Art history: Understanding impressionism – Part 1

Introspective Look into Post-Impressionism

The era in art known as Post-Impressionism was contrived in direct reaction to the Impressionist era, which came just before. This new era, which emerged in 1886, strove toward recapturing the essence of Impressionism. They believed in the basic concepts of Impressionism but thought that in recent years these concepts had been overblown and traditional concepts had been discarded. The artists of Post-Impressionism accused their Impressionistic contemporaries of putting too much emphasis on the movement of color and light, instead of focusing in on the meaning and subject of the artwork. The idea of patroning art, in fact, is too amuse and entertain the viewers, and it is not an opportunity for the artist to show off his skills.

The impressionist movement, at its basic core, was a study on light and color. After a while the images became blurred out and unviewable. Inspired by Claude Monet, the artists of this era consisted of Edward Monet, Auguiste Renoir, Whistler, and Edgar Degas. The characteristics of this movement include painting in open air, meaning on the spot, capturing the shimmer and light of the open air, the use of high key and warm colors of pure tints, the use of propped images, dematerialization, and capturing the timelessness of the forms.

The Post-Impressionist movement was a reaction to and willingness to change of the Impressionist movement. It was a return to core Impressionist values. The major artists of the time included Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin. The characteristics of this movement include a shift towards painting more with more solidity and tradition, an appeal to intellect, the use of profound images, a return to classical style, and, “projects an inner idea without using narrative of literal symbols,” according to Janson in the book, History of Art: The Western Tradition.

Clear comparisons and contrasts, between the two movements, can be seen when looking at a work of art from each period of art. Two good examples are Claude Monet’s, Water Lilies, from Impressionism, and Paul Cezanne’s, Mont Ste-Victoire Seen from Bibemus Quarry, from Post-Impressionism. Monet’s work used the theme of water lilies but there was no true meaning or thought put into it. It is simply a study of light and patches of color. Cezanne’s work used the theme of a certain mountain view, and was supposed to be a familiar scene for the viewers. The composition of Monet’s work is static and upfront to the picture frame, much like Cezanne’s work, which lacks any sort of depth; instead it is a merger of the foreground with the middle ground. Monet used the visual effect of light and atmosphere while Cezanne’s still life paid little attention to light and instead focused on the seriousness and essence of the image. Monet’s painting allowed the viewer to see the image from any direction and regarded the actual lilies as unimportant. It is part of a technical process and the ideas of brushstroke and light particles take over. Cezanne’s painting, which is enclosed in a triangular form, is an appeal to the viewer’s intellect. It allows the spectator the feeling of being able to reach into the work. Finally the images, are a complex layout of line, shape, time, color, and texture.

Why fine artists create nude paintings – Part 1

When someone glances down the history of Renoir or Rembrandt for example you might come across several paintings of nude figures. Some people may call this raunchy some may even shun it but the truth is they do not grasp the true beauty that permeates the human body’s figure and the intricate complexity that goes into painting one. The body holds a natural beauty all it’s own outside the realm of most animals, that can convey emotion so strongly with the slightest change you can convey content to pain. I want you to find someone, or find a picture of a face, stare at it for a second and then picture one aspect of it (if they wont let you touch their face) moved one millimeter off. What do you have? An entirely different emotion, or at least a construed one of the first. Such small details go into such paintings, for the body is the same way, one small change in detail and a whole new feel can be made. This drive for perfection is what drew some to watch or participate, even conduct human dissection, to see and know the way the body changes with movement and such (A good look at this is Da Vinci’s journal, it contains the detail drawing of dissections). Some call this obsession, and yes it was to a degree but why would one be so obsessed, because of the beautiful nature of the body and it’s form. Next time you glance down through a book of art and come along a nude figure don’t quickly turn the page and pass it by, stop and notice the beautiful detail that goes into it, these masters didn’t paint it only for you to pass it by nonchalantly, for if you love art you’ll find beauty in everything.