Impressionism

• Optical vs. social realism • Not about the objects but about light and the effect of the atmosphere on these objects.

• Juxtapose colors • Dissolving form • Blizzard of brushwork • No Contour

The Flaneur

-a stroller; social light; upper class • He wants to hide • Dresses like everyone else • Ease Drops • Opposite of the British Dandy – Wants to be seen; dresses high class

Where is the viewer (are you the viewer/bar costumer or is the man? Is this a Mirror behind her (is that her reflection)?

Strategy of the Mirror; pulling space around, reflections shows another moment in time, when you look in a mirror you are actually seeing yourself in the past; its never “NOW”!

Male Gaze

• Western at has been constructed to present female beauty for the enjoyment of the “male gaze”.

• Men do the looking and the women are looked at.

Renoir’s “La Loge” vs. Mary Cassat’s “Women in Black at the Opera” in the Male Gaze Anomaly: exception to the rule.

ex. Women looking with binoculars in Mary Cassat’s painting

Renoir, Le Moulin de la Galette, 1876

Renoir, Pont-Neuf, 1872 Elevated vantage point; influence of photography

Edgar Degas Absinthe, 1876

DEGAS’ BALLERINAS Dancers were Degas's favorite subject.

Ballets were very popular in Paris and young girls dreamed of becoming famous ballerinas. But it was hard work and not very glamorous. The young girls weren't even called students. They were called rats. Degas understood how hard the girls worked. He spent hours watching them practice at the dance studio. Degas was fascinated by their gauzy costumes and the movement of their bodies as they twirled and leaped across the floor. With pastels, he could work more quickly than with oils. They didn't need time to dry, and the colors were very bright. Degas also showed the dancers resting. They waited on the sidelines, adjusted their costumes, yawned, and scratched their backs. This outraged the critics. They were used to seeing only "beautiful" portraits of famous ballerinas. Degas's portrayals were disturbing. But he didn't care what critics said; he recorded the scenes as he saw them.

Biggest Characteristic of Degas is Ballet Dancers Passion for depicting forms moving through space.

Dancing Lesson 1883-1885 by Degas

Eadweard Maybridge’s Galloping Horse 1878 (Photography) vs.

Degas’ At the Races Horses legs are completely off the ground ONLY when they are directly underneath the horse, not when they are outstretched as degas predicted.

Mary Cassatt

The Bath Boating Party 1893-1894

Impressionists inspired by Japanese Woodblock Prints

Mary Cassatt, The Letter, 1891 Beauty with a Letter

Obi: Worn in Kimono, Thick Sash Bold Planes of Color Sharp Outlines

Claude Monet

“There can be no feeling without seeing.” En Plein Air artist= “open air”; paints outside Terrace at Sainte-Adresse, 1866-1867

Bassin des Nympheas(Water lily Pond) 1904

Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight 1894 Poplars 1891 Haystacks 1891 -cropped some of them; may do with photography -series (up to 22 of each in a series) because of the constant change of light -like music (symphonic music), in a line of all the same subject -Symphony= theme and variation (same as a series)

Impressionistic Sculpture

Auguste Rodin

The Thinker, 1879-1889 Built from clay or wax before casting them in Bronze *Characteristic medium

Balzac 1892-1897 Plaster and Bronze Versions

Fourth Position Front on Left Leg, 1880’s Captures motion in space in sculpture as well as in painting.

American Painting: Working in a more Realist Way

Winslow Homer

Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) 1873-1876

John Singer Sargent

Daughters of Edward DarleyBoit, 1882

“Arts for Art’s Sake”

• Whistler VS. Ruskin – Whistler sued Ruskin for libel (slander) – Ironically Ruskin (as art critic) supported Turner and his Impressionistic • Art does not necessarily serve a utilitarian purpose.

• Many painters painted STUDIES of light, color, and form.

• A Formalist Point of view

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Nature in Black & Gold (The Falling Rocket), 1875 Accused of throwing “a pot of paint…in the publics face.” Musical Titles

ARCHITECTURE IN IMPRESSIONISM

Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann

Arc de Triomphe

Jean-Louis-Charles Garnier Opera House