures the luminous, beautiful effects of the play of light. This is one of the most important movements in the history of art.
After each painting or set of paintings, there is a list for suggested further study. Notice that each one has their own distinct style, which you will learn to recognize quickly, yet they still fit into the "Impressionistic " category. If you are a serious student of art it will be wise to do the research. It will not only teach you how to identify the Impressionist works but will also teach you alot in the execution of your own work.
( pronounced A-dwar' Meh-nay' )
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Manet ~ 1874 |
Manet, the mentor for many Impressionistic artists, painted this prime example of what became known as Impressionism. A main principal of these artists works, were that they painted what they saw, not what they knew. This meant painting from nature in the open air, not from models in the studio. It meant capturing the initial, fleeting impression of a scene, rather than slavishly painting every detail. Monet had this boat built and moored close to home at Argenteuil and then at Vetheuil, staying close to these two sites while working afloat. On the other hand another artist, Daubigney, stayed on his boat days at a time painting what he saw. This painting of Manet's shows not only an example of Impressionistic work but the lengths some of the artists went to in accomplishing the wonderful works they left to us.
Manet also introduced the technique of lighting faces or figures from the front, almost eliminating shadows. This method, called peinture claire, is now considered one of the basic technical contributions of 19th-century art.
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Manet ~ 1881 |
Who was the detached, weary and sad young girl looking at this scene of implied excitement, cleverly shown to us by the mirror behind her?
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS
Find and study these works of Manet
- Music In The Tuileries Garden ~ 1862
- The Balcony ~ 1868
( pronounced Klôd Mo-nay and in French Kloed Moh-ne' )
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Monet ~ 1877 |
Light filtering through the glass roof, clouds of smoke from steam locomotives, all together inspired Monet to do the hazy atmosphere inside this station. Monet may have determined to answer critics of his earlier work, that fog was not suitable for painting. This artist is Zettie's personal favorite of the Impressionist movement.
The leader of the 19th-century impressionist art movement, Claude Monet continued to pursue its goals. Monet preferred to paint outdoors and directly from nature. Nearly all his work shows his ability to capture on canvas the changing effects of light. Monet developed what is called "broken color" painting. He painted objects by means of brush strokes of various colors placed next to each other. Instead of mixing colors together on a palette, as artists had done for centuries, Monet and his followers put the color strokes on separately and let the eye of the observer mix them. These types of paintings have astounding energy and appear to emmite their own light.
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS
Find and study these works of Monet
- Gray Sky, Waterloo Bridge 1899/1901
- The Terrace At Sainte-Adresse 1866
- The Garden At Vetheuil 1880
- Wild Poppies Near Argenteuil 1873
- Impression:Sunrise 1872
- Boulevard Des Capucines 1873
- Train In The Snow 1875
- Rouen Cathedral 1892-94
- Regatta At Argenteuil 1872
- The Magpie 1869
- The Water Lily Pond; Green Harmony 1899
(pronounced Ka-mee-y' Pe-sah-ro )
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Pissarro ~ 1893 |
Pissarro tried pointillism but went back to impressionism. A chronic eye infection at one point in his career caused him to have to paint indoors at a window. Where once he had painted landscapes, he now painted townscapes, which became the best work he ever did. When he had painted all he could from his own area, he traveled to London, Rouen, and Paris, giving us his wonderful view of these places. He said "I am enchanted with the idea of painting the streets of Paris, which people call ugly; but are so silvery, so luminous and so lively; it is the modern idiom in full". This is a great example of Impressionistic work in catching the feel and atmosphere of this city scene. Pissarro became allied with the impressionists and developed an individual style with a special concerned for sunlight. He was a natural teacher and Mary Cassatt said "he could have taught stones how to draw."
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS
Find and study these works of Pissarro
- Entry To Village Of Voisins, Yvenlines 1872
- Young girl With A Stick 1881
- The Road, Louvenciennes 1870
- The Boulevard Montmatre At Night 1897
- Spring, Pointoise 1877
(pronounced Bert Mo-re-zo )
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In The Garden at Bougival Morisot ~ 1874 |
Women artists of this period were limited in the subject matter they were allowed to paint. This was in a time where they were not supposed to be alone in a room with a man that was not their husband. That is why the women impressionists used women and children as there subjects. Morisot was one of those who focused on them and we see her skill in her painting titled "Woman and Child", where with quick, vigorous flecks of color built up she showed her distinctive style. In 1868, posed she for a painting, "The Balcony", by Manet in 1868, attended by her Mother for propriety's sake.
Impressionist painter and printmaker, Berthe Morisot, was the great-granddaughter of Fragonard, and sister-in-law and pupil of Edouard Manet. She studied under Corot and exhibited at the Salon 1864-74. Her paintings frequently included members of her family. During her lifetime Morisot outsold Monet, Renoir, and Sisley.
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS
Find and study these works of Morisot
- In The Dining Room 1886
- Woman And Child In The Garden At Bougival 1882
- In A Park 1874
- The Cradle 1872
- La Lecture 1869-70
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