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Assignment - The Impressionists
Assignment - The Impressionists
Modernism Assignment: Discuss the Aims and Methods of the Impressionists, drawing
upon and comparing specific examples to support your argument.
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The Impressionists (Emile Zola called them Actualists (Britt, 1990, pg 15)) desired to
portray scenes realistically, rather than in the ways of the academic idealisation. Their
methods were rejected by the Academie des Beaux, and it The Impressionists Handbook
(pg?) describes them as a group of artists whose aims were frequently at loggerheads, yet
who set out together, rejecting the Salon which had so often rejected them. Perhaps this
was their first aim, to overcome the authority of the Academy. Mauclair’s (1903,
paragraph 11) account of the Impressionists claims that “It [Impressionism] has protested
against any literary, psychological or symbolic element in painting. It has reacted at the
same time against the historical painting of Delaroche and the mythological painting of
Ecole de Rome, and then longing for the truth, the horror of emphasis and of false
idealism which paralysed the novelist as well as the painter, led the Impressionists to
Impressionists wanted to move forward and create a fresh way that reflected their
contemporary world more genuinely. The influences of the camera gave them insight,
empowering them to paint from new points of perspective, and inspiring ideas including
more candid gestures, soft focused edges of forms and representing spontaneity. The
Impressionists sought to reveal atmosphere, mood and emotion through accurate analysis
and representation of light and colour. They strove to reproduce their actual visual senses
without interference from perceived visual interpretations of what they saw. “Monet
describes the only valid objective of the landscape painter as ‘your own naïve impression
Impressionism is typically given a period spanning about ten years (c.1874-1885), which
begs the question, ‘what brought about its demise?’ Throughout the progression of this
study from their aims to their methods, I hope to extrapolate some conclusions. As I
explore this movement, I will focus on works by Paul Cezanne who began his work just
before the Impressionist period and whose vision, I suggest, carried him through it to lead
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the way forward. Cezanne, wanted to ‘make of Impressionism something more solid and
In some of his early pre-Impressionist work, such as The Artist’s Father (1866) and
Abduction (c.1867), Cezanne included more classical methods, poses and symbolism,
coupled with dark backgrounds and solid forms. His ability to include vibrant colour and
light, and brushstrokes that were to become a trademark of Impressionism are apparent in
these works.
A foundational aim of the Impressionists was to paint what they actually saw, laying
aside all preconceived ideals. A method that aided spontaneous honesty was to paint en
plein air, applying unprocessed brushstrokes loaded with spectrum colours. An issue that
arises from plein air painting is that memory, and subsequent imagination, are forced to
come into play as the dynamic elements of light, humans and the like have changed.
atmosphere.
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Sometimes artists would work up their paintings in the studio, adding effect and/or
and human influences. Renoir used (among others) his wife Aline, and servant girl
Paintings of Gabrlielle
and Aline by Renoir; Luncheon at the Boating Party, 1879-80; The Apple Seller, c.1890; Gabrielle with
inspired them to create unusual compositional structures and to use new angles of
movement and represent things, such as human postures as they moved more
accurately. Monet noticed that slow shutter speeds blurred moving figures, and he
“The Impressionists aimed to capture light and colour realistically. They studied both
closely and perceived that everything we see has colour. Form, perspective, volume and
space are essentially derived from variations of hues, tones and intensities of colour. They
determined that shadow is not the absence of light, but light of a different quality and a
different value.” (Mauclair, 1903). As a result, they tended to do away with bituminous
underpainting and muddy colours in favour of a simplified palette with pure colours of
the spectrum, white and black. They generally avoided black shadows and outlines (as
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they don’t occur in nature). They painted strokes of pure colour onto white or light
canvases and either mixed them on the canvas or allowed the viewers’ eye to mix them
optically. Pissaro explored colour theories that Seurat used in by the 1880’s, and
encouraged other Impressionists to use them in order to address shortfalls such as the lack
of solidity in the forms in their paintings. In turn, the ‘scientific’ approach brought about
colours to, amongst other things, create colour ‘vibrations’, calculate the results of local
colours and reflected colours and light sources. Ultimately, this compromised the first
impressions they sought to represent and moved toward the realm of neo-impressionism.
Cezanne’s determination to measure his art against nature, not against other art (Wadley,
1981, p.10) was within the aims of Impressionism. Throughout his work, he managed to
retain the solidity of form that others lost. In his work Seated Bather (c.1873-77),
Cezanne builds up reflected colour and luminosity from the solid form beneath, rather
than glazing light into the overall work with the etherealness of say Renoir’s Sailboats at
Cezanne, Seated Bather, c.1873-877 Renoir, Sailboats at Argenteuil, 1874 Monet, Impression Sunrise, 1873
It seems that the aims of the Impressionists were bolder than could be understood by their
peers or contemporary society (in general) in their immediate time. However, as they
worked through their aims, the methods they developed undermined the very essence of
their aims. Methodology suppressed spontaneity and the integrity of painting what they
actually saw. Yes, they had broken the rules and conquered the Academy, only to define
and adopt a new set of rules under which they planned to operate (although the ‘rules’
they made were often broken). Ultimately, I see Impressionism as a platform at which
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artists arrived desiring to be realists, and which they departed with methods to enhance
their representation of reality. Like a fine wine, Impressionism became greater after its
capping.
Monet and Renoir (among others) retreated from the ideals of Impressionism in their later
works, reusing elements like classic symbols and structures to be more commercially
viable. Cezanne continued to press through, building form and structure into his work
with both classical and realist, line and colour, scientific and natural analysis, spontaneity
and technique. He burst forth toward the frontiers of what is commonly considered to be
the next great modern art movement – Cubism. To me, works such as The Card Players
Cezanne,
The Card Players, 1899 Cezanne, Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1899