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ART HISTORY 4450 Neo-Impressionism
Félix Fénéon (1861–1944) •
significance: first to coin term “Neo-Impressionism” in 1886 at final Impressionist exhibition
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biography: born in Turin; raised in Burgundy – father traveling salesman – came to Paris after placing first in competitive exam for jobs in War Office • employed as clerk for thirteen years • rose to chief clerk; considered model employee
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career: critic and journalist – regular at Mallarmé's Tuesday evening salon – rarely affixed his own name to any work – translated, published and discovered many of enduring names from late 19th and early 20th centuries (e.g., Jane Austin, Proust, Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Seurat , Joyce)
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political sympathies: Anarchist – Trial of the Thirty (1894) • held after bombing of restaurant popular among politicians and financiers and assassination by an Italian anarchist of French president • Fénéon and twenty-nine others arrested on suspicion of conspiracy • Fénéon and most of his co-defendants acquitted
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Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786–1889) •
biography: trained as chemist; father, grandfather and great-uncle all physician/surgeons – lived through entire FR Revolution and lived to see unveiling of Eiffel Tower – received letters of commendation from many heads of state and monarchs
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career: appointed director of Gobelin (famous carpet manufacturer) – concentrated on problems of dyeing – main problems had nothing to do w/ chemistry, but more related to optics – color frequently failed to achieve desired effect not b/c of pigments, but by influence of neighboring color tones
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significance: The Laws of Contrast of Color (1839) – comprehensive attempt at providing systematic basis to seeing colors – identified "simultaneous contrast" of colors – C's famous law: "Two adjacent colors, when seen by the eye, will appear as dissimilar as possible"
Neo-Impressionism •
exhibition history: first exhibited in 1884 at exhibition of Societé des Artistes Indépendents (Paris)
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aim: dissatisfied w/ formlessness and subjectivity of Impressionism
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aesthetic: analytical (see Chevreul, David Sutter, Ogden Rood, and Charles Henry)
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technique: “Pointillism" (or “Divisionism”) – systematic & painstaking application of isolated, tiny dots of pure color to canvas – when viewed from a distance, points or dots cannot be distinguished – blend in viewer's eye to produce a coherent image – non-primary colors • generated not by mixing of pigments in the palette nor by using pigments directly • attained by visual mixing of points of primary colors placed in close proximity
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brushwork: simplistic, yet stylized – subtle differences in size, thickness and direction – approaches the impersonal, but retains a personal touch – virtuosity in its certitude & seeming effortlessness
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effect: vibrant – brighter or purer, since eye does the mixing and not the brush – generates different range of colors, when compared to artists using traditional color-mixing and lighting techniques (e.g., chiaroscuro)
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Seurat (1859-91) •
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biography: born into middle-class family in Paris that supported him throughout his brief life – died of diphtheria at 31years of age training: – at age eighteen, student at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris (1878-79) – influence of Ingres: • teacher, Henri Lehmann (1814-1882), one of Ingres’ best pupils • earliest surviving works are copies of Ingres and other masters of precision • learned to turn perceptions into line 1879: rented studio w/ friends; visited 4th Impressionist exhibition; military service 1880: upon return, rented small where he painted his most important works up until 1886 – scientific theories on color and vision (see Rood) continued to deeply interest him 1883: only time S’s work allowed in Salon 1884: S’s first large painting, Bathers at Asnières, rejected by the Salon; however, shown in exhibition held by Société des Artistes Indépendants, where he became acquainted with Paul Signac 1886: exhibits La Grande Jatte at 8th and final Impressionist exhibition
Seurat (1859-91) • •
biography: died of diphtheria at 31 years of age training: – at the age of eighteen, became student at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris – influence of Ingres: • teacher was one of Ingres’ best pupils • earliest surviving works are copies of Ingres and other masters of precision • learned to turn perceptions into line
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Seurat’s The Bathers (1883-84)
Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon at the Park (c. 1884-86)
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Seurat’s The Models (1886-88)
Seurat • Eiffel Tower (1889) – subject: contemporary engineering feat – brushwork: Pointellist/Divisionist – perspective: synthetic • linear • aerial – composition: stable – color: vibrant & warm – light/shadow: evenly distributed
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Seurat
