Thursday, June 19, 2008

Deciphering Art: What is Impressionism?

Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895) Lilacs at Maurecourt, 1874. Oil on canvas. Yves Rouart



Eva Gonzalès (French, 1849–1883) A Loge in the Théâtre des Italiens, 1874. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris

As a budding movement in the art world, Impressionism was initially received by the public with disgust and light-hearted mockery.  After the first exhibition of its kind in 1874—consisting of prominent artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Degas, Renoir and Morisot—remarking on the paintings’ visible brushstrokes, the journalist Louis Leroy wrote that his companion wondered aloud if his spectacles were dirty. The general feeling toward Impressionism was that artists failed to capture anything realistically by favoring quick, loose brush strokes, creating the impression of a landscape or portrait, which Leroy saw as crass and shoddy. The term “Impressionism” came from Leroy’s scathing review, but as the artists, working collectively mostly in Paris, pressed on, the movement became increasingly popular.

Impressionism owes as much to the time and political atmosphere as it does to the artists themselves.  France—just recovering from the humiliating defeat of the Franco-Prussian war, and the upsetting bloodshed over the Paris Commune of 1871—set out to create a fresh slate. City officials gave Paris a complete makeover, and flâneurs roamed the streets studying the ever-changing city life. Baudelaire commented that the idea of modernity now meant constant change, or “the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent and the transitory.”

Impressionists, themselves close observers of this new era, rebelled against the Salon exhibitions of the time, which pitted artists against each other, crammed numerous tableaux onto the walls, and accepted paintings of limited subject matter... [more]

Posted by: Alex Teplitzky | June 19 at 5:13:27 PM
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