Transcript The Impressionists

The Impressionists
Text from: Xreferplus - Thames & Hudson Encyclopaedia of
Impressionism (1990)
Images from: Scran Image Collection
Background image: Licensed from Corel PhotoCD
Used with permission for demonstration
purposes only, not for reuse.
Impressionism
• The artists never approved of the classification
as Impressionists
• It conveyed little of their divergent artistic aims
• Often imagined at the time to be a synonym for
modern
• The word imposed a unity on a group of very
disparate artists
• Manet was seen to be the leader of the
Impressionist movement, but his works were
only intermittently impressionistic
The Impressionist Movement
Café Guerbois
• The favoured meeting place for impressionists and
their friends
• Stimulating discussions
• Inspirational gatherings
Impressionist Exhibitions
• Eight exhibitions
• 1874 – 1886
• Degas, Monet, Morisot, Pissario, Renior, Sisley and
Cezanne all exhibited
Manet (1832 – 1883)
• Thought to be the leader of the Impressionistic
movement
• Never participated in their exhibitions
• Nearly 50 before he adopted a true impressionistic
technique
• Son of a magistrate
• Well educated, intelligent, witty, charismatic
• Strong desire for recognition
'Aux Folies Bergeres' by Edouard
Manet
Monet (1840 - 1926)
• The most consistently explorative and prolific of the Impressionists
• Represents the movement and all it stood for – perhaps clearer than
any other members
• Had a mistress and illegitimate son
• In 1968 he tried to commit suicide
• His paintings rarely have a single focus and he sometimes edits
what he sees
• His relations with the group were irregular and he didn’t show
anything in the first three exhibitions
• By 1881 he had a regular income and moved to Giverny
• His preoccupation was to give a permanence to the evanescent – to
capture those fluctuations of light and movement that make nature
a living thing
Poplars on the Epte by Claud Monet
Renoir (1841 – 1919)
• Born in Limoges, son of a tailor and a dressmaker
• 1854 became apprentice to a porcelain painter
• Not a compliant or enthusiastic member of the
impressionist group
• By 1874 he had a number of supportive patrons
• He incorporated the traditional spirit of the European
tradition into his work
• Translated into the visual the ideals of the humanist
tradition
• Expressed an anxiety-free sensuality
• Used mostly women as models
'The painter's garden, Cagnes', by
Auguste Renoir
Degas (1834 – 1917)
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Son of upper-middle class banking family
Age 21 studied at Ecole des Beaux-Arts
Lived in Italy for a number of years
Met Manet in 1862 and then others
His role as an impressionist not easy to define
Absorbed by the human figure more than other
impressionists and in the draughtsmanship and
composition of paintings
• Remained a bachelor all his life
• His work melded the new vitality of the impressionist
movement with the precise disciplines and controlled
emotions that had long been part of French pictorial
tradition
‘Group of Dancers’ by Edgar Degas
Sisley (1839 - 1899)
• Born in Paris – he had English parents
• His father wanted him to have a career in
business
• Returned to Paris in 1862 to become an artist
• His family supported him financially until his
father lost all his money
• Monet had a great influence on him
• Sisley had great admiration for the sky and it
always features prominently in his paintings
'Rue de village' by Alfred Sisley
Cassatt (1845 - 1926)
• She studied art in America before travelling
extensively in Europe
• She settled in Paris and was introduced to the
other impressionists by Degas
• Offered practical support to the movement –
financial help and promotion
• She showed a lyrical effulgence and used a
gentle, golden lighting in her paintings
• She lived in France all her life, but didn’t enjoy
the French
'Les jeunes filles' ('The sisters') by
Mary Cassatt
Pissarro (1830-1903)
• He was born in Saint Thomas – West Indies and sent to
Paris to complete his education
• Returned to Paris to study painting in 1855
• His work encapsulated all the different elements that
gave impressionism its individual qualities
• He was at once an irritant and an inspiration to his fellow
impressionists
• Pissarro was very involved in planning the first
Impressionist Exhibition
‘Marne at Chennevières’ by Camille
Pissarro