Modern Art 03:
Impressionism - Art Nouveau
The late nineteenth century witnessed rapid urbanization and industrialization, prompting revolutionary changes in Western art. Impressionism emerged first, focusing on capturing the fleeting optical sensations of modern life using spontaneous brushwork and en plein air painting. In response, Post-Impressionism developed, emphasizing either analytical structure, like Pointillism, or intense emotional expression. Concurrently, Symbolism rejected objective realism to explore dreams, spirituality, and the subconscious. Design and architecture also transformed; the Arts and Crafts movement championed hand-craftsmanship against industrialization, while modern materials like steel gave rise to the first American skyscrapers and Art Nouveau structural forms.
Impressionism and Its Influences
Impressionism: An art movement that abandoned traditional themes to capture the transitory nature of modern life and the fleeting effects of light and climate, frequently painting en plein air with sketchy brushstrokes.
Japonisme: The profound influence of Japanese aesthetics—especially woodblock prints featuring broad areas of flat color and oblique angles—on Western modernist painters.
Edouard Manet: A pivotal painter whose career bridged Realism and Impressionism, known for capturing modern Parisian nightlife in works like A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
Claude Monet: A central figure whose painting Impression: Sunrise gave the movement its name; he focused intensely on light, color, and painting landscapes outdoors.
Camille Pissarro: Captured the spontaneous, fleeting motion of crowded Parisian street life, often viewing the city from elevated perspectives.
Edgar Degas: Specialized in indoor subjects, notably ballet dancers, utilizing high viewpoints, off-center compositions, and diverging lines heavily influenced by Japanese prints.
Mary Cassatt: An American expatriate whose subjects were primarily women and children, utilizing flat patterning inspired by Degas and Japanese art.
Berthe Morisot: Depicted the leisure activities of thoughtful Parisian women using bright palettes, flat patterns, and sketchy brushstrokes.
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism: A movement reacting against Impressionism's lack of structure, seeking instead to systematically explore the expressive capabilities of formal elements like line, pattern, and color.
19th Century Color Theory: Scientific advancements in understanding optical reception, complementary colors, and optical mixtures that provided a framework for Post-Impressionist techniques
Pointillism: A disciplined, scientific system of painting developed within Post-Impressionism that involved applying pure component colors to the canvas in tiny dots or daubs.
Georges Seurat: Developed Pointillism (also called divisionism) to bring a calculated, intellectual pictorial order to Impressionist themes.
Paul Cezanne: Sought to make Impressionism "solid and enduring" through a rigorous, analytical study of lines, planes, and colors in his landscapes and still lifes.
Vincent Van Gogh: Explored the expressive capabilities of intense colors and thick, distorted brushstrokes to communicate his profound emotions.
Paul Gauguin: Rejected objective representation for subjective expression, utilizing large flat areas of unmodulated color bounded by firm lines.
Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec: Captured the bohemian lifestyle of Paris at night and pioneered modern poster art using flat colors and distinct line patterns.
Symbolism and Fin-De-Siécle
Symbolism: An art movement that disdained Realism, choosing instead to depict the mysterious, exotic, and sensuous realm of fantasy, dreams, and the subconscious.
Fin-De-Siécle: A late 19th-century cultural movement, especially prominent in Austria, characterized by a preoccupation with decadence, indulgence, and sexual drives that masked an underlying societal anxiety about the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th. Fin-De-Siecle (French) means End-of-Century (English).
Odilon Redon: Adapted the Impressionist palette to paint dreamlike narratives, mythological creatures, and the invisible inner world.
James Ensor: A Belgian Symbolist who used grotesque masks and jarring colors to critique the corruption, decadence, and alienation of modern society.
Edvard Munch: Used intense color and extreme figural distortion to express primal emotions and the unbearable pressures of modern psychic life, most famously in The Scream.
Gustav Klimt: A Viennese artist whose flamboyant, heavily patterned works, such as The Kiss, captured the eroticism and spirit of the fin-de-siècle.
Auguste Rodin: The leading sculptor of the era; his highly textured, deeply emotional and sometimes fragmented works, like the tormented figures in The Gates of Hell, linked him to Symbolist themes.
Architecture and Decorative Arts
Arts and Crafts Movement: Spearheaded in England, this movement advocated for high-quality, handcrafted functional art to combat the alienating effects of industrial capitalism and machine-made goods.
William Morris: A founder of the Arts and Crafts movement who dedicated himself to creating intricately patterned, functional, and unified environments.
Louis Comfort Tiffany: An artist-designer who incorporated the twining-plant and floral motifs of the Art Nouveau movement into immensely popular stained-glass lamps.
Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel: A French engineer-architect who jolted the architectural world with the exposed iron skeleton of the Eiffel Tower, proving modern materials could revolutionize design.
Louis Henry Sullivan: Widely considered "the first truly modern architect," he famously stated "form follows function" and pioneered the design of metal, stone, and glass skyscrapers.
Antonio Gaudi: A Spanish Art Nouveau architect who approached building design as organic, living forms, molding structures like Casa Milà as if they were giant clay sculptures.