whatimpressionism

what is impressionism?

MONET: "IMPRESSION SUNRISE"

Fifty five artists in 1874 (many of whom were rejected by the Salon, the annual French state-sponsored exhibition that offered artists the only opportunity to display and sell their work) gathered to form a group that allowed them to express artistic manifestations unconventional to their time.

Art enthusiasts and intellectuals were immensely critical of the groundbreaking new work initially. The term "impressionism" was coined by Louis Leroy, an art critic who, enraged and furious at the emphasis on sensory images in the group's paintings (especially at Monet's "Impression Sunrise," with its irregular and brutal brushstrokes) pouted:
"Impression! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished!"
From this remark, Impressionism became an accepted term for this radical new art form.

RENOIR: "THE THEATRE BOX"

PISSARRO: UNTITLED

"Try to make Monsieur Pissarro understand that trees are not violet, that the sky is not the color of fresh butter...and that no sensible human being could countenance such aberrations...try to explain to Monsieur Renoir that a woman's torso is not a mass of decomposing flesh with those purplish-green stains."--- art critic "Albert Wolff

Impressionists were dismissed because:
     ---> vulgar emphasis on color
     ---> short brisk brushstrokes
     ---> canvases that were not finished, sometimes not even primed
     ---> entrenchment in color theory
     ---> portrayal of landscapes and people in a politcally
           unacceptable and disgraceful manner with little idealization
     ---> contempt for control of the French Academy of Fine Arts on
            all art produced
     ---> portrayal of contemporary themes and effects of Industrial
           Revolution
     ---> portrayal of bougeoisie class
     ---> interest in showing people in everyday situations
     ---> still life and the play of light on objects

DEGAS: "L'ETOILE"

MONET: "GARE ST. LAZARE"

BERTHE MORISOT: "EN BARQUE SUR LE LAC

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