Impressionism
Claude Monet “Impression Sunrise
Origin of the Name”
Previous Influences
• NeoClassical
• Intellectual approach
to painting
• Romantic
• Emotional approach
to painting
Homer Watson’s
Cressman’s Woods with Hunters
First Native artist but colours were still muted in browns and ochres.
His landscape is based on an actual Canadian place, near present day
Waterloo, Ontario
Influence of Photography
• Subject Matter
• Style
Influence of Photography on
Subject Matter
• No longer elevated historical, mythological or
religious subjects but genre subjects
( everyday subjects eg After the bath)
• Subjects in the midst of doing something
eg like a snapshot
• Because photography now alleviates the
function of painting to document historical events
in a realistic manner, subject matter is allowed to
become freer, more expressive and abstract
Influence of Photography on
Composition
• Cropping
• Influence of camera angle ie unusual
points of view
• Framing
Degas “ After the Bath”
Influence of the Science of Colour
• New colour theory includes the new ideas
of optical colour mixing,
• How to produce cool shadows ie no black
• The effects of light on colour as the new
subject of the painting eg Haystack series
by Monet
Monet studied the
changing effects of
light on a series of
the same subject eg
real subjects ie
haystacks,
cathedrals.
He also benefited
from the new paint
technology that
allowed one to paint
outside –allowing
for real colour
Finally, the new
colour theory put
shadows not as
black but
complements
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Japonisme
Influence of Japonese woodblock
prints
Composition eg simplified
person or element
predominantly in the
foreground used to suggest 3d
depth in a 2d plane
“Conversation Piece”
compositions
“ Print within a print’ ie different
areas within the picture which
are isolated with different kind
of implied texture or pattern.
Pattern used extensively, but
in a flattened not a modeled
way
Linear outline of figures
(cloisone)
Importance of women artists
• How education and critical reaction would
have been different due to psychological
or social stereotypes
Women Artists in the 1800s
In the 15th century, fewer than 10 women throughout Europe are recorded as
artists in published documents. In the 18C almost three hundred women are
recorded as artists from various sources. By 1750 it was nolonger considered
to be exceptionally eccentric for a women to earn her living this way
Women were allowed to become honorary members of the academies but did
not have the full rights as men ie
they could not attend drawing classes,
they could not teach in the Academy
they could not compete for prizes or hold office.
It did allow women the opportunity to exhibit in the Salon
By the late 18C it was possible for women artists to support themselves by
giving drawing lessons, either privately of to groups of students in convent
schools.
The existence of female drawing teachers depended upon another social
development and that was the acceptance that a well educated young lady
should know how to draw and paint. Eg references to duchesses, princesses
etc who know how to draw and paint
Many women artists were child prodigies ie large evidence of professional
activity before the age of 20. Generally, only women who demonstrated
extraordinary potential received encouragement. Women who were late
developers or who were less remarkably gifted as children never became
artists. Fathers were anxious for suitors and wanted to promote women while
young.
Education
By the late 18C it was possible for women artists to support themselves by
giving drawing lessons, either privately to groups of students in convent
schools.
The existence of female drawing teachers depended upon another social
development and that was the acceptance that a well educated young lady
should know how to draw and paint. Eg references to duchesses, princesses
etc who know how to draw and paint
Many women artists were child prodigies ie large evidence of professional
activity before the age of 20.
Generally, only women who demonstrated extraordinary potential received
encouragement.
Women who were late developers or who were less remarkably gifted as
children never became artists.
Fathers were anxious for suitors and wanted to promote women while young.
Berthe Morisot
Berthe Morisot
Berthe Morisot
“The Cradle
Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt
“In the Loge”
Critical Reaction of the
Impressionists
• Role of the Salon and the Academy
• The Salon des Refuses
• How the Group support aided the
movement.