Impressionism

IMPRESSIONISM

Impressionism was a French art movement that arose as a reaction to the antiquated teachings of the French Academy and changed the way people perceived art. Originally, it was a loose grouping of individualistic art styles that were mocked because of their sketchiness and lack of standard artistic devices of the time. The artistic paths that the various Impressionists took would set the art world on a road of “ism”s that would inspire art through most of the 20th century.
By the end of the 1700’s, most of the major cities of Europe had art schools and the graduates of these schools were the leading artists of their time. Although these schools would continue to churn out well trained artists who would make the popular art of their time, this way of thinking was becoming perilously ancient.

Two small technologies ended their reign as the creators of artistic taste. The first was the development of the tube of oil paint. School trained artists ground their paint using a pestle and mortar, as it had been done for centuries. Tubes of oil paint made this process outdated as a handful of artists, most notably, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot started painting outside using this new portable paint. With this process, he surmised that everything the schooled artists had been taught about painting landscapes was wrong, especially the lighting and color value.

The other important technological toy to alter 19th century art was the camera. Invented in France, it was first perceived as a novelty but soon the toy turned into a cultural obsession. Photographic studios popped up in France and amateur cameramen started experimenting with the gadget as a new art form. The improvisational arrangements of their photographs inspired artists to forgo the traditional visual arrangements of the school-approved art and instead create paintings that were more intimate and individual in style.

Claude Monet of Le Havre, France had learned plein air painting from local artist Eugene Boudin. Although Monet would become a student in one of the French art schools, he quickly rejected the school’s teachings and worked under Charles Gleyre, who would introduce him to fellow students Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frederic Bazille and Alfred Sisley. Monet, Bazille and Sisley would form the core of the Impressionist landscape painters.

Renoir was born in Limoges, home of the famous porcelain works. It was at the porcelain factory where Renoir first learned his craft. A light sense of color and sketchiness, similar to some types of porcelain painting, would appear in his work. Unlike the others, Renoir focused much more on portraiture and genre work. His lovely, sketchy portraits of pretty young women seemed revolutionary compared to the formulaic nudes and society portraits that filled Paris’ art salons.

To these artists, Edward Manet was the guiding light. He wanted to be a salon painter and ached for traditional success but his works seemed poorly modeled and shockingly lit as compared to other Salon pieces. By default, he became a revolutionary, although he was a reluctant one. Manet, as well as fellow Impressionist Edgar Degas, was influenced by the new visual structures of the camera. Both men learned to place random objects in the foreground, to observe interior lighting more naturally and to arrange their works in a more offhanded way.

The works of the Impressionists were widely dismissed by the Salon judges so the artistic rejects repeatedly appeared in alternative shows such as the Salon Des Refuses or their personal shows, where their were soon named Impressionists. By the 1880’s, it was clear that the Impressionists themselves had made an impression as other artists, who picked up on their newer, more radical ideas, such as their experiments with color, the relationship of objects to the painting, brush technique, subject matter and even the artist’s relationship with his work. By then, it was clear that the future lay not with the academic painters clinging to ancient ideas, but to the artists who followed down the path that the Impressionists first blazed.

Other works of Fine Art you may enjoy:

The Connections Of Mary Cassatt

Bend In the River, an oil painting

Silence In the City, a cityscape painting