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The Impressionists! Think of artists inspired by light both natural and
artificial how it changes nature, people and objects. Think pure prismatic
colors. Think of what Boudin meant when he said: "Three strokes of the brush
after nature are worth more than two days of laboring at the easel." These are
the mantles that encaptivated the Impressionist artists of yesteryear and
continue to challenge those of today.
My 2004 calendar featured the works of
world-renowned Impressionist painters. Claude Monet's Water Lilies (1919), and
Mary Cassatt's Woman With Dog (1875), are examples. I was sorry when the year
ended! Another painting by Monet -- Impression, Sunrise -- was first exhibited
in Paris in 1874. Though jocularized in the press, it happily resulted in the
naming of that century's new art form.
In his elegant book, Impressionism
(translated by John Shepley, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publ. 1977, NY), Pierre
Courthion tells us that besides light and color, Impressionism featured themes
previously not considered subjects for painting, such as people engaged in the
mundane activities of daily life.
Of course, there were other artists whose
works preceded the French. One was England's Joseph W.M. Turner. In Art Through
The Ages, Helen Gardner writes about the "golden misty light air" in Turner's
1839 ship painting, The Fighting Téméraire. Another was America's Winslow Homer.
His painting, Croquet Scene (1866), was painted outdoors of a game never before
put on canvas.
But the movement only jelled after the long struggles of
Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Eugene Boudin and
Alfred Sisley the group of French artists who brought this art to the fore.
These men had been rejected by the French Salon and finally arranged their own
exhibit. We have all seen and enjoyed their works, if not in the originals, then
as prints, in art books, on calendars and stationery.
As for American
artists, one of the most famous, Childe Hassam, is the subject of another great
book. Entitled Childe Hassam, Impressionist, it's by three art experts: Warren
Adelson, Jay E. Cantor and William H. Gerdts (Abbeville Press, N.Y., 1999). Each
author describes an area of the artist's life's work.
According to Adelson,
Hassam, born in 1859 in Dorcester, Mass., enjoyed an active boyhood in the
Boston area. His painting efforts began as an illustrator for advertisements. He
also freelanced. In the early '80s, after studying art in Boston, Hassam went to
Europe. He took lessons in Paris and from then on painted extensively in both
countries.
Originally working in watercolors, Hassam later switched to oil.
According to Gardts, the artist focused on three themes: urban views; nature;
and God and country. Examples are The Manhattan Club (1891); Laurel on the
Ledges (1906); and Avenue of the Allies (1918). A prolific painter, Hassam is
credited with some 2,000 canvases.
According to Cantor, Hassam's 20th century
works gradually moved toward post-Impressionism manifested by "significant
alterations to his style and in his attitude towards his work."
Another noted
American Impressionist, Mary Cassatt, was born in Pittsburgh in 1845. She took
her first art lesson at 16 and went to Paris in 1865, at age 20. Once there, she
had to take private lessons, as women were not admitted into the Academy.
Cassatt returned to the U.S. briefly, then went back to Paris, where she died in
1926. This artist is noted for her paintings of people especially women and
children motherhood being a central theme in her work.
Some historians
fault American Impressionists for not being as inventive as the French.
Nevertheless, our country has produced many artists whose books are
notable.
Writing in American Art Review, Feb. 2001, Susan G. Larkin cites
John H. Twacht-man, Hassam Theodore Robinson and J. Alden Weir, calling them
"participants in shaping American Impressionism." Edgar Payne, Donlad Allen
Mosher, William Wendt are three of many others.
Then there's the American
Impressionist Society, with the goal of "promoting the appreciation of
Impressionism through exhibitions, workshops and other media."
Co-founded by
William J. Schultz, Charlotte M. Dickinson, Marjorie L. Bradley and Pauline S.
Ney, this society will hold a juried exhibition at the Nicholas Taos Gallery in
Taos, N.M., in May 2005. http://www.americanimpressionisociety.org
.
(Next
month: The Post Impressionists.)
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Avenue of the Allies
by Childe Hassam.
Woman With Dog
by Mary Cassatt
Impression, Sunrise
by Claude Monet.
The Manhattan Club
by Childe Hassam.
Waterlilies
by Claude Monet.
Laurel on the Ledges
by Childe Hassam. |