• Can-Can (c. 1889-90) – theme: modern night-life – subject: scandalous dance performed in bohemian section of Paris – forms: stylized • caricatured • simplified volumes – composition: dynamic – color: muted palette – light/shadow: bright, bleached whites relate to introduction of electricity
Seurat • Circus (1891) – subject: bourgeois entertainment – brushwork: Pointellist/Divisionist – forms: severely stylized • facial features • weight/mass/volume – perspective: linear – composition: synthetic • dynamic movement • offset by strict horizontals & verticals – color: vibrant use of primaries – light/shadow: evenly distributed
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Signac (1863-1935) • •
biography: upper-bourgeois family training: – no formal art instruction – devoted himself to study of works by Manet, Monet & Degas • style: – pronounced taste for frontal, geometric compositions – little perspectival depth; depiction of space extremely shallow – simplified shapes are radically geometrized exhibition history: – 1884: participated in first Salon des Artistes Independants where he met Seurat – ultimately represented in eighth and last Impressionist exhibition • despite initial opposition of Degas
Signac’s Sunset (1889)
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Signac’s Portrait of Felix Feneon (1891)
(Left) Signac’s Neo-Impressionist Portrait of Felix Feneon (1890-91) vs. (right) Vallaton’s Félix Fénéon Editing La Revue Blanche (1896)
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Signac • Women at the Well (1892) – subject: genre scene – brushwork: Pointellist/Divisionist – forms: stylized • curvilinear • radically geometric volumes – perspective: synthetic • aerial • linear middleground scale jumps illogically – composition: synthetic blending of diagonals, horizontals & verticals – color: vibrant & complimentary – light/shadow: evenly distributed
Signac’s Grand Canal, Venice (1905)
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Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) •
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biography: – child of Sephardic Jews from Bordeaux – born/raised in Caribbean (St. Thomas) until age 12, when attended boarding school in Paris – expected to work in family’s dry-goods business – left for Caracas in 1852 – fled to Paris in 1855 • breaks bonds to bourgeois life • eventually won moral and financial support of his parents • precarious financial situation, until in his sixties training: studied at various academic institutions (e.g., École des Beaux-Arts) and under succession of masters (e.g., Corot) exhibition history: – 1863: participated in Salon des Refusé w/ Manet and Whistler – 1870s+: disdain for Salon; refuses to exhibit at them – only artist to show work at all eight Impressionist exhibitions (1874-86) – March 1893: Durand-Ruel organized major exhibition of forty-six (46) of P's works in Paris
Pissarro
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Apple Picking (1888) – – –
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subject: rural proletariat spatial order: subjects placed close to picture plane perspective: • linear rows of vegetables • aerial no view into deep space composition: dynamic color: naturalistic light/shadow: dramatic • assumed by role of color • no use of traditional chiaroscuro or tenebrism brushwork: Divisionism
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(Left) PISSARRO’s Neo-Impressionist The Gleaners (1889) vs. (right) MILLET’s Barbizon School The Gleaners (1857)
PISSARRO’s Woman Bathing Her Feet (c. 1895)
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IMAGE INDEX • Slide 4: • Slide 5: • Slide 6: Jatte • Slide 7: • Slide 8 • Slide 9: • Slide 10: • Slide 11:
SEURAT. Detail from Circus Sideshow (1887-88). SEURAT. The Bathers (1884), Oil on canvas, 79 x 118 1/2 in., National Gallery, London. SEURAT. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande (1884-86), Oil on canvas, 6’10” x 10’1 1/4”, Art Institute of Chicago. SEURAT. Models (1886-88), Oil on canvas, 200 x 250 cm., Merion, PA, The Barnes Foundation. SEURAT. The Eiffel Tower (1889), Oil on panel, 9 1/2 x 6 in., The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. SEURAT. Chahut (1889-90), Oil on canvas, 169 x 139 cm, Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum. SEURAT. The Circus (1891), Oil on canvas, 73 x 59 1/8 in., Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Photograph of Paul Signac.
IMAGE INDEX • Slide 12: • Slide 13:
• Slide 14:
• Slide 15: • Slide 16: • Slide 17:
SIGNAC. Sunset (1889), Oil on canvas, 22 1/2 x 35 3/8 in., Glasgow Museums: Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove. SIGNAC. Portrait of Felix Feneon (Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones and Tints), 1890-91, Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 3/8 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. (Left SIGNAC’s Portrait of Felix Fénéon (1890-91); and (right) VALLATON’s Félix Fénéon Editing La Revue Blanche (1896), Oil on cardboard, 52.5 x 65 cm., Private collection. SIGNAC. Women at the Well (1892), Oil on canvas, 76 3/4 x 51 5/8 in., Musee d'Orsay, Paris. SIGNAC. Grand Canal, Venice (1905), Oil on canvas, 28 7/8 x 36 1/4 in., The Toledo Museum of Art. PISSARRO, Camille. Self-Portrait (c. 1890), etching (zinc), Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
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IMAGE INDEX • Slide 18: • Slide 19:
• Slide 20:
PISSARRO, Camille. Apple Picking (1888), Oil on canvas, 33 1/2 x 29 1/8 x 4 in., Dallas Museum of Art. (Left) PISSARRO’s Neo-Impressionist The Gleaners (1889); and (right) MILLET’s Barbizon School The Gleaners (1857), Oil on canvas, 88 x 111 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris. PISSARRO, Camille. Woman Bathing Her Feet in a Brook (1894-95), Oil on canvas, 28 ½ x 36 in., The Art Institute of Chicago.
